The Realism Thread

[Junkhead (Inactive)]

47 minutes ago, WilsonJuve said:

So I started with no past experience and no badges. Chesterfield in the Vanarama National League turned me down without so much as an interview, yet Wigan Athletic who are currently in League One offered me an interview without me asking then about 10 weeks later offered me the managers job..........

If it's only with Wigan then this might be because if finances. I've seen a few people mention this and the off has said something along the lines of it being a financial decision.

If you think it's a bug I would post it in the bugs forum although it may well have already been raised.

[WilsonJuve (Inactive)]

44 minutes ago, Junkhead said:

If it's only with Wigan then this might be because if finances. I've seen a few people mention this and the off has said something along the lines of it being a financial decision.

If you think it's a bug I would post it in the bugs forum although it may well have already been raised.

Yeah the thing that made me mention it is when you click on club landmarks a new Chairman has taken over on the 16/09/20 they left administration on 16/09/20 I got the job offer on the 28/09/20 



Further to that if you want to see this is the current finances/projection

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[Garlic (Inactive)]

beautiful thread!
does anyone use this view instead of player values?

[Haribo1681 (Inactive)]

Without doubt, this guy is both the most patriotic and scariest region I've ever seen.

[Spallo (Inactive)]

A facemod going rogue? 

I am curious ... how do you guys play the match day? Full game with maybe adjusted speedsettings or even 90 minutes ... or just a variation of highlights?

I don’t have the time for full matches, so I will never have the option, but I try to watch the comprehensive highlight mode as often as possible.

[Brother Ben (Inactive)]

Just now, Spallo said:

A facemod going rogue? 

I am curious ... how do you guys play the match day? Full game with maybe adjusted speedsettings or even 90 minutes ... or just a variation of highlights?

I don’t have the time for full matches, so I will never have the option, but I try to watch the comprehensive highlight mode as often as possible.

Don't think it matters, up to you.  There's realism and then there's the fact that we all have commitments.  I would just avoid instant result buttons etc

Personally I use comprehensive but it can change depending on mood

[Brother Ben (Inactive)]

In case anyone was thinking of taking up the challenge of LLM here is a list of the clubs deemed LLM (lowest playable league in a given nation) with the lowest reputation

So from around 1200 odd teams only 5 are rated as "obscure" in terms of reputation

 

CT All Stars  -  South African National First Division

Tarazona  -  Spanish Second Division B - Group 2B

Poblense  -  Spanish Second Division B - Group 5A

IF Karlstad Akademi  -  Swedish Second Division Norra Götaland

Trefelin BGC  -  Wales - Cymru South

 

IF Karlstad Akademi are a feeder/reserve club though so I personally would avoid them

 

Or maybe you like a small stadium

Brda  -  Slovenian Second League  -  Capacity 193

Vysehrad  -  Czech Second Division  -  Capacity 200

Dob  -  Slovenian Second League  -  Capacity 287

Ammanford  -  Wales - Cymru South  -  Capacity 250

Cambrian & Clydach  -  Wales - Cymru South  -  Capacity 250

Edited November 28, 2020 by Brother Ben

[Junkhead (Inactive)]

17 minutes ago, Brother Ben said:

In case anyone was thinking of taking up the challenge of LLM here is a list of the clubs deemed LLM (lowest playable league in a given nation) with the lowest reputation

So from around 1200 odd teams only 5 are rated as "obscure" in terms of reputation

 

CT All Stars  -  South African National First Division

Tarazona  -  Spanish Second Division B - Group 2B

Poblense  -  Spanish Second Division B - Group 5A

IF Karlstad Akademi  -  Swedish Second Division Norra Götaland

Trefelin BGC  -  Wales - Cymru South

 

IF Karlstad Akademi are a feeder/reserve club though so I personally would avoid them

Not getting much time to play at the moment due to work. Thought I had decided on my team, but this post might change that!

 

[Junkhead (Inactive)]

25 minutes ago, Spallo said:

A facemod going rogue? 

I am curious ... how do you guys play the match day? Full game with maybe adjusted speedsettings or even 90 minutes ... or just a variation of highlights?

I don’t have the time for full matches, so I will never have the option, but I try to watch the comprehensive highlight mode as often as possible.

Comprehensive for me, don't speed up. My brain doesn't think fast enough for the quicker speeds 

 

[Brother Ben (Inactive)]

1 minute ago, Junkhead said:

Not getting much time to play at the moment due to work. Thought I had decided on my team, but this post might change that!

 

The reputation thing is strange, obscure regional etc i'm guessing is the rating within their own country as there's also a star system from 1-5 like there is for most things in FM

around 120 of the 1200 teams are rated 0.5 stars but some can be anything from obscure to local to national reputation

[Junkhead (Inactive)]

2 hours ago, Garlic said:

beautiful thread!
does anyone use this view instead of player values?

I hadn't, but if there is not a skin out which hides attributes soon then I guess it's an option!

[XuluBak (Inactive)]

Nevermind. Found it. Was making that way harder than it needed to be...

Edited November 28, 2020 by XuluBak

[DementedHammer (Inactive)]

1 hour ago, Spallo said:

I am curious ... how do you guys play the match day? Full game with maybe adjusted speedsettings or even 90 minutes ... or just a variation of highlights?

