How can I Build a history before starting.

[DougW]

Been a while since I've fired this game up, but with the NFL starting - I've gotten the itch !

This is what I'd like to do ...

Start a fictional universe league (already done my city changes, my logos and team coloring, etc). What I can't figure out is how to build a little history before I take over.

Ideally, I'd like to "sim" 20 years-ish and then jump in on a team of my choice. I'm looking to build stats and history and such, so when I play - the league has some records to chase and whatnot.

Is there ANY workaround to making something like this happen ?

[ozias]

Best thing to do is pick a team you don't "care" about, and then let the scouts sign players and/or draft picks for you, and let your coach do the depth chart and game plan, then just fast sim the complete season, and skip through all of the off season material by hitting next.

Let the cpu sign your coaches and scouts when needed, and after 20 seasons, find out which teams are willing to let you take them over and choose one of them. Then make sure you change the scouts sign your players back to you, as well as the coach setting up your game plans as well as depth chart. If you forget, the scout may cut one of your rookies and sign you someone you really didn't want.

That's the only way I know of to have some history.

[DougW]

I was afraid that'd be the route I'd have to go.

Is this most likely going to happen ? : The team I initially am will suck, and the options of teams I can choose to switch too will be very limited, and quite possibly none of the teams I'd be interested in choosing (as I'll be seen as a poor GM at that point).

[ozias]

It can happen, but I did it with one league and made it to the playoffs a few times, and won the Super Bowl once, so when I took over a team after 20 years it wasn't so bad, IIRC I had 10-12 team to choose from.

You can always fast sim, but do the draft yourself to make sure the team you are fast simming with will have some decent talent, and then just remember to resign the quality players so they can be a competitive team.

[Autumn]

Run it as a multiplayer league. You can set all the teams on CPU and sim ahead.

[DougW]

Hmm, I didn't think of that Autumn, thanks.

I finished up year 20, and "my team" didn't do as bad as I was afraid of. I didn't manage anything at all, only simmed. Didn't resign anyone or draft, was just speeding through. They were middle of the road winning % (15th), and one of 5 teams with multiple championships (2).

I'm actually quite happy with how it turned out :). The team I wanted to be is 2nd to last in winning % over the 20, and is financially crippled (-100 million the last 5 years, and it's been 15 years since they profited. Should prove to be rewarding if I can turn it around.

It'll be a while before I start "playing", as i did a save at the the end of each season, so I'm going to go back and do some history write-ups and such.

Thanks for the suggestions guys :)

[Mike Lowe]

Is it possible to take an online game offline?

What are the differences between the two in regards to functionality, or what may be lost/enhanced, one over the other?