Franchise Players, What are some of your house rules?

[mavfan21]

I am starting up a new 'chise and I always like to try some new rules. It helps to keep the game fresh and challenging. I always do a 32 team franchise.

One idea I am thinking of sticking with is no "picking" of draft classes (by saving before the season and repeating until I get the one I want. I will simply enter each season and then save before I see the scouting creen.

Another I might do is try to build a couple powerhouses besides my team (one in my division, and one in each conference).

Anyone have some house rules they'd like to share?

[thbends]

Re: Franchise Players, What are some of your house rules?

I run the JFL. First thing I would tell you... 32 team leagues crash and burn for the most part. Quality players over quantity... ALWAYS. 20 good guys is better then 20 good guys and 12 losers. Here are our rules.

Here it is guys...

Play SIM
Show sportsmanship
Have FUN

Those are the main rules.

GENERAL CONDUCT OF A LEAGUE PARTICIPANT

* Each participant is expected to display conduct that of an ********* standard. Good sportsmanship, honesty, respect and pride is demanded from all participants. JFL reserves the right to ban any participant from play based on any violation of the code of conduct, stated, or unstated.



WHAT TO DO IN CASE OF A RULE VOILATION

* It is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to report a rule violation when it happens
* PLEASE notify the president of any rule voilation, even if you think it's not a big deal.


GENERAL RULES


OFFENSE

Going on 4th Down: I encourage straight play in this dynasty, however, I do not want to limit players to the point where they cannot play aggressively. With that in mind, there will be a simple rule on 4th downs:

A) Whenever you are past the 50 yard line with 1 yard or less to go, you are permitted to go for it on 4th down.
B) If you are behind by two touchdowns or more in the second half, you can go for it whenever you like.
C) If you are the losing team in the 4th quarter you can go for it whenever you like.

MOTIONING: Motioning by backs and receivers is allowed. If the defenses audibles before your motion is complete you MUST wait for the defense to get reset before snapping the ball, when possible. Otherwise, you are free to snap the ball when the Motion man reaches their spot on the field and the motion is complete.

HURRY UP OFFENSE: All teams are allowed to run the "hurry up" offense in both two minute drill situations. Any team losing in the 4th quarter is permitted to hurry up as often as they like. When using the hurry up offense, please allow your opponent to set their defense before snapping the ball. Purposely trying to cause offsides penalties is obviously prohibited.

PLAYCLOCK RULE: We are all here to play football. Keep in mind we play don’t play real NFL length quarters. So please chooser your plays as quickly as possible on offense and make every effort to do so before the play clock gets close to running out. I do realize, however that certain situations in the game may require some extra time when choosing a play. You may run the game clock with under 3 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter. Or if your trying to prevent another possession before the half.

QB SCRAMBLING: Unrealistic QB Scrambling/Sprinting is frowned upon on pass plays, including screens. Constantly dancing from sideline to sideline, running straight backwards or well behind the line of scrimmage without being under pressure is not realistic. This does not include option plays, designed QB runs or broken/pressured play situations.

Running Up the Score: Good sportsmanship is a major part of any league, so running up the score on user opponents will not be tolerated. Please use good judgement when leading by a large margin.

DEFENSE

MOVING PLAYERS BEFORE THE SNAP: On defense, shifting linebackers and the defensive line is permitted. However, if you move an individual player before the snap you must control that player at the snap of the ball.

BLITZING: Any attempt to confuse the AI when blitzing is prohibited (spreading your Dline then shifting LBs to create AI holes). This also falls under the rules for mixing up playcalling.

SPECIAL TEAMS

FAKE PUNTS/FG's: Any fake punt or field goal must follow the same rule used when going for it on 4th down. If you are allowed to go for it on 4th down in that situation, you can also fake the punt of FG. Faking a FG or punt is part of the game and provides "the element of surprise" but please be realistic. These are utilized in NCAA but on a limited basis, so please keep that in mind.

ONSIDE KICKS: Onside kicks are permitted at any time by the losing team in the 4th quarter only.

DYNASTY GAMEPLAY

PAUSING: Madden allows a limited number of pauses during the game, so please keep that in mind. If it is ever necessary to pause the game, please provide a quick explanation to your opponent if your are not using a head set at that time. Pausing the game to show poor sportsmanship will not be tolerated. Please do not start a game if you know something will interfere with your playing time.