Full matches normal speed for me. It's the only way I can play the game because I feel I'm missing out on too many details otherwise. 

I barely have the time for it though. I probably managed around 30 matches in total in FM20. 

[AllyJoseph (Inactive)]

I never understood the hate that gets piled on when debates like this happened, so long as its single player, people can and should be allowed to play however they want. Be it hyper realism, to downloading super tactics, to editing to give all their players 200 PA. Who cares right?

I play 'sort of' realistic. I don't want to inhibit myself to the degree most do, especially in the modern day. For example the whole "i dont sign people my scouts dont find" was great 15 years ago, but now FM is literally used as a scouting tool for clubs. It'd almost be more realistic to find players Ca/Pa and sign based off that. I also love having chats with my mates about players we've signed, they dont even need to be that good, i just love the chat. I think names like "big guy at the back" would detract from that. However, I'm not going to look into hidden attributes, I'm not going to use the editor, I start with realistic coaching badges/experience, I don't use "good player" guides or lists, I don't use pre-made tactics/exploits. Everything I do in game is off my own back.

But as I said earlier, and I'd like to reiterate, everyone can have fun however they want to have it, so long as it doesn't hurt anyone elses fun.

[Bosey82 (Inactive)]

Serial lurker here as well. I've been playing Football Manager since Kevin Toms, so that will date me. Good thread. I just posted this in the feedback chat, but will post here as it applies. Something that annoys me massively is stadium reality. In one of the posts the screen shot is of The City Ground, home of Forest. Why does the stadium have three tiers? The game has lots of stadiums with 2 tiers and 4 sides. You see lots more varieties when you manage on the continent or other countries in the world. Why can't the games designers assign stadiums ot team that actually resemble the ones in real life? So in this case 4 sides, some single tier some double. Or at worst 4 sides two tier, not three. It's not that hard and doesn'y infringe on any proprietary image rights. Otherwise the stadium capacity is also much higher.  Just would make the graphical experience so much better. 

[Brother Ben (Inactive)]

1 hour ago, AllyJoseph said:

I never understood the hate that gets piled on when debates like this happened, so long as its single player, people can and should be allowed to play however they want. Be it hyper realism, to downloading super tactics, to editing to give all their players 200 PA. Who cares right?

I play 'sort of' realistic. I don't want to inhibit myself to the degree most do, especially in the modern day. For example the whole "i dont sign people my scouts dont find" was great 15 years ago, but now FM is literally used as a scouting tool for clubs. It'd almost be more realistic to find players Ca/Pa and sign based off that. I also love having chats with my mates about players we've signed, they dont even need to be that good, i just love the chat. I think names like "big guy at the back" would detract from that. However, I'm not going to look into hidden attributes, I'm not going to use the editor, I start with realistic coaching badges/experience, I don't use "good player" guides or lists, I don't use pre-made tactics/exploits. Everything I do in game is off my own back.

But as I said earlier, and I'd like to reiterate, everyone can have fun however they want to have it, so long as it doesn't hurt anyone elses fun.

Nobody here is stopping anyone doing anything, I’m not sure what you’re getting at?

this is just a suggested way of playing that has been around for years, hardly revolutionary and not even that restrictive these days.

this is about playing realistically within the confines of the game so if my scout comes to me with a player then maybe he has used whatever the in game version of football manager is to find him, maybe he used the CA and PA from that game because, as you say, that would be more realistic.  To be honest though I’d rather he went to watch a few games because I’m old fashioned like that.

The player naming thing is just because some people don’t do tipping just like you don’t download tactics.  I’m sure some people would say you were stupid not to do that.

Also Nobody's stopping anyone discussing stuff with their friends it’s just a forum thing to stop a floodgate scenario where people are asking who to sign etc

I like your last sentence though because your quite correct, everyone can have fun the way they want to have it.  This just happens to be what I and others consider fun.  
 

Before I played this way I’d never play more than a few seasons before starting again but now I have epic 30 year sagas where I might win absolutely nothing, heck in FM19 I was stuck in the Vanarama North for 12 seasons but when I finally got promotion it was awesome and that was because it was all my own work.  (I got relegated and sacked the following season mind you but it’s all part of the journey)

What LLM is that isn’t always apparent is a safe space for people who aren’t afraid to admit they’re a bit crap at the game and they can get commiserations from other like minded players.

im gutted you got the impression that you thought it was a “hate pile on” 

what can we do to win you round?

[Junkhead (Inactive)]

5 hours ago, AllyJoseph said:

I never understood the hate that gets piled on when debates like this happened, so long as its single player, people can and should be allowed to play however they want. Be it hyper realism, to downloading super tactics, to editing to give all their players 200 PA. Who cares right?

I play 'sort of' realistic. I don't want to inhibit myself to the degree most do, especially in the modern day. For example the whole "i dont sign people my scouts dont find" was great 15 years ago, but now FM is literally used as a scouting tool for clubs. It'd almost be more realistic to find players Ca/Pa and sign based off that. I also love having chats with my mates about players we've signed, they dont even need to be that good, i just love the chat. I think names like "big guy at the back" would detract from that. However, I'm not going to look into hidden attributes, I'm not going to use the editor, I start with realistic coaching badges/experience, I don't use "good player" guides or lists, I don't use pre-made tactics/exploits. Everything I do in game is off my own back.

