Jonthedon26

This is spot on! I have played FM for years and years and years so I know it inside out, I know what I should and shouldn't do and how to deal with certain situations, which I am sure is the same for many experienced FM players. On the other hand, I simply can't get my head around some games that I myself am new to, such as the OOTP baseball series, and Hearts of Iron 4. I am simply terrible at those games and no matter what I have tried I just can't get seem to do well in them and I end up quitting and not playing them.

I can't say that I have experienced this. My first save on every version of FM is Birmingham City, and without fail I always get promoted to the Premier League within 2 seasons, and I have never been relegated back down again. The first season in the Premier League is sometimes difficult and a few times I have come close to getting relegated, but in the more recent versions I seem to do really well first season and massively overachieve. This year I got promoted to the Premier League in my second season, and came 8th in the first season in the Premier League. I would actually really enjoy the challenge of getting relegated again.

I agree with a lot that you said here, especially about being lazy with different kind of features. These days, mainly due to lack of available time and I don't have as much interest in FM as I used to, I will set up my tactic, and if it works well that's it, it stays and I literally so nothing with it for a whole season, maybe even a few seasons, besides adjusting the mentality depending on the level of team I am playing. I never tinker with my tactics anymore, I don't use the data hub for anything, and I genuinely feel they aren't needed to be honest, I am always successful managing my team (Birmingham City) and I never really struggle. Could I get the team to perform even better if I tinkered more and used the data hub more etc... possibly, but I can't see how it could get much better.

Was Kerlon a wonderkid back in the day? He is one that stands out that I haven't seen mentioned yet.

Aaaahhh yeah I forgot about those as I don't use any of them haha. I blame my bad memory on my old age!

Wasn't that supposed to be this year? I can't actually remember any new features this year, I just remember the main selling point of this years iteration was that it was supposed to be the most polished version to date.

I went back to FM09 recently and played as Birmingham City in the championship... it was solid haha. They are my team and I play as them for my first (and sometimes only) save on every FM and despite us being absolutely awful in real life for 10 years, on the newer versions I always get promoted to the premier league within 2 seasons and have yet to ever be relegated or sacked. Again as you pointed out I don't know if that is because the game has become easier, or whether I just know what works and what doesn't on FM these days.

Sorry, my comments were very tongue in cheek... I did say to call me old fashioned haha

Call me old fashioned, and sorry for sticking my nose in, but I would say there are quite a few high scoring games in there. Yes there are several 1-0, 0-0 etc but there are also multiple 3-3 draws and 3-2 games. A third of your games have 4 or more goals in them. There aren't really any crazy examples like the original post, but give me a load of George Graham 1-0's week in week out (sorry for those not old enough to get the 1-0 to the Arsenal reference).

I literally get rid of all staff like loan manager, DoF etc as I find them useless and just a waste of money. They all seem pretty poorly implemented in game from my experience, so to keep my sanity I do it all myself.

I have noticed, for me anyway, that if I scout any position from tactic I tend to get an okay (okay in FM24 terms) amount of scout reports, maybe somewhere between 15-20, but if I pick a specific position from my tactic then I am lucky to get 3 results, even with very broad parameters. It is very very hit and miss.

This is why Ultimate Soccer Manager 98 is elite!

I'm not specifically talking about the state of the games at launch, I am moreso referring to the constant social media posts about what they are doing, updates etc. Whether the game is good or not is another matter completely. **EDIT** Having read through some of the comments since my original post regarding dev communication from Hell Let Loose and Undisputed, maybe I was wrong on the Undisputed front. I don't actually own that game (do own and regularly play HLL) I was just basing the communication side on what I am constantly seeing on X (or Twitter as I will forever know it as). Seems like they post a lot of promises that they don't actually follow through on, which is exactly what I don't want SI to do. So yeah, scrap that, I would rather zero communication than false promises.

Ye it is shockingly bad to be fair. They should take a leaf out of studios for games like Hell Let Loose or Undisputed, they are constantly posting what they are working on, roadmaps, what to expect in upcoming updates etc

From what I have seen on here and through my own experiences, if you play high pressing, high tempo tactics with a high defensive line and high line of engagement it is pretty easy to do well with any standard of team.

