What is the point of holidaying?

[omaroo]

I have never holidayed anyone of my FM games, and was curious why do people do it, I have read some do it to advance in years to see how the game evolves. Would love to know the reasons.

[Barside]

I use the holiday feature for a few reasons.

1. Advance a season to allow me to take over at a newly promoted side
2. Get to the season update point while I cook myself some dinner
3. Just been sacked & waiting for a new job, no point just hitting continue if the auto-apply function works
4. There's an international break & like #3 I can't be bothered to hit continue for 10 game days when I could be off doing something else

[afced7]

I think the reason it was first put in the game was so people could continue a big network game if somebody wasn't available.

[gmcker]

I holiday through matches as I don't have time to sit and tinker every 90 minute game. I select the players I want to take the field and effectively press go. This way I can progress through the game in the limited hours life gives me to play.

[Jops14]

1. International breaks, never really much news so i can do stuff on internet and skip those 10 days. (Unless im managing internationally of course)
2. If im a top side i sometimes use it to skip easy cup games.
3. In lower leagues i do it once ive sown up the title as the results dont matter then and the 46 game calenders can take a while, im too excited for new season. I just recently wrapped up the BSP with 8 games to go so holidayed until a cup final.

[Ryknow]

I never holiday games but I did holiday my current save to get past the first 18 months because I didn't want to start again. I then retired the manager and added mine to the club I wanted to manage. I find the 1st season pretty boring when I need to start another save.

[Eugene Tyson]

When you get in about 70 seasons it can be very tedious to play every single game that comes your way. I've in charge at clubs for 50 seasons and at least 10 seasons in I've already got the best squad in the world. So 40 more of those seasons watching your team destroy teams in Cup matches or even in League matches against **** poor competition.


At the end of the day it's there for you if you want it. Some people only do an international career - so they can holiday until their next friendly match or whatever. I've done the International Manager only thing before. It was kinda exciting, I managed something like 15 different nations in a 40 year career; bringing World Cup, European Cup, Confederations Cup and other cups to the most unlikely teams.

[Anti Spiral]

I've used it in the past when my team are completely exhausted (70-80% condition) and I just can't be bothered watching them get destroyed. ;-)

Though my current save is 12 seasons in and I'm yet to use it.

[Kenco]

1. In multiplayer games when somebody isn't available, the others can continue the game.
2. Editing projects - As a big user of the editor, the holiday function is vital for testing the database changes to see if things continue to work many years into the game.

[t-zolla]

I use it to holiday between games, picks up the pace for me and only do it out of transfer windows, so not much happens anyway

[Eugene Tyson]

I might use it when I've already won the leauge in end May / start April - so I holiday to the cup games.

[x42bn6]

To get rid of real players.

[jayahr]

I regularly holiday the game for 3 or 4 years at the start because I find it too repetitive otherwise. Always the same players available for transfer and often the same players turn out to be the best possible signings for a large bandwith of clubs (e.g. Bandalovski or Nelson from CSKA Sofia).

By holidaying I have more variation at the game start, can look for a nice challenge at a club which underperformed so far and have the first regens in an age at which they can start games and thus add more variation and excitement to scouting.

For other purposes I can't see myself using that option either, but I guess many casual gamers may want to speed a bit through perceivedly boring parts of a season.

[jayahr]

When you get in about 70 seasons it can be very tedious to play every single game that comes your way. I've in charge at clubs for 50 seasons and at least 10 seasons in I've already got the best squad in the world. So 40 more of those seasons watching your team destroy teams in Cup matches or even in League matches against **** poor competition.

fwiw I would rather consider starting a new game when my save bores me so much that I cannot bother to attend my matches. What is it that keeps you away from that?

[Eugene Tyson]

Getting to the top of the Richest Clubs List - starting with a very poor club. The only goal is to be the richest club. As long as I'm winning games and competitions I don't care.

Important thing is to sign young players, and sell them off with 50% of next transfer fee. Or I could sell players off for loads of money.


Basically I wouldn't be technically the Football Manager, as the Assistant Manager basically does my job. I am more of a Director role. Overseeing the signing and selling of players - asking for club improvements, stadium resizing, rebuilding etc.

It's quite a challenge to topple the Spanish giants from the top of the Worlds Richest Clubs.

[kevhamster]

I only use it if I am between jobs and want to auto-apply for any job which becomes available, or sometimes when I want to whizz through the part of the end of season break when all the players are on holiday.