But as I said earlier, and I'd like to reiterate, everyone can have fun however they want to have it, so long as it doesn't hurt anyone elses fun.

Absolutely right, which is why I didn't want to go down that route in the thread.  I just want everyone to have fun.

Would prefer no player naming on this thread if possible, but I can't really do anything about it if people do it, I'm not a mod.  Just hoping for a bit of good faith.  My view is that if it's out in the open, you can't miss it, whereas if it's hidden, people can DM if they want the info.

[Junkhead (Inactive)]

5 hours ago, Bosey82 said:

Serial lurker here as well. I've been playing Football Manager since Kevin Toms, so that will date me. Good thread. I just posted this in the feedback chat, but will post here as it applies. Something that annoys me massively is stadium reality. In one of the posts the screen shot is of The City Ground, home of Forest. Why does the stadium have three tiers? The game has lots of stadiums with 2 tiers and 4 sides. You see lots more varieties when you manage on the continent or other countries in the world. Why can't the games designers assign stadiums ot team that actually resemble the ones in real life? So in this case 4 sides, some single tier some double. Or at worst 4 sides two tier, not three. It's not that hard and doesn'y infringe on any proprietary image rights. Otherwise the stadium capacity is also much higher.  Just would make the graphical experience so much better. 

Yeah, this is a shame.  My understanding is that this can be self modded, but seems a bit like hard work.  Hoping one day that the stadiums are fully moddable.

[Junkhead (Inactive)]

I have finally started what I hope will be my long term save.  Not sure I will do a full update in the career updates forum or not so will just be doing small updates here for now.

Have started in Turkey with Karabukspor.  No manager at the start, but certainly wanted to play as them so didn't start unemployed.  Although I haven't searched extensively, I am struggling to see how they are not the biggest challenge on the game at the beginning, particularly since my previous saves in Turkey have ended in tears due to chairmen being a bit trigger happy.  Here is why I think they are likely to be a proper challenge;

Spoiler

- Were in the Superlig as recently as 17/18 season so there will be a level of pressure/expectation I would think.

- Suffered 2 straight relegations to the third tier and would have had a third if not for Covid.

- MASSIVE loan debt which will cost £100k a month for the first season.

- Not a single player over the age of 23.

- 3 point deduction so already bottom of the league.

- Real life record so far this season - P12 - W0 - D1 - L11 

My aim this save is to ultimately win the Turkish League with an Ankara club as this has never happened before (an Ankara club winning the league I mean, not me winning a league.  I've won the Haitian League. Once. On Goal difference).

Wish me luck!

Edited November 29, 2020 by Junkhead
Can't spell.

[bielsadidnothingwrong (Inactive)]

what’s everyone’s opinion on custom vs pre-built tactical styles? I definitely agree that downloading custom tactics from other users doesn’t quite fit the realism. So I have considered avoiding any custom tactics at all as it can be advantageous to the player over the ai managers who are limited to the pre-selected styles. all things equal then my style plus my shape, roles, set piece routines, morale, fitness, and opposition instructions and half time adjustments make the difference. just some thoughts. 

[Junkhead (Inactive)]

Guys if anyone is able to help @Daveincidwith a test save re. Realism, then he would really appreciate it - fire him a DM.

[Brother Ben (Inactive)]

35 minutes ago, bielsadidnothingwrong said:

what’s everyone’s opinion on custom vs pre-built tactical styles? I definitely agree that downloading custom tactics from other users doesn’t quite fit the realism. So I have considered avoiding any custom tactics at all as it can be advantageous to the player over the ai managers who are limited to the pre-selected styles. all things equal then my style plus my shape, roles, set piece routines, morale, fitness, and opposition instructions and half time adjustments make the difference. just some thoughts. 

I use the clean slate option, I just like to build it myself, so I know it's mine I suppose. 

I've never really thought about the advantage it might give you over the AI but it's not like I find the game easy anyway. 

[Spallo (Inactive)]

I don’t think you have an advantage if you use your custom tactic. The difference are maybe the PI’s, but if you just use the tactical options for the whole formation there is no big difference in comparison with the AI. As long as you don’t know that you’re using OP combination you’re fine I think.
 

And I like the stadiums in FM. Ok I am used to 2014 and don’t have a whole lot pictures of stadiums in my mind (except in Germany maybe twenty or so), so my expectations are a bit low maybe. Of course it would be great, if they were fully modable.

because @Junkhead started to give impressions of his career I will also write a little about my experience.

Like I said earlier ... started unemployed without badges, attributes masked, whole Europe playable down to the lowest leagues and a large custom database of around 200k players.

Alta IF offered me a job in the Norwegian third tier and because I was backpacking in Norway in 2009 I actually did know about the club a bit and was glad to go there. Expectations were pretty high for the future and for the first season top half finish. The squad was aging and it became immediately clear, that I have to moderate change here. Hilariously there was a 38 year old Morten Gamst Pedersen on my squad who got 900 a week and almost 25 percent of the whole wage budget. There was no way of selling him, so I had to keep him. Youth was really good and got me decent backups and one really good striker who would score 16 goals in the first season. 
In this first season I did really good. I challenged for promotion the whole time, but got unlucky in some matches were I should have won but got an equalizer late. In the end it was third place.

