1st Season Frustrations

[BrnwsBucksFanNC]

After taking a break from this game to play NCAA 11, I have returned to it on a part-time basis, partly to give my old hands a rest! But it is like seeing an old friend again, and remembering there are things about them that drove you crazy!

I have played 2 pre-season games, have the Browns, and started in pre-season so I would not draft the players I KNOW to be sleepers.

So I am 1-1, in the 2 games I have played I have had a total of 17 dropped passes while my opponents have had 3. I have 5 players with injuries of longer than 2 weeks, including 3 TEs and 2 DTs.

I am going to try and get through the pre-season playing the games, then I will sim the games in the regular season. This trainer is terrible (have already had to start canceling practices for fatigue). I just hope I can make it that far without pulling what little hair I have left out!

But dang...I love this game!

[scorp]

Re: 1st Season Frustrations

Yeah always frustrates me how not knowing a play makes WR's drop passes, and defenseive players forget how to tackle.
Add to that most of the time your Trainer may as well be beating you players on off days the way they all get hurt.

Amazing how much better late season 1 and season 2 and on are though.

[BrnwsBucksFanNC]

Re: 1st Season Frustrations

No kidding. But we cant forget the classic veteran running back who either runs along the line of scrimmage or runs backwards instead of hitting the mile wide hole up the middle!

[Mike3207]

Re: 1st Season Frustrations

You might try supersimming 14 minute quarters for the 1st regular season and possibly entering the last 2 minutes to steal plays. I don't think it takes much more time and you get more points for your HC.You also seem to have your players learn the plays better.

[milkman41]

Re: 1st Season Frustrations

After taking a break from this game to play NCAA 11, I have returned to it on a part-time basis, partly to give my old hands a rest! But it is like seeing an old friend again, and remembering there are things about them that drove you crazy!

I have played 2 pre-season games, have the Browns, and started in pre-season so I would not draft the players I KNOW to be sleepers.

So I am 1-1, in the 2 games I have played I have had a total of 17 dropped passes while my opponents have had 3. I have 5 players with injuries of longer than 2 weeks, including 3 TEs and 2 DTs.

I am going to try and get through the pre-season playing the games, then I will sim the games in the regular season. This trainer is terrible (have already had to start canceling practices for fatigue). I just hope I can make it that far without pulling what little hair I have left out!

But dang...I love this game!

I did the same thing, and I had a blast with the offseason, the draft was great, but then I started playing the preseason and I just can't pick it up again, the gameplay is just so frustrating, with so many broken parts. It's really too bad, I love this game, I just can't stand the gameplay anymore

[BrnwsBucksFanNC]

Re: 1st Season Frustrations

I am thinking about just simming the games from now on. The off-season things are just great, and I love the mid-week things. But the game play leaves so much to be desired...until you have bought the special skills that mean you can take a crap player and he is an instant superstar...which is just as maddening.

So I will more than likely use NCAA for the gameplay fun and hc for the rest. Too bad they cant put the game play of ncaa/madden into hc or vice versa!

[HeathyT]

Re: 1st Season Frustrations

Too bad they cant put the game play of ncaa/madden into hc or vice versa!

Wouldn't it be great if they made FA like NCAA recruiting, be way more fun

and you think you have problems with running backs, i tried to put in a couple of wildcat plays, and not only do they stuff up the motion (motion guy heads south wtf) but the HB at QB takes the snap stops for a second and runs backwards lol

[USCstreets]

Re: 1st Season Frustrations

Ive mostly simmed my games on Head Coach and the best for stats is easily the Crazy 80s sliders which is just everything set to exactly 80 it does something to the game that just works well only other note is that in sim games the teams with really good playbooks put up unrealistic stats, (think Broncos first wide reciever getting 2000+ and up to 30 tds, Payton's runningbacks recieving way too many passes for way too many yards etc.)

If you try an mess with sliders in this while just simming all it does is mess things up so I suggest using 80s and changing the Playcalling strategy based on the opposing team (like Heavy Run when its a Cover 2). Seasons also go much faster and so you can do more offseasons

[Mike3207]

Re: 1st Season Frustrations

I really don't think the gameplay is broken. It can be frustrating the 1st season if you're on a team with bad coaches and little knowledge of the playbook, but you can learn the playbook the 1st preseason if you supersim the games properly. Get a good slider set, hire a good coaching staff, make it a goal to get Performance up for all your coaches, and your players will play well on the field.

It can be frustrating running the ball, so focus on Run Blocking SS for your HC, OC, and OLC and Run SS for HC, OC, and RBC. The real trouble I face is not one of gameplay, but keeping the games competitive.

