Cheating

[Phillip]

Having been playing this game for nearky a year now.....to avoid becoming mentally ill suffering with rage....I have had to cheat. It's harder to cheat in this version than previous versions since everything is predetermined before the season starts. The input into the game doesn't matter one jot! You will finish where the program has decided.

Why don't they just have a "go to end of season" button appear once the transfer windows are closed. This will save people having to go through all this nonsense. The computer will relent eventually and let you win a game but in this version it can take between 20 to 30 replays.

Ok so why am I cheating? Specifically because the game cheats and therefore I'm just doing what any self respecting manager would do and I'm cheating back.

How does the game cheat? Well because it is predetermined before a ball is kicked whoever you sign no matter how good they are they will become a very poor player. Every forward I sign (always 4 star and in good form) suddenly cant score and in fact couldn't hit a barn door if it fell on them. Free kick specialists I have bought suddenly lose the art of kicking a football. The very best creative players I can find suddnly when they join me can't pass. In fact I am not quite sure of the point of even entering the transfer market at all. AI teams however don't seem to have this problem.

In the last game a classic piece of game engine cheating. I am actually for a change winning 1-0 (i always dominate possession - so no change here but a strange thing happened and one of my forwards scored - albeit with the help of a deflection). Then the AI manager decided to go more attacking puuting two reserve strikers up front with someone who wasn't particularly playing well.
Both strikers scored as well as the other one so within the space of 5 minutes I was 3-1 down. Here's the thing I was marking the strikers very well before this so I checked the marking on the overview. My central defenders had suddenly decided to mark their central midfielders...no wonder their young kids had so much space up front.

This is gameplay cheating and so I cheat too. As for transfers there is no point. I have sacked all my scouts and now have assembled a group of scouts who have above 15 for judging player ability. However they couldn't pick their nose let alone a potentially good player for the team.

If I think there is no doubt I should sign someone....It gets blocked because they can't get a work permit. This happened twice in this last transfer window.

When they make a game thats fair, I will stop cheating....until then I guess my seasons will go on lasting a very long time!!

[Autumn]

If you want to cheat, then go ahead, but the claim that results are predetermined before the season is kicked off is so easily disproven it's laughable that you would say this. Try this. Start a new game unemployed, load just the EPL, do not apply for any manager roles or accept any. Save just before the Kick Off for the first Matches of the season (turn off autosaves to make things go faster). Go on holiday for 1 year, record the final league position of each team (including wins/losses/goals for and against). Reload the game. Go On holiday again, record league positions and everything again, rinse and repeat. If the results are all scripted then you will get exactly the same results each time. This does not happen though so your claim is BS. Cheat if you want, but at least admit to yourself that you need to improve as a manager, rather than make up these ridiculous claims that have been debunked thousands of times already.

[Neil Brock]

Yeah absolutely 100% not true that results are 'predetermined' at the start of the season.

The 'program' doesn't decide things like that. An insane amount of factors are taken into consideration for every moment within the match engine - every tackle, shot etc, let alone the entire match itself.

Your selection makes a difference. Your tactical setup makes a difference. Whether it's raining or not on the day makes a difference. Basically everything.

[Phillip]

yeah your probably right....I must be too old now....become a ♥♥♥♥ manager after 2016 came out.....time to retire from FM all together. I have tried to play fair but every game I have minimum 65 - 35 possession and most games I lose or scrape a draw. How can I be outnumbered in midfield or over run in midfield every game if I have that kind of possession. It is also impossible also to beat a team who happen to be in the bottom 3 - have never beaten one yet when playing fairly...how is that realistic? Yup you are right i guess...i have become a dreadful manager in the last couple of years....as for late goals.....well enough said about that. Time to hang up the boots-
I've been a loyal customer for 7 years now but enough is enough for me and I won't be buying anymore i think.

[Agarwaen]

it's your tactic dude....

[Phillip]

tried again....west brom this time...bottom 3 club....68% possession- 10 shots to 4 in my favour...half time losing 3-0 lolololol

[HUNT3R]

Originally posted by pound.phillip:

tried again....west brom this time...bottom 3 club....68% possession- 10 shots to 4 in my favour...half time losing 3-0 lolololol

Shots don't win a game and neither does possession. It sounds like you're leaving yourself very open so giving away easy chances.

[Phillip]

ok took up the various challenges. Playing with Cardiff. Budget limitations mean you can import very little in the way of talent. Add to that you are unable to sell anyone. So you are very limited in who you can bring in. Best you can do is a couple of loan players and you must buy a midfield because all the best midfield prospects are out on loan and cannot be recalled. You start the game with just 3 midfielders. Too many wings and even though high value players nobody will buy any of them...you cant even give them away with cornflakes.
Forward line is also very weak. You can however get a half decent loan player in but no matter who you bring in he will get injured very quickly.
so you do the best you can.

So I ran 8 save games at the same time. Each time was different...different players and different tactics and in the last one a very extreme tactic of 3-4-3 attacking....playing in overload with a very high pressing game. Even to the extend of closing down all the opposition. This one I did just as a test because really i should n't win any games using this tactic as the defense and forwards are not good enough.. The first game save was a control....just play with the players i have and keep the existing tactic. After that they varied and nothing was ever the same.

I played up until the end of august and then went on holiday until xmas in each game.