For the second season I brought some new young guys in. All from my partner club tromsoe which has a really good U19. But my young cornerstones for midfield and defense were raided from the second division. My young striker stayed though, but doesn’t score that much anymore. But he has a new experienced partner which signed mid season last year and is already a leader. Started okay in the second season and after the midpoint I am sixth but with just 4 points back to the top. So it is really close in the league and the favorites suck massively ... despite being 1.02 in media prediction for the first place they are just in tenth. Goal is to challenge the playoffs and sign one or maybe two younger players for the new season. Especially the wings and central midfield needing some fresh blood.

so far I didn’t regret going to Alta but I don’t know if I should renew my contract or apply for some decent jobs elsewhere.

[AllyJoseph (Inactive)]

8 hours ago, Brother Ben said:

Nobody here is stopping anyone doing anything, I’m not sure what you’re getting at?

this is just a suggested way of playing that has been around for years, hardly revolutionary and not even that restrictive these days.

this is about playing realistically within the confines of the game so if my scout comes to me with a player then maybe he has used whatever the in game version of football manager is to find him, maybe he used the CA and PA from that game because, as you say, that would be more realistic.  To be honest though I’d rather he went to watch a few games because I’m old fashioned like that.

The player naming thing is just because some people don’t do tipping just like you don’t download tactics.  I’m sure some people would say you were stupid not to do that.

Also Nobody's stopping anyone discussing stuff with their friends it’s just a forum thing to stop a floodgate scenario where people are asking who to sign etc

I like your last sentence though because your quite correct, everyone can have fun the way they want to have it.  This just happens to be what I and others consider fun.  
 

Before I played this way I’d never play more than a few seasons before starting again but now I have epic 30 year sagas where I might win absolutely nothing, heck in FM19 I was stuck in the Vanarama North for 12 seasons but when I finally got promotion it was awesome and that was because it was all my own work.  (I got relegated and sacked the following season mind you but it’s all part of the journey)

What LLM is that isn’t always apparent is a safe space for people who aren’t afraid to admit they’re a bit crap at the game and they can get commiserations from other like minded players.

im gutted you got the impression that you thought it was a “hate pile on” 

what can we do to win you round?

I never suggested anyone was stopping anyone from doing anything? I literally just explained how I played the game when managing lower league sides.

You've totally missed the point. You don't need to "win me round", I was quite explicit with my thoughts which are anyone can play however they want. Why would you need to win me round when I already agree with you?

[AllyJoseph (Inactive)]

5 hours ago, Junkhead said:

Absolutely right, which is why I didn't want to go down that route in the thread.  I just want everyone to have fun.

Would prefer no player naming on this thread if possible, but I can't really do anything about it if people do it, I'm not a mod.  Just hoping for a bit of good faith.  My view is that if it's out in the open, you can't miss it, whereas if it's hidden, people can DM if they want the info.

I would like to think everyone would adhere to your wishes, its one thing to not agree to someones playstyle, its another to try and actively spoil it. I hope you have a lot of success! I've always been intrigued with the LLM way of playing, I just couldn't follow it through personally. It definitely has a large amount of merits.

[Brother Ben (Inactive)]

10 minutes ago, AllyJoseph said:

I never suggested anyone was stopping anyone from doing anything? I literally just explained how I played the game when managing lower league sides.

You've totally missed the point. You don't need to "win me round", I was quite explicit with my thoughts which are anyone can play however they want. Why would you need to win me round when I already agree with you?

Sorry I misinterpreted your post , it was very late!

Edited November 29, 2020 by Brother Ben

[Junkhead (Inactive)]

2 hours ago, Spallo said:

I don’t think you have an advantage if you use your custom tactic. The difference are maybe the PI’s, but if you just use the tactical options for the whole formation there is no big difference in comparison with the AI. As long as you don’t know that you’re using OP combination you’re fine I think.
 

And I like the stadiums in FM. Ok I am used to 2014 and don’t have a whole lot pictures of stadiums in my mind (except in Germany maybe twenty or so), so my expectations are a bit low maybe. Of course it would be great, if they were fully modable.

because @Junkhead started to give impressions of his career I will also write a little about my experience.

Like I said earlier ... started unemployed without badges, attributes masked, whole Europe playable down to the lowest leagues and a large custom database of around 200k players.

Alta IF offered me a job in the Norwegian third tier and because I was backpacking in Norway in 2009 I actually did know about the club a bit and was glad to go there. Expectations were pretty high for the future and for the first season top half finish. The squad was aging and it became immediately clear, that I have to moderate change here. Hilariously there was a 38 year old Morten Gamst Pedersen on my squad who got 900 a week and almost 25 percent of the whole wage budget. There was no way of selling him, so I had to keep him. Youth was really good and got me decent backups and one really good striker who would score 16 goals in the first season. 
In this first season I did really good. I challenged for promotion the whole time, but got unlucky in some matches were I should have won but got an equalizer late. In the end it was third place.

