I just got FM2005
 

The FedEx guy came, yeah! Hearts of Iron 2 and FM2005.

Is there anything about FM2005 that I should know about? Like, with one of the previous games, the large database made the game run very slow. Anything like that?

Ooof. Double Doomed.

Anything you should know?

You just lost all your free time for the next four months :D

For me FM is faster simming than CM. Although I still used medium database, just added more leagues.

I've been playing WoW, I've lost all my free time from the last 2-3 months. I'm used to it. :D

Large DB still runs slowly. I'd recommend normal or less and using retain nation to keep any players you want.

I think I'm going to have to do that...huge is no fun.

Didn't try the large db but normal database with 8 leagues (15 divisions) selected works fine for me (xp 2400+, 768Mb of RAM), and I think there are more than enough players like that.

Where'd you order the game from?

FM2005 is painfully addictive.

I always have trouble getting into a new career, but once I get to know the players and get the tactics settled I really love it.

I'm well into my first FM career, and my addiction level is rising fast. My hands start to shake at the dinner table. I can't clear the dishes fast enough some evenings. I find myself sneaking to the computer in the middle of the day [leaving my daughter's bedroom unfinished] to sim "just one more day". She comments regularly about the lack of apparent progress. I tell her I'm "planning" the next step of the project. I don't think she's buying any of it!

This game is great. Maybe I should change my son's name to Marc. Or maybe Vaughn?

Good luck brother! League Cup or bust!!

GoGamer

Every other game you own or buy in the future will become merely a diversion. Enjoy!

dola

I was using just large database but now am using medium -- faster and I can't really notice any huge difference in players available.

Large database is aimed at stat freaks who really want LOTS of players, the players removed between that and the medium database won't be noticed by 99% of people, they're generally the obscure players in the lower regions of less well known leagues ...

Its 'horses for courses' really, even at SI we play the game in many different ways, I'm generally speaking a 'speed freak' in that I tend to play while commuting in and out of work and I like to fit in as many games as possible during my journey so tend to play a single league with minimum database, for PaulC on the other hand realism is all and he has been known to play games with large database and every league selected (and yeah his PC's better than mine ;) ) .....

Oh, cool. I didn't realize that was essentially the difference. I'm always afraid of missing out on part of the game so I try to keep everything maxed out if I can. :)

So very addictive...

One thing that would be cool is if you ended up selecting too many leagues or a database that proved to be too unwieldy is if you could change it during the game -- I had one career that I was really enjoying (bringing Aalen from German regionals into mid-table 1st division Germany) but after a few years it just got too slow to continue.... :(

I remember reading on the SI LLM board you really need at least a large database to have much choice of players if you're starting out with a low-level club. Would you agree? I've been chugging along with a pretty slow game as a result...

you can still be a LLaMa with a medium database, just make sure that you either create the ddt file with the RETAIN_PLAYERS command for your chosen nation, or select it when you're creating the game.

I just picked this up too.... my 1st 2 seasons at DC United have been nothing short of dismal though, for the life of me cannot get my guys to score. First season i had 15 draws, most of them 0-0 and a total of 9 goals for. Were running at the same pace more than half way through the 2nd season and I think im about to get fired...

Whats the secret damnit?!

Depends entirely on your playing style - I tend to have my own 'rules' for my games which are somewhat similar to LLM but with oddities present (such as only purchasing players whom my scouts find to get around my knowledge of the game db etc.) ....

As I've indicated I play with small db because I'm normally playing on my laptop during commuting, this would make LLM play harder for most people in reality because I'm sure a fair share of them would play with large database set so they can trawl the cheaper leagues (such as Norway) to find bargain players .... with small database setting there are fewer such players around in inactive leagues (as only the top team players will have been loaded) meaning its harder to find such bargains.

My suggestion for all players of our games is simply to mess around and go with what you enjoy most - for some its a heavy load and slower gameplay, for others its compact and (well for our games ;) ) fast gameplay ...

Try customising the instructions for your team to suit the players in question ... eg. I have a striker in my Cambridge City team, one clod hopper with great jumping and heading but little else, he's set to hold up the ball, no run with ball and to distribute often.

This combined with "Direct Passing" and encouraging crossing mean this player who's a total donkey if left on instructional defaults is very effective as a target man knocking the ball down to his striking partner ...

lmao! :)

Marc, as a whole, are team tactics more important or individual tactics?

