Junkhead

After taking a break from FM for a couple of months having been unable to get into a save - including a few I was intending to update on here - I have come back to it to play my annual summer save. It's a save I start every single year (with some slight differences) and never finish because it's a ridiculous challenge and I play very slowly. Not only that, I start it knowing that I would have to skip at least one version to get it finished. Then the new features are announced, it's almost BETA time, and I get sucked in. And the same might happen again, but I've decided to share this save with you all anyway for the first time. The Aim The premise of the save is a simple one - to ascend to the top of the Hall of Fame. I've never done it. I've only ever got into a nation's hall of fame once, and that was Indonesia whilst playing this challenge. However, my quest to top the HOF is not freeform - it involves me winning 30 specific competitions, touring the world and most importantly - managing in places I never dreamed I would end up. The reason I always start this challenge so late is that it requires a number of additional leagues, and those leagues change each version depending on what is going on in the world of football in real life. The Method After having a look at National League Rankings around the world, I identify which nations I will need to download and add to the game to take the total manageable countries up to 100. This feels like a nice, round number for a massive challenge like this. I then divide these 100 Nations into 18 seperate geographic reasons using the Regions within the game database as a loose guide. There is an excellent online tool which helps me do this & produces a colour coded map; Once I've done this, it's time for a random country generator to generate my manager Nationality, and then a RNG to decide which region I will start in. To complete the challenge, I need to win the league title in a country in each of the 18 regions I have created. I start unemployed, only allowed to apply for jobs in the region that the RNG has given me. I am not allowed to move out of this region until I have won the league title in one of the countries within the region. Once I do, I must resign at the end of that season & use the RNG again & see where I am going next. As well as this though, I also need to win 5 Continental Cups (UEFA Champions League, Libatadores, AFC Champions League, CAF Champions League & North American Champions League). The rule is that I CANNOT attempt to win these competitions until I am in the FINAL continental region within that continent on my Journey. For example, if I started in the South America (North) Region, I could not attempt to win the Libatadores after winning the league, I would need to wait until I ended up in the South America (South) Region. I would then have to stay until I won the Libatadores. As well as this, I also need to win the 5 Continental Cups with National teams (European Championship, Copa America, Asian Cup, AFCON & Gold Cup. There are no limits to when this can be done. This gives me 28 competitions, and the FIFA World Cup & the Club World Cup knock me up to the 30. There are no limits to when this can be done either. The random element is massive because of the rules I set myself. Looking at the two regions in North America, for example, Region 1 includes Canada, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico & the USA. Every time I hit the RNG button I will be praying that number 1 doesn't come out before number 2. If it does, then I will end up needing to win the North American Champions League with a club from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras or Panama - which will clearly make things much harder. Not only that, but within each Region, I have a decision to make. In the UK & Ireland, if I am about to win the league in Wales but am offered a job in England or Scotland, do I stay & tick the region off having won a very low reputation league, or do I move, prolong my stay, and try and win a higher rep league to open up better jobs in my next region, potentially making the overall challenge easier. I love playing this way, love the random element, and love the places I end up managing because of it. And I would love to finish it for once. And I might. Probably not. But I am going to share my journey & hopefully inspire others to embrace the random! For anyone interested, the full details of each of the 18 regions is below, including countries & the number of levels Credit & thank you to @nik33, @Daveincid, @DaveTheEditor, @Robbles Quin ®™, @sporadicsmiles, WonderkidTW, Sudamakers & no doubt others I've forgotten for their files that add realism, immersion as well as those all important additional nations into the game. If anyone wants to know which specific files I am using, give me a shout & I will have a look.

Over the last few weeks there seems to have been a lot of discussion about the limitations of the game when it comes to realism. Some players have said they find the game too simple, whilst others are trying to play realistically but can't due to the limitations of the game. As a serial lurker, it's resulted in me suddenly being far more active on the forums because it's something that is close to my heart. I try to play as realistically as possible at all times. When I load my save, I am no longer a bloke sat in his pants surrounded by three day old takeaway and empty beer cans. I am a football manager. In the dugout. In the dressing room. Sat opposite a chairman who cannot quite believe he has made the mistake of hiring me. Because I am awful. I've been playing the game since the very first Championship Manager and have owned almost all versions, but I'm still rubbish. Part of the reason for that is because my main aim in the game is to play realistically instead of winning at all costs. I have no doubt that this seems crazy to some, however for me it really is the taking part that counts, not just the winning. There used to be an area of the forums for lower league managers that was quite strict on realism, and that is where I first really thought about how I played. I adopted most of those rules, and still use them to this day. I know some of the regular users of that area of the forum are still about, but most no longer post. Having been contacted by a couple of people on DM about "realistic" play, I decided to log this thread so that it can be discussed. My hope is that the thread is visited by people who play in a similar way to me, people who play the LLaMa way, those who are interested in giving it a go, and those who aren't sure what is realistic or not. It's all fine. It isn't for everyone though, and if it isn't for you and you visit, then that's fine too - just say hi and move on The Rules My main concern is that people have fun with their game. It's not my job to set rules for the forum or thread, and for me this thread is about bringing people together. I will not tell you that you are not welcome to come and post here if you do certain things. That has been done on these forums before and it didn't end well. I do have some requests, however; 1- Player naming - if you find a cracking player or hidden gem then feel free to share it in the Good Player & Team area of the forum. But please try to avoid player naming here if possible. If you update us on your saves, just saying "tall striker" is enough so that those who want to know his name can work it out. Maybe they will DM you. However some of us like to find these hidden gems ourselves, so would prefer you didn't share names. 2- General tipping - there are lots of areas of the forum where you can get help on tactics and players, etc. We are interested in your progress, your mistakes, your saves and your thoughts. If you need help from someone as bad as me you're struggling. The point of playing realistically is to learn as you go. Please don't tell someone who is struggling how to resolve it within the thread. Offer to help in DM. They might be grateful but some of us want to work out way around things ourselves. 3- Bugs/overpowered stuff/glitches - as realistically as we want to play, this is a game. Sometimes it will do things which remind us of that. If you get a job offer which you believe isn't realistic, please let the developer know in the bugs forum and make your own decision on if to take it or not and carry on with your save. I wouldn't take it, but it's up to you. And that's it. I am fully prepared for this thread to disappear forever with zero responses, but I hope it doesn't. I hope some of you will find that playing like this reignites your passion for the game, and I'm looking forward to hearing about people's successes and failures as we go 👍👍