Help! I can't keep a game going due to lack of enjoyment. How do I change?

[LawzE]

First off apologies if this isn't the correct location for this topic or there are 5000 similar ones but I've hit a tipping point with FM.

I've been playing FM since it was born back in the Eidos days of Champ Manager 93/94. I think I've bought every version of it since then and played religiously every version. Lower league saves, European saves, Network games, Tycoon saves & Youth saves I've had success with all of them. However the last few years I've suffered with FM and I'm losing my enjoyment since I seem to find I can't sustain success and find things too inconsistent.

Whenever I start a save I get a real good idea in my head of what I want to do whether it be rebuilding Man Utd, taking a Everton to winning the Prem, getting Birmingham promoted and I'll start off fine. I'll sign players who fit the club, clear out and get the best staff, work enthusiastically on a tactic and be really optimistic about the season. Then I end up getting smashed 3-0 at home in the first game so I try and diagnose the problem; is it 4-2-3-1 too attacking? Do I need a dedicated DM? etc etc. I'll eventually turn into a mediocre team no matter what before my thoughts turn to selling everyone and signing the best highest rep players to fix it because I'm frustrated. I cannot usually last more than one season before giving up.

I'm not sure what to do anymore, do I need to switch to Touch mode as the full FM is too indepth for me? Where do I read up on figuring my tactical issues out (I try LOADS of different things in different games).

If theres anyone else thats been through a sort of mid life crisis with FM I'd love to hear how you got over it. I want my enjoyment back. Feel free to ask anny questions and i'll try to answer as best as I can.

[Prestige Worldwide]

This post won't help you in any way but I thought I would reply by explaining I'm in exactly the same position. I'm struggling to even finish a season for pretty much the same reasons. I would get the hunger for FM, get a save going, spend loads of time on a tactic, be really meticulous on training, staff, new signings etc then a few games in it just dies!

[GR Choke]

http://community.sigames.com/forumdisplay.php/18-Tactics-amp-Training-Discussion

[bdixon]

I regularly burnout with FM what I tend to do is take a break and play other games. I always tend to come back in the end.

Other than that you tried managing in another league, I tend to find the English leagues boring, tried a save in the German league and enjoyed it.

[ryan045]

Have patience and confidence in your own tactic is key in FM16, don't over complicate things, unless your looking for perfection. On the note of getting enjoyment back. Go for a style, stick with it in your press conferences, media, team talks. I try to manage like Sir Alex and be the boss of everything. I want my wage higher than any player in my club. Any player problems? go train with the reserves until your attitude sorts out. I will promote lots of youth players and take gambles on things. Last 10mins? throw the kitchen sink in. You get my point, emulating certain managers has always been a big enjoyment of mine. Maybe try lower-leagues. I suggest Crewe Alexandra, they have fantastic youth players all of there squad. All nearly PL potential. Try to build something with them and there fantastic youth system.

[Soninho]

Whenever I start a save I get a real good idea in my head of what I want to do whether it be rebuilding Man Utd, taking a Everton to winning the Prem, getting Birmingham promoted and I'll start off fine. I'll sign players who fit the club, clear out and get the best staff, work enthusiastically on a tactic and be really optimistic about the season.

I do the same! Often have s couple of ideas and incorporate these in different saves.

But I always play one save with my favourite team Malmo, have since late 90's. Always enjoyed it, and many times won everything you can with them.

Not in FM16 though.. Halfway through season one and I can't bother to continue..!

Luckily I have a LLM save that's somewhat successful and that saves FM16 for me.

You'll probably get guided to some of Cleons posts and I really hope you'll figure out whats going wrong!

Know the feeling you have but when you get the enjoyment back FM16 is sweet!

