Enjoying full fat long save with limited time?

[DavyDepuydt1]

Typical situation here, played FM a lot in my time as a student when I had heaps of spare time... Now married, busy job and a little girl to look after...

On a typical day I can have about 30min of playing time during lunch break and occasionally some evenings another 30min to 1hour of playing time if I'm lucky.

Because of this I was leaning towards playing FMT the last few years because it looked to be 'the' version of FM for people in my situation, but in the end I always felt I was missing something (even though I'm far from a micro management guy). 

I always had the feeling full fat is the version I want to play, but with my busy life and limited time I won't be able to enjoy a good long save on it.... So now I'm wondering how many of you are in a similar situation but are able to go for full fat and have a long enjoyable save going on and how do you make that happen?  

[tyro]

I am in the same boat as you. Played FMC/FMT since its inception but with the big changes to tactics and scouting and dynamics and medical I felt I was missing out on the "real experience." So last year I just played full FM.

It is definitely possible, you will just take a month or more to get through a season but you can enjoy all the features if that's what you want. As we saw in the announcements and the creator's YouTube videos, there are around 90? things that you can delegate and they made it much easier to find and do so. Once we get a hand on it, we can see how it will actually play out, but you could play full FM and still delegate many things over to one of your staff and speed up the game.

For me personally, I can do probably 3 sessions a week of 1 hour to 2 hours, so I can play maybe 2 or 3 matches each session, maybe 10 a week. Sometimes more sometimes less. The long term save is definitely possible but I get always sidetracked with starting a new save and then after starting maybe the 4th save, I get tired of setting everything up and go back to the save that is perhaps already in October or November. If I'd put all that time into one save, I would be able to finish a couple of seasons. I think the most seasons I have ever played so far was 3 seasons with the same team but probably 1 season at least with 7 different teams.

 

[ray27]

Exactly the same position as you guys! My days of 6 hour plus sessions are over! May get around 3 hours a week in total, so am finding it can take up to 2 months to get through a season.

The funny thing is theses long breaks between saves make the game more enjoyable in a weird way and plus get plenty of time to think over decisions in between!!

[Zemahh]

Continue Game Timeout option can speed your season up quite a bit. I started doing this recently, instead of going through every inbox item as they appear, I simply go through all of them before every match, when the game stops. Very rarely do I actually miss something important, you can still sort out issues such as player or squad unhappiness afterwards, when the inbox button is gone. That way you can do other things while the game is processing and not waste time for meaningless news items and such.

[Colorado]

I'm a bit disappointed there's barely been anything mentioned about FMT in the build up to this year's release. I'm really caught between the two games. 

[Grifty]

I normally play while doing other things such as watching tv or ‘working from home’

I normally dedicate one day at the weekend to watch football/do shopping,etc so fit fm around that. I can sometimes finish a season in 2-3 days.

No kids to look after though!

[BillHoudini24]

I'm playing FM17 since 2017 and I play 2 long term saves. A Dafuge Challenge and a journeyman. Some days I play much, but I normally play 2-3h every 4-5 days. Still as fun as it was back in the day when I could play one season per day.

[Brother Ben]

This won't be popular but I think you should go with FMT, its for this exact scenario.  As much as you can delegate stuff I think the new features are going to be real time-sinks.

FMT is literally made for this, don't even load up the new full fat, won't know what you're missing then.

That said.............. 

I'm in literally the same boat as you family commitment-wise and I do play the full game.  The difference is I play on the train on my commute, on the toilet, in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep and at my desk in work (alt+tab are your friends here)

I'd say I need to get out more but even if I did i'd take my Windows tablet with me and get a few games done 

Edited October 30, 2019 by Brother Ben

[DavyDepuydt1]

41 minutes ago, Brother Ben said:

This won't be popular but I think you should go with FMT, its for this exact scenario.  As much as you can delegate stuff I think the new features are going to be real time-sinks.

FMT is literally made for this, don't even load up the new full fat, won't know what you're missing then.

That said.............. 

