New to this, any starter tips?

[Samuste]

Hey guys,

I'm completely new to FM, started playing yesterday. I'm finding it so fun, like the depth of the game is incredible.

I've started as Nottingham Forest, I'm doing okay I think, sitting in 14th with 12 games played.

Any advice any of you guys have? Things that have made your life a lot easier and you have thought "i wish i knew that from the start".

I'm having trouble finding players to sign, i think this is down to my scouts being poor though?

Any advice for a noob would be much appreciated! Could be anything from tactics to stadiums to staff.

[Cougar2010]

There is so much you learn along the way that its difficult to put it into a short paragraph.

Basically just play & ask questions about things you don't get/understand as you come across them.  Have a flick through the tactics forum and skim some of the stickies until you get a feel for specific questions and perhaps watch a few you tube videos.

In general though when I take over a club I do the following:

A) Staff - No member of staff is totally useless and I don't fire staff straight away.  I always keep them and then release them at the end of their contract if I think I can get better.  Basically though look for gaps in your staff and place adverts in the job centre for those that you need.

B) Scouts - Get them out looking for players asap.  I play with fog of war on so the earlier you get your scouts out there the earlier you find options.

C) Your squad - Take time to look through your squad and get an idea who the better players are, the areas you are weak/strong in and any areas you need to fill.

D) Tactics - Understand where you sit in the pecking order and what this means tactics wise.  Will teams come & attack you? Will they sit back & defend? what sort of formations are you going to come up against? Once you have an idea set up your tactics with that & your own players in mind.

E) Friendlies - Especially when you start at a club friendlies are really useful for getting to know your players & looking at your tactics.

 

One piece of advice I would give is for training your first job should be to get the "Coaches Workload" for each category to light.

[Samuste]

43 minutes ago, Cougar2010 said:

There is so much you learn along the way that its difficult to put it into a short paragraph.

Basically just play & ask questions about things you don't get/understand as you come across them.  Have a flick through the tactics forum and skim some of the stickies until you get a feel for specific questions and perhaps watch a few you tube videos.

In general though when I take over a club I do the following:

A) Staff - No member of staff is totally useless and I don't fire staff straight away.  I always keep them and then release them at the end of their contract if I think I can get better.  Basically though look for gaps in your staff and place adverts in the job centre for those that you need.

B) Scouts - Get them out looking for players asap.  I play with fog of war on so the earlier you get your scouts out there the earlier you find options.

C) Your squad - Take time to look through your squad and get an idea who the better players are, the areas you are weak/strong in and any areas you need to fill.

D) Tactics - Understand where you sit in the pecking order and what this means tactics wise.  Will teams come & attack you? Will they sit back & defend? what sort of formations are you going to come up against? Once you have an idea set up your tactics with that & your own players in mind.

E) Friendlies - Especially when you start at a club friendlies are really useful for getting to know your players & looking at your tactics.

 

One piece of advice I would give is for training your first job should be to get the "Coaches Workload" for each category to light.

Ah right, cool. Thanks for taking the time to write that!

I have had my assistant come to me and say they are worried about the training, but I don't know what is wrong with it or how I can fix it?

[Cougar2010]

2 minutes ago, Samuste said:

Ah right, cool. Thanks for taking the time to write that!

I have had my assistant come to me and say they are worried about the training, but I don't know what is wrong with it or how I can fix it?

Post a screenshot is your best bet either of the message or some of the training screens so we can see what you see.

[Samuste]

21 minutes ago, Cougar2010 said:

Post a screenshot is your best bet either of the message or some of the training screens so we can see what you see.

Okay man, I'll post one up when I'm on later!

[225C]

I'd also suggest checking out Rashidi's videos on YouTube, they're under the channel called Bust the Net. It's like a university course in FM, really opened my eyes to certain aspects of the game (setting up a team, player instructions, etc.).   I had a lot of fun when I first started out, and part of the fun/learning experience was making a boatload of mistakes. This game has sooo much depth to it that you can really play it any way you want. Best of luck!

[alanschu14]

The Tactics forum can help out a lot too. People like @herne79 , @Ö-zil to the Arsenal!, and @ajsr1982 have some threads going on where they explain what they're trying to do with their tactics and the thought processes between them which I found immensely helpful for the tactical part of the game.

My advice is be okay with failing as you learn.  It's a lot to take in all at once and mistakes will be made. Have fun

[Rashidi]

20 hours ago, Samuste said:

Hey guys,

I'm completely new to FM, started playing yesterday. I'm finding it so fun, like the depth of the game is incredible.

