European Leagues and their (non-existing?) farm teams

Redhawks75 · 04-16-2023, 01:25 PM

Being a complete Newbie to FHM (Only played EHM in the past) the learning curve is quite steep.
Anyway I decided to go with the basic route to learn the fundamentals.
Accepting an offer to manage a low tier team.
In my case VÃ¤stervik of the Swedish 2nd league.
Now they're of course one of the poorest teams in the league so your hands are pretty much tied from the get go.
I basically signed one player at the leagues minimum wage and my budget was used up...
That's all fine and dandy since it's pretty expected.
However it seems FHM ties your hands even further when playing around with leagues outside North America which to me makes this setup pretty much unplayable.
So the thing is, I have 4 farm teams at my disposal (all junior hockey affiliations).
BUT to my understanding this is all basically just fluff...?!
Cause at least I can't figure out how all the guys in these teams aren't just unaffiliated players which I can't use, unless I sign them.
Which in a European league doesn't make much sense.
Signing a junior player at the leagues minimum wage still means he has to be a darn good prospect.
IRL a junior player most likely keeps his junior contract until his ice-time on a parent team grants him an automatic minimum league contract.

In other words with my setup I get the leagues lowest budget.
And if one of my guys gets injured...I basically have no options for a replacement (other than just an empty spot I guess?!).
It's not like any of the juniors I (should) have to my disposal are any good so it'd only be for emergencies.
Can anyone confirm that this is how the game is set up?
Cause if it is.
Boy oh boy does that make it difficult to have any form of depth when playing with a shoe string budget.

Lazion · 04-17-2023, 03:18 PM

Unfortunately there is no player loans nor proper junior contracts in the game.
Workaround allows you to sign as many players with league minimum salary in your team despite the budget and/or with some extra hassle you can use commissioner mode to move players around.

I just leave spot open if I need player for just few games. After all, it isn't unheard for poor teams to go in games with a man disadvantage.

Redhawks75 · 04-18-2023, 03:03 AM

Thanks for the reply Lazion!

The game does seem to have a lot of customizability and workarounds to get things closer to one's desire.
For the time being I decided to go down another route with a custom league instead.
Only problem with the customizability is of course that lack of explanations in the manual or otherwise.
So a lot of time-consuming trial and error seems needed.
It is what it is and I'm sure I'll love it down the road when everything is set up.

04-16-2023, 01:25 PM	#1
Redhawks75 Bat Boy Join Date: Apr 2023 Posts: 3	European Leagues and their (non-existing?) farm teams Being a complete Newbie to FHM (Only played EHM in the past) the learning curve is quite steep. Anyway I decided to go with the basic route to learn the fundamentals. Accepting an offer to manage a low tier team. In my case VÃ¤stervik of the Swedish 2nd league. Now they're of course one of the poorest teams in the league so your hands are pretty much tied from the get go. I basically signed one player at the leagues minimum wage and my budget was used up... That's all fine and dandy since it's pretty expected. However it seems FHM ties your hands even further when playing around with leagues outside North America which to me makes this setup pretty much unplayable. So the thing is, I have 4 farm teams at my disposal (all junior hockey affiliations). BUT to my understanding this is all basically just fluff...?! Cause at least I can't figure out how all the guys in these teams aren't just unaffiliated players which I can't use, unless I sign them. Which in a European league doesn't make much sense. Signing a junior player at the leagues minimum wage still means he has to be a darn good prospect. IRL a junior player most likely keeps his junior contract until his ice-time on a parent team grants him an automatic minimum league contract. In other words with my setup I get the leagues lowest budget. And if one of my guys gets injured...I basically have no options for a replacement (other than just an empty spot I guess?!). It's not like any of the juniors I (should) have to my disposal are any good so it'd only be for emergencies. Can anyone confirm that this is how the game is set up? Cause if it is. Boy oh boy does that make it difficult to have any form of depth when playing with a shoe string budget.

04-17-2023, 03:18 PM	#2
Lazion Moderator Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Finland Posts: 2,116	Unfortunately there is no player loans nor proper junior contracts in the game. Workaround allows you to sign as many players with league minimum salary in your team despite the budget and/or with some extra hassle you can use commissioner mode to move players around. I just leave spot open if I need player for just few games. After all, it isn't unheard for poor teams to go in games with a man disadvantage. __________________ FHM Researcher

04-18-2023, 03:03 AM	#3
Redhawks75 Bat Boy Join Date: Apr 2023 Posts: 3	Thanks for the reply Lazion! The game does seem to have a lot of customizability and workarounds to get things closer to one's desire. For the time being I decided to go down another route with a custom league instead. Only problem with the customizability is of course that lack of explanations in the manual or otherwise. So a lot of time-consuming trial and error seems needed. It is what it is and I'm sure I'll love it down the road when everything is set up.