Franchise Hockey Manager 4 - Part 2

Arpeggio

Registered User
Jul 20, 2006
9,014
3,511
Edmonton
Is FHM 4 much of a step up on FHM 3 or is it worth it to just wait for 5 now?

The only annoyance I've had with FHM 3 is that I can't win the cup. No matter how much I stack my team, or how successful I am in the regular season, my team gets destroyed in the playoffs. I'll run into a series where my team gets completely outplayed by a team they've played well against in the regular season, happens every year and I don't know what I can do about it.
 

KnightAttack

Registered User
Jan 3, 2017
279
175
Canada
Is FHM 4 much of a step up on FHM 3 or is it worth it to just wait for 5 now?

The only annoyance I've had with FHM 3 is that I can't win the cup. No matter how much I stack my team, or how successful I am in the regular season, my team gets destroyed in the playoffs. I'll run into a series where my team gets completely outplayed by a team they've played well against in the regular season, happens every year and I don't know what I can do about it.

FHM4 graphically didn't change much, but it is a vastly superior game (engine, and many other improvements) in every way. However I'm still not going to guarantee you can win a Cup. It's not easy...it never is, but without seeing your team and information I can't really comment on it more.
 

filip85

Registered User
Feb 7, 2017
1,589
779
Is FHM 4 much of a step up on FHM 3 or is it worth it to just wait for 5 now?

The only annoyance I've had with FHM 3 is that I can't win the cup. No matter how much I stack my team, or how successful I am in the regular season, my team gets destroyed in the playoffs. I'll run into a series where my team gets completely outplayed by a team they've played well against in the regular season, happens every year and I don't know what I can do about it.

Tactics are very important as well, maybe you are not using right one :) I also experienced bad results with very good to great teams if I used wrong tactic.
 

Arpeggio

Registered User
Jul 20, 2006
9,014
3,511
Edmonton
FHM4 graphically didn't change much, but it is a vastly superior game (engine, and many other improvements) in every way. However I'm still not going to guarantee you can win a Cup. It's not easy...it never is, but without seeing your team and information I can't really comment on it more.

Yeah I mean it doesn't bother me too much, kind of works as a storyline that keeps me invested in the game. Like I just had the best season I'll ever have with this team (130+ points) and still couldn't win, and now I can't afford to keep them together.

I admit I'm not quite sure I understand the countering roles, but I usually have the tactical advantage, and I'm not playing all-out offence or anything like that. I'm going to start telling the players to shoot at the goalies' weakness, I hadn't really worried about that before.
 

KnightAttack

Registered User
Jan 3, 2017
279
175
Canada
Thank you. Please let me know what you find out. I don't prefer to change contracts and throw off the fairness balance of the game. Changing my teams' budget to match the "rich team's budget" still keeps all teams on more of an even playing field. If it's not an option, please consider adding this feature. An owner should be open to raising the budget if you've had success, but that doesn't seem to be the case in this game. Thank you for your consideration.

The AI owners will raise budgets and you will find budgets differ from team to team over time. But I did double check and right now it isn't possible to edit the budget.
 

BogsDiamond

Anybody get 2 U yet?
Mar 16, 2008
1,132
79
Here's to hoping Online leagues are brought back in for FHM5. I'm in an online FHM2 league and it's a lot of fun.
But I'd love to have some of the features that have been added since then.
If it's not, then I'm gonna slew foot that jerk Derek Sutton again.
 

KnightAttack

Registered User
Jan 3, 2017
279
175
Canada
Here's to hoping Online leagues are brought back in for FHM5. I'm in an online FHM2 league and it's a lot of fun.
But I'd love to have some of the features that have been added since then.
If it's not, then I'm gonna slew foot that jerk Derek Sutton again.

I have continued to express this sentiment from our community. However no comment right now, other than that we are listening.
 
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BogsDiamond

Anybody get 2 U yet?
Mar 16, 2008
1,132
79
I have continued to express this sentiment from our community. However no comment right now, other than that we are listening.

Thanks for the update Knight.
It's disappointing to hear this, but hopefully it makes its way back into the app someday soon.
 

KnightAttack

Registered User
Jan 3, 2017
279
175
Canada
Thanks for the update Knight.
It's disappointing to hear this, but hopefully it makes its way back into the app someday soon.

Well let me be clear here: I don't mean it in either a good or bad way. I just want you to know that I (as the Community Manager) am listening and making sure your voice is heard.

In fact if I said one way or another that could reveal something we may or may not be working on for FHM5, and we're not talking about it yet. But development is well underway at this point.
 

BigRig4

Registered User
Feb 22, 2014
3,037
1,049
I'm looking to grab one of the hockey simulation games, is FHM4 better than the Eastside series? I have OOTP baseball and love it fwiw and I believe its the same devs as FHM.
 

archibalduk

EHM The Blue Line
Oct 29, 2005
391
349
England
It's a very subjective answer. Some will say EHM is better than FHM and others will say FHM is better than EHM. IMO they both have their strengths and weaknesses. I don't know what your budget is but EHM is often on sale for about £5 or £7.50 on Steam and so you could just buy the both of them. You might want to wait for FHM 5 now that the season is over though.

That's right - FHM is by OOTP who also develop OOTP Baseball.
 
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Matt UK

Registered User
Mar 31, 2012
286
65
Wales, UK
I admit I'm not quite sure I understand the countering roles, but I usually have the tactical advantage, and I'm not playing all-out offence or anything like that. I'm going to start telling the players to shoot at the goalies' weakness, I hadn't really worried about that before.

