Tips for not dominating CFM???

[TMJOHNS18]

When it comes to team building I have a few rules to try and limit myself.

For scouting I only unlock one skill during the season. I scout only first round talent to start, since these are the 'well-known' players. Usually this ends up with about ~35 guys since a few move in/out of the first round.

Then, about mid-season I start adding guys from rounds 2-4 to my watch list. Guys who fit player types I'm interested in, or come from bigger schools. What I do is add them all in say week 8. Then wait three weeks then scout one skill for them as well. The idea being that the scouts have been assigned players/schools and now are researching.

I do this one more time for the late projection players, here I focus more on their body size since most will be raw prospects, so I look into tall DBs, undersized LBs, huge OL, guys that stand out and potentially have position flexibility.

By the Super Bowl I have my watchlist pretty much set. I don't have all rounds scouted, nor do I have too much information on any prospect (all players scouted only have one skill unlocked so far). During SB week I finish up scouting as much as my watch list as I can (since first skill cost most I usually still have some late 6/7 rounders to get through). I try not to scout many unranked guys, since it would be odd to spend that much scouting time on potential UDFA's over top talent.

When combine results are added during Free Agency I add more guys to the watch list, the combine workout freaks. I also search the late round workout warriors who did well in the combine and are 21/22, since they have good physical stats and potentially time to develop into someone down the road.

By the final scouting period I target maybe 5-8 guys around my first draft pick, guys I tab as 'bringing in for a workout.' These guys get their second skill unlocked. Depending on where I'm drafting I either get a good idea of who I'm taking or get an early indicator I may need to trade up/down. Say I'm picking at #18, I may scout a few guys ranked 12-20, then possibly a top-10 projected and late 1st.

By the draft I have a good watch list built up, or my 'big board' you could say. During the first ~5 rounds I only draft from there, though if a guy drops I may grab him (2nd round unscouted talent still around in 4th). I try not to draft guys before their projected rounds, but if I do it's usually only one round early, and only if they're projected in the first-half of their round.

By the 5th/6th round I'm looking at special team/development players. So now I draft anyone 5th to undrafted. I try to draft young 20/21 year olds (not sure if I've seen a 20 year old though) at this point. Overall during the draft I try to draft young players, aside from the 1st round if their unlocked skill is high and they have good physicals as well.


Moving on to retaining and bringing in new players, I only offer extensions during the season to a few players. Usually I choose one of top guys up for resign as the one I want to bring back. I start with the market offer, then if they decline I give them one more offer. I may sign a few young guys to extensions too, but only if the market offer is a good value. At the resign stage I offer guys market value again, this leads some to test FA and potentially creates the need to tag a player.

During Free Agency my rules are that I can only bid on guys the CPU bids on during week 1. This way if I want a top talent I have to pay up for them. I also try to bid only twice, starting with fair market value always. If I really want a guy and CPU has a higher bid I take one more shot at the player, if I outbid CPU then great, but if I don't I move on. No slowly upping the salary/bonus.

For week 2 I again bid using market value, this time I can bid on anyone. Though with market value it still limits who I can bid on since most depth positions will ask for too high of a price to be backups. Here I go for fringe starters and filling obvious holes.

Week 3 I can only do 1 year offers, so anyone left that I want only gets a 1-year deal.



That outlines how I bid my team, how I play varies during the season. I mostly play only the offense, since for one I don't want to play entire 15-min games every week (and the offseason being my favorite part). I used to do play the moment but the found out that I just end up with a terrible rush defense and RB's getting 40 carries a game. So I decided to do a mix of play styles during the year.

Preseason, I do offense only, focusing on the QB/HB/WR/TE depth. I use game stats to decide cuts on defense.

Season, I start with play the moment/offense only during the games. This creates a mix of heavily sim'd games and defense only sim'd games. I prefer playing offense as well.

Playoffs, I play the full game. Don't get here too often so I want to enjoy it.


Long post, but yeah... that's my approach to CFM. Is it to stop me from dominating? Not really, since I don't think I would even with a 99ovr team. This is just my approach to keeping the game fun and interesting, as well as allowing me to get deep into the franchise.

