Newbie questions [Archive] - Front Office Football Central

seb11614

03-10-2015, 06:04 AM

Hi folks,

New to the forum and the game.
I am french, I watch the superbowl every year and play some madden years ago but i lack a lot of us football culture and i hope you can help me.
So i have a LOT of questions.

I started a franchise and took the Jaguars, at the end of the first season i have a record of 11/5 and lost the wildcard game. So good season but as i barely made any decision, i don't feel satisfied yet... Because i literally spent the last 3 days to go through that off season, reading your forum and articles about football strategy.

So my questions mostly concern the game of football in itself even if some are about the game.

1) Player hierarchy in the same line.
I am not asking wether to have a strong RB or a strong MLB but rather between two players in the same line wich role is more important.

WR : i don't understand the difference between FL and SE. Is one supposed to be more possession oriented or more downfield ?

Offensive line : i know LT is the most important but for the rest i don't really understand the specifics, is it better to have strong G or C ?

DT : i currently have 2 strong RDT that can equally play LDT, which one do i move to LDT, the weakest ?

DE : same LDE or RDE ? equally important ?

OLB : same question...

secondary : i suppose the answer for CB relate to the one for WR the strongest CB mark the strongest WR. Concerning the safeties are they equally important ?

2) i don't see how i designate a franchise tag for the FA

3) at the beginning of off season i choose to renovate the parking lot, when and how do i have an answer to that ?

3) here's my FA signings and my draft picks, please give your 2 cents.
NB : i had a good roll on fx qb, bortles is now 53/86, so i did as i did in madden i invested in good lines because they were the players i couldn't control and that helped the user controlled player to play better, i supposed this logic wasn't bad...

FA : LG Iupati 79/79, 4y 8.2M/y
RDT Suh 75/75, 5y 8.6M/y
Blocking FB Tolbert 57/57, 2y 1.7M/y
WLB convert to SLB Weatherspoon 53/57, 4y 1.8M/y
LDE Long 49/49, 3y 2M/y
FL Brandon 45/49, 3y 2.2M/y
RT Sherod 35/49, 3y 1.2M/y
LG convert to C Mc Glyn 48/48, 2y 1.5M/y
receiving TE Fauria 41/48, 3y 1M/y
SE Maclin 42/42, 2y 1.8M/y
RT Reid 39/39, 2y 1.8M/y

draft : i admit i redid a few times because i was dumb enough to interview mostly in the best 10 players when i had the 25ish pick... face palm...
1 RDE 32/75
2 FS 28/60
3 WLB 31/58
4 FL 20/41
5 SE 23/33
6 MLB 36/68
7 RB 37/50

I don't want to brag about a good off season, as i said i redid it quite a few time. I just wanted to know if based on your knowledge of the team and of football i picked the good investment ? did i overpay some FA ?

4) FA signings :
Some players refused to sign for me even if i offered more in overall contract, i was closer to their hometown, i had better results than the other team. I don't understand why...

5) Players evolution :
During the season my 70/70 TE dropped to 30/30... (needless to say i cut his 8M last year contract) whereas my SE raised from 30/43ish to 52/58.
Is this normal to have such variation in potential in one year, particularly for my SE, or is my staff incompetent to judge potential...

6) Trade :
I wanted to trade draft picks for my 1200 yrds 10TD 50/50 RB and 1200 yrds 10TD 47/54 FL. I couldn't even have a 3rd pick with the two of them, why ? average stats and relatively good results, i don't understand... is it hard to trade in this game (vs my experience in Madden).

7) Endurance :
My rookie RDE has literally O endurance, will it mean he will never play ? I mean how mean snaps can i expect him to play : 25%, 50%, more ? How can i raise that stat ?

8) Mentors :
When i look at the information screen, i sometime see mentor for X position for older players. Does the mentor have to be better than the younger player ? Does he have to be a starter ? Or can i have a few cheap old players around to mentor young studs ?

9) Contracts :
Maybe a dumb question, but i noticed players tend to ask for an increasing salary over the year, when i sign them i tend to even the 1st year and the last year, mostly because i currently have a lot of space under the cap and i want to preserve some for the future year and also because my financial formation must influence me (it's better to anticipate a constant flux of money). I understand the point of view to increase the wage as years goes by so if you have to cut the player you make a bigger gain. Is my choice bad or is it just matter of preference ?

I will surely have more questions later but that's it for now. Thanks for reading this LOOONG post and giving your answers.

garion333

03-10-2015, 06:55 AM

Hi folks,

New to the forum and the game.
I am french, I watch the superbowl every year and play some madden years ago but i lack a lot of us football culture and i hope you can help me.
So i have a LOT of questions.

