Question From Potential New Buyer

[WarEagle41]

I have been playing Football Mogul, and I have been enjoying it. However, I know that this game is not all it could be. I am looking for something better.

Is Front Office Football it? Is there another one out there that's better?

I want the most realistic sim I can get.

I would also like to make the environment as real as possible. Real Teams, Real Names, Real Draft Classes, up to and including the 2012 draft in April.

I have been reading the forums here and know there is a way to edit the roster files and to create draft classes, etc.

My question is this: How hard is it to make the changes? I am someone who is pretty decent with computers, but I am by no means a programmer. Will I be able to use this game the way I would like to, or do I need more skill?

Any input or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

[Julio Riddols]

If you go from Football Mogul to FOF, you're making a huge leap in quality. Even those of us who know every little nook and cranny of this game still have to have optimum conditions to produce unrealistic numbers in the game. There are a few gripes regarding the game, but typically those do not hamper the enjoyability of the game at any real noticeable level. The main issue is that the Artificial Intelligence in single player mode is not the best at managing their roster, meaning they do not do a great job of building and maintaining a winning roster financially. It is not really possible for human owners to rip off the computer via trades because the A.I. in that area is very stout, but you will routinely find solid to very good players available in late stages of free agency. The best way to avoid issues like this is to join an online league.

There are roster patches, utilities and draft classes from 1960- at least 2005 already made that can be found here (http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=63429). I believe there are other updated roster patches and draft classes as well, but I am not entirely positive as to their whereabouts at the moment.

Its not terribly hard to make changes although I have not tinkered with it much myself.. But I know there are many who have and not all of them are programmers either.

[WarEagle41]

If you go from Football Mogul to FOF, you're making a huge leap in quality. Even those of us who know every little nook and cranny of this game still have to have optimum conditions to produce unrealistic numbers in the game. There are a few gripes regarding the game, but typically those do not hamper the enjoyability of the game at any real noticeable level. The main issue is that the Artificial Intelligence in single player mode is not the best at managing their roster, meaning they do not do a great job of building and maintaining a winning roster financially. It is not really possible for human owners to rip off the computer via trades because the A.I. in that area is very stout, but you will routinely find solid to very good players available in late stages of free agency. The best way to avoid issues like this is to join an online league.

There are roster patches, utilities and draft classes from 1960- at least 2005 already made that can be found here (http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=63429). I believe there are other updated roster patches and draft classes as well, but I am not entirely positive as to their whereabouts at the moment.

Its not terribly hard to make changes although I have not tinkered with it much myself.. But I know there are many who have and not all of them are programmers either.

Thanks for the information. Do you agree that FOF is the best option available?

[aston217]

I've played Football Mogul before and I gotta echo Julio here. FOF's interface takes getting used to, but the quality of experience delta is mind-blowing.

You can certainly get the real teams, names, some recent draft classes etc if youlook for them in this forum, but I personally wouldn't bother much with them. To each their own, but to me having a made-up or incorrect #6 WR for my favorite team would be a dealbreaker. If you can deal with some approximations it may be worth it to use some updated roster files.

Learn a few things about the game and you'll be able to own the AI routinely, to the point where you try thinking of restrictions to impose on yourself to keep your team from becoming too embarrassingly good. Then hop over to Multiplayer and realize that you are going to be learning things about this game for real life years to come while you try to win.

Any sim has a random component to it, but FOF has struck an excellent balance in that area. I've played other (MP) sim games where you more or less sit back, do stuff, and watch stuff happen, but not here. You WILL need to pull out all the stops and pay attention to every aspect of managing your team in order to stay on top in multiplayer. Assembling a powerful MP roster will take work, keeping it even more work, and using it the right way a week-to-week or year-to-year endeavor that can easily be screwed up, to tragic extents.

There's a lot that can be "figured out" about this game, but even the most battle-tested veterans have very distinct approaches.

I'd say: read a few of the guides here and don't limit yourself to SP, although you'll get enjoyment out of both and maybe you want to start dominating in SP a little first :-P

[perez24]

Thanks for the information. Do you agree that FOF is the best option available?

Football Mogul is fun and it's free. However, Mogul just just doesn't feel you like you own the team or have any control over who's playing. In FOF you can have more control and there's a lot more decision-making to do.

I've never done multi-player but SP is a lot of fun. Keep reading some of the discussion posts and realize the depth of statistics and interest this game generates...and I don't think it's been updated or anything in more than a couple of years.

[lastcat3]

If you go from Football Mogul to FOF, you're making a huge leap in quality. Even those of us who know every little nook and cranny of this game still have to have optimum conditions to produce unrealistic numbers in the game. There are a few gripes regarding the game, but typically those do not hamper the enjoyability of the game at any real noticeable level. The main issue is that the Artificial Intelligence in single player mode is not the best at managing their roster, meaning they do not do a great job of building and maintaining a winning roster financially. It is not really possible for human owners to rip off the computer via trades because the A.I. in that area is very stout, but you will routinely find solid to very good players available in late stages of free agency. The best way to avoid issues like this is to join an online league.

There are roster patches, utilities and draft classes from 1960- at least 2005 already made that can be found here (http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=63429). I believe there are other updated roster patches and draft classes as well, but I am not entirely positive as to their whereabouts at the moment.

Its not terribly hard to make changes although I have not tinkered with it much myself.. But I know there are many who have and not all of them are programmers either.

I have looked over the rosters of computerized teams to see what they were paying their players and in general a lot of teams way over pay about three or four players (I think of a result of bidding wars with each other) and as a result end up having to let go of some pretty decent players because they are paying those few stars so much.

But at the same time certain computerized coaches and scouts do a better job of maintaining quality rosters than others do so particular coaches will often be better at maintaining quality teams than others will.

[mrfahaji]

I'm a relative rookie here - I bought the game last year, played a few seasons and am starting, possibly because of the recent NFL draft to get itchings to play again!

I was keen to do a bit of editing, largely because when I played as the Atlanta Falcons, I wanted it to be realistic. It was all contained in a CSV file (and helpful readme), so as long as you are at least 'ok' with Excel, editing should be straightforward. It took a few attempts before I finally got the hang of how to save it properly, but overall it was generally fine. Even editing the team emblems was quite easy using paint (albeit time consuming)!

I won the Super Bowl after 3 or 4 seasons, and then reached a "now what?" point... but my main concern about playing in multiplayer leagues is that my tactical knowledge is pretty poor, as I only started to follow the NFL 3 seasons ago... I don't know if it will be fun getting thrashed every game...!

Also, any questions I've had have usually been answered on this board, so if you were totally flummoxed I'm sure there would be people to help out!

[WarEagle41]

Thanks

[Nemesis]

Thanks for the information. Do you agree that FOF is the best option available?

I went the same route. Football Mogul to FOF. I haven't found anything comparable to FOF.