Best products from r/footballmanagergames

Well, I have barely any experience with football but Football Manager is helping me learn about the sport.

Baseball is pretty easy to pick up though. It has some pretty obscure rules that rarely come up, but the basics are easy enough to understand. I highly recommend this book, if you want a crash course. The author does a great job of mixing humor and the facts, it's certainly not an exhaustive read. After reading this you'll be pretty well acquainted. If you get into it I'd check out Men At Work by George Will after that for a an even deeper look and another great read.

The game (OOTP) itself is great because baseball lends itself to compiling heaps of stats. Almost everything a player does on the field can be recorded and analyzed and this is reflected in the game. While there is a randomness to it, the hard, statistic numbers give it some grounding. Don't let this intimidate you though, everyone has their own stats they pay attention to, you don't have to get into the really complicated stuff unless you want to.

The game can be kind of daunting if you look at all the options available. You can create your own leagues tweaking almost every aspect or just play the regular configuration.

OOTP usually has a sale during the off-season to help die-hards bide their time till the next season. You can usually pick up a copy for $20, I did it with last year's 2013 version.

Soccer's 4-4-2 System https://www.amazon.com/dp/1591640652/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_3XC6AbJ73N3VS

This on really help develop my 442 tactic. I don’t use that formation anymore but when I did it was pretty good.

This series of formation books are all nice.

Inverting the Pyramid is an amazing book and will change the way you look at the sport but it won’t help with tactics as it’s more the evolution of them.
If you find it interesting then you can go further and get Soccernomics, Why Everything You Know About Soccer is Wrong and Money and Soccer. Who knows, they might actually change the way you approach FM.

It's the SSDs in a Mac that will make the most difference. If you get a laptop with the same specs as a Macbook, the game will run just as well, it's not the fact that it's a Mac that's making it quicker. It's just the fact that Macs come with an SSD as standard that most people aren't mentioning here.

Anything with a nice i5, an SSD (although you could just as easily buy one and slot it in) and probably 4GB RAM will do you fine. I have a desktop with a 3.2GHz i5, 128GB SSD (+ 1TB HDD), 8GB RAM and just an old GPU that I brought from a mate for £40. FM14 absolutely flies. I'd recommend a desktop if you can have one, but if not I don't know much about laptops, but I can try to find some examples if you like?

EDIT: Seems like there is a massive lack of sites on which you can compare laptops, but Laptops Direct seems to be about the best I found. If we take examples from there:

• This Macbook Air is £779. 2.7GHz i5, 1440x900 13.3" screen, 4GB memory, 128GB SSD.
  
  
• This HP is £644. 2.5GHz i5, 1600x900 14" screen, 4GB memory, 500GB HDD. But you could quite easily buy this SSD, which would give you double the space of the Mac, and still leave you ~£15 cheaper. Or alternatively, buy the 128GB version of the same SSD, to give you an equal size, and come in at ~£65 under the Mac.

I've always been interested in economic theory... some of my thoughts in the game design document were around having two types of economy: a global economy and a local one. I wanted this to have an effect on the player in terms of the strength of the league (i.e. how much money was coming out of TV rights, attendances, demand for the product etc). A weaker league gives team less chance of buying top quality players resulting in lesser ability to compete globally without huge investment from the player etc.

I'm not sure how to tie this into the game without making it too complicated but I did buy a book on game mechanics (http://www.amazon.com/Game-Mechanics-Advanced-Design-Voices/dp/0321820274) so I've been studying the mechanics behind some popular MMO / tycoon type games.

There's a really cool tool by the authors of the book I just linked:
http://www.jorisdormans.nl/machinations/

I've used that in the GDD to simulate a few of the sources / drains / converters in the game... balancing the game and making it enjoyable is going to be a real challenge. I'm concentrating on getting the basics of match simulation and a stable server for hundreds of connections before I start with the actual game mechanics itself but something I'm really looking forward to!

Amazon has it in it's sale at the moment:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Football-Manager-16-PC-CD/dp/B01AUA84EI/ref=sr_1_5_twi_cd__2?ie=UTF8&qid=1458403120&sr=8-5&keywords=football+manager

I don't know if this is cheaper / more expensive than the Steam sale when it was on, but it's still a good price.

Also Iceland is a league you can play by default, while I believe for the Faroe Islands, you have to download an addon !

Enjoy !

Read the manual.

Inside of it, there is a ton of advice on playing the game beyond simply cataloging what options do what.

Then you can read the following for in depth advice and tips:

FM First Team Unofficial Football Manager 2011 Guide

A decent free guide. The website of the guys who made this is gone... Uploaded it for everybody.

Tactical Theorems '10

This was made for 2010, but is still very very very relevant. On other forums, people will usually just tell you to read it.



There are tons of guides out there for every possible aspect of the game. I found the following useful:

Lower League Guide

Financial Guide

Understanding Tactics and the 'Manchelona'

The above site has several other guides worth reading. Check it out.



Also, beyond the above FM specific stuff, there are a number of books out there that can help you in FM:

The 90 Minute Manager

Soccer Systems and Strategies

there are a lot of comments in the "new laptop" thread on the FM official forums. start from the last page. you can find deals for laptops with an i5 processor under or around 500$. i would suggest you to take such a deal. example of such a deal. in FM the most important things are cpu then memory then gpu. with an i5 you are good to go. the best choice would be finding a laptop with both an i5 + dedicated GPU within your budget.

