Football Manager 24

[Mobius]

The 20th edition of Football Manager ^{(Championship Manager is considered separate}) is out in 2 weeks, which means if you've already pre-ordered/purchased it it'll be available to play in about 24 hours or so which is usually when Early Access is released.

As usual there's not much new, few 'new features' here - something genuinely new however is you can import your save from FM23, and this feature will roll forward each year so you can continue the same save through each new FM, which is cool to some people.

They basically admitted this year they've been resting on their laurels for a long time and have said FM25 will be genuinely different. New engine and all that, plus women's football. But that's next year. This year you get one or two new screens.

Anyway I can't wait. Hope it comes out tomorrow or at least by the weekend. Anyone going to buy it?

[Ignatius_S]

Early access was made available a little earlier today - go, go, go!

[Mobius]

yeaaah i just woke up for work it's 4am on a friday here and i'm WFH and my partner is going away for the weekend i mean you can't really ask for more in life can you

[dontpaintyourteeth]

I'm still on FM 16 should I finally upgrade

[Mobius]

I'm still on FM 16 should I finally upgrade

This is being considered the last and most complete of FMs, before next year where the game is going to look and feel quite different, new engine etc.

So it might be a nice point to finally upgrade although having said that you can probably get fm 22 or 23 for about 5p now somewhere

[Utter Shit]

I always wait until Christmas, gives me time to finish up my current save and gives them time to iron out the many bugs that are always present in the early months.

[pierre boo-lez]

Why don't they call their Early Access period Pre-Season? Poor commitment to the bit imho

[Mobius]

I always wait until Christmas, gives me time to finish up my current save and gives them time to iron out the many bugs that are always present in the early months.

yeah that's a good call. the january transfer update/big patch fix is usually the point the game is truly complete isn't it

Why don't they call their Early Access period Pre-Season? Poor commitment to the bit imho

it bugs the shit out of me that FM comes out so late each year. have it ready for the start of the season

[pierre boo-lez]

it bugs the shit out of me that FM comes out so late each year. have it ready for the start of the season

That's actually a very good point. I suppose at this point they'd need to resign their whole schedule, maybe take a year off, get FM27 out in July '26.

I'm going to say now that I'm skipping this year's one, but I know very well that I'm going to cave at some point and get it for £20 off a totally legitimate grey market key seller because I'm a sucker.

[Stone Cold Steve Austin]

This is being considered the last and most complete of FMs, before next year where the game is going to look and feel quite different, new engine etc.

So it might be a nice point to finally upgrade although having said that you can probably get fm 22 or 23 for about 5p now somewhere

Don't know if it's still working but as of a couple of weeks ago you could get 23 free through Prime Gaming for an Epic Games account

[Glyn]

Don't know if it's still working but as of a couple of weeks ago you could get 23 free through Prime Gaming for an Epic Games account

Mobile version (if that appeals) of 24 will also be free for Netflix customers from 6th November
https://www.footballmanager.com/news/football-manager-2024-mobile-coming-exclusively-netflix

[Mobius]

I guess I might just have to play the mobile version, as throughout 'early access' my game has been crashing on PC. Never had an issue with previous FMs, and it's not as if this year is a gigantic technical leap forward. Posted on the official forum and they are basically useless. So fucked off. Cunts.

This comes out tomorrow by the way

[Inspector Norse]

Downloaded this on Gamepass when it came out and have nearly finished my first season with my usual pairing of Oldham and Roma. The first new one I've played since FM19 but it's still easy to get back into, mainly because as mentioned they haven't bothered making many real changes.

As always it's ridiculously addictive but there are some areas that clearly need patching - there are a lot of high-scoring games and it seems, oddly, a bit easy? I've won the National League at a canter with Oldham while Roma are battling Milan for the Serie A title with a few games left, even though I was only expected to finish fifth or sixth and have had several injury crises. I haven't tweaked the tactics that much even though it usually takes half a season to find a system that really works.

One thing I have found, though, when I went to download all the extra faces, was that some German dude has set up a program that gives all the newgen players realistic AI faces. It was a bit fiddly to install but it's a great idea, can only imagine that the real FM guys would be looking at implementing something like this.
Bit odd that my 15-year-old youth prospects are coming through with full lumberjack beards, but better than the terrible children's drawings they used to be.

[Utter Shit]

One thing I have found, though, when I went to download all the extra faces, was that some German dude has set up a program that gives all the newgen players realistic AI faces. It was a bit fiddly to install but it's a great idea, can only imagine that the real FM guys would be looking at implementing something like this.
Bit odd that my 15-year-old youth prospects are coming through with full lumberjack beards, but better than the terrible children's drawings they used to be.

Massive gamechanger for me, I always used to find I lost interest in saves after a couple of seasons and a big part of it was the shit in-game newgen faces ruining the immersion as it just completely destroyed any chance of you convincing yourself they were real people. Since I set up the AI newgen thing I've been stuck into the same game for ages.

[Mobius]

Yeah the newgen faces are great. Once again the community doing SI's work for them.

I think FM is generally easy yeah, just because the AI doesn't seem to cope with all of the multitudes. most CPU managers use the same formations, don't substitute players early enough, will use tired players, and make nonsensical transfer signings. Gegenpress is the most overpowered tactic, you can plug that into most sides and they'll overperform. Especially if you micromanage praising training etc, so everyone has good morale.

Agree with the hockey scores - a common complaint on the forum so we'll see if they do anything about that. Players whinging about contracts and squad depth too much as well.

[copa]

I think FM is generally easy

I've always found it too realistic and grindy when playing as a lower-league club.
So to fix that I add another manager who's in charge of a Premiership team.
And that becomes my feeder club. They buy all my crap players for mad amounts.
Then I buy all their youth players for pennies. And destroy everyone.

[AllisonSays]

I'm the opposite actually, I find getting from League Two to the Prem quite easy but then often impossible to smash the glass ceiling of top four. I won the Premiership with Plymouth during the pandemic though, with an ageing Marcus Rashford up front. And the Scottish Premiership with Dundee Utd a few years before that while allegedly finishing my PhD.

Not gonna play the new one though because I lack the time and the motivation. I just find the game a bit of a drag nowadays really. But the new shiny version in '25 might pull me back in!