Controlling All 32 Teams - What Needs To Be Done

[Krebstar]

Okay, I've played this game for years and recently have just been playing playoff exhibition games. However, after doing dynasty's in previous years and shaking my head at how the CPU trades, etc, I decided I need to control all 32 teams. So, to those that have been doing this, what needs to be done?

I know I need to make sure there are no trades and watch the KR/PR position on the depth chart, anything else? The draft would also have troubles that I know of, what about free agents? Could I at least switch back to CPU controlled for free agent signing?

Puja, dan, any others have you that have had plenty experience of controlling all 32 teams, please share some knowledge. I know I won't be the only one that appreciates it.

[puja21]

actually-- when all 32 are controlled, that's when you DON'T have to watch the KR/PR slots (& it's just PR btw, KRs are fine). if you just sim the season w/ all teams controlled PRs stay the same as long as there are no injuries

the draft is fine for COM controlled as long as you account for the 1st round bug (either just draft the pos they would or control the 1st round. FA is about the worst thing in the game. Teams w/ 1 good player will let him walk & you'll see others stack up at a single position (eg Tomlinson, Steven Jackson, Brady & Manning all on the same team). They are more ridiculous about FA then anything else IMO

[TheShizNo1]

What I do:

Control all teams during season.
Only control my team during retirement, re-sign, and free agency
Switch back to all control for 1st round of draft
Only control my team the rest of the draft
Only control my team during sign rookies
Switch to all teams and adjust depth charts and get ready for the season

Hope this helps

[dan77733]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheUglyOrgan

Okay, I've played this game for years and recently have just been playing playoff exhibition games. However, after doing dynasty's in previous years and shaking my head at how the CPU trades, etc, I decided I need to control all 32 teams. So, to those that have been doing this, what needs to be done? I know I need to make sure there are no trades and watch the KR/PR position on the depth chart, anything else? The draft would also have troubles that I know of, what about free agents? Could I at least switch back to CPU controlled for free agent signing? Puja, dan, any others have you that have had plenty experience of controlling all 32 teams, please share some knowledge. I know I won't be the only one that appreciates it.

I suggest not playing past the first season because of the horrible off-season AI, glitches, fake players (draft) and teams not being accurate. An easier more accurate way of playing a multi season franchise with the same team is to start a franchise with the team you want to play with starting with the 2004 season if possible. You can find rosters in the rosters forum by going to the last page and going backwards. There's roster and franchise files for 2004, 2005, 2006 and of course 2007. Just look over the ones you like for the team that you're going to play with and just overwrite each one after you finish the season. For example, if you start with puja's 2006 roster file and start a franchise, just use his 2007 franchise to overwrite the 2006 one after you finish the season.

I said it before and I'll say it again, this is how I'll be playing "franchise". I'll start with the 2004 season and just go year by year without having to go through the horrible off-season and all the damn problems plus I'll save extra time which I could use to play the game instead of worrying about what the crappy CPU is doing.

If you're determined to play through franchise, here's what I suggest -

1) For the first season, dont play or simulate pre-season. In other words, start from week one of the regular season. People dont realize that the pre-season is just an extra five weeks for the CPU to complete trades via the trading block.

2) You dont need to control all 32 teams in order to avoid season trades and the kick/punt returner problem. Go to puja's topic about controlling all 32 teams as I just posted info about this minutes ago but im too lazy to go back and forth between topics copying and pasting.

3) Playoffs - you dont have to worry about the games that the CPU are playing. Just the ones that involve your USER controlled team. Before starting the playoff game, use Finn's editor to control the team that you'll be playing against and in-game, setup their depth chart and kick and punt returners. I normally do this before I play each playoff game because I dont want to play against the backup QB when the starting QB is 100% healthy and still on the team.

4) After you play or simulate the pro bowl and enter the off-season, save your franchise. Use Finn's editor to imput the correct salary cap amount for the current off-season. Doing this will help teams with a lot of high rated players who have huge contracts and no cap room. Also, control all 32 teams.

5) In the retirement period, go through every team to see who's retiring. There may be some good players that you dont want to see retire. And be advised that there's two ways to get around a player retiring that you dont want to retire but cant sign out of retirement.

5A) Save after the pro bowl. If there's a player retiring that you dont want to retire, simply reload the file and re-enter the off-season. Player retirements are random.

5B) If you're unable to reload and re-enter the off-season, there's another way. You just have to find the right combination. For example, if you have a RB, OT, DE, ILB and CB all retiring but want to keep one of them but the CPU wont allow you, let the others that you dont want retire and then go back to the player you want to keep. The CPU will then allow the option of resigning that player for one more year. You may have to let the others go in different order before being able to keep the player you want but this usually works. At least it did for me in 2K3 and 2K5 on PS2.

