[Dandelion]

Originally Posted by jdavidbakr

That's more or less what I mean, the game appears to be designed with the end result of accurate stats being the primary goal rather than simulating what happens on each play. So, you're more or less correct in that it combines all the skills of various key players and comes up with a dice roll result. It differs from madden because madden takes into account the position on the field of the player where FOF doesn't. How far a player runs after making a catch, for example, is a factor of his big play receiving and probably the speed of the covering CB and S, but not where they might have been as the play unfolds.

Easy to test, I guess.. go to SP-DIY mode (Singleplayer, do it yourself.. the playcalling, that is..) and send Your FL1 on lots of short cross routes, then see how often he gets a long yardage catch, who makes the tackle, etc. etc.
The difference between Madden and FOF is - imho - not position of players on the field. It's just that in Madden the player with the joystick is some random factor in the game, which is simulated in FOF by a dice roll
In Madden you see some pixels running across the field, catching some pixels thrown at them.. in FOF you have a "FL1 runs route $1, goes into Zone$12 triggering ZoneDefSkill of FS1 - compare Skills, get result. If result is positive Yardage is xx yard gain"
Of course that looks different on the first glance. But depending on how deep that comparisions are made, there is no need for pixels on a field to get a simulation that is even closer to reality than Madden (I stopped playing Madden with 2005 or so, as it only yielded absolutely unrealistic results from the statistic view.. too many highscoring 300+ yard passing games for my taste..)

It yields fairly good results, but if you think about how the simulation is actually run it may sway some of the details of how you play it.

That's the thing.. DO we KNOW how the simulation in FOF is run? I mean, do we know how deep the simulation is? There's a lot that can be put into such a simulation.. a lot of modifiers, triggered by different things.. Looks to me like You see it as a lot more shallow than I do

Could be that I'm totally wrong, but after 13 seasons with 20-23 games each - preseason, playoffs and bowl included sometimes - I tend to see a "flow" in the messages given for each play. Sometimes a computer controlled team gets hammered all game long, just to get one good drive going in the middle.. all the time before and after they go 3 and out, but that one drive goes over the field with five good plays in a row.. or if there's an interception or fumble in the game.. more than once - a lot more than once.. - there's an interception or fumble shortly after for the other side, giving the ball back into the hands of the previous possessor.. as if the players had been fired up to get the ball back for their side.. could easily be done by some modyfiers in the code of FOF..
So the thing seems to be, that I see more detail in the game than You do.. and I play the game according to my view and of course look for answers according to my view
The numbercrunchers out there could do a lot to prove who of us is more right than the other..

And no, I've never done the SP where you call the plays

hmmm.. maybe You should give it a try..