The key to having a fun long lashing franchise?

[chilidogbeefcake]

I love franchise mode.. or at least want to love it... Team building, drafting etc I really enjoy

Obviously it becomes quite easy to have the best team a few years in, and madden’s sim engine clearly struggles to produce realism

In you guys’ opinion - what is the best way to keep it competitive and balanced? House rules? Not accumulating picks? Is the key to just constantly edit CPU players and make them better?

It gets boring around year 7 or so when there’s a handful of generated players above 85 and most of them are on your team...

How do you guys make franchise mode fun and long lasting?

I sometimes just edit other teams’ players to level the playing field but franchise mode usually gets to feeling pointless after a while once the game shows it isn’t built for a decade + long sim

[csouza]

Re: The key to having a fun long lashing franchise?

I play a team until I win the SB and then user the team with the worst record, rebuild, win the SB.

...rinse and repeat...

I get an average of 3 to 4 seasons with a team before taking them all the way and get exposure to the first draft pick to cement a cornerstone player for the next team.


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[abolden05]

Re: The key to having a fun long lashing franchise?

In my league, we have a team rating cap of 86ovr, superstar cap of 10, only 6 of those can be xfactor, only 1 pick in the 1st and 2nd every year, and we still give boosts to young players on the cpu so they actually get on the field to improve. It’s a lot but we’re at year 13 and it keeps it competitive.

[Richie71]

Re: The key to having a fun long lashing franchise?

I play as Dallas, until I get SBs in a row. The Dallas roster is usually overrated by Madden, so if I can get a slider set for All Madden where I'm successful but it isn't overly easy, then I take those sliders to a rebuild franchise.
In 21, my rebuild is the Jets. I'm in season 5 and chasing the 3rd SB. I would have stopped except I got a lucky QB selection in the 2nd round enabling me to trade away the guy who had been my first pick. He (meaning me) kept throwing the ball to the opposition too often. Strangely, although only 8 games in, my new QB with very similar ratings everywhere (weaker on deep accuracy, better at play action) is performing much better. Maybe I just got better.

[oneamongthefence]

Re: The key to having a fun long lashing franchise?

So I let my "Scouting department" scout for me. I set it to auto so I only have scouting reports on what the CPU scouts for me come draft time. I also set weekly gameprep to auto as well to keep it more balanced.

Some people on here do write ups on the goings on in their league to keep them engaged. There's a thread for it or you can post it in your arena.

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[PhillyPhanatic14]

Re: The key to having a fun long lashing franchise?

So I let my "Scouting department" scout for me. I set it to auto so I only have scouting reports on what the CPU scouts for me come draft time. I also set weekly gameprep to auto as well to keep it more balanced.

Some people on here do write ups on the goings on in their league to keep them engaged. There's a thread for it or you can post it in your arena.

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Man I never thought of doing the auto-scout. That's brilliant. Thank you!

[InsideZone77]

Re: The key to having a fun long lashing franchise?

The inherent problem as you alluded to is that your team just gets too damn good after 3-5 years and beyond. A lot of this is because scouting is so damn easy and precise for you, but the cpu AI is absolute **** at it. Then their depth chart issues and FA signings and re-signings make it even worse.
So I have 2 solutions but both are really imperfect.
(1)every year at the end of the draft go in and edit some CPU picks to be better overall and have some star/superstar traits mixed in.
The problem with this is it still doesn’t “fix” the problem and is more of a bandaid, and creates a muddled league over the years where most teams overall is pretty close.(Also though the cpu created draft classes players are too low in general compared to the real life rookies in the first year of the franchise, so in a way this helps fix that.)
(2)Since scouting is so damn unrealistically easy, make it harder. My best solution for this is to only scout a players first two traits but never the third, this way it’s more guesswork and we never see their “true grade/value” which is a dead giveaway for their overall. This is way more realistic— seriously go look back at nfl drafts, there are so many absolute busts and mediocre picks in the first round etc. even the best drafting teams like the Saints, Ravens and Steelers still make plenty of absolutely horrible picks.

