Franchise Players, What are some of your house rules?

[TripleThreat1973]

I wished I would have said "sim draft only".

Whether one uses the "draft cheat" spreadsheet or not, the user drafting can get 5-6 REALLY good players in the draft without even exploiting the trading for draft picks options. You can simply scroll through each player and select who has the "biggest pentagon". You'll end up with 4-7 players rated around 80 or better with A potential. Basically you can turn any team into a dominant force within 2 drafts. It's not as fun as it may sound. I did this because when I "sim drafted" one year, I got absolutely nothing of quality in the draft, as a team coming off a 6-10 record. Still, that would have been more fun, then killing in the draft and starting the next year 13-1 with the same team & sliders.

I almost always require myself to max out the "interest meter" to complete a trade. But, I rarely, if ever, trade. It just kills me how many guys will trade older vets with big contracts to weaker teams for their young talent with small contracts and multiple years just because the "meter said it was okay.". Trade Rape is unacceptable.

Control all 32 teams, to prevent absolutely stupid and unrealistic things. I don't want to see Manning sign with CLE as a free agent.

- No switch defense.
- Gameflow playcall; audibles allowed in obvious situations. If I'm running a sweep and they've over-stacked the side I'm running to, I can audible to a different run, but not a pass.
- Try and get the ball to the intended receiver. 2 options, primary receiver or secondary. But, before the play it's either "X" or "Square" ... no dropping back and continually hitting an open TE in the middle or dump to RB.
- Only blitz when that's your defenders assignment.
- When the play says "take a knee", take a knee. Padding the stats is tempting as heck, I concede that.
- No using "supersim" in the 4th quarter to get the ball back when they are running the clock out with a lead. Again, not as rewarding as it sounds.

Plenty of ways to cheat and cheese to supremecy, but I don't see why folks would.

[Rambo1986]

My rules: Never use the actual Franchise mode. I play all my games in Exhibition, because Franchise is broke and there are a ton of things wrong. I am very technical when playing football videogames, so I have to have my practice squads and everything to simulate real life. By playing in the Exhibiton, you have total control. Madden has a 55 roster limit, well you can only bring in your active players (just like in real life). If a guy is on injured, you just remove him from the roster and put him back on whenever hes healthy. If he gets injured during a game but comes back, I lower their attributes so there is an affect. If its his leg, I will decrease speed and agility so when I use him in the game, he is slowed down a lot.

Like I said, I am very technical - those are my house rules.

[mavfan21]

Quote: Originally Posted by Kahuma

Idon't thik he was asking about online franchise rules...

Guess I should have been clearer, but it's cool. Still a couple good ideas in there.

[mavfan21]

I really like the ideas on limiting audibles. I am going to try only allowing my self 2 a half and like timeouts, if I don't use them in the 1st half they are gone.

Like some of you said I limit the FA signings and try not to look at draft potentials. i use the cheats to balance the league but limit myself to players that are only in the round that i am picking or the borderline (like if I have the 15th pick, I can only pick players rated 1st round or 1st-2nd round). No reaching earlier for a guy I know is a 4th round gem.

[goravens2052]

You guys may find this stupid but my only house rule is that I go through all the rosters before going into Franchise and pretty much putting people on 2 year contracts to act as if I have no salary cap and people who don't have 6 years of service get "tendered." Even though they are signed to a 2 year deal, I just pretend their tendered.

[jethrobag]

When i start a franchise, I make sure of a couple of things. Although trading with the CPU is totally unfair, if you are taking over a terrible team like the Bills and can pick up an extra second or third round pick, I say do it. However, all trades I make with the CPU are done before the first season begins, and I restrict myself from trading to move up or down in the draft based on where players are going to be picked. I also do not trade for additional 1st round picks.
Also, I never sign free agents above 80, and most times, I try to keep them under 75.
I use gameflow almost exclusively and only audible when the CPU calls a play not appropriate for that particular situation.
Lastly, I play 9 min. quarters with 15 second runoff. Most of my sliders are set around 13. ( I continually tinker with the sliders)

[Cardot]

I never run with the QB in any football game. Maybe CPU defenses can handle it now???, but I go back to the Atari, and traditionally it was always too easy to scramble.....now it is just kind of a habit for me.

[Yeah...THAT Guy]

I only was able to play Madden 11 for a week before my brother left for college, but this is what I've done in Madden 10, and what I intend to do with 11.

For the draft, I'll look at everything. In Madden 10, I scouted and still didn't draft that great because honestly, I don't pay much attention to the scouting reports. I haven't decided if I'm going to scout in 11, but like I said, I never really have amazing drafts. In my most recent draft, I came away with a complete steal, a 4th round QB with an 84 overall, but I also have had 1 or 2 guys in pretty much every draft that come out between 30-50 overall (all 3 of which I've kept on my team because I like their skillsets).

I set my lineups based on overall. If the overalls are close however, then I will decide based on whose skillset I like most. So like, if I have a 74 and 72 overall SS, if the 72 is the better tackler and better in zone coverage, chances are, he'll be my starter.

In free agency, I rarely sign anybody. It really depends. I don't do any of those BS trades where you pick up 4th and 5th rounders because they pretty much have no value to the AI or anything like that.

In M10, I'm now in my 23rd season and I've won superbowls in 8 of the past 20 seasons, but that's because I spent the first 5 seasons picking up pieces here and there in the draft, and they finally developed together. I had top 5 picks twice and used them on my HOF RB and dual threat QB and really, the rest is history.