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

[AlexB]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

The game models the 'minimum wage' in countries where this is applicable - in most countries this has two levels a 'youth minimum' (normally U18 but can vary) and an 'adult minimum'.

You'll also probably find that there is a different 'minimum' depending on whether a contract is full or part-time.

There ARE however countries with much more complex wage minimum levels where they can vary quite wildly according to the age of a player or indeed his nationality - generally these are the more obscure minor league though.

Hope this helps,

Marc
PS> If this doesn't seem to explain things then please email me some players/ages and their minimums and I can check if its a bug in the system.

That's cool - seems to make sense. The players that are on low wages are generally young, and those that I am trying to sign are generally of higher standard anyway. Was just querying whether this was the norm, as I have never played at this level before: it's like a new game

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by klayman

No, but the game has an editor which will allow you to change all the financials before you start the game.

Thanks! My copy of the game is expected sometime between today and Wednesday, so once I get it, I'll play around with that!

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by MikeVick7

To Marc V or anyone that has experienced this yet in '06...

I started a career with Hinckley in the Conf. North and currently have them up in League Two. I've basically come to the realization that clubs like this have a ceiling as far as how much they can grow and have decided to base my career around not necessarily getting them to the Premiership, but getting myself, as a manager, to the top level.

But to make the game a little more challenging, as far as getting another job, I kinda want to wait until a team comes knocking on my door. Just last night was the first time I had seen my name thrown in the mix as a candidate for a coaching job at Watford but I wasn't the leading candidate and someone else got the job.

So my question is, once my rep gets built up a bit more, will "enough" job offers come my way so that I won't have to thrown my name in the hat whenever some manager's job becomes available?

I know that in past versions, you get job offers here and there without applying for them but I had always been in the Premiership at the time. So I'm kinda clueless at the lower levels.

If you build your reputation high enough then you will get 'dry' approaches from clubs eventually (ie. they'll knock on your door without you having to do a thing) - however you can also apply for other jobs while still being in one, although this can upset your current board so be careful.

PS> You can also 'edge' managers out from their jobs by announcing interest in their position before they've been sacked - if their board like the sound of you then sometimes they'll give them a push ... a lot of fun if you're playing a network game with a friend who's doing poorly

[MikeVick7]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

If you build your reputation high enough then you will get 'dry' approaches from clubs eventually (ie. they'll knock on your door without you having to do a thing) - however you can also apply for other jobs while still being in one, although this can upset your current board so be careful.

PS> You can also 'edge' managers out from their jobs by announcing interest in their position before they've been sacked - if their board like the sound of you then sometimes they'll give them a push ... a lot of fun if you're playing a network game with a friend who's doing poorly

Right, I just wanted to make the career a bit more challenging by waiting for the "dry" approaches. Makes a guy feel more wanted.

I see the news items about managers on the verge of getting sacked all the time, but for some reason I feel like I'll earn it more if they approach me. I did really enjoy being named as a possible candidate for the first time last night. Made me feel like I was actually doing something right.

[daedalus]

Originally Posted by MikeVick7

Right, I just wanted to make the career a bit more challenging by waiting for the "dry" approaches. Makes a guy feel more wanted.

I see the news items about managers on the verge of getting sacked all the time, but for some reason I feel like I'll earn it more if they approach me. I did really enjoy being named as a possible candidate for the first time last night. Made me feel like I was actually doing something right.

I think you will have a better luck getting "dry" approaches than possibly in past games. This is purely based on one-and-a-half season's worth of playing, of course, so I could be wrong. But I managed to get a "dry" approach (surprised me) from Portugal after a strong first season with the Gunners.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by daedalus

I think you will have a better luck getting "dry" approaches than possibly in past games. This is purely based on one-and-a-half season's worth of playing, of course, so I could be wrong. But I managed to get a "dry" approach (surprised me) from Portugal after a strong first season with the Gunners.

portugal came after me too!! wtf!!

[daedalus]

I think it has to do with the fact that they're on the lower end of the upper-tier teams (may have to think about that particular sentence for awhile). They have similar high expectations of the Spains, Italy and England but with, possibly, less abundant amount of talent (especially with their so-called "Golden Generation" passing their prime).

[daedalus]

By the way, Marc and SI . . .

The game seems to not be keeping track of players' statistics after they come back from loan correctly. Let's say, for example, I have a player name Bob Smith who played 3 games for me.

Let's say, he goes on loan to Derby, when he returns, his stats still says he has played 3 games for me (if I go to "History" and click on my team). Cool so far.

