What are good house rules for single player?

[The Orange Man]

Looks like I'm finally going to break down and get FOF in the next day or so.

Can anyone advise where the AI is particularly weak and suggest house rules to make the game fair without losing too much enjoyment and realism?

For instance, I think I've read the AI doesn't manage the salary cap that well and was thinking I would have a rule where I could only sign one free agent each year that was not already on my team.

[molson]

Here's what I do.

-No signing injured free agents. It's too easy to get studs for cheap that way.
-I must bring a full 60-man roster into training camp. Then I must always maintain a full 53 man roster (plus injured reserve guys). Which basically reduces my salary cap a bit from it would be if I only brought in guys who I thought had a chance to make the team.
-I only allow myself to offer the minimum salary to non-drafted players after the draft. It's too easy to offer $10k more and get anyone you want.
-No contract re-negotiations during regular season. One, it makes going through the season more fun, because I don't have to think about contracts, and two, it makes me make tough decisions about cutting guys once injuries hit, or about how much room under the cap to give myself before the season start.
-I'm not allowed to tweak down or re-structure players' free agency or renegotiation offers. Again, this is a big time saver, I don't have to fiddle around too much with contracts. I am allowed to offer guys more than they're asking.
-I can't make any moves during the playoffs if I don't make the playoffs, or after I've been eliminated from the playoffs. Minor thing, but it seems like cheating to be signing and cutting guys at that stage in preparation for next year.

[corbes]

I play SP with only two rules:

No free agents, ever. Only draft picks and renegotiations. Undrafted free agents are permitted, but only to fill out the team. Ideally the 53-man roster consists of players you've drafted in the past 8-10 years.

No trading draft picks, ever. Make the best pick available when it's your turn.

[garion333]

corbes hits the easiest way to make SP fun for me, though I allow signings in FA2 other than UDFA.

The trade AI is much better than before (ie. more strict), but I just don't trade with the AI. It needs all the help it can get as I regularly find near stud WRs in the 3rd round who would have gone top 20 in a MP league.

[Dutch]

If you want a serious challenge, look up some Quilsand fairly intense house rules. :)

[garion333]

If you want a serious challenge, look up some Quiksand fairly intense house rules. :)

FTFY so he won't go down a rabbit hole that doesn't exist.

[Dutch]

Oh lawdy...damn phone texting.

[The Orange Man]

Thanks everyone, will take the suggestions under consideration.

I found Quiksand's thread (presuming it's the one where he charges himself action points for doing various things) but looks way too complicated for me, especially since I've never played any of the FOF versions (only TCY).

I found another thread where the poster said he is not allowed to lose money in any given season - while only raising ticket prices 10% from one season to the next. That sounds like an interesting one but again, probably nothing I could do from the start without knowing the game at all.

[QuikSand]

I think QuikSand house rules are mainly for masochists and shutins. Better to keep it simple.

How about these:

-no varying the requested duration of FA contract offers
-multi year (3+) contract offers must be between 25-50% bonus
-no trading for future 1st round draft picks

That ought to be pretty tricky for a fairly new player.

[stevew]

I must really suck, cause I'm like 20 some years into a career and haven't won once. In previous versions I had to restrict things in order to make it more difficult cause I could usually rip off some extended dynasties.

Also, what's up with the cap increases and the seeming lack of any good players in FA? Is it normal for players over 50 not to hit FA? I think i've routinely been in the 6-7m/year cap increases.

[molson]

Also, what's up with the cap increases and the seeming lack of any good players in FA? Is it normal for players over 50 not to hit FA? I think i've routinely been in the 6-7m/year cap increases.

I've just started to notice that about 15 years in. Everybody had $30+ million in cap space at the end of the FA1, and there wasn't much to spend it on.

[The Orange Man]

Thanks for the responses everyone.

I see that FOF has a lot more to manage than TCY. In TCY, I didn't have the assistants do anything but it seems to me there is too much micromanagement in FOF. Do you guys do everything and if not, what do you allocate to the assistants and scouts?

And do you call your own plays and if so, how long does it take you to play one game? That is the one thing I am least likely to do, unless I want to take five or six hours to play one game, which I kind of don't.

Also, a question: if I do a dispersal draft with fictional players is there a utility (I've seen various links here) that gives you the list of the player pool and their attributes so you can work with that.

As for house rules, I am going to figure that out as I play my first season, deciding on the spot what I am allowed and not allowed to do, but leaning closest to corbes rules where you can't trade and only sign your own players.

[garion333]

Do as much or as little as you feel like doing. That's how learning any similar goes, eh?

Gameplanning is definitely the tougher nut to cracking than drafting. Most people suggest rexxing your game plans until you're comfortable elsewhere. So, do depth charts, drafting and free agency while letting the game decide on a game plan that's somewhat tailored to your players.