For the second season I brought some new young guys in. All from my partner club tromsoe which has a really good U19. But my young cornerstones for midfield and defense were raided from the second division. My young striker stayed though, but doesn’t score that much anymore. But he has a new experienced partner which signed mid season last year and is already a leader. Started okay in the second season and after the midpoint I am sixth but with just 4 points back to the top. So it is really close in the league and the favorites suck massively ... despite being 1.02 in media prediction for the first place they are just in tenth. Goal is to challenge the playoffs and sign one or maybe two younger players for the new season. Especially the wings and central midfield needing some fresh blood.

so far I didn’t regret going to Alta but I don’t know if I should renew my contract or apply for some decent jobs elsewhere.

Alta were my Beta team. Didn't finish the first season but a similar experience to you by the sounds of it.  Initial joy at seeing Former Blackburn Midfielder soon ebbed away when I realised he could hardly move and was being paid a quarter of my entire budget.

Good luck!

[Mars_Blackmon (Inactive)]

Anyone only use staff suggestions and adverts to hire new staff? Right now, I just let my appropriate staff role fill the jobs but suggestions and adverts could be another realistic alternative.

[Junkhead (Inactive)]

10 minutes ago, Mars_Blackmon said:

Anyone only use staff suggestions and adverts to hire new staff? Right now, I just let my appropriate staff role fill the jobs but suggestions and adverts could be another realistic alternative.

50/50 on this one. I do for things like scouts, coaches and physios when I have spaces to fill. It is clearly the most realistic way to hire staff.

I think the problem is how long it takes, and also that you can't place an ad when you have no space. If I take over a club and am not too happy with the assman, I would have to sack him, advertise, wait a few weeks and hope that the applicants were better than he was. So I used to find myself using the search to see what sort of level the realistic applicants would be and then hoping individuals I had found in the search applied all whilst operating at reduced training capacity because I had a staff member down.  So I tend to just use the search if replacing vital staff.

This is something SI should sort. Have had it before when staff retire and you have to wait and then continue with no one in place to get applicants. Silly.

[Spallo (Inactive)]

59 minutes ago, Junkhead said:

Alta were my Beta team. Didn't finish the first season but a similar experience to you by the sounds of it.  Initial joy at seeing Former Blackburn Midfielder soon ebbed away when I realised he could hardly move and was being paid a quarter of my entire budget.

Good luck!

He was a good playmaker in my first season though. But he was a black hole in the defense especially because I like playing with a adjusted 442 and only one defensively minded central midfielder. Regiuniussen had this job as a BWM, but Pedersen was sometimes so slow, that he was left alone against two opponents 

luckily he had just one year left and earned so much, that after he left there was room for 2 or 3 younger already decent players. And that despite being financially a but strained.

but one question: any advantage starting a new safe after release? Because I just started in the beta and planned to stick with it.

[Junkhead (Inactive)]

1 hour ago, Spallo said:

He was a good playmaker in my first season though. But he was a black hole in the defense especially because I like playing with a adjusted 442 and only one defensively minded central midfielder. Regiuniussen had this job as a BWM, but Pedersen was sometimes so slow, that he was left alone against two opponents 

luckily he had just one year left and earned so much, that after he left there was room for 2 or 3 younger already decent players. And that despite being financially a but strained.

but one question: any advantage starting a new safe after release? Because I just started in the beta and planned to stick with it.

I don't think there was anything ground breaking in the beta which meant that transfering to the main game was a problem. Just personal choice.

[majesticeternity (Inactive)]

2 hours ago, Mars_Blackmon said:

Anyone only use staff suggestions and adverts to hire new staff? Right now, I just let my appropriate staff role fill the jobs but suggestions and adverts could be another realistic alternative.

This is the only aspect I’m not realistic with, I don’t use the adverts. I love picking up some newly retired player, and creating a back room staff of previous GKs, defenders, midfielders, and strikers to train up the players. It may mean I get better or worse staff than adverts, but I try to be realistic in who I pick. If im in England sky bet league 2, and it shows a staff generally in league 1, I don’t go for it. I also go off the first staff I add, that maybe they have Scottish scouting knowledge, so I look for Scottish staff/knowledge or Wales, Ireland, etc, along with similar personalities, as if my staff recommended them, or they want to sign on with people they can work with and get along with. 

[majesticeternity (Inactive)]

This year is also the first year Im going to attempt to “port” a FM20 save to FM21. Obviously game world won’t be quite identical, but I’m at Sky bet league 1, and I can’t start over just to play FM21!

[bazhsw (Inactive)]

On 28/11/2020 at 00:23, Brother Ben said:

Okay if we're going to talk about realism I tend to take it a step further, at least with part time/amateur clubs. 

I use a one hour rule which goes as follows:  (feel free to think i'm nuts )

This involves only signing players within an hours drive of your club. The method for determining this would be to look at the birthplace of the player and also how local to yours their previous clubs are.

The history of players already at the club is also a great way to gauge what transfer moves are viable. For example I have often started with Port Talbot who are based in South Wales as its an area i'm familiar with and they meet the LLM criteria. A quick look at my own players history shows that they have quite often played for other clubs in the locality (Afan Lido, Goytre Utd etc) and often have been released from larger clubs like Swansea, Cardiff etc.

It is worth remembering however that if your club has generally signed players from much greater distances in the past then you know it's realistic to cast your net further afield.

The 'one hour' aspect is fairly arbitrary but it's a good yardstick of how far a player would travel to earn a part time wage and the following tool does the hard work for you.

