FM 2013 New Features

New Game Modes and Features

Football Manager 2013 is the best football managing game available, ever. It includes over 900 brand new features, including some exciting new game modes, and many performance improvements that make the game more realistic, both in, and out of the field. You will naturally see many improvements in the position of many of the features, meaning that the game now has a much cleaner look, but also in the dynamics of pretty much anything you do. Many of these 900 new features are not relevant enough to be mentioned, but you will be pleased to discover them as you play. As a matter of fact, smaller tweaks have been done in many, if not most of the essential Football Manager features you will use. Below is a look at two new game modes as well as a list of what we think are the most important changes in the new Football Manager 2013, and how you can take advantage of them.

Football Manager Classic:

This is certainly the hottest new game mode of Football Manager 2013. It is not a completely different game from the normal Football Manager experience as it uses the same databases and match engine, however it is a slimmed down version that is certainly quicker, but also slightly easier to play. This game mode additionally features a new and simplified user interface.

The Football Manager team advises this mode to people who dont have enough time to play the full version of Football Manager 2013. While this may be a good reason to use this mode as opposed to the full mode, we also advise it for those who might just want to deal only with the most important features of the game, focusing less on smaller details. Also, if you are a new player, just getting into this game we recommend starting from here before embarking yourself on the complete Football Manager experience.

Significant changes compared to the traditional game mode:

There is a smaller game world. This means that there are only three active game nations allowed at any point in time. This brings important performance boost for those of you who are playing Football Manager 2013 on slower machines. Training duties have been significantly reduced, and the personal training option has been taken away as well; Interaction with the press, staff and board-members is kept to a minimum; On match day, there are no more team talks. Simply select your formation, set up the games tactics and you are good to go. You can now also skip matches, and allow your assistant to take over coaching. However, read ahead as we give some tips on how to best use this feature.

As mentioned in the bulleted list, there is a very interesting new feature in this game mode that allows you to speed up the game even more. You can now skip watching the game, and simply receive the final result. You will be able to watch the highlights from the main menu at the end of the game, and even save them if you wish to do so. After having tried this mode, we strongly recommend using this feature only in less important games, or in games from which you expect a very obvious result. This is because in many games you need to be very proactive about the situation your team is in, and viewing parts of the game certainly helps you give the best instructions possible to the team, and check whether they are as effective as you thought, or if there are additional changes needed.

Match Plans:
When you decide to use this mode, we strongly recommend using a match plan. This so called match plan is a kind of strategy that automatically kicks in, taking into account a number of different situations. For example, you can choose what substitutions and what tactic changes to make if your team is losing with 20 minutes to go by 2 goals, or if your team is leading by 3 goals at the end of the first half. You can even choose to set-up different expectations for different
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matches. This means that you can set up a group of match plans that would only be used for games that you expect to win, or for games from which you would be happy with a draw. This shows how complex this feature really is, yet it will be very useful and time saving. To help with that, Football manager 2013 has also included a large variety of pre-set match plans. While we encourage you to create your own so that they fit your game style best, they can still be useful as a starting point. We will certainly talk a lot more about how to best use these game plans in future sections of our guide. However, if you want to give it a go, you can do so at any time from the tactics menu by clicking on match plans in the submenu.

With these, and other reductions, (and indeed some additions) you will still need to take care of four principal things: tactics, transfers, contracts and training. While this sounds like a lot of maintenance work, remember that almost all these features have been slimmed down from the full version in order to save you time, and let you enjoy the juice of Football Manager 2013.

Challenge Mode:
In this mode, updated in Football Manager 2013 you get to choose a managerial challenge. You will still be able to choose the nation you want to manage in, and the club you would like to manage. The main difference has to do with the fact that from the moment you will step on the field, you will find yourself faced with a very particular, and quite unusual we may add, short-term scenario. There are four different scenarios, and each one of them has been rated by the developers with two indications about their difficulty and length.

1. The Savior Cometh: (Difficulty: Medium; Length: Medium)

In this challenge your team is in the middle of a relegation battle halfway through a season. The board has fired the previous coach and has chosen you to take the reins and guide the team to safety. When choosing this mode, you are actually allowed to choose any team you want. This means that you could even choose Barcelona, in the Spanish Liga, however know that the system seems to give a worse start-off point if you intend to choose one of the stronger teams. Feel free to choose any team, from any league, the team choice here is not the most important choice to make.

2. Injury Crisis: (Difficulty: Easy; Length: Medium)

This is one of the scenarios that real coaches have nightmares about as your team is swamped with injury problems, meaning that the majority of first team players are currently on the treatment table. Can you overcome this situation, and meet the boards expectations in the league? If you want to take on this challenge, we recommend choosing one of the stronger, wealthier clubs. These clubs usually tend to have a lot more players, making the challenge easier to overcome. However, know that the target is to meet the boards expectations, which means that a stronger club, is undoubtedly going to have higher expectations. Our team recommendation for this challenge is Manchester City, who plays in the British Premier League.

3. The Invicibles: (Difficulty: Hard; Length: Short)

In this mode you find yourself in an unusually pleasant situation. You are in the middle of an amazing long-run without any defeat. Can you bring your team to extend their record until the end of the season? For this mode, you will definitely need to choose one of the strongest teams in the league, preferably with very good defensive records. You need a team that is well

balanced, a team who plays in a less competitive league in which it can dominate. Our team recommendation here is Barcelona, in the Spanish Liga.

