New Fast-Sim Offseason League (Forum is up. Initial File Released. Go register!)

[Ben E Lou]

LINK TO FORUM: http://www.younglifenorthdekalb.com/fool/forum/forum.php

First off, my vision is that the FOF Front Office Offseason League (tips hat to Dark Cloud) will operate very, very differently from anything I've seen other than FOWL, for those who were in that a long time ago. The primary purpose of this league would be to improve at drafting and free agency...by doing both a lot. I'm willing to commish it. Apart from the draft, the league will move very rapidly. You can be "in" the league and not participate every season. All I would ask is that you let me know if you're going to be inactive in a given season, so we can put your team on full AI control otherwise. And that's the biggie here that I think make this type of league extremely viable in FOF7: the AI is much, much better than in the past, and the Conscriptor AI is good enough to keep teams at least somewhat competitive, so we won't fret over filling 32 teams.

Here are the non-negotiables:

Very fast sim schedule (2 weeks per season. See below for details)
Chemistry turned off
Depth charts Rexed
Default NFL teams. Cities equalized. All fictional players, start with preference draft. (Hey, we're moving fast. Nearly all of your original team will be gone in about 2 1/2 months real-time anyway.)

Negotiables, but here's where I'm leaning on these:


No-holds barred free agency. Everything legal.
No trading of players. Just picks for picks.
Depth charts rexed and injuries ON. (With depth charts Rexed and no chemistry, if the AI has to cut your crappy OLB to sign a crappy TE to get legal, so be it. The whole season is run in one day anyway.)
Game plan rexed.
SCHEDULE MOCK-UP

<table border="0" width="355" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><colgroup><col style="mso-width-source:userset;mso-width-alt:3766;width:77pt" width="103"> <col style="mso-width-source:userset;mso-width-alt:9216;width:189pt" width="252"> </colgroup><tbody><tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt;width:77pt" height="20" width="103">Monday</td> <td style="width:189pt" width="252">Stadium/Staff/Franchise/Ticket/FA1:1 (Draft Class Revealed)
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">Tuesday</td> <td>FA1:2-3 (Timed Draft Begins)
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">Wednesday</td> <td>FA1:4-5</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">Thursday</td> <td>FA1:6-7</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">Friday</td> <td>FA1:8-9</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">Saturday</td> <td>FA1:10-12 (Draft Ends)
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">Sunday</td> <td>OFF (Draft class entry if draft runs long)
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">Monday</td> <td>FA2:1-5</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">Tuesday</td> <td>TC</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">Wednesday</td> <td>Preseason</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">Thursday</td> <td>Regular Season
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">Friday</td> <td>Postseason</td></tr></tbody></table>
Keep in mind that--assuming we have only 8-16 human owners--we can have more time than people may be used to for drafting. Enough time that it won't feel like a burden to draft every other week. (And again, if you want to just sit a draft out, just let me know. The league moves fast, so recovery from a bad AI draft will be fast.)

Post here if you're interested and want to claim a team. Or if you're interested and have some suggestions/feedback on the negotiable stuff.

[cartman]

I'd be interested. Do we claim a team now (if so, the Cowboys) or does that happen later?

[Ben E Lou]

Go ahead and claim now. You got 'em.

[gstelmack]

In, New England.

[gstelmack]

Not sure on how the staff bits will work here - how much control over ticket prices / extending staff will we have with this setup? If we need an extra day to get that right, I wouldn't mind combining the regular season and postseason into one sim.

[Ben E Lou]

Not sure on how the staff bits will work here - how much control over ticket prices / extending staff will we have with this setup? If we need an extra day to get that right, I wouldn't mind combining the regular season and postseason into one sim.I was thinking that we'd just Rex ticket prices, actually, but I'm open. I could always run the postseason on early Saturday, meaning that for most people they'd just have to get a file in on Friday.

I'm also playing around in my head with a way to have an actual staff draft. I don't know if it's appropriate for this league, bu perhaps. (I *think* I can code it. ;))

[gstelmack]

The catch with a real staff draft is that it's unlikely to happen in one single day.

We could rex ticket prices (let on field performance influence your profit more than who can game the ticket prices) and the staff draft, I'd just want to make sure GMs had an opportunity to extend staff they already have.

[aston217]

I won't have time for this, but I'm curious about the reasoning for the no holds barred FA. Don't you think that would get out of hand, and become an exercise in "which team's ownership has allowed for the maximum salary"?

[corbes]

I'll give a try as PHI

[Ben E Lou]

I won't have time for this, but I'm curious about the reasoning for the no holds barred FA. Don't you think that would get out of hand, and become an exercise in "which team's ownership has allowed for the maximum salary"?Not at all. Maxsal/maxbonus for a top-tier financial performer is roughly 2/3 of the salary cap. For a team near the bottom, it's around 50% of the cap.