But IF he plays another game for me, his stats with me resets and he has now played 1 game for me (instead of the correct 4).

Not necessarily a huge gamebreaker but would be nice to have fixed.

[Pumpy Tudors]

For kicks, I nicknamed my top goal scorer "Hammertime" just to see that name in the commentary, news stories, etc. Several of my players are "pleased to be playing alongside Hammertime."

[SirFozzie]

And the Opposition's job is to... "Stop... Hammertime!"

And if the defense finds that U Can't Touch This, do you have to ask him, "Hammer, Please Don't Hurt Em?"

My brain is permanently broke.

[MikeVick7]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

Several of my players are "pleased to be playing alongside Hammertime."

I definitely got a good chuckle out of this.

[daedalus]

Originally Posted by daedalus

By the way, Marc and SI . . .

The game seems to not be keeping track of players' statistics after they come back from loan correctly. Let's say, for example, I have a player name Bob Smith who played 3 games for me.

Let's say, he goes on loan to Derby, when he returns, his stats still says he has played 3 games for me (if I go to "History" and click on my team). Cool so far.

But IF he plays another game for me, his stats with me resets and he has now played 1 game for me (instead of the correct 4).

Not necessarily a huge gamebreaker but would be nice to have fixed.

So, uh, no response at all from SI guys?

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by daedalus

So, uh, no response at all from SI guys? Great.

Please cut us some slack every now and again - The PSP FM game is in full swing for its release next year at the moment so I'm sleeping a maximum of around 4 hours a day and trying to balance a standard 'crunch' release with the fact its xmas and I've got my kids plays etc. to attend .... this means I'm not as active on forums as usual at the moment* ....

Thanks for the information, I'll try and check to ensure that this is rectified in the forthcoming patch.

Marc
*Contrary to popular opinion we do allow people at SI to have lives outside of the company, I think its called 'time off for good behaviour'

[daedalus]

Fair enough. I don't exactly expect every single little error or problem I report to be jumped on as if all of SI staff's lives depend upon it. On the other hand, it's somewhat disconcerting to see problems and comments made by others at the very least be acknowledged and yours be completely ignored over and over again.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by daedalus

Fair enough. I don't exactly expect every single little error or problem I report to be jumped on as if all of SI staff's lives depend upon it. On the other hand, it's somewhat disconcerting to see problems and comments made by others at the very least be acknowledged and yours be completely ignored over and over again.

Thats fair enough - I would have got there and replied eventually ... just please bear in mind we are only human (at least until nano-bot technology improves ).

PS> I'm probably more crabby than usual this morning as I was up rather late debugging something last night and then had to get up to get the kids to school at 8am ...

[Desnudo]

Debugging something or debugging 6.02?

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

Debugging something or debugging 6.02?

Was part of the PSP game - next FM PC patch is in test and will hopefully complete its testing cycle and be released before xmas ...

[Pumpy Tudors]

Edit: The important part is the last line.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I just noticed that "Hammertime" is favored personnel of my club. I brought this guy in for $6000 two years ago, and now he's like the Cheltenham poster boy. Very, very cool.

[MikeVick7]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

Edit: The important part is the last line.

Still makes me chuckle.

[Cringer]

I just sent a PM to Marc about this, but wondered if anyone else has seen this 'bug' in the game?

I started a new game and in my game previews/news stories, it is always saying the teams are in 0th place.

And anyone played South American countries yet? I am in Columbia, and these bastards seem pretty rough. I get a ton of yellow/red cards. Is a big factor in this the Aggression rating?

[MrBug708]

Wayne Bridge has just informed Chelsea that he would only accept a pay reduction to Barcelona if Chelsea would pay him 22,500K a week til his contract expires in 2010.

Sweet!

[Sweed]

Been playing a lot of ehm but with the new patch out (yes I'm one of the lucky ones with the disc version of wsm) I have started a new game of wsm. This will be my first real career that I will clumsily stagger through to try to keep learning the game.

I started unemployed and have now been hired by Kettering in early April. They are actually doing pretty well, 2nd place in the Conference North. When offered the job I was told they were over budget on players and cuts would have to be made. So I get there and am informed the payroll is at about 220,000 pounds and needs to be trimmed to 130,000 pounds. I'm guessing this is why the guy before me is no longer employed

My question is since it is already about April 10th and the season, according to the rules, ends April 28 or 29th is there enough time this season to actually trim this payroll? If I put some guys up for sale will there be any takers at this stage of the year? Or should I just be finishing out the month and then try to get things in line for the next season?

