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Options - Making the game easier or harder.


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How about the options to "disable" certain players stats aswell as attributes.

Total attribute masking, but also for example:

- Player Average rating (therefore scrutinizing players match performance would be critical)

- Player morale (find other ways of monitoring this: matches, training, chat with player)

- Player Passing, Tackling, Dribbling stats etc

- Condition (a manager irl wouldn't be given a % showing player condition, so would need to monitor matches, training etc)

This meaning you would not be given this information on a plate, but would have to monitor match performance, training performance etc to make the decisions in the game - would maybe make you feel more like a proper football manager, and the challenge would be greater.

This would just make it a lot more time consuming. Things like condition are there because we can't see them first-hand in training like a real manager could, so how else would we tell how tired a player is?

Passing / tackling / etc stats are just stats which have been collated for us to save time, not to make the game easier. Otherwise we would have to go through each game and add up all the passes made / completed, which would take forever. Real managers have all these stats readily available to them, whether they look at them or not I couldn't say, but I'd (eden) hazard a guess that they do.

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I demand a win button so all I has to do is hammer my head to the space key. Actually any key should be viable as I have a rather large head...

Seriously OP, you aren't going to more successful (or even speeding up the game) by adding a few points to players attributes. The way FM is put together you need to know how to put together a tactic that suits your players. Also you need to handle man management but that can be taken care of by a decent assistant manager.

I don't think it's your lack of time that's the problem but your lack of understanding on how FM works. I suggest you to post less in here and spend the extra time on learning the FM basics. I don't write this to be mean but as an honest advice.

The best of luck on your future FM career!

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Guest sciegu
I agree completely. A strategy game such as FM has to be realistic, it's the player that makes the game easier or harder as he plays it.

And it will be realistic on standard mode. Can't you guys understand that this will be just option for people who are willing to play easier version ? It won't affect standard mode.

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It won't be realistic on any mode because an unrealistic function will be present within the gaming world. If one unrealistic function makes it through, any number of others could make it through as well. It's a slippery slope that needs to be kept WELL away from.

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Bit of a non starter for me. Requires huge amounts of coding and going in a direction that SI are unlikely to take anyway. A much simpler way is to increase the quality of advice given by the the asssiants and get much more delegation. That then allows for the people who don't have time, to leave much more in the hands of the computer, while not needing a massive overhaul for little benefit.

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I'm not sure why people would need the game to be any easier, it's easy enough as it is.

All you need is a modest understanding a football & basis motivational techniques along with an ability to do simple maths & you're perfectly set for a successful career in FM.

A better tool-tip system & advisor's wouldn't go amiss for those who are daunted by the depth of the game.

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Guest sciegu

Did you played Silent Hunter ? You can choose numerouse options which makes game more realistic or less realistic(easier) and tha't all. If you are hardcore player you can set 100% realism and enjoy game. If you are casual gamer you can set 50% realism and still enjoy game. Those options don't affect each other, it's still thesame game which can be easier or harder depending on options you choose. I must addmit that personally i want FM be harder, lot more realistic but i understand people who want just enjoy winning matches without much effort.

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Did you played Silent Hunter ? You can choose numerouse options which makes game more realistic or less realistic(easier) and tha't all. If you are hardcore player you can set 100% realism and enjoy game. If you are casual gamer you can set 50% realism and still enjoy game. Those options don't affect each other, it's still thesame game which can be easier or harder depending on options you choose. I must addmit that personally i want FM be harder, lot more realistic but i understand people who want just enjoy winning matches without much effort.

The inclusion of such a feature would destroy the SI ethos for realism.

That is the real problem with introducing a feature like this. It's the first step to undo the realistic world SI have built. Every single thing that SI add to the game has had a basis in realism. Everything.

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An interesting thread and yeah no harm in having "options" and its no different to say editing say all players attributes/budget etc which you can do that now anyway. All he's saying is to have an easy/hard setting so lets say someone like Spurs would then be on par with likes of man u hence a great chance to win the league or could set them to hard so would be challenging to finish higher than the likes of Stoke etc.

