The Great San Marino Challenge & Discussion Thread

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Cheers kandersson, i've had my eye on Leandro Depetris for a while now but he went to a second division Argentinian team and now they want me to stum up just under £100k for him which I don't have, Siligardi has just moved to Hellas Verona for £250k and Gabriele Paonessa looks great but dosn't even want to discuss terms with me the git, so i'll have to wait till then end of the season and hopefully get promoted > more rep > more money > better players. oh and I have to show you this chap I just spotted in Nigeria it's just such a shame he dosn't have an EU nationality.View attachment 165530

 

[kandersson]

Cheers kandersson, i've had my eye on Leandro Depetris for a while now but he went to a second division Argentinian team and now they want me to stum up just under £100k for him which I don't have, Siligardi has just moved to Hellas Verona for £250k and Gabriele Paonessa looks great but dosn't even want to discuss terms with me the git, so i'll have to wait till then end of the season and hopefully get promoted > more rep > more money > better players. oh and I have to show you this chap I just spotted in Nigeria it's just such a shame he dosn't have an EU nationality.

Paonessa would be a superstar for C1 (good for B too), try to wait a month or two if he's still without a team he'll probably accept your offer, it worked for me!

Wow that looks like an amazing full back, I know how you feel I almost lost this fellow nigerian wonderkid due to league limitations but managed to sign him in the end in serie A (still cheap enough, was playing in Albania!?)

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[srw]

I got Paonessa as well he's pretty good but did you sell him once you got to Serie A? Cant wait to get to Serie A and buy this kid called Maximiliano Sosa.
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[kandersson]

I got Paonessa as well he's pretty good but did you sell him once you got to Serie A? Cant wait to get to Serie A and buy this kid called Maximiliano Sosa.

kept him as a backup for a couple of seasons, was useful as a mentor for youngsters as he had decent determination and some nice PPMs to pass.

Yeah South America always produces some amazing regens, personally I have a soft spot for brazilian strikers... like these two

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[srw]

kept him as a backup for a couple of seasons, was useful as a mentor for youngsters as he had decent determination and some nice PPMs to pass.

Yeah South America always produces some amazing regens, personally I have a soft spot for brazilian strikers... like these two

View attachment 165588 View attachment 165587

Its amazing how many wonderkids come out of brazil each year, I would guess that there's about 2 or 3 wonderkids everytime Brazilian clubs take in new youth players. I like checking out the Dutch U19 squad as well for new talent but the promising ones are too expensive at the moment. Kandersson did you stop the San Marino challenge or are you still playing? Nobody seems to update anymore.

 

[kandersson]

Its amazing how many wonderkids come out of brazil each year, I would guess that there's about 2 or 3 wonderkids everytime Brazilian clubs take in new youth players. I like checking out the Dutch U19 squad as well for new talent but the promising ones are too expensive at the moment. Kandersson did you stop the San Marino challenge or are you still playing? Nobody seems to update anymore.

I stopped after I won serie A and CL runner-up as I became frustrated with some aspects of the game (could never get the NT job, then a bug with academy, plus my only decent sammarinese regen ever declaring for italy).

Then I restarted after 11.3, dominated C2 (see my last season update) and was cruising in C1 too when the game crashed out and I hadn't saved recently. Which really destroyed any motivation for me so I decided to stop, but I always like to see other people progressing with San Marino and pass them my experience

 

[srw]

I stopped after I won serie A and CL runner-up as I became frustrated with some aspects of the game (could never get the NT job, then a bug with academy, plus my only decent sammarinese regen ever declaring for italy).

Then I restarted after 11.3, dominated C2 (see my last season update) and was cruising in C1 too when the game crashed out and I hadn't saved recently. Which really destroyed any motivation for me so I decided to stop, but I always like to see other people progressing with San Marino and pass them my experience

I see, that sucks man I never get any crashes on 11.3 and I save quite often just to be safe. I'm in Serie B right now 2nd at winter stop. Hopefully I can get into first place or just stay tight in 2nd place cuz I really wanna get promoted

I finally gathered just enough money to start building up a youth system but it's only in the starting stages so it's gonna take a while before some good regens pop up in my youth squad.

I'm still pretty early on in the challenge but do you know any other challenges like this? saw u had a Liechtenstein one? and a New Zealand one as well?

 

[kandersson]

I see, that sucks man I never get any crashes on 11.3 and I save quite often just to be safe. I'm in Serie B right now 2nd at winter stop. Hopefully I can get into first place or just stay tight in 2nd place cuz I really wanna get promoted

I finally gathered just enough money to start building up a youth system but it's only in the starting stages so it's gonna take a while before some good regens pop up in my youth squad.

I'm still pretty early on in the challenge but do you know any other challenges like this? saw u had a Liechtenstein one? and a New Zealand one as well?

