Is This Type of Playing Experience Possible?

[Biological]

Hello everyone!
First post, but I'll try to get straight to the point.
As I believe in getting it right the first time (no sense in dragging this out and wasting your guys' time with excessive back-and-forths), I'd like to lay out the user case so you can very accurately gauge, understand where I'm coming from and exactly what I'm looking for.
(tldr; see: "What I'm Hoping to Achieve").

Feel free to skip this part, but it's some background on me and where I'm coming from:

Spoiler

It's been many, many years since I played Madden (or just about any game really) - however, I really love football and did well playing it in real life, so perhaps it was natural that Madden was always the one game I liked.
The last one I played was way back in Madden 2005, on the original Xbox - Ray Lewis on the cover! Was also the year the Hit Stick was introduced!

Anyway, I like to overthink things, and make things more difficult than they need to be.
This makes things interesting to me, because otherwise, they're too simple/easy and I quickly lose interest in them.
I love a challenge, and being faced with something new that I need to figure out.

Back in ~2004 I remember making Excel spreadsheets for Madden and coming up with all these ways to break down the game from every angle I was interested in - back then I don't remember there really being "communities" so this was mostly solo work and needing to figure it all out on your own. The internet wasn't even really a resource - the only things on it were incredibly basic things about the game. But I was able to figure out the then-mysterious phenomena that are now funny to see YouTube videos on (and some I've yet to see videos on) - like figuring out the math formulas used to determine each positions OVR (this had an insane amount of utility - ex: highly efficient flipping of players for trades), how to quantify the patterns from the NFL Draft/Scouting into 100% predictable (and thus, retrievable) results, calculating the exact numbers to employ in coaching sliders to maximize favorable statistical outcomes in games (ex: if I wanted my RB to ball out - what exact numbers and coaching philosophy combinations would verifiably yield him the best statistical games). Nowadays you can find tools, or information that can actually help lead you to some of these things, but back then it was an independent adventure where you had to actually figure everything out on your own. It's great that nowadays there's so much more information out there - makes the possibilities so much greater!

What I'm Wondering about:
I am interested in playing the game purely Sim. If I play the actual games themselves, I find it will get boring at some point relatively quickly as it simply becomes too easy to beat (despite not cheesing, and playing on highest difficulty settings) - I also have a hard time withholding myself from obsessively demanding so much of myself (detail wise) in each game that though it can still certainly be fun, just also becomes unnecessarily stressful and more importantly, time consuming! Manually playing a single game can take over an hour of my time, and while I may not mind doing that every now and then, I'm all about efficiency, so if I'm not gaining much benefit/learning from playing the game than I could be doing something else (ex: Simming) then I get bored (and a bit frustrated as I retrospect), relatively quickly. I'd like to Sim because I then have to figure out how to optimize everything to still make it (the team) successful and work, which is exciting to me. So then, say, in a given hour I will have had to resolve and work through so many more things than I would've simply manually playing the game (where for example, breaking down the defense, coverages, etc can become very easy and will have been basically to do).

What I'd like to avoid:
Building some unrealistic juggernaut of a team that would never actually exist in real life (ex: the current real-life Rams team somehow staying as talented as they are for more than the next ~2-3 years).
I think what I'd ultimately liken it to is I'd like to run a team like the Patriots, where they never really have many superstars, but their COACHING and preparation is so outstanding that they are able to take ~average/above-average players and make the whole team GREAT (and obviously highly successful) because of how they so efficiently utilize each player to their strengths, within their given roles (Bill Belichick has a quote I always liked: "Know your personnel!" - very true in anything! Management, etc).
How likely is the above (re: Patriots philosophy) possible in this game? Or is this game set up like Madden (or at least how it was the last I played it) to where the AI figures if you don't have superstars then you aren't doing sh*t (and will largely ensure this)? I ask because I envision a team that's mostly not going to be 90+ OVR players, with the exception of very few positions (ie. forces the realistic Cap Philosophy: "what positions are worth investing disproportionately in, to me? Because the rest, I need to spread out across a 53 man roster") - it's hopefully going to mostly be a constant building and re-building process where I need to always be developing talent, remaining competitive, and ever on the look out for the next talent (just as it is in the real world), because in a sport with an actual salary cap, you need to be creative and constantly working.