I started a franchise and took the Jaguars, at the end of the first season i have a record of 11/5 and lost the wildcard game. So good season but as i barely made any decision, i don't feel satisfied yet... Because i literally spent the last 3 days to go through that off season, reading your forum and articles about football strategy.

So my questions mostly concern the game of football in itself even if some are about the game.

1) Player hierarchy in the same line.
I am not asking wether to have a strong RB or a strong MLB but rather between two players in the same line wich role is more important. Depends what you want to do. If your Offensive Line is good, a great RB isn't necessary. MLB is one of the least interesting positions on defense, imho.

WR : i don't understand the difference between FL and SE. Is one supposed to be more possession oriented or more downfield ? They're effectively the same, though most people want their stud to be the FL (Flanker) because he's on the field more than the SE (Split End).

Offensive line : i know LT is the most important but for the rest i don't really understand the specifics, is it better to have strong G or C ? Good to have good players all around. Tackles (LT, RT) most important aspect is Pass Protection. Guards and Centers less so, though you definitely want good Pass Protection all around. Centers play a big role in run game.

DT : i currently have 2 strong RDT that can equally play LDT, which one do i move to LDT, the weakest ? Doesn't matter.

DE : same LDE or RDE ? equally important ? In a 4-3, yes, pass rush is most important. In a 3-4 the LDE is more of the pass rusher.

OLB : same question... http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=71641

secondary : i suppose the answer for CB relate to the one for WR the strongest CB mark the strongest WR. Concerning the safeties are they equally important ? LCB - covers top WR, generally. SS - more rush defense. FS - more zone coverage

2) i don't see how i designate a franchise tag for the FA - During the stage that has ticket prices, open the player you want, choose "designate".

3) at the beginning of off season i choose to renovate the parking lot, when and how do i have an answer to that ? You only want to renovate everything at the same time, so add seats, get a better field, etc., use high quality construction, set the team to pay for half of the cost.

3) here's my FA signings and my draft picks, please give your 2 cents.
NB : i had a good roll on fx qb, bortles is now 53/86, so i did as i did in madden i invested in good lines because they were the players i couldn't control and that helped the user controlled player to play better, i supposed this logic wasn't bad...

FA : LG Iupati 79/79, 4y 8.2M/y
RDT Suh 75/75, 5y 8.6M/y
Blocking FB Tolbert 57/57, 2y 1.7M/y
WLB convert to SLB Weatherspoon 53/57, 4y 1.8M/y
LDE Long 49/49, 3y 2M/y
FL Brandon 45/49, 3y 2.2M/y
RT Sherod 35/49, 3y 1.2M/y
LG convert to C Mc Glyn 48/48, 2y 1.5M/y
receiving TE Fauria 41/48, 3y 1M/y
SE Maclin 42/42, 2y 1.8M/y
RT Reid 39/39, 2y 1.8M/y

draft : i admit i redid a few times because i was dumb enough to interview mostly in the best 10 players when i had the 25ish pick... face palm...
1 RDE 32/75
2 FS 28/60
3 WLB 31/58
4 FL 20/41
5 SE 23/33
6 MLB 36/68
7 RB 37/50

I don't want to brag about a good off season, as i said i redid it quite a few time. I just wanted to know if based on your knowledge of the team and of football i picked the good investment ? did i overpay some FA ? Impossible to tell from this info. Honestly, just need to keep playing to get a handle on whether you did or not. Did you win? Were you screwed next offseason from previous contracts? Where did you drafted players end up ratings-wise?

4) FA signings :
Some players refused to sign for me even if i offered more in overall contract, i was closer to their hometown, i had better results than the other team. I don't understand why... Did you cut them from your team? Did you have them on your team, but not play them on the field?

5) Players evolution :
During the season my 70/70 TE dropped to 30/30... (needless to say i cut his 8M last year contract) whereas my SE raised from 30/43ish to 52/58.
Is this normal to have such variation in potential in one year, particularly for my SE, or is my staff incompetent to judge potential... Totally normal, but it could be a switch from a bad staff to a good staff. The TE drop sounds like age or volatility.

6) Trade :
I wanted to trade draft picks for my 1200 yrds 10TD 50/50 RB and 1200 yrds 10TD 47/54 FL. I couldn't even have a 3rd pick with the two of them, why ? average stats and relatively good results, i don't understand... is it hard to trade in this game (vs my experience in Madden). The game is designed so you can't screw the AI over in trades.

7) Endurance :
My rookie RDE has literally O endurance, will it mean he will never play ? I mean how mean snaps can i expect him to play : 25%, 50%, more ? How can i raise that stat ? He will play about half of the the snaps in a game. Maybe less. You can't raise it.

