Self-imposed savegame-rules!

Been struggling to get into a game lately and decided to try a savegame with some self-imposed limitations. Surely, there must be a thread or a list with this somewhere, but wasn't able to find one.

Rules like for instance: only sign british players or max x number of foreigners in match-squad; maximum wages/transfer sums; always accept offers of x times the estimated value with unspecified asking price etc.

What self-made rules are YOU using in your savegame?

I never use player search, I rely only on scout reports.

How about a lower league save where you only use players that come through your youth system?

I never use player search, I rely only on scout reports.

That's a great one. I find myself barely using the player search anyway, so why not just leave it entirely..

Don't sign any players, no matter how tempting it is.

Or what Bababui said actually.

I've tried lower league saves, but found it's not for me. I like to start with players i know/vaguely know from real life. What i've been wanting to do is start my annual Arsenal-save which I'm yet to do in FM12, but i know i'll be dominating PL and Europe within 3-4 years and once you're the best team in FM it's no way down it seems.

I've tried lower league saves, but found it's not for me. I like to start with players i know/vaguely know from real life. What i've been wanting to do is start my annual Arsenal-save which I'm yet to do in FM12, but i know i'll be dominating PL and Europe within 3-4 years and once you're the best team in FM it's no way down it seems.

Or do an Arsenal save where you only use players that come from your youth academy?

1. No reloads unless something gamebreakingly unrealistic happens (has never actually occurred in the last two versions).

2. Staff search is allowed, player search isn't; I use staff search to find good scouts, and then trust them to do their jobs.

3. I like having at least three-quarters or so of my squad (and preferably half my best starting line-up) be from the country I am managing in. This isn't always feasible, but I feel dirty when my team no longer has an obvious identity.

4. Max. transfer fees and max. wages change as I climb the divisions, but as I enjoy having the worst paid squad in a given league, it's usually not a problem.

5. Where possible, players arrive in the first team via the youth side rather than through transfers; for me, developing players from their teens is half the fun of the game.

No player is allowed to be paid more than me! As having the top job should comand the top pay!

For sure, I like to have players arrive in the squad via the youth team, or at least 3 years as a back-up/substitute. I don't sign players over 26, and I don't sell stars before 30 (any more!)

I like to have a positive net transfer spend each year (sell more than I buy, in $ terms), though now that the bank account is in the hundreds of millions I do allow myself some discretion in the transfer market, like if I buy $30m worth of teenagers then I will sell a star, but given that finances are a non-issue I will sell the star when the time is right.

Basically its about promoting player development, and making me look in my youth ranks for a promising talent rather than submitting bids for every player who strikes my fancy.

I am managing Pro Vercelli using only players that came trough club's academy + sort of anti-corner routine (it's designed to minimize number of goals that my team scores from corners). IMO this is best way to keep AI semi competitive.

I'm currently at Metz in my my journeyman-save (year 2038 now), and I'm trying to use only players that have come through the ranks at the club. Just finished my 3rd season in the club and got then to Euro cup. In the last game of the season there were 6 players in the starting eleven who have con through the academy at Metz. And 3 more at the bench. Four of the starting eleven players were even born in Metz(!).

I'm Strugling to get any good defenders/goalies from intakes...I have 5 midfielders that are very promising, but only 2 defenders and one goalie (and he wil never be good enough for a starting eleven place).

Now I'm getting rid of 5 players in the summer and plan to buy only 1 or 2 players and then promote my 3 brightes talents from my U19s team.

Looking forward to Europe. I think that it will take me 3-4 years to get me a starting eleven that has only Metz-grown players.

I like focusing on youth too, but it's a bit easy (and tempting) to find and bring in the best youth available, and therefore to easy to replace good players leaving with young players without weakening the team. I like the idea of having to bring in the established players now and then to fill the gap, not always having multiple young players just filling these gaps, if you know what i mean. I think one of the problems is that it's too easy to make a profit on youth prospect even if you pay millions for them and paying them to way too much in relation to their current abilities, and they don't make it into your team. You'll usually get it back (and more) when you sell them on. It's never a gamble.

Maybe a rule of not buying youngsters from top tier teams in, say, the top 5 leagues (except when buying to strengthen the current team, not just the future)? And generally resist the temptation of buying promising youngsters unless I feel there's a genuine chance that they break into team in the future. All whilst prioritizing youth from my own academy (if any) and british. Perhaps a goal of developing the academy players to reach their potential even if that may be just championship/league 1 etc. It's a start at least.

I am managing Pro Vercelli using only players that came trough club's academy + sort of anti-corner routine (it's designed to minimize number of goals that my team scores from corners). IMO this is best way to keep AI semi competitive.

