The poor AI player development issue in FM...
This has cropped up again on the SI forums. The AI in FM just isn't capable of developing their newgen players as well as the human manager can.
The problem is complex and something SI work on with each version, but one of the main factors that the community can test themselves thanks to the editor is the influence that competitive matches against reserve team matches have on player development.
AI squads are often full of players who stagnate because they don't get much game time and often don't go out on loan. Whereas we human managers (the smart ones anyway!) always get rid of our deadwood and slimline our squads, making sure everyone gets some form of football during a season - whether its 1st team, out on loan, reserve team, youth games, or even friendly tour matches now and then.
In FM12 I tried to help the AI with this problem by making hundreds of top quality managers and giving them the highest attributes in squad rotation and the use of young players. It didn't work, no significant change in AI behavior was noticed.
This year I've come at this problem from a different angle. Instead of looking at the AI managers, I began looking at what use reserve leagues are. They don't seem to make a massive impact on a players development since I think FM treats reserve games as mere friendlies - i.e. their influence on player development seems negligible.
So I decided to scrap the reserve system in my game and replace it with a more competitive league. Using "secondary" leagues and creating "B" teams for 30 English clubs, I made an "Academy School of Excellence" league structure that runs parallel to the normal English league structure.
Its encouraging to see AI managers moving players in and out of these "B" teams throughout a season. Players are getting game time, but more importantly they're getting it in competitive B-team games in a competitive secondary league. Hopefully this will have some influence on how players develop. It'll take 20-25 seasons before its worth comparing a long term save with these academy leagues against a normal FM13 save that still uses reserve leagues.
This has cropped up again on the SI forums. The AI in FM just isn't capable of developing their newgen players as well as the human manager can.
The problem is complex and something SI work on with each version, but one of the main factors that the community can test themselves thanks to the editor is the influence that competitive matches against reserve team matches have on player development.
AI squads are often full of players who stagnate because they don't get much game time and often don't go out on loan. Whereas we human managers (the smart ones anyway!) always get rid of our deadwood and slimline our squads, making sure everyone gets some form of football during a season - whether its 1st team, out on loan, reserve team, youth games, or even friendly tour matches now and then.
In FM12 I tried to help the AI with this problem by making hundreds of top quality managers and giving them the highest attributes in squad rotation and the use of young players. It didn't work, no significant change in AI behavior was noticed.
This year I've come at this problem from a different angle. Instead of looking at the AI managers, I began looking at what use reserve leagues are. They don't seem to make a massive impact on a players development since I think FM treats reserve games as mere friendlies - i.e. their influence on player development seems negligible.
So I decided to scrap the reserve system in my game and replace it with a more competitive league. Using "secondary" leagues and creating "B" teams for 30 English clubs, I made an "Academy School of Excellence" league structure that runs parallel to the normal English league structure.
Its encouraging to see AI managers moving players in and out of these "B" teams throughout a season. Players are getting game time, but more importantly they're getting it in competitive B-team games in a competitive secondary league. Hopefully this will have some influence on how players develop. It'll take 20-25 seasons before its worth comparing a long term save with these academy leagues against a normal FM13 save that still uses reserve leagues.