I agree with the idea and yeah on normal I guess if I still got to xmas in real life or into the new year (game out october) and still not got to the CL with say Spurs then id "switch" to easy to beable to do it hence more.

However worse than that was FM11, I actually won the CL in 2nd season with Spurs (like 3 days after game was purchased) hence I was actually a bit gutted cos I just thought well that's then it was a bit of a downer in terms of what to then do with them. Enabling me to switch to hard would at least be another option.

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An interesting thread and yeah no harm in having "options" and its no different to say editing say all players attributes/budget etc which you can do that now anyway. All he's saying is to have an easy/hard setting so lets say someone like Spurs would then be on par with likes of man u hence a great chance to win the league or could set them to hard so would be challenging to finish higher than the likes of Stoke etc.

I agree with the idea and yeah on normal I guess if I still got to xmas in real life or into the new year (game out october) and still not got to the CL with say Spurs then id "switch" to easy to beable to do it hence more.

However worse than that was FM11, I actually won the CL in 2nd season with Spurs (like 3 days after game was purchased) hence I was actually a bit gutted cos I just thought well that's then it was a bit of a downer in terms of what to then do with them. Enabling me to switch to hard would at least be another option.

There is plenty of harm, as has already been posted.

If FM want to appeal to the young, lazy generation who don't want to learn how to play the game and would rather have an easy mode then they will do it.

If they want to stay true to what they've always done and the true FM fans, then they'll stay well clear.

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I have to say i'm not a fan of this particular idea either, however I would personally like to see the game get more difficult. I would like to see at least two things to help this, firstly improve the way the AI builds it's squads (I know it improves every year but it still has a long way to go) as right now for me it's just too easy to build better squads after just a few seasons and then watch as these other teams get older and do little about it. Also, kind of factoring into my first point I would like to see my scouts get it wrong every now and again, it feels like if my scout tells me 17 year old player x will be a world class player then he will be. I want to see my scout get it wrong but also just have highly rated youngsters flop every now and again, even wonderkids as right now it just feels way too easy to build that quality squad in next to no time.

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There is plenty of harm, as has already been posted.

If FM want to appeal to the young, lazy generation who don't want to learn how to play the game and would rather have an easy mode then they will do it.

If they want to stay true to what they've always done and the true FM fans, then they'll stay well clear.

I do believe the 'true fm' fans mostly dissed certain games as too difficult. Particularly the last few years.

12 is easy though, surprisingly so.

Anyway, I disagree with the options provided because a +/- stat boost isn't going to do anything at the end of the day. You can have a team of world beaters and they'll do awful if they can't win. If there is going to be difficulty options it's going to be a mathamatical number adjustment for the match engine that heavily puts the chances of victory and 50/50 chances etc in the player's favour, or a removal of the obvious 'pressure' crap that causes your players to flunk at crucial times.

Stat boosting isn't the way imho.

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There is plenty of harm, as has already been posted.

If FM want to appeal to the young, lazy generation who don't want to learn how to play the game and would rather have an easy mode then they will do it.

2 points I'll correct you on, firstly why then bother having the editers then where you could put messi/ronaldo in same team, edit attributes budget etc i.e. making it "easy". I mean yes you could call it "cheating" but at least a official "option" would for me be a better thing. Secondly as I said, I was "gutted" to win the CL with Spurs in only 2nd season of fm11. Ok not like as I did it but say a week later sort of thing after reflecting on it, like oh well thats that then, "too easy".

I really dont think its a bad idea at all and why should everyone choose easy, I mean your only kidding yourself in terms of "showing" off to others or thinking to yourself winning prem with spurs in 1st year is amazing. End of day you pay for a game, you should beable to decide what to do (i.e. like you can with edit) hence for me the idea is getting better and better as I read/post about it.

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I want to understand what the OP means by making the game easier. Do they mean simply winning more games or understanding how the mechanics work in order to have a better chance at winning games?

If the latter then a better tutorial tool could be implented, maybe like the annoying miscroft one that questions evertyhing you are doing and offers alternatives.

