Series Some things I've learned while playing FMH

[Archie Graveluth]

1. Managing the team you support in real life isn't hard. It's very hard! For the purpose of challenges and having the best team available at your disposal, at some point you'll have to replace the players you love to cheer when you go to your home stadium, or sit that old friendly keeper in the bench in favour of that young german gem. Or you'll keep yourself from signing player X because he plays or played for your biggest rivals. You will honestly have a hard time trying to figure out what to do: should I stick to the real life club or will I manage an alternate reality club?
2. It will be hard to focus and complete one career. With so many viable options, so many amazing teams and so many entertaining challenges (damn you Vibe!) you'll feel tempted to start several careers but, although you'll get a feel of everything FMH has to offer, it will be hard to actually take something to the very end.
3. Regens are tempting, but it's best to avoid them. Sure, you'll see that 17 year old Ryan Giggs at a bargain price, or even free and you'll feel the urge to sign him because at such a young age he's already twice the better player than your left winger, but you'll lose all the realism in the game. You'll end up with a super team that wins it all, but isn't it better to build a super team with real players that you found while scouting or browsing the player search? Wait until your 15th season or so, when all the real players are either retired or in their 30's to buy regens.
4. Don't think too much about the perfect candidate for the 1000 Goal Challenge. Chances are you'll keep on starting the challenge with a new player every time because the young kid you picked  isn't scoring as much as you'd expect. But guess what, he's a young kid! He's not supposed to be a Cristiano Ronaldo yet. Give him room to grow, in the team and in your heart and I'm sure he'll get to 1000 goals before he retires easily.
5. ITN management isn't really needed for the 1000 Goal Challenge. It's easier to get to 1000 goals with ITN because it will mean between 100 and 200 extra goals for your striker but the challenge, in my opinion, is already very doable without ITN, unless you pick an older player who's 23+. And even so, he can still be called up to play for his national team, you don't need to actually manage him on a ITN level. So you see that young Gabonese striker you like? Pick him and stick with him. It can also be very hard to get a ITN job, depending on which nation you want so it's not really worth it.
6. If your current career stopped being fun for you, stop playing it. This is your game and you should play for yourself, regardless of what people think. We like people to share their careers but chances are, if they stopped being fun for you, then the level of detail will also drop, the update rate will get slower and slower. Just explain to everyone that you've grown tired of the career and say it's over. We will understand because we have also experienced the same, over and over again. If you don't do that and play for others, chances are you'll get FMH Burnout (no, it's not an expansion!).
7. Play at least 5 or so seasons before you share a career. I haven't done this for some of my careers and I wish I did it because I wouldn't be wasting my time and yours. If you play at least five seasons of a career you'll know if that career is still interesting to play or not. If it is, then by all means, share it. If it isn't, just delete the screenshots you took and go play some other career.
8. The number of posts you do don't make you a better poster. If you're really interested about some career, don't just say "good going" or "keep it up". Tell the poster what you like, what you thought about it and what you think he could've done to prevent the disastrous season or who he should've signed. If all you have to say is two or three simple words, it's better to +1 his career update. But don't get me wrong, if someone only says "good going" or "KIU!" doesn't necessarily mean that all they want is to get an extra post or say "I was here!". Well, unless you did terribly and they say you did amazing
9. If you stick to a starting eleven without making too much changes, you'll get good results. This is something I am discovering with my Selling them Slowly career. I'm doing better in the Champions League with only one single signing and keeping to my original starting eleven than I did when I bought three or four players and switched them more often. I guess team animosity plays a big role here. Had no idea, but actually makes sense.
10. Multiple leagues is overrated. At first I was glad I had an iOS device so I could pick up to four different leagues. But now I usually just pick one league anyway. You'll get a lot more detail in the league you picked, and by detail I mean players, and you'll get a lot more players from around the world (not from the leagues you didn't pick) broadening your player database. In the end, you're probably doing a challenge that doesn't need you to switch teams/leagues anyway. We just need to come up with more single league challenges.
11. "Cheating" is wrong. You'll end up regretting doing it. And by cheating I don't mean exploiting the game through a glitch, which is also very wrong. I mean using sugar daddy from the start, unless your career is based upon a Sheik buying your team with his petro-dollars. By mistake I started a career once with Bradford City and I found it odd that they had €5M from the start. At first I didn't think too much about it and played almost an entire season with several amazing wonderkids who would guarantee me at least two decades of dominance. Then I realized I had sugar daddy on from when I was buying several players to iScout. I was pissed and had to delete the career, although I was having a ton of fun playing it. On the other hand, if you like a particular player but can't buy him, loan him and try to buy him in the following seasons. Sure, he'll become an amazing player because of the IT overlapping bug, but that's not your fault. This has actually kept me from using Mason Bennett or Diego de Girolamo in a 1000 goal challenge, but I might still change that before FMH14 comes out.
12. Don't spend too much time on iScouts. Try to find you own players because if you don't, and just buy players other people found, you won't have as much fun. Searching for players to fit your team, using the scouts or looking for particular attributes is more rewarding. You'll be building YOUR team and not someone else's. So leave Agustin Allione and Carlos Fierro alone! Unless you've found them while looking for specific attributes. Then they're fair game.
13. Innovate in tactics. While using someone else's tactic is a guarantee for success in a career or a challenge, using your own is way more fun. With that in mind, I don't think I'll ever share another tactic, just to force people to try their own. Of course this will only work if everyone else does the same A lot of people complete 1KC's, but I'd like to see how many do it with their own tactic. Because by using Tom's amazing tactic you're only replicating his success, not yours.
14. Use the team logos available from Vibe and/or the player pictures. It will make the game more fun instead of using the default badges. Knowing how your players look will also make you feel more attached to them and will make your career more realistic.

 

 

There are way more things that I have learnt from playing FMH, some more important, others less important. This is just a preview of some that came to mind while writing this. Feel free to share your experience

[Dec]

Really cool and interesting Grave, nice work .

[anfieldsquirrel]

Wow really nice guide Grav, and I totally agree with it all!! I start loads of careers with intentions to post them, but then after season 2/3 I'm bored and decide just too start a new one!

Excellent work .

[Ashez]

A really enjoyable read

[Franco]

I agree with this a lot, especially no. 9, I found this out a while back when i was too lazy to change players around so usually would stick to the same starting XI. Granted I had players moaning about not playing but if the teams doing well there's no need to fix it.

[ManagerAddict]

From what I already knew about this topic, I agree with everything. I also learned one or two things. Great work.

[Lee-Roy]

Good going.

Only joking lol. It was an interesting read, I can relate to most if it myself as most others can I presume.

The part about regens interested me too, is that the stance most people take on them?

[Ashez]

I hate regens tbh, i understand there need and why people like them though. The only career i've used regens is my Sale save as i had no choice lol

[vcadu92]

Really interesting

It is very nice to have the point of view of somebody else than us!

Personally, I really like buying the same players in different teams! Indeed I have few "favourite" players such as Sébastien Corchia or Abdallah Yaisien!  but it is also interesting to discover loca players for instance, in my story with the Royal White Star, I bought few players from Waasland which I didn't know before!

[Archie Graveluth]

Thank you all for your comments! Feel free to add your own things you've learned here.

[MoussaSowFB]

Great read

[Archie Graveluth]

Good going.

[magpiemadman]

Great read mate I have learnt a lot from just reading that, you could maybe underline the title a bit more

[TheFalse9]

This is quite accurate to be honest, good post.