
Oh, also, is there anyway to go through 'inductions' that I chose to skip? I hit skip because the emails for them hadn't actually come in yet, I just clicked on the relevant section of the interface, but I didn't get a chance to run those inductions when the emails did come in. Those that I did run through seemed helpful to a complete neophyte like me, so I'll be sad if I'm missing useful information for skipping too quickly.
I knew pretty much nothing about club soccer when I started playing aside from "Manchester United are evil" and "4-4-2 formation with a big, good in the air, man and little, fast, man up top should work" and FM was as much a part of me learning how things work as watching actual matches, reading the Guardian's football section, and listening to podcasts was.
I think Godzilla Biltz has it right, just do what you understand and manage the games as they come whether it's in MLS or a traditional league. You'll muddle through and pick things up as you go along and what you don't understand won't be that big of a deal at the end.
I'd probably focus on just managing the games and your tactics at first (at least that's what I did), so MLS actually isn't a bad place to start since the teams are fairly even. When you've got your feet under you there you could just keep going and figure out how MLS works or choose a team in a traditional league and get your head around the transfer system.
I would ordinarily say 'watch some Let's Plays', as that's how I've been doing the opposite journey trying to learn OOTP Baseball.
However, most of the LPs that I look at (Golden FM, Doctorbenjy, Work The Space) tend to run very long series which go light on explanations - for example Golden FM's latest series, with a constructed team called Regen Rovers, is on episode 116 and is currently in 2031. So I'm not sure whether they'll give you the sort of help that I get from watching OOTP streams where people go at a slower pace (ironically because they sim huge numbers of the actual games) but go slowly through the things I struggle with, like free agency, lineup settings and the draft.
That said, if you go to episode 1 of most FM series, there is a bit of explanation, because people will often review their existing squads and tactics, and say if/how they are planning to change them.
Thanks for the good advice.
I sort of feel like I understand the MLS rules better than I would understand the rules elsewhere. They are not completely out of place when compared to MLB/NBA/NFL rules, and without the expectations of a normal soccer fan coming it, they don't seem so strange to me.
I took that trade I mentioned, then realized that I had forgotten to check their expected placement. It was second, which made me much more skeptical of their value. Then I read that MLS superdraftee's tend to be busts for the first several years (it sounds like they improve once fictional players start taking over) ... so I cheated and started over. I followed the advice of moving even more things to AI management; I think I can already see them doing weird things, but thats ok for now (the best was a transfer they setup where the transfer fee exceeded my transfer budget).
I've tried to focus on the morale and PR related things, and managing the games themselves (I'm only three friendly matches in so far). Even in-game I'm mostly following the GM analysis and suggestions, though I've made a few changes of my own volition (with generally not-so-great results).
Are you using manager chats on the non-scoring Forwards?
After a number of games without scoring you can chat to them about their performances and tell them that even though they haven't scored recently, you believe in them. Then give them the "I have faith in you!" pre-game chat to back that up and you can shake someone out of the funk, if you are genuinely producing chances for them to score.
Dammit.
Between your updates Godzilla, watching the Amazon Prime series about Leeds ("Take Us Home") and my general love of underdog/phoenix from the ashes stories, I am firing up FM again and going to attempt to save Bolton. This should be fun.
Don't expect the frequency and quality of update that Godzilla gives though.
At the very low levels there's not too much wrong with putting out the best players you have in a 4-4-2 with direct play and very few individual instructions and then just letting them get on with it.
Advice that has worked in FM(/CM) since about 1995.
I'm loving these GB, please keep them going.
I've been enjoying your write ups too. If you do restart with the same team it might be interesting to see what would happen if you're not a total nobody. One of my favourite ways to play is to set myself as an ex international player, start with a low team and see where I rise to. No guarantee it would make any difference with poor old Nuneaton though!
EARLY BOLTON UPDATE:
Downloading the most recent database update and disabling first transfer window changes was a mistake. Much like real-life Bolton, I am relying on teenagers to help us get through the first half of the season.
Prederick wrote:EARLY BOLTON UPDATE:
Downloading the most recent database update and disabling first transfer window changes was a mistake. Much like real-life Bolton, I am relying on teenagers to help us get through the first half of the season.
So you shut down the first transfer window and pretty much left yourself just with the squad as it stands now? Yikes, that's got to have made the first half of the season really challenging!
We are five games in.
We are 0-1-4, with a goal differential of -10.
Basically, I'm just trying to see if I can hang on until January.
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