With regards to speeding up I don't see how it can be, the whole sucess of the game is based on the fact we the consumer have demanded more and more depth!

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Offering a director of football-style mode would speed it up considerably. It's how I play at the moment, but it would work better if the assistance I set up was built into the game from the start because it would work in a better and more realistic way.

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2 points I'll correct you on, firstly why then bother having the editers then where you could put messi/ronaldo in same team, edit attributes budget etc i.e. making it "easy". I mean yes you could call it "cheating" but at least a official "option" would for me be a better thing. Secondly as I said, I was "gutted" to win the CL with Spurs in only 2nd season of fm11. Ok not like as I did it but say a week later sort of thing after reflecting on it, like oh well thats that then, "too easy".

I really dont think its a bad idea at all and why should everyone choose easy, I mean your only kidding yourself in terms of "showing" off to others or thinking to yourself winning prem with spurs in 1st year is amazing. End of day you pay for a game, you should beable to decide what to do (i.e. like you can with edit) hence for me the idea is getting better and better as I read/post about it.

Please don't correct me on something you clearly know very little about. If you went into the editor's hideaway you'd see a lot of threads which having nothing to do with editing attributes of players. They are creating alternative league structures (I have a thread there myself which certainly doesn't make the game easier) or releasing extended leagues or transfer updates. That is what the editor is designed for. Sure, you can also edit attributes if you wish, so why not do this to make the game easier? No need for an easy mode in the game as it already exists via the editor.

But I guess even that is too much work for some people. Let's just have an instant WIN button and be done with it!

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This is always a nonsense argument point, and it's only used by people who are unable to argue the point any further.

What are you on about? Did you even read the posts I made or the ones they were relating too.

If SI made the game as realistic as possible the amount of casual gamers would decline due to the difficulty level and steep learning curve. But, as I said above if they implement the assistant manager properly as new features and difficulty increases then there is no need for gimmicky 'options' as stated by the OP.

SI are already making it more realistic every year, and with more features comes the need to have 'help' from our assistant and coaching staff. No manager does everything IRL, so options for your assistant to cover areas allow casual gamers to do what they want, while allowing people, like myself, to not have help and micromanage.

A poor manager IRL will get more help off his coaching staff, he won't suddenly expect for all his players to go up a level because he wants it easy.

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The game world should be made as realistic as possible, and then the human will be inserted in to that world with as many realistic aids as possible in order to offer different levels of difficulty and experience.

This is the only way that the game can work and still remain as being fundamentally FM.

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I want to understand what the OP means by making the game easier. Do they mean simply winning more games or understanding how the mechanics work in order to have a better chance at winning games?

If the latter then a better tutorial tool could be implented, maybe like the annoying miscroft one that questions evertyhing you are doing and offers alternatives.

This tutorial would be your assistant manager. As it is already, tickable options for help in areas people either don't understand or don't want to do.

Just far more useful insight, so he's helpful to beginners and experienced FM players, instead of repeating the same advice constantly.

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Surely you can see why the inclusion of such a feature would fly in the face of everything SI are trying to do with the game?

FM has always been about a realistic footballing world which the user can insert themselves into and interact with.

Everything that is added to the game has to make sense from a realism point of view. If it doesn't, then they betray their own ethos and basically become FIFA Manager.

To be honest difficulty levels don't really fly in the face of realism. The difficulty level is a level of "metadata" above the game that determines how users interact with the game.

An example might be an AI that takes longer to think about its tactical moves, or an AI that uses a more accurate algorithm when determining signings on higher difficulty levels. The core functionality - that the AI can change tactics and sign players - is not diminished.

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To be honest difficulty levels don't really fly in the face of realism. The difficulty level is a level of "metadata" above the game that determines how users interact with the game.

An example might be an AI that takes longer to think about its tactical moves, or an AI that uses a more accurate algorithm when determining signings on higher difficulty levels. The core functionality - that the AI can change tactics and sign players - is not diminished.