Strangely I had never had a crash until 11.3 :S

regens are always pretty random, building an academy is a good start to improve their quality. Also look to improve recruitment network, and hire coaches with good recruiting and youth development attributes. And make sure you have some staff of San Marino nationality, as it affects quality/nationality of regens too (I suggest Massimo Bonini, excellent sammarinese coach)

Vaduz/Lichtenstein is nice, starting in swiss second division the cool thing is Vaduz is automatically assigned an Europa Cup spot every season (as Lichtenstein cup winner, though that's not in the game) regardless of position. The NT already looks better than San marino and unlike SM foreign players will get Lichtenstein nationality after 5 years. Too bad Swiss league is a bit boring, with only 10 teams in the top tier and an endless winter break. And strangely after 11.3 the NT doesn't seem to be available anymore (but if you choose database 11.2 at the start of the game then it works. Don't know if I'm the only one with this issue)

Wellington/New Zealand is a struggle as A-league teams have so little money and ridiculously strict cap/squad rules. And Wellington is the only team without reserve/youth squads, a bit ennoying.

Toronto/Canada was fun for a couple of seasons, unfortunately MLS is a real mess in FM11, bugged in so many ways (trade system doesn't work, roster rules and youth development are poorly implemented) so it's almost unplayable long term. Hopefully they can fix that for FM12 as I feel MLS could be a very interesting league to play.

 

[srw]

Strangely I had never had a crash until 11.3 :S

regens are always pretty random, building an academy is a good start to improve their quality. Also look to improve recruitment network, and hire coaches with good recruiting and youth development attributes. And make sure you have some staff of San Marino nationality, as it affects quality/nationality of regens too (I suggest Massimo Bonini, excellent sammarinese coach)

Vaduz/Lichtenstein is nice, starting in swiss second division the cool thing is Vaduz is automatically assigned an Europa Cup spot every season (as Lichtenstein cup winner, though that's not in the game) regardless of position. The NT already looks better than San marino and unlike SM foreign players will get Lichtenstein nationality after 5 years. Too bad Swiss league is a bit boring, with only 10 teams in the top tier and an endless winter break. And strangely after 11.3 the NT doesn't seem to be available anymore (but if you choose database 11.2 at the start of the game then it works. Don't know if I'm the only one with this issue)

Wellington/New Zealand is a struggle as A-league teams have so little money and ridiculously strict cap/squad rules. And Wellington is the only team without reserve/youth squads, a bit ennoying.

Toronto/Canada was fun for a couple of seasons, unfortunately MLS is a real mess in FM11, bugged in so many ways (trade system doesn't work, roster rules and youth development are poorly implemented) so it's almost unplayable long term. Hopefully they can fix that for FM12 as I feel MLS could be a very interesting league to play.

Thanks for the advise, I'll check out the coach. I guess San Marino is the best team/country for this type of challenge.

 

[Ubernisation]

Great to see this thread I've been without internet for a few months (poor student) but I've still been pursuing my San Marino challenge! I got sacked on my original game so decided to restart. My best tip would be not to begin as San Marino manager as the early years, especially when Selva retires, are fruitless really, it's not until you're developing good youngsters that there becomes any point in it. It's best to concentrate on the club, it also makes the game go by a bit quicker.


I've also been trying to play with the San Marinese league loaded as Tri Fiori. I did this with the idea that if I increase the standard of the league regens will also improve, but although I have gotten the club to proffesional status and with 'excellent youth facilities and academy' I still get rubbish regens, not quite sure if that's a glitch or whatever.

Anyway I'm going to try and slowly read my way through this whole thread. I'm going to post a blog about my story again (I've moved back home and have internet- yay!). I'm in 2019 on my current game and am starting to get some Okish regens through, so look out for it ^_^

Some tips (sorry if any of this has been mentioned)

• Concentrate fully on the club until you're in Serie A. Spend all your money on players to get you there rather than facility upgrades as you need the money from Serie A.
• Sign players on free transfers, looking at players released from major teams and players without a team who have been capped for their nation are the two best ways to find players.
• Until you reach Serie A signings older players is a good bet as they're good quality and you should hopefully be rising up the leagues so fast that none of the players you sign in the first 2 seasons will be long term prospects.
• Pick one formation and stick with it, I generally play a 4-1-2-1-2. I used to play a 4-3-2-1 but found that a second striker is key, and wingers with two strikers doesn't work well for me.
• Try not to sell first team players when you reach Serie A. Although the big money sales might be tempting you can't guarantee the replacement signing will slot into your team as well. I prefer consistency over money, if this consistency can get you european football then this money will greatly overshadow the money from transfers.
• When in Serie A and earning good money from TV revenue try and expand the stadium as much as possible. The demand for tickets is massive when you're in Serie A and this should help get you closer to financial stability. One year not in europe can potentially ruin you financially if you're playing high wages with a stadium that only holds 4500.
• With the San Marino nation I find they genuinely produce better centrebacks and central midfielders than any other position. I've never seen a good winger produced, to try to refrain from using wingers unless you get some good regens.
• Try to bring in young players to the national team if your scouts say they show promise. Most of the non regen players in the squad are useless and if you can replace them with young players you will hopefully bed them in, and either way you probably will lose all the games you play
• If you get a good striker for the national team build your team around them. The same applies for the national team before Selva retires. Scoring goals is very hard in the early years and this is the most important thing you need to address.