I've started as Nottingham Forest, I'm doing okay I think, sitting in 14th with 12 games played.

Any advice any of you guys have? Things that have made your life a lot easier and you have thought "i wish i knew that from the start".

I'm having trouble finding players to sign, i think this is down to my scouts being poor though?

Any advice for a noob would be much appreciated! Could be anything from tactics to stadiums to staff.

I am doing a series of videos on how not to lose to the AI, the first one should be out sometime today on my channel on Bustthenet, you may want to look at it. In the first episode I explain my approach and why some attributes define a teams style more than others, I also look at why understanding your squad personality is important, in the second episode I look at why pre match interviews or tunnel interviews aren't as vital as choosing the right players for your system, and how you should try and snap out of a losing run.  I plan to do another 2 more videos before I end the series and return to my regular matches. It's basically nearly everything I know condensed into short videos. I wanted them to be 15 mins long but its a lot harder than it sounds

[Neil Brock]

It's not loads, but there's a tiny bit of advice available via our Gameplay FAQ starting here - https://community.sigames.com/faq/football-manager-2017/85_gameplay/dealing-with-injuries-and-provention-r266/

Also keep an eye on the hints and tips when they appear in game. A number of these contain things that may not be so obvious to users starting out. And like others have said, watching other people play the game is always a good way to pick up certain things. I've certainly had to do that for Paradox games like Crusader Kings II for instance and it really can make a difference.

Just don't be afraid to fail a bit to learn the ropes. Losing the odd game (or even the odd managerial job!) isn't the end of the world, it's all part of the experience. Good luck! 

 

[Rashidi]

 

22 hours ago, Samuste said:

I'm having trouble finding players to sign, i think this is down to my scouts being poor though?

I think you need to determine what kind of players you're looking for first. Sometimes you can't find good players and need to adapt the players you have into a system. And thats managing sides like Forest can be a challenge. Just take it a step at a time.

[Samuste]

9 hours ago, 225C said:

I'd also suggest checking out Rashidi's videos on YouTube, they're under the channel called Bust the Net. It's like a university course in FM, really opened my eyes to certain aspects of the game (setting up a team, player instructions, etc.).   I had a lot of fun when I first started out, and part of the fun/learning experience was making a boatload of mistakes. This game has sooo much depth to it that you can really play it any way you want. Best of luck!

Thanks man! I'll definitely have a look

[Samuste]

2 hours ago, alanschu14 said:

The Tactics forum can help out a lot too. People like @herne79 , @Ö-zil to the Arsenal!, and @ajsr1982 have some threads going on where they explain what they're trying to do with their tactics and the thought processes between them which I found immensely helpful for the tactical part of the game.

My advice is be okay with failing as you learn.  It's a lot to take in all at once and mistakes will be made. Have fun

I'll have to take that advice as I got sacked last night  Going with Fulham now, never liked Forest anyway.

[Samuste]

1 hour ago, Neil Brock said:

It's not loads, but there's a tiny bit of advice available via our Gameplay FAQ starting here - https://community.sigames.com/faq/football-manager-2017/85_gameplay/dealing-with-injuries-and-provention-r266/

Also keep an eye on the hints and tips when they appear in game. A number of these contain things that may not be so obvious to users starting out. And like others have said, watching other people play the game is always a good way to pick up certain things. I've certainly had to do that for Paradox games like Crusader Kings II for instance and it really can make a difference.

Just don't be afraid to fail a bit to learn the ropes. Losing the odd game (or even the odd managerial job!) isn't the end of the world, it's all part of the experience. Good luck! 

 

Thank you! Looks incredibly helpful. Hopefully I'll do better this time around  

[Samuste]

2 hours ago, Rashidi said:

I am doing a series of videos on how not to lose to the AI, the first one should be out sometime today on my channel on Bustthenet, you may want to look at it. In the first episode I explain my approach and why some attributes define a teams style more than others, I also look at why understanding your squad personality is important, in the second episode I look at why pre match interviews or tunnel interviews aren't as vital as choosing the right players for your system, and how you should try and snap out of a losing run.  I plan to do another 2 more videos before I end the series and return to my regular matches. It's basically nearly everything I know condensed into short videos. I wanted them to be 15 mins long but its a lot harder than it sounds

That sounds like the exact type of thing I need, I find FM too quiet anyway so I usually watch videos whilst playing. Thanks for the advice man I'll give them a watch!