Isn't this just another example of what is being talked about? Whilst it isn't as extreme as some, it still seems like the most success is had playing positive, counter, counter-press, higher defensive line and trigger press more often. I play as Birmingham City every version as they are the team I support. On FM23 I managed to get a good 442 wing play formation to work, that involved regrouping and sitting behind the ball. This year I tried the same tactic and it was horrible, so I switched it up (kept the 442 wing play) and had some success, losing in the playoffs first season. Second season I started well and was top by about November but then went on a bit of a slump and I simply couldn't score a goal, kept drawing 0-0. I decided to try the high press and low cross combination and no word of a lie I scored something ridiculous like 19 goals in 4 games, I had to revert back to my old tactic as it seemed way too overpowered, I was crushing teams.

Interesting, will give this a try as well, cheers.

I will give that a try see what comes from it, thanks. **EDIT** just coming back to this as I have fired up FM this evening. The PA in recruitment focuses is a "minimum", so surely a minimum of 3 and a half star should pick up more than a minimum 4 and a half star, as the 3 and a half star should pick up that level and above, as it's a minimum, right @metallimuse? So 3 star CA and MINIMUM 4 and a half star PA is a narrower search?

I agree it is fairly specific, but I want someone who is basically around first team level who is pretty much in their prime. There should be far far more than 2 results for that criteria, in fact I imagine half of the players in the Championship alone fit that criteria for my current squad. I don't play the game as often as most people and only get through about 5 seasons per yearly release, so I don't want to search for a load of 1 star CA with 4 star PA that will be good in several years time, I like to look for people who are first team ready now, and it seems that doesn't generate many results.

I have tried all sorts from narrowed down focuses to much broader searches, setting transfer values to leaving the values as open ended, selecting a position, selecting an age range, and basically none of them work. One current example of a broad search - I have requested a scout search for any position for my tactic, in England, 3 star - 3 and a half stars, ongoing. I am Birmingham City, have some decent scouts, this scout has exceptional knowledge (apparently) of England, and I have had back 2 results all season, one of which is Adam Wharton who I manually scouted. I don't have scouts or analysts on multiple assignments so this is literally their only scouting assignment. I would love someone to explain to me why I am not getting loads of hits on that assignment. The only assignment I have had multiple results on is scouting for out of contract players, any position from my tactic, across the whole of Europe ongoing, I got 20 recommendations on that. Again I would expect there to be hundreds, but with this years scouting mess I deem 20 to be a success.

This is a very good post. Scouting currently feels like a completely broken mess to me. I either get no results at all for very basic parameters that you would imagine there should be hundreds of matches, or very few results that keep getting recommended to me over and over again. I often see other teams signing players who are decent from a region I am scouting and I sit there scratching my head as to why they were never in my recommendations. I would go as far as saying I hate the new scouting system, especially as scouting is such a big part of the game.

The scouting issue is outrageously bad this year!

I have noticed this a few times. Managing Birmingham City we start with Drameh on loan, he played loads of games, was happy at the club and performed well, season ended and I tried to extend the loan for another season and he had zero interest. Instead he spent the next season sat rotting in Leeds reserves listed for loan.

Obviously what people deem as quick or slow is subjective, but my game speed is literally half a star and to me it is absolutely fine. Never wait more than a few seconds between processing through days.

Yeah transfer values are a complete mess in this game. Managing Birmingham City, young(ish) left back Longelo has a value of something like £4.5 - £5.5mil, I can't remember the exact figure, but he isn't in my plans, never plays and when he occasionally does play he is rubbish. He is only on £4k per week and has about 2 years left on his contract. When I have offered him out to clubs I get messages back such as "so and so are only willing to pay £200k for him". How is there such a difference between the in-game valuation and what teams are actually willing to pay for him? Now me personally, I would be happy to let him go for about £1mil, especially as I am in financial ruin, so I am really interested to know where the £4.5mil+ valuation is coming from.