Football Manager Series Catch-All

davet010 wrote:

We stumbled after the winter break, my main striker deciding that scoring 15 goals before Xmas meant he'd done his bit for the year, and he ended up with only 20.

I've had this happen repeatedly in FM20. I wonder if there is an algorithm that identifies strikers with a certain level of performance, then applies some sort of counter tactics on them to take them out of the game.

I was never happy with my AMR and AML, so kept changing them - that probably disrupted him a bit. Looking back at the season, I also took him off penalty taking after he missed the vital one in our Pokal loss to Hertha Berlin, so that would have been a few more otherwise.

The worry is that our scouts now have him flagged as a 2.BL talent, which ain't too useful now. He might just be one of those players who you love when he gets you out of a division, but in your heart of hearts you know that he just ain't going to cut it in the big league. Unfortunately both of my alternatives are new to the team, so they're an unknown quantity at the moment.

A new FM channel? Full of great tactical advice? From an American?

Maybe a bit off topic.. But i am having an absolute blast with Football, Tactics & Glory. It get's a bit on the grind side after 10 seasons, but still. Fun! Would have loved a mix of this and FM.

Prederick wrote:

A new FM channel? Full of great tactical advice? From an American?

That's actually a really good video. Subscribed.

Peoj Snamreh wrote:

Maybe a bit off topic.. But i am having an absolute blast with Football, Tactics & Glory. It get's a bit on the grind side after 10 seasons, but still. Fun! Would have loved a mix of this and FM.

There's DLC coming out that allows for manager movement between clubs, reputation, and a ton of stats.

Sounds like fun additions, just hope they keep it light and remember that the beer 'n pretzels approach is the appeal.

Loaded up my Queen's Park save for the first time since spring. Felt like some FMing but didn't want to start from scratch again. Looking at my squad is like remembering some old faces, it's nice.

Hopefully I can finally get over the hump in the Champions League next season.

Edit: I'm set to be in violation of UEFA's financial fair play if I don't cut my "losses" by €60m this coming season. Despite never having a sugar daddy (-€445m net spend in my career) and €65m in the bank. FFP is such bullshit.

Got over my FFP rage and played through a season on my Queen's Park save. Lost 2-1 to PSG in the Champions League final even though I shored up my midfield by spending €116m on a dude.

Assuming I can hold onto my best players my areas where I could realistically improve the first XI are 2nd striker, rightback, and goalkeeper. Hoping I can sell off some secondary players for a big profit, have a couple guys I have out on loan step into their spot in the 2nd XI, and make a big splash at one of those three positions.

On the bright side, this dude (probably the best player I've ever signed in FM) put up 55 goals across all competitions for the club this season. Only cost me €1.8m when I signed him as a teenager out of Uruguay!

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/H1l52s7.png)

^Wow, those finishing attributes!

Y'know, I burned out on FM pretty bad this year, and yet, I'm absolutely getting FM 21. I am a dumb-dumb.

Manchester United City just made a €150m bid for my 4th-best centreback. This game is so realistic.

Godzilla Blitz wrote:

^Wow, those finishing attributes!

I know! and the pace! And the dude's young enough to develop a little bit more.

Prederick wrote:

Y'know, I burned out on FM pretty bad this year, and yet, I'm absolutely getting FM 21. I am a dumb-dumb.

Nothing wrong with skipping a year or two and taking a break Pred. I won't be getting it this year because my appetite for football has been quite low this season.

Vacationed (except for Champions League matches and the transfer windows) through another season today. Good news, won the title again!

Bad news, knocked out in the first knockout round by Bayern Munich 7-5 (4-4 in the 1st, my home, leg where we were down 2-nil after 4 minutes; lost 3-1 in the 2nd, away, leg) despite bringing in a €100m striker and €73m rightback!

I think the game and I are going to be back on a break for a bit.

Not seeing "one-on-ones are fixed" here.

Humm.

- Improving interactions
(probably good, but it's a bit in the weeds, and many interactions now don't seem to matter much)

- More matchday information
(I barely have time to use all the information I've got now)

- Some graphic improvements in the match engine
(Some new paint on a tired engine?)