I'm in literally the same boat as you family commitment-wise and I do play the full game.  The difference is I play on the train on my commute, on the toilet, in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep and at my desk in work (alt+tab are your friends here)

I'd say I need to get out more but even if I did i'd take my Windows tablet with me and get a few games done 

Yeah you might be right about FMT...  It might be the best way for me the play the game.

It's just that there's always so little info, and you get the impression from SI that it's really not a prio for them... the obligated 'little brother' they are obligated to release every year without putting much energy into it (or it seems that way...)

[Brother Ben]

6 minutes ago, DavyDepuydt1 said:

Yeah you might be right about FMT...  It might be the best way for me the play the game.

It's just that there's always so little info, and you get the impression from SI that it's really not a prio for them... the obligated 'little brother' they are obligated to release every year without putting much energy into it (or it seems that way...)

I don't think it worked out the way they hoped to be honest, the name has been an issue really, I don't think most casual players know what it is. 

[Icy]

Another one in same board than you, my game time is very limited owning a 150 employees company, having to commute daily, travel a lot worldwide plus having two kids.

I tried FMT with a few saves, had a lot of fun, but while it really speeds up the seasons, I was missing something, so I went back to full fat.

The key is to relax, accept every season will take long, playing 1 or 2 games a day, and that is it.

You need to consider as well what kind of save you want, if you want to focus more on the day to day of managing a team, full fat is your game with the players interaction (despite being bugged or not good enough) etc. If you want ot focus on developing youth and see them to become stars, then you probably will enjoy more FMT as you will see them reaching the top level much faster, plus they come directly to your reserve team being a bit older and more developed instead of starting as 16 years old young kids in the u18 teams.

[daveh83]

So glad I found this thread it’s me but with a twist maybe? I run a clothing company and with a gf I don’t have that much time but when I do get time I kinda feel sad am playing fm? I love the game but always get a voice saying I could be using this free time more productively and am not a kid no more? Maybe am being a idiot. I used to play it all day long!!! Least I know am not alone now haha

[steakfaced]

18 hours ago, Zemahh said:

Continue Game Timeout option can speed your season up quite a bit. I started doing this recently, instead of going through every inbox item as they appear, I simply go through all of them before every match, when the game stops. Very rarely do I actually miss something important, you can still sort out issues such as player or squad unhappiness afterwards, when the inbox button is gone. That way you can do other things while the game is processing and not waste time for meaningless news items and such.

Tell me more? I  hate w hen t he  game  processes for  1-2 irrelevant inbox items. I just w ant to press advance, and go forward days, unless something PERTINENT needs  addressing. The rest can wait. How do  you do this?

[Bazz Playerz]

The need for speed is here as well. First thing I do when possible is download an instant result skin. 

[Zemahh]

4 hours ago, steakfaced said:

Tell me more? I  hate w hen t he  game  processes for  1-2 irrelevant inbox items. I just w ant to press advance, and go forward days, unless something PERTINENT needs  addressing. The rest can wait. How do  you do this?

In the Interface settings there's an option called Continue Game Timeout. You can set it to Instant or a few seconds long. What it does, is basically press Continue for you, so that the game is continuously running. Like going on holidays, but not really, since it will still stop for any important issues such as transfers or matches.

To speed it up even further, you can also uncheck the Visit News Screen Automatically option in the Screen Flow settings and tick the option for longer processing breaks.

[WojciechZed]

I remember a long time ago somebody wrote a comment on a forum talking about how much they enjoy CM (I think that it was still CM at the time) but they struggle to find the time to play. I think they wrote that they are lucky if they can get an hour in each day, and someone replied 'an hour each day? Shame on you. It takes 2 hours just to pick and set up your team for a match.'

Seriously though, I also don't have the time to play it for hours every day. Some days I might get 2 or 3 hours in. Others, if I have a day off, perhaps a few more, but then there are also days I can't play it. I do always play the full version though, as I like to have as much detail as possible, because I want it to be as realistic as possible. I play each game with extended highlights, at normal speed, so a month to complete a season is standard for me.

[ThunderCelt]

This all relates to me too.  I keep away as much as possible from leagues with a lot of games like the English Championship which helps getting through seasons.  About a season a month for me as well.

