The Herculean Task - FOF2K1 House Rules

[the_classic]

I haven't had the time, or desire to sink my teeth into FOF2K1, but since the college football season is ended, and the NFL season is in it's last chapter, I am beginning to play FOF2K1 religiously every night.

After a couple seasons of familiarizing myself with the physics of the new game engine, I am at the point where I want to setup a list of challenging house rules.

This past night, I have searched the topics, and dynasty reports to help me setup a hardcore set of rules, that will keep me challenged and entertained.

I have to give the gold to Quiksand when it folds to this subject. Reading his dynasty report, I was able to implement not only detailed but thoughtful rules into my list from his main points. Hell Atlantic also did a superior job, with the house rules he created for his career, and have taken notes of his ideas into the supporting cast of my house rules.

Listed below are the set of rules I am going to use, throughout my FOF2K1 career. Also listed are summaries of specific rule.
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Game Setup
Computer doesn't sign draft picks.

Scouts don’t make minor roster decisions, or manage depth charts.

User isn’t permitted to call plays during games.

Begin franchise with an empty cupboard, and forbidden to roster current NFL players.

Play under Wall Street difficulty.

GM may be fired for poor performance.

First initial setup of the gameplan settings must be kept throughout entire career. (Gives and initial mold to build a team. An average guard might be a bigger priority then a star tackle simply because of the run direction settings.)

Team Personal
Coaches/Scouts

Coaches/scouts can only be offered the maximum of a three-year contract/extension.

A coach/scout must be retained for the duration of his contract.(Chargers stick with Mike Riley, so I should have to stick with a bad coaching situation under contract.)

If a coach/scout made it to the playoffs in the last season of his contract, you must offer him contract extension.

If a coach/scout had a losing season every year he was under contract, you may not offer him an extension.

You can not hire new staff that has previous experience in the league. (Fewer/worse options, make search for coach/scout more challenging.)

Roster Management

No haggling over signed player contracts; either accept or decline the player’s demand.
Must offer a free agent the duration of contract requested.

Renegotiations can only take place during the final year of the contract, during the initial free agency stage, and the player must have a loyalty rating over 60. (Hell Atlantic had an influence here.)

Any players that are demanding trade or livid with management, must be released before the preseason schedule begins.(Happens a lot in the NFL, Carl Pickens is a perfect example.)

When a players play for a winner attribute is at or above 95, and your franchise will not have the talent to be competitive, you must trade him before the preseason to the defending league champions for a 7th round pick.(Adds extra incentive to create a championship roster, so you don't lose an fan favorite, and lose revenue.)

No signing of non-rookie free agents after the initial free agency period expires.

No initiated trades; the team must add a 7th round pick to all CPU trade offers.

Franchise may not execute franchise tag privilege.

Salaries may only increase the maximum of 25% year to year.

If the franchise is over the salary cap after training camp, the team must forfeit their next three first round picks to the previous season’s worst team.
(Being over the NFL salary cap is cheating. If an NFL team was ever over the cap after training camp, they would be stripped away of picks and fined, just how I will be.)

Team must roster a player at each position (exception for K and P), which are from a college that resides in the team’s home state. (A great Quiksand rule.)

Finances

A new stadium/dome may not be built till current venue has been renovated twice.

In order to pursue renovations or new stadium/dome construction, public support of the team must be above 80, and public support for new construction must be above 95.

Team venue must be at or below of the nearest geographic competitor in terms of seating.

The franchise must pay the maximum they can for new/renovation construction.
Ticket prices no higher than those of the nearest geographic competitor.

If the franchise is in debt, you may not sign any non-rookie FA’s, and must release the players with the second and fourth highest salary values.
(The financial AI of FOF2K1 is simply a very weak feature, which can be cheated at will. The debt rule adds realism to the game. In the real sports world when a franchise is in debt, or low of money the team can't afford to pursue, or keep top ticket players. This rule also opens up the realistic fact, that team finances affect on-field performance, which is an aspect the FOF engine neglects.)

Switching Franchises
To switch to a new franchise you have completed the following:

A minimum of 35 years with your current franchise.

A minimum of 7 league championships and a championship in the final year with franchise.

A minimum of 18 elected players into the Hall of Fame under your current franchise.
Franchise has the leagues highest franchise value.
(These guidelines for choosing a new franchise, give me the longevity with a team I enjoy, and the challenge of creating a dynasty. They also allow me to switch to another team when success becomes easy to obtain, and loses it's challenge.)
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This isn't a dynasty post, mainly just wanting to know if their are any I should add, and fishing for comments positive or negative.

[QuikSand]

One thing strikes me:

First initial setup of the gameplan settings must be kept throughout entire career.

If you have not yet played FOF 2001, you might be surprised to find that, unlike in FOF2, these things are not static year to year. It seems that your scout (or whomever) sets a "default" in many (but not all) areas, even overriding your manual changes from the prior year.

For instance, you may prefer a 4-3 defense, and may have built your personnel around that. You may put maximum training into the 4-3, and nothing into th 3-4. However, it is still possible that when you go to your gameplan, you'll find that the scout has set your team to be 60/40 favoring 4-3, or even 100% 3-4. The system that decides these things remains a mystery to me, but be aware that making no changes can leave you with a fairly unpredictable mess.

My recommendation-- play a few seasons, and then revisit your house rules and lay down the law on what areas you are willing to edit each year (maybe defensive front, secondary coverage schemes) and which you are not (maybe run direction, pass distribution by length).

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One more thing:

No initiated trades; the team must add a 7th round pick to all CPU trade offers.

You may find(as I did) that it makes more sense just to modify the trade (and then replace your changes) and then see if the trade offer passes that reality test (without adding in an extra 7th rounder each time). So, if you're offered a TE plus a 3rd rounder for one of your players, pull up the trade, remove the TE form the deal, then add him back in. When you accept it, you will get a truer impression whether the CPU thinks it to be a fair trade. You'll still win out sometimes, but they will be fewer and farther between.

Enjoy...

[the_classic]

Quiksand, I discovered that gameplan quirk a couple nights ago. What I plan to do is simply just enter the same settings year in and year out. I printed out a screen shot of the gameplan, so basically every season I will just switch the settings back to my original default.

[QuikSand]

Sounds fair. You might decide that the run/pass breakdowns might be okay to just leave in place, based on what is set as your default each year. (It might save you a lot of headache manually changing each box each year by a few measly points)