some questions from an old player

[eXistenZ]

Last FM i played was FM10. FM11 just didnt happen, and i bought FIFA 12 last year (and one football game is enough). But because of the rubbish career mode in FIFA, it made me think back on how good FM is. So ive downloaded the demo of FM12, and having my way a bit with it, as preparation for FM13 (which im certainly gonna buy). But i got some questions for you, players who have the full game, fully patched.

- I immediatly hd problems with a few players: 2 were homesick, and 3 werent happy because they didnt play enough (because the belgian competition doesnt have that many rounds at the start). i know what to do about those 3 (correctly change team status), but about the other 2: does homesickness happens a lot. cause its a bit gamebreaking, especially cause it arent my transfers. i send them on holiday, but that doesnt help.

- finances and club development. is it a bit better than in FM10? cause i played with a BSS team a career of like 15 years, promoting 4 tiers. but sponsor money and attendance didnt rise in correlation. Same with the career i have in the demo: im losing 300k a month, despite staying within salaray budget (which is the best you can do in your first season). is it better balanced, especially towards the end of the season?

- you now have those different moods in which you can do teamtalks and other talks. do they matter much, unless you go to the extremes? cause only a few players react, and very often none.

and now a general question: was the game playable when it came out? cause i remember FM08, which was horrible untill the second patch cause your strikers missed 20 chanches.

thanks

[M.U.F.C....TSVR]

Well I would say it varies, differing on people's experience within. Team talks depend on your starting words, and the performance at half time. As for players missing chances, its still really annoying. I wont give all my examples, but it is frustrating. I've never come across a homesick player but I rotate my squad and anyone who tries to force me to play em by moaning, gets sold lol. I expect club developtment is better, as a big club starter I cant really say much. There is a decline in youth facilities and training facilities but you can renew them by making an immediate request. Hope this helps

[Lower Leagues Rule]

I can't speak for England as I haven't played a game there in 2-3 iterations of FM, but in continental Europe the lower league clubs lose money hand over foot, it is generally not til you get to the higher leagues that you start to make money. The Sponsorship deals do improve better than they used too, though they only generally increase at the end of a deal. I believe now you can also get additional sponsorship deals more regularly as well, my current game is with Parla in Spain, we started at the bottom and now are making plenty of money in La Liga, I broke even the level below.

Team talks can work wonders with your morale. As for the Team meetings, the thing there is generally you only want to do them when on a bad run, or if you start to drop off after flying high, because if you do slip and say the wrong thing it can destroy your season.

[eXistenZ]

I can't speak for England as I haven't played a game there in 2-3 iterations of FM, but in continental Europe the lower league clubs lose money hand over foot, it is generally not til you get to the higher leagues that you start to make money. The Sponsorship deals do improve better than they used too, though they only generally increase at the end of a deal. I believe now you can also get additional sponsorship deals more regularly as well, my current game is with Parla in Spain, we started at the bottom and now are making plenty of money in La Liga, I broke even the level below.

Team talks can work wonders with your morale. As for the Team meetings, the thing there is generally you only want to do them when on a bad run, or if you start to drop off after flying high, because if you do slip and say the wrong thing it can destroy your season.

i was playing wit zultewaregem (belgian mid-lower table), and lost a few 100k every month, so hat was quite bad. i loved a game i had in FM10 with a BSS club though, o i would like to hear what people's experiences are with it.

About the playability: i didnt have FM untill after a few months after release. How was the playability of FM12 at release?

[avine]

I guess you would agree that it is fundamental for you to buy FM first and be a part of it. In every version or patch it is getting better and there are a lot of exercises regarding the management of any club that will test you and some of them you mention here.

[Kenco]

Don't worry about losing money monthly because income is not evenly spread across the year, most of it comes in the summer through prize money and season tickets. If you are losing money on an annual basis, then you have a problem.

Homesick players wouldn't be a gamebreaker, just send them on a leave of absence. If they are still unhappy then sell them.

I found the playability at release to be fine, not really noticed much difference since patching.

[Jops14]

Id say finances and club development are better. Ive just taken Billericay from the BSS to prem in about 6 years and sponsorships i had a bit of trouble with, on account of my board signing stupidly long deals, but once they expired i have been getting better deals more in line with my rep 9could be better though) and attendances have definately risen i fill out my 18,000 stadium each week, i really need a bigger one. I check my max attendance with fmrte to have a look, its gone from about 8000 to 35,000 so yeah it works.

personally ifind the teamtalk and moods depend on your rep, once you have won a few things players start to react to almost anything you say in a positive manner (short of passionately saying they;ve been great at a 5-0 half time deficit)

[BiggusD]

I haven't experienced much homesickness. Players are still not complaining nearly enough compared to real life; most would be content to stay at one club the rest of their careers regardless of playing time or contract value.

In FM12 sponsorships are dynamic; although it takes decades to catch up on the likes of Manchester United if you are a small club rising from below (if ever). I am the second/third richest club in the world after Barcelona and Manchester City, as Bradford season 12. As said above, I didn't make money until the Premier League, though, and didn't become rich before I had battled in the Champions League for a few years.

