Football Manager 2015 FAQ and Myth Debunking

GodCubed

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Alright, so in order to stem the inevitable flow of samey questions from people (and, god forbid, another Post Your Frustrations thread), this year I'm going to be curating a little FAQ and myths thread for everyone. This won't be about tactics, or help with the game, or how to get your main striker scoring 30 goals or a year, or a new ******* Diablo tactic like someone claims to have every year. This is just a simple, factual thread on what FM is capable and not capable of doing, why it isn't 'cheating', and why these myths about FM are wrong.



So, here goes:



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1) FM cheats to let the AI score!

This is a popular one, partially because it totally absolves the user from any responsibility. In reality, the computer treats both human and AI players exactly the same, because it has no way of telling the difference between them. It's not programmed to do that, so it literally can't. As such, all these stories about how the computer 'favours the AI' or somesuch bollocks is just that, total bollocks. Any last minute screamers from opposition players is usually just bad luck on your part, even if you reload the save and the same thing happens. Speaking of...



2) I reloaded the save and the exact same match happened and I still lost!

You reloaded a save, changed nothing, and expected a loss to magically turn into a win? If you managed to lose it the first time 'round then one of three things were the case:


One, you were just outclassed. Nothing you can do can change the fact your players were noticeably inferior, and 9 times out of 10 you're going to lose.
Two, you were unlucky twice. I mean, you're cheating, so you deserve it, but whatever.
Three, you should've won this match but you suck so hard you've lost to worse opposition not once, but twice. And then you reload the game, change nothing and expect to win it? Hahahahahahahahah-




3) THIS IS THE WORST FM EVAR WAHRHGBARGL

The game hasn't come out yet as I write this, but short of FM15 literally not working at all, it's going to be better than FM09. That's not an opinion, that's fact.



4) Fine then, this game isn't as good as FM12.

This, on the other hand, is opinion. It's also an objectively wrong opinion, but it's your opinion and by god you'll stick with it.

I guess I'll take this opportunity to explain why FM12 looked so good on the surface but mechanically was inferior to FM14 (and hopefully 15):


FM12 was the last part of a development cycle for the match engine. As such, that particular match engine had been polished and improved and had all the bugs (remember the corner exploit? That was non-existent in FM12, as opposed to 10 and 11) wrung out of it. It was polished, responded reasonably well, and people knew what to expect from it. A few hailed it as being excellent. Many complained, generally the same ones now saying it's way better than what we have now.

Then FM13 rolled around, and SI unveiled their new match engine. It has many vast fundamental improvements, chief amongst which was actual collision detection. This was a huge step forward, since beforehand opposition strikers could just run straight through your defenders. Remember how fast opposition strikers were massively overpowered? That's because they could just sprint in literally THROUGH the defenders to get to the ball. FM13's match engine rebalanced the game hugely despite being only one year into development. Other stuff was broken in 13, and although 14 fixed some of that it also had some big bugs itself, most notably full backs not defending correctly. But 14 was still far superior to 12, not because it was more polished, but because it was fundamentally a more complete engine. As this engine matures and is improved, it'll get better and better, but the bottom line is that FM13 was already vastly ahead of FM12 in terms of the match engine. There's just no debate to be had in terms of pure match engine mechanics.



5) The match engine is terrible.

For all we know at this stage, it might be. However, when FM15 comes out, I personally will be giving very short thrift to comments that bemoan the match engine without displaying at least a basic working knowledge of it. In almost every FM there's been some kind of semi-major match engine problem, but you'd think year on year it was an unworkable mess the way people talk about it. As mentioned later on in this post, I'm sure your thoughts would be more appreciated if you first assumed the player is at fault rather than the game.



6) It takes too long to play a season now.

That's why FMC was implemented.



7) But FMC isn't detailed enough for me!

I sympathise, but SI can't please everyone. FMC and regular FM game modes capture most people's interest, and you might fall in the small gap between those two extremes, but I'm afraid that's just life. Either learn to accept FMC or learn to play the more complex full game is the only advice I can possibly give.