8) Mentors :
When i look at the information screen, i sometime see mentor for X position for older players. Does the mentor have to be better than the younger player ? Does he have to be a starter ? Or can i have a few cheap old players around to mentor young studs ? Cheap is good. Doesn't have to be a starter.

9) Contracts :
Maybe a dumb question, but i noticed players tend to ask for an increasing salary over the year, when i sign them i tend to even the 1st year and the last year, mostly because i currently have a lot of space under the cap and i want to preserve some for the future year and also because my financial formation must influence me (it's better to anticipate a constant flux of money). I understand the point of view to increase the wage as years goes by so if you have to cut the player you make a bigger gain. Is my choice bad or is it just matter of preference ? Preference. I prefer to make each year equal.

I will surely have more questions later but that's it for now. Thanks for reading this LOOONG post and giving your answers.

Damn good questions.

Someone else will tell you where I gave bad info. ;)

seb11614

03-10-2015, 09:41 AM

garion333

03-10-2015, 10:52 AM

First of all thanks for your fast answer, it sure helps.
quick update :

3) Renovation : of course it's better to do all at the same time but with budget constraint + inexperience i didn't want to push it. The question was more has the renovation been accepted and how do i know it ? - Ah, gotcha. You'll find out after Training Camp whether the vote was successful or not. You'll get an email notification then.

4) FA signing : i was talking of FA players from other team and they did not resign for their previous team either. So i am totally lost there... - Understood. There are many factors at play here. Some players will take a "loyalty" cut and stay with a team they were already with. But in general, the most important part of a contract to the player is the amount of bonus (which is guaranteed money). Even if you offered more salary than other teams (which is not guaranteed money), but less bonus than the other teams the player will generally choose the other team. This can be really confusing to new players, especially those who don't speak English as a first language. ;)

6) Trade : i managed to make a trade for these player after the draft and before the late FA signing. So these 2 players + a ramdom olb + 2nd draft pick for a 1st draft pick. As the season hasn't started yet i don't know if the trade is good or not.

and again ty for your help

Contracts are tricky. Let me see if I can find a thread with a good explanation.

Try: http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=87481

Or: http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=88515

seb11614

03-11-2015, 08:13 PM

Hi there,

Here's my second batch of questions, since my first one seemed to have helped me understand the game better... Thanks again btw

1) Finance :
Is it important to maintain a positive balance in short/middle/long term, meaning is there a visible effect, like giving smaller contracts or bonus, or any sort of restrictions ? I moved my franchise to LA and my balance is currently deep in the red and probably for long since i'll soon have to resign my first good drafted players.

2) Marks :
Not that important but it seems the marks given at the end of each season are weird, i often have less than 40 in roster when i have the best one in the league (more than 12 players above 70/70) or less than 90 in performance when i have a perfect season. Well I left school a looong time ago so don't mind particularly.

3) MLB :
In your previous post, you stated that MLB is not that interesting but when i check the def stats, i find that my MLB (75/75) is often among my best tackler. Can you please elaborate ? Or is it just a matter of prefences and play style .

4) Depth charts locks :
I simply don't understand how it works. Sometime the CPU doesn't assignate the best for a position. For example, my best kick return player is my SE with almost a full bar and it chooses to start my 5th receiver with 1/4 of the bar. So i manually pick the SE, play the week, and when i come back after the game the other player is back. So i pick my SE back and check the lock box which is, i suppose, a way to say DON T CHANGE THAT to the CPU. When i come back after the next game, the other guy is back again, with the lock box checked. Is there something i don't understand because it s quite boring to do it every match.

5) Draft picks :
Aside for the first draft where i managed to land some late round gems. I find it difficult to do it consistently. I still redo the draft often, and i'll do it until i get the hang of it, but aside from the 1st round and sometime the 2nd, all the other picks where trash or 20/40 at best for me but also for the other teams according to the Green Page chart (in your games is there often 6th round Tom Brady equivalent or are those miracle ?).

So i read the forum for help, download the draft analyser, but it doesn't help a lot. Particularly on certain positions, actually all but WR and RB which are to me the easiest one to draft good prospects consistently (i consider a 20/40 a good pick after the 2nd round). So if you could provide some tips, they'll be welcome.

An other alternative i ve thought of would be to simply forfeit them. Meaning selling all the picks after the 2nd + some random players for another 2nd one. Viable or not ?

6) Salary cap :
So i am in my 4th season, and while i had decent cap margin at the beginning it s logically becoming thighter. My star QB wants 20M/y, my linebackers want 10M/y and so on. The problem is, as i've said i have more than 10 players above 70/70 and it's hard to keep them all. I know you can't have the cheese and the cheesemaker's wife (french idiom badely translated), so i have to choose (i choose the wife btw). Aside from the obvious keep your MVP QB... some other tips like what you said about MLB being not so good are welcome, and if you could elaborate to further my understanding, i'd be grateful.

