Alright boyz, here we go!!! FM 2006 First Impressions

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

I haven't had time to play much since I got the game (I haven't even started the regular season yet), but I'm going to go the "lower league manager" route and not look at any outside information on which players are good, nor am I going to use the player search to filter for attributes I'm looking for. I'm only going to use my scouts to find good players. If a scout doesn't look at the player or I don't play against the player, I won't know about him. I'm not very good at the game as it is, so this added challenge may not be a good idea, but I'm giving it a shot.

I've seen some stuff on the SI forums about that. What's the rationale? I mean, even in lower leagues, isn't it reasonable to assume that managers would have all that information?

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

I've seen some stuff on the SI forums about that. What's the rationale? I mean, even in lower leagues, isn't it reasonable to assume that managers would have all that information?

I am assuming he is doing this because he doesn't know what to look for in a player. Speaking for myself, I am not a soccer fan and have a basic understanding about positions. However I don't know what are the best attributes to have based on my tactical formation.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

I've seen some stuff on the SI forums about that. What's the rationale? I mean, even in lower leagues, isn't it reasonable to assume that managers would have all that information?

I don't know enough about the life of a real manager to have the answer. I guess I can think about it in baseball terms. If I'm the manager of a Class A ball club, I probably don't know much about a Class AA or AAA player in another organization unless there's some news about him or my scouts see him. I may know of a particular player, but I probably don't know all of his strengths and weaknesses. I (or my organization) would have to send a scout out to get all of the details about this fellow.

In WWSM, I'm playing as Exeter City in the English Conference National. I'm not a huge soccer fan, so I don't even know many of the players in the EPL. If I were a real manager in England, I would probably have a good idea about a lot of EPL players or even the Championship players. I wouldn't have any chance of signing them to play for me, though, so it doesn't matter if I have information about them. However, I don't know if I'd be so in touch with many of the players in League One, for instance. I'd probably need to watch them play or send a scout to really be able to evaluate what those players are all about.

Thinking in terms of the "lower league manager" rationale, why would I just suddenly decide to scout some dude playing for Swindon Town if there isn't any buzz about him? There's no news about him, nor have my scouts mentioned him, so what would be the real-life equivalent of using the "search" feature?

I don't have any problem with the search function. Hell, I've always used it until this particular game I'm running. I'm just trying something different to see how it goes.

[Sidhe]

I took over Basingstoke in Conference South. This is my fourth start with Basingstoke, counting two in 2005 and one in the demo. As a rule I'd been absolutely sucking. Until now, the only thing I've figured out is how to get the high media relations stats. Not that it has counted for much..

Well, it's late December and I've got my squad up at 5th! And I didn't do it buying a whole lot of players either. The secret.. it might be a SPOILER if people don't want any help so I'll put it down a few lines:



***********SPOILER ALERT!!*************
Coaches. Stop hiring guys who suck and hire a bunch of coaches to make your sucky guys better. You do need a few good signings to round out your club, but after you've got a good squad, coaches are crucial. And I mean more than they've hinted at too. I think I've got seven coaches (one's a player coach and I'd have more of these if I could get them).

***************SPOILER ABOVE!! AVERT YOUR EYES!!************

I don't doubt I'll get slapped down before I can even begin to dream of a promotion, but this is without doubt the best I've done.

There is one other thing I've done that I think helped. The capable wingers that you can hire in Conference South are all going to be too slow unless you get extremely lucky. So, to get some speed, I picked up a 16 yo from my youth squad. My ASSMan says he's no good, but I can't tell you how many times he's chased down a loose ball, and then because he's all alone when he gets there, he can easily get it to someone more competent. And he's getting better too, with all the practise he's been having. I'd suggest ignoring your ASSMan when he says someone isn't worth signing if you know you've got a role in mind. I think you can hide one youngster on a squad if you don't use him too much.

[Easy Mac]

I never ignore an assman

[FrogMan]

Here's a nifty little DDT generator thingie I stumbled upon on the SI forums:
http://nerazzurri.net/Files/DDT_Generator.zip

What it does is generate the "RETAIN PLAYERS" command file that you can use when you start a new game. I plan on using it when I'll start my new career, not to really retain complete nations, but to retain many clubs in Europe, while playing maybe with a smaller db...

FM

[scooter]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

Thinking in terms of the "lower league manager" rationale, why would I just suddenly decide to scout some dude playing for Swindon Town if there isn't any buzz about him? There's no news about him, nor have my scouts mentioned him, so what would be the real-life equivalent of using the "search" feature?

I don't want to discourage you from playing the game however you want to, but as far as a "real-world" equivalent, here you go. Most managers in football have played the game at a fairly high level (not all, but most). Most of them have also had to work their way up to being manager, starting out as coaches, scouts or assistant managers. In all that time, you don't think that they've created some contacts with other managers (many of whom are probably former teammates, fellow coaches or mentors)? Most managers have a loose network of other managers or staff that they have known for years that pass information back and forth to one another. Now, it wouldn't quite be to the point of saying "Steve over here has a 15 for passing, a 18 for acceleration, and a 20 for pace", but they might say that "Steve is a pretty good passer and he's lightning quick".

Now you coming in to manage a team wouldn't have these sorts of contacts, but most other managers would (and most likely your assistant manager would). So looking at the list of available free transfers and ticking the "Ask assistant manager" button may not be that much of a stretch. Playing the way you're talking about playing though, you probably wouldn't want to open up any of those player cards and look at them, but you could send out your scouts to take a look at them. This would narrow your search a bit. I think that would be realistic.

