"Highlander" House Rules

[QuikSand]

Some while ago, I fiddled around with a FOF career under a set of special rules, basically that I was allowed to do lots of things once per season, but that's all.

The Highlander Challenge

It’s been a while since I played a public, documented, solo FOF career. I thought I would give it a shot once again. I will again make a try to come up with a set of rules that make the game a long-term challenge for me – what I want is for the game to be interesting to play, challenging to win, but allow me to play “all out” within the rules that I have adopted up front. You may have heard me refer to this as a holy grail… it’s tougher than it seems.

So, my current thinking is that I’ll try a set of rules where I am allowed to do lots of different things – but none of them more than once per season. Thus, the play-on-words title of the challenge, which I hope won’t be lost on quite everyone.


So, here are the limitations for the career. In any given season:

-there can be only one unrestricted free agent signed to a one-year contract
-there can be only one unrestricted free agent signed to a two-year contract
-there can be only one unrestricted free agent signed to a three-year contract
-there can be only one unrestricted free agent signed to a four-year contract
-there can be only one unrestricted free agent signed to a five-year contract
-there can be only one unrestricted free agent signed to a six-year contract
-there can be only one unrestricted free agent signed to a seven-year contract
-there can be only one year on any new offer made to a restricted free agent
-there can be only one renegotiation before the season starts
-there can be only one renegotiation toward the end of the season
-there can be only one trade, either within the current draft or AI-initiated

Yes, I include my own out-of-contract players among the limits for FA signees. I am also aware that the ability to sign contracts for longer than three years generally means committing either huge money or else stuffing huge backends to the deals forcing a release some way through – so in essence, it will be very difficult for me to keep players around in this career, I expect. That is absolutely by design – the worry I’m targeting here is that I generally find it far too easy to just re-sign lots and lots of decent role players for minsal or a bit more year after year – and all of my solo teams turn into cohesion monsters as a result.

So, basically – my rookie draftees are mine through their rookie contract and for whatever I can sign them to as restricted free agents – meaning that I can get an easy four years out of most of them who turn out to be worth keeping. Past that, I will have a pretty limited ability to keep players around.

I’m also limiting my ability to sign undrafted rookies here. I’ll have to bend these rules as I initially build a team (empty cupboard will demand it) and fill in with one year rookies, but my intention is to have these limits apply to those players too.

Thinking about reviving this concept for FOF 8.3.

Posting here for thoughts or refinements. As always, my goal is to set rules, and then play "all out" within those rules and try my damnedest to win. So, the confines are... important. I can start an empty cupboard career any time and have a little fun building, but I always yearn for a long term set of rules that keep the game interesting and challenging.

Any way to mold this into such a thing?

[QuikSand]

Variation on a theme:

There can be only one free agent offer outstanding at any time during early or late free agency

[tzach]

Variation on a theme:

There can be only one free agent offer outstanding at any time during early or late free agency

my preferred way of playing SP, by far, is to have one and only one house rule -- all my coaches must have scouting bar < 15 (eyeballing between 0 and around middle of the first tick mark region, which is 25). this makes the game quite challenging when using the standard combine correlation of 50, and even more so with lower setttings. i have to rely a lot more on stats rather than bars, which makes it more realistic to me.

i know that setting is not for everyone, and i also have the following rules, which are built based on the way that AI handles the game. i split them in GM and coaches' rules. i rarely use them both, as i don't see much fun in that way (the only thing i would be doing is build the roster with the players I want). sometimes i enforce the gm rules and play pretty much as a coach that selects it's preferred players following AI rules. sometimes i rex everything coach related and play as GM, loosening some of the rules (but never trading future picks).

GM
- no trades involving future picks (the AI valuation of future picks is off)
- only one major FA signing per offseason (top 50 on the grey list). all FA offers have to be made in FA1.1 (AI too predictable)
- signing bonus < 25% of total value of offer for UFAs, unless asked by the player. otherwise we can get any UFA we want with bonus heavy offers that the AI will never match.
- only 1 outstanding FA offer per stage. (AI too predictable)
- no signing of 2nd/3rd/4th yr players (the AI will let walk pretty good RFAs)
- extensions of own players have to match player's demands, unless it's a cap out. (this is what the AI does for their players)

Coaches
- rex depth charts
- rex game plans

[QuikSand]

hmmmm

[QuikSand]

Fortunately, I think the feeling has subsided. Better to happen now than after four seasons and 78 posts in a dynasty thread than I would then abandon.

[Razgriz07]

These house rules sound great to me, I'll give them a try and will give feedback!

[QuikSand]

Cool.

FWIW, one thing the push into 5-year and up contracts did was enforce more roster turnover than I would ordinarily stand for in FOF, but much closer to being in line with the NFL. Signing guys to multi year deals with break points designed as easy off-ramps for the team (with dead money) is part and parcel of the NFL, but for whatever reason it doesn't really show up even in cutthroat MP FOF leagues. But here, I was routinely signing a guy to a 7 year deal with 4 throwaway seasons at the end, knowing full well I'd really have him for his 7th 8th and 9th seasons and then release him (and be unable to reneg or re-sign him).

Anyway... hope it proves enjoyable. Feel free to fiddle around with the rules, hopefully keeping the same spirit.