Championship Manager ?s

Marquis de Sodaq · July 15, 2002, 13:09

I asked about this over at Civfanatics, and have been ignored. So back to Apolyton...

CM sounds like fun, and many players obviously like it. Is it worth buying? Basically, I only have a few hours a week to spend goofing off - is it easy enough to learn that it would be reasonable to learn it quickly? Not necessarily to get good, but at least to understand what I'm doing?

Thanks for any comments

FrustratedPoet · July 15, 2002, 13:44

YES YES YES YES YES!!!!

It is far and away the best football management game out there IMHO. I've played all the versions of it so far and each one is an improvement on the last.

How easy is it to learn? hmm ... well, it is a VERY stat-heavy game, which some people hate, and has almost no graphical eye-candy (absolutely none, in fact, the match screens are text-only).
In essence it is a big football-based calculator, but it is perhaps the most addictive game in the world for me.

If you like football and like football management games in general, don't mind a game with no pretty graphics, don't mind spending a while wondering whether your current striker with a Finishing score of 18 and Pace of 10 is going to be more effective than another one with Pace of 18 and Finishing of 10 ...

and don't mind staying up all night trying to take Mansfield out of the Third Division, and don't mind boring your friends with tales of how you took Aberdeen from relegation-candidate obscurity in the Scottish League to 2-time Champion's League winners and World Club Champions in 7 seasons (I did that

) ... then you should love it.

If you want a cheaper option then you should get Championship Manager 3, there is a version of it for the 01/02 season (in a red box IIRC), and it adds a few new features beyond the updated teams and players.

However, Championship Manager 4 should be out towards the end of the year, and promises to be very good. Maybe you should pick up #3 cheap now, and if you love it then you can get #4 when it is released.

GET IT!!!!!

MarkG · July 15, 2002, 14:03

if i've spent 100 hours playing civ games, i've also spend anoth 60 hours playing the CM series

you dont need to understand everything to play it, just make sure you get one of the best teams in the world at first

in short: get it, get it, get it!

FrustratedPoet · July 15, 2002, 14:15

Yeah, that's right Markos ... if you play as Manchester United or Real Madrid you don't need to understand everything. All you have to do then is just pick the best players, buy more great players with all the money you have, and send them out onto the pitch.

60 hours Markos? ....

... n00b! ...

Marquis de Sodaq: you might want to visit the official site at http://www.sigames.com

MarkG · July 15, 2002, 14:27

FP, in case i wasnt understood, it's of course many more than 60 hours
the number was given as a comparison to hours spend on civ

FrustratedPoet · July 15, 2002, 14:42

/me re-reads MarkG's first post.

/me slaps himself in the head.

oh yeah .... sorry ... didn't see the "if" at the start of the post.

Footie Mad · July 15, 2002, 14:54

The game is better than Civ, if you love footie that is. I play in three different swedish online leauges weekly and it really is the ultimate CM experience.

For any of you swedish CM-players that feel like getting into a community get yourselves over here

Marquis de Sodaq · July 15, 2002, 15:48

I love football, I like statistics, I love games.

I suppose I ought to buy it! The missus is buying a landscape design software, so I thought this would be a grand opportunity to justify a worthy purchase. With no game graphics, she just might think I'm actually working.

I've seen the official site, and came away not sure of what I just saw. So many player updates and such listed. Are these strictly optional? Is it okay to play 8 seasons of footie with the set of stats that comes with the game?

On a related note, has anyone tried to take Real or Manchester and run them into the ground? Burn all the money and manage to sink them to the 2nd division? That might take some skill, too.

Footie Mad · July 15, 2002, 15:57

You can play the original game for as much as you want all updates or optional, the original game has very few bugs. You´d surely get the sack before being able to get those rich clubs down in the divisional system though.

Footie Mad · July 15, 2002, 17:14

Quote:

Originally posted by Wille
You can play the original game for as much as you want all updates are optional, the original game has very few bugs. You´d surely get the sack before being able to get those rich clubs down in the divisional system though.

Footie Mad · July 15, 2002, 17:21

Oops, sorry about that. Give me post reduction or whatever or just let it be, I was meaning to edit my post.

Sten Sture · July 15, 2002, 17:38

CM is a very good game, I have really enjoyed it.

(the Apolyton website is much better than anything CM related)

I found it to be too easy with the big teams, but great fun when starting with a lower division side. Also a great way to learn more about some players/leagues you don't now follow.

One recommendation - just start the game with one or two leagues active, otherwise it takes a long time to save and run, even with a state of the art system.

FrustratedPoet · July 15, 2002, 18:55

Quote:

Originally posted by Marquis de Sodaq
I've seen the official site, and came away not sure of what I just saw. So many player updates and such listed. Are these strictly optional? Is it okay to play 8 seasons of footie with the set of stats that comes with the game?

I know man ... I know ...

They changed the design of the site a couple of months ago and it really really sucks now. What were they thinking?!?!?!?!?

Yes, the updates are strictly optional. The game is free of any critical bugs and really should run fine with the out-of-the-box version.

You might want to download a patch that updates the team and player rosters for the end of the 01/02 season, since the original version will be a little out-of-date now, it's up to you, though. Once you have played 5 or 6 seasons from the beginning all the teams will have changed beyond all recognition anyway.

