House Rules

[JohnDoe8865]

Also, I forgot but with guys who are on PUP or injured or holdouts, I make sure they don't play. So PUP guys I keep off depth chart for 6 weeks, I keep track of who is injured (i.e. Calvin Pace) and keep him out of the depth chart for the first 6+ games (have to guess somewhat). Same goes for suspended players.

[bgeno]

I was just about to start a thread on house rules.

Here are mine in my franchise:

1. No more than two trades per year
I used to burn the computer too often by trading away my veterans with 1-year left on their contracts for draft picks and young--but high potential--players. This way, I've got to be careful and more picky with my trades, especially if I want to have the option of trading up or down in the draft.

2. No signing a free agent with more than 3 years experience during season
This mainly applies to the first season since there are a ton of quality veteran players sitting unsigned in the free agent pool. You could build a decent team out of those players alone if you wanted. It's not fair, especially if you have a lot of cap space available.

This one is my favorite...
3. No signing a top-5 free agent at any position during the offseason
It makes it tough, but it forces me to focus on the draft. If you have a ton of cap room (like I do with the Bills), you can ransack the free agent pool after the first offseason. Instead, I have to pick players that fit my system better and make sure I'm building through the draft.

4. No playing as a defensive lineman/blitzing player in-game
In Madden 10, I nabbed 26 sacks with a defensive end because the swim/spin was so darn effective. At that point, I decided I was going to learn to play as a safety. I play as the safety on the left side of the field all the time... I think it's the strong safety in Madden (URGH!! Make the safety position alignments more realistic, EA! These guys flops sides of the field in real life, you know!)

[GreenReign86]

Quote: Originally Posted by tomriddle

yeah first thing's first don't cheat yourself by looking at the draft guide/rookie breakdown threads.. well, unless you want to on your first draft but it's so much sweeter to draft and find that gem knowing you scouted him/drafted him/your pick rather than looking at a cheat sheet trying to stack your team imnho

Except if it's online franchise. Then draft guides are a must, for potential purposes imo.

[FieryMurphMan]

Quote: Originally Posted by Phennixx

5. Once I start a game I make formation subs for both teams to get package specific plays right like for play against the Eagles Mike Vick runs their goalline offense and I have him in 2-3 shotgun formations that have QB option. This helps backup RBs get their carries as well after getting both teams set right I restart game and play as my team. FYI the formation subs last all year as well .

How do you do this all at once at the start of the game? I'm able to do as the plays present themselves (within the alloted game clock time) and I realize this lasts all season....but how can you do this all at once at the start of the game??? I knew you can do it in the old madden games....

[Crippa]

the only important ones i use are;

drop qb acc slider down for away games/rival games

play with only one man on defense
choose 'ask madden' for every offensive and defensive play

there's a few others, like letting the clock run down to 10 before snapping the ball (realistic stats), but that's about it.

[tomriddle]

here are some that I will start to implement besides the common ones others have mentioned already, ie: realistic trading,

• Re-Signing players, once the offseason hits and you have to re-sign your players, I offer the default and if they accept it, great! if not, they are released.. this is tricky because sometimes we have players we LOVE to keep on our teams in that case the loophole is that you can only resign ONE player who rejected your initial offer
• CPU handles all Free-Agent signings.. this one is tricky and I feel will add more depth somehow to the franchise because it's like you have an actual GM doing all these things
• CPU handles all free agent pickups/roster filler signings/rookie signings/etc

The only one I really want to implement is the re-signing ones, sometimes you'll lose your high-potential draft pick players or established veterans but hey it keeps your team from being too stacked overall and you have to make better personnel moves

also it is offset by the CPU handling free agents.. I personally don't like signing free agents but if you're losing some good players due to the re-sign rule, then it'll be fair to let the cpu fill out your roster some

[JohnDoe8865]

I just remembered one of the smaller house rules I implemented last year.

When you draft players, no matter how their overall turns out, you have to keep 5th and 6th rounders for atleast 2 years and 4th rounders for 3 years. 7th rounders are a tough call, but I always TRY to keep them for atleast one year.

This makes the draft that much more important and adds some much needed difficulty to the franchise mode.

[tomriddle]

question to everyone

do you guys sign your draft picks or let the cpu handle it?

anyone got any interesting house rules for those who do their own signings?

ie:
1st rounders get minimum 5yr contract
2nd rounders 3yrs
3rd rounders 2yrs
4th+ 1 yr contracts (this way you'll always have to do the re-sign at the end of the season if you manage to draft a late-round gem)