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

Got a few questions for you if you don't mind:

1) ~8-10 leagues, is that 8-10 nations or more 4 nations with a total of 8-10 leagues?

2) what kind of database size did you pick?

3) what do you consider like running fine? Does that mean waiting a lot at some point (especially during the transfer windows) or is it waitless? For example, my current FM2005 games has 10 leagues from 7 nations and I can sometime wait up to 2-3 minutes during processing (but it also can process more than a day during these longer waits)...

I have a desktop system with an Athlon 2000+ (1.67) w/512mb, so kind of similar to yours, although your M 1.6 may be faster than my athlon, and I'll be testing out what kind of game setting for my future game. I' think about something like 7-10 leagues from maybe 5-6 nations on normal and most of the major EU countries' top league in basic detail so that I see stats for the Champions League and EUFA Cup teams. I'm also thinking about using a retain file with most of the top European clubs to ensure that I have these with non-grey players, would probably make for a more indepth experience without adding all the players in a country...

FM

I'm running a Normal DB with England PL-D2, Spain Top 2, Italy Top 2, Holland, Germany, France, Greece, Turkey, USA, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina.

I believe only England, Spain, and Italy are active (so 8 leagues, 3 countries) and the rest are running on basic. Although I think Brazil might be running with detail also. In retrospect, I wish I added more detail leagues because I don't like the grey players in the basic detail leagues.

Speed to me is much faster than the equivalent leagues running in FM05. I would say that I wait no longer than a minute for any time period to process, including during the Summer transfer window. It's much faster than FM05. I've been tempted to uncrate my desktop (AMD 2.8 w/1 GB RAM) to see how many leagues I can run, but haven't needed to bother since it runs more than satisfactorily on my laptop. The only complaint I have is that it takes forever for games to save.

Does anyone remember the extension for the historical game files you can delete to shrink the size of your save file?

[SirFozzie]

*.pks I believe

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

*.pks I believe

Thank you

[SirFozzie]

Not a problem

[SirFozzie]

Sooo frustrating. The Revs have gotten to the MLS Conference Championship 3 years running, and failed each time (against Chicago, DC and now the Mutts).. it's like the game knows the history of my revs and is taunting me.

I'm usually the best team in the regular season, thanks to a couple tactics I came up with (variants of other tactics).. but the playoffs just befuddle my team

[FrogMan]

for people struggling with tactics, team instructions, player instructions, there's a good thread out on the SI Forums. Please note that I have not read it (will print it in a minute to read while watching over my son dowsntairs ) but by reading the first few paragraph, I sort of got the feeling that the guy knows what he is doing. That and the thread was linked to in a sticky by PaulC for people complaining about havign a hard time retaining leads late in the game...

Here's a link:
http://community.sigames.com/groupee...7/m/7512000571

And I'll quote the first post although there is much more discussion below that first post... Here we go:

Originally Posted by wwfan on SI Forums

This thread is designed to offer some tactical basics for anyone wishing to implement their own tactics in FM06. Although all my experiments have been performed using a standard 4-4-2 system, I believe that the base frameworks I use for different scenarios will translate to most formations. Before talking about the team strategies I will outline some of the theories in terms of how to set up specific player instructions. In all of these theories I have found a lot of the information in a variety of excellent threads and I hope those involved will accept my thanks alongside my apologies for not being able to reference them.

Mentality
One of the key elements in setting the mentality sliders is to remember that too extreme differences in attacking/defending instructions will result in huge gaps all over the pitch with your players failing to find easy passes. For example, if your defense is set at ultra-defensive, and your attack at ultra-attacking, with the midfield somewhere in between, a short passing game becomes difficult, for as soon as you get the ball your team will look for attacking options which limits options. If one of your defenders (mostly not so great at passing) has the ball and finds that all his advanced team mates are rushing headlong up the pitch while at the same time he is being pressured by opposition players, he will do one of two things. Firstly, if the option is available, he will hit a long ball forward to clear his lines, thus contradicting any short-passing instructions you may have set him. Secondly, if his decision making is poor, he may hit a cross field ball into his own area that is hugely dangerous in that it may be intercepted and cost a goal.
Therefore, it is imperative that when setting up tactics and formations, the manager consider the passing options available and set mentalities and passing instructions accordingly. This becomes more so if decision making and passing stats are bad, as passes will be intercepted and the short passing game will be abandoned due to lack of options. When setting up your tactic, consider how many options your weakest passing defender will have when he has the ball, and try to ensure he will have a few players near to him, so he can make an easy pass. Thus, having one midfielder on defensive mentality, and at least one more on normal will help. A second option would be to have only one midfielder on defensive but increase the wing/full backs mentalities so the central defenders have the option of a pass forwards down the wing, forward to the defensive midfielder, or the easy ball to the other central defender.
Once the ball moves to the midfield, it is likely that more options will become available, but mentality still plays a huge role, and if your forwards' mentality is too attacking, a quick ball up the pitch will leave them isolated and they will lose possession. Ideally, split the mentalities for the strikeforce, with one forward coming deeper and holding up the ball so the midfield can get into position, whereas the other can continuously look to get into position for the killer ball. Following this kind of thinking will ensure that your formation holds its shape and that on most occasions easy passing options are available.