4. You Cant Win Anything with Kids: (Difficulty: Medium; Length: Long)
In this last challenge mode, a group of exceptional youth players has escalated the ranks to join your first team. Can you lead this unusually young team to win silverware? If you decide to play in this mode, you need to choose a team that does not play in the very top-class European leagues. Many of the teams in Brazil, where there is a fast yet, less physical game style would suit this challenge, however our first choice here would be FC Porto (in the game called FCP), a team that plays in the Portuguese Premier League, and that won the Champions League in 2004 with a relatively young team. Note that we discourage inexperienced players from starting here, as even though these challenges are typically short-term, it generally takes a lot of experience and talent to be able to successfully overcome them. This however is a great place for more experienced players to break up the monotony of managing a club over and over again, and get more experience of club management in different scenarios.

Other New Features:

Tutorials:
In the new Football Manager 2013 there are a number of additional tutorials on many different topics. While we suggest you listen to them to learn how to do what, know that they are not a replacement for this guide: they will help you better understand how to use the game, but they wont give you the strategies that you need to know in order to win.

End of the Season Feedback:

The board will now send you an e-mail in which it will give general feedback on their satisfaction of your performance. Dont let this get on your mind too much, if they confirmed you again for next season, they are still on your side, and with this guide, you will be back stronger than ever. Also at the end of the season, your head scout will give you a general report on your teams squad. This is the more important feedback of the two, and make sure to evaluate the scouts suggestions by taking these ea sy, but important steps: - Always make sure that there are enough players to fit each position of the different formations you are thinking of using; - Make sure that you also have some extra players of pretty good quality to cover each of the positions, in case some of the starting players get booked or even injured for an extended period of time.

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Key Shortcuts:
Football Manager 2013 includes a number of new keyboard short-cuts, but unfortunately some of them are different from previous versions. Be sure to check them out inside of the game, in the preferences section. There, you will also be able to change them, so if there is any other game you are used to, you can coordinate them between the two. However, if you dont have time, dont worry, we have put together a list of some of the most important ones for you: 1. Save Game / Save Game As: a. Windows: Control + S / Control + Shift + S; b. Mac: Command + S / Command + Shift + S. 2. Interface Back / Forward: a. Windows: Left Arrow / Right Arrow; b. Mac: Left Arrow / Right Arrow. 3. Match Speed: Fast / Medium / Slow: a. Windows: Shift + L / Shift + K / Shift + J; b. Mac: Shift + L / Shift + K / Shift + J; 4. Go to Team Squad / Tactics: a. Windows: F3 / Control + T; b. Mac: F3 / Command + T; 5. Toggle Full Screen: a. Windows: Alt + Return; b. Mac: Option + Return.

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Transfers:
Some of the many interesting new features of Football Manager 2013 are included in the transfer windows. Now you can finally type in the amount that you would like to offer for a player, instead of having to painfully select it. Additionally, you have the option to lock your offer on the right of the screen, one of the many new features of Football Manager 2013. Select the little lock symbol, and your offer will be final, meaning that you wont accept any negotiations on this offer, so that you wont be asked over and over again for a higher price. While this is a great feature that we find useful, make sure to not use it with the players you really want, as it may prevent you from getting them for just a small price change.

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Comparisons:
Football Manager 2013 implemented a whole new way of comparing players. To compare two different players, click on the first players profile screen, then the seconds and then click on Compare with. There is now a bar that allows you to choose the basis for the comparison between the two selected players. Use this feature when comparing possible incoming transfers, or to choose who should be in the first team or not. When using the attributes criteria, always remember to use the highlight key attributes for role button on the right hand side of the screen to select the position that you are interested in for these players. This feature will highlight the relevant areas for the position, making it easier for you to evaluate the players capabilities to fit in the role you have selected. This feature proves to be very helpful also when looking at prospective staff.

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Players Prices and Countries Tax Rates:

Football Manager 2013 finally caught up with the reality that younger players with the possibility of a bright future are much more valuable than similarly skilled players who are a little bit older. While this may be seen as a disadvantage, since we all like to grow younger players into our clubs, there is also a huge opportunity to be taken here. Some older players will cost relatively less but will still perform very well. This is perfect if you need someone who is good to fill in a position, but you dont have too much money to spend. Each countrys tax regime is taken into account when agents and players evaluate offers and contracts. This means that when two clubs based in different countries make similar offers to the same player, the player will take into account the aftertax wages when deciding which team to work for. To make sure to not let this happen to you, make sure to check the bottom of the screen for the after-tax amount you are offering.

Press Interviews:
In this new version of Football Manager, you can now choose the tone that you will use in press interviews or conferences. Choose anything between Aggressive, Assertive, Passionate, Calm, Cautious or Reluctant. We recommend changing your tone often to reflect the situation. If you are always aggressive, the press wont make any favors in the future, but if you are always Calm, the fans might think you lack passion or the guts to guide your team forward.

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National Leagues Updates:

Football Manager 2013 also includes some new features that were recently added in the real British Barclays Premier League, and updated some features to better reflect the reality. Here are the main updates as well as how you can take advantage of them. Introduction of the Professional Development League, an Under-21 league for the major British teams. This feature allows these clubs to have an under-21 team that competes in this league, allowing younger players to gain more experience. Choose one of the clubs participating in this program if you want to make sure to have a way to grow younger players effectively. The five British clubs with the best-performing under-21 teams are: 1. Liverpool; 2. West Ham United; 3. Tottenham Hotspur; 4. Manchester United; 5. Arsenal. The way Football Manager 2013 deals with the coownership of players in the Spanish and the Italian leagues has been updated and is now more realistic than ever. You can now exchange your players for a 50% coownership of another clubs player. This may be key in getting to use first quality players, without paying the full price for them. There is now the addition of MLS academy teams of under-18 years olds. This reflects how the MLS handles the under-18 teams, and while you cant manage them, you can organize friendly games against them.

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