Offensive and Defensive gameplanning?

[djsatu]

Hey guys,

Im entering year 2 in my first ever online league, and im looking to expand my knowledge and abilities to get the most out of my teams in the game. I really want to gameplan each week myself, but don't know how to go about doing this. Im hoping some of the gurus on this site can help me some, as im hoping to expand my knowledge for a better game! My main concerns are setting numbers up on offense/defense etc. Please help!

[aston217]

Hey! Welcome to the FOF community.

Gameplanning is definitely the biggest of all the learning curves. It was several seasons in before I started doing anything other than auto-ing this. There are a lot of screens and you'll need to do some figuring out of how they work together.

Offense
Playcalling dictates formation usage. For example, if you go to the formation usage screens, you'll see that if you're in a down-and-distance where you are calling run between 46 and 60% of the time, the formations you use are the "Slight Running Formations".

Formations, in turn, dictate personnel. In running D&D, for example, you'll want to use more 2TE sets and keep your FB on the field. In passing D&D, you probably want to use a lot of 3WR or more. All moderated, of course, depending on the kind of talent you have on your team.

I find formations the biggest hassle and least fun of all the gameplanning steps. Mainly because I feel I have to only set formations that my starting QB knows. A QB won't use a formation he doesn't know.

Here's a Google Drive spreadsheet that you can make a copy of for your own editing use. I use it to help me design a formation set for a QB:
Formation Designer Spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhbfF9SP0LxtdEFDdnRCRmlrM0U4bnl1dHd1OHB2QWc&usp=sharing)

Defense
Playcalling dictates coverage scheme, and personnel.

Let's start with coverage. If you go to the coverage screens, you'll find that if you are calling "Run or Aggressive Run" between 30 and 54% of the time, you're using the "Slight Run Defense Coverages".

Now let's go to personnel. You can set personnel percentages based on whether the playcall is Run, Aggressive Run, Pass, or Aggressive Pass. I find it easiest to understand if I play 100% base defense on Run, 100% nickel on Pass, and 100% nickel or dime (depending on team strengths) on Aggressive Pass. Depending on team strengths from there you can tweak the numbers as needed, but it helps in the playcall screen to know just how much nickel you're getting, etc.

Back to coverages. When you're facing the long pass, you do not want to be playing 1-deep. When you're mainly worried about the short stuff, you don't want to play 4-deep. This part is pretty logical. Look to your players' strengths to decide which coverages (man, bump, or zone) are most effective.

Last word
In general, I think it helps to start setting your own numbers for everything. It gives you a better feel for the game, and more "ownership" over the results - whether good or bad. Be warned, FOF gives you a lot of room to put in a disaster gameplan!

But hey, it's more fun this way.

Here's a gameplanning spreadsheet I made some time ago that can help you visualize the screens side-by-side before entering them in game. The example gameplans themselves are 2k7 gameplans from some time ago, so I wouldn't exactly advise imitating them too much.

Gameplanner Spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhbfF9SP0LxtdHVhdFhiTkd1ZmxZejlpb2dIcllRMHc&usp=sharing)

Happy gameplanning!

[Ruckuz]

great post

[djsatu]

Appreciate the post and help aston217!

[RD]

Why does the AI continue to change my gameplans(formations), they are formations that my QB knows?

[anotheroutlaw]

Why does the AI continue to change my gameplans(formations), they are formations that my QB knows?

Go into your single player and/or multi player settings and turn OFF the switches that allow coaches to change gameplans and depth charts. I had the same issue when I started. The coaches kept playing my best QB when I wanted to play a rookie.

[sawblade300]

Aston. That spreadsheet made me realize how lazy I am at this and how little work I put into it. :rolleyes:

I thought I was starting to do a decent job at game planning. Then I saw that. :banghead:

[aston217]

Haha, saw. I don't use the gameplanner one anymore, I never remember to, but it just puts everything on one screen. Which I always want to do because I can't stand having to click back and forth, I always forget what I set!

The formations one I have to use whenever I change QBs. I'm incapable of making sure 18 different numbers add up to 100 in my head. At least not quickly enough for my liking.