Closing Down
Closing down is another issue that causes problems and needs to be evaluated quite carefully before deciding on how to employ it. In basic terms, the closing down instruction will tell the players to move towards the player who is carrying the ball/has it in his possession. Thus, in the 2d match engine, you will see a player with high closing down instructions moving towards the opposition player as soon as he has possession. Its strength is that it stops opposition players having much time on the ball, but its weakness is that it often leads the opposition players get goalside easily, as it draws players out of position. Logic suggests that it shouldn't be employed with tight man-marking for central defenders, as it will put the player with high closing down/tight man instructions marking in an untenable position, in that he is supposed to stay with his man but also close down a different player who has the ball and has got past the midfield line. If his decision making is poor he will invariably take the wrong option and holes will appear in the defense.
Players with low closing down instructions will invariably stay between the man in possession and the goal. They may not make a tackle, but they will try to force the player to make a difficult pass, take a long shot that isn't on, or dribble past them to create a chance. Thus, possession is won by intercepting passes, forcing an overambitious long shot which results in a goal kick, or by tackling the player as he tries to dribble past. It places the initiative firmly on the attacking team, asking them to break down the defensive unit that is massed between the ball and the goal, rather than trying to win the ball quickly.
High closing down can be employed in certain circumstances and work extremely effectively. However, it will require the right type of player for it to work. It is pointless assigning it to very slow players, as they will take too long to reach the man on the ball, giving him plenty of time to pick a pass. A slow player will also be unable to make up ground if he is skinned. It is also pointless assigning it to players who can’t tackle, as they are likely to be beaten by the man with the ball, or foul him as he goes past them. The best ways in which to employ heavy closing down are by 1) instructing your hard-man, aggressive central midfielder to man mark and close down the opposition’s playmaker, who likely to be creative but soft and cowardly, or 2) using a hardworking, fast, fit striker to close down the opposition’s defense, forcing them to hit hurried passes forward.
Likewise, make sure your two most creative players are on low closing down. By doing this you will ensure they are in more space to receive an easy pass when you gain possession, and thus more likely to set up a successful counter attack. If they are set to high closing down, they will be right next to an opponent, who will likely crunch them, so the best you will get is a free kick. Furthermore, who has ever seen creative players close down anyway?

Width
Width is important depending on the type of team you have. If you have a team that can easily dominate possession with short, low tempo passing, then you should use a wide formation. Players will tire more easily when chasing the ball than when in possession, and if they have to chase over a wide game area, will tire even more, making mistakes more likely. However, if possession is a problem, and you feel that your team is under a lot of pressure then you should narrow your width. This will put a lot of your players in the middle of the pitch, which will limit space for the opposition and ensure you have plenty of men between the ball and your goal.

Tempo
Again, important depending on team type. A team with good passers can use a slow tempo system to dominate possession and wait on their chances. If chances fail to materialize, then they can switch to a higher tempo system for short bursts to try to create some chances. High tempo would usually be best employed for teams that need to get the ball up the pitch quickly because of a lack of quality in midfield. When used with a direct passing system it will get the ball to the forwards quickly once in possession. However, it will tire the team heavily if used all match.

Passing
Here, I am treading on Cleon’s ground and suggest that all those who want to understand more about passing go here:
Cleon’s Passing Thread

Time Wasting
Possibly tweaked a little high by the match engine, but speaks for itself. Don’t time waste when chasing a game; time waste when defending a lead.

Creative Freedom
I am treading on dangerous ground here, as creative freedom seems to be a hot topic on the forum. Personally, I believe creative freedom doesn’t stop players obeying instructions but must be employed carefully. Most teams will only employ one or two players in creative roles, and I think that FM06 thinking follows that. If too many players are on high creative freedom then everyone is looking for the killer ball, which means the true creatives rarely have the chance to influence the match. Tone it down for most people, set it high for the special talents.

Defensive Line
A deep defensive line, in my opinion, is asking for trouble and should only be used with extreme caution. This will basically tell your players to retreat to the edge of the box when not in possession. It can be used with good defensive midfield cover when trying to see out a tight game, but be careful. A high defensive line, alongside at least one quick centre back is the way to approach most games. It will condense the pitch, force the opposition to hit hurried balls and keep a large percentage of play in the midfield zone. As long as one central defender is quick it can be employed with the offside trap to continually keep the opposition trapped in their own half.

Killing Off a Game
Many people seemed to have experienced a series of near miraculous comebacks by AI teams and find it frustrating and unrealistic. However, it is simple to stop. The assumption here is that the half-time team talk makes a huge difference to the second half performance. In the case of the AI manager it must be assumed that he will try to get them to score quickly in the second half to give them a chance, and change formations to try and make that happen. He will also try to give them hope in the half-time talk.
Thus, the human manager must proactively set up a system to stop this happening. The assumption is that if the AI team fails to score in the first 15 minutes of the second half they will suffer a morale drop and can be picked off again. So, the human manager must time waste, narrow the formation, set the team to a slightly more defensive mindset and counter attack. Passing type and tempo will be altered depending on the player abilities. This should kill off the game, and chances may start to appear for you gain near the end.

For the rest of this post, I will focus on some tactical frameworks that can be used by correctly employing the above theories. In these frameworks the team quality is related to the relative ability of the squad in the division it is playing in, not in the more general sense that Barcelona are quality and Maidenhead are not!