I've never found a major bug, but often when I play games in the English league Middlesborough, Southampton, Sunderland and Everton seem to emerge (along with whatever team I'm playing - usually Tottenham

) as the best teams after 5 or more seasons, whereas Liverpool, Arsenal and Man Utd fade into mid-table. This is a little bit odd, as it seems to happen every time .... but I hate Liv, Ars and ManU anyway so I don't care.

HINT: If you get the season 01/02 version I have this bit of advice for you: BUY RONALDINHO FROM PARIS ST.GERMAIN!!!!! ... pay any price they ask ... he is a God!!!

(except when he takes free-kicks against England - that f**king b*****d!

)

FrustratedPoet · July 15, 2002, 19:01

Quote:

Originally posted by MarkG
FP, in case i wasnt understood, it's of course many more than 60 hours
the number was given as a comparison to hours spend on civ

60% of the time, then.

How about making a ChampMan fan-site?

(seriously, though, the official site is awful and I've never found a good fan-site in English, although the Swedish one Wille linked to looked good ... anybody know of one? ... or will I have to keep bothering Markos about it?

)

Marquis de Sodaq · July 16, 2002, 09:01

Thanks for the responses! Now to convince la marquise it is a good idea...

Standup · July 16, 2002, 18:26

HINT: If you get the season 01/02 version I have this bit of advice for you: BUY RONALDINHO FROM PARIS ST.GERMAIN!!!!! ... pay any price they ask ... he is a God!!!

Player tipping - red card...opps wrong forum

Its probably the best sports management game out there but i still find it limited in the feedback it gives. If i change my tactics am i winning because of better tactics or because my goalie is having a good day ? Sometimes its never clear.

I found some of the official forums pretty good especially 'Your Shout' where Sports Interactive often hang out. Other forums can be a bit hit and miss. Lower League is pretty narrow in its focus and tactics often looks like an email chain letter with people offering 'unbeatable tactics - email me now !'

JohnIII · July 20, 2002, 12:46

No he isn't. You want Arjen Robben or Roque Santa Cruz.

Maquiladora · July 21, 2002, 01:00

Wait for CM4 in september/october.
if you do get 01/02, buy Tó Madeira, CHEAP, HE is (lower league) God

JohnIII · July 21, 2002, 06:36

Isn't he a scout who put himself in the game for fun?

Maquiladora · July 21, 2002, 06:39

Im not sure if it was confirmed he was a scout or a friend of one of the scouts for the game, but yeah hes fictional. I think they even confirmed it with the clubs chairman.

Dauphin · July 21, 2002, 07:42

CM is not compatable with XP. (CM4 presumably will be).

Or at least whenever I have tried to play on XP it seems to think I have insufficient memory. I have 1Gb of RAM.

If anyone knows why, or how to get around the problem, please let me know.

Maquiladora · July 21, 2002, 07:47

Quote:

I have Windows 2000/XP and get an "Out of memory" error
This is a bug in the Win2k/XP operating system, there is a work around available from Microsoft.

Copied and pasted from a previous link:

<<
Go to microsoft and download and install the application compatibility
toolkit for XP, im not sure of the link but do a search in the knowledge
base.

There are simlar program compatability toolkit and associated application for both windows XP and windows 2k

They're around 1.54mb in size.

Win XP
http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/...mpositedoc.xml

Hope that helps.

JohnIII · July 21, 2002, 08:05

Quote:

Originally posted by Sagacious Dolphin
CM is not compatable with XP. (CM4 presumably will be).

Whoops, I'd better stop playing 01/02 on XP, then.

Footie Mad · July 21, 2002, 18:25

Quote:

Originally posted by JohnIII

Whoops, I'd better stop playing 01/02 on XP, then.

No need to rub it in when he was helped in the post above.

alva · July 21, 2002, 22:14

If you are just starting with the CM series buy cm'97. One of the best around. CM3 is not that good IMHO but the next evolutions are vast vast improvements. (Hmm this sounds familiar

)
btw: the SIgames community is very good aswell!! (again, very familiar).
Been playing this one for about 10 years now, still one of my favorites. can't wait until cm4 comes out ( should be next year) with a 2d graphic match engine

and eugh yes eugh you need LOT'S of time !!!

Dauphin · July 23, 2002, 13:07

Quote:

Originally posted by JohnIII

Whoops, I'd better stop playing 01/02 on XP, then.

When I checked with eidos they said that they do not support CM on XP, so I presumed the error I got was from lack of support/patch. Besides I put a caveat in my post..

Dauphin · July 23, 2002, 13:08

Academic point, but I don't have CM01/02, only 00/01.

Maquiladora · July 24, 2002, 01:19

You aren't missing much. I think that was one of the smallest gaps of any update in the CM3 series. All thats different is, fog of war(attribute masking), new EU system and compare player feature. Nothing to write home about. But as always with these things, its the new database that makes it more enjoyable. Good that they only charge £20 for each update. More than worth it for all the time invested in it. A good argument for Civ3.

MattyBoy · July 24, 2002, 01:40

So, to the outsider, Civ sounds incredibly dull. To me, CM as a concept sounds incredibly dull, too. Given that I learnt to love Civ so much, am I doing myself a major disservice by not ever trying a CM game?

...or are they for English Football junkies only?

Maquiladora · July 24, 2002, 02:56

I dont know many people who play CM who dont support a football team, evem semi-religeously. Not just English either. Thats not to say you have to play as your fav team to enjoy it, but people with a good grounding in the sport will get more from it. True it looks dull, but thats because its all about the numbers and incredible depth to it. If you support a team then you HAVE to try this game, if not, then theres more important games.