quote:

ORIGINAL: Amaroq

You should be able to create a set-up which matches MLB, because you can by-hand-edit the budgets for each team. You just need to decide what they are / do the research yourself.

I've done something like this, where I've created a "Quick Start" for 1901, with the team names, ballparks, and financials that I want to play with; if I start a new game, I can pick up my "Quick Start" for that year, and go from there.

The reason there isn't one in the shipping game is an intentional design decision on Shaun's part: he felt that the exaggerated differences between clubs in the real major leagues created too much disparity in the game for a new player: e.g., if I'm a new player and I play one career as the Yankees, winning everything under the sun, I may give up on the grounds that "This game is too easy." Alternately, if I come in as the Pirates, and no matter what I do, any time I get a good player his salary demands immediately price him off my team, I might decide "This game is too hard."

Personally, I think that's a mistake - I like the financial challenge inherent in Football Manager 2005 when you take over a team that's struggling financially and "turning a profit" becomes more important and more challenging than "success on the pitch", but that's just me. Shaun's point gets a lot of support if you read the FM forum, because you will regularly see players complaining "This game is too easy" in a post adjacent to somebody else's complaint "This game is too hard". Well, no, honestly its neither, and it has all to do with what your starting conditions are and which team you chose to play - but the first-time user has a hard time seeing that.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Amaroq

...I've created a "Quick Start" for 1901, with the team names, ballparks, and financials that I want to play with; if I start a new game, I can pick up my "Quick Start" for that year, and go from there.