[LawzE]

Have patience and confidence in your own tactic is key in FM16, don't over complicate things, unless your looking for perfection. On the note of getting enjoyment back. Go for a style, stick with it in your press conferences, media, team talks. I try to manage like Sir Alex and be the boss of everything. I want my wage higher than any player in my club. Any player problems? go train with the reserves until your attitude sorts out. I will promote lots of youth players and take gambles on things. Last 10mins? throw the kitchen sink in. You get my point, emulating certain managers has always been a big enjoyment of mine. Maybe try lower-leagues. I suggest Crewe Alexandra, they have fantastic youth players all of there squad. All nearly PL potential. Try to build something with them and there fantastic youth system.

This is exactly what I do on FM, Fifa etc. I've tried going down the 4-4-2 attacking route. I even bought Hakan Calhanoglu in and tried to make him the second coming of David Beckham. Kroos is Scholes, Nainggolan is Keane, Bale = Giggs. The first game I played Calhanoglu whipped in a delicious ball which was swiftly headed in. I never saw the tactic work again

[LawzE]

I do the same! Often have s couple of ideas and incorporate these in different saves.

But I always play one save with my favourite team Malmo, have since late 90's. Always enjoyed it, and many times won everything you can with them.

Not in FM16 though.. Halfway through season one and I can't bother to continue..!

Luckily I have a LLM save that's somewhat successful and that saves FM16 for me.

You'll probably get guided to some of Cleons posts and I really hope you'll figure out whats going wrong!

Know the feeling you have but when you get the enjoyment back FM16 is sweet!

I've had a look through Cleons posts and recently looked at his attempt to recreate the Arsenal invicibles. They are pretty awesome guides and get me excited to play the game again but once I keep seeing over and over the attempts I'm making to adjust things or stick with things just not work and squad morale is dead then I lose my enjoyment and exit out.

[Soninho]

This is exactly what I do on FM, Fifa etc. I've tried going down the 4-4-2 attacking route. I even bought Hakan Calhanoglu in and tried to make him the second coming of David Beckham. Kroos is Scholes, Nainggolan is Keane, Bale = Giggs. The first game I played Calhanoglu whipped in a delicious ball which was swiftly headed in. I never saw the tactic work again

Sadly the 4-4-2 seems to be hard to get working on 16..

[LawzE]

Sadly the 4-4-2 seems to be hard to get working on 16..

I have noticed this. I keep wondering if I'm out of date with tactics or I've missed learning sections of the game. I was always a 4-4-2 man because of Fergie's united. These days I try and use a 4-2-3-1 as its a more in formation but this doesn't seem to be yielding results. I also really want a Van Nistelrooy type striker

[Soninho]

I've had a look through Cleons posts and recently looked at his attempt to recreate the Arsenal invicibles. They are pretty awesome guides and get me excited to play the game again but once I keep seeing over and over the attempts I'm making to adjust things or stick with things just not work and squad morale is dead then I lose my enjoyment and exit out.

I feel you..

He explains everything very well and things seems obvious when he writes it, but some things are hard to understand in game.

Maybe this isn't your problem but when I made a tactic, made player instructions and roles and everything, and had an idea how it would play. It didn't do anything near that!

After getting some advice I changed small things, things that I thought would do something but didn't, (explanations aren't the best IMO), and a few tweaks later my tactic worked better!

Not my Malmo 4-4-2 though...

[Soninho]

I have noticed this. I keep wondering if I'm out of date with tactics or I've missed learning sections of the game. I was always a 4-4-2 man because of Fergie's united. These days I try and use a 4-2-3-1 as its a more in formation but this doesn't seem to be yielding results. I also really want a Van Nistelrooy type striker

Well.. The Van Nistelrooys, Kluiverts, Shearers and Batistutas seem to be long gone! Really miss them..

Tried the 4-2-3-1 with Arsenal but also struggled, this was before reading any tactics post because I've never had to do that before..

The one thats working in my LLM save is a narrow 4-3-1-2, (3 cm's and a amc). Didn't thought it was possible since crosses seem important in FM16 but somehow it's going ok!

