Letting the DOF sign the players

[DavidWaters]

Because I find the game too easy these days I've decided to do a save where the dof signs the players.

 

Have any of you done this before? How did it go? Did you do anything specific to implement it?

[Cmdr Christoff]

Yes I do.  I let him handle all transfers in and out, but I've had to cancel some of his recommendations as we have plenty of cover in those positions.  Also, he has a tendency to want to let players go too cheaply, so I have to keep an eye on that too!

 

I did read his actions are tied into the squad planner, so I think you need to keep that updated.

 

 I don't think he agreed with the previous Manager getting the sack, so he's maybe trying to stitch me up!  

[kingjericho]

I did a DOF save back in FM21. He was a fan of wingers  and I only had one right back.

It was ok for short term squad building, but if you want to develop youngsters and have a truly balanced squad it's far from perfect. But it can be a fun challenge nonetheless.

[FrazT]

I just had 2 players from my youth intake who wanted extravagant playing time and exorbitant wage demands before signing and wouldn't negotiate down from them and so I had walked away from the negotiations.  Just as they were about to be released, I was given the option to let the DoF negotiate and he got them both to sign the bare minimum youth contracts- Wow!  Maybe I will use him in specific circumstances from here

[janrzm]

The idea of playing the game with DOF that has good AI behind it's decision making is so appealing. As it stands I just don't think it's a viable option if you value realism in your saves. 

[tezcatlipoca665]

They make very poor choices. It doesn't matter if they have 20 in every applicable attribute. I've tested it.

[Dwimmerlaike]

I tend to work with them. I give them the targets to bring in and who to sell. Don't fancy giving them free reign to bring in who they want.

[phnompenhandy]

There are intriguing DoF challenges on YouTube. Following one or two should give you a good idea.

[JimmysTheBestCop]

The problem with DoF or even youth academy saves are they are BORING. In trying to increase challenge level you eliminated huge parts of game mechanics which actually gives the human less game to play with it. 

Does challenge go up? Sure. But you aren't playing 100% of the FM game. 

I would suggest a challenge that still allows you access to full game. I mean you are paying for a full game so why play half. 

Build a nation or extended English 10 tier. 

But remember unless nothing you do or enact will change game difficulty. 

Like any tycoon game once it's figured out it will always be easy. You can challenge yourself and the challenge can have different levels of challenge but the overall game difficulty will still be easy for you. 

Game difficulty and game challenge are 2 completely different things. 

[DavidWaters]

If I do a recruitment drive via the squad planner (say I ask for a left back) will the dof actually try to sign one of those players that they find do you know?

[phnompenhandy]

6 hours ago, JimmysTheBestCop said:

The problem with DoF or even youth academy saves are they are BORING.

Shame your imagination is so limited. I've been doing Youth Academy saves for a decade - have I been bored the whole time?

I don't do full-fat careers where I can manipulate squad building, player search and full sight of attributes of staff and players I've never heard of to dominate AI clubs because winning all the time holds no interest for me. Starting at level 10 is easy if you exploit all those advantages too. Giving yourself a challenge is an ideal method of building a long term challenge with reasonable difficulty build in.

[DavidWaters]

4 minutes ago, phnompenhandy said:

Shame your imagination is so limited. I've been doing Youth Academy saves for a decade - have I been bored the whole time?

I don't do full-fat careers where I can manipulate squad building, player search and full sight of attributes of staff and players I've never heard of to dominate AI clubs because winning all the time holds no interest for me. Starting at level 10 is easy if you exploit all those advantages too. Giving yourself a challenge is an ideal method of building a long term challenge with reasonable difficulty build in.

Fully agree

[Hovis Dexter]

17 hours ago, FrazT said:

I just had 2 players from my youth intake who wanted extravagant playing time and exorbitant wage demands before signing and wouldn't negotiate down from them and so I had walked away from the negotiations.  Just as they were about to be released, I was given the option to let the DoF negotiate and he got them both to sign the bare minimum youth contracts- Wow!  Maybe I will use him in specific circumstances from here

I've had exactly the same. I usually press the button to get the DoF to sign all recommended players from the youth intake and I've never had any problems but when I've started the negotiations myself I've sometimes faced silly requests.

[JimmysTheBestCop]

27 minutes ago, phnompenhandy said:

Shame your imagination is so limited. I've been doing Youth Academy saves for a decade - have I been bored the whole time?

I don't do full-fat careers where I can manipulate squad building, player search and full sight of attributes of staff and players I've never heard of to dominate AI clubs because winning all the time holds no interest for me. Starting at level 10 is easy if you exploit all those advantages too. Giving yourself a challenge is an ideal method of building a long term challenge with reasonable difficulty build in.