Of course it does. On one difficulty Alan Pardew (for example) would sign some great new talents from France while on another he'd move to slowly or not at all, gifting the players and other managers an advantage.

How does that not impinge upon a game's realism?

An "easy" difficulty should come from skilled staff who less involved players can delegate to.

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To be honest difficulty levels don't really fly in the face of realism. The difficulty level is a level of "metadata" above the game that determines how users interact with the game.

An example might be an AI that takes longer to think about its tactical moves, or an AI that uses a more accurate algorithm when determining signings on higher difficulty levels. The core functionality - that the AI can change tactics and sign players - is not diminished.

The core functionality is modified in an unrealistic way.

This is basically advocating a Civilization style stat modifier instead of actually programming the AI properly.

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  • SI Staff

Not to be pedantic - but surely you can already do this to some extent if you REALLY want a challenge?

For instance start at a club with no training facilities and don't sign any staff - your players won't train well and so won't perform as well as they could under normal circumstances.

If you want 'this effect' with a big favourite club then edit their training facilities etc. in the editor?

(just saying)

PS - Regardless of that I'm inherantly also against difficulty levels; it just screws up the entire game simulation and makes the game less enjoyable to users imho. For instance how would you go about signing players if you know they won't perform the same with your club as with others because they're artificially inflated or crippled ... how would other clubs judge your players for signing them if they always do better at your club etc. ....

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Please don't correct me on something you clearly know very little about. If you went into the editor's hideaway you'd see a lot of threads which having nothing to do with editing attributes of players. They are creating alternative league structures (I have a thread there myself which certainly doesn't make the game easier) or releasing extended leagues or transfer updates. That is what the editor is designed for. Sure, you can also edit attributes if you wish, so why not do this to make the game easier? No need for an easy mode in the game as it already exists via the editor.

But I guess even that is too much work for some people. Let's just have an instant WIN button and be done with it!

You still dont get it hence its you that has very little clue. Im saying an "option" is way better than so called editing players etc for people who may want to have it easier. What's worse is my main point is that I was disappointed that fm11 was too easy i.e. winning CL with Spurs in 2nd season so was left wondering what to do next so yeah to have a HARDER option wouldnt be a bad thing. This is the 3rd time now I've written this so yeah maybe third time lucky I will get it into your head that err no I dont want a push a button to win type thing. The suggestion of having standards of game as additional OPTIONS isnt a bad idea, understand?

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Go away for 5 mins and the thread explodes. :D

Look guys it's not rocket science. Silly statements like "I'm not buying it if it has difficulty levels" just proves a lack of understanding of what I am trying to say.

Playing on what I originally called "standard" level is exactly the same game you have now. No advantage or disadvantage. So why would you not buy "the same game"??? It sounds like the same people who said "if we have 3D I'm not playing it".

My lack of time to play the game properly means that I play it the same way as Ackter i.e. a Football Director. It's the only way I can now get into a long term game. Previously I'd have the time and would play every part of the game myself, teamtalks, press, etc and study the transfer market and players in depth and be very successful at it. My last long term game was FM12 with Vauxhall Motors eventually winning everything by the 2020's.

Does artificially increasing the attributes on an easy level mean players are worth more than on the standard level and have higher reps? Well yes of course. By the same token on the harder level players would suffer the reverse.

I believe FMH has little Easter Eggs you can earn such as "tycoon" for your club. Why? Because it will appeal to the casual player perhaps? All I'm asking for is the same kind of treatment for the PC version.

I've enjoyed playing FM since the days of CM2 but now that I lack the time to do it justice it's just not as enjoyable anymore. Hence my request.

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Sounds like FMRTE was made for you, hey presto! all the ease/difficulty you need.

\edit/ I think SI should make a real time editor and sell it as DLC, pretty sure it would be cost effective.

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Obviously attributes that reach 20 or 1 will stay at that level.

And obviously this is why it is a completely nonsense.

Think of a player with all 1, one with all 2, one all 3, and one all 4. Think at what happens with difficulties from standard to impossible: simply nosense.

If it's just a matter of attributes, just manage crap teams.