[Cougar2010]

I have noticed this. I keep wondering if I'm out of date with tactics or I've missed learning sections of the game. I was always a 4-4-2 man because of Fergie's united. These days I try and use a 4-2-3-1 as its a more in formation but this doesn't seem to be yielding results. I also really want a Van Nistelrooy type striker

Fergie once said in an interview he had never lined Man Utd up in a 442 ever

fwiw I'm not a massive 442 fan but I have been using it recently with reasonable success.

[LawzE]

I feel you..

He explains everything very well and things seems obvious when he writes it, but some things are hard to understand in game.

Maybe this isn't your problem but when I made a tactic, made player instructions and roles and everything, and had an idea how it would play. It didn't do anything near that!

After getting some advice I changed small things, things that I thought would do something but didn't, (explanations aren't the best IMO), and a few tweaks later my tactic worked better!

Not my Malmo 4-4-2 though...

You're spot on with the explanation. I get the same thing when I'm designing a tactic. I set up roles, set up how I expect it to play and then it doesn't replicate. I look at the Pro-Zone, look at the opposition, tweak the roles yet eventually I'm either losing with a tactic I can't get working or scraping wins with something that looks nothing like the tactic I want. I kinda wish there wasn't roles and duties so I could just manually instruct players with everything and I've tried this with the most basic roles and player instructions but a brick wall gets hit again.

[mika del siro]

I know the feeling...

Last few years FM is getting harder and harder, so it's getting hard to enjoy it with mid-table teams.

It's more realistic though - if you take Everton it's realistic you wont win Premiership any time soon, as Everton wont in RL either.

If you ask me - that s*cks as before anything else - this is a game. It's a game and we should enjoy it.

On the bright side - FM 16 is the first one recently I actually played beyond 5th or 6th season (currently season 12 with Juve).

[Soninho]

You're spot on with the explanation. I get the same thing when I'm designing a tactic. I set up roles, set up how I expect it to play and then it doesn't replicate. I look at the Pro-Zone, look at the opposition, tweak the roles yet eventually I'm either losing with a tactic I can't get working or scraping wins with something that looks nothing like the tactic I want. I kinda wish there wasn't roles and duties so I could just manually instruct players with everything and I've tried this with the most basic roles and player instructions but a brick wall gets hit again.

This!

(Where are you sliders when I need you!? You made my players do what I wanted...)

Edit: Must add that I feel the game getting more complicated and also more realistic! This is a good thing!

Player roles etc are similar to what we see in modern day football.

The sad part about this is that instead of being a good manager and get a good tactic and some good transfers, you must understand what SI means by everything since IMO that's not 100% clear and in some occasions I disagree with some interpetations of certain aspects in the tactics screen. (That's probably whats throwing me off..)

[LawzE]

This!

(Where are you sliders when I need you!? You made my players do what I wanted...)

Edit: Must add that I feel the game getting more complicated and also more realistic! This is a good thing!

Player roles etc are similar to what we see in modern day football.

The sad part about this is that instead of being a good manager and get a good tactic and some good transfers, you must understand what SI means by everything since IMO that's not 100% clear and in some occasions I disagree with some interpetations of certain aspects in the tactics screen. (That's probably whats throwing me off..)

This is exactly how I feel. Its actually quite good to know there are people going through the same issues as I am. I'd never criticise blindly SI because they've given me over 20 years of enjoyment but I do feel the same way about roles/duties in the last couple of versions.

[LawzE]

I know the feeling...

Last few years FM is getting harder and harder, so it's getting hard to enjoy it with mid-table teams.

It's more realistic though - if you take Everton it's realistic you wont win Premiership any time soon, as Everton wont in RL either.

If you ask me - that s*cks as before anything else - this is a game. It's a game and we should enjoy it.

On the bright side - FM 16 is the first one recently I actually played beyond 5th or 6th season (currently season 12 with Juve).