TravelTime Map

Simply enter the name of your club/town and set the time to an hour and choose car as mode of transport

So to me its fair game to scout the youth teams of Cardiff Swansea and Newport and keep an eye on fellow Welsh league clubs within the radius

 

Just started reading this thread and am delighted to see this idea come up.  When managing a part time or amateur club I do something similar, basically plot a 50 mile radius around the ground and only sign players if their last club is in that radius or if they are out of contract their home city is in it.

I occasionally make allowances for 18 year olds only if there is a huge university within a mile or two of the ground (my local non-league club is a combination of uni kids and journeymen who have played for everyone else within 20 miles).

I think if one is playing with edited lower league files this becomes more important.  At very low levels I think it should be same division or regen only.

I have to admit this is harder in countries without a massive club / player base or where there isn't local knowledge of the player.

 

EDIT:. I am back on FM after a long break but another thing I did do was only apply for part time jobs within commute distance from my real life house as it 'wouldn't be worthwhile uprooting the family for £200 a week' and only progressing further afield when getting a proper full time offer.

 

In my last save I got sacked at Southport, Stalybridge, Macclesfield and Altrincham and never left non-league or won anything.  To be honest I did get a bit of a 'no fun vibe' from that but did like the immersion

Edited November 29, 2020 by bazhsw

[Brother Ben (Inactive)]

49 minutes ago, bazhsw said:

Just started reading this thread and am delighted to see this idea come up.  When managing a part time or amateur club I do something similar, basically plot a 50 mile radius around the ground and only sign players if their last club is in that radius or if they are out of contract their home city is in it.

I occasionally make allowances for 18 year olds only if there is a huge university within a mile or two of the ground (my local non-league club is a combination of uni kids and journeymen who have played for everyone else within 20 miles).

I think if one is playing with edited lower league files this becomes more important.  At very low levels I think it should be same division or regen only.

I have to admit this is harder in countries without a massive club / player base or where there isn't local knowledge of the player.

 

EDIT:. I am back on FM after a long break but another thing I did do was only apply for part time jobs within commute distance from my real life house as it 'wouldn't be worthwhile uprooting the family for £200 a week' and only progressing further afield when getting a proper full time offer.

 

In my last save I got sacked at Southport, Stalybridge, Macclesfield and Altrincham and never left non-league or won anything.  To be honest I did get a bit of a 'no fun vibe' from that but did like the immersion

It works well if you are familiar with the area I think, I'd find it hard maybe in the north of Sweden and Norway where an hours drive gets you nowhere 

The idea of literally only starting out at clubs close to where i live is an intruguing one, never thought about that but I like it, i'm lucky I suppose as it would give me about 10 clubs to choose from

[Brother Ben (Inactive)]

58 minutes ago, bazhsw said:

In my last save I got sacked at Southport, Stalybridge, Macclesfield and Altrincham and never left non-league or won anything.  To be honest I did get a bit of a 'no fun vibe' from that but did like the immersion

This is where a good LLaMa type forum would come in, you'd see that a lot of others are doing just as bad and it would help a little I think.  

[Spallo (Inactive)]

1 hour ago, bazhsw said:

Just started reading this thread and am delighted to see this idea come up.  When managing a part time or amateur club I do something similar, basically plot a 50 mile radius around the ground and only sign players if their last club is in that radius or if they are out of contract their home city is in it.

I occasionally make allowances for 18 year olds only if there is a huge university within a mile or two of the ground (my local non-league club is a combination of uni kids and journeymen who have played for everyone else within 20 miles).

I think if one is playing with edited lower league files this becomes more important.  At very low levels I think it should be same division or regen only.

I have to admit this is harder in countries without a massive club / player base or where there isn't local knowledge of the player.

 

EDIT:. I am back on FM after a long break but another thing I did do was only apply for part time jobs within commute distance from my real life house as it 'wouldn't be worthwhile uprooting the family for £200 a week' and only progressing further afield when getting a proper full time offer.

 

In my last save I got sacked at Southport, Stalybridge, Macclesfield and Altrincham and never left non-league or won anything.  To be honest I did get a bit of a 'no fun vibe' from that but did like the immersion

This idea is legit. I will absolutly do exactly that, when the editor file for the german 4th, 5th and 6th tier comes out. But I'd like to know, how you do that exactly ... do you wait until an offer comes and possibly holiday for years or are there other ways to do that? 

One other thing off topic:

There are new circles in the tactic screen which make no sense to me. They seem to indicate some kind of familiarity or something ... can someone explain them to me?

Edit:

Ok ... seems to me, that you have to train every tactical position and thats what the circles are indicating. Is this right? Is it enough just to change it in the individual training tab?

Edited November 29, 2020 by Spallo

[longruoi1 (Inactive)]

I hope that some people from SI will read this.

We all know that how disastrous Brexit is for people who like to hoard on young regen talents. Now at least please fix some loan interaction for new signings.

In real life guys like Malang Sarr left for loan right after his transfer with no complaint, and in FM those young kids with no Work permit always refuse to go in the first month. Normally I have to wait for them to settle down and missing the EU transfer windows, then my only option is to send them to lesser leagues like US or China, which do not help their permit at all.

Edited November 29, 2020 by longruoi1

[Spallo (Inactive)]

15 minutes ago, longruoi1 said:

I hope that some people from SI will read this.