That is an admirable challenge with a wonderful club. I salute you.

I'm currently at Metz in my my journeyman-save (year 2038 now), and I'm trying to use only players that have come through the ranks at the club. Just finished my 3rd season in the club and got then to Euro cup. In the last game of the season there were 6 players in the starting eleven who have con through the academy at Metz. And 3 more at the bench. Four of the starting eleven players were even born in Metz(!).

I'm Strugling to get any good defenders/goalies from intakes...I have 5 midfielders that are very promising, but only 2 defenders and one goalie (and he wil never be good enough for a starting eleven place).

Now I'm getting rid of 5 players in the summer and plan to buy only 1 or 2 players and then promote my 3 brightes talents from my U19s team.

Looking forward to Europe. I think that it will take me 3-4 years to get me a starting eleven that has only Metz-grown players.

It actually sounds quite fun, to be able to compete with a majority of local players. I haven't played FM12 with the new youth intake system that much, but based on previous versions and a 5 season run in serie a; it seems to be very rare to get youths from the academy that actually has the potential to make it as a squad player in the top divisions in europe, and naturally even rarer to get academy players that can compete with the best players in the divisions?

Don't sign any players, no matter how tempting it is.

Or what Bababui said actually.

Is this possible? I've had my premier league team youth system maxed out (both coaching and network which supposedly look for a youth talents in wider area) for a couple of years now and the only decent player that I've got is one GK that could be a good GK in EPL but by no means a world class, the rest of the players had been CL/very average EPL quality players... I'm pretty sure I won't be able to stay up in the EPL if I have to rely on youth system alone

Sorry for straying from topic

Is this possible? I've had my premier league team youth system maxed out (both coaching and network which supposedly look for a youth talents in wider area) for a couple of years now and the only decent player that I've got is one GK that could be a good GK in EPL but by no means a world class, the rest of the players had been CL/very average EPL quality players... I'm pretty sure I won't be able to stay up in the EPL if I have to rely on youth system alone

Sorry for straying from topic

It was probably easier for me as I only relied on youth players from tier 8 to now tier 3. It can be a bit challenging for an established team, but I nurtured my youth products from humble beginnings so they improved and got better and the individuals improved, the team got a lot better, got promoted a few tiers, and then we got more money to get better facilities and junior coaching, and now the club is run like a well oiled machine that's only getting better.

It actually sounds quite fun, to be able to compete with a majority of local players. I haven't played FM12 with the new youth intake system that much, but based on previous versions and a 5 season run in serie a; it seems to be very rare to get youths from the academy that actually has the potential to make it as a squad player in the top divisions in europe, and naturally even rarer to get academy players that can compete with the best players in the divisions?

I think that it depends very much what team you are managing. Of course all the facilities have an impact too. I'm actually trying to invest everything to improve my facilities to the top. But even the best facilities don't guarantee top youngsters. I've been managing Man City, Real Madrid and Fiorentina in my save before Metz, and Metz has by far the best youngsters. My facilities and youth coaching etc. are not even at the top yet and still I manage to get 1-4 potential future first team players/ year. I have 4 top talents right now. All the big clubs are interested in signing those. Arsenal offered 5M for one of my midfielders, but I refused.

I didn't get this with other clubs. In Man City, which had the top facilities. I managed to get one huge talent in 4 seasons, a striker that eventually became Englands number 9. In Real Madrid I had a few. Managed them 5 seasons. And I think I got about 1-2 top talents in a season. The same thing was with Fiorentina, managed for 5 seasons and got like 1-2 top talents in a season.

So I think that Metz has some kind of hidden "quality youngsters" thing...I know that they have a good academy IRL...I'm anxious to see who good players I can train when I get the facilities to top level

Mine are fairly basic, tbh.

-Maximum transfer offer is £10m.

-Maximum transfer of 3m for young players unless they are good enough to start.

-Maximum wage budget of £700k a week.

-Maximum wage of £55k a week unless they are a club Legend.

-Never allow transfers to put the club in the red. If in red, players must be sold.

-Never spend the entire transfer budget.

I usually have a save game where when I win 3 championships in a row, I stop bringing in players (even free transfers), and see how long it takes for me to get fired relying solely on products of my own youth academy. When I get fired, I take on a new club and do the same.

I am toying with the idea of starting a game where I take all the advice given by my "experts" in all the team meetings regarding change player status, training levels, etc. I wonder just how long one could play before the club was in real chaos?

1). Never reload games (except for crash dumps)

2). No unrealistic signings

3). Squad is made up for mostly local players

4). No cheating (I don't use FMRTE)

5). Not buying players recommended by others (I scout them myself or rely on scouting reports)