Even at the bottom level, there's simply no one player in FOF7 worth that. With no ability to franchise or trade the guy, trying to keep someone around at that level of spending would wreck the team.

Example1:

In the CCFL, I finished 3rd in profit last season. Maxbonus for me is $150.43M. Maxsal is $90.25M. Cap is $359.8M. ~$120M is nowhere near enough to put a competitive team on the field when average salaries look like this: CCFL TOP CAP HITS 2044 (http://www.younglifenorthdekalb.com/ccfl/ben/topcaphits.php)

Example2:

In the WOOf, I finished 30th in profit last season. Maxbonus=$42.3M, Maxsal=$24.8M. Cap=$125.4M. I'd be left with ~$58M. So even at the bottom level of maxsal/maxbonus spending, putting a decent team around that guy would be impossible: WOOF TOP CAP HITS 2017 (http://www.fof-woof2.com/topcaphits.php)

The two big problems with huge one-year deals in FOF in the past have been the ability to franchise the guy at a much cheaper price and keep him forever, and the ability in some leagues to sign-and-trade. In this league, both of those will be impossible, I believe thus rendering the one-year deal much less powerful than it has been.

[aston217]

Ah, I see. I was actually referring to min bonus / min 1st year sal / max 2nd year sal / etc ... that aren't being correctly interpreted by the game logic and beat out legitimate offers. So no 10% of 10%? That one seems like a problem solver, and without it, the game seems like it's lacking a necessary patch.

[Ben E Lou]

I'm thinking that one-year deals will trump those easily. If not, we can adjust. Those only showed up because marginal players were required to get three-year deals. A good ol' 10M bonus/1M salary deal likely beats 30K/minsal/maxsal/maxsal.

[aston217]

Gotcha!

Last question: do you think that no sign-and-trade, no tag, and otherwise no holds barred is going to be the way to go in FA? Is that something you hope to find out with this league?

Good luck in running it and to all those participating!

[Sef0r]

I'll take the Packers please

My only feedback is allowing us to use gameplans. This would also be a great environment to test new gameplans out against some human owners, etc.

[bigc45157]

I'd be interested to help me improve my drafting.

Cincinnati, please.

[Yoda]

sign me up. Since I can't be the Falcons ;P I really don't have a preference.

[gstelmack]

I like the rex gameplans / depth charts during the season, and I think it helps balance the no-holds-barred FA. GMs that skate with like 48 players on the roster can get screwed and lose key players thanks to injury, it helps force GMs to be a bit more honest and carry a full roster load.

[Dawgfan19]

I'll take the Browns

[Pyser]

giants

[QuikSand]

Baltimore

[Ben E Lou]

sign me up. Since I can't be the Falcons ;P I really don't have a preference.
And where did I say that I was claiming Atlanta??? :D

Actually, my plan is to fill in wherever there's a division with only one human or 0 humans, depending on if we're closer to 8 or 16.

[MalcPow]

Heh, I'll take the Bears or adjust based on interest, etc.

:thumbsup:

[Sef0r]

Heh, I'll take the Bears or adjust based on interest, etc.

:thumbsup:

Screw that, I don't want the Packers anymore :D

[dpareagle]

I would like in. I will take Houston.

[bigc45157]

Keep em coming.

We're at 12-13 guys, so far.

[crusher78]

I'm interested. I've never played MP before... can I still join?

[bigc45157]

Crusher,

Still plenty of spots.

I am a NOOB to FOF and picked up MP, recently, and it has been nothing short of a awesome experience. You should definitely join!

I will say, we're going to drafting and building teams against Ben and Malcpow who know what the heck they're doing. But, that's part of the fun.

Ben, still slack jawed after seeing your UFA haul in GML.

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

Haven't done a league in ages. I now live in Asia. What time would you like the files to be sent in by? I am twelve hours ahead of east coast so if you said files have to be sent in by 8 pm. That would be 8 am for me which ought to be fine, but I just want to make sure it is doable for me...

If Malcpow would be so kind to let me have the Bears, I would be mucho appreciative, if not I will take whatever team.

I would also prefer that we can do our own gameplans, but given the talent level in this league that could be a mistake to ask for that. :-)

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

I also might need a quick refresher as to how to send and load the MP files.

[Ben E Lou]

I'm interested. I've never played MP before... can I still join?Absolutely

[Ben E Lou]

Haven't done a league in ages. I now live in Asia. What time would you like the files to be sent in by? I am twelve hours ahead of east coast so if you said files have to be sent in by 8 pm. That would be 8 am for me which ought to be fine, but I just want to make sure it is doable for me...

If Malcpow would be so kind to let me have the Bears, I would be mucho appreciative, if not I will take whatever team.