Thanks in advance for any assistance. Hopefully, late tommorow night, after the Christmas fesitivities tonight and tommorow I'll be able to get in some game time.

[MikeVick7]

I would just finish out the season and look at reducing the payroll in the offseason. Plus, then you can wait and see what the new wage budget will be for next season.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Finally finished my project and related work yesterday and fired up the game today.

I haven't played the series much since CM01/02. I am quite impressed with the improvements. The 2D match engine is neat. The half-time and post-game talks are an interesting twist on things. The level of detail is amazing. After only a couple hours this afternoon, I am totally hooked.

Took over Workington in the Conference North and am attempting to build them into a powerhouse.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Dola...

This is likely very obvious, and I apologize if it's been answered somewhere in this massive thread, but is there a way to see the financial details of my contract offers to potential transfers? I can find the list that has the "transfer in" names, but I don't seem to be able to see what exactly I've offered them. Even when they accept, I can't seem to find out what salary they'll be getting until after I confirm the deal.

[3ric]

Originally Posted by Godzilla Blitz

Dola...

This is likely very obvious, and I apologize if it's been answered somewhere in this massive thread, but is there a way to see the financial details of my contract offers to potential transfers? I can find the list that has the "transfer in" names, but I don't seem to be able to see what exactly I've offered them. Even when they accept, I can't seem to find out what salary they'll be getting until after I confirm the deal.

From the "future transfers in" page, you right-click the player, and select "change contract offer" to see the details.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Originally Posted by 3ric

From the "future transfers in" page, you right-click the player, and select "change contract offer" to see the details.

I might be wrong, but it seems when I've clicked on that, the resultant details are not from the offer currently on the table. They almost always seem to revert to what the player's demands are.

I'll take another look, though, and see if this is the case.

[Shepp]

I always go to the players profile and look under transfer status tab. It will list all the pending offers for the player. Click the number representing the amount of the offer beside the team name and it should pull up that offer.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Originally Posted by Shepp

I always go to the players profile and look under transfer status tab. It will list all the pending offers for the player. Click the number representing the amount of the offer beside the team name and it should pull up that offer.

Aha! I hadn't thought of that one yet. Thank you!

And on another note, this game totally rocks. I am four games into the 2005 season with Workington (in the Conference North) and the game has totally sucked me in. We are "relegation battlers" and just knocked off the first-place team for our first win. 1 win, 1 loss, and 2 draws so far, but our red-hot goalkeeper just tore a hamstring, so our surprising mediocrity may be short-lived.

My initial impression is that the interaction among the media, players, and your persona really gives the feeling that you are dealing with real people rather than number-crunching. I realize this may change if the media/player/manager events repeat too frequently, but right now it is a lot of fun.

The only complaint I had was that the game seemed fairly unresponsive and was forcing me to click on links two or three times before I'd get a response. Then I found the responsiveness tweak in the preferences and my one complaint vanished.

[Shepp]

Has anyone had any luck creating their own training profiles. I have created some that appear to be getting some decent results. The problem is that several of my better players are complaining that they are unhappy with the intensity of the program. For example the program for my stikers is set up as follows:

Strength: Med
Aerobic: High
Goalkeeping: None
Tactics: Med
Ball Control: High
Defending: Light
Attacking: High
Set Pieces: Med

Workload: Medium

Since the overall workload is medium would it be wise just to ignore the complaints? If its better to make changes where is a good place to start? Since it takes a while for training to have an affect how long should I wait after making changes to tell if they are making a difference? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[BreizhManu]

It might come from the players instead of the program (low workrate) or maybe lowering Aerobics could help (players have a tendency to dislike physical trainings).

Else I've noticed what might be a bug with Vaduz, the club from the Liechtenstein that plays in the Swiss League :

Financially I'm having a never ending season, I am always in 2005-2006 so the sponsor never changes, stadium expansion and training facilities improvement have been approved by the board never materialize etc...But I'm making a huge benefit in one season (10M euros ).

My reputation does not change either but that might not be related.

I still get the new calendar every season and occasionaly have some players promoted to the team (but directly to the first team and sometimes without even getting the info).


So far my solution was to edit the game with mcfm.

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by Shepp

Has anyone had any luck creating their own training profiles. I have created some that appear to be getting some decent results. The problem is that several of my better players are complaining that they are unhappy with the intensity of the program. For example the program for my stikers is set up as follows:

Weird. I've never had a player complain about my training regimins, and I'm a taskmaster. The overall workload is just a notch or two below high for all my various positions, and everyone gets massive physical training (until they "graduate" to my technical training programs).