We all know that how disastrous Brexit is for people who like to hoard on young regen talents. Now at least please fix some loan interaction for new signings.

In real life guys like Malang Sarr left for loan right after his transfer with no complaint, and in FM those young kids with no Work permit always refuse to go in the first month. Normally I have to wait for them to settle down and missing the EU transfer windows, then my only option is to send them to lesser leagues like US or China, which do not help their permit at all.

I don’t think Brexit is that much of an issue in LLM or am I mistaken?

Malang Sarr for sure is definitely not in the range of LLM clubs 

Edited November 29, 2020 by Spallo

[bazhsw (Inactive)]

2 hours ago, Spallo said:

This idea is legit. I will absolutly do exactly that, when the editor file for the german 4th, 5th and 6th tier comes out. But I'd like to know, how you do that exactly ... do you wait until an offer comes and possibly holiday for years or are there other ways to do that? 

Unless you are going to displace a manager at the start of a game the only way to do it is to holiday until a job comes up.

To be fair, depending on where one lives, to it can be quite easy to get a relatively local job and then you have two ways to go - if a full time job comes up then you can go anywhere but if you're sacked or tapped up elsewhere and it's a part time role it has to be quite near.

I imagine this would be impossible in many leagues except England unless you had editor files but if you had sufficient depth in a given country it is doable.

 

The only thing I would say is repeatedly pressing continue on immersion grounds and not managing anyone isn't fun so only do it if there are plenty of part time clubs nearby or you are confident a full time job comes up

EDIT:. This way of playing all stemmed from a conversation with my real life wife about how old my real life son would be at the time in the save and whether we would want to move home and school for an extra £50 a week.  We are still happily married.

 

Edited November 29, 2020 by bazhsw

[bazhsw (Inactive)]

3 hours ago, Brother Ben said:

This is where a good LLaMa type forum would come in, you'd see that a lot of others are doing just as bad and it would help a little I think.  

Yeah, I'm not the best.  On some versions I have done quite well and on others really struggled.  I do laugh at the 'FM is too easy' posts because it's never been 'easy' for me.  I had a six year break but got the bug in the summer and am back.  I remember the llama forum here well and for a while was active on another LLM forum.  Normally took me about four months to get three seasons for the posting rule so rarely bothered updating here.

[Spallo (Inactive)]

18 minutes ago, bazhsw said:

Unless you are going to displace a manager at the start of a game the only way to do it is to holiday until a job comes up.

To be fair, depending on where one lives, to it can be quite easy to get a relatively local job and then you have two ways to go - if a full time job comes up then you can go anywhere but if you're sacked or tapped up elsewhere and it's a part time role it has to be quite near.

I imagine this would be impossible in many leagues except England unless you had editor files but if you had sufficient depth in a given country it is doable.

 

The only thing I would say is repeatedly pressing continue on immersion grounds and not managing anyone isn't fun so only do it if there are plenty of part time clubs nearby or you are confident a full time job comes up

Thx for the advice. But the 6th level of German football, the so called Landes- or Verbandsliga, consists of 35 leagues and in a few weeks they will be available via editor file. You can’t live that remotely in Germany and we have a really good public transport system in most areas. So I would assume it is quite realistic that you can work 50 or even 70 km away from home. And I would imagine that a club which wants me can get me a decent part time job in the city I am managing in to make up with the money. So the travel problem is not that much of an issue. You need just a good backstory see 

And a few months ago I moved to an area where you have tonnes of clubs so I shouldn’t have to wait that long ... hopefully.

 

Ps: I think my downloaded skin makes the circles 

Edited November 29, 2020 by Spallo

[FCP_Football (Inactive)]

Just started this year with hiding all attributes. Started with Porto. It's so much harder not just picking the players with best stats now looking at form, game stats and reports. Immersion is a lot higher hopefully It will keep this year a challenge.

[bielsadidnothingwrong (Inactive)]

Just loaded up a nicely balanced database but I realized being a sunday league playing American doesn’t exactly yield a lot of job offers. Does anyone know of a breakdown of the various reputation levels and how that corresponds to jobs? I want to know the lowest reputation I can have for a corresponding league. 

[fmonit (Inactive)]

17 hours ago, Junkhead said:

I have finally started what I hope will be my long term save.  Not sure I will do a full update in the career updates forum or not so will just be doing small updates here for now.

Have started in Turkey with Karabukspor.  No manager at the start, but certainly wanted to play as them so didn't start unemployed.  Although I haven't searched extensively, I am struggling to see how they are not the biggest challenge on the game at the beginning, particularly since my previous saves in Turkey have ended in tears due to chairmen being a bit trigger happy.  Here is why I think they are likely to be a proper challenge;

  Reveal hidden contents

- Were in the Superlig as recently as 17/18 season so there will be a level of pressure/expectation I would think.

- Suffered 2 straight relegations to the third tier and would have had a third if not for Covid.

- MASSIVE loan debt which will cost £100k a month for the first season.

- Not a single player over the age of 23.

- 3 point deduction so already bottom of the league.

- Real life record so far this season - P12 - W0 - D1 - L11 

My aim this save is to ultimately win the Turkish League with an Ankara club as this has never happened before (an Ankara club winning the league I mean, not me winning a league.  I've won the Haitian League. Once. On Goal difference).

