8. Better Board AI
Peter Byrne/PA Wire/Press Association ImagesFor all FM's style, panache and sheer meticulous detail when it comes to world-building, there is sadly one place where it occasionally lets itself down the AI. While everyone would gladly prostrate themselves to Miles Jacobson and his team of programming warlocks for crafting this wonderful world, when you're swearing at your board for making head-thunkingly awful decisions over and over again, such gratitude falls into the background very, very quickly. There's no other way of saying it compared to other areas of the game, the AI at board level is stripped down, and incapable of grasping nuance. Oftentimes, you'll find yourself in a packed league where there might only be six points between second and tenth, meaning you can plummet up and down the league like a yo-yo on crack. This would be all well and good, but whereas dropping down a few places in a tight league would be treated with a pinch of salt in real life, the virtual board take it as an opportunity to light the beacons and beckon you to the dreaded performance interview. What was once a blip or a set-back becomes something altogether more crippling, and you're left shaking your fist as they hand you your P45 and change the locks to your office. Basically, what the AI needs is just a better reading of context, and looking beyond the baseline numbers. On paper, being predicted fifth and languishing in eleventh looks bad. But if the difference between those places is only six points, then there's no need to make the manager clear their desk and send their virtual empire crashing down around their ears.