[Wyer]

I use it mainly for later games.
Its great building your team but once you've built it, it kinda can be boring until you can move into that new ground.
Got a great save with Parma atm, I norm do my transfers, play up to the close of the 1st window then holiday till Jan. Then its game on as norm.

[marty78]

Use to use it but no longer do. I found the instant continue in the preferances and have not looked back. Stops when a decision is required unlike holidaying.

[SRL88]

To get through the dragging months during the off-season when there is literally nothing to do other than press space bar.

[hursty2]

I just holidayed most of the annoying 3 month winter break in Denmark!

[Things Could Get Messi]

Holidayed until 2018 myself just so I could have a start where clubs are in different leagues, plenty of regens, don't know who needs to be scouted, etc. There are only so many times I can start in 2011 and see the same things before it annoys me.

[cpfc543]

I holiday between games unless it is a transfer window and then I will just keep on hitting continue.

[AcidBurn]

I holiday between games and sometimes I holiday for 100 years to see what has happened in the FM world.

[stevie_G_32201]

Use to use it but no longer do. I found the instant continue in the preferances and have not looked back. Stops when a decision is required unlike holidaying.

There is an instant continue?

[dafuge]

I use the holiday feature for a few reasons.

1. Advance a season to allow me to take over at a newly promoted side
3. Just been sacked & waiting for a new job, no point just hitting continue if the auto-apply function works

These two for me as well. Other than these I wouldn't use it, I don't like the idea of skipping things I usually take care of as manager.

[Oxslow]

I dont holiday. If I want to do a Dafudge's Gundo's Challenge I will cancel adding the manager continue the game for a year then add my self. No holidayman for me.

[marty78]

There is an instant continue?

Yep. You can set the game to continue after 5 seconds, 2 seconds or instantly. It will also scroll through your inbox for you.

[bolulu]

I holiday through matches as I don't have time to sit and tinker every 90 minute game. I select the players I want to take the field and effectively press go. This way I can progress through the game in the limited hours life gives me to play.

Exactly! I've been playing this since 2007 & no longer need to watch the games. Want to get through the seasons quickly to enjoy end-of-season transfer activity.

[Kenco]

I dont holiday. If I want to do a Dafudge's Gundo's Challenge I will cancel adding the manager continue the game for a year then add my self. No holidayman for me.

Dafudge

[BenArsenal]

Everybody needs a break sometimes.

[looknohands]

Exactly! I've been playing this since 2007 & no longer need to watch the games. Want to get through the seasons quickly to enjoy end-of-season transfer activity.

Even though I don't use the holiday feature (due to the game's nasty habit of gutting MLS teams if you leave them in charge for a second) I agree with the games being of lesser interest than the end of season stuff. I view the actual season as a chore that I have to go through in order to get the rewards of the off season.

[Chicha_14]

I holiday between games unless it is a transfer window and then I will just keep on hitting continue.

Same as this, don't see the point in sitting there and hitting continue a load of times in between a match when 95% of the time I have no interest in any of the news.

[dafuge]

Dafudge

Showing his age there, I thought it was just Powlay that still calls me that

[Oxslow]

Sorry dafuge typo.

[Kenco]

I think Dafudge is going to stick.

[Ranquelme]

I don't holiday. Unless its an international break.

[omaroo]

Great to read your guys holidaying habits. Thats the thing I have never done it, even in off season I just like to go through everything, do most people here holiday in off/pre season.

Marty what exactly is this instant continue and how do I enable it.

[BiggusD]

I don't usually holiday other than in pre-season June, but the current season (10th) of my Bradford save, because of the database-bloating bug, I am actually holidaying between matches. It just takes too long to wait for the processing, so I tend to do other things while waiting anyway. Holidaying is more efficient. I have removed several leagues so I hope that given some time the database will decrease to a manageable size.

[Fabio MVP]

It is each to their own, but that is one feature I have never used and I never will. I don't it at all. It's quite unrealitisc as well.

[dafuge]

It's quite unrealitisc as well.

For an employed manager maybe, but you can also be unemployed in FM.

[Fabio MVP]

For an employed manager maybe, but you can also be unemployed in FM.

That's a valid point TBH, but unemployed manager is surely anyway always on holiday?

[dafuge]

That's a valid point TBH, but unemployed manager is surely anyway always on holiday?

You still have your news subscriptions, so you still need to go through those to progress through time. That doesn't quite compare with lying on a beach in the Bahamas

[marty78]

Great to read your guys holidaying habits. Thats the thing I have never done it, even in off season I just like to go through everything, do most people here holiday in off/pre season.