I never call my own plays. While it's a nice feature to have it's not the focus of FOF and I play other games when I want to call plays.

[The Orange Man]

What I ended up doing is play as GM only. So, anything a coach would do, like setting depth charts and game plans, I leave to my own coaches. Position changes? Coaches. Special teams? Coaches. Trying a 56 yard FG when my kicker's leg is 64/100? Coaches. Weight training? Coaches (so presumably that will never happen on my team as I don't think that is automated in any particular way). Training camp? Coaches.

So, as GM, I set ticket prices and make decisions on any stadium issues. Free agency and all contract issues I handle. Similarly with hiring staff and drafting players (I never ask for suggestions from scouts).

Trades can be accepted if offered by AI but only have had one totally ridiculous offer in four seasons.

I am also allowed to trade draft picks for draft picks using the chart that assigns a value for each pick, wherein I am required to trade the AI at least as many points as I am getting back. I can even trade future year picks but in so doing, must value my own pick as being the last in the round and the AI as being the first in the round. So, technically I lose on every trade but get to have the enjoyment of moving up in the draft every couple of years if I want to.

So, I might trade the 31st pick in this year's first round for another teams' second round pick next year (naturally picking one of the worst teams in the league to deal with, but of course no one can know if the other team will still be as bad next year). Then, I have an extra pick or picks next year to deal to move up in the first round.

The only GM thing I don't do is roster adjustments during the season as I sim the exhibition and regular season all at once. I reason I have an assistant GM doing that lower-level work.

[andyhdz]

well I finally hit the wall in my sp league where I've played 30 seasons and have won the championship 6 times including my last 3 seasons. The first two championships were ok but they were with my allocated draft so it was almost like the cpu's team. The 3rd one was the sweetest because it was entirely built by my sweat and tears and we barely missed going back to back the next year. The last 3 though...well it felt a bit hollow since I used the draft utility and its like crack cocaine. I can't ween myself off of it. If I don't use it I'll go back to wasting my 1st round picks on 30/30 players. But I do realize that I'm bullying the AI too much so I'm going to try these house rules.

*No trading of draft picks (got my two HOF QBS after trading the AI for the #1 pick)
*No trades with other teams (It's easy to get a stud 3rd year player if you have a good player to give to the AI)
*No FA1 signings
*Let the AI pick my 3rd-7th draft picks. I was striking gold too much in the later rounds.

We'll see how it goes and maybe when I finally win my 7th it will feel like my 3rd.

[aston217]

Gotta try some MP drafts, if you haven't :)

[garion333]

*Let the AI pick my 3rd-7th draft picks. I was striking gold too much in the later rounds.


I agree with aston, get to mp.

But as far as the above rule is concerned, I'd say the better idea is to let the AI handle your first couple of rounds while you have to dig for gold in the later rounds.

[aston217]

Another idea: limit yourself to maybe two picks per draft, so you can't get too much late round gold either!

[andyhdz]

thanks for the advice guys

[McMahonsSunglasses]

Another idea: limit yourself to maybe two picks per draft, so you can't get too much late round gold either!


Being a new player myself what do you consider late round gold?

The only thing I've been doing so far is getting pass catching TE or FB with bad blocking late round so they low overall stats but are good in my pass offense.

But do really experienced people find 50+ players in later SP rounds ?

[antdroid]

For me, I try to keep it realistic as possible.

1. Can't extend rookie contracts until after their 4th season like in the current CBA
2. Won't extend contracts for players until less than 2 years left on contract
3. Restructure contracts, but don't use the Cap Out option
4. Be the GM. Let the coaches you hired do the game planning, depth chart (unless it's really a bad decision and you use your authority to override), and in-game playcalling -- this is also partially because I run on a Mac and the Game simulation mode just doesn't work, but I also prefer the GM aspect more.
5. I always have 65-70 players in training camp and do a gated approach to pre-season cuts. i.e. trim to 60 after training camp. trim to 57 after pre-season week 2. trim to 53 before the reg season starts. (it's not exactly the same as the NFL, but a similar approach)
6. I don't overbid for any UDFA, i.e. i just put in the minimum amount and let him choose what team he wants to go to.

[aston217]

Being a new player myself what do you consider late round gold?

The only thing I've been doing so far is getting pass catching TE or FB with bad blocking late round so they low overall stats but are good in my pass offense.

But do really experienced people find 50+ players in later SP rounds ?

I don't play SP but it's probably *easier* to. Sometimes people find good players who are ranked way down the list; these players tend to be snatched in the early rounds in MP, but might last a lot later in SP.

[andyhdz]

it's not a guarantee but with the draft analyzer tool you increase your chance of getting a player that can develop into the 50s even if you pick him in the 6th or 7th round. If this happens consistently enough you get a pretty solid team in a few seasons.