8) This game is scripted!

No it isn't.

This is a well-worn topic across every FM forum, and the answer from anyone who's even vaguely sensible has been this: There is no 'scripting'. The game is not conspiring to make you lose. You're probably just bad. As an aside, this is a topic I'm keen to completely eradicate on these forums, so bear that in mind.



9) So if none of this is true, what's going on?

You might just not be very good.

That's okay; this is a difficult game to understand, it's even harder to properly play, and incredibly hard to admit when you've done something wrong, especially as this game isn't the greatest for feedback. I'm no great shakes, and I used to be properly abysmal. There's very few people who properly deeply understand the game. The late SFraser on the SI Forums was one, and to this day I reccommend you all go read his threads, despite their relative outdatedness. I'm not saying there are no bugs in any FM game - usually there are quite a few - but I am saying the majority of stuff reported as bugs aren't actually bugs at all.

The best way to approach it is to first assume it's your fault, THEN if it makes no sense and you've posted on these forums and it looks like a bug, assume it is. Do not assume it is a bug right away just because something negative happened to your team. With others' help, you can and will improve, and there's plenty of people on here willing to help you if you ask your questions with an open mind and a good deal of information. A poster saying "I think I mishandled this situation, what do you all recommend?" will get much much more attention than someone posting "THIS GAEM IS BUGGY SH*T". I understand occasionally you'd need to vent frustrations, and I've got a certain amount of tolerance for that, just so long as it's venting frustrations and not making groundless accusations about the game.



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That'll do for now. I'll add to this thread as I consider newer complaints from people, but I urge you all to refer back to this thread and consider what will and what won't be taken kindly in regards to your questions. The mods here at FM-base aren't downright evil Nazis, we're generally pretty laid back, especially compared to some FM forums out there.

The official SI forums at the moment are a complete cesspool, so it'd be nice if FM-Base didn't go the same way. By avoiding some of the above questions and myths, that might just be a possibility.
 
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For all those preparing to spit the dummy like we have seen for the past couple of releases. My banhammer looms, you have been warned.
 
AI learn your tactics so you can never use the same one for more than a season.
 
debunk this saying ive been seeing around the webs.

FM15 will be a beta until February/March 2015
 
Ha ha, it's cute that you think this will stop the 18,000,000 noobs joining on Nov 7th from going absolutely mental and ******* the site up.

If I actually ever was given any powers in my own section I would sticky this, even if it only prevents one noob from acting like an arsehole. It's still a victory God **** it!
 
AI learn your tactics so you can never use the same one for more than a season.

ffffFFFFFFFFFFF

debunk this saying ive been seeing around the webs.

FM15 will be a beta until February/March 2015

No. The game will be out on 7th of November.

Ha ha, it's cute that you think this will stop the 18,000,000 noobs joining on Nov 7th from going absolutely mental and ******* the site up.

If I actually ever was given any powers in my own section I would sticky this, even if it only prevents one noob from acting like an arsehole. It's still a victory God **** it!

I'm proposing if anyone even breathes a word about scripting or the like, we just direct them to this thread. If they continue insisting, they get an infraction. Like I said, I reckon we're a reasonably laid back bunch when it comes to moderating, but I'm not sure I can handle another year of morons.
 
ffffFFFFFFFFFFF



No. The game will be out on 7th of November.

I thiknk that'll be from last 2 years, game came out Oct/Nov and by Feb all the updates & fixes on the engine were out etc, so out november but might as well wait till all the stuffs addressed in updates and pick it up at new year after the window as well.
 
Ah yes. The annual new Football Manager cull. Anyway. Hope I can get into FM15 after only logging 40-50 hours on 14 after previous years of 800 hours+.
 
I don't see the problem with any fm games, every year you have to learn to adapt to the new version, it isn't rocket science.
 