It should be realistic and if you're a mid table team you won't storm the Premiership which is correct. However I've tried saves with all the resources in the world and I'm struggling for top 4 after spending loads. If I've gone out and bought Reus, Pogba & Lewandowski then it should be easier to win than having to spend hours going through tactics.

[sporadicsmiles]

I would give you the following advice, since I was having a little tactical malaise at the start of playing FM 16 also.

The first thing to do is make a throw-away FMT save, with whichever club you choose with the sole intention of trying out tactical variations. The point of that game is not to win, but to understand how the decisions you make are changing how you play. I did this with Manchester United over the course of around 13 matches until I was relatively confident that I understand how I wanted my teams to play football, and also how I can translate that into FM.

The second thing is to avoid complicating your tactic initially. Come to the game with an idea of how you want to play and an idea of how to implement this (based on point one). By not over-complicate things I mean choose only those TIs and PIs that you know you need in order to play how you want. As an example, I started a save as Everton where I played a 4-1-4-1, with only 4 TIs and 3 PIs given to 3 players (to encourage playing out of the back). What I then did was to be patient, and to really watch and analyse the games (on comprehensive or full at the start of the season). Do not over-react to what you see in the course of a single match, but rather look for trends in the play. Then you can start thinking about adjusting how you are set up to change those trends.

For exmaple, you see you are conceding many goals from long balls over the top. Watching those goals show that it is due to the opposition midfield having too long on the ball more often than not. You can try to solve this in a number of ways; deeper defending would close space behind your defence but perhaps give more time to the opposition midfield. Closing down the midfielders may give them less time to pick out a pass, but will disrupt your shape, giving space elsewhere. Increasing the defensive block will close down the midfield space at the expense of even more space behind your defence. There are probably other methods you can think of too.

There are two points I want to get across here. The first is that it takes time to understand tactics, and you will take some beatings on the way (not too many if you start from a solid base). I find that, as well as those things you mention in your post, this kind of analysis is vital to understanding how to win games, and gives me the pleasure to come back when I get it right. The second is that you have to work out what you want to take from the game. What is it that makes you happy when you play (winning obviously). But what gives you the greatest pleasure? Discovering a young prospect and seeing him become awesome? Smashing every team in sight with great tactics? Making the most of the talent you have? Discover this, meld it with what I say above, and I hope you can find your enjoyment again.

At least, it worked for me!

[forameuss]

Always keep the mind open that maybe you just don't need to play the game anymore. Around the time of FML, I completely fell out of love with the main game, to the point where I stopped buying it. Even after FML died, it took me an edition or so to get back into it. Then with FM14 and FM15, I struggled to get really into saves, to the point where I didn't play it as often as I would have normally.

But that's perfectly fine. If you're not getting into it, and really not feeling it, then no amount of trying other things will probably help. In fact, it could well make it worse. Best thing would probably be to just take a break from the game. Spend a few months doing something else. Then go back, and you'll probably find that you have a new found want to play. If that doesn't work, then wait for the next version. If that doesn't work, then maybe you've grown out of FM. It happens, it's not necessarily a bad thing.

[mrw072]

First off apologies if this isn't the correct location for this topic or there are 5000 similar ones but I've hit a tipping point with FM.

I've been playing FM since it was born back in the Eidos days of Champ Manager 93/94. I think I've bought every version of it since then and played religiously every version. Lower league saves, European saves, Network games, Tycoon saves & Youth saves I've had success with all of them. However the last few years I've suffered with FM and I'm losing my enjoyment since I seem to find I can't sustain success and find things too inconsistent.

Whenever I start a save I get a real good idea in my head of what I want to do whether it be rebuilding Man Utd, taking a Everton to winning the Prem, getting Birmingham promoted and I'll start off fine. I'll sign players who fit the club, clear out and get the best staff, work enthusiastically on a tactic and be really optimistic about the season. Then I end up getting smashed 3-0 at home in the first game so I try and diagnose the problem; is it 4-2-3-1 too attacking? Do I need a dedicated DM? etc etc. I'll eventually turn into a mediocre team no matter what before my thoughts turn to selling everyone and signing the best highest rep players to fix it because I'm frustrated. I cannot usually last more than one season before giving up.