[IdleRace4]

Here is what I do for draft and FA.

I scout the first rating for every player in the draft. The last amount of draft scouting points right b4 draft starts I am free to scout any player fully.

For FA I only can do one bid if I am not the highest I can't bid again.

I also never trade a player + draft pick since its a bug.

I only trade for players on the trade block and only trade my players on trade block.

[NEOPARADIGM]

i don't scout at all and only draft based on ht, wt, school & name.

i sign fa's based oh school + how cool their name is.

fabulous handicaps, lemme tell ya

[reyes the roof]

How about only scouting guys with round 3-7 grades, that way you have a higher chance of missing on your early round picks

[StefJoeHalt]

1. I only scout 1 trait.
2. No trades unless during draft and preseason, I don't trade unless on the trade block..
2a. If I make a trade for a vet player, I during preseason or deadline ONLY, I subtract 20 awareness points for "learning the team playbook"
3. Once seasons starts I turn off trades for the league, except the week before trade deadline
4. I turn off salary cap but hold myself to the salary cap based on NFL rules. This allows the CPU to retain their own players better as the CPU has hard time managing the cap. (This wasn't my idea someone here gave that idea and it works great)
5. I allow myself the following for resigning and free agents: the franchise tag, 1 five year deal, 1 four year deal, 1 three year deal, 2 two year deals, 3 one year deals..anything after can't be signed till week two of pre-season.
For the above here is an example..
If I have three players with expiring contracts..if I use 5 year deal to resign player A..I only have 7 contracts for contacts plus the tag..if I then sign player B to two year deal..now I only have 6 contacts plus tag..
6. If a player rejects my contact they must hit free agency
7. Both 5 year and 4 year contacts must be within within 90% of the top salaries of other players within the league at their position
8. 1st round players must stay on the 53 man roster the length of their contract no matter their value. 2nd round players must be on the 53 man roster for first 2 years, year 3 can be released. 3rd round on team for 2 years which can include 53 or practice squad..4th and 5th round must be on either 53 man or practice squad for 1 year..6th and 7th round can be cut whenever..
9. Auto train and auto up grade every 4 weeks
10. I run a second copy of my season week to week to simulate Oline injuries..again not my idea someone here provided it..love it

I believe that is the majority of my "house rules"





Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[CM Hooe]

I'll add a few more suggestions:

- Don't trade away players on the final year of their respective contracts. Either re-sign those players or let them test free agency in the offseason.
- Don't trade for or away any player whose Cap Savings number is less than $0.
- Don't trade for next-year draft picks, the CPU doesn't value them highly.

[GoBigRed29]

These are some rules we are using in a online CFM.

-Each team picks 2 Captains(Can't be cut)

-Each player chooses 3 players to cut from other user teams.(15 total)

-Can't change player positions or rotate around. IE a ROLB must play ROLB/a safety can not play CB etc.

-Can't sign or trade for players that are higher than current starter at "x" position. IE If your best CB is overall 64, you can't sign a player higher than 64 at that position.

-Draft picks are exceptions to the previous rule BUT they DO NOT COUNT towards your starting overall for that position. IE: If your current starter is 65 ovr, but you draft a 80 ovr, you can still only sign 65 ovr or less.

-Can't trade players that are 35 or older.

-Signed FA CAN NOT be traded at anytime.

-If a player is a rookie or in his 2nd season, you must trade a draft pick of equal or greater value to what he was drafted, and you must include a player that would be a starter for the team you are trading with.

-Can't go for it on 4th down unless obvious situation.

-Can't run same plays over and over.

I'm sure we have a few more in there but that's what I have off the top of my head.

[jt2000]

Here is what I do.

TDawg's XP Sliders and 4 Week Progress.
All my players must have 80 AWR before I can upgrade another area. No upgrading acc, speed, or agi.

I can only change players positions during off-season. Unless they used to be something different in college.

I only scout fully If the first trait of a player is a b or higher.

I only do trades If the other team trade color is "green" and we can do a even trade.

Preseason games. I do two offense only and two defense only games to do a more in depth look at each side of the ball.