Framework One: High Quality Team Playing at Home
This requires a framework that focuses more on attacking than defending and is possession centric. Thus, the team should employ a wide formation, with wing/full backs on a reasonably attacking mentality to provide support for the midfield, with only the central defenders needing to mop up the ball at the back. Possession is important, so a slow tempo, short passing game should be employed for most of the match, but the manager should be willing to tweak to a higher tempo for short bursts to create chances if none seem forthcoming.
In general, the midfield need not close down hugely, but it may be worthwhile to man mark/close down the opposition’s most dangerous midfielder and rush their defense with the strikers when they have the ball to force hurried, aimless clearances. The midfield should also look to push forward, with one more defensive minded player covering the back line. To help the midfield get into position to help the front line, it would be worthwhile having one forward hold the ball up, which allows the midfield to get in front of him and into space.
Once the game seems won, up the time wasting level, narrow the formation and tick counter attack. If your team has excellent passers use slow passing and just let your wide midfielders and forwards break, with the rest of the team staying back. With slightly less talented passers, switch to direct, high tempo passing and play down the channels. That way you will quickly get the ball down the pitch and force them to build again.

Framework Two: High Quality Team Playing Away
This requires a framework that is defensively sound but lethal on the counter. The team should employ a slightly narrower formation than at home, with a more direct, higher tempo approach to passing. The wing/full backs must be almost as defensive as the central defenders and get forwards less often. Counter attacking must also be ticked from the start. All mentalities must be toned down from the home framework, but not hugely. One of the centre forwards can stay on a high attacking mentality to provide availability at all times when countering.
Based on the assumption that the opposition will attack, use the best, most aggressive central midfielder to close down their playmaker. The rest of the midfield/defense needs to stay behind the ball, so closing down must be low for them. As the quick break is the key to scoring, don’t hold the ball up but try to get the ball to the forwards quickly so they can work in any space there may be before the opposition can get back.
Time wasting can be high from the start as it will limit the amount of time the opposition has on the ball, and can be maxed when defending a lead. Again, depending on the player types, passing can slow down when defending a lead to try and get more possession, or speed up to get the ball up the pitch and away from danger as quickly as possible.

Framework Three: Low Quality Team
Obviously the game is harder when you have a poor team. Thus, the framework for such a team follows the framework for a high quality team playing away to an extent.
Keeping the players between the ball and the goal is the key to this framework. Hence, nearly all your players must be no more than normal mentality and on low closing down. One of the strikers can be on attacking and high closing down, but that is about it. You must play a narrow formation, with high tempo, direct passing to get the ball up the pitch and away from your goal as quickly as you can. Play down the flanks to stop the ball moving across the pitch too much, as interceptions in central midfield can be calamitous. Man-mark the opposition’s forwards and wingers with your defenders and play a high back line to ensure the ball stays away from goal and the opposition’s most dangerous players are always assigned a marker.
To try and grab a goal on the break make sure your wingers are set to zonal marking/low closing down, with forward runs high. Thus, a quick, direct ball down the flanks is likely to be picked up by a winger or a striker, and your team can exploit any space there may be. This is not sexy football, and is designed to stop the other team from playing, so don’t expect wondrous passing moves. It should stop you from being relegated though.

Framework Four: Jimmy Youn’s Fluid Football
As this is not my tactic, I hope Jimmy won’t mind me using his words.
‘I use 4-1-3-2, which in my opinion is basically the standard 4-4-2 you see in real life. Why? Because while you may see back four holding a more or less curved line (with DL/DR pushing forward a bit), you are not going to see 4 midfielders drawing a straight (or even slightly) curved line - what you will see is a holding midfielder (if a team plays one) dropping back slightly (but he will nevertheless venture forward when needed) and an attacking midfield falling just behind the strikers (but again, he will nevertheless track back - with good teamwork attribute - even further back than DMC if required).
Same with your DL/DR and DC relationship - in the match I often find that when the opposition defense hits a long ball to their AMC or striker, my DC often ventures forward to take the ball - when this happens either my DR or DL would draw in more towards middle to cover the gap left by the DC.
The same applies when my DC tracks the opposition striker/AMC's run to the side of the pitch - my DL or DR would effectively switch the place with DC in order to provide more body down the middle rather than doubling up the opposition striker/winger with DC and leaving a hole in the middle;
I think it's just basic fact of football that no player can afford to stick with one area/position during the course of 90 minutes (except the keeper) - even for a keeper, when you see RL matches they don't just stay in the box; especially if the back four are pushing forward and long ball comes over above them it's keeper's job to go forward and cut the long ball out before the striker runs on to them (and in this case, your defenders are effectively cutting the run of strikers in the middle of the pitch - and again, when the keeper goes out of box to take care of the long ball flying over back four you will see one of the defenders dropping back into the penalty box).
Another example I can give is that when you have a very attacking right/left back, when he bomb forward with the ball you will often see your back four becoming three men defense - for example, if your DR overwraps with your MR/AMR and goes to the byline to cross what you will often see at the back is your DL and 2 DCs taking up classic 3 back line (So your DL comes to become your left DC, left side DC becomes central DC, right side DC becomes right DC).
During the course of the game, you will also see that sometimes your team's pegging the opposition back really deep and both your DL and DR are just outside the penalty area or even deeper - sometimes what you'll see in this case is your DMC dropping back to take up the position between your two DCs, but staying slightly forward.
I can give countless examples like this - when your strikers goes wide to receive the ball you will see your AMC or AML/AMR running forward/to the centre to take the striker's space while the striker tries to cross the ball.
Why am I saying all this? Because personally when I see the matches in FM I'm very impressed with the fluidity of movements - of course there are areas to improve, but if anything, it's more realistic than it has ever been.
I play with 'normal' creativity for ALL my players on the field - even for my DCs & DMCs and I have ALL my players set at 'normal mentality', ALL my players set at 'mixed' passing and ALL my players set at 'mixed' pressing - everyone's doing zonal marking (even my DCs) and i don't do tight marking because my 'tactical theory' is that it's more important to efficiently cover spaces than track all the players - I mean fine, if opposition's making a run to the side of the pitch and I only have my wingback tracking him what's wrong with it? My DCs have plenty of time to get back and take good position to cut out any crosses coming over and my DL/DR push the opposition striker/wingers all the way to the corner flag without making tackle - IMHO it's better to let the opposition come deep with the ball than letting them get BEHIND you under any circumstances’.
As Jimmy readily acknowledges, this tactic require lots of players with high stamina/pace/decision making/teamwork to make it successful, but it is a valid alternative to my own variations and worth trying if you have the right type of player.