Thanks for the contracts threads links btw, way easier to sign FA once you up the bonuses and drop the salary.

For the moment, i use the franchise tag salary grid as a tool for ranking player usefulness but it is quite empirical and sometimes i don't agree with it : 9M for a RB, 15M for a DE, 14M for a CB vs 17M for a QB, is there a scaling problem here ? (again i lack culture, like a lot).

Moreover if i undertand quite easily the stats for offense (yrds, TD, yrds/attempt; drops or fumble, duuuuh!), less easily the defensive ones (everything right from sack is a mistery), the pass cover and the blocking ones are hard to interpret for a us football newb like me. As a guideline i use the awards in the player informations tabs, but i'd like to further these aspects to.

Of course, you're free to ask me anything if you need more info to answer more accurately. Or to point me to other threads i might have missed.

7) Randomness of CPU made decisions :
Sometimes the CPU makes decisions i didn't call for. 2 striking examples : a lot of 1 year contracts because of injuries which results in relatively good players paid almost nothing when i often have a replacement solution in my roster, which is often worse, so i won't complain, good call CPU ! And a lot of player changed position according to my lack or abundance of depth in said positions, again most of the time good call CPU. But the fact is that i'd like to take those decisions myself particurlarly the position changes, because sometimes i wouldn't make the same call, a good example would be a younger slightly worse player but with a better pottential losing a spot to an older player with one year left on contract. And as you can't change position more than once a year i am screwed. Is there a way to disable these CPU made decisons that should be player made.

8) Easy game ?
To finish, it is quite deviant to ask that when i have so many things i don't understand. But it is because i am a total newb and still winning relatively easily that it makes sense. Don't misunderstand, i don't complain or anything, and i don't mistake a success based on reloaded drafts on a game failure. After my 4th year, 4 playoffs; 3 finals, 2 titles with the jags, i started a new game just to see what if... I know the jags despite bad league rankings are blessed with a good rookie QB, large cap margin, a few big contracts easy to cut and again i have good cheesy drafts to top it all.

So i started anew with the redskins, another "bad" team (i don't watch any games aside from the superbowl, i just base my assumption on league rankings, and a 4/12 is not a good team a least). So 1st year with the redskins and i do a 10/5 and playoffs, my "lousy" 30/40 QB throws 3700 yrds, 26TD, 17int, for a qb rating of 96, 8th QB of the league before Rogers, Brady, Luck and a lot of supposedly better QB.

Am i missing someting in my rant ? On the side could you advice a team to spice things up. Once i get more into this game, i ll stop the draft cheesing and start a new franchise and i think it will be soon, i don't intend to see my new stadium with the jags.

So once again sorry for the loooong post, but still a lot i don't understand about the sport and the game and thanks in advance for your time reading and answering my posts.

aston217

03-11-2015, 10:44 PM

1) Finances only affect your position in the staff draft. So it's kinda important. I would spend up to the salary cap. Winning is even more important, and influences support/ticket prices/etc. And that aside, your balance sheet is overwhelmingly dictated by ticket revenue and so on, not by your player spending.

2) I don't know about this one. Never paid attention to those. You can check "Franchise Value" in the Almanac to see if your roster is really the best in the league.

3) I like MLBs. In MP, you have to choose what is important, though, and I think this leads to people prioritizing ceratin positions or not as a philosophy. I don't tend to go nuts spending on LBs. I've no idea if that is wise; everyone has different thoughts.

4) I don't understand how it works, either. I never use it. You might have the "CPU automatically adjusts depth chart" enabled under your single player game options.

5) Well, there's not "often" Tom Brady anywhere, but the draft is tricky. The best way to get the hang of it is to see other players of the game in action, talking about what they like or don't like in a player. There's a wealth of knowledge on this forum, but it's hard to summarize. And I think right now, the draft is just plain hard to figure out. Which is a significant improvement over FOF2k7, where it was hard to fully explain to people, but not hard to figure out. I think the disparity in drafting ability among MP GMs has at least for the moment narrowed.

6) Yeah, keeping the QB sounds good. Again, everyone has different thoughts about what's important and what's worth spending on. For me, if I have an unbelievable QB, then his weapons become secondary to DL and DBs. I also see the OL as important. Kickers, punters, and long snappers are luxuries, not people, to me.

The franchise salaries are simply the Top 5 average salaries at the position.

80+ PD% is a good number. I look at Pass Rush % and Tackle % as well, but these vary a lot based on position and scheme.

7) Yeah, it really sounds like you have a number of CPU control options checked. You should look under SP options and remove all of them. That should be the default, but it sounds like it isn't. Wonder what Jim was thinking with that one?