Here are the results

game 1 : Preseason - good........ game 1 vs Birmingham (A) easy win...... Game 2 EFL cup (opposition varied) but always lower league (A)- Win - but only just ........ Game 3 Vs QPR (H) draw....... Game 4 Vs Blackburn (H) - defeat ......... Game 5 Vs fulham (A) defeat
Go on holiday - sacked before xmas

Game 2 - as above

Game 3 - as above

Game 4 = as above

Game 5 - as above

Game 6 - as above

Game 7 - as above

Game 8 - as above --- this one really surprised me as this is the worst ever tactic you could employ.

In all of the game saves the striker on loan got injured quickly....no matter who he was. in all of the game saves by the time we play blackburn we have totally lost the ability to pass, shoot score tackle and cross.

Now if it wasn't rigged then surely something should have been different in at least one of the game saves

I have read on other forums that it is designed this way to frustrate people and creates addiction based on wanting to beat the game. There are many many people out there totally dissatisfied by this.

Anyway I did the research as told. Make what you want tof the results

Signing out

[Phillip]

incidently....give that tactic a try

play 3 CD (def)

2 Wing backs (support)

1 central midfield (BWM) sup 1 central Midfield (DLP) def

3 forwards 1 x poacher and 1 DLF sup 1 DF Sup

Play very fluid

overload

Tempo normal

Fairly narrow

Mixed passing

Retain possession

Closing down more

prevent short distribution

slightly higher

use offside

Use tighter marking

Play out of defense

be more expressive

look for overlap

dribble less

mixed crossing

roam from position

You will score a lot of goals. Even in the the last two games i got beaten I had 25+ shots in each game. And bear in mind my defense and attack were awful.

[Autumn]

screenshots or it didn't happen.

[Autumn]

better yet. upload the save files somewhere that people can have a look at.

[Phillip]

well I'm not a premier league manager your correct.....but here's what I would do against teams playing deep and on the counter....

play deeper and wider (try open up the pitch)

look for an area they are weak and overload that area of the pitch

play possession football

dont over commit...keep players back

slow tempo and control



maybe thats the wrong thing to do also

[HUNT3R]

Originally posted by pound.phillip:

well I'm not a premier league manager your correct.....but here's what I would do against teams playing deep and on the counter....

play deeper and wider (try open up the pitch)

look for an area they are weak and overload that area of the pitch

play possession football

dont over commit...keep players back

slow tempo and control



maybe thats the wrong thing to do also

In theory, that can work. How you translate it into FM could be another issue altogether. :)

[Kapika96]

I've always wondered about people that complain about stuff like this. How in depth are your tactics/instructions etc?

I've always done minimal tactics/instructions, like set a formation and choose free kick/penalty takers and that's pretty much it and I've never had a problem getting results. Maybe it's a case of using overly complicated tactics that screw things up for you?

[Phillip]

not rigged huh?


Just had a very nice comfortable win against Bristol City. 3-1 very nice...dominated possession 60 - 40 created a bundle of chances and won very comfortably.

However next gameweek the AI has a problem! I am lying in 3rd....every manager saying I am over achieving (and quite rightly cos I cheated in a couple of earlier matches so i wouldn't gat sacked again by November. But the last 6 matches no cheating....3 draws and 3 wins. My tactics have been sound and I do know about roles....i have been playing wingers as wide midfielders cos of their lack of pace and crossing and dribbling skills. It's been working very nicely. In one game looking at the opposition i decided to revert back to wing play after looking at a couple of their last games away and won quite easily. So I do know about tactics and roles even if i am not world class like all of you.

So the AI has a dilemna. I am in 3rd. !st is playing 4nd and 2nd is playing 5th. I am playing the bottom club at home.

I looked at the fixtures and wrote down the final score of my match before kick off. And got it absolutely correct?

Can anyone guess the score? To help you wigan up to this point according to the team report have the worst passing record and the worst shots on target record. They have the worst headers won percentage and worst tackling percentage.

Anyone care to hazard a guess on the final score?

it's not too difficult....I got it right

[HUNT3R]

Originally posted by pound.phillip:

not rigged huh?


Just had a very nice comfortable win against Bristol City. 3-1 very nice...dominated possession 60 - 40 created a bundle of chances and won very comfortably.

However next gameweek the AI has a problem! I am lying in 3rd....every manager saying I am over achieving (and quite rightly cos I cheated in a couple of earlier matches so i wouldn't gat sacked again by November. But the last 6 matches no cheating....3 draws and 3 wins. My tactics have been sound and I do know about roles....i have been playing wingers as wide midfielders cos of their lack of pace and crossing and dribbling skills. It's been working very nicely. In one game looking at the opposition i decided to revert back to wing play after looking at a couple of their last games away and won quite easily. So I do know about tactics and roles even if i am not world class like all of you.

So the AI has a dilemna. I am in 3rd. !st is playing 4nd and 2nd is playing 5th. I am playing the bottom club at home.

I looked at the fixtures and wrote down the final score of my match before kick off. And got it absolutely correct?

Can anyone guess the score? To help you wigan up to this point according to the team report have the worst passing record and the worst shots on target record. They have the worst headers won percentage and worst tackling percentage.

Anyone care to hazard a guess on the final score?

it's not too difficult....I got it right

Post up that tactic you used against the bottom club. Screenshots or write it down, either way, post the details. You're making accusations, but putting no actual context in it.