Is this a cheat? 11.3

[mccollio09]

Hi guys, first of all, I'd just like to say I don't cheat at FM, not intentionally anyway (and I haven't since I was about 12 years old during the days of championship manager).

So it is that, 12 years further on, upon creation of a new save - where I've loaded pretty much obscure leagues only, that I decided to start out with Inverness CT in an attempt to break the Celtic-Rangers stranglehold on the SPL (going well already in the first season, second behind Celtic).
Anyway that's off topic. After loading all my obscure leagues I pressed start game without paying much attention to anything, and go about setting up my friendlies, training, signings etc.

And here is where the unintentional cheat turns up - if it is indeed a cheat. I've unintentionally started the game in ****** Belarus in February 2010. Pain in the **** I thought.... Until I started to understand the advantages gained by this:

• Extra time to sign/ offload players
• More time to search for best coaches
• More time for team blend/ tactical tweaking
• More time to get all levels of team interaction to fluid
• More time to tutor youngsters
• More time to train youngsters on individual training/ specialised training regimes
• More time to bring in money from high profile friendlies

Other side of the argument:

• Time consuming
• Am I really gaining advantage, given that all other teams start at the same time?
• Still have to pay the wages every week
• IRL... Surely we'd still be in the final third of last season?

So opinions then, is it a cheat?

 

[samloveitt]

Your season start will change along with your season end so really you don't get extra time

 

[Niall]

I would say no. I've done the same kind of thing before and you don't really gain any advantage. The AI teams get the extra time to get stronger as well so it's not really especially beneficial to you.

 

[Raphaelsanni]

soz for off-topic but what does AI mean

 

[leesmithyy99]

i would say no

 

[Niall]

AI - Artificial Intelligence: The team who are being controlled by the computer

 

[mccollio09]

Your season start will change along with your season end so really you don't get extra time

It will though, for the first season at least then it will go back to normal I guess, it starts Feb 2010 in Belarus, which has given me time to get in 4-5 months of friendlies in the SCOTTISH league which is pretty much like the EPL calendar.

 

[sammyt]

i would say that it's not a cheat, it depends why you've done it e.g. if you schedule a freindly every day so you get more money from them then it is but if it's because you did it accidentally and you don't exploit the situation then no it isn't.

 

[mccollio09]

i would say that it's not a cheat, it depends why you've done it e.g. if you schedule a freindly every day so you get more money from them then it is but if it's because you did it accidentally and you don't exploit the situation then no it isn't.

I scheduled one every week, so it's like in league format, half for the money, half cos I was getting bored of clicking continue without anything happening.

 

[sammyt]

i wouldn't class that as cheating then, i'd only class it as cheating if you were scheduling them in order to make extra money that you wouldn't normally get but as you're doing it once a week then i'd say it's fine as it's just keeping the game interesting in the extra time gained by mistake and it's just making sure the squad keeps match fit.

 

[phila001]

i used to add the australian league because they started a month early so i could get the free transfer without anyone getting them. more time to train the players and make more friendlies for extra cash. although a down side is more chances of injuries and not a good time of the year for it!

NOT CHEATING!!!!

 

[Death Ball]

As long you don't do anything to gain unfair advantages, I don't think it should be considered cheating.

The making friendlies I think is something that you must do, though I'm not sure how many to be as up to par to what the starting situation would be, because otherwise you'd be having a number of months without income from ticket sales and would end worse. So as long you don't go overboard with friendlies as to get millions of pounds you shouldn't have there should be no problem.

 

[SaintBantam]

I wouldn't call it cheating.

 

[Athe~]

I think it is.

 

[sammyt]

slightly off topic but does anyone know whether you the game takes into account the ammount of gate money lost through starting earlier or does it just leave it as is so that you don't have to worry about that as there would probably be moer people turn up for a league or cup game then for a friendly.

 

[Danny]

I think it is.

Care to elaborate further?

 

[Athe~]

Care to elaborate further?

Sure.

You can tutor players that would be too old to be tutored otherwise, and you can train youngsters for more time. You can argue the AI does it too, but the AI does not used custom schedules, so it is a slight advantage. Furthermore, you since you have about half a year till the season starts, you will be able to sign players who have recently joined their respective clubs by the start of the season - and you'll also be able to sell those ****** players your club signed. If you're playing a small club, you can also arrange a lot of friendlies for, say, 100k each. You have 6 months between Feb and August (You can start as far back as December, though), or 180 days. Let's say you organise a friendly every 6 days, and you get 120k for each friendly. That's 3.6 millions in income right there, which is a lot for a small club. And that's without pushing it too far, I play a friendly every 3 days on pre-season, at that rate you could get twice as much money. And, when the season finally starts, your team will be fully used to your tactics, and unless you make a massive team overhaul they should have gelled nicely, too.

 

[Danny]

Sure.

You can tutor players that would be too old to be tutored otherwise, and you can train youngsters for more time. You can argue the AI does it too, but the AI does not used custom schedules, so it is a slight advantage. Furthermore, you since you have about half a year till the season starts, you will be able to sign players who have recently joined their respective clubs by the start of the season - and you'll also be able to sell those ****** players your club signed. If you're playing a small club, you can also arrange a lot of friendlies for, say, 100k each. You have 6 months between Feb and August (You can start as far back as December, though), or 180 days. Let's say you organise a friendly every 6 days, and you get 120k for each friendly. That's 3.6 millions in income right there, which is a lot for a small club. And that's without pushing it too far, I play a friendly every 3 days on pre-season, at that rate you could get twice as much money. And, when the season finally starts, your team will be fully used to your tactics, and unless you make a massive team overhaul they should have gelled nicely, too.

I still fail to see how it' considered a 'cheat', if it was a 'cheat' I don't think SI would allow people to do so, as I don't think they'll want to encourage cheating, do you?

If anything, surely doing it that way is more like real life, as a manager in real life will have a longer period to sort things out then we do in the game.

And if you read the majority of the post's above, you'll see why it isn't.

But that's your opinion.

 

[Athe~]

Forgot to add that you can get players on frees and sell them 6 months later for profit.

I still fail to see how it' considered a 'cheat', if it was a 'cheat' I don't think SI would allow people to do so, as I don't think they'll want to encourage cheating, do you?

If anything, surely doing it that way is more like real life, as a manager in real life will have a longer period to sort things out then we do in the game.

And if you read the majority of the post's above, you'll see why it isn't.

But that's your opinion.

Your argument is as silly as it gets. You're also allowed to save and reload, to add another manager and sell players to your own, and a host of other 'tricks', but I guess you don't consider them cheating either, do you...

 

[Danny]

Forgot to add that you can get players on frees and sell them 6 months later for profit.




Your argument is as silly as it gets. You're also allowed to save and reload, to add another manager and sell players to your own, and a host of other 'tricks', but I guess you don't consider them cheating either, do you...

But they are things SI really did have to put in, 100%.