I would also prefer that we can do our own gameplans, but given the talent level in this league that could be a mistake to ask for that. :-)Well, you'll always have 24 hours to get files in, so I'm not sure it matters. I'll probably release files around 6am EDT, so 6pm your time, and then your next file would be due by 6pm your time the next day. As long as you can pick a time daily to do your files, you should be fine. And missing stages is fine, too. Really the draft is what's important, and there will be a good bit of time allowed for that.

[Ben E Lou]

By my count, we have 13 owners. (MP, I'm going to give LWSFS Da Bears and put you on the "no team, but in" list with me.)

Current count by division
AFC North: 3
AFC South: 1
AFC East: 1
AFC West: 0
NFC North: 2
NFC South: 1
NFC East: 3
NFC West: 0

Since the AFC West is empty, I'll take the Raiders. FIGHT THE POWER!

I will probably have time this weekend to get FTP set up for your pref lists.

[Ben E Lou]

<table border="0" width="177" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><colgroup><col style="width:48pt" width="64"> <col style="mso-width-source:userset;mso-width-alt:4132;width:85pt" width="113"> </colgroup><tbody><tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt;width:48pt" height="20" width="64">BAL</td> <td style="width:85pt" width="113">QuikSand</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">CIN</td> <td>bigc45157</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">CLE</td> <td>Dawgfan19</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">PIT</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">HOU</td> <td>dpareagle</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">IND</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">JAX</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">TEN</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">BUF</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">MIA</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">NED</td> <td>gstelmack</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">NJY</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">DEN</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">KCY</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">OAK</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">SDO</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">CHI</td> <td>LastWhiteSoxFanStanding</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">DET</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">GBY</td> <td>Sef0r</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">MIN</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">ATL</td> <td>Yoda</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">CAR</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">NOS</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">TBY</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">DAL</td> <td>cartman</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">NYK</td> <td>Pyser</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">PHI</td> <td>corbes</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">WAS</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">ARI</td> <td>crusher78
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">SFO</td> <td>Rip Murdock
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">SEA</td> <td>QB10
</td> </tr> <tr style="height:15.0pt" height="20"> <td style="height:15.0pt" height="20">STL</td> <td>
</td> </tr> </tbody></table>

[corbes]

I'm happy to either stay with PHI or be switched elsewhere for competitive balance, at the commish's discretion.

[Ben E Lou]

I'm happy to either stay with PHI or be switched elsewhere for competitive balance, at the commish's discretion.I expect ownership and participation to fluctuate a fair bit. I wouldn't worry about that.

[Yoda]

And where did I say that I was claiming Atlanta??? :D

:cool:

Just an assumption based on past leagues. :)

[crusher78]

Absolutely

Ok, great! I'm in. I'll take somebody from the NFC West... how about Arizona.

[RipMurdock]

I'll take the 49ers, please.

[gstelmack]

I don't see anything about injury settings or combine accuracy?

[gstelmack]

And to voice my opinion here:

I'm okay with any injury setting except for "none" or "very little" (say, 50 or less).

I like low combine accuracy as it makes scouting more valuable.

[Ben E Lou]

And to voice my opinion here:

I'm okay with any injury setting except for "none" or "very little" (say, 50 or less).

I like low combine accuracy as it makes scouting more valuable.I think for many this is a "let's figure out this draft thing," so maybe 50 is most appropriate, given that most leagues use that. That said, I could be talked into 25 or even 0.

On injuries, I'm 100% with you there. The reason I hate them in slow-moving leagues is that I don't want to have to tinker with the depth chart every week. In this setup, I say somewhere in the 125-200 range.

[Dawgfan19]

I joined because of "let's figure out this draft thing". That goal would be limited for teams with poor scouts, if the combine accuracy is low. If asked to vote, I'd opt for 50.

[QB10]

I'll take Seattle. Thanks for the assist in fixing my account, Ben.

[bigc45157]

When are we going to get this thing rolling, Ben?

I'm all about doing this to "get the draft thing figured out".

[MalcPow]

Quickly skimming, New Orleans maybe? Still happy to be flexible if somebody comes knocking.

[bigc45157]

Got the "who's who" of FOFC coming together for this one.

[Ben E Lou]

OK. Head over to this link to register a forum account. Please use the same user name that you used in this thread.

FORUM: Front Office Offseason League Forum (http://www.younglifenorthdekalb.com/fool/forum/forum.php)

I hope to get a file out in the next 48ish hours, and I won't be able to send your password until you have a registered account.

[Ben E Lou]

Closing thread for now. If interested, go register an account at the forum.

Front Office Offseason League Forum (http://www.younglifenorthdekalb.com/fool/forum/forum.php)

[Ben E Lou]

The initial file is up and we'll sim preseason later this week.