NineCloudNine

I have not had the 'created with an older database' warning from the editor when loading editor files from pre-update. So I assume you are good to go.

I didn't say it holds no importance, just that it is very rare to find good balanced open PvP in a game that is predominantly (or was conceived as) single player. Games designed to be PvP from the ground up are much less likely to be distorted by meta/exploit/edge-case gameplay elements because development was done with PvP in mind from the start. FM is a single player vs AI game with a PvP mode bolted on. At no point in its development is anyone considering how gameplay elements might be pushed to their extreme by human players trying to get an edge over other human players. I enjoy PvP. But I enjoy it in games designed for PvP. FM is not such a game so feedback based on experience of open PvP tactical extremes is not relevant to the bulk of players or gameplay.

You are. Your save game created before the update will use the database that was incorporated into that save file. You'll need to start a new game if you want to include database changes from updates that came after your current save started.

Your focus on open PvP is warping your view. In every game that is not PvP by design, open PvP is a descent into finding meta and exploit tactics. Once one player starts using OP tactics downloaded from tactic sites, either everyone else follows or they all lose. For the large majority playing only against the AI, FM offers a wide range of ways to compete and enjoy the game without ever encountering the sort of edge-case tactical tweaks that emerge from the search for an edge in PvP. For example, I have never once used 2xDM-S and my favourite FM tactic involves 2xIFBs, not WsB 'bombing on'. Since a tactic using such roles together make no sense, I wouldn't use them. I only know that's a meta tactic because players such as you come here and say so.

You have the correct latest version. The database number did not change.

It doesn't say that. It says: That's 400k including the last update. This isn't a new database, it's completing the updates to the current (24.3) database.

Yes.

Given that FM24 had previously - as you said - been positioned as a polished, complete version of the game, the list of new features came as a surprise to me as well. I think positional play - which IMO has been done really well - was definitely needed because it is such a big part of modern football. The rest I don’t recall there being a noisy clamour for, though of course SI do a lot more research than just asking on these forums.

Positional play, intermediaries, player targets, new game modes, set piece coaches/wizard: https://www.footballmanager.com/features

I am sure there is nothing SI would like more than to have a year without having to create any new features. I'd certainly enjoy it too. But it's a big risk because plenty of those people who claim they're not bothered by new features will then complain that they are being asked to pay again for a game which basically fixes the bugs in the game they bought the year before. The annual cycle is the curse here. But the alternative is a subscription model and whenever I have suggested that here the idea gets a lot of pushback.

Not deliberately, at least by any major company. But as there is no verification of the Steam age check it’s possible an under age player could see something they shouldn’t. In practice such sketchy age checks would cause most over 18 advertisers to steer clear. But I don’t know what SI sells or what age check claims they make.

What is your actual remaining current wage budget?

Several other regular posters here have repeatedly claimed that wide play and crosses are overpowered. Maybe there’s more than one way to win after all!

Feel free to post what you think the numbers should be, or a link to an authoratitive source, in the bugs or data forums

No-one can answer that question for you in isolation from everything else. It's also a different question to the one you started the thread with, ie: If you want that to happen then I'd suggest the changes I described earlier. If you want to keep your current system then I would say an AF or a DLF-A is more suited to the system, though again that does depend on the players you have available.

I agree with that, I wish fewer striker roles had 'move into channels' hard coded. You will not get 'typical target man football' even if you set up in what looks like a typical target man tactic. As mentioned in other replies, your GK will rarely try big clearances, your BPDs will not launch missile over-the-top balls and your midfielders/fullbacks will not lump it into the box, even if it looks like you're telling them to. The match engine just doesn't support it. There are multiple threads here from people expressing their frustration at just how hard it is to achieve route one football even if you really want to. So in practice the way you have set up is not a way to rein in long-ball tactics, even if it should be. In fact your setup will ensure that your buildup is slow, you won't cross very often and your big target man will largely just stand there while the game goes on around him. You need to force direct passing, high tempo and more crosses, not as a way to get old school route one but because in the current ME that's the way to get:

Direct balls to the target forward is the entire point of the target forward! What you describe can be better achieved with a big strong DLF-Su (players with TF as their best role are often good at DLF-Su as well). As it stands your setup is almost the exact opposite of how to get the best out of a TF. You need more crosses, early crosses, more width, more direct passing, play for set pieces, ideally higher tempo. If you're worried that the team will become old-school 1970s route-one, don't be - the match engine doesn't support it. But crossing and heading are very strong in the match engine so your big strong TF will thrive if you feed him crosses.

Assuming you have control of individual training, right click a player (on any screen), pick training - position/role/duty and you can pick any position, any role for that position, and any duty for that role. Ideally play them regularly there as well ofc.

You can train a new position/role, yes.

Currently losing over £100m a year and with a wage bill of £339m I assume means the Board are taking drastic action. The balance is only positive because of something that just happened - a big player sale? - but otherwise the club is massively in the red. League position of 16th must mean no CL revenue and reduced prize money. The future numbers presumably reflect the lower wage bill. You’d need to sell almost all the first team - starting with the one on over £1m a week. Hope there’s some talent in the youth team! It’s a financial basket case. Sounds like fun! I suggest a spin-off save where you take the job, but keep your West Brom save going .

Most games are easy to learn and hard to master. FM is hard to learn and easy to master. It is a brutal learning curve for newbies - hugely complex, fiddly, unintutive, poorly explained, easy to miss things, easy to misunderstand things, easy to get into a downward spiral where nothing works. Once you have figured out the various systems, mastered the UI, learned what matters and what doesn't, watched a few tutorials and scanned some threads here, it becomes pretty simple to over-achieve vs your club's real life position. The irony is that having climbed the vertical learning wall, you need to make it challenging for yourself again by limiting yourself or creating challenges. I actually enjoy that element because I play to create (or recreate) scenarios rather than beat the game, but one guaranteed way to get a rise out of some posters here is to suggest making it hard for yourself by not doing the things that make it easy .

The tooltips on these options are pretty clear. I'm not sure what else it is you want to know tbh?

Wut?

SI Community rep already posted: no ME changes in the update.

I’ll bet you the cost of buying Jude Bellingham that absolutely none of this will happen. It will be a data update with - at most - a few small tweaks and perhaps an unannounced under- the-hood tinkering or two. And I’d not even bet on the tweaks and tinkering.