6) In the re-signing period, I suggest controlling all 32 teams and re-signing each team's franchise players, young players who are recent first day draft picks or players that are cheap who could be used for backup depth. It's up to the person that's playing but here's a tip - if you're playing as the Cowboys and have OLB Greg Ellis and RB Julius Jones as free agents but only can or want to keep one, choose Jones as he's younger, has a bigger upside and with Ware, Spencer, Ayodele, James, Carpenter and Burnett at OLB and ILB, losing Ellis isnt going to hurt. In other words, make the decision based on common sense and not loyalty.

7) In the free agent wire - go for team needs or if an impact player at a certain position is needed and available. For example, the Eagles could use a playmaker at WR (coughOwenscough) for McNabb. If a 90 rated WR is available, sign him. If there's more than one team that needs an impact WR but there's only one WR available, look at each team's draft pick. The team that has the lower draft pick should get the impact WR.

8) Draft - I suggest simulating through the first 6 rounds and then seeing all the overall ratings for the players in the draft summary. This way, you can write down the top rated players at each position and go by team needs for every team. In other words, make the teams draft smart but fair. But please, for the love of 2K5, if you see a 90 rated QB and a team like the Dolphins could use him, draft him instead of passing on him for a damn kick returner. (coughGinncough). If a team doesnt have a franchise QB, RB, WR and OT for offense or a franchise DE, MLB and CB for defense, look for one for that respective team. If you're playing with a 3-4 defense, NT replaces DE and a pass rushing OLB replaces MLB. Just be sure to save before entering the draft.

That's pretty much it. And if you have a team with two or more high rated franchise type players at a position that has only one starter on the field (QB, RB, TE, C, SS and FS), trading a player like QB Derek Anderson or QB Brady Quinn to a team that needs a franchise QB in exchange for a first round draft pick or a player who the Browns could use, I suggest do it because it will make the teams more balanced.

Hope this somewhat helps.

[puja21]

Quote:

I normally do this before I play each playoff game because I dont want to play against the backup QB when the starting QB is 100% healthy and still on the team.

how often does this happen dan? ive never seen this bug (knock on wood). any clues on what could cause it to be more likely to appear?

[dan77733]

Quote: Originally Posted by puja21

how often does this happen dan? ive never seen this bug (knock on wood). any clues on what could cause it to be more likely to appear?

It depends on what team you're playing against. This happened to me when I played 2K5 on PS2. I played aginst the Vikings and Patriots and both teams had their backup in there instead of Culpepper and Brady. I was pissed.

I havent come across this problem on Xbox yet but in fairness, I have been playing on Xbox only because of Finn's editor and use the editor to get around these types of problems.

If I was to actually take my time, I could probably write a book report on all the problems, bugs and glitches in 2K5. Luckily, Finn's editor eliminates the majority of them.

[puja21]

one thing i noticed that's pretty sweet is if you are getting blown out by the CPU really badly, they will sub in their backup RB & QB for the last 2 mins or so


one time i was just playing offense back & forth for both teams to work on some plays & the game turned into a blowout randomly... late in the 4th i switched control back to the team w/ the big lead & ran 2 plays & noticed that both those pos had their backups in. so, i went to depth chart & saw that the starters were still listed at the top

then i realized it's a special little add-in they applied for CPU teams. kind of cool to see the likes of Sorgi & Keith running the offense for Indy when they are running away w/ the game late.

[dan77733]

Quote: Originally Posted by puja21

one thing i noticed that's pretty sweet is if you are getting blown out by the CPU really badly, they will sub in their backup RB & QB for the last 2 mins or so one time i was just playing offense back & forth for both teams to work on some plays & the game turned into a blowout randomly... late in the 4th i switched control back to the team w/ the big lead & ran 2 plays & noticed that both those pos had their backups in. so, i went to depth chart & saw that the starters were still listed at the top then i realized it's a special little add-in they applied for CPU teams. kind of cool to see the likes of Sorgi & Keith running the offense for Indy when they are running away w/ the game late.

I noticed this on PS2 when I first started playing but it rarely happens now since I rarely get blown out. It is a cool little "extra" so to speak in the game. The backups play on offense and defense when the CPU is blowing out the human player. But if you get within 10 points or so, the starters come back in.

I rarely if ever see the backups for the CPU since I have the auto subs set to 5% in/out for franchise and injury status set to healthy.