[rdnk]

Re: 1st Season Frustrations

Once you realize that simming/super-simming is the way to go, the game is all upside.

Plus it allows you to get to the offseason faster. There is no downside!

[Mike3207]

Re: 1st Season Frustrations

Once you realize that simming/super-simming is the way to go, the game is all upside.

Plus it allows you to get to the offseason faster. There is no downside!

Simming and supersimming are a lot faster, but both have issues.Just like with playing the games.

Simming-You'll get a lot fewer points if you sim the games. 10000-20000 points for a winning season. I can get 3 times that amount of points if I play all the games.Your HC and other coaches will develop very slowly if you sim all the games.I think you should only sim if time is an issue.

Supersim-You'll be able to call a lot less plays if you supersim the games. I usually try and use 14 minute quarters to moderate this somewhat. This leads to lower production for your players as a whole. The passing game is a lot less effective super-simming, but the running game is much improved. The defense is better, but scoring tends to be down.You'll also see an increased amount of turnovers.

Your offensive line will be much improved if you super-sim. 3-6 pancakes are routine, and you can actually get a Olinemen make the Pro Bowl. Special teams is simply horrible if you super-sim. 20 yd punts and missed 20 yd FG will occur.I'll usually supersim if I have a horrible trainer or a bad coaching staff.

Playing the games-You'll get the most points, but there are problems. The running game is extremely ineffective, even with a good slider set. The passing game is just a bit too good at default. Linebackers and defensive linemen have a definite advantage against the offensive line, even if you lower the sliders. There are other problems, those are just the most obvious.

What to do?-A good strategy might be to super-sim all preseason games, half the regular season and half the playoff games. You'd see offensive linemen make the Pro Bowl, moderate the issues of playing all games, and still have enough points for your coaches to get a decent amount of points. It'd also take a lot less time than playing all those games.

[goalieump413]

Re: 1st Season Frustrations

First year blues are common. It's likely that your team's trainer bumbles his player injury estimates, just as much as your players get hurt. Your running game, as mrs844224 said is rough. But it gets worse... If you choose a new playbook thats full of plays you need to bring to the "learned" level, it just takes longer to be great.

I have some thoughts...

Don't sim games at all in the first year. You need to get off to a good start in developing your coach's career, and points count, baby! Play or supersim, but play the preseason games. The reason, you can work on key plays more by playing out the games in the preseason to build playbook knowledge for your likely starters (who play the first half of preseason games). Once those key plays are to the mastered level in the preseason, your team's chances of success against your opponent's strengths go up a lot. It's better to be great at 10 plays than to be good at 20. Just make sure you choose the right plays.

Train your rookies during the practice week, especially the ones that will be starters. It's okay to focus on bubble players, those guys who might make your squad as rookies to replace dead weight veterans, but it's a better deal to work on starters.

Shuffle your depth chart to bring younger, less experienced players into "starting" roles in the preseason. Sure, your real starters might lose a little playing time with the rest of the regulars (ie swapping your backup QB, usually rookie Andre Woodson for your starter) but they learn themselves up faster by being thrown into the fire in the preseason.

Don't cut veterans in your first year even though they won't have much playbook knowledge with your new playbook. Their play learning and awareness ratings are too high to pass up. Rookies have to learn HOW to learn to play. Veterans don't.

Don't worry about meeting all your GM goals in the regular season, but do meet them in the preseason. Playbook knowledge is huge in this game, and veterans play like studs when they have the plays burned on their retinas.

Go for it on 4th downs a lot in the preseason. That extra play you get to help teach the players that play can make the difference between healthy playbook knowledge for 5 or 6 more plays heading into the regular season.

Play all games in the regular season, but jump to supersim when you are playing any non-goal oriented games or out of division games. You can always jump back into gameplay for critical moments like 4th downs and so on, and to steal plays at the end like mrs844224 said.

Remember that you're going to struggle in your first year. Even if you've spent your coaching points in areas that help accelerate things later like Ambition and player performance upgrades, the team around you, and your coaching staff, will have to learn the new, bigger playbook. Also, I believe that if you call both offense and defense, your OC and DC may not progress as fast as if they were calling the plays. You progress, they don't.

One last thing: Make it easy on your defense by pairing down the number of plays you call to a smaller number, rather than ballooning the defensive playbook in your first year. On D, a shorter list of plays that your D masters is better than a larger list of plays they have only learned. Variety works as your successive seasons go on, and having a bigger offensive playbook helps, but on D, I've noticed the inverse is true.