Why am I so bad at this game?

[NuWhales]

Originally Posted by Antonin

That's exactly how I feel. I really hope FHM6 is not like FM, which cheats. I say that because I have been playing FM on and off since late 2001, when it was called Championship Manager 01/02. No other choices.

I am playing as the newly resurrected Cleveland Barons. We are in our first season. The team is a bunch of mostly low level free agents. Some players rated 2.5 mixed in. I don't expect the team to be very good, but we are losing by huge margins to just about everyone in the NHL. I have read some tactical advice here, and tried to implement it, but nothing seems to change. I'm specifically talking about things like shots on goal. Opponents have 40, 50 or more shots on goal, while my team has fewer than 10. Even when I instruct my best shooters to shoot much more. Even when, in the 3rd period, I instruct everybody to shoot much more.

Letting the AI set roles and lines doesn't help. Before my last game, against Toronto, I discovered that my 2 best offensive players were not even dressed.

I wish there was a way to see player ratings in-game, when you are in the tactics section, giving instructions to individual players. How can I tell my best shooters to shoot more in the 2nd period if I can't click on a name and see who my best shooters are? How can I adjust roles during a game when I can't see which things a particular player is good at?

Oof. I feel your pain. Expansion is difficult. I'd be curious to see who you picked and what your theory was around building the team. I've done it a bunch of times & there are a couple of (non-tactical) pieces of advice I'd offer:

--Don't be afraid to pick the pockets of a few European leagues during the FA period immediately after expansion. There are always a couple of solid depth pieces you can find if you really scour who's out there in Europe. The quality of your roster sounds weak enough that a few KHL vets or even pieces from the Swiss league (I once squeezed an 18-goal season out of Mark Arcobello in the NHL after pulling him back from the NL.) could improve it. Lots of KHL players will have their rights owned by the NHL, but there are a few diamonds in the rough.

--Related to my above: Scouting is a crucial, cheap way to ensure that you improve massively in years 2, 3, and 4. You're an expansion team, and you should probably go into it thinking Vegas was a fluke. In one of my favorite expansion sims, I hired Scott Mellanby as a scout in my first year and he spotted variable potential in Noel Gunler. I selected Gunler 2nd over a bunch of guys who were projected to be way, way better, but several years in, he's leading the league in goals. I also have Matthew Savoie. I got these guys partly because I was really, really bad in the first couple of years.

--I really agree with the above posters that cleaning house on your coaching staff should be one of your first priorities when taking over a new franchise, unless you've got really great people in those key roles. The free agent pool for scouts, assistants, even head coaches -- it's loaded enough that you can do well.

In the end, in my opinion FHM is a game that's way more about being a GM than being a coach. Tactics can only do so much for you when your team and coaching staff are poor.