8) Hop in the Multiplayer waters and let me know if it's easy ;) No, really -- this is a nice community and I can't think of a better way to play the game. It's not for everyone, of course, but if you like to pay close attention to your teams and compete against live minds rather than AI, this is for you!

I haven't played SP, so I can't comment there. It could well be easy, especially if you re-run drafts, and I know many players who do play SP have a set of "house rules" by which they abide, to make things tougher.

Templar

03-12-2015, 03:08 AM

LCB - covers top WR, generally...:eek:
That surprises me now.
Can anyone confirm this?

...
8) Hop in the Multiplayer waters and let me know if it's easy ;) No, really -- this is a nice community and I can't think of a better way to play the game. It's not for everyone, of course, but if you like to pay close attention to your teams and compete against live minds rather than AI, this is for you!...
Almost each one must agree here.

seb11614, if you like Front Office Football, seriously consider to become a member of an MP league.
There are no additional cost to you, but ton of fun.

Vive la France

garion333

03-12-2015, 06:43 AM

2) Marks :
Not that important but it seems the marks given at the end of each season are weird, i often have less than 40 in roster when i have the best one in the league (more than 12 players above 70/70) or less than 90 in performance when i have a perfect season. Well I left school a looong time ago so don't mind particularly.

My rosters are always rated lower than I think they should be. I think it's how I design my defenses (I ignore run D).

That said, I had a season recently in which I dominated the league and made a ton of money. All of my marks were high except for roster, which I believe was a 20. Everything else was 90+.

I don't understand the mechanism behind it. All I'm concerned with is winning or losing and how players develop. An arbitrary score matters not. Championships > score

seb11614

03-12-2015, 07:43 AM

First of all, thanks again for your kind answers. If anyone wants advice on football (i mean soccer) management i'd be glad to oblige :)

Finances :

ok thanks for the answers, still quite tricky though because i have quite an attendance problem. I have good rising fan support around 85. I keep having very good seasons but as i raised the prices slightly between 2 and 5$, my attendance plummeted from 80% to 60%. Quite harsh, i thought the winning would offset the small price raise...

For player contracts priorities here's my thoughts and my experience so far, hope you can correct me if i m wrong.

Contracts and player hierarchy :

First i tend to find my bench players through FA where you can easily find 40/40 or 50/50 players for quite cheap (less than 3M, often 2M). It was easy the first years to find a lot (5+/year) star 70/70++ players in the FA (you had to splash money though). It is harder now if you have one or two a year, you can consider yourself lucky and rarely in the position i am seeking (ie mostly OL)

Offense

QB obvious. I have a 85/85 one so quite easy to win games...

RB : relatively expensive FA, i tend to fill through the draft where it s easy to find 30/50 in early rounds and 20/40 in later ones. I look for speed, hole recognition and relative receiving skills. runs 1200yrds sometimes 1400 and receive around 300yrds

WR : early in my game i splashed more than 10M/y for Dez Bryant 73/73, i will never do that again, i was in a rush to build a receiving squad and i wanted a star to catch my QB passes. In the end he does his 1200 yrds/y but so does every other strating receivers i ve had, 50/50 or 60/60 around 3M/y. Again quite easy to draft 30/50 in early rounds and 20/40 in late ones.

For RB and WR, i tend to trade them before their 4th year against draft rounds instead of resigning them. Maybe i ll one day RP it more and keep the star ones longer.

TE : disposable less than 1.5M/y, i read they are quite important but i never see their impact stat wise, maybe i pick the wrong ones. receive around 200yrds

FB : disposable less than 1M/y, run around 100 yrds, receive 100 yrds

rarely draft FB or TE, because i always pick bad ones and they don t make much impact

Offensive line : my priority, i splash a lot for quality in starters above 70 like 9,10M/y, and i often have depth with bench around 40. I have my old madden instincts telling me you need someone to block these guys. But i totally lack comprehension here so i splash when i can, not knowing why. Btw is it better to prioritize run and pass technique VS blocking strenght ?

So in the end i have a top 10 rushing offense, even top 5 some years, and a top 5 passing offense.

Defense :

DT : I splashed a lot early for a 70/70 Suh Ndasomething, like 9,10M/y. But i regret doing so, statwise i find that 50/50 players do the same job. Plus all my DT tackles half as much as my LB and the pass rush % is half the DE one. But maybe their work isn't reflected on their stats and more on the stats of the players around them (again hard to know with a stat oriented sport as us football).

DE : better stats wise than my DT more sacks (is 8/y good), pass rush % (is 6% good ?), i don't spend a lot though, look for 50/50 players.

LB : my priority, old madden reflex where they were the players i control so liked having good ones. Plus they have the most tackles (around 80/y) and tackle % (around 12%).