I'm not sure what to do anymore, do I need to switch to Touch mode as the full FM is too indepth for me? Where do I read up on figuring my tactical issues out (I try LOADS of different things in different games).

If theres anyone else thats been through a sort of mid life crisis with FM I'd love to hear how you got over it. I want my enjoyment back. Feel free to ask anny questions and i'll try to answer as best as I can.

It sounds to me like you're actually trying to get success a bit too quickly and if you're not achieving it in the first season basically giving up. Personally when I start a game off I think to myself I might not achieve anything, or any 'success' may take a few seasons. Over the years I've probably been sacked more times than ive won anything. But what I would do is focus on a long term goal and try and achieve that. In your first season keep your tactics simple, and try not to have any pre-conceived ideas of what you expect to happen, or you'll just put too much pressure on yourself. Build up gradually over time really!

[Kenco]

Always keep the mind open that maybe you just don't need to play the game anymore. Around the time of FML, I completely fell out of love with the main game, to the point where I stopped buying it. Even after FML died, it took me an edition or so to get back into it. Then with FM14 and FM15, I struggled to get really into saves, to the point where I didn't play it as often as I would have normally.

But that's perfectly fine. If you're not getting into it, and really not feeling it, then no amount of trying other things will probably help. In fact, it could well make it worse. Best thing would probably be to just take a break from the game. Spend a few months doing something else. Then go back, and you'll probably find that you have a new found want to play. If that doesn't work, then wait for the next version. If that doesn't work, then maybe you've grown out of FM. It happens, it's not necessarily a bad thing.

Same for me. On some versions I've taken a month or two away from the game and come back and enjoyed it more. Currently on a break of about 2 months from my long-running FM14 save and at the point where I may not bother again, except for the occasional multiplayer game.

So basically, stop playing and try something else. Go outside, meet people. Then when you get bored of real life, go back to FM.

[El Presidente]

FML proved that if players are not winning with their chosen side then they do not pay to play.

I already know of a few mates that have not bought this seasons FM because of the difficulty they had last season.

There are those who want the challenge of an accurate simulation and then there is the casual player who wants to enjoy the game without having to read tactical essays. (And no, they don't want to play FMT).

An assistant manager who actually helps would be great.

For me I think it's just boredom. FM is finally coming to an end for me. The first game I got was CM2 and I had bought it every year since. Now it just seems same old same old and there are lots of other games I now enjoy playing.

[wattzy]

I've found the first season is always awful and no matter what I do I can't succeed - but you need to stick at it.

My current save I'm at Boston Utd and narrowly missed out on relegation (and the sack) but stuck with the formation that had shown glimpses of quality. I kept most of my team but added some great young players to improve and I'm now battling for playoffs. I think the game relies massively on your team's familiarity with the formations, so chopping and changing just doesn't work.

See if you can get past that first season without getting sacked, and build from there

[forameuss]

FML proved that if players are not winning with their chosen side then they do not pay to play.

I already know of a few mates that have not bought this seasons FM because of the difficulty they had last season.

There are those who want the challenge of an accurate simulation and then there is the casual player who wants to enjoy the game without having to read tactical essays. (And no, they don't want to play FMT).

An assistant manager who actually helps would be great.

For me I think it's just boredom. FM is finally coming to an end for me. The first game I got was CM2 and I had bought it every year since. Now it just seems same old same old and there are lots of other games I now enjoy playing.

I think it's slightly different in the case of FML. In FM you're pretty much in control of your own destiny, against AI agents who can be exploited if you really need to. In FML, you could potentially be a very good player, up against 999 excellent players. Or, more accurately 20 excellent players, 80 who had found the exploit de jour, and 899 inactive players. I see where you're coming from though.