So you come out right out firing personal attacks. Alrighty then

[ejleal]

In the last saves i've done, i let the DOF take care of transfers and negotiating players, with me having the final say, in order to avoid having too many players for one position or to block really bad ones.

I like it, because it levels the playing field with the AI a bit. He does find good players and tends to cover the positions you're weaker (i've heard he is better at this if you keep the squad planner updated but i haven't tested). A downside is that he tends to do many of the signings close to the transfer deadline.

 

[Pafnus]

İ usually use dof to make transfers .it gives huge realism

[Brasilia88]

Finding, signing and developing players is my favorite thing of the game. I can't see the joy in it to receive a bunch of dudes and you have to make it work. Not to mention the difficulty I, as a human, have with finding decent backs....

[fc.cadoni]

0 attempts to sign any U19 players, so far.

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Transfer & Wage Budget

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DoF Profile

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Don't understand what I have to do, in order to make offers.

If I will go to Scouting > Players In Range > Add Age Until 19 and Interested to Join

89K+ players, until 19 y/o want to join my club; and especially the first ones are extreme excellent for future; but DoF does nothing.

 

[silentwars]

I've tried leaving DoF to transfers for my youth sides a few times and I can't think of one time when they've tried to sign anyone with any real potential. 

At this stage it's better just asking for recommendations and looking at your scout reports and then doing the transfers yourself. I'm hoping SI improve this element of the game in years to come because it would help add to the realism of the game if you're managing a club where the dof is responsible for transfers irl. 

[Ein]

I don't do it either. I like to have full control over my team. What I enjoy most in the game is finding, buying and developing my own players, and implementing and maintaining a sound squad hierarchy and wage structure.

[janrzm]

There's definitely been previous versions of the game where you could get your DOF to pick up young players then either let them complete or cancel. They'd occasionally try to sign someone decent.  

[Andrew Marines]

Il 27/1/2024 in 00:53 , fc.cadoni ha scritto:

0 attempts to sign any U19 players, so far.

====

Transfer & Wage Budget

====

DoF Profile

====

Don't understand what I have to do, in order to make offers.

If I will go to Scouting > Players In Range > Add Age Until 19 and Interested to Join

89K+ players, until 19 y/o want to join my club; and especially the first ones are extreme excellent for future; but DoF does nothing.

 

For the youth teams, I'm using the hoyd.

He obviously won't buy 20-30 youth players but in a market session he bought Two 18 y/o, two 19 y/o and one 15 y/o

[Hovis Dexter]

I set up the DoF to sign new players but I have the final say. Here is a player for whom he had a bid accepted

Basically, I'm given virtually no useful information about other than the position he plays. So, IMO the recommendation is pretty useless and there's no point in using the DoF unless you want to give him total control on signings as a role play

Edited February 12 by Hovis Dexter
typo

[tezcatlipoca665]

2 hours ago, Hovis Dexter said:

I set up the DoF to sign new players but I have the final say. Here is a player for whom he had a bid accepted

Basically, I'm given virtually no useful information about other than the position he plays. So, IMO he recommendation is pretty useless and there's no point in using the DoF unless you want to give him total control on signings as a role play

So basically, the DOF will sign players regardless of whether they've been scouted by the club or not. Very cool.

[ChaosReiter]

Here's another info. In my current DoF save, I only have 1 WBR where I need DoF to focus on, and I have 5 WBL in the team. I deleted all WBL in the squad planner to see if it will affect DoF's work. Before the transfer window opens, I saved and reloaded it for 5 times. DoF never sign a WBL for me. So I think squad planner will not affect him.

[Dotsworthy]

Do we know what criteria the DOF will use to sign players? (other than their tendencies of course).

My assumption is that they will meet the signing philosophies of the club but I'm not sure at all that it will do that, and I've seen the squad planner mentioned. Would they target the players formation or their own formation/playing style? Even personality would be relevant as clubs in real life do look at how players will fit in within the club.

One thing I do find annoying about the DOF is that his scout reports will replace the original one by your scout, which is more detailed and will include analysis. Sometimes I'll look for the scout report and the DOF's report has two strengths/weaknesses and that's it. It's infuriating.

 

[Meanonsunday]

Just an individual case but my DoF just offered Fabinho a pre-contract for 275k a week, 40k clean sheet bonus, 8k appearance fee.  My entire wage budget is less than 700k/ week (Brazilian club, Serie A).  Since I had just been forced to sell one of my best players there was probably enough in the transfer budget to shift over to wages to cover it.  But that is insane; half the wage budget to an old player with no transfer value and who would probably take 10% of that if his contract actually expired.