Secondary : CB are really expensive, so i make do with cheap 3,4M/y 50/50 players, i tend to rely on good safeties 70/70 which are cheaper around 4M/y and my LB to cover them. Plus i drafted a star 80/80 CB and my safeties outperform him slightly statwise (passD % and int) and i don't see the difference with the other ones around 40/40 or 50/50.

I find that statwise CB and WR have the same problem in my team : good ones and bad ones roughly do the same job. Am i missing something ?

I have a soccer or rugby bias maybe considering the last defender (safeties) are more important than the 1st ones and that covering (LB) each other matters more than individual performance. But again different sport and lack of culture, maybe the fact you have to cover 10 yrds by 10 yrds renders the last defender concept useles...

So as you see my priorities in defense radically differs from yours where you said to focus on DL and DB when i focus on LB and safeties. I don't do it as a matter of personnal preference since i lack culture. I do it more as reflective bias based on my experience on madden (which is a different game, i mean if you have agile fingers you could run 200yrds a game with a lousy RB) and my european team sports conception.

I usually have a top 10/top 5 run defense and an average 20th ish pass defense. And i also have around +8,10 TO efficiency.

P and K : i tend to keep the good ones above 70/70 even if i have to give them 2,3 M/y which is not much and good ones can tip the balance in tight games in my mind. Correct me if i m wrong, but a good punter can net an average of 8,10 yrds more than a lousy one which in the end make a lot of yrds for the other team to cover. Am i wrong ?

When i give my player stats, of course i also compare them with the other players in the league, but i still give them for you to have a notion of my team balance statwise. And also, because i know what a top RB can cover in a run heavy offense doesn t mean i know what an average RB covers in a balanced or pass oriented offense for example.

The problem in my eyes is that aside from my QB, i tend to heavily focus on defense with my cash, and i win my games more with the offense than with the defense as you can see.

Drafts :

Ok i can understand that the draft is tricky and is quite luck related. I still have some more questions.

a. the players bars are often misleading, i understand you can interview them to see if they are overated or not, but still i often have huge difference between the draft and reality. Is it due the staff interview or scouting skills ? Is interview skill only for the draft and scouting only for established players ? Which staff member stats count toward the estimate accuracy ? All of them ?

b. an other thing i don't understand is that the bars are thinner for certain positions and larger for others, ie more or less certainty in estimation. And i don't understand the factors. For example WR bars are way thinner than RB bars when my Off coordinator is specialized in RB and have good interview and scouting skills. But quite often my WR finals stats are totally of the bars when my RB are closer to estimation. I can't find a logic there...

c. are the bars an estimation of actual ability or potential ability ?

d. when players have the same grades is it better to take the least developped one ?

e. concerning the combine results, i am quite lost. 1st i don't understand broad jump, it seems to be a sort of long jump (correct me if i m wrong). And when i check the forum it seems to be the most important ability for a RB. I can't relate to why a RB must jump when i'd think that speed, agility, game intelligence and even strenght seems to be more important for me ? I can understand jumping power for WR and CB to catch high balls but RB ?

The same for bench being the most important for QB and CB when resp game intel and dash/agility seems in my eyes more important ?

But again i m no good in draft except for RB and WR so...

SP options :
Thanks i checked it and it works fine now. btw the color boxes in that section are kind of confusing/misleading, i first thought i had the good ones checked when i really hadn't.

MP action :
I d like that, maybe i ll do it in a few days/week. But i have a few concerns. First the play hours, considering the time difference i don't want to end game sessions at 4am... see my point...
2nd i don't want to be rude, if i join a MP game, i don't want to quit after a few season, so i ll first see if i m really hooked on the game.
That said i didn t check the MP forum yet, i have quite a lot to do with the SP one.

seb11614

03-12-2015, 07:55 AM

Btw

:eek:
Vive la France

Nice to hear from a country prone to french bashing and liberty fries ;).
Just kidding... French are also prone to US bashing and i still like american people and culture. Noticed i didn't say i like the US...;) kidding again...

garion333

03-12-2015, 12:27 PM

Finances :

ok thanks for the answers, still quite tricky though because i have quite an attendance problem. I have good rising fan support around 85. I keep having very good seasons but as i raised the prices slightly between 2 and 5$, my attendance plummeted from 80% to 60%. Quite harsh, i thought the winning would offset the small price raise...

Hit recommend first and see what the game suggests then decide whether or not to adjust your ticket prices.

Personally, I just use recommend and leave it at that.

Offense

QB obvious. I have a 85/85 one so quite easy to win games... This would account for the thing you see where studs and not as great WRs still do really well in your system. Your QB is making your WRs better.