That's one part of the game which i don't like, it just feels like a lottery to me.
 

umwoz

Registered User
Feb 28, 2010
4,274
40
I just drafted Svechnikov in the first year draft, and after signing him and having him on the roster in July for 2 weeks, is potential has dropped to a 4.0 Star. I see that his training suggests he's not ready for the NHL, but training camp isn't even underway. Did he actually drop due to being on my roster or was this a coincidence and he would've dropped anyways?

EDIT: Also seems that in the time I've signed him, Barrie has the max number of foreigners. Now a 1-star ability player is stuck on my NHL roster this season. Seems a little broken, no?
 
Last edited:

BogsDiamond

Anybody get 2 U yet?
Mar 16, 2008
1,132
79
I'm looking to grab one of the hockey simulation games, is FHM4 better than the Eastside series? I have OOTP baseball and love it fwiw and I believe its the same devs as FHM.

I've always felt that FHM has the more realistic sim stats than EHM.
But EHM allows for online leagues.
Both are good games and fairly inexpensive. If your budget allows, I'd do what archibalduk suggests and try both. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
 
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KnightAttack

Registered User
Jan 3, 2017
279
175
Canada
I just drafted Svechnikov in the first year draft, and after signing him and having him on the roster in July for 2 weeks, is potential has dropped to a 4.0 Star. I see that his training suggests he's not ready for the NHL, but training camp isn't even underway. Did he actually drop due to being on my roster or was this a coincidence and he would've dropped anyways?

EDIT: Also seems that in the time I've signed him, Barrie has the max number of foreigners. Now a 1-star ability player is stuck on my NHL roster this season. Seems a little broken, no?

Wait what? That's happening again? We had that issue before but we've fixed it. Did you just start a regular game or ? I would recommend turning on Commissioner Mode and just assigning him down.
 

umwoz

Registered User
Feb 28, 2010
4,274
40
Wait what? That's happening again? We had that issue before but we've fixed it. Did you just start a regular game or ? I would recommend turning on Commissioner Mode and just assigning him down.

Is this affecting us potential? Cause he was a 5.0a before I did it and immediately went to a 4.0a
 

KnightAttack

Registered User
Jan 3, 2017
279
175
Canada
Is this affecting us potential? Cause he was a 5.0a before I did it and immediately went to a 4.0a

No....well, maybe a bit. Potential can fluctuate a bit depending a variety of factors. The first thing I would ask was how well did you have him Scouted? You said A, but are you sure your Scouts had him at 5.0 or was that that for instance the Main Scouting list rank? There can be errors in Scouting. At times rating can flux if a player is unhappy or in a league where they're playing big minutes and feeling overwhelmed. However don't fret at his potential dropping from 5 to a 4. They can recover, or beat abilities. And regardless a 4 star player is really good.

Keep in mind we redid the rankings to better use the full scale of stars. A 2 star player is an average NHL player in the league. I wrote this a while ago but it's still relevant:

The star ratings are relative to the league you're currently employed in (or the NHL if you're unemployed), so the same player will have different star ratings from different perspectives (e.g., an NHL team may see him as 1-star, where he might be 3-star in the ECHL.) Typically, think of it like this:
0.5 - Below level - Don't start this player unless you have to.
1 - Emergency Call up - Start this player when you have to.
1.5 - 13th man/7th Defenseman. - Good to have around and will play some - can play better than expected.
2.0 - Depth - A league-ready player who will contribute when the matchup is right.
2.5 - Bottom 6 forward/low pairing D - Can contribute when necessary.
3.0 - League ready players. Will contribute nightly.
3.5 - 5.0 - Top league players.
Please note though: It's also good to note (Current) Ability vs Potential. A Five star potential with a one star current ability is much better suited for a lower level than playing on your 4th line.
Potential is just the maximum star rating he's expected to reach in the future; he may or may not actually reach it (and there's a small chance he could exceed it as well.)
 

umwoz

Registered User
Feb 28, 2010
4,274
40
Having a new issue with the game. My laptop died while playing and now my main game file says "Invalid Database Version" when I try to load it.
 

bumblebeeman

Registered User
Mar 16, 2016
1,955
1,222
So I just bought the game yesterday, I put a few hours into it but it crashed and my only save can't open (it just gets to 38% load leagues). Is there any way to fix this or is it hopeless?
 

KnightAttack

Registered User
Jan 3, 2017
279
175
Canada
Having a new issue with the game. My laptop died while playing and now my main game file says "Invalid Database Version" when I try to load it.

That sounds like something corrupted. It may be the save or something in the game itself. Either way, copy and paste the save out, try using one of the rolling saves (labelled RS_One or Two in the save file itself). But you may just need to delete and reinstall.

So I just bought the game yesterday, I put a few hours into it but it crashed and my only save can't open (it just gets to 38% load leagues). Is there any way to fix this or is it hopeless?

If there's a crash, there's usually a reason why, but it's hard to know that reason. Two things to do: (1) Have you tried to start a new game? Just to make sure it's not the program conflicting with something. (2) For the most part, we rely on our community to help us by uploading saves when you're having issues. Every PC/Hardware is going to run the game a little different, and there's a lot of information we can dissect with your help. I'll PM you here shortly.
 

filip85

Registered User
Feb 7, 2017
1,589
779
Perfect regular season for me in Asian league :)

fhm4.png
 

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