Play Out Games?

[BKL]

I'm just wondering if any of you play out your games? Do you do the play calling, let couches, etc? How do you play?

[Ben E Lou]

Shortly after most releases, a very small handful of people post about playing out games, play calling, etc. They typically don't stay around long, as it seems that the huge majority of FOFC users sim their games. My suspicion is that playing out games isn't a feature that a significant percentage of Jim's customers use, though it's possible that there are silent users of it out there who don't post on FOFC.

Speaking for myself, I don't even remember what the playcalling screens look like. The last time I used that feature was during the down time between the releasing of the FOF2K4 demo and the actual game---more than 10 years ago. And I've opened FOF nearly every day since then.

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

Part of me wants to call my own plays so I can have total control of my own team, but in reality coaching a game just takes too long. I don't have a ton of free time to begin with and over the past couple of weeks I have been able to hammer out a dozen seasons or so by just concentrating on depth charts and gameplanning. Doing that, I can get done a season in 3 or 4 hours. If I were coaching each game, I would probably only be done through one or two seasons at most. And then I miss out on one of my favorite features of the game: the almanac, history and record keeping.

If you are worried about not feeling connected to your team or not having a big enough impact by not coaching each game, don't worry. I feel very connected with my team even though I don't coach each game because I take a hands on approach to gameplanning and depth charts.

I handle the depth charts and gameplanning each week, but to make things a bit easier I rex the depth charts at the beginning of the season and then make tweaks from there because I have found I agree with the computer on about 80 percent of the decisions. Then I rex the defensive game plan each week. Then I go to the film room and team scouting report and make adjustments on my defensive game plan. I can make pretty substantial changes on this because I find the rex defaults a bit too conservative for my liking. I change my defensive game plan each week depending on my opponent's offensive strengths. However on my own offense, I rex almost nothing. I come up with an overall gameplan for the season and may make slight tweaks throughout the season but nothing major unless my offense is underperforming.

Also I show the scoreboard when I sim the game at the fastest speed so I can get a sense of the flow of the game. By doing this I feel quite involved with my team and I feel like I have a real impact. I would recommend this approach if the calling each play thing isn't working out for you.

[xcom44dan]

I've always played out all of my games. For me personally, I've struggled to establish any sort of connection with my team through simulating the games.

Playing through the game allows me to make adjustments to what I might have otherwise thought was a good gameplan. I'd say that an individual game would usually take around 30 mins to call, but I do find that it's ultimately been more rewarding - individual matchups seem more significant in my experience. It also seems to make nailing the post-season more important, because if for nothing else it will be a while until it comes around again!

I think it basically comes down to which type of game you'd prefer. I find that calling games gives me the right balance of micro/macro. Some people prefer building huge legacy games.

Of course you could always do both!

[Karim]

I "watch" each of my games but let the coach do all the playcalling. It takes me about 12 hours to get through a season. I tried quick simming but lost the connection to my team and any immersion; it ended up feeling like just clicking buttons at that point.

[LaStarza61]

I "watch" each of my games but let the coach do all the playcalling. It takes me about 12 hours to get through a season. I tried quick simming but lost the connection to my team and any immersion; it ended up feeling like just clicking buttons at that point.

I also watch the game at a readable speed and let my coaches do the play calling. The way I play, I am basically the GM and it seems more realistic to let my coaches call the plays. But watching the games play out provides plenty of immersion.

[Julio Riddols]

I've got a league for calling plays in and a league for simming, so I enjoy both. I do wonder if my coaching ability is modified by my coordinators play calling skills, however.

[Garethw87]

I also watch the game at a readable speed and let my coaches do the play calling. The way I play, I am basically the GM and it seems more realistic to let my coaches call the plays. But watching the games play out provides plenty of immersion.

Likewise. I love to play as GM only. I deal with business - coach deals with tactics/gameday stuff! I'll "attend" (ie watch) some of the bigger games but being the Raiders you don't get many of them right :banghead:

[perez24]

I play parts of each game...sometimes more, sometimes less. The simming part is important to me...particularly the offense.

[mrtourette]

I also watch the game at a readable speed and let my coaches do the play calling. The way I play, I am basically the GM and it seems more realistic to let my coaches call the plays. But watching the games play out provides plenty of immersion.

I think this is the best approach for me, maybe just reading important interesting games but certainly taking some interest to keep to immersion and connection there.

[redfox000]

I'm just wondering if any of you play out your games? Do you do the play calling, let couches, etc? How do you play?

I play out all of my games, calling the offensive plays and letting the AI handle the defensive plays.

[Nataris]

Don't own the game yet, but plan to.

After the demo, I can say that I'll only play the games when they are playoff or big season games. The main reason is that I would like to be aware of what players step up when the game is on the line. I wanna see how my players respond while I know they are being put in the right position to win.

Does that star WR show up on 3rd and 12 when I call his number? Does my power back get the tough, goaline yds? Etc.