RB : relatively expensive FA, i tend to fill through the draft where it s easy to find 30/50 in early rounds and 20/40 in later ones. I look for speed, hole recognition and relative receiving skills. runs 1200yrds sometimes 1400 and receive around 300yrds If your OL is good, Hole Recognition isn't as important.

WR : early in my game i splashed more than 10M/y for Dez Bryant 73/73, i will never do that again, i was in a rush to build a receiving squad and i wanted a star to catch my QB passes. In the end he does his 1200 yrds/y but so does every other strating receivers i ve had, 50/50 or 60/60 around 3M/y. Again quite easy to draft 30/50 in early rounds and 20/40 in late ones. Chemistry plays a role. Takes about three years for cohesion to take full effect. But, really, it's because your QB is a stud.

For RB and WR, i tend to trade them before their 4th year against draft rounds instead of resigning them. Maybe i ll one day RP it more and keep the star ones longer.

TE : disposable less than 1.5M/y, i read they are quite important but i never see their impact stat wise, maybe i pick the wrong ones. receive around 200yrds I'd say this is scheme more than anything. My stud TEs get 600+ yds a season. Use more formations with TEs on the field.

FB : disposable less than 1M/y, run around 100 yrds, receive 100 yrds

rarely draft FB or TE, because i always pick bad ones and they don t make much impact Agree about the FB. Receiving skills and blocking skills more important than running skills, imho.

Offensive line : my priority, i splash a lot for quality in starters above 70 like 9,10M/y, and i often have depth with bench around 40. I have my old madden instincts telling me you need someone to block these guys. But i totally lack comprehension here so i splash when i can, not knowing why. Btw is it better to prioritize run and pass technique VS blocking strenght ? You can almost exclusively ignore blocking strength except to help you in the draft.

So in the end i have a top 10 rushing offense, even top 5 some years, and a top 5 passing offense. Are you complaining? lol

Defense :

DT : I splashed a lot early for a 70/70 Suh Ndasomething, like 9,10M/y. But i regret doing so, statwise i find that 50/50 players do the same job. Plus all my DT tackles half as much as my LB and the pass rush % is half the DE one. But maybe their work isn't reflected on their stats and more on the stats of the players around them (again hard to know with a stat oriented sport as us football). Yup.

DE : better stats wise than my DT more sacks (is 8/y good), pass rush % (is 6% good ?), i don't spend a lot though, look for 50/50 players. 6% is okay. Not great.

LB : my priority, old madden reflex where they were the players i control so liked having good ones. Plus they have the most tackles (around 80/y) and tackle % (around 12%).

Secondary : CB are really expensive, so i make do with cheap 3,4M/y 50/50 players, i tend to rely on good safeties 70/70 which are cheaper around 4M/y and my LB to cover them. Plus i drafted a star 80/80 CB and my safeties outperform him slightly statwise (passD % and int) and i don't see the difference with the other ones around 40/40 or 50/50. Stud CB is gonna cover the best WRs, so their PD% isn't always amazing. 80%+ is generally a good season for CBs. Also, it matters less their overall rating. What are their different pass coverage bars? Are you matching your coverage to their bars? If you have good man to man, run man to man and less zone.

I find that statwise CB and WR have the same problem in my team : good ones and bad ones roughly do the same job. Am i missing something ? Not entirely, sounds like you generally have a good team overall which can lessen the impact of your studs. Come join a mp league where you can't load up on all the talent and you'll see a bit more of how a stud WR or CB is someone you can build around.

MP action :
I d like that, maybe i ll do it in a few days/week. But i have a few concerns. First the play hours, considering the time difference i don't want to end game sessions at 4am... see my point... It's run at certain times. You just need to have your sim in before its run. There's no "live" action.
2nd i don't want to be rude, if i join a MP game, i don't want to quit after a few season, so i ll first see if i m really hooked on the game. No, join mp. Best way to play. Ignore the sp people who say otherwise.
That said i didn t check the MP forum yet, i have quite a lot to do with the SP one.

Laconic1

03-12-2015, 12:56 PM

Great questions and excellent responses from the folks here in the forum! I've learned a lot as well!

seb11614

03-12-2015, 02:19 PM

Waouw, honestly, this is one of the rare forums where i ve been where people answer so fast, so accurately to so many questions. Though i admit that i can think too much sometimes and ask too much...

Quick follow up on your answers :

Chemistry plays a role.
face palm, i play a lot of soccer management and chemistry plays a big part too, so don't change half your roster over an off season, basic but i forgot...

Use more formations with TEs on the field
where and how to do that ?

What are their different pass coverage bars? Are you matching your coverage to their bars? If you have good man to man, run man to man and less zone.
something i didn't know at all, i just assumed they did all of that at the same time depending on the circunstances during the play ie you mark your guy but if the pass is thrown to another guy your cover ability enter into play, so i assumed you needed all that, not that i could focus on a more specialized approach (again soccer bias where you tackle, pass, mark and cover in the same game)
i tried to look but where and how to do that ?

