Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - DDS Pro Football 20: Don't Call it a Comeback

QuikSand · 12-01-2019, 10:18 AM

2021 Rookie Draft

I don't know where I'm picking... it's near the top but not #1. That is not easy to find anywhere in game. Seems odd. We need players at WR, RB, and everywhere on defense. I focus my scouting and interviews on these positions.

My staff offers some thoughts on draft sleepers w "great potential":
(posting here as a note to myself...can't copy/paste, dammit)
CB Abraham
FS Casey
P Levi
LB Baker
T Whittington
C Roman
DT Cuevas

Since I felt so lost in the last draft, I think I will use these recommendations to help fill out my later round picks, if that seems workable. The last two come from me... which I don't understand. I assigned myself a 5 in all the skills, so I presume I'm a mediocre scout, and won't weight that too highly. But I guess in theory I should be weighing the recommendations based on the staff scouting ratings: so my OC McFarland is 3.5 stars there, and he likes... the fucking punter. Awesome. But in concept, I like how this could work... these pre-draft recommended "sleepers" would be more reliable if you invested in staff member(s) with good scouting ability.

It's rather annoying... I can pivot from a summary screen to seeing combine scores and personality traits, but on those pages I can neither see who has been selected for scouting/interview, nor make that selection. So it's a lot of back and forth between these screens if I really want to put some effort into tailoring my list of draft targets properly. In a serious game, I guess I would... here, not so much. I end up loking over the receivers, sorting by combines like 40 time, and saying names out loud to myself so I can flip back to the summary screen and click them to be targeted. Ugh.

I also have a familiar grievance (same as in the online draft conscriptor tool we use for FOF)... sorting combines low to high as a default makes sense for certain select combines (the timed ones) but it's the wrong sort for everything else. Clicking twice to get stuff like jump distances and bench presses isn' a big inconvenience, but it's a tiny one and I will be reminded of it constantly playing this game... which isn't a good micro-interaction between developer and user. It can't be that hard to pre-set different default sorts here... who would ever want to see who was the worst guy in the draft at any combines?

Okay, on to the actual draft... for our top pick, all my staff agree on a WR, a guy rated "Round 1" rather than "Top 10" on the big board. Hmm, does that mean we should try to trade down? Accumulating more draft picks seems to be of limited value here, given the short contract duration and immediate reset to market value. So, I guess all I get from dealing down would be mostly to get my guy more cheaply here on a long term deal, which is worth something but not a ton. I'll follow their recommendation and take the WR, skipping the more highly regarded DE and T who are also there...

(Using this section to note what my scouts say about each player)

1.6 WR Gerald Williams (1st) D C+ B+ B B+ 19.9 19.9 19.4
2.6 WR Alberto Worthy (1st-2nd) C B C B C 19.4 19.4 18.9
3.6 LB Lauren Lockett (2nd) C B C+ A C+ 16.6 16.6 15.6
4.6 FS Timothy Purdy (3rd) C C C+ C+ B+ 14.9 14.9 14.9
5.6 C David Roman (4-5) C B+ F B C+ 13.0 11.0 12.5
6.6 WR Gerald Bassett (4-5) C C A+ B+ C- 13.5 13.5 13.0 C!
7.6 FS Courtney Casey (4-5) C- C+ A+ B C 10.4 10.4 8.9

WR Gerald Bassett is a guy I'll watch closely... he was a combine standout by my eyeball test, but fell in the draft. My scouts don't give him a high number, but the letter grades look pretty good. If he turns out to be a steal, I'll feel like I gathered something valuable about drafting here.

I will note that C Roman and FS Casey were emailed "sleeper" picks, but my staff had nothing good to say about them during the draft, which seems like a missed opportunity. At least the one guy who touted him ought to have him rated more highly, right? Internal consistency, and all. I understand it's a computer game and not tiny little people, but it would make sense for that to "stick." Otherwise just have the pre-draft emails come from a scouting service we paid for, or something like that.