You can think of modifiers on financial aspects (income/costs), on negotiations, on injuries or whatever, but this thing isn't working from the beginning, sorry.

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And obviously this is why it is a completely nonsense.

Think of a player with all 1, one with all 2, one all 3, and one all 4. Think at what happens with difficulties from standard to impossible: simply nosense.

If it's just a matter of attributes, just manage crap teams.

You can think of modifiers on financial aspects (income/costs), on negotiations, on injuries or whatever, but this thing isn't working from the beginning, sorry.

Why would you play on that level then?

Wouldn't you play on standard?

You seem to be forgetting "standard" level would be the game you have now.

Anyway I've commented enough now. It's for others to discuss this or any other options they would like to see. I just thought I'd throw it out there. :D

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Wouldn't you play on standard?

You seem to be forgetting "standard" level would be the game you have now.

The fact is that you can end with a player with all 1 without modification and a player with all 4 who became like the other. I can't find a true logic behind' date=' I mean these things are useful for RTS like Warhammer for example, but FM is kind an environment simulation, if I can explain myself. You touch one variable and there are much other consequences than you may think. What about AI actions/reactions with your player? When and how would they be interested? And when they leave the club will they still be important with a -3 (if you play on easy) or getting listed immediately?

I just thought I'd throw it out there. :D

You did right.

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The fact is that you can end with a player with all 1 without modification and a player with all 4 who became like the other. I can't find a true logic behind, I mean these things are useful for RTS like Warhammer for example, but FM is kind an environment simulation, if I can explain myself. You touch one variable and there are much other consequences than you may think. What about AI actions/reactions with your player? When and how would they be interested? And when they leave the club will they still be important with a -3 (if you play on easy) or getting listed immediately?

Wow. Constructive criticism. :D

You do make a good point there mate. I don't for one moment think my idea is perfect, just a starting point but bear this in mind. What actually happens in the game when a club buys a player and he clearly isn't good enough and ends up in the reserves? I haven't noticed any player immediately transfer listed (I could be wrong), so I believe the game already gives players some grace before the club transfer lists them.

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Not helpfull especially from a mod.

The forum and SI ask for constructive criticism yet when someone posts something like I have here the mods don't show the same courtesy and are dismissive.

It was a serious comment, from what I understand a properly working real time editor is by far the most effective way to create difficulty levels and is also least likely to impact seriously on all the other variables.

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In that case mate my apologies. Been a long day. :(

No prob, I'm at a disadvantage because I've never used it but I was thinking that you could speed up your game by not bothering with contract negotiations for example (just extend all the contracts)

Things like that which are the time consuming parts.

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Of course it does. On one difficulty Alan Pardew (for example) would sign some great new talents from France while on another he'd move to slowly or not at all, gifting the players and other managers an advantage.

How does that not impinge upon a game's realism?

An "easy" difficulty should come from skilled staff who less involved players can delegate to.

We don't know how fast or slow Pardew would move in reality, though. It could be that Pardew scouted Cabaye 5 years ago but didn't want to make a move.

The "realism" required is that, say, good managers with an eye for talent sign gems that nobody else spots. That does not change with a difficulty level. Indeed, the current level of "difficulty" could be unrealistic right now. For example, say the AI looks five years into the future when signing a player. It could be that, on average, the average manager only looks at four years in advance - i.e. the level of "realism" is not true on the current level of difficulty.

Remember that you can reload your game and different things will happen, too - i.e. it is entirely possible that even the most difficult AI won't choose the same players Pardew does. Is that realistic? Maybe even Pardew himself won't pick the same players if he could relive his life.

The core functionality is modified in an unrealistic way.

This is basically advocating a Civilization style stat modifier instead of actually programming the AI properly.

If done properly, then there is nothing wrong with difficulty levels. An more complex AI that does not use bias nor rubber-banding would be a good AI to use in difficulty levels.

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If done properly, then there is nothing wrong with difficulty levels. An more complex AI that does not use bias nor rubber-banding would be a good AI to use in difficulty levels.

