Game Plan Details 4th downs broke?

[Joshua1207]

I have been frustrated with my team punting in many obvious go-for-it situations (analytically) so I have been playing around with the Game Plan Details 4th down settings and have noticed no matter how much I mess with them, my team continues to punt relentlessly as if I were Pete Carrol.

I have tried a few tests where I have set it to go for it on 4th downs every single time when I am trailing just to see what would happen but am still ending up with games where I punt 5+ times with 0 4th down attempts. Is the feature broken when simming or is there somewhere else that I need to change my settings at?

[MIJB#19]

Have you checked whether your "coach resets game plan prior to each game" setting is on "no"?

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Help File

The main portion of this screen controls how often you try for a first down when it's fourth down, depending on the game's score and where you have the ball on the field. Your team will go for it based on the percentage you select.


There are modifications made by the game. If it's before the fourth quarter, the limit is 30%. Also, the game will modify these attempts by the distance to go. There is no modification if there's one yard to go, but percentages drop sharply if there's more than one yard to go for the first down.

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[Joshua1207]

Hopefully Jim can patch the game or in the next version fix that. Limiting it to 30% is crazy and leads your team to making some of the craziest punt decisions I have seen. They are a good edge smart teams take advantage of in real life - shame we can't do the same.

[triplykely]

Important to keep in mind, teams aggressively going for it on 4th is a very new trend and the rules in place are based on statistical analysis of the NFL from several years back. It’s unlikely a patch will be made to FOF8, and it’s been a long time since word on if a new version will happen at all.

If a new version is made I’d simply like to see a user input for the 4th&X modifier. Maybe I’d like to limit it to 30% in everything over 2 yards. Wishful thinking but as a Packers fan, and the coach who led the NFL in 4th down success - often resulting in big momentum swings - I wish we had finer control of 4th down.

[Joshua1207]

Originally Posted by triplykely

Important to keep in mind, teams aggressively going for it on 4th is a very new trend and the rules in place are based on statistical analysis of the NFL from several years back. It’s unlikely a patch will be made to FOF8, and it’s been a long time since word on if a new version will happen at all.

If a new version is made I’d simply like to see a user input for the 4th&X modifier. Maybe I’d like to limit it to 30% in everything over 2 yards. Wishful thinking but as a Packers fan, and the coach who led the NFL in 4th down success - often resulting in big momentum swings - I wish we had finer control of 4th down.

The edge has been there for a while but it has only been more common recently with the Eagles, Ravens, Bills, Packers etc taking advantage of it. I do realize teams didn't do it as often in the past but I am not sure if that is a good reason to limit our creativity.

It would be nice to update the current model they use and add distance to it with no 30% cap. So if I wanted to go for it on every 4th & 1 from opp 50-21 ydl etc then the sim model would do it. It is incredibly frustrating to see my team punt there, its a touchback and it makes the net punt like 20-30 yards. Those type of decisions get criticized every week and is generally poor coaching so its tough to not have that strategy control.

[triplykely]

I agree, but I’ve yet to find a better football sim. There’s aspects that could be improved (fingers crossed on a FOF9) but everything else I’ve tried is severely lacking in several aspects more critical than micro control of 4th. If FOF was more than one guy and there was a small team the game could really turn into something amazing with the decade(s) of experience many players have with the series.

The sad thing is I think the market for FOF is much bigger than its player base, especially with Madden pushing franchise players away. If it had a better UI/graphics and some advertising I bet it’d sell very well.