Entirely down to the team and the players available (and of course the style of management you employ).

If you have one or two quality players (ie. above the standard of the others by a long shot) then utilising them effectively is probably the key to winning matches .... however if you have a side with a level playing field then team tactics are probably the most important thing.

(I'm afraid as manager its up to you to make the hard decisions such as these)

okay, stupid question: how do you instruct him to do that, or specifially, what is the individual instruction that does that? is it the through ball thing?

Thanks in advance.

FM

so true, so true. Got this game on November 15, have played with it just about every day since then, with that one career... Gotta love this...

FM

I think it's more important to set the individual tactics to suit your players and to make sure they add up to a cohesive team game. If you just take a default formation and play with the team sliders, you'll lose a lot.

That is argubale. I took over Newport County and try to micromanage the tactics. I took over Vauxhall and just messed with the team tactics. My results were much better with Vauxhall with about the same set of players.

I have a new career with a team in Italy Serie C2/C and I am going to go back to micromanaging. I think sometihngs may have been fixed in the patch.

It matters more as you climb divisions and the competition is stronger. I should have noted that. Once you're in a top league, it's pretty much mandatory unless you're Chelsea or someone else with unstoppable players. At the lower levels it's actually better not to have too many individual instructions since your players are not usually talented enough to implement them correctly.

sabotai, how is Hearts of Iron II? I am looking to buy it. Is it possible to conquer other territories? For ex: if I am the US can I conquer S. America or any other country?

Yeah the through ball thing encourages players to try and setup other players ..

Thanks for confirming Marc. I thought that was what it meant, just wasn't 100% sure. I usually have my central striker and my central attacking middie both with through balls to often, as they both have good passing and good creativity. For those reading my dynasty, they're Ivan Kaviedes and Marc Bridge-Wilkinson (shameless plug ;) )... Bridge-Wilkinson can really do great stuff sometimes...

FM

I haven't really played it yet (of FM2005). I was busy getting my WoW character to level 40 (which I did (yesterday monring) and then yesterday I was hainging otu with friends. Will probably spend a few hours with it today.

My problem is that I don't want to go deep into a single career because of the Regenerated players problem that is present. But its real hard not to play. Once the new patch comes out I don't think I'll be able to stop at all.

I hadn't heard of any regen players problem, can you please fill me in?

Um, Marc, only purchasing players your scouts find is a LLaMa staple. May I refer you to your own LLM board. ;)

Heh - I must admit I haven't tended to read the LLM boards, simply because I personally don't want to be seen supporting any particular style of play within the game (I think its very important that everyone plays the game as they want to rather than indicating 'this is how you play it).

That makes sense, and some of us like to play different styles as well. I like the LLM style but have fun taking bigger teams I'm not overly familiar with for a spin too. I was strictly a LLaMa for a long time but finally got tired of hearing about guys I'd never have the chance to play with at the smaller clubs.

I finally gave into the temptation and now I play however the heck and as whoever the heck I want. :D

Besides, I don't get fired as often at the big clubs. ;)

To me anymore the game isn't about winning or losing or how challenging a situation is but more about the experience of playing itself and that's about the highest compliment I can give any game and with so many teams to play, in so many nations, it's impossible to experience everything the game offers before you come out with a new one.

Not that that's a bad thing. :)

The technical stats of regens aren't generating properly. So you get a wonderkid with great physical and mental stats and horrendous technical ability. It's being fixed for the next patch.

This may be one of those questions that tends not to get answered, but... do we have an ETA on that patch? I want to start a new game (with a medium database-) once some time frees up, but should I wait?

No official released ETA as yet - but it won't be 'months' until its out ... beyond that I'm afraid I can't say ahead of the 'official' announcement ...

This game is brilliant. Ive finally mastered my team and im scoring goals like crazy.. i know its just a friendly with a crappy team, but im proud... :)

Ok, you bastards (and the demo) convinced me to get it ;). I got the Worldwide Soccer Manager from Gamestop.com (with a free shipping coupon), so yay! :D

The patches from SI and everything else for the game are all compatable with WSM, right?

Yes

Yeah, it's the same game with a different name to avoid confusion on this side of the pond ;).

woohoo, welcome to the dark side. I'm sure I'm not the one with the most playing time logged in, but my current career says I've been going at it for 6 days and some 10 hours or so :)

FM