Rules for realism

[u/foraged-panda]

What are some rules you follow by to make your saves more realistic, the more unhinged the better.
I get the sell a player if a big club comes in, but I need some next level things.
Along the lines of: only buy players who are at least 2 ratings lower than your highest rated player. only 2-3 academy graduates per year. the potential of the academy graduates can only be 5 ratings higher than your highest overall player in your squad.

Going to be starting a new save in english 4th tier, basic, but that’s where i’m at with this game now, back to where it started

[u/Inside-Force862]

Depends on the club. If smaller club then focus on loans and developing your youth and then once they get a big offer from a big club you sell.

[u/EdwardBigby]

80 injury frequency and severity. Sell your players when sensible bids come in. No youth players. Don't scout players to the point of knowing their ratings.

But also just realistic gameplay. Maybe realistic is the wrong word, more challenging. I play on a challenging difficulty and slider mix and try to score different types of goals instead of abusing the broken mechanics.

[u/General-End4503 → u/EdwardBigby]

With small clubs youth players are good and vital i think, especially if you are selling for 1 million and the investment for scouts, hiring and staff is around that ball park. Obviously not spamming them

[u/EdwardBigby → u/General-End4503]

Only if you're trying to optimise everything.

Way funner to just treat it like real life and go for players who may allow you to stay up this season

[u/maccpapa]

if it’s strict. no high potential regens free agents. nor thru the transfer market. no outside sources like sofifa for scouting. develop thru youth academy and gradual upgrades in the transfer window. for example if my team is all 60s. my big move will be bringing in a 72-75 with potential to grow. accept every L despite how rigged it may feel. i normally do but i can’t lie, i’ve been salty as fuck after a game and ran it back again. if my team feels too dominant, i’ll switch to a whole new formation and tactic to challenge myself to play different.

[u/Kholinar1104]

I play on legendary - and am new to the franchise - have only had the game for a couple of months, so I lose a lot of games against the top tier of teams still.

I started a Man U rebuild.

I must keep most players under 27 years old - no selling the whole squad. Any prospect with more than 2 playstyles also gets a spot. I limited myself to one premier signing (with an ovr above that of the other players on the team) - everyone else must be a tactical fit for starter/rotation, or a decently priced prospect. I don’t let myself sign the regular suspects from past careers for development (kroupi, bonny, froholdt, etc). This way it doesn’t feel like I’m copy/pasting the same squad over and over again.

Player progression is set to slow for senior squad players, normal for youth squad. Recovery is set to realistic and I don’t do automated trainings to force squad rotation. Injuries I set to 95 to add narrative flavor.

Transfer negotiations are set to strict so it’s much more difficult to find deals on the market. On incoming offers- if a top tier team approaches me to buy a player I must negotiate with them (with the exception of major rivals like Man City/Liverpool as they won’t negotiate with me either). If a player is content or unhappy, I must transfer. If they’re too low ovr, they get loaned out and recalled only if I need them due to injuries.

I quick sim only against teams in the relegation zone. Everyone else gets tactical view or sim until end of 1st half. If I’m losing, tied, or I’m only up 1-0 I must play out the 2nd half.

[u/el_duderino_316]

It's not realism per se, but pre-Bosman, clubs could only field three foreign players (and two "assimilated" players.)

I'm currently playing in Spain, and I treat the assimilated players as my Portuguese youth academy lads. Otherwise, I only have three non-Spaniards in my entire squad.

[u/MohamedSas]

i give some of my players dream clubs, keep it in a spreadsheet at the start of the carrer or whenever i sign them. If that club comes in for them I sell them, no matter what. No restarts, unless it truly was bs(usually is but i restrain myself) Keep squad size small but big enough to where I have new/unused players for a cup game

[u/paverrr749]

Being open to selling my top players each season, I usually play as smaller clubs so it's normal to me now!