Marty what exactly is this instant continue and how do I enable it.

Go into preferances and it is under the first tab (general) and is called "continue game timeout". It is just above the save game options.

[omaroo]

Ye I agree with you Fabio MVP. I wouldnt really holiday, maybe if im unemployed then I may try it, but I never have so I doubt it.

Thanks marty, but what do you get out of "instant continue".

[marty78]

Ye I agree with you Fabio MVP. I wouldnt really holiday, maybe if im unemployed then I may try it, but I never have so I doubt it.

Thanks marty, but what do you get out of "instant continue".

Well unless there is an inbox message that needs a response, such as press conference, then it will continue the game for you all the way up to the submit squad screen. This means I can browse the net or something while the days are processed without having to keep pressing continue. I can also watch the screen and it will read through my inbox and then I just to stop it if a message interests me.

[omaroo]

Oh okay, but what you miss alot of important message or not.

[marty78]

You can if you don't watch your screen as they scroll through. The only real thing to look out for is your staff getting poached. If you are not watching you don't have time to counter offer. I don't really care though as staff are easily replaced and it is very rare.

[Kuchiki]

I go on holiday for realism I think most managers are allowed at least around 20 days annual holiday a year.

[bolulu]

Only holidays I ever take are on game day itself to avoid watching the match. I pick the team, set the tactics, then take the day off & come back & see how they did. Helps me get through the season quicker so I can get really involved with the end of season transfer merry-go-round. Player transfers, team improvement, end of season, really is my favourite part of the game.

[Eugene Tyson]

It's quite unrealitisc as well.

So is being a professional manager of a football team

[Fabio MVP]

So is being a professional manager of a football team

Congratulations on missing the point.

[x42bn6]

So is being a professional manager of a football team

This argument, if valid, could be applied to every single complaint about realism, even if it is valid.

"Heskey just scored 30 goals against Barcelona in my game! This is unrealistic!"
"So is being a professional manager of a football team."

[Richey2008]

I think 'holiday' is a misnomer. It should be called 'auto-continue' or something like that. I have 2 kids and a busy job so i only play maybe 5 hours a week these days so it's a good option to pass the time when not a lot happens - i.e. international breaks and end of season. Whenever i click the holiday button i like to imagine i'm on a working holiday, dragging the wife to madagascar on a 'scouting misson'

[Mechanizator]

I spend on holidays 8-10% of my gametime. The main reason is to save the real time in low important periods of game. For example, if I have 4 games in those I need to collect only 4 points, and opponents are not strong I prefer to go on holiday. It will save me an hour of real time.

I never holiday in off-season because the main transfer activities occur in this time. Chairman can occassionally sell your best players, some clubs can occassionally release some good players, and you should not loose moment.

[andrew bowditch]

Holiday while unemployed for first 3-4 seasons so the older players are retired and there is a decent amount of unknown regens in the game with semi-developed CA. Then retire and re-add myself into the game at that point.

[omaroo]

So you guys holiday in matches and not watch them, what if there are injuries and what about substitutes.

Andrew how can you re add yourself when retired.

[Jolanthustrel]

Assistant manager takes care of it.

Essentially he sets up a dummy manager to start the game then creates a new manager when he's ready to play and removes the old manager.

[achilles-the-victorious]

I love scouting and transfers as much as anyone, but at this point my squads are stock full of undeveloped talents, and for the most part I refuse to sign the finished article. So really, for me the challenge is to win titles AND simultaneously develop youth. Its a lot of fun, and makes me look forward to actually playing the season, not just wanting to get it over with. The small games are where you decide how much risk do you take, how many youngsters do you give a run out (and still expect to win, seeing as the point is still to win titles)?

Even though I don't use the holiday feature (due to the game's nasty habit of gutting MLS teams if you leave them in charge for a second) I agree with the games being of lesser interest than the end of season stuff. I view the actual season as a chore that I have to go through in order to get the rewards of the off season.

[rancer890]

Going on holiday also serves as a way of getting through some nasty crash dumps. I've had to holiday through some matches because the game kept crashing after the match was over.

[Macharius]

I only go on Holiday when I'm out of the job and want to hurry the time along until the next offer.

[Kenco]

I love scouting and transfers as much as anyone, but at this point my squads are stock full of undeveloped talents, and for the most part I refuse to sign the finished article. So really, for me the challenge is to win titles AND simultaneously develop youth. Its a lot of fun, and makes me look forward to actually playing the season, not just wanting to get it over with. The small games are where you decide how much risk do you take, how many youngsters do you give a run out (and still expect to win, seeing as the point is still to win titles)?