EDIT:

Another very helpful thing to do is to arrange friendlies with top teams to gain cash. If you set the friendly to 'League' the best teams will often accept, and this will normally get you TV revenue. You can potentially organise 4 or 5 of these in pre season each one getting you about 500k in cash in the early seasons. You can also organise one in the christmas period. If you rotate the squad a lot in these games they don't get too worn out and the cash can be a massive boost to your hopes. I normally organise 4 in pre season, 1 or 2 of them sometimes get cancelled due to fixture clashes.

 

[Liverpool96]

I will definatly take part in this challenge! Looking good!

But i don't know what you guys mean with managing the club and the country? Please help

 

[kandersson]

cheers Ubernisation! I actually started the SM challenge for the first time since CM 03-04 thanks to your story and I have to say it's probably been my best save ever.

If you have the patience to read through the thread (maybe you can use the "map" at the end of OP) you'll see I've had some success with the club before quitting due to frustration (bugs with NT job and academy). Then I restarted after 11.3, was doing fine again (dominating C1 after promotion and tasting NT as well... nightmare!) but a crash without having saved destroyed my motivation to go on.

I was following your story and will definitely follow your new blog. I still have both my save files of my San Marino games though I don't feel like I'm going to play them again (playing Vaduz/Liechtenstein right now, aka San Marino lite) but I'd love to share ideas and experience with a fellow Titani veteran! I especially have some theories about youth development and staff...

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I will definatly take part in this challenge! Looking good!

But i don't know what you guys mean with managing the club and the country? Please help

there is San Marino the club playing in italian serie C2 (4th tier), and then there is San Marino the national team (arguably the worst NT in the game - and IRL too). Your goal is to take both to the top.

The key is improving club status, reputation and facilities in order to produce a new generation of sammarinese players to lead the NT to a new era. Sounds complicated? it is...

good luck, and check my mini-guides (map at the end of opening post) for further help

 

[Liverpool96]

Aaaaw now i understand.

And i will definatly read your guides, and later i will post some screenshots of my results.

 

[Ubernisation]

@kandersson

I think I'll just read from when you restarted as 9 whole pages is a bit daunting

I'll post my developments with the national squad on here, but I'll keep the club stuff to my blog as that's basically just a bog standard LLM game. Taking control of the national squad at the end of this season

 

[kandersson]

@kandersson

I think I'll just read from when you restarted as 9 whole pages is a bit daunting

I'll post my developments with the national squad on here, but I'll keep the club stuff to my blog as that's basically just a bog standard LLM game. Taking control of the national squad at the end of this season

hahaha now it's 10 pages though they're mostly filled with other people's results, questions and comments. Actually my own season resumes are just the 5-6 (plus my mini-guides) listed in opening post.

After I restarted with 11.3 I only made one season update as I stopped playing before finishing season 2, but my biggest success came in the previous, much longer save. You should at least check my last update aka 2016:The Year of Scudetto

Good luck with the NT, I actually failed to even get the job in my first save (tried any trick: they kept hiring Andy Selva, or any other obscure sammarinese manager from local amateur league, yep makes sense...)

Sure I'd love to see your NT developments, and most of all the most promising youngsters out of the mighty San Marino academy!

 

[Brian]

Want to start this but not sure im bothered with the first season or two

 

[I7IDanny]

How good is this guy for the first season, and how should I play him in a flat 4-4-2?

DOMENICO MORFEO (34 years old):

View attachment 167774

 

[Ubernisation]

He looks pretty good for your first season but I find in the lower leagues the physical attributes like pace or strength is more important than the technical.

As for formation you should use whatever formation you feel most comfortable with and buy the players to fit that, rather than the other way round. Hence I never buy wingers because I don't use them.

@ Brian. Just play without managing the national team for the first few seasons and treat it as a normal LLM game if you can't be dealing with the 7-0 losses with the national team

 

[kandersson]

How good is this guy for the first season, and how should I play him in a flat 4-4-2?

DOMENICO MORFEO (34 years old):

he can still be a very good player for C2 but I don't really see him in a 4-4-2, too slow to be a winger. AMC behind two strikers might be the best fit for him, if you want to play with wingers I suggest you look for someone else (Leandro Depetris comes to mind)

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Want to start this but not sure im bothered with the first season or two

Always thought the first two seasons were the best part of this challenge

 

[I7IDanny]

he can still be a very good player for C2 but I don't really see him in a 4-4-2, too slow to be a winger. AMC behind two strikers might be the best fit for him, if you want to play with wingers I suggest you look for someone else (Leandro Depetris comes to mind)

Sorted now, I'm playing him as the creative CM in a 4-2-4 (il devasto)

Just lost my first game of the season though, 6-2 to Guilianova :'(

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Can anyone recommend a decent keeper? I called up one of the youngsters, and he was doing well, but recently he's started leaking goals