TBH if you wanted to buy a laptop for FM you should of asked like a week ago, when Black Friday and Cyber Monday were going on (If you live in the states that is). If not wait for Christmas to get a bit closer and there will probably be some good deals.

You should minimally look for a laptop with at least a hard drive (Storage size is up to you) at 7200 rpm, or an SSD. An I5 processor that can run higher than 2.6 ghz, and at least 4 gb. I don't think graphics are really that intensive in the game, but having a dedicated graphics card would help.

[549.99, but no dedicated graphics] (https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-F556UA-AB54-Intel-Windows-Laptop/dp/B01M08DL26/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1480721464&sr=1-4&keywords=laptops+on+sale&refinements=p_n_feature_four_browse-bin%3A2289793011%2Cp_n_graphics_type_browse-bin%3A14292273011%2Cp_n_feature_fourteen_browse-bin%3A2057441011)

499.99, but weaker processor

659.99 looks like a very solid laptop, but no reviews on it

I saw it earlier while searching for the best price. I did read somewhere that the deal will end at midnight PST, whenever that is. The price of Football Manager games has fluctuated quite wildly in recent years, what with random sales. You never quite know when the best time to buy the game is. I got FM12 for £5 a couple of years ago, which works out at just over $8.


EDIT: It says further down the Amazon page "Digital Deals of the Week - Ends 03/07/14 11:59PM PST."

This book by Matthew Whitehouse is great. Great examples of how modern coaches revolutionise bits of the game but also how player roles have developed. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00NY4XGV4/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Zonal markings premier league one is good too

I'm currently justifying a new laptop purchase to the missus for a variety of crap reasons, but in reality it's so I can get back in to FM after not playing since FM09!

My current front runner is the Acer Aspire E 15 with 8th Gen Intel Core i5, NVIDIA MX150, 8GB DDR4 and256GB SSD (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B075FLBJV7/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?smid=A29PE8RVBSO64H&psc=1).

Can anyone give me a steer as to how this will cope with FM18, and in particular I'm wanting to know roughly how many leagues I could run without much slowdown?

Any help (or suggestions for alternate laptops around that pricepoint) is much appreciated!

These are the two cheap options ive found so far.
[1]
[2]

It doesnt have to run great, just be better than the tablet version.

I use the monitor listed below:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005BZNDOO/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687442&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00413PHDM&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=TT7V0M821W310GAEMP3H

but I think it's the UI that really makes the difference. The normal one drives me up the wall.

It's the Skin listed below:

http://www.fmscout.com/a-wannachupbrew-fm16-skin.html

I mainly love it for the 'just black' screen

You should also check out his book a really good read if you like CM/FM.

If you're in UK, a cheap deal is here" amazon uk



The above listing is for new version of the game. If you're okay with used CD version, then [click here] (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B003Z6QJKQ/ref=olp_f_new?ie=UTF8&f_all=true&f_usedLikeNew=true&f_usedVeryGood=true)



Note: FM2011 can be activated through Steam or can be played using Disc, so buying a used one will work fine.

If you can, get this book. It seems to be written about exactly what you want to write about, and is a really fun read.

Without a budget I can't help you, because then anything between this laptop and this laptop fits in your scope. If you want to look for one by yourself you should look for a processor with good single core performance and preferably an SSD for decent load times. If you have a large budget then purchasing a laptop with a graphics card is also an option. 1080p screen should also be a minimum so that you can actually use regular skins without needing to tweak your settings.

If you are going to buy a computer for this single purpose you simply have way too much money.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/processors/core/i9-processors/i9-9900k.html

https://www.corsair.com/eu/en/Categories/Products/Memory/VENGEANCE%C2%AE-RGB-64GB-%284-x-16GB%29-DDR4-DRAM-3200MHz-C16-Memory-Kit/p/CMR64GX4M4C3200C16

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Optane-905P-960GB-XPoint/dp/B07CVNS851?tag=pcw0ed-21&ascsubtag=US-001-3234838-007-1441833-web-20

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Probably something like this.

I have no clue if these a compatible with each other.

You may like the book 'Football Manager Stole My Life'.

You can get it on Amazon as well as Steam - I live in the US, too.

This book

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Football-Manager-Stole-Life-Beautiful/dp/0956497179

Amazon US link

Amazon UK link

Amazon Books - Football Manager Stole My Life: 20 Years of Beautiful Obsession.

You're not alone. It's not uncommon to hear people dress up in suits for finals, or sink into depression, or lose jobs/releationships, just to get through another season.

Probably struggle to find a website that sells these as they predominantly came in disc format.

FM07 - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B000GHED7S/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all

FM08 - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B000UX6QAU/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all

FM09 - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B001FA0DLK/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all

FM10 - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B002K8Q07M/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all

FM11 - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B003Z6QJKQ/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all

FM12 - https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/PC-Video-Games/SEGA-PCOESSSGA01501-Football-Manager-2012-Mac-DVD/B005HGG006/ref=pd_sim_63_7?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=W57N441A5Q1TS4W6A5ZR

Used albeit - but most than likely working.