Seems to have always worked pretty well for me.

[BreizhManu]

Originally Posted by Shepp

Since it takes a while for training to have an affect how long should I wait after making changes to tell if they are making a difference?

In 2-3 months you get the answer.

[daedalus]

I think it has a lot to do with the players. The players that my Assistant Manager praise for their professionalism rarely complains about my training programs which is usually Very Heavy. Then there are others . . . like a certain former Ellen Road favourite . . . who complains about a Medium program. Meh upon them.

[Galaril]

How well does the game model MLS soccer? Does it still feel like European soccer?

[3ric]

Is this a bug? I'm manager of both Cambridge and the Portugal national team and got this warning when going to a Portugal game:


As I'm allowed seven substitutes for the Portugal game, neither of the two reasons given makes any sense.

[Marc Vaughan]

As I'm allowed seven substitutes for the Portugal game, neither of the two reasons given makes any sense.

Not to be silly - but are you sure its a Portugal game (and from their U23 squad) and not a club game next?

The message implies that you've got players selected outside of the main selection (ie. if you had say 4 Subs available then you've got people selected in say Sub6 and Sub7 slots) and two missing from the available slots.

With the squad shown it doesn't make any sense which is why I was asking if the squad matched the upcoming game or not? ...

If you're still concerned its a bug then as always I'd appreciate a save game ...

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by 3ric

Is this a bug? I'm manager of both Cambridge and the Portugal national team and got this warning when going to a Portugal game:


As I'm allowed seven substitutes for the Portugal game, neither of the two reasons given makes any sense.

So how does that 3-1-2-3-1 work for you? I have never tried a formation like that.

And your goalie is about to die.

[daedalus]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

Not to be silly - but are you sure its a Portugal game (and from their U23 squad) and not a club game next?

The message implies that you've got players selected outside of the main selection (ie. if you had say 4 Subs available then you've got people selected in say Sub6 and Sub7 slots) and two missing from the available slots.

With the squad shown it doesn't make any sense which is why I was asking if the squad matched the upcoming game or not? ...

If you're still concerned its a bug then as always I'd appreciate a save game ...

It happens to me as well.

Basically, this happens whenever I have two games going on at once where the amount of available reserves differs. As in 3ric's case with Portugal (7 reserves) and Cambridge (5), I get the same message with Denmark (7) and Arsenal (5). This also happens when I have a European match (7 reserves) on the same day as a Reserve or a U-18 game. I can't say it's that big a deal or is some kind of show-stopping bug since it works fine once the match starts.

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by 3ric

Is this a bug? I'm manager of both Cambridge and the Portugal national team and got this warning when going to a Portugal game:


As I'm allowed seven substitutes for the Portugal game, neither of the two reasons given makes any sense.

Hey, what skin are you using in that pic?

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by samifan24

Hey, what skin are you using in that pic?

I wanted to know that too. It looks pretty nice.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by samifan24

Hey, what skin are you using in that pic?

this looks like aurora to me...

FM

[Cringer]

Ah...MrBug deleted his 'getting recruits to your school' post before I could respond. Damn.

[daedalus]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

this looks like aurora to me...

What Frogger said.

I'm using that one as well. On Frogger's recommendation.

[Flasch186]

why change a skin? does it provide any more info. or is it just for looks...if so I like the one that came with the game.

[3ric]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

Not to be silly - but are you sure its a Portugal game (and from their U23 squad) and not a club game next?

The message implies that you've got players selected outside of the main selection (ie. if you had say 4 Subs available then you've got people selected in say Sub6 and Sub7 slots) and two missing from the available slots.

With the squad shown it doesn't make any sense which is why I was asking if the squad matched the upcoming game or not? ...

If you're still concerned its a bug then as always I'd appreciate a save game ...

It was a game with Cambridge the same day, and the Portugal U23 game was first. The squad shown on the image is for the upcoming game, yes.

[3ric]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

this looks like aurora to me...

FM

Correct, Aurora 2006.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

why change a skin? does it provide any more info. or is it just for looks...if so I like the one that came with the game.

Some rearrange what info is shown where (and a few I think show different info than the default skin on some screens).

Also some allow you to do funky things such as watch the match full-screen more easily than the default one.

Try a few out if you like one then cool - if you don't then Ter'll be very happy as he makes the default one for us

(personally I use the Chameleon skin myself, I like the fact that it changes colour according to the team you're viewing)

[Ajaxab]

The Aurora flow skin also changes color depending on which team you might be viewing for those interested in a combination of the Aurora-Chameleon skin.