A good AI shouldn't be a difficulty level, it should be part of the game by default.

Why would you want to introduce unrealistic limitations or boosts to the AI when you can implement difficulty in a realistic way by making your backroom staff a lot more useful so that you can delegate when required? Make the AI as clever and difficult as you can and you kill two birds with one stone - unaided you're in for a real fight, but if needed that improved AI is also available to you to use.

Considering your usual stance on the game, this is baffling me. You're usually all about do it the way you think is best, no shortcuts. But here you're advocating the king of all shortcuts.

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How would changing attributes of player stats speed up game time in any way? You still have to do the same things to get through a season so it should take the same amount of time anyway, just make it easier to win games.

I agree with those saying no to this whole idea and Ackter makes a good point - the stats are there to represent a realisitic approach to how good the players are and shouldnt be seen as a difficulty level, it's just default. If you use the tools within the game it can be easy to get everything to go your way. You can use editors to improve the stats of players in an editor, but it isnt going to speed the game up in any way. And if you play with masked attributes (or visual, star based attributes) and use scouts only as opposed to player search, then you get a harder game.

Ultimately, what it appears you want is not about changing the attributes to make it easier/harder, but a way in which to streamline the entire process of the game to make it quicker to play.

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making the game arbitrarily easier/harder by boosting stats is not the right way to go about things.

i also dont see how droopping the stats back to how they were when another club buys the player will work. Surely that will seriously destabilise the transfer market as you will be able to sell your 'boosted' players for lots of money and then when the other team get them, they're crap!

also, how will promotion and relegation for your boosted tem work? will your players continue to get their stats-boosted every time they get promoted? what would be the point in scouring the market for good players then? any crap will do well for you!

the game-balancing problems are enormous and are completely unreasonable for the perceived benefits.

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You still dont get it hence its you that has very little clue. Im saying an "option" is way better than so called editing players etc for people who may want to have it easier. What's worse is my main point is that I was disappointed that fm11 was too easy i.e. winning CL with Spurs in 2nd season so was left wondering what to do next so yeah to have a HARDER option wouldnt be a bad thing. This is the 3rd time now I've written this so yeah maybe third time lucky I will get it into your head that err no I dont want a push a button to win type thing. The suggestion of having standards of game as additional OPTIONS isnt a bad idea, understand?

Funny how you ignored my comments about the editor.

If you want a hard mode there are already plenty of ways to do it, inlcuding those pointed out by Marc Vaughan earlier. Get a club with poor training / youth facilities (or edit them to lower values), small stadium, loads of debt, poor staff, only buy players of a certain nationality or just use youth players.

And yes, having difficulty levels is a bad idea as has been pointed out by myself and others more than 3 times in this thread but you don't seem to understand how much it will disrupt the game.

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A good AI shouldn't be a difficulty level, it should be part of the game by default.

Why would you want to introduce unrealistic limitations or boosts to the AI when you can implement difficulty in a realistic way by making your backroom staff a lot more useful so that you can delegate when required? Make the AI as clever and difficult as you can and you kill two birds with one stone - unaided you're in for a real fight, but if needed that improved AI is also available to you to use.

Because I'm not advocating a "boosting" or "limiting" AI. I'm advocating a more intelligent AI that, for example, thinks longer or shorter.

Compare it to chess AIs. There could be one chess algorithm where "easy" looks ahead 3 moves, "medium" 10 moves, "difficult" 30 moves and "Carlsen" 50 moves. No artificial boosts or limitations as such. It just changes how the AI thinks.

Delegation is not just a difficulty level modification but makes gameplay quicker as well, as a manager doesn't need to do everything. It's a bigger implication than difficulty changes.

Considering your usual stance on the game, this is baffling me. You're usually all about do it the way you think is best, no shortcuts. But here you're advocating the king of all shortcuts.

You misunderstand my stance. My stance is that this game has to be an awesome game that suits as many people as possible, including myself. Being able to tinker with the difficulty is a positive thing because sometimes you might want to try different things. For example, I might start tinkering with some tactic at the easiest level to ensure it at least basically works, before moving onto the normal difficulty level or higher. Newcomers get to experience the easier difficulty levels while veterans who like tactical battles to the last second might opt for more difficulty levels.