Same for me; the so-called unimportant matches take on greater significance as they are key to developing my youth players. Unfortunately in my world league I only get about 2 easy games a season!

[Swiifteh]

If you leave a Team you have to Holiday and select Accept any job offer. It saves waiting for a job to be offered and just clicking continue to look at dull news.
Also the end of season wait. In England always skip it to July 20th. So it doesn't take forever to skip, and also enough time to place offers.

[tylerazevedo]

I've found it's a greater challenge to build a squad and let the AI control my team in games. It's too easy to coach games once your team gets really good. I also have a huge database that takes my machine about 6 hours to simulate an entire year. Since I've basically turned Borussia Dortmund into Barcelona (seriously only .3B left to catch up to them in the richest department) I just scout every single player and then simulate to June 1st and sign all the players I want.

I do pick the first team and tactics though. I found the AI was too stupid to win with my team unless I told it what tactics and who to use. FYI, I haven't won the champions league yet, but I've won the first division for the last 8 years straight and I usually make it to the semis in the champ league. One time I did make it to the final, but lost 2-1 to Arsenal in 2018.

Edit: dear lord I hope us Gooners don't have to wait that long before we win the champions league trophy.

[marty78]

Matches are my favorite part of the game. I bet you would of won a few Champions Leagues if you played the matches. I try to get through the off-season as quickly as possible and don't search for players manually and just use the reports my scouts have accumulated. Once I've got a top squad I don't make many signings anyway. The only matches I don't watch are friendlies as they are just for fitness. I probably get through off-season in about an hour or so.

Its funny how differently people play the game.

[toon army 06]

I use it between games to get to the next game.

[scott MUFC]

international breaks, nothing more annoying then stopping 20 times per game week for updates on international games

[tylerazevedo]

Matches are my favorite part of the game. I bet you would of won a few Champions Leagues if you played the matches. I try to get through the off-season as quickly as possible and don't search for players manually and just use the reports my scouts have accumulated. Once I've got a top squad I don't make many signings anyway. The only matches I don't watch are friendlies as they are just for fitness. I probably get through off-season in about an hour or so.

Its funny how differently people play the game.

I do enjoy matches. I've been playing like this for years though. Whenever I actually want to win the Champions League, I actually play the matches once I get to the later stages. It's just that I want to win because my team is unbeatable, not because I'm a better manager than some goofy AI.

Edit: I guess I could say I'm more of a GM & scout than a manager.

[omaroo]

So if you have injuries in holiday mode the assistant sorts it out.

I do like playing matches, I just wouldnt feel the same if I holiday the season or matches.

[achilles-the-victorious]

I holiday to match day, because once I have rested the players that need rest (or morale improvement), what else is there for me to do in the 3 days between games? Press conference? Been to thousands already, no thanks. Scouting? Transfers? Tactics? Pretty much everything is taken care of. I am constantly checking out the opposition, their tactics, their top players, so there is no need to do that in the three days leading up, I can just do a quick check on match day to see who is injured for them, their most recent formation and results, and off to the match we go.

It lets me power through the useless messages a lot quicker and with a lot less space bar.

[thomit]

Holidaying is nice when you're fed up with managing for a while, and would rather play more as a hands-on chairman. Buy and sell players, but leave the tactics and everything else to the ass. man. Or rather, it was nice - but now you no longer get the credit for a successful season (or a bad one), but rather your as.man gets credited. The game used to not be aware that it was actually your ass.man in charge of most things managewise, but now it does. With a good ass.man you could very well win stuff as well - hell, sometimes he did better than I could. I used to holiday for 1 day immediately before the next match, leaving everything about the match up to the ass.man, then "come back" after the match to take care of things, whealing and dealing.
Not everyone's cup of tea, I'm sure - but it helped pass the time when I was a bit tired of all the micro-managing.

[Clarky323]

I have never used the holiday option but having read some of the replies on this thread I might use it more often, how long would it take to skip through a 2 week international break then? I always get bored during these!

[coopie54]

well, this thread has enlightened me to a new way to get through those seasons a bit quicker, and now I feel that getting into 2020 in my game is a possibility before FM13 is released! cheers guys!

[Fusion 123]

I usually holiday in the off-season once i've tied up all player contracts and bought/sold all the players i want. The annoying part is when coaching staff depart without my knowledge.

[Ackter]

So I don't have to bother with the matches.