Wish me luck!

Good luck with the new save, I'll be following! I have some fond memories in Turkey with Tokatspor first and BB Erzurumspor later a couple of FM's ago.

Great to see the LLM style of playing is not dead. I love playing the exact same way (aside from "no naming" policy) and usually use an edited database that adds a few lower levels to the existing database.

Never understood the "no naming" policy as the players were all regens by the time I reach the top flight so shouldn't really matter anymore. However, I get that LLaMa's stick with the rule, especially in the first 10-15 seasons.

 

 

 

[Junkhead (Inactive)]

The no player naming rule is more about avoiding tipping.  Every now and again you will stumble upon a player that turns your save around.  If you do, congratulations - I don't want to know who he is though because then if/when I come across him in my save, it takes the decision away - I will know he will be good and likely sign him.

[Spallo (Inactive)]

I don't see any reason why you want to name a specific player anyway. So I think the rule is not restrictive by any means for such a thread, because you can still write about your experience and career. And if you are in a world where regens took over, whats the point mentioning their names 

update to Alta IF:

Had the last game of the first half of the second season against the heavy favorites in the league (away). They were massively struggeling before and drawed the last three home matches, so I was playing quite agressive. Got the game under control and a penalty in minute 23. Five minutes after we got the goal we conceded from a badly defended free kick, but kept on dominate possession. In the second half we had lots of good opportunities to score and even an offside goal, which I swear was not offside at all  The opponent had nowhere near such chances and in the 92nd minute they score from about 30 meters with a hail mary shot for the final 2:1. This was really really upsetting and if I had not switched to saving after the game, without rolling savegames, I don't know what would have happened  xg was smth about 1.3 to 2.6 for me, so we played a fantastic match against an (on paper) better opponent. Now we are 5th and still just 4 points to the top ... it is like last season, where we should have won 2 or 3 matchs more, but couldnt hold on ... 

It is not the first time, that it felt a little odd getting a late goal in this manner. Almost all of the equalizers or late winning goals for the opponents were longshots. So maybe we have a weakness there (and I plan to replace the GK for next season, if I stay in Alta), but reading about fm20 problems of "scripting" set pieces goals to get the "right" result I wonder a bit about this 

[Junkhead (Inactive)]

3 minutes ago, Spallo said:

I don't see any reason why you want to name a specific player anyway. So I think the rule is not restrictive by any means for such a thread, because you can still write about your experience and career. And if you are in a world where regens took over, whats the point mentioning their names 

update to Alta IF:

Had the last game of the first half of the second season against the heavy favorites in the league (away). They were massively struggeling before and drawed the last three home matches, so I was playing quite agressive. Got the game under control and a penalty in minute 23. Five minutes after we got the goal we conceded from a badly defended free kick, but kept on dominate possession. In the second half we had lots of good opportunities to score and even an offside goal, which I swear was not offside at all  The opponent had nowhere near such chances and in the 92nd minute they score from about 30 meters with a hail mary shot for the final 2:1. This was really really upsetting and if I had not switched to saving after the game, without rolling savegames, I don't know what would have happened  xg was smth about 1.3 to 2.6 for me, so we played a fantastic match against an (on paper) better opponent. Now we are 5th and still just 4 points to the top ... it is like last season, where we should have won 2 or 3 matchs more, but couldnt hold on ... 

It is not the first time, that it felt a little odd getting a late goal in this manner. Almost all of the equalizers or late winning goals for the opponents were longshots. So maybe we have a weakness there (and I plan to replace the GK for next season, if I stay in Alta), but reading about fm20 problems of "scripting" set pieces goals to get the "right" result I wonder a bit about this 

It's probably tactical. Would make no logical sense for SI to script the game against the player because I imagine casual players who lose a lot stop playing and then don't buy the game in future.

As far as what the tactical issue could be, I am sure we all have our own theories, but sharing them would be tipping 

Glad you're still enjoying your save. Hoping to properly get into mine this coming weekend, not getting much time to play at the moment.

[Spallo (Inactive)]

I guess it is maybe my undersized midfield which causes this. Late in the game my BWM is tired and cant fill the holes that good anymore and the oppenents get more space to shot from about 20 meters. Combined with my not so great GK ... this seems to be the result. I am pretty stubborn with my tactic in a game and stick with it (when it seems to work), even if I should play more defensive. Mostly give more defending instructions and thats it. Will probably be more flexible in the next games and put two defensive midfielders in, when we are winning or I am satisfied with a draw. But in the last game I wanted to win, because we deserved it ... greedy I guess 

[Junkhead (Inactive)]

1 minute ago, Spallo said:

I guess it is maybe my undersized midfield which causes this. Late in the game my BWM is tired and cant fill the holes that good anymore and the oppenents get more space to shot from about 20 meters. Combined with my not so great GK ... this seems to be the result. I am pretty stubborn with my tactic in a game and stick with it (when it seems to work), even if I should play more defensive. Mostly give more defending instructions and thats it. Will probably be more flexible in the next games and put two defensive midfielders in, when we are winning or I am satisfied with a draw. But in the last game I wanted to win, because we deserved it ... greedy I guess 

Out of interest as I played in the beta with Alta, are your goalkeeping options in the second season still an unnamed, old Latvian and an unnamed, not quite as old Pole?