chemik

Have to unload. This is my 7th version of FM. First bought in '01. I have never enjoyed it less than V23. I was promoted to Brazil league 1 after one season in 2. Finished 5th that next season with a pretty weak roster but consistent play. I'm 8 seasons later with an infinitely better roster, nice variety of tactics, and the AI just wants you to never leave your losing streak as each year I've fallen further down the table. I've broken the all time record for ties in my current season, ALWAYS lose to the teams in 17-20th place even at home. Teams with losing streaks end them with me about 80% of the time. The developers must be convinced that if you lose a game IRL, players are so decimated that they must lose or draw the next 10-15 in a row. That no one has ever bounced back from a loss, ever. Playing away and think you can win? Nope, IRL teams never win on the road. It hasn't happened, I bet you didn't know that. And you must play cautious all the time, even if your roster is 10X better than your opponent. Try to up the pace and you will pay as opponents with players several levels lower than you light it up even though they lost their previous 5 games. No tactic, even ones that are designed for it, ever give you a possession advantage. I've had seasons where I had a possession advantage about 10% of all of the league games. Players want to play but always get injured from fatigue. Coaches and the AssMan constantly giving you terrible line-up advice, or advising you to give players extra training which you are immediately told to stop because it isn't working. I'm convinced that your coaches' only role is to try and trick you into doing stupid things. I can't remember the last advice I got that actually did anything positive. Opponents with every guy almost in the red in fatigue will find a way to run by your freshly replaced D in the 80th minute to score that tying goal despite the defensive mentality, which, BTW, never, ever, actually works. I've never seen a defensive mentality do anything except yield 10X more shots against. Choosing that mentality is like telling the ME that you have completely give up and want to watch your team burn. Going back to V19 if I restart at all. All of the fun of playing has been coded out in '23. What an epic waste of time.

So I went with this idea until I realized that the reason every team was coming in and unsettling and signing my well established players was because they were designated as squad players. The AI knows to send teams after your guys if you aren't giving them regular or important player status when they are highly rated by the game. Playing time promises is a wicked trap by the designers. They don't want you having a satisfied team of really good players. I get it, kind of. The fun and addiction of the game does come from the constant battle to keep your roster in tact, give opportunities to youth, or hit the market trying to find someone to replace that really awesome player that some team inexplicably met the obscene release clause you built into the contract that was millions over their actual value.

So, the way it works seems to be, FM really does not want you to rotate players and will do everything to punish you (anyone who isn't a regular starter or better wants to leave for more playing time even though they're getting 36 games or more a season). But, if you don't rotate, and you're playing in Brazil for example where sometimes 3 matches happen in one week, you will get highly fatigued and injured players almost non-stop? Are we saying that IRL, players want to play every game back to back and want to be out for 6 weeks a season with injuries? A question on this actually, how many starts does one need to be considered a "regular starter"? Is that the same as "Important Player"? Why don't you get credit for starting them in really important Cup matches when you actually need your best players?

Glad you brought this topic up. Been playing FM for 20 years. When they introduced the dialogue options I was excited. The fact that they can't hire someone over 15 to figure out how to do them for the past decade is brutal. My problems with them: 1. When a player comes to you saying they want to start more games, one option needs to be, "I'm rotating because you're tired and at a high risk of injury since our games are tight". Or, "I want you to play in these Cup games because they are critical to our objectives as a club which means I need to rest you in a couple of our worthless league games". And their response needs to be "I totally get it. Thanks", not "this is insulting, I demand to be traded!". 2. Team talks during losing streaks. Every option is not at all what I would tell my team in real life. Where is the, "You are better than this and not playing up to your abilities, if any of you sluggards start complaining about playing time, you're getting fined and benched". Actually what I would recommend more is pulling the captains aside and telling them "Say what you need to, but make sure the team knows that if they don't start improving, everybody's playing time is on the line" 3. The one that angers me the most by far. "Fans want to know why you didn't pull player X" The 2 answers I would give IRL would always be "Yes, they were terrible but I had already used all of my subs for the other terrible or injured players" or "I agree that they played very poorly but our bench depth because of injuries meant I didn't have anyone to put in" 4. To that extent, PLEASE tell the clueless press that in conferences they need to have some knowledge that ALL of my star players are injured so any number of questions around how injuries are playing a part are appropriate. What isn't is acting like the team is not destroyed by injuries. 5. When a players comes asking for a new contract, I'd kill to have the option "Are you serious, have YOU been watching you play lately?, you're lucky I don't cut your wages"