But that’s all I’ve really been able to come up with and both are flawed. Then there’s also the whole issue of free agency and roster management and your inherent advantage over the CPU AI.

[JoshC1977]

Re: The key to having a fun long lashing franchise?

How do you guys make franchise mode fun and long lasting?

Simple answer, I play it honestly. It boils down to several key items:

1. No custom draft classes based on real life players. Aside from the fact that they are normally crap due to inflated dev traits, you have an advantage using them. If you know college football, you can avoid busts quite easily.

2. When making trades, I ask a simple question. If I were the CPU team on the other end of the deal, would I be happy with it? If the answer is "no", I don't even offer it (or accept it if the CPU offered the deal). Just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you SHOULD.

3. I build almost exclusively off of the draft. Free Agency is nice for filling gaps, but I don't use it as a means of team building. This might be stylistic but I think it lends itself well to a long-term experience. If you grab every high-end player on the market, what does that leave the CPU with?

4. I don't abuse mechanics the CPU doesn't have access to. That means, I don't abuse breakout scenarios (if I have them turned on). I don't use the 5th year extension scenarios (CPU doesn't get them). Using these may be "fun", but they give you an advantage.

5. I don't dumb-down the CPU slider-wise for "stats". If I am throwing too many picks, I get better at the game. I don't take the easy way out and lower the INT slider. If they are throwing for a high comp percentage; I don't lower the QBA, I learn to scheme better and play better defense. I keep things on a keel that is challenging for me while respecting player ratings.

[RogueHominid]

Re: The key to having a fun long lashing franchise?

I do two things, mainly.

1. I play on AM with Hunkerdown's sliders. AM gives me a smarter CPU opponent while also respecting ratings & matchups.

2. Playing on AM with good sliders allows me to play balls-out and not handcuff myself in any area, which is key to me for long-term playability. I tend not to enjoy gaming experiences with lots of house rules.

I find that this approach yields a great experience. It's very challenging to win 10 games a year, and playoff games are also tough to win. I've won the SB with a lesser OVR team and have been ousted with an elite team.

That keeps me coming back. I assembled an 87 OVR team, easily the best team I've ever had in Madden, and I lost in the playoffs to send me home in YR1 of my 2YR window.

I find that the salary demands of top players in FA are very realistic, which makes it hard to just go pluck top guys year after year. My experience has been that you can splurge on a couple key pieces when your'e in your window, but the salary implications are than you'll have a 2-year window, 3 max, until you have to deal with the ramifications of your signings.

If you want to apply some house rules, you can:

Limit yourself to scouting all 3 attributes for day 1 players and 1 attribute for day 2 players, or something like that.

Limit the # of FA you sign in particular talent tiers.

[Hunkerdown]

Re: The key to having a fun long lashing franchise?

I just finished year 4, won SB with Lions. My record overall 31-33. 4-1 in playoffs.

Beginning of each season I have one simple edit to keep teams challenging. Any player 90+ on a roster gets Xfactor. This has helped keep teams around and challenging. Because I have noticed that madden strips a lot of these prime 90+ players for some reason once offseason regression hits. I like some of the other things mentioned as well. Might implement a few.

PSN: TheGritsBlitz
Twitch: TheGritzBlitz

[Nickda55]

Re: The key to having a fun long lashing franchise?

Currently 12 years deep in my Franchise. A couple of house rules I implement are:

Only trade players via trade block. I implement that rule trading for and away players.

I resign and negotiate with players during the season. Not waiting till the end of the year.

In resigning my players, I go into the Salaries menu, and resign my players to a similar value of what the CPU are signing similar rated players at that position. If I own the highest rated player of that specific position, I will purposely give them the highest valued contract.

No manuel trades - which also means, no trading up in the draft.

No custom draft classes.

These rules have allowed me to be on the "same playing field" as the CPU in my team building. I've noticed most teams,including myself, are hovering around the same overall.

[canes21]

Re: The key to having a fun long lashing franchise?