What I'm Hoping to Achieve:
A Sim that is not easy and is also very realistic.
Some things that constitute realistic to me I guess could be:
- Realistic performance statistics (ex: QB's not throwing for 6,000 yds),
- Injuries are very impactful (as they are in real life) and occur at a realistic frequency,
- Importance of depth chart ("next man up!"). The 1st String should be the obvious starters but your 2nd Stringers do certainly need to be at least capable to fill in during injuries to tie you over; ex: you lose your starting LT so you need to have a well-prepared backup plan, a lineman who's obviously most likely not absolute starter material but has solid enough stats to fill in. This actually ties in together with the next one ==>
- Importance of player development. On a real team, even the backups all get coached up - so it's important that the whole team develops, so that you can have "next man up" be effective.
- Realistic player development
- Cap Management! Forcing me to really consider Cap Philosophy - ie. what positions are most valuable to me and worth expending extra $$$ on (ex: "Free Safety, MLB, and QB are three that I feel I absolutely need to ensure very high level talent at, so when those are up for contract negotiations, I'll be a lot more willing to listen to their demands, even though I need to spread the $$$ out across 53 players")
- Team/Organization Financials (ex: needing to actually fill seats, and sell merchandise/etc to fund Signing Bonuses, etc). This puts more pressure on me to have to handle more things to make the whole thing work, as I can't just get away with "cheesing" player contracts (ex: "all signing bonus, because that's not my problem!").


That's all I can think of for now.
What mods, slider sets, house rules, or settings and things of that nature do you guys think would maximize the odds of the above being replicable?
I sincerely and truly do appreciate any and all of your replies on this!
I've long held out on returning to Madden or any Football Game because I wasn't sure how doable this is, but with Madden finally returning to PC, I've thought to buy it OR whatever football game would make this possible and see about giving it a go since with it being on PC I assume a lot more is possible now.


Thank you all!
- Biological

[Julio Riddols]

In FOF 8 you will likely never see more than one or two guys rated above 90 in the entire league at any given point. 90 and above is essentially a generational talent and they are as rare as talent like that should be. Guys rated 45 OVR will likely be starting in one or two of the positions on your team, and the rest of the squad will be filled out with guys who fall anywhere in between that. There are guys who will be rated as low as single digits who will have long careers for you because they have leadership qualities and/or special teams skills that make them valuable bargain players who still meaningfully contribute to the success of a team.

Coaching does matter, the schemes your coordinators use also matter when taking into consideration what your personnel looks like. If you have a lot of good receivers and a solid QB, a spread philosophy might suit you. If you have a couple strong running backs and a line that can plow the defense all day, a smash mouth offense would probably suit you best. There are several options in between that as well with the Erhardt Perkins system which is good for a single back two TE offense, the West Coast, Air Coryell and just a general Balanced offense. Defensive schemes are less varied but also determined by the coordinator.

Your coordinators will have an effect on this because they determine the scheme. They also help when it comes to scouting the draft and interviewing potential draftees.

The salary cap will become a problem if you have too many talented players. They will want to get paid, and some will want to get paid A TON. You'll have meaningful decisions to make quite often. There will be times when you sign a guy to a huge deal only to see them fall off a cliff ratings wise or suffer a career altering injury that makes their contract an even greater burden than it already was. There are also times when you will have a cheaper guy who was essentially roster filler become a major contributor when his ratings suddenly jump one year. Players will also hold out if they don't think they're being compensated enough.

There are a couple minor things that probably won't totally complete your wish list, but FOF has about all the things you want, and you really wont need house rules. Madden never has and never will come close to replicating the overall GM experience FOF offers. Once you get good enough against the AI, if you're looking for a greater challenge, there are several multiplayer leagues where you can match wits with the rest of us. They are very competitive and a ton of fun to get into without a ton of setup or work required to keep involved.

Also, if you happen to purchase FOF, the in game help is your guide to the ins and outs. The Offensive and Defensive philosophy documents especially will help you become acclimated with the game.

[Sharkn20]

Join a Multiplayer league for a more challenging experience!

[bdubbs]

I'd recommend the MP format as well for a challenge. The simple answer though is yes, I do think you can find the gameplay experience you're looking for with FOF8.

What FOF8 does well is that player ratings dont always = production on the field, and players who DO produce on the field always want to be paid as such.

FOF forces you to make tough personnel decisions based on ratings, production, age, cohesion, chemistry, and your current cap space. Much like the real NFL the only way you can truly have a "dynasty" is by drafting well and managing your roster properly season to season. No single player no matter how talented guarantees success, star players can have their career ruined by injury, and in other cases an injury may give you the opportunity to sign a player to a cheap extension and provide a "bounce back" opportunity.

The game is far from perfect, but if your comparison is to the Madden franchise FOF is infinitely better as a realistic football simulation

[mac88]

I would 100% recommend joining a mp league as well. Its so much more fun then single player and way more competitive, I've learned so much from playing mp.