Playbooks - the key to realism?

[capa]

I am convinced that one of the most worthwhile updgrades/updates that can be undertaken for this game is an update to the playbooks. Adjusting ratings is great...I've done it myself for the classic teams. Tweaking sliders is also great...how many of us have not tried 5 or 6 different sets at a minimum?

However, some of the plays in the playbooks just do not work, or yield the same results time after time. I am not familiar enough with the game to know the names, but you know the ones...thw QB 1 or 2 step drop where he gets sacked most of the time or heaves up a 5 yard pass up for grabs at last minute. The down and out where the timing is off and the receiver is always out of bounds. There are many more for sure.

How great would it be to have these plays eliminated? To take it to another level, it would be awesome to have specific "generic" type playbooks - Run Heavy-Inside, Run Heavy-Outside, Pass heavy-short, Pass Heavy-long, etc. Even when I play with a pass happy team, I never get the sense that they are "airing it out". The patterns always seem to be catch and run vs 25+ bombs. The game does include playbooks that sort of replicate this, but there are too many plays that go against the norm...or simply don't work.

I don't know...just ruminating here. It seems as if the player ratings and sliders have come about as far as they can come. Maybe playbooks should be the next area of focus for realism?

C

[tpaterniti]

You should kind of know from practice mode which plays work and don't. For example, any kind of stop and go will not work, a drag and go will not work, and against a real person most wheel plays will not work because the routes take so long to develop that you get sacked. Also most screens do not work, nor to HB passes and reverses, which is fine because they pretty much don't work in the NFL either. If you want to run your QB from the shotgun, don't call a Draw, call a pass and scramble with him, etc.

I am working on a playbook spreadsheet. Another guy in here did one, and he was nice enough to send it to me so I am not trying to badmouth him, but their are formations missing and repeated and so on. This version is listed by formation with the teams underneath. I also listed the personel in each one so you will see what looks like duplicated formation, but the personell is different. For example, everyone else's I Jokers Pair has 1 WR, 2 TE, 1 HB, and 1 FB, but the Packers has 1 WR, only 1 TE, 1 HB, 1 FB, and an extra OT, so I listed it separately. Two teams have a Quads with 3 WR and 1 TE, while the rest have a Quads with 4 WR so, again, I listed them separately.

Anyway, here it is. Enjoy! I am working on one that is by team. Maybe in a few days.

[capa]

So this spreadsheet details which teams run which formations? or is it specific plays? Did you delete the plays that don't work or is it strictly formations? Sorry...having trouble extracting it...

C

[tpaterniti]

Quote: Originally Posted by capa

So this spreadsheet details which teams run which formations? or is it specific plays? Did you delete the plays that don't work or is it strictly formations? Sorry...having trouble extracting it... C

It's just the formations for now. Email me and I will send it to you. It is an MS Excel File. It is mostly helpful for making custom playbooks. It's hard to nail down which plays "work" and which ones don't. For example, I might be able to run a stop and go play vs. the computer on Pro, but against All Pro or against a human I would get sacked long before the route developed. So whether a play "works" depends on what difficulty level and who you are playing. Also, as I've played more and more I get better at different routes that didn't "work" for me a year ago. I think your intentions are good, but I hope you see what I mean. There are almost no plays that will never "work".