There are those two camps of players - the extreme and the casual - but I think they're both minority groups to the middle ground. I'm not a player who wants a press X to win casual game (although I can completely sympathise with those that get jaded when they're not winning, it's only natural, and I'm very much one of those), nor am I one that wants to see the game turn into FM: Dark Souls Edition. There's always going to be a middle ground where FM the game will lie (at least I hope there will be).

I'll probably never say that FM is coming to an end. I didn't enjoy FM14 and 15 really, but FM16 has been a lot better. I'm lucky enough that spending £30 every year on this isn't too much of an issue, so I'll probably continue to buy it. Sometimes I'll spend the year engrossed, sometimes I won't. But like you say, there's plenty of other things I can enjoy instead if so. I don't need to force myself to enjoy FM.

[janesy20]

It's the hidden attributes, affects of team talk, media correspondence etc that bores/defeats me. It's not so much that I don't want them in the game - it's just complexity and level of understanding you need/require to be consistent with them it often seems like a lottery. Ever since the introduction of press conferences I've set my assistant to correspond because they drain the life out of me with their repetitiveness (and no I don't want to play touch). I can sit and read Cleons and others threads and follow them and reason with myself and create a reasonably effective tactic. But there's never any clear cut reason as to why I've lost the games I do lose and that annoys me and what I end up with is completely inconsistent results, I might win 4 in a row then draw 1 then win 1 then lose 2 then draw 3 then win 2 then lose 3....If I lost 6 straight from the off i could say right it's my tactics, or right it's morale. But just when you think you've cracked it and you're as assertive and demanding or relieving of pressure a good run brings - FM just kicks you in the nuts.

[LawzE]

Same for me. On some versions I've taken a month or two away from the game and come back and enjoyed it more. Currently on a break of about 2 months from my long-running FM14 save and at the point where I may not bother again, except for the occasional multiplayer game.

So basically, stop playing and try something else. Go outside, meet people. Then when you get bored of real life, go back to FM.

I think part of the lack of enjoyment comes from having to re adjust every game to suit what the opposition is doing. Sure its necessary in real life and this is somewhat of a simulator but there's no way I should need to adjust my tactic consistenly if I'm facing a relegation club at home. I think player quality doesn't have the affect it used to once have and that could be a problem.

In relation to stop playing, go outside and meet people I'm way past this stage otherwise I wouldn't have turned to the forums. I have much less time to play FM than previously as I have a full time job and also help run a pro wrestling company in Birmingham on weekends. I've met plenty of people and done wildly interesting things but I would like the enjoyment of FM back.

[Soninho]

Mate..

I remember you having played LLM before, but have you tried it in FM 16..?

It's alot harder, but if you, like me, take a team expected low in the league you have more time to make the small adjustments before getting sacked..

You will struggle in the beginning but when finding the sweet spot it's so rewarding!

Might not be a solution if you're completely out of patience, but this worked for me.

Have started every season very bad but actually picking a promotion in the end of two!

Good luck!

[rp1966]

I think player quality doesn't have the affect it used to once have and that could be a problem.

I think this is a big part of the problem. There are now so many influences on your team other than player quality. Individually, they may be calibrated correctly, but together they are taking far too much away from player quality ... and the player stats are the one thing in game that reflect genuinely useful metrics. You may disagree with the values assigned to attributes of particular players, but in game terms they are one of the most genuinely quantifiable aspects of the game and are easily comparable by both the player and the game engine.

All the mental stuff is too subjective and vague - it needs to be seriously dialled back so that it is an influence and not a determinant.

The psychological aspect may be hugely important IRL, but it is not amenable to computer modelling and SI need to recognise that fact before they kill FM for good. The fact that they have had to develop FMC that removed large amounts of the extraneous crap should be wake-up call enough, but someone with power in SI just doesn't seem to see it.