But my friend says the game is scripted and he's done 30-day weekend programming course so he's basically the expert. Therefore I win.
 
But my friend says the game is scripted and he's done 30-day weekend programming course so he's basically the expert. Therefore I win.

Pretty sure I've seen people use that very argument against actual SI employees.
 
Just wanted to point out that strikers (and everyone else for that matter) can still sprint straight through opposition players. Sometimes the AI does it, sometimes my players do it. I can't possibly be the only one who notices it every other game?
 
Just wanted to point out that strikers (and everyone else for that matter) can still sprint straight through opposition players. Sometimes the AI does it, sometimes my players do it. I can't possibly be the only one who notices it every other game?

That's likely either an animation issue or you not quite seeing it right. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume the former. Trust me, collision detection works pretty well. Actually I'd say its implementation was one of the times SI added something major and it worked perfectly more or less from launch.
 
That's likely either an animation issue or you not quite seeing it right. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume the former. Trust me, collision detection works pretty well. Actually I'd say its implementation was one of the times SI added something major and it worked perfectly more or less from launch.

It's happened to me that it looked like that, not being too sure if real or eyes/brain deceiving me. The one time I had the mood to rewind and check it from different camera angles, I saw it had been just appearance from the angle of vision.
 
That's a problem with the 3D representation of the match engine, not the match engine itself.
 
This topic is now a sticky.

I'm proposing if anyone even breathes a word about scripting or the like, we just direct them to this thread. If they continue insisting, they get an infraction. Like I said, I reckon we're a reasonably laid back bunch when it comes to moderating, but I'm not sure I can handle another year of morons.

Infractions should only really be for the repeat offenders/blinkered morons, and then I am just inclined to perma ban them. A small infraction tends to inflame them even further prompting even more rubbish to be posted, clogging up the forum. Luckily there aren't too many who ever make it this far.

Simply close and link to this (or another suitable) topic. Will be a hectic few weeks no doubt, I remember doing it almost single handedly not long after becoming a moderator. I plan to be around to help some of you newer chaps out this year, unlike last, i haven't actually played FM for over a year....
 
This topic is now a sticky.



Infractions should only really be for the repeat offenders/blinkered morons, and then I am just inclined to perma ban them. A small infraction tends to inflame them even further prompting even more rubbish to be posted, clogging up the forum. Luckily there aren't too many who ever make it this far.

Simply close and link to this (or another suitable) topic. Will be a hectic few weeks no doubt, I remember doing it almost single handedly not long after becoming a moderator. I plan to be around to help some of you newer chaps out this year, unlike last, i haven't actually played FM for over a year....

That's exactly what I was planning on doing. I'm loathe to just start handing out infractions everywhere - I think the official forums' approach is a bit too draconian, though since most of them are doing actual work on the game I can see why - so I think a bit of leeway will do the trick. There's always a few silly buggers.
 
That's a problem with the 3D representation of the match engine, not the match engine itself.
Exactly. Representation isn't accurate and lack of animation doesn't help. Match engine is excellent, best so far.
 
It drives me crazy how many people take the 3D engine animations as gospel. It's a representation as to what has been calculated; it's not a real world physics simulator that just played out the shot while factoring in gravity, force, direction, centripetal-force, string theory, what's on TV, what they ate for breakfast, ect.

The ME decides if it's a goal, tackle, red card, ect. The 3D ME then just tries to string togehter the correct series of animations to represent that data. Simples :)

I firmly believe that game is not scripted. I log roughly 1.5k to 2k hours of FM each year (Don't worry, I'm seeking professional help) and I've seen absolutely no pattern to the AI or anything like that. It truly feels random to me and I honestly believe that each save's future is governed by, what I call, the Magic 8 ball style.
 
I was watching a lets play series, and someone actually believed that when a sub was brought on, and got injured 5 minutes later and would miss a cup match, it was scripted so that the best team would win the cup match.

If I facepalmed any harder I would've broken my nose i swear to god
 
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