Okay, draft us done, we have 54 players on the roster.

12-01-2019, 10:18 AM	#14
QuikSand lolzcat Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Annapolis, Md	2021 Rookie Draft I don't know where I'm picking... it's near the top but not #1. That is not easy to find anywhere in game. Seems odd. We need players at WR, RB, and everywhere on defense. I focus my scouting and interviews on these positions. My staff offers some thoughts on draft sleepers w "great potential": (posting here as a note to myself...can't copy/paste, dammit) CB Abraham FS Casey P Levi LB Baker T Whittington C Roman DT Cuevas Since I felt so lost in the last draft, I think I will use these recommendations to help fill out my later round picks, if that seems workable. The last two come from me... which I don't understand. I assigned myself a 5 in all the skills, so I presume I'm a mediocre scout, and won't weight that too highly. But I guess in theory I should be weighing the recommendations based on the staff scouting ratings: so my OC McFarland is 3.5 stars there, and he likes... the fucking punter. Awesome. But in concept, I like how this could work... these pre-draft recommended "sleepers" would be more reliable if you invested in staff member(s) with good scouting ability. It's rather annoying... I can pivot from a summary screen to seeing combine scores and personality traits, but on those pages I can neither see who has been selected for scouting/interview, nor make that selection. So it's a lot of back and forth between these screens if I really want to put some effort into tailoring my list of draft targets properly. In a serious game, I guess I would... here, not so much. I end up loking over the receivers, sorting by combines like 40 time, and saying names out loud to myself so I can flip back to the summary screen and click them to be targeted. Ugh. I also have a familiar grievance (same as in the online draft conscriptor tool we use for FOF)... sorting combines low to high as a default makes sense for certain select combines (the timed ones) but it's the wrong sort for everything else. Clicking twice to get stuff like jump distances and bench presses isn' a big inconvenience, but it's a tiny one and I will be reminded of it constantly playing this game... which isn't a good micro-interaction between developer and user. It can't be that hard to pre-set different default sorts here... who would ever want to see who was the worst guy in the draft at any combines? Okay, on to the actual draft... for our top pick, all my staff agree on a WR, a guy rated "Round 1" rather than "Top 10" on the big board. Hmm, does that mean we should try to trade down? Accumulating more draft picks seems to be of limited value here, given the short contract duration and immediate reset to market value. So, I guess all I get from dealing down would be mostly to get my guy more cheaply here on a long term deal, which is worth something but not a ton. I'll follow their recommendation and take the WR, skipping the more highly regarded DE and T who are also there... (Using this section to note what my scouts say about each player) 1.6 WR Gerald Williams (1st) D C+ B+ B B+ 19.9 19.9 19.4 2.6 WR Alberto Worthy (1st-2nd) C B C B C 19.4 19.4 18.9 3.6 LB Lauren Lockett (2nd) C B C+ A C+ 16.6 16.6 15.6 4.6 FS Timothy Purdy (3rd) C C C+ C+ B+ 14.9 14.9 14.9 5.6 C David Roman (4-5) C B+ F B C+ 13.0 11.0 12.5 6.6 WR Gerald Bassett (4-5) C C A+ B+ C- 13.5 13.5 13.0 C! 7.6 FS Courtney Casey (4-5) C- C+ A+ B C 10.4 10.4 8.9 WR Gerald Bassett is a guy I'll watch closely... he was a combine standout by my eyeball test, but fell in the draft. My scouts don't give him a high number, but the letter grades look pretty good. If he turns out to be a steal, I'll feel like I gathered something valuable about drafting here. I will note that C Roman and FS Casey were emailed "sleeper" picks, but my staff had nothing good to say about them during the draft, which seems like a missed opportunity. At least the one guy who touted him ought to have him rated more highly, right? Internal consistency, and all. I understand it's a computer game and not tiny little people, but it would make sense for that to "stick." Otherwise just have the pre-draft emails come from a scouting service we paid for, or something like that. Okay, draft us done, we have 54 players on the roster.