Good but not great

The Beta Gameworld has gone inflation mad which is a little demoralising spent millions on the stadium to generate an undervalued currency. Although we're doing great in StJohn I do suspect we'll end up in all gameworlds that the long term plans will fall apart.

I've come to the opinion that FM Live is what it is. I've gone on and on about what I think it should be and to be fair it's always going to be biased towards the type of game I'd like to play. Can't really expect SI to code a game just for me :)

I think FM is a good game and it's taken a lot of my time over the last year but I do sense it's never really going to be the sort of game I'd hoped for.

I'll be back on from time to time and will be playing casually (paid enough for the dam accounts :) ) but I'd expect the blog to be updated a little less often.

Always been a gaming addict though so I'm looking for something else to play now.

Shearer Season 7 Squad and Targets

Well fancy that seven seasons in doesn't time fly when losing matchs :) Due to time constraints I moved to NFA.

GK - Sifakis, A late arrival, have to admit lost my bottle with Clement who I think is too young at 20. I know 'if their good enough their old enough' but when I've played youths I just don't seem to get the run of the pitch.
DR - Figueroa at the peak of his career here nothing too fancy he was cheap, again Tetteh at 21 on the bench a better footballer but 21 too young.
DC - Naldo 31yo and for a DC in his prime, hopefully has two seasons in his prime left. £800k Aq Fee £20k Wage Demand picked up for £1m.
DC - David Luiz, it is high time we saw Luiz own games, it's all very functional from him but he doesn't boss the back four. Much better last season but I'm hoping he goes world famous sometime soon so I have a good six seasons out of him at that level.
DL - Filipe, dependable left back who also can play wing (when Gimmy was 31 I bought this guy to replace Gimmy on the wing).
MR - Said Husejinovic a lot of players turn in match winning performances it's a case of how often and when. A much better player as AMC but formation doesn't really suit, always a danger.
MC - Edinho going in transfer auction for his £250k Aq Fee, looks a late developer as well so I snapped him up.
MC - Delgado a deal for Scott Nolan likes FA games can't really be arsed otherwise:)
ML - Gimenez, still gets green arrows talk about a late developer. Signed at 27 in Season 1 and then very poor reputation. Not quite as sensational last season it has to be said it's possibly his last season for us.
FC - Wendell how annoying is this player can be amazing but not enough, 25 is still young. We wait once more to see if Wendell can actually go the next level this season.
FC - Ashkan better on wing I guess but has en eye for goal runs all day. Another season 1 signing and was 22 at the time.

Subs of Note
Tetteh the only other youth to get anywhere near the first team is Wendell and as he's a free lock I think I'll keep. Very close to first team.
Clement - Sensational 20 year old Goalie just had the feeling the back four were not convinced. Sent him out on loan hopefully will come through.
Dja Djedje - Almost a starter but too many options on the right.

Season 7 Targets
Well looking at the NFA Premier League wages we should really be aiming for top 3, whilst I can produce an overachieving team in the lower leagues once the Galacticos kick in I seem to royally mess it up.

Finances & Stadium - I can't quite believe how long it's taken but the last big spend is being paid off, six weeks and we're knocking out around £280k a day total less wages (£180k as you can see). That's season 9!

Inflation and Turnover

I'm not convinced that my vision for FM Live is actually shared by the community or even SI. It doesn't seem like rocket science to me.

Basically you start off as a small club and become a big one, that's easy to sell and has mass appeal. Even more importantly it's a game you can make (you can't make a game where everyone is Man Utd but you can make one which at some point they will be Man Utd).

I know it's based on a straw poll but every person I've spoken to does indeed tend to play FM09 as Man Utd or Barca etc. However, they all recount tales of the time they took Wrexham or some other lesser known club to the Champions League. How much they clearly enjoyed that game is evident. Thing is though you can't make that too easy in a simulation like FM09 it would become an arcade game. Yet it suits FM Live 100%.

I don't think the community are on board with this at all and I suspect neither are SI. See although I can't stand Hopping I think turnover of managers is a good thing. You have to keep inflation under control otherwise you'd be joining a GW where a £100k player is £1m you'd just feel helpless.

OK it's not just about inflation and turnover the game is very challenging when you start having to play these mega teams but that can be sorted.

I think the entire solution has to come from SI, although I see posts in the forum from users 'FM Live is a long term game' I have never seen that from SI. I can almost understand the concerns of hoppers 'how can I catch a team 5/6 months into a GW' the logical answer is that's not that dam point, it's a long term game, by the time your 5/6 months in a lot of those teams won't even be there!

As things stand they will be there though.

StJohn Season Two Squad

Not bad, bear in mind I've got £2.7million going on the stadium in the next 28 days:)

SI's Nightmare

It must be a nightmare being SI, if you read the forums currently the consensus is that managers want to play a longer short term game and have more cheap players that they can sell at a premium price. Youth prices are absurd but overall really worth it in the long run. Managers do everything they can to play the overpowered AI which is impossible to beat, they do this so they can win.

Prize money must be more and at the same time less. Judging potential must be removed and progression is broken as every five star potential kid isn't overflowing with green arrows.

Tactics are worthless apart from corners they are a hack, oh and 4-5-1 is overpowered but doesn't make any difference as tactics make no difference. Strikers are overpowered apart from the good ones that can't score for shit, they are underpowered.

We need more money but omg SI have you seen the crazy wage auctions, sort it out. Managers charge too much for players and it needs to be sorted so I can sell mine for more.

Mods they need to be flexible and also must be rigid in their enforcement of the rules. Taxes are rubbish and the economy is broken as everyone has too much money but me.
Anyone going over the AI limit should be lined up against the wall and shot.
The games are random and predictable, if my striker has 20 finishing he should score every game and sorted so they don't score so much.

SI staff should be on the forums and coding the game.

I want all these things yesterday.

Another Round Up

Had a decent season in St. John for the wages. The Jakswans in Beta and Shearer are pretty average although money situation is stunning in Beta and very good in Shearer. I'm amazed, I'll just ordered the last major stadium upgrade in Shearer so by the times it's paid we'll be in Season 8/9!

I got the commercial skill in Beta and I can see now why a lot of teams don't bother with stadiums so much, wow nice boost.

My target now is to finish the Leagues according to my wages so if I've 10th highest wages then 10th is target anything better is a successful season and worse, a failed season. Historically we've had five very successful seasons and one failed one.

Even though we did a bit of yo-yo ing in the ladders in beta there was always something to play for so I enjoyed the season very much. From memory season one record was as follows:-

Stage One - Division Two - 4th
Stage Two - Division Two - 3rd Promoted
Stage Three - Division One - 5th Relegated
Stage Four - Division Two - Not yet finished

Finally new Beta Arrows on player progression! Oh and as I get asked in Beta at least once a day 'HE'S NOT FOR SALE!'