[Ellis_D]

On 31/10/2019 at 06:36, Bazz Playerz said:

The need for speed is here as well. First thing I do when possible is download an instant result skin. 

I've never used an instant result skin, but I might have to. I'd love to go back to the days when I can easily get through ten, maybe even twenty seasons in one real life year. In FM19 the most I managed was six seasons I think - and I can play a lot at work too! I have a wife and three kids so of course, game time is limited like everyone else's.

What I would LOVE more than anything is for SI to put an ultra-fast speed in the game for matches. That way I could zoom through until halftime without taking much notice. I rarely make changes in the first half anyway, other than for injuries or sendings off, and the game gets paused to give you the chance to do that anyway.

I don't like the idea of an instant result as I want to have some control over my matches, so a match speed that could see you finish the first half in about ten seconds would be amazing. Then I could play the second half at a slightly slower speed until about 60 minutes at which time I usually start to think about changing tactics or making subs. If I am 3 or 4 goals up, I'd just make some quick subs then go back to the ultra-fast speed and zoom through the rest of the game, if not, I would watch the match and see what changes I may need to make.

I understand that some players like to watch the full match or in extended highlights, but some of us don't or don't have time. I don't think SI are being fair to those players. Years ago you could play the matches much quicker, but even they were slow in comparison to the old Premier Manager 2 game which went at the pace I need.

I want to be able to zoom through matches and therefore seasons, so PLEASE SI, bring in an option to make the matches go faster, PLUS an instant result option for those who want it. Please allow us to play the game how WE WANT to play it! 

[Ellis_D]

On 31/10/2019 at 11:03, WojciechZed said:

I remember a long time ago somebody wrote a comment on a forum talking about how much they enjoy CM (I think that it was still CM at the time) but they struggle to find the time to play. I think they wrote that they are lucky if they can get an hour in each day, and someone replied 'an hour each day? Shame on you. It takes 2 hours just to pick and set up your team for a match.'

Seriously though, I also don't have the time to play it for hours every day. Some days I might get 2 or 3 hours in. Others, if I have a day off, perhaps a few more, but then there are also days I can't play it. I do always play the full version though, as I like to have as much detail as possible, because I want it to be as realistic as possible. I play each game with extended highlights, at normal speed, so a month to complete a season is standard for me.

A day without FM is like a day without sunshine!

[ralala]

On 30/10/2019 at 08:30, DavyDepuydt1 said:

Typical situation here, played FM a lot in my time as a student when I had heaps of spare time... Now married, busy job and a little girl to look after...

On a typical day I can have about 30min of playing time during lunch break and occasionally some evenings another 30min to 1hour of playing time if I'm lucky.

Because of this I was leaning towards playing FMT the last few years because it looked to be 'the' version of FM for people in my situation, but in the end I always felt I was missing something (even though I'm far from a micro management guy). 

I always had the feeling full fat is the version I want to play, but with my busy life and limited time I won't be able to enjoy a good long save on it.... So now I'm wondering how many of you are in a similar situation but are able to go for full fat and have a long enjoyable save going on and how do you make that happen?  

I'm in the same situation with woman, work and 3 kids. 

First thing you need to do is negotiate with the woman, so that you are both happy with amount of "own time" designated throughout a week.

She goes to spa, you play FM. She goes for wine-night with girlfriends, you play FM. And so forth.

Do the dishes or wash the floor, then "I'm going to play some FM" later that day will be acceptable too. Or maybe do one of those opaque"romantic" things. I try that from time to time, but it only results in more kids(so less FM).

Whenever you watch football on TV, try to play FM at the same time for that maximum football experience. Should give you 2 hours gametime pr. game on TV. Either a laptop in the sofa near the telly, or a dualscreen stationary PC.

For the actual game:

Delegate as much as you can to your staff. Makes hiring correct staff even more important and immersive.

Set the game to auto-continue to save downtime on clicking continue.

Check what the optimized amount of leagues and nations is for your PC. Don't include too much.

Edited November 1, 2019 by ralala

[Nobby_McDonald]

I have a full time job, wife and young daughter. I'm in March of my third season in my FM18 game that I started in September 2018 and I'm thorough enjoying it. I just don't get many play sessions!