[janesy20]

I think this is a big part of the problem. There are now so many influences on your team other than player quality. Individually, they may be calibrated correctly, but together they are taking far too much away from player quality ... and the player stats are the one thing in game that reflect genuinely useful metrics. You may disagree with the values assigned to attributes of particular players, but in game terms they are one of the most genuinely quantifiable aspects of the game and are easily comparable by both the player and the game engine.

All the mental stuff is too subjective and vague - it needs to be seriously dialled back so that it is an influence and not a determinant.

The psychological aspect may be hugely important IRL, but it is not amenable to computer modelling and SI need to recognise that fact before they kill FM for good. The fact that they have had to develop FMC that removed large amounts of the extraneous crap should be wake-up call enough, but someone with power in SI just doesn't seem to see it.

I was just thinking about the lack of meaningfulness in attributes in comparison to mental aspects the other day but didn't know how to put it into words.

[Kenco]

It's the hidden attributes, affects of team talk, media correspondence etc that bores/defeats me. It's not so much that I don't want them in the game - it's just complexity and level of understanding you need/require to be consistent with them it often seems like a lottery. Ever since the introduction of press conferences I've set my assistant to correspond because they drain the life out of me with their repetitiveness (and no I don't want to play touch). I can sit and read Cleons and others threads and follow them and reason with myself and create a reasonably effective tactic. But there's never any clear cut reason as to why I've lost the games I do lose and that annoys me and what I end up with is completely inconsistent results, I might win 4 in a row then draw 1 then win 1 then lose 2 then draw 3 then win 2 then lose 3....If I lost 6 straight from the off i could say right it's my tactics, or right it's morale. But just when you think you've cracked it and you're as assertive and demanding or relieving of pressure a good run brings - FM just kicks you in the nuts.

It was for these reasons that I tried FMC and found it much more exciting to play this way. You should give it a go.

[Guest]

It was for these reasons that I tried FMC and found it much more exciting to play this way. You should give it a go.

Indeed, anyone who finds the indirect influences of the full sim mode to be too much should always give FMT a fair shake, in many cases it will probably be the game they want FM to be.

[janesy20]

Indeed, anyone who finds the indirect influences of the full sim mode to be too much should always give FMT a fair shake, in many cases it will probably be the game they want FM to be.

I've played it, the whole layout just reminds me of FM about 5 years ago. The skins are also terrible.

[hitking100]

It's the hidden attributes, affects of team talk, media correspondence etc that bores/defeats me. It's not so much that I don't want them in the game - it's just complexity and level of understanding you need/require to be consistent with them it often seems like a lottery. Ever since the introduction of press conferences I've set my assistant to correspond because they drain the life out of me with their repetitiveness (and no I don't want to play touch). I can sit and read Cleons and others threads and follow them and reason with myself and create a reasonably effective tactic. But there's never any clear cut reason as to why I've lost the games I do lose and that annoys me and what I end up with is completely inconsistent results, I might win 4 in a row then draw 1 then win 1 then lose 2 then draw 3 then win 2 then lose 3....If I lost 6 straight from the off i could say right it's my tactics, or right it's morale. But just when you think you've cracked it and you're as assertive and demanding or relieving of pressure a good run brings - FM just kicks you in the nuts.

Yes, had the same issues, going to give up after one last try (again) lol. I started like lots of others, with the light version just to create a tactic that works for me. After that i started unemployed and took a third division Belgian team under my wing. Three seasons later i'm runner-up in the highest division...and i never felt in control. Thought i cracked it at least a dozen times, but in the end it's just a random result manager to me now, i'm done trying to "figure it out". It looks better than ever before, all the leagues you can wish for and the greatest database in the world...somewhere under the hood used to be a fun game as well. In a few years this will probably be a really realistic experience of being a football manager...nothing but frustration, unless you're one of the big teams. The sim became more accurate as well in being able to sign players. With my little club i have to resort to practically a whole team of loan players and that doesn't improve after a few seasons since a three star demands ridiculous wages compared to what my budget allows...it's so lifelike and utterly frustrating.