If anyone is interested in reading the posts I used to come up with this stuff, then I would like to direct you to the following.

The original thread in which I examined the validity of the match engine.
Olly Dickinson’s Tactical Discussion

My Thread on Team Talks My Thread on Team Talks

Jep’s Thread on Team Talks

Neonlight's Ajax 4-3-3 Thread

Asmodeus’s Basic 4-4-2 Thread

There are many others I have used, but I can't remember what they were called, so would like to apologise if anyone feels I am stealing their ideas without mentioniong them.
I would also like to thank those who contributed to the last thread, especially those who encouraged me and those who challenged my thinking. So thanks to paranoik0, Madger, virtex, Neil Purvis, Skuzzy, Chooney, amaroq, PaulC, Izza, Rosenberg, Asmodeus, golden_goal and Jimmy Youn in particular, but also to all those that have helped and contributed to my last thread. I hope this one will be just as useful and I will learn even more through it.
Cheers

wwfan

FM

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

Are the only keyboard shortcuts the arrow keys & space bar?

Are there more? If so, could someone list the one's they know?

Thxs!
~rpi-fan

Just found this SIBase article that lists every FM2006 keyboard shortcuts...
http://www.sigames.com/sibase.php?type=view&id=167

General Shortcuts
Alt+F4: Quit Game
Control+Q: Quit Game
Alt+Enter: Switch between full screen and windowed mode (if system supports windowed mode)
Control+F: Switch between full screen and windowed mode (if system supports windowed mode)
Tab: Move to next control on screen that can take a keyboard focus.
Shift+Insert: Paste from clipboard.
Control+V: Paste from clipboard.
Control+Insert: Copy to clipboard
Control+C: Copy to clipboard
Shift+Delete: Cut (copy to clipboard, then delete)
Control+X: Cut (copy to clipboard, then delete)
Control+P: Print screen (if something on the screen is printable)
Control+A: Select all (only really applies to edit boxes)
Control+Z: Undo (edit boxes)
Control+Shift+Z: Redo (edit boxes)
Control+Y: Redo (edit boxes)
Control+S: Save game (to current name - will do a Save As if the game has not been saved yet)
Control+Shift+S: Save Game As.. (always asks for file name before saving)
Left Arrow: Go to previous screen in history
Backspace: Go to previous screen in history
Mouse Back Button: Go to previous screen in history
Shift+Mouse Wheel Backward: Go to previous screen in history
Right Arrow: Go to next screen in history
Mouse Next Button: Go to next screen in history
Shift+Mouse Wheel Forward: Go to next screen in history
Alt+F11: Content fullscreen (hides title bar, tree menu and footers) (different from the window fullscreen)




Specific Shortcuts
F1 - Help/Tutorial
F2 - Home page
F3 - Squad screen
F4 - News screen
F5 - Player search
F6 - Shortlist
F7 - Scout search
F8 - Staff list
F9 - Club transfers
F10 - First team fixtures
F11 - Team information screen
F12 - Game status
Control+D: Continent transfers
Control+E: Finances (Expenditure)
Control+G: Finances (Transfers)
Control+H: Manager chat
Control+I: Finances (Income)
Control+J: Job centre
Control+L: League table
Control+M: Finances (Summary) (or National Pool for national teams)
Control+N: New Game (Intro/Startup) or New User (in game).
Control+R: Training (Coaches) (On the Intro/Startup screen this is "Load Last Game" if available)
Control+T: First team tactics
Control+U: Training (Players/Schedules)
Control+W: Finances (Salary)
Control+O: Startup/Intro screen only: Load Game (Open File).
Shift+P: Go to the Preferences screen.
Spacebar: Continue game (on the News screen this is 'read next unread'). Not valid while keyboard focus is on an edit box or in a dialog.




Dialog Shortcuts
Enter: Default action (generally OK/Yes)
Escape: Cancel and close.

FM

[jbmagic]

for you guys that been playing fm 2006 a lot. are you seeing any super tactics?


i hope not, i would hate to see a super tactic do well regardless of non-talent players on the team

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

for you guys that been playing fm 2006 a lot. are you seeing any super tactics?


i hope not, i would hate to see a super tactic do well regardless of non-talent players on the team

Go ask this question on the SI Forums.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

Go ask this question on the SI Forums.

the SI forums are not for the faint of heart my friend, do not go there if you value your sanity even just a little...




FM

[Desnudo]

There are no super tactics. If anything, people seem to be finding the tactical side extremely challenging.

[MikeVick7]

Marc V - Any progress being made on a fix for the people who are experiencing the frequent crashes from the downloaded WWSM 2006 version?

My computer handled FM2005 with ease, but all of my crashes come on 2006 if I try to run the game while my cooling fan is running. So while I'm playing, I pretty much have to wait for the fan to stop running before I press "continue" or else mine crashes.

[SirFozzie]

Note to self: Keep better track of your internationals.. Having to drop three good players because you were three over the limit is STUPID.

[BYU 14]

The only negative thing I have found with this game is the frequent crashes that occur with the DD version I have (Like many others) experienced.