- Expected Goals
(nice, but not really a "feature")

- Recruiting and scouting management
(Cleaning up the existing system might be nice, let's see how it gets executed)

- End of Season experience
(I like the sound of it, but it kind of looks like what we have now but a bit prettier)

What do people think?

I'm not getting a sense that this is a strong step forward.

It was never going to be, even without the pandemic, but yeah, none of the things that particularly concern me are represented here.

Prederick wrote:

It was never going to be, even without the pandemic, but yeah, none of the things that particularly concern me are represented here.

Yeah, the pandemic must have taken out a good chunk of possible progress.

I wonder if the modest changes mean we'll have a less buggy release? I feel like it took a good couple of months before FM20 sorted itself out.

They should just bite the bullet and go all subscription-based, at 50EUR/year or 6EUR/month or something, and keep improving the game incrementally together with roster updates. Or at least a perpetual license purchase + kind of a maintenance contract that keeps your game up-to-date.

And then allow you to start at whichever season you like, so I can play Anderlecht when they weren't burdened with tens of millions in debt yet

I keep thinking an FM Ultimate Team equivalent without the insane card inflation you get in the EA games could be fun.

But I loaded up Perfect Team in Out of the Park twice and never went back to it, so what do I know?

Yeah, even I'm not really feeling excited about FM21 after seeing the list of feature updates. Might give it a miss at launch.

Roke wrote:

I keep thinking an FM Ultimate Team equivalent without the insane card inflation you get in the EA games could be fun.

Is it possible to make a FIFA UT equivalent that doesn't automatically become gambling?

Prederick wrote:
Roke wrote:

I keep thinking an FM Ultimate Team equivalent without the insane card inflation you get in the EA games could be fun.

Is it possible to make a FIFA UT equivalent that doesn't automatically become gambling?

I'm actually fine with the gambling, in theory. It's the way they always add newer, better cards all the time that make existing cards obsolete that makes the gambling especially gross to me.

Color me intrigued.

The beta's live, anyone playing? I'm going to take it for a spin this evening. I've chosen Stoke City this time around.

Prederick wrote:

Y'know, I burned out on FM pretty bad this year, and yet, I'm absolutely getting FM 21. I am a dumb-dumb.

Once again, they have me in their little damn pockets.

Yeah, I bought it on impulse a couple of days ago. Just trying to sort out what I want to do, and whether to create another YouTube series for it. So many games, so little time.

Season 1 with Stoke City is in the books. We defied a media prediction of 18th to finish 5th, but lost in the Playoff semi final to Preston, 1-3 on aggregate. After starting poorly (we were 21st after 7 games) I created a tactic that basically played my best XI players in their preferred roles. This actually led to a reasonable 4-2-3-1 formation that I switched between Balanced and Positive depending on the opposition. Stoke are still in dire straits financially, we are £10m overdrawn at the end of the season, but the off-season will see us get rid of most of our high earners (the likes of Shawcross who was on £50k/week and hardly ever played), so hopefully I can start making inroads into that debt. There won't be much for new signings unfortunately, but some of our best players have been out on loan in season 1, so getting them back will be like getting a load of new signings. I'm optimistic of making a run at the playoffs again in season 2.

Prederick wrote:
Prederick wrote:

Y'know, I burned out on FM pretty bad this year, and yet, I'm absolutely getting FM 21. I am a dumb-dumb.

Once again, they have me in their little damn pockets.

Would love to hear why it is so much better now. I bounced off FM2019 (and 2018, 2017 and 2016) pretty hard.

Peoj Snamreh wrote:
Prederick wrote:
Prederick wrote:

Y'know, I burned out on FM pretty bad this year, and yet, I'm absolutely getting FM 21. I am a dumb-dumb.

Once again, they have me in their little damn pockets.

Would love to hear why it is so much better now. I bounced off FM2019 (and 2018, 2017 and 2016) pretty hard.

It’s iterative. At its core, FM21 is the same experience. If you bounced off previous versions, I’d bet money you will bounce off this.

Yeah, either the incremental advancements excite you or they don't.

Incremental advancements are more exciting if you've skipped a couple of years. The FM 21 I'm playing now is much improved over the last FM I played 3 years ago. But.... it's still fundamentally the same game.