DISCONNECTS: Games will disconnect from time to time for various reasons. It will be up to the players involved to figure out a resolution; with the choices being to either replay the game from the beginning or simulate for an obvious winner. If you cannot reach a resolution, contact me. I expect all owner to have a reliable, high speed ISP. If you are having any type of Internet trouble, please do not start the game until the problem is resolved.

ADVANCING: I ask that you make every attempt necessary to get your games in on time, but when that is not possible please:
~~~Notify your opponent via email or forums as early in the week as possible.
~~~Notify myself that your opponent will need to play the CPU or that your CPU game will need to be simmed.
Communication is KEY here. If you can not play your game and your opponent needs to play the CPU this is what I will do.
• I will boot your team from the league so your opponent can play the CPU
• Then I will send you an invite to take your team over again for the next week.
Failure to follow these guidelines could cause you to be booted for good.

RESTARTS: If someone shows they restart against the CPU often then action will be taken.

[Kahuma]

Re: Franchise Players, What are some of your house rules?

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

[crucifixx]

Re: Franchise Players, What are some of your house rules?

lol @ first post..

my house rules

- ask madden for every single play (unless obvious 4th and inches at the goalline or something) ..

- control 1 player on defense, no switching (i control the LE)

- let the clock run down to 10 seconds on each offensive play

- dont pick a play on defense until the offense has picked one

- let the clock run out if the quarter is less than 35 seconds away ... except if down at halftime

[stp2081]

Re: Franchise Players, What are some of your house rules?

General gameplay ones:

• No user catches
• No switching defenders post-snap
• Mix up play-calling often on offense and defense
• No excessive amount of audibles/hot-routing

One of my gameplay house rules that I haven't seen discussed much elsewhere is that when I am playing with a younger/inexperienced QB, backup QB, or a recently-signed free agent QB, I will more severely restrict the amount and type of audibles, hot-routing, motion, and no-huddles. I already do this generally, but try to take it to another level with a QB new to the field/team. I try to limit my audibles to one alternate, call timeout if the defense looks ready to take out both my playcall and alternate audible, rarely use motion, only hot routing one guy per play, and virtually no 2 consecutive no-huddles.

[LowerWolf]

Re: Franchise Players, What are some of your house rules?

A few of mine:

Franchise:
-Can't cut anyone. Can only let a player go when his contract is up. Lone exception is if I need to sign someone to fulfill a roster requirement
-Can't negotiate salary, only the number of years on the contract
-Must maintain a 53-man roster. Since the game allows 55, I consider those extra spots IR spots
-Must use the trade block to make trades
-Can only target five FAs at a time
-Can only make one offer per day to a FA. So if he rejects my offer, I have to wait a day before making another offer
-Can't look at potential in the Scouting screen (I bought the accelerator so I'll have the reports before the draft)
-I base my depth chart on the overall rating

Gameplay:
-Wait for the cpu to call its play before I call mine when on defense
-No switch on defense if the cpu runs the ball. Allowed one switch on a pass play, after the pass is complete
-No user catching
-Can't run the same offensive play twice in a row

[Fabs0]

Re: Franchise Players, What are some of your house rules?

my house rules
...

That pretty much sums up my house rules, too. I'm really confident with the AskMadden thing, as it won't give me plays that I like to run in difficult situations. Some other rules of mine are:

- Never audible out of plays. (For example send someone on a fly pattern when the defense is playing press coverage, you could easily burn them 5 times a game at least)
- Only way to change routes is to create an additional blocker.

Draft/FA:

- Don't sign an FA >80 ovr.
- Draft OVR restrictions: 1st round <75 ovr. / 2nd round <72 ovr. / others <70 ovr.
- Maixmum of one A potential player per draft. If an A potential player is selected, max 2 B potential players in the same draft, if not, 3 B potential players are allowed per draft. (Yeah, I use the draft cheat sheets, but just to prevent me from selecting any good players in the latter rounds.)

[GlennN]

Re: Franchise Players, What are some of your house rules?

- No scouting during season (so I don't KNOW the potential)
- No signing FAs (other than if the game tells me I don't have the minimum number at a position, which I absolutely hate).
- I keep cap off, but I am not allowed to have a higher cap number than the top five teams in the league.

[TripleThreat1973]

Re: Franchise Players, What are some of your house rules?

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]

Re: Franchise Players, What are some of your house rules?

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]

Re: Franchise Players, What are some of your house rules?

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]

Re: Franchise Players, What are some of your house rules?

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]

Re: Franchise Players, What are some of your house rules?

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]

Re: Franchise Players, What are some of your house rules?

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]

Re: Franchise Players, What are some of your house rules?

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.