I really only watch Soccer during World Cup and haven't played FM since CM 2001 but I have to say this version has me hooked....the depth is incredible and I like the match action screen as well....simple enough graphics but I am on the edge of my seat everytime a highlight comes up. I have even thrown my hands up in the Air a few times on goals, as my Wife just shakes her head

I downloaded this to bide my time with the trial version until BBCF comes out, now I am thinking BBCF will have to be real good to compete for my free time with WSM...........

Could you imagine an Football game the equivelent of this, it would be like having the NFL, Canada, NFL Europe, D1, D2, D3 and NAIA colleges all in one game!!!

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

There are no super tactics. If anything, people seem to be finding the tactical side extremely challenging.

I agree totally with this, in fact it seems you really have to work on getting the right players to fit with your tactical scheme or they are not really effective.......very challenging as I muddle through Conference South with Cambridge city. I am using the Ajax Tactics from the SIgames forums and until I started getting the right pieces of puzzle in place, I was abysmal!! Even now as I see occassional glimpses of what the tactic can do, progress is slow.

You also have to be really on the ball with your training regiments as well.

[Bee]

Is anyone else finding this version much more challenging (in a good way)?

Previous versions, I've always started at the lowest playable level in the English Divisions and generally I win the league the first year, promote, win that league in the second year, promote and then third year, I usually end up finishing in the playoff or at least in the top 10. This version, I finished in 3rd place the first year in the Conference South (and lost the playoffs on penalty kicks..). The next year, I finished a very close 2nd place and won the playoffs for promotion. Now in the third year, I'm actually struggling in the Conference National. Granted, I have almost no budget, but in years past I would never have struggled at this point. Instead of hoping to finish in the playoffs, I find myself just hoping for a mid-table finish. I think that's much more realistic than my previous experiences. While I can see this would be frustrating for some folks, I'm loving it.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I've always been pretty bad at the games, so I can't tell if it's more challenging or not. Right now, I'm barely into January of my first season with Exeter City, and after a terrible start, we've gone on a run to sit in 8th place or so in the Conference National a little more than halfway through the season. Unfortunately, thanks to injuries, I figured that I'd better try to upgrade my team a little bit. I signed three players who were much better than anyone else on my team (according to my scout, anyway). One of the players got sent off in his first match with me. Of course, the media was all over me after the match, so I admitted that he was off to a bad start and needed to learn how to play Exeter football. The other two players have been unimpressive so far.

Since we are now out of all the cup competitions and can focus on the league, I think I'm going to play the new guys for only about 15-20 minutes per match for a couple of weeks and then I'll work them into the lineup. I tried to shake things up by signing these guys, but I just ended up crippling the chemistry that my team had built. Now my wage bill is too high, so I'm going to have to sell some players off. I had hoped that the new players would mix with my team well enough that I could sell players quickly. That's not going to happen. I'll have to pay everybody for about a month and then see if I can transfer or at least loan somebody out.

I have to manage that as well as try to keep my Grecians in playoff contention. Agh!

Great game, SI. You guys have done it again.

[BYU 14]

I got Monetary help with some real nice play during the FA cup, I got to the third round and drew York and managed to hold them to a draw as we played out of our minds in the first game......in the rematch they predictably trounced us but my share of the Gate receipts for the two games took me from 20 plus in the hole to over 40 in the black.....This unpredictability is one thing I love about the game.....I was thinking I was financially on my way to a burial, but this allowed me to pull out and grab a nice transfer as well.

I agree Pumpy, SI has done it again.

[MikeVick7]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

I've always been pretty bad at the games, so I can't tell if it's more challenging or not. Right now, I'm barely into January of my first season with Exeter City, and after a terrible start, we've gone on a run to sit in 8th place or so in the Conference National a little more than halfway through the season. Unfortunately, thanks to injuries, I figured that I'd better try to upgrade my team a little bit. I signed three players who were much better than anyone else on my team (according to my scout, anyway). One of the players got sent off in his first match with me. Of course, the media was all over me after the match, so I admitted that he was off to a bad start and needed to learn how to play Exeter football. The other two players have been unimpressive so far.

Since we are now out of all the cup competitions and can focus on the league, I think I'm going to play the new guys for only about 15-20 minutes per match for a couple of weeks and then I'll work them into the lineup. I tried to shake things up by signing these guys, but I just ended up crippling the chemistry that my team had built. Now my wage bill is too high, so I'm going to have to sell some players off. I had hoped that the new players would mix with my team well enough that I could sell players quickly. That's not going to happen. I'll have to pay everybody for about a month and then see if I can transfer or at least loan somebody out.

I have to manage that as well as try to keep my Grecians in playoff contention. Agh!

Great game, SI. You guys have done it again.

Pumpy - Are you bringing players in on loan too? Sounds like you're just signing players up in the transfer market.

[Cringer]

So can someone tell me what the difference is between Full detail and Normal detail. Basic makes it's self pretty clear what it is, although I am not sure why you would use it for a league.

My first couple of mess-around games I had the leagues on Normal detail and it seemed everything I would want was there. What is added to Normal when you go up to Full?

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by MikeVick7

Pumpy - Are you bringing players in on loan too? Sounds like you're just signing players up in the transfer market.

No, I'm not bringing in players on loan. I don't have a tactical reason for that. It's just a personal thing, I guess. I understand that the approach I'm using is more expensive and has more long-term consequences, but that's just how I roll, I guess.

[Bea-Arthurs Hip]

Originally Posted by Cringer

My first couple of mess-around games I had the leagues on Normal detail and it seemed everything I would want was there. What is added to Normal when you go up to Full?

