How do you handle your roster in the preseason?

[ZappaPhreak]

Got a question for the veterans out here...

How do you handle actives/inactives in the preseason? I'm a few seasons into a single player game, and one of the preseasons I deactivated the veterans in all 4 games to get a better look at the young players, and got off to a horrible start of the season... Then I went with a preseason where, from the beginning, I was in "regular season" mode -- didn't really get a good look at the young players, but was much more successful at the start of the regular season. That's a really small sample size, so I was wondering, what's your approach?

In a perfect world, I'd rather not have to worry about actives/inactives in the preseason, and would like the engine to match what we see in the NFL -- increasing participation by the veterans leading up to the third preseason game, where they play into the third quarter, then they all sit in the 4th game. But I can see where you don't want to spend a ton of game development time focusing on the preseason...

Any advice for a newbie? Thanks!

[Ben E Lou]

The thing to remember above all else in SP is that the game is supposed to be fun. You need to figure out what ends up being "fun" vs. "tedium" for you. For me, I don't enjoy a bunch of roster shuffling for preseason, so I just turn off injuries, let the AI handle the depth charts, and get ready for the regular season.

[perez24]

I usually have 60 players on roster. I deactivate top starters for 1st and 4th games. I activate them for games 2 and 3. It's a little boring but I lose a sufficient number of starters to make the rest of the season interesting.

[wustin]

deactivate all my good players for the first two games, reactivate them for the last two.