Manager Mode is not a lot of fun

[Kruztee]

All the AI teams start out with a massive advantage in salary cap over the player team. This results in the player having to grind out the occasional win in a plethora of losses over the course of many hours just to afford some bots with decent stats.

For the first few *hours* of play, positions and customisations mean nothing since the starting bots are all terrible wherever they are played. I was hoping for a lot more meta game strategy in the early game. AI teams are picking up top tier bots on the free agent list, and I can't even bid successfully on mediocre players since I'm only getting 1000 for a win or about 150 for a loss. Is the player really expected to win 10 or more games just to be able to replace one of his starting bots? If so this is a mind-bogglingly bad design decision in my opinion.

Manager mode should randomise all squads, and start all teams' salary caps on a reasonably even footing. The tactical AI is good enough that it will beat even goodish players from time to time. I'm winning a few matches here and there, but it feels like a massive grind, and to be honest isn't very much fun at all.

At first, I was interested to check out the rookie league and consider the free agent lists, but I've recently found myself just skipping through the menus and fast tracking the matches to earn enough cash that the rest of manager mode becomes relevant. And that's my point I guess; the fluff that should be making the game fun (by providing context to the matches over a long period of time) is totally irrelevant for *at least* the first season of play. I fear that many players won't make it to the second.

Sorry if this comes across a bit ranty, but I love the core mechanics of the actual tactical game so much that I felt like I needed to give some feedback.

[MattoMattick]

Is this on normal difficulty? I started one on easy since I'm new to the game and I was able to replace all of my starters and I'm at week 9.

[Kruztee]

Yeah, normal difficulty

[Lvl1. Slime]

Manager mode is supposed to be a challenge. It's about team building over several seasons.

Some people play Football Manager as Real Madrid, win everything in a season or two and stop playing.
Others play as Chesterfield, struggle, change tactics, sign players, build their own team, challenge, gain promotion, struggle again, and so on, but get hundreds if not thousands of hours out of the game.

This game doesn't have as many options in that regard, but it's essentially the same.
Play it safe, win money any way you can. (Even if it's betting against yourself when you expect to lose), sign players, build a play style around those players.

Manager mode is more about making the team your own. ;)

[nervous_testpilot]

Hi - thanks for the feedback - always interesting to read stuff like this. You really should be able to start buying new players after 3 or 4 games - I feel like that's actually a lot earlier than normal in most similar structures.

Would an option to start with a much better team be interesting? We didn't really consider that tbh!

[MattoMattick]

I think a fantasy draft option or starting with relatively balanced teams could be cool.

[Kruztee]

Originally posted by Mantis Toboggan M.D. 4:

I think a fantasy draft option or starting with relatively balanced teams could be cool.

Seconded.

[ＫＩＮＥ]

Originally posted by Mantis Toboggan M.D. 4:

I think a fantasy draft option or starting with relatively balanced teams could be cool.

[Random Reference #98]

Originally posted by Mantis Toboggan M.D. 4:

I think a fantasy draft option or starting with relatively balanced teams could be cool.

Seconded, a fantasy draft would be awesome.

[MattoMattick]

I started one on normal, and I see what the OP is saying haha, good players cost over twice what they did on easy. I did manage to win a game already so hopefully I can win a few more and afford a good player or two. I'm sure I'll get there but it's an uphill battle for sure.

Is there any other way to get good players besides free agency? I did a draft on easy but even the top guy picked wasn't that good, do players progress somehow?

Also is there an in depth stat breakdown of all the stats? I found this link http://forums.mode7games.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=9157 but it doesn't list all of the stats. I'm pretty sure I know what all of them mean, but some that seem obvious aren't( I thought evade determined escaping tacklers when running with the ball).

Also I see I'm not the only one who loves fantasy drafts haha. I did them all the time in madden or NFL 2k.

[MattoMattick]

Random fact, it seems like your cap goes up a little each game, not sure if that happened on easy. My cap is up to 2880 and I'm only on week 10 with 5 wins and 4 losses. Players still cost a crapton but I think after a few seasons I could have a pretty decent team.

[Tea Lady]

The cap does go up on easy as well.

[MattoMattick]

Just in chunks though or in little increments like normal? I know mine went up like three times at least on easy but I only remember it going up in big chunks. On normal I"m seeing it go up by a few hundred a game, or maybe it's per win I don't know. I just noticed I after two games I've had odd and different total cap numbers.

[Tea Lady]

It seems to be in chunks, and I would add I think that they are tied to overall matches not wins.

[gamebiffa]

A lot more could be added to player development, transfers and the handling of the media to sell more tickets/tv rights if you compare it to similar games and this game is so good it deserves it imho.

[MattoMattick]

Anyone know if drafted players progress?