giving real consideration to trying Football Manager (i love sports sim games) but have to think about how 1) i don't know anything about soccer tactics and 2) getting into this game could ruin my life
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You shouldnt worry about 1, but oh man I am uncomfortable thinking about 2 and how much of my spare time from 2014-18 was spent playing FM. Still 10/10 would recommend.
It's a ton of fun and do recommend it. It can get consuming, but I always feel like I can step away and there are times, especially in the offseason, where it can become boring-ish. Before diving in, I'd recommend watching the tutorials from Zealand on the game and even the old ones will help
as a big soccer fan, it was still a bit too much for me, but if you're a big sports sim fan 1) you will probably learn very very quickly and become a soccer expert and 2) it will absolutely ruin your life
This is probably the worst possible time to start playing FM. FM25 was meant to be on a new game engine. It was delayed from September to this March, game play footage was announced for January, and it's be radio silence since?
I had to quit it like 12 years ago because it was ruining my life. It’s too addictive. You’re always just one game, one move, one something away from being able to stop playing then whoops it’s been 10 hours.
I’m playing FM23 right now and for the life of me I can’t figure out how to get Shakter Petrikov in the Belarusian 2nd division to stop losing games 2-0 while dominating in xG
I have been playing since I got a pirate copy on CD in 2002. I have answered thousands of questions from a reporter named Sol in fictitious news conferences. I briefly put my 2026 Serie A title with Monza on my resume.
i thought i had a healthy relationship with OOTP Baseball but i have decided to take a break after my fourth straight 100-loss season leading a portland expansion franchise, whose minor league teams i also customized and for whom i reorganized all of MLB including the schedule and division format
OOTP is a lot but i tried FM for like 30 minutes several years ago and decided i was just not built for it. but it's alluring! been looking at it in the steam library wondering if we were meant to try again
I’ve had both of these games on the edge of my mind for months, and I am terrified of the time commitment now that I’ve got kids. Do you play in long segments or are you able to chop it up a bit?
I played FM first as a 12 year old in 1999 and now I've worked in soccer for 15 years and that is a straight line between those events. I am here for you whatever you decide; this is a real Matrix red pill/blue pill moment.
What are your thoughts on OOTP though? because FM has made me think I might like it more than I would otherwise expect given that I don’t watch much baseball
The best get-to-know FM strategy (imo) is start with a mid European team and burn through a few throwaway seasons. You get to learn about things like team registration (which vexed me) and all the mechanics of being a good (or bad!) manager.
Alex this was me but in reverse. I have loved FM forever but OOTP was too overwhelming. The great thing about FM is that you can control everything down to youth team practice schedules if you want or delegate everything except only what you want to focus on
It's amazing. Easiest way to learn the game is by being a giant in a smaller league (Celtic in Scotland, Red Bull in Austria, Shaktar in Ukraine etc) you should be able to easily win the league, but European competition will be hard. Some great YouTubers out there also, Zealand is very accessible
I would also recommend Motorsport Manager. A fun way to spend some hours in a racing game not racing, and they have way more fun with it than the official F1 management sim does.
I haven't played the desktop version but I used to love the mobile version because it was less complicated and it was easy to pick up for a few games and then put down. Probably a better use of the phone when I was bored than doomscrolling.
I just want to echo the poster above. I knew next to nothing about soccer when I bought FM 11. I've been playing it off and on since then. It's the most addictive thing in my life and has been for over a decade. I also play OOTP. It's great. But it doesn't touch FM.
OOTP has a draft and like 15 international amateur free agents. FM has you out here scouring Chilean amateur football looking for 17 year olds to scout and sign.
This might look funny but this is actually one of the more reliable recruiting strategies for newly-promoted top flight teams with a sudden influx of cash and not enough talent to compete. That's the greatness of FM. Things that sound ridiculous are just another part of the game.
Or you do a save with just players promoted from your youth academy starting in he lowest playable tier. It sucks in season one. I pray every game that my GK doesn’t get injured because my backup is a greyed out player.
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So yeah I’d recommend it
Albert Belle not coming down with a degenerative hip has kept the god times rolling into this century.
trust me.
I couldn't even get started, I had no idea what was going on.
It made zero sense, so I continue to ignore all things related to soccer unless one of the grandkids plays it again.