To me, a difficulty level, as long as it is done right, is nothing more than changing the AI (and it just so happens that some AIs are harder than others). It's not a question on whether realism is compromised because an AI might not be as "difficult" nor "easy" as real-life.

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I agree that being able to adjust the difficulty is important, but I'm still adamant that it has to be done in a way that is realistic to the gameworld. Any kind of artificial cuts or boosts, for example to the length of time it takes an AI manager to think, is just 100% the wrong way to do something for this game.

If you start introducing things like that to the game, the game is no longer Football Manager. It may as well be FIFA Manager. It is a very, very important line that should not under any circumstances be crossed. If it was introduced, it would completely destroy the validity of the world that SI have created and the game would no longer appeal to me.

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Wasn't there a management game/series a few years back where you could choose from four levels (coach, manager, director, chairman) of job at the start of a save?

The coach role meant players only dealt with tactics, training and matches; the director role meant players only dealt with transfers, staff contracts etc; and managers covered both sides while chairmen had some other duties and couldn't be sacked (can't remember how it was for sure since I never actually played it).

Going back to the idea of streamlining the game for players who don't have the time to play, maybe there could be a coach/manager toggle at the start of saves? Coaches could send their directors of football wishlists or a request for a certain type of player (much like how we can currently request our assman's to find loanees), while managers could delegate tactics, training or matches if they so wished.

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Yup, that was FIFA manager and it was a very good idea in theory, but as is usual they implemented it badly.

Ah right ok - bar Ultimate Soccer Manager '98 i've always been a CM/FM man!

I'm sure if SI got working on such a concept for FM though they'd make a good job of it. Seems like a good way of offering people a more hands on/hands off experience while also replicating the DoF/Coaching management model.

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I believe it's important to make our starting reputation reliable. It's one of the flaws right now. If that problem solved by SI I don't think we need a difficulty slider... Because of this flaw Kazakhstan U21 team or Frigg could be jumping for hiring you... or same 8-9 team for every starter manager...

If I want my starting reputation ("1") I must not need any secondary apps. Even sunday league don't give me this number for reputation.

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I agree that being able to adjust the difficulty is important, but I'm still adamant that it has to be done in a way that is realistic to the gameworld. Any kind of artificial cuts or boosts, for example to the length of time it takes an AI manager to think, is just 100% the wrong way to do something for this game.
Well, it has to be a different AI of sorts. It's logical that a harder AI will have to think harder (if two AI engines take the same amount of time to produce different results of different difficulties, it makes the "easier" AI a less efficient and less-well-written AI, full-stop).

It might not even be noticeable to the user. It clearly does not take 20 real-life minutes to simulate an entire match (otherwise AI-AI fixtures would take forever). It is entirely possible that an AI simply takes longer to process (so there will be a higher CPU requirement) but you may never actually see it during a match, because it could take seconds to actually simulate a full AI-AI match.

You are asking for two AIs that take the exact same amount of time to think but produce different results, one of which is "harder" to play against than the other. You can't do that without handicapping the inferior AI (which is like boosting/inflating attributes, in a negative way).

If a harder AI cannot take longer to think, and we cannot boost/inflate attributes, you cannot implement difficulty levels. I argue the latter is bad, but the former is good, and is how a lot of difficulty level AIs are implemented.

Chess AIs that look ahead 3, 5, 10, 20 or 50 moves don't affect the "realism" of the game - because there are so many aspects beyond the AI's algorithm that dictate how realistic it is. It just reflects a skill level the player is comfortable with. The same applies here. If we had an AI that was parameterised in a similar way, it would work.

An AI that "takes longer to think" does not affect the gameworld in the sense that players' attributes are unchanged. The AI's thinking ability is encapsulated in itself. This is a good AI. Certainly, it affects the results, but then again, that is the point - if the results are the same, there is no AI change!

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