No player reacts to any human-controlled team talk the first season or two: you need to earn their trust and admiration first. It is a matter of reputation.

FM 12 is better than both FM10 and FM11. I dislike the reputation system and lack of AI squad building ability, though - both have remained the same for years.

[eXistenZ]

thanks all, usefull advice, especially about the teamtalks and the finances.

FM 12 is better than both FM10 and FM11. I dislike the reputation system and lack of AI squad building ability, though - both have remained the same for years.

what do you mean by that? i remember from FM10 that reputation wasnt exactly good following of your achievements with the club

EDIT: another question: is training a bit decent? ok i havent looked at it very hard (just went for assistent option), but 3 months in i get a message "there is concern in the developmennt of player x in tactical view" (loosely translated). I look at his stats, almost all of them went down, despite being 26

[BiggusD]

thanks all, usefull advice, especially about the teamtalks and the finances.



what do you mean by that? i remember from FM10 that reputation wasnt exactly good following of your achievements with the club

EDIT: another question: is training a bit decent? ok i havent looked at it very hard (just went for assistent option), but 3 months in i get a message "there is concern in the developmennt of player x in tactical view" (loosely translated). I look at his stats, almost all of them went down, despite being 26

Reputation is one of the core mechanics in the game. It influences everything from transfers, AI tactical choices and player interaction to morale/motivation, team talks and board behaviour. I think it is too central in this game, especially since they decided to force their customers to play in "career mode" by making the starting reputation you choose at the beginning of the game insufficient to enable managers to motivate their players. Apparently, SI believes that "people play FM in order to build themselves an impressive CV in the game". Sadly, the only ones who think that way are a couple of hundred "purists" who frequent these boards, while the other few million people who bought the game manage clubs.

The only thing training does is to allocate CA points gained through either playing football (well) or special events. It does not make players better on its own, with the exception of general physical fitness/form. I don't know exactly how CA is lost, but lack of playing time, poor form, injuries, exhaustion, poor hidden attributes like Professionalism and Ambition, plus possible other factors I don't know about will set off randomized spells of poor training periods which can be turned around by starting a private chat with them and criticice their effort in training. Every player will encounter these, but they are very rare for professional and ambitious players. Pay attention to the monthly assistant report on training, and warn anyone who has not impressed, including useless 16-year-olds - just to maintain discipline (maybe SI has programed bad attitudes to spread like a disease!).

[eXistenZ]

yeah i understand what you mean by it very important, but i assume that its better than in previous games (where you would gain little reputation from promoting a lot of times, leading to poor sponsorship deals).

yeah he was injured a few weeks, and i let him start on the bench after that. but the belgian competition only has one game a week at the start, so thats why he barely played. i was still schocked at seeing almost al his stats drop though. but i will pay more attention to it in fm13.

for the moment im browsing the BSS and BSN to see who im gonna take next year

[BiggusD]

yeah i understand what you mean by it very important, but i assume that its better than in previous games (where you would gain little reputation from promoting a lot of times, leading to poor sponsorship deals).

yeah he was injured a few weeks, and i let him start on the bench after that. but the belgian competition only has one game a week at the start, so thats why he barely played. i was still schocked at seeing almost al his stats drop though. but i will pay more attention to it in fm13.

for the moment im browsing the BSS and BSN to see who im gonna take next year

Notice that red arrows in the training screen does not mean that his attributes have dropped by a full point. If you click on an attribute you will see a chart where the drop could be for 0,1 points, unlike in earlier games.

[wwfan]

Apparently, SI believes that "people play FM in order to build themselves an impressive CV in the game". Sadly, the only ones who think that way are a couple of hundred "purists" who frequent these boards, while the other few million people who bought the game manage clubs.

Wow! That's some Facebook network you have!

[eXistenZ]

Notice that red arrows in the training screen does not mean that his attributes have dropped by a full point. If you click on an attribute you will see a chart where the drop could be for 0,1 points, unlike in earlier games.

ah thats indeed new. i will pay attention to that in future.

ok, new question: ive seen that FMRTE is now paying. which is a shame cause i always used it do upgrade my staff a little (cause im only average at judging qualities, and for judging potential you need the scouts). i asume there is no free alternative around?

[wardog]

ah thats indeed new. i will pay attention to that in future.

ok, new question: ive seen that FMRTE is now paying. which is a shame cause i always used it do upgrade my staff a little (cause im only average at judging qualities, and for judging potential you need the scouts). i asume there is no free alternative around?

I tried to get FMTRE and found the same issue, apparently theres a free version but i cant find it. Only want to change one thing whcih is a graphical error with my name, when starting i mistyped my name as Cam[pbell and want to remove the [. After that id unistall again.

No offence the the lads who im sure work hard on FMRTE for the people that do use it, i dont want to be paying for such a simple change

[eXistenZ]

so there is no alternative i asume?