MP : ok you ve all convinced me, almost everyone says its best so it must be best (it s the democracy principle after all :lol:)
EDIT : i am trying my luck with TFL and OSFL, we'll see...

aston217

03-12-2015, 03:27 PM

face palm, i play a lot of soccer management and chemistry plays a big part too, so don't change half your roster over an off season, basic but i forgot...

Technically, that would affect cohesion. Cohesion is I believe calculated for every play on the field, based on the "Years On Team" value for the guys on the field, and is different for different position groups: "passing", "O-Line", "Defensive Front", "Defensive Secondary."

Chemistry is about affinities and conflicts. As a guide, I believe someone concluded that conflicts hurt more than affinities help, so it's more important to focus on avoiding conflicts. These are based on players being in matching birthday groups with their position leader. Here's a table:

http://www.bearsruletheworld.com/vnfl/images/filmroom/affinities-table.jpg

where and how to do that ?

The formation usage screens on the game plan menu. There are a lot of them; you use different formation sets depending on the playcall (for example, if the playcall is 60% run, you use your "Slight Run Formations"; if
the playcall is 20% run, you use your "Pass Formations").

FOF Formation Designer - Google Sheets (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhbfF9SP0LxtdEFDdnRCRmlrM0U4bnl1dHd1OHB2QWc&usp=sharing)

I use this to help me design the formations, although as a head's up, I think some of the calculations about personnel are incorrect.

something i didn't know at all, i just assumed they did all of that at the same time depending on the circunstances

I think Solecismic once told a member here that to an extent, all pass coverage skills come into play on every play. But I do feel personally that your defense runs certain coverages better than others, depending on your personnel. However, I also feel a bit of balance is important.

seb11614

03-13-2015, 07:02 AM

WTF i have to take astrology into account !! as if us football isn't complicated enough as it is :confused:. I think no one could have guessed that...

Thanks for your link it helps. I guess i ll have to do some research on formations and their use, particularly defensive one, i m kind of lost with coverage formation. I ll come back to you if i m still lost after the research.

garion333

03-13-2015, 08:30 AM

WTF i have to take astrology into account !! as if us football isn't complicated enough as it is :confused:. I think no one could have guessed that...

You don't have to think (much) about it at all, it's built into the game. It tells you when someone will be an affinity or conflict or (usually) neither. Jim used astrology for no reason other than because presents hard dates for breaking people up into groups. There's nothing deep about it.

Honestly, cohesion and gameplanning are more advanced features and you can pretty much ignore them while you figure out drafting and roster building (which you seem to have a pretty good handle on).

reynaldoTRESOR

06-17-2015, 09:48 AM

So Seb11614,

I'm curious to know if you got into this game and how you find it now. I'm a longtime player of Football (soccer) Manager and was hoping this game is as good, or even better!

I have many of the same questions you did, and I'm reading through your answers now, but I wanted to ask you how the game is going for you. Thanks

clist123abc

06-28-2015, 08:01 PM

[FONT=&quot]Hope it's ok to semi hijack the thread but i'm also n the new side and had some questions if anyone can help:
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
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[FONT=&quot]Settings[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Are there any settings changed to reflect realism or does the default work well? I’m especially wondering about the injury setting.
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[FONT=&quot]Defense [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Do you prefer the 34 or 43 defense or does it depend on your personnel? I find that once draft day comes there are a lot of MLB’s and few SILB, WILB’s available so if I want to draft a decent inside lb it’s almost as if I have to switch to 43[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Draft day[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Does volatility rating affect your decision to draft a given player? My thought was that I would stay away from high volatility in the first few rounds (because the player could go bust despite already having a high rating so the risk is high) while looking for it during the last rounds (for the inverse reasons where the risk is low and reward is high). Am I wrong to think so?
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[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Has anyone adopted the old Dallas/New England strategy of trading out of the first round to stockpile on 2nd, 3rd and 4th round picks? This saves a lot of money and give a bigger margin of error but shuts you out of the elite players. Am i essentially building teams that get to the playoffs only to lose there due to a lack of elite players if i adopt this strategy?
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[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Do young QB’s need a mentor like linemen? Let’s say you have 2 young qb’s and you’re in the last 4 games of a losing season ….if QB1 knows 11 plays but has a lower upside than QB2 who knows fewer plays but higher upside ….who would you start? Would you even throw rookies in if your line isn’t exactly the best and there's a chance you could be fired? [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
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[FONT=&quot]Chemistry[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Is it more realistic to turn this off? Does it give me an advantage compared to the AI since I can tell who creates conflict and who doesn’t? [/FONT]