In the final episode of Inside FM 2018 we take you through some of the changes to the transfer market, improvements to board interaction and how your performance as a manager will be judged.
We’ll be running through some of the changes to the transfer market in FM18 as well as improvements to board interaction and how your performance as a manager will be judged more realistically this year.
Let’s start with transfers.
In real life, we’ve seen a huge increase in the value of transfer fees over the past couple of seasons and you’ll see these inflated fees and contracts, reflected in Football Manager 2018 of course.
Several new transfer, contract and loan clauses have been added to reflect the volatile modern transfer market.
The way you can make instalment payments on transfers had been changed to reflect real life better, with payments now being able to be made every 6 months rather than annually, with 3 instalments allowed.
This is something that real clubs use to comply with Financial Fair Play restrictions – so the option should be there for you too.
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| Instalment Payments in FM18 |
The loan market has also been updated to include additional clauses that clubs use when structuring these short-term deals. For instance, there’s the new option to loan a player until the next transfer window opens.
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There’s the option to include a bonus for a competition achievement too.
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| New Loan Options in FM18 |
There’s a couple of new additions in FM18 surrounding minimum fee release clauses which are rapidly becoming one of the most used contract clauses in world football.
You can now set an expiry date on a minimum fee release clause and you can also include separate minimum fee release clauses for foreign and domestic clubs as part of the same contract offer.
Whilst we’re talking contracts, you can now have multiple types of the same clause
in a contract.
Want to specify salary changes for players after both 15 matches and 30?
That’s not a problem in FM18. These clauses are available for appearances and goal bonuses.
You can also have multiple clauses in transfer offers.
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| New Contract Clauses in FM18 |
The AI managers will also make more intelligent decisions regarding transfers in FM18.
They place a greater emphasis on a player’s recent form when looking through potential signings meaning that players that have unexpectedly good seasons will be more likely to catch the attention of the bigger clubs – as has been the case in recent years in real-life.
The AI around squad building has also improved, with AI managers looking at both long term and short term needs for their squad, whilst the bigger clubs might only look at superstars and potential youth stars, as long as they have enough home grown players that is.
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They’ll now look to recruit more players that can slot into the first-team straight away and move some of their existing first-teamers down to rotation roles if necessary.
This makes for a much more competitive transfer market and ensures the AI can not only compete against you for the biggest deals but at every level of transfer.
Another improvement on the AI in the game – and something that is used throughout the game by AI managers, boards, the media & the fans via social media - FM18 sees the introduction of league performance tracking.
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| League Performance Tracking |
This is a major new innovation in the way that your performance is judged throughout your career.
Instead of just referring back to your club’s expected finishing position at the start of the season, the new league performance tracking system will take more contextual information into account to create a more three-dimensional picture of the season you’ve had.
For example, if you find yourself mired in a relegation battle and lead the club to safety you’ll find your managerial support amongst the dressing room increase and you may have more sway when making requests to the board.
Your performance will also be talked about in the press and across social media with journalists referencing it in news items and fans will be more opinionated towards you in social media posts.
