Championship Manager ?s

[Marquis de Sodaq]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

/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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[Sten Sture]

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]

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]

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]

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