July 20, 2006

LLM stands for Lower League Management.

The idea behind LLM is that players of the FM (and CM) series of games attempt to play in the most realistic way possible within the confines of the game.

What this means is that the player starts out with a team from the lowest playable league in a given country. Countries with just one league can be considered for LLM only if the standard is not too high (e.g. the Welsh Premier League). In one league countries it is important that the team you choose is not one of the top teams in that league (e.g. TNS in Wales from the previous example), as they are not considered suitably challenging. If in doubt you can always ask FRANK to choose a team for you.http://www.fm-britain.co.uk/wp-admin/post.php?post=104&action=edit&message=1

Furthermore, the challenge of an LLM game is not to ‘win everything’, but simply to undertake a career with all the ups and downs that would be expected within the real football world. In fact, many LLMers (commonly called LLaMas) hold those who fail spectacularly in higher regard than those who succeed. If the worst happens and you get sacked, simply apply for another job with another club when one becomes available. Of course, if you do win stuff, that’s all good, but it is not the ‘point’ of the game. You’ll find the feeling of satisfaction if you finally do win some silverware or get a hard fought promotion all the greater if you play this way.

Advice & Tips

Further to this philosophy, real managers do not swap tactics, strategic tips, or give advice to other managers on what players to buy. Therefore it is expressly forbidden for LLMs to share their tactics with anyone else, or to use someone else’s tactics, or even to give advice or tips to another manager. Training regimes also fall under this restriction too. Likewise, player naming of any kind is also forbidden (this rule extends to former players too, or even ‘not real’ players). The reason for this complete ban on naming is due to the ‘floodgate’ scenario. If a newbie sees a player name, regardless of whether the player is current or made up, they may think that it is ok to name their own players and we get a flood of player naming. The easiest way around this is to forbid any naming.

Finding Players

Real life managers do not have use of a ‘Player Search’ button, so this feature of the FM games is not allowed in a LLM game. Instead using scouts is the method you use to discover players. It is not the only way, however - if you play a team where a player kicks ass, then scout him. If you hear a media report about a player and like what you hear, scout him. Send your scouts on missions (using SWYCT - see below). Regardless of how the player came to your attention, no player can be purchased without first having had the once over by your scouts (of course, you do not have to listen to their advice however).

Scouting

Because most lower league teams do not have the finances to send scouts all over the world, the Scout Where You Can Tour (SWYCT) rule is generally taken as the best way to decide where you can send your scouts. At the beginning of the season you can send your players on a friendly tour. The game restricts where you can go, depending on your level and finances. This is seen as the most realistic way of deciding where you can afford to send your scouts too. Don’t worry about the future; as your club becomes bigger or should you get a job at a bigger club, then your touring options will expand to suit. If you are managing a club in Continental Europe, South America or Asia then it is also acceptable to scout countries which border yours.

Staff

A note on staff: Ideally, the only way to recruit staff would be through the job centre. However, this doesn’t actually work at all well (some would say at all), so for staff it is ok to use the staff search feature. However, you should attempt to restrict your searches to staff with equal or lesser reputation than yourself (and again try to use the SWYCT rule when deciding how far afield you can extend your search, although for staff this rule can be relaxed in extremis).

The Spawn of Satan

Finally, in order to maintain fairness in our games, any use of editors, alterations to the database or third party updates are strictly forbidden. The game must be played as is out of the box, plus any official patches or updates only. I trust this rule needs no explanation as it is fairly obvious that use of such would/could seriously unbalance the game. Graphics or sound add-ons are acceptable as long as they don’t change any data in the game itself.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: I’ve heard some say that you cannot be a part-time LLaMa. Does this mean I cannot play a LLM game if I manage Chelsea (for example) in another save?

A: Strictly speaking this is indeed the case - do real managers start at the top? While there are exceptions to this in real-life (e.g. Chris Coleman), it is usually the case that the manager in question was already a top-class professional before being offered a managerial post. Unknowns start at the bottom and thus, so do LLMers. Also, knowledge gained from managing a higher level team can be used to ‘cheat’ when playing a LLM game and is therefore frowned upon. However, this is a game, and is meant to be fun. Therefore if you feel like trying out the LLM style of play, then feel free to do so. Who knows, you may come to the conclusion, as many of us have, that this style of playing is the ONLY way to play.

Q: I can use the internet to look for out of contract players, as can real-life managers. Why can’t I use the player search function to simulate this?

A: Real life managers use their scouting network. While the scouting system, at present, is not ideal, it is the closest we can get in the game to how it is done in real life. Therefore, in LLM games, this is how we find players. No internet search gives the kind of detail given in the player search, and it is easily open to abuse, therefore LLMs do not use it.

Q: It’s impossible not to know about players in real-life from the media and such. How can we pretend not to know about them in the game?

A: Role play. In the game your manager doesn’t know anything about the real world - all his information comes from the gameworld’s media. It’s perfectly acceptable for your manager to take an interest in a player mentioned by the in-game media. It will be a matter for your conscience if you decide to go for a player you know to be good in real-life that your scouts don’t like the look of (plus there is no guarantee that the player will actually be any good in the game). If you truly embrace the LLM way of playing, the choice will be easy.

Q: I have a third-party update which just contains the latest transfers. Can I use this?

A: Unfortunately, no. There is no way to check if the author didn’t up the PA, for example, of a player in his favourite/local team, just to give one example. Because of this only official updates are allowed.

Q: I find these restrictions really stupid. Who’s going to know if I don’t actually follow the rules in my game?

A: Sometimes people will be able to tell, most times they won’t. It doesn’t really matter at the end of the day - it’s your game. You don’t have to play this way, but if you wish to play the LLM way, then you’ll WANT to abide by these guidelines and rules. In fact, if you ‘get it’ you won’t need anyone else telling you what the rules are, you’ll just naturally play that way. Further, you won’t find any LLMs giving you more than a mild pat on the back for getting promotion 3 successive seasons running and winning the FA CUP with Workington (if not outright ridicule for obviously cheating your little ass off). In fact you’re more likely to get higher praise for getting knocked out in the first round of every cup you enter and being relegated two seasons running and being sacked. Such is LLM.

Q: I’ve played six seasons with my (crap LL team) and have had an offer from Everton/England/other to manage them. Can I?

A: If you feel it’s realistic to do so. If you’ve had phenomenal success (relatively) with your team, then certainly. LLM isn’t about solely managing lower-league teams, it’s just a starting point and an ethos. Success, if deserved, is perfectly acceptable. Obviously, if you’ve barely staved off relegation for the third successive season, then it would be unrealistic to get these offers, so you should bite the bullet and turn them down. Remember, in the final analysis, you are the ultimate arbiter of what is fair and right in your game. Part of the LLM ethos is that you will not exploit quirks of the game engine, silly things the game throws up which would be unrealistic or other loopholes to gain an unfair advantage. You play LLM because you want as realistic a game experience as the game will allow and it is entirely down to you to maintain the integrity of your own game.