I believe with Full detail you can view the Mathces and Highlights. Someone correct me if I am wrong but I am pretty sure.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Cringer

So can someone tell me what the difference is between Full detail and Normal detail. Basic makes it's self pretty clear what it is, although I am not sure why you would use it for a league.

My first couple of mess-around games I had the leagues on Normal detail and it seemed everything I would want was there. What is added to Normal when you go up to Full?

first off, regarding the use of basic, I'd think it's to see some kind of history to teams outside of your simmed leagues. For example, right now in FM2005, I have some 8 nations' top league on what would be normal detail in FM2006. My Q.P.R. squad is part of the EUFA Cup and I played Benfica from Portugal. Since Portugal isn't a nation that I sim, they had no game results in their fixtures list and I couldn't get a feeling for where they were in the standings in Portugal. With basic detail, I'd see the Portugal first series table and some stats, or so I'd assume. This is what I plan on doing when I start my career in '06, play some league on normal, then most of Europe on basic...

As for full vs normal, well full means that the all the selected leagues in the country are completely simmed with match reports and all. Normal means that only the competitions you are in are simmed with complete detail. For example, again with my current game in FM2005, I play in England and I have England on normal, not full details and this means that I can't see match reports for teams outside of the EPL, which is my current division. I can see all the match reports for the EPL just fine since I'm part of that competition, but not matches in the Championship, or in League One, or below. If I had selected England to be in full detail, I would have been able to see every league match report of every level...

This is the way I understand it, hope this helps.

FM

[Cringer]

Thanks for the info on FULL detail guys. I guess I pretty much do not need it then for how I play. Although having some leagues on basic mightbe pretty cool.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Cringer

Thanks for the info on FULL detail guys. I guess I pretty much do not need it then for how I play. Although having some leagues on basic mightbe pretty cool.

and that is about how I see it. I'm happy with only seeing the league I'm in, although if I were in a lower league, it could also be cool to see how teams in the EPL are playing their games, but it's a trade off...

Also, remember that the league you are in will alwasy be in full detail, no matter if you change country. Say I get sacked at Q.P.R. and I get hired in Spain, well the league I'd be managing in in Spain would be in Full detail and the EPL would revert to non-full (i.e. no match reports available)...

FM

[lighthousekeeper]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

No, I'm not bringing in players on loan. I don't have a tactical reason for that. It's just a personal thing, I guess. I understand that the approach I'm using is more expensive and has more long-term consequences, but that's just how I roll, I guess.

Wow - I roll in the other direction. My 4 best players are always my four current loaners. I'm amazed at the level of quality player that is willing to get loaned out to play in England Conference North, and I'm amzed at the upper level teams that are willing to let them go on loan for the whole season while getting no monetary returns.

Shortsighted? Probably.

[Butter]

How high of a player is normally willing to come to Conference? I know when I played Kettering in the last iteration, I could never get ANYONE to come there on loan, be it EPL or Championship level talent.

[sovereignstar]

I could be totally wrong, but I thought I remember seeing an SI guy saying that the nation of the league you choose is automatically turned on to full detail. I guess that would go against what you're saying, FrogMan. Are you sure you can't see highlights and stuff for the Championship?

Edit: To clarify, I though ALL the levels of the nation would be turned to full and not just the one league you are managing.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by lighthousekeeper

Wow - I roll in the other direction. My 4 best players are always my four current loaners. I'm amazed at the level of quality player that is willing to get loaned out to play in England Conference North, and I'm amzed at the upper level teams that are willing to let them go on loan for the whole season while getting no monetary returns.

Shortsighted? Probably.

I wouldn't particularly call it "shortsighted." It's just a different approach. In my case, I'm hoping for these new players to be a part of my team for 3-5 years (understanding that if they get very good, they'll move up to bigger clubs). If you decide to go with loaners, then you'll have to bring in new players every year, but you save a whole lot of money. The reason I don't think it's shortsighted is that there are always lots of good players available for loan. Even if you lose all of your loaners at the end of this year, you can pick up 4 more next year. If any of those guys don't work out, you can send them back anytime and get another. It's a great concept.

I think I'm really just living with my head in the clouds. My team is expected to challenge for promotion every season, so I am grabbing players as if I'm going to be in League Two next season. I need to acclimate better players to my system right now, and I need guys who are comfortable in my system when we move up. Of course, the problem is that I'm probably not good enough to move this team up, so as I said, my head is in the clouds.

[sovereignstar]

I misread the quote that I was going off of. I'm sure I'm wrong.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar

I could be totally wrong, but I thought I remember seeing an SI guy saying that the nation of the league you choose is automatically turned on to full detail. I guess that would go against what you're saying, FrogMan. Are you sure you can't see highlights and stuff for the Championship?

Edit: To clarify, I though ALL the levels of the nation would be turned to full and not just the one league you are managing.

I'm going by what I saw just a couple nights ago. Tried to scout some Championship team and couldn't see any match report for Championship matches. That's when I realized that only the competition I'm in (i.e. EPL, FA Cup, League Cup, etc) were on full detail.

I'll check further tonight though...

FM

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar

I misread the quote that I was going off of. I'm sure I'm wrong.

huh, you still talking about the full detail thing here?

I'm getting confused

FM

[sovereignstar]

Edit: Dammit. I can't delete stuff now that you're quoting me.

I think you explained it to Cringer perfectly. I will climb back in my hole.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar

Edit: Dammit. I can't delete stuff now that you're quoting me.

