For many people, FM is a game that is appealing, but also daunting. The hundreds of menus and settings that can be altered allows for great detail, but also great confusion. However, it doesn’t have to be so difficult to begin playing Sport Interactive’s hugely popular management simulation series. So here are five things every beginner should consider when first playing the game.
- Play it Simple– It may seem best to leap in to Football Manager, trying to learn every detail of the game. I would suggest that this is not the best thing to do. FM can be as simple or complicated as you like, so it is best to start off slowly. Start a save with your favourite team, and spend a few seasons making your way through the game’s interface using things as and when you need to. The thing that puts a lot of people of the game is its complex detailed approach to management, but this issue can easily be fixed. Using the ‘Staff Responsibilities’ menu, Assistant managers and coaches can easily be assigned using the staff to take activities such as Training, Opposition Instructions, Friendlies or Press conferences for you, allowing any beginner to focus on learning the basics of the game, and developing a love for Football Manager.
- Save, Save and then Save again! – If you’re someone who has never played FM before, you are yet to experience the heart-breaking agony of a save file corrupting with which you have spent hundreds of hours of your life. Stop yourself from this mistake. As a long time, player of the game, I can say that it is quite rare for a file to corrupt, however it has happened in the past. It is very preventable however. Creating two files manually and switching between saving them is probably the simplest, however the game does allow you to set up a three/five/ten file rolling save system in the ‘preferences’ menu. This will automatically save in different files, meaning that if one corrupts you have two others that should be working perfectly. This of course is not an issue limited to FM, but being a game that tends to take up a lot of player’s time, it is particularly crushing to lose a game save.
- Get some Faces, Logos and Kits– Despite FM’s wide and impressive range of licences with leagues and teams, some of the bigger leagues do not have badges, kits or player faces. These can easily be downloaded from sites such as www.fmscout.com, and easily added to the game. When the files are unzipped and on your PC, then can simply be copy and pasted into the graphics folder of the game in your documents folder. A full step-by-step guide to applying the data packs will be on the website that you download them from. Overall this is easier to do than you may imagine, and adds hugely to the look of the menus, and with the bigger competitions like the Premier League, La Liga and the Champions League it is certainly worth doing.
- Try out some Mods– The steam workshop page for FM2018 is a great place to find mods that will enhance your playing experience. With database transfer updates that keep up to date with the latest moves in real life you can always have the right players at the right team. Other more unrealistic, challenge producing mods can be used for creative save ideas. These include the two updates below, on the left is a legend update that adds historic players to the database, allowing you to poach them as an uprising wonderkid, and watch them rise to a footballing great. The right is an update that switches FC United of Manchester and Manchester United, reversing the facilities, status and finances of the two clubs.
- Remember Player Roles! –When starting off, it is easy to overlook the importance of certain things. When you have your formation, starting line-up and team instructions sorted, you may think your tactics are finished. However, the role you assign to each player may be just as important as the rest of the setup. Having a player with a low passing or composure stat set as a ‘Ball Playing Defender’ could lead to mistakes or poor performances. On the other hand, having a full back with great pace, crossing and stamina as a ‘Defensive Full-Back’ is a bit of a waste of talent.
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