retired_pmetzger1

It won't happen, too many GQers would moan like hell, but SI should make FM a little harder.

Without recapping my entire update thread, I moved to Cardiff City, recently relegated to the Championship, brassic, needing to sell players.

To my utter surprise we won the Championship without losing a game, and are now back in the EPL for the 4th season since 05 (with a record of one 17th place finish and 2 relegations).

The board, kindly, only expect relegation to be avoided; the fans, mid-table. After some adding to the squad, I agree with the fans assessment. It's slightly stronger than the Portsmouth squad I took up some years previous, but not a patch on the Man U squad I'd left the year before.

8 games in and we are still unbeaten. Then league champions Aston Villa visit the St. David Stadium and, somewhat unfairly, whip us 6-0. A visit to Old Trafford finishes a more respectable 1-2. Fair enough, and actually 1st position should be well beyond the capability of this squad. But our form picks up again, and by the turn of the year we are 9 points clear of 2nd place.

Now, I know I shouldn’t complain, but really this save is now stretching the bounds of credibility. It’s like positive aquaplaning.

Of course, I might get soundly beaten in the second half of the season and return to eat my words. But I doubt it.

creative36

God's sake, Michal, moan some more, why don't you?

OK, so this does happen in real life. Think Wigan last season, think Ipswich a few seasons before that. The main difference there was that both those teams were quite well balanced, had few major injury problems and played to their strengths.

Sometimes, FM does seem to pander to the Human managers who, after all, don't have quite the same control over their players as the AI does. Sometimes this means a Human manager will walk a league far more easily than should happen. Sometimes it means that the Human manager will be struck down with a case of H5N1Aquaplaning and be doomed to relegation for no reason - something I've never seen happen to the AI.

The fact remains that it's far too infrequent that a Human-managed team struggles for safety after a promotion. Make it harder and, yes, the GQers will moan like the little brats they are. The problem is, they moan louder than us.

retired_kswansonwoolf

Are you surprised at all this Michal?

When has it been different? It was the same under 01/02, 03/04 and FM05, there's no reason why the difficulty level would rise in FM06. For many players the game gets easier the more time you spend on it, it just loses its unpredictability; one develops automated reactions to the game mechanics... and that's it. Bad as it sounds, you've beaten the game. It just happens, no matter how hard you try to avoid it.

And turnip, i've seen countless AI teams getting relegated or being in trouble despite having excellent players, facilities, money or what-have-you. Especially in older versions - I haven't played FM06 enough to form an opinion on that, but it happened all too often even under FM05. The "backround league" bug had a lot to do with it, but it still happened in active leagues, albeit less frequently.

temperamental

isn't this just a sneaky bragging thread?

retired_merri13

I'm with Michal on this one.
Promotion to the EPL without bringing in any new players after promotion from L1 the year before is a little bit too unrealistic imo.

retired_Harish Chandra

I must admit it is easy to climb up the leagues, but i think the gap between the 1st and 2nd league (in more than one country) is alot bigger from say, the 3rd and 2nd league.

I find it easy in LL but when i reach the top division, i tend to not perform as well. For instance i am FC Caheaul of Romanian second division (thank you frank), i went on an season long unbeaten run, but i couldn't quite cut it in the top division, and now in the 2nd division i am dominating again...

retired_uppenamy

Didnt Man City go through Div 1 to Premier with pretty much the same team. though once there they dipped heavily into the player market.The gap between Premierleague and Championship is closing, West ham and Wigan are good examples.With more and more foreign players in the EPL, more English based players are forced into the Championship, hence an improvement in quality of championship teams.

retired_lapepe

I think it is too easy to not get into a relegation fight after promotion. In fact I don't think I've ever really been in a relegation fight. Most of the times you can fight for promotion straight away, or at least get mid-table. In my experience you only get a real fight once you reach the top division, and even then it's too easy not to get relegated straight away. IRL most teams that go up, are in a dog-fight to prevent going straight down. I think this is true across the board, although there are exceptions such as Wigan (and Start back in Norway who got 2nd :eek.

I think this is one example where SI have to make some tradeoff between realism and playability. It has to be made somewhat easier or else GQ will be filled with the usual moaners. This will surely not change for FM2007. Some, like us, will say it's too easy, and the 13yo of GQ will say it's impossible to win every match with Chelskij, hence it's too hard

Uknowmehfo

More like the AI in the long run is of moronic levels, but yeah, Michal is right to an extend.

retired_babygirlgiggles

If the game favours the humans why did 50% of all humans in our clangame (including the previous poster) got relegated last season?