I think you explained it to Cringer perfectly. I will climb back in my hole.

hehe, okay then

FM

[Bee]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

I wouldn't particularly call it "shortsighted." It's just a different approach. In my case, I'm hoping for these new players to be a part of my team for 3-5 years (understanding that if they get very good, they'll move up to bigger clubs). If you decide to go with loaners, then you'll have to bring in new players every year, but you save a whole lot of money. The reason I don't think it's shortsighted is that there are always lots of good players available for loan. Even if you lose all of your loaners at the end of this year, you can pick up 4 more next year. If any of those guys don't work out, you can send them back anytime and get another. It's a great concept.

I think I'm really just living with my head in the clouds. My team is expected to challenge for promotion every season, so I am grabbing players as if I'm going to be in League Two next season. I need to acclimate better players to my system right now, and I need guys who are comfortable in my system when we move up. Of course, the problem is that I'm probably not good enough to move this team up, so as I said, my head is in the clouds.

I usually loan in 3 or 4 players every year, but I tend to go after young players from an EPL or Championship club so that I can loan them in for several years in a row. For example, in my current career my starting MC is on loan for the third straight year. He's probably my second best player, but would be a reserve player at his original club. I'm sure at some point I'll either have to buy him or if he gets good enough, they'll decline the loan in the next couple years but for now it's working great. I usually try to leave one loan spot open because I've seen a lot of really good players become available late in the season and it's a great way to make a big push at the end of the season (I don't like canceling loans because I'm afraid it'll give me a bad rep with the big clubs and might hurt future loans, etc.).

[MikeVick7]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

I wouldn't particularly call it "shortsighted." It's just a different approach. In my case, I'm hoping for these new players to be a part of my team for 3-5 years (understanding that if they get very good, they'll move up to bigger clubs). If you decide to go with loaners, then you'll have to bring in new players every year, but you save a whole lot of money. The reason I don't think it's shortsighted is that there are always lots of good players available for loan. Even if you lose all of your loaners at the end of this year, you can pick up 4 more next year. If any of those guys don't work out, you can send them back anytime and get another. It's a great concept.

I think I'm really just living with my head in the clouds. My team is expected to challenge for promotion every season, so I am grabbing players as if I'm going to be in League Two next season. I need to acclimate better players to my system right now, and I need guys who are comfortable in my system when we move up. Of course, the problem is that I'm probably not good enough to move this team up, so as I said, my head is in the clouds.

I have no problem going to loan route, cause I figure the scrubs that are on my Conference North team aren't gonna be the guys that take me to the next level anyway, so I just use the best players available.

Most of the weaker teams that are in the Premiership right now still bring in players on loan, like from Man Utd...etc, cause even Man Utd's reserves are better than some of their current players. West Brom was a good example last year as they brought in Kieran Richardson from Man Utd and his play helped them stay clear of relegation.

But I suppose if you find the right kind of younger guys to bring up in on your own team, I can see where you're coming from. It's just going to make it a lot more challenging.

[McSweeny]

ok so it looks like players do get taller as they age. I have a young keeper and at age 16 he was around 5'3", now he's 18 and he's 5'7"

[Booj]

My copy of WWSM left today, and I should be playing by the end of the week (damn no digital download for Macs- I love to play on my laptop).

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Booj

My copy of WWSM left today, and I should be playing by the end of the week (damn no digital download for Macs- I love to play on my laptop).

Booj, iirc you're in Canada right? (maybe even Montreal or is my memory playing tricks on me?) If so, where did you get the game from?

I'm not entirely sold on the digidownload version and I'm looking at alternatives...

FM

[Fouts]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

I'm not entirely sold on the digidownload version and I'm looking at alternatives...

FM

Funny you say that, I have been considering buying a cd version because the download version keeps crashing on me.

Then again, maybe the crashes are a way of telling me to go to bed.

[McSweeny]

is the crashing the only reason you haven't been satisfied with the download version? Maybe i'm just extremely lucky, but i haven't had any crashes

[Booj]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

Booj, iirc you're in Canada right? (maybe even Montreal or is my memory playing tricks on me?) If so, where did you get the game from?

I'm not entirely sold on the digidownload version and I'm looking at alternatives...

FM

Yes, Montreal.

I got the game from Gamestop because that's the first place I saw it, and I need my fix. Their shipping is a little pricey to Canada ($14.99 US), but I just checked the tracking info and it's already in Montreal ready for shipment, so it's definitely fast (it shipped around 5:30 yesterday afternoon). I just am not confident it would have been in stores here anytime soon so I took the plunge as soon as I saw the "ships in 24 hours" on their website.

Ironically, it cost me slightly more than if I had stayed with my order from CD-Wow, but they have raised their price already... them's the breaks I guess.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Booj

Yes, Montreal.

I got the game from Gamestop because that's the first place I saw it, and I need my fix. Their shipping is a little pricey to Canada ($14.99 US), but I just checked the tracking info and it's already in Montreal ready for shipment, so it's definitely fast (it shipped around 5:30 yesterday afternoon). I just am not confident it would have been in stores here anytime soon so I took the plunge as soon as I saw the "ships in 24 hours" on their website.

Ironically, it cost me slightly more than if I had stayed with my order from CD-Wow, but they have raised their price already... them's the breaks I guess.

Good to know. I knew the shipping charges were killers with Gamestop though... You think they'll ship straight to you without charging customs fees? That's one thing I liked last year when I ordered from gameplay. It came to my mailbox without any customs fees to pay, I hate customs fees...

I guess no customs fees on the download could be another pro in its favor

FM