Personally, the only way I can stay interested in any sports game is to for it to be a constant challenge. Game 100 needs to demand the same focus that game 1 did. If I ever hit a point where I can coast and see success, I'll instantly lose interest.

I am not one that is against house rules, I've used plenty over the years, but if I am spending more time limiting myself than actually playing, then I'll also lose interest.

I also will lose interest if the game loses any semblance of being grounded for the sake of a challenge. If I have to give the CPU unrealistic abilities just to have a chance, I'll lose interest.

Taking all of that into account, I craft my own sliders that attempt to make every game a challenge. I limit myself to doing only what the CPU can do. I don't hot route since they don't route, I don't try and make every play a juke highlight reel since the CPU only uses special moves occasionally. I try and stay away from or limit plays that I know work too well.

I sim all practices so that my team does not receive any development advantage over the CPU. I never try to fleece anyone with any trade. I keep my trade counts realistic. I don't go into year 1 and make 12 trades to revamp my roster. I don't go and sign offer every best free agent on day 1, though I think the free agency aspect has gotten better for the CPU. It still needs more work, but it is better and the CPU actually makes an effort to go after stars so you can't hog them.

I also do not play the game too much. I usually only ever play one game at a time. Right now I have no choice due to time constraints, thanks tax season, but when I have the time to play multiple games, I don't do it. I've personally learned that I actually stay engaged more when I force myself to wait to play my next game. It sort of creates the excitement I get in the real season when I anticipate the next game the second the last game in a week is over. When MNF ends, the wait for the TNF or Sunday games is something that builds anticipation and excitement. Limiting myself to one game per session actually builds that in my franchise to an extent.

It gives me time to reflect on my games, I'll spend extra time after an advance reading all of the news pieces. I go through the standings, look at the draft class, look at stat leaders, injuries around the league, etc. I take in all of the league info after my game and it is basically my own weekly recap show minus there being an actual show. This makes my seasons last a bit longer.

I remember as a kid I could do 2 seasons in a week if I wanted, maybe more. Now I'm taking 2 or 3 weeks just to get through a regular season and that actually allows me to appreciate my franchise more. It feels like an actual drawn out season.

As a kid, I'd start a year 2-4 and fly through the year. In a week or two I'd be through enough seasons to where I'm a top team and fighting for a SB. It never felt like a long process to build the team.

Now it may take me 3 months to get through 3 seasons before I even reach the playoffs. It makes the process of building the team and eventually finding success more rewarding and feel like an actual drawn out grind.

I enjoy spending 3 months to get through 3 seasons, taking in all info around the league, making each it's own special occasion, and building a team up much more than I enjoyed playing 3 games in one night and getting in multiple seasons in in one week. Now it feels like a real and enjoyable grind and when I find success it is much more fulfilling.

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[TheButter]

Re: The key to having a fun long lashing franchise?

Do you play the actual games or just sim/coach mode them? If you don't mind not playing the games, I'd suggest NFL Head Coach 09. No sim madden engine will ever compare to it.

[Richie71]

Re: The key to having a fun long lashing franchise?

One piece that is much better in 20 and 21 is the salary cap. Prior to 20, as long as you avoided crazy FA signings, you could build via the draft and keep all your great players. Whilst making no FA signings other than 1 year in-season scrubs, I find myself have to let stars go. Even to the point of running a roster of 40 something players, just meeting minimum position requirements.

[highzman28]

Re: The key to having a fun long lashing franchise?

I sim about 12-15 years into the future and play with an all fictional CPU-generated NFL. Typically a few current QBs are still around like Patty, L. Jackson, and Josh Allen but it's cool.

Overall the gameplay also just feels so much better and to get familiar with all the fictional players I edit the appearance and gear of the next week's opponent (look good play good) and use it as a scouting reporting to see who their stars are.

I've learned that I can't play with Real Players because I have preset expectations of their abilities and it's a game killer for me mentally lol.

I do the same thing for NBA 2k and MLB The Show.