Scripting plays
 

Anybody else script their first 15, 30, or 45 plays? If you do, what do you think about it?

I scripted 30 plays for the first game of the season in my new franchise. It made it a lot of fun. Forced me to use a wider variety of plays.

I start out by scouting the opposing team and figure out what areas of the D I want to attack. I try to target a number for the amount of draws and PA that I want to attempt. I also worked in a couple of screens as well, which I normally don't like to run. I also target what ratio of run to pass that I want to run and if the opposing team has a dynamic pass rush I will target the number of Shotgun formation that I want to run.

Once I scout the opposing team, I export my franchise team so that I can go into practice mode to select and script my plays. I then practice them in sequence to get a feel for all the routes.

During the game I make notes in the margin if something significant like a touchdown or TO happens on a particular play. On change of possession I draw a line across the page so that I differentiate between drives.

Once the game is over, I file the notes so that when I face the same team ago I can refer to my notes.

I am also going to experiment with using multiple playbooks, just to keep playcalling fresh.

Anyway, it makes the franchise feel more robust. Rather than playing 2 or 3 games in a day, it takes sometimes two days to prepare for a game. It's made it more fun for me. I don't know, maybe a lot of you guys do this already, so I just wanted to get your thoughts.

If you think my idea is stupid, just don't bother to post. I would like feedback with any ideas to improve my experience not a bunch of flaming negativity.

Re: Scripting plays
 

Kudos for doing all that and enjoying it but it just sounds way too time consuming for me personally :/ 'Referring to notes' when facing a team in the future and seeing them have some of the same tendencies would be pretty sweet though. Have you noticed anything like that?

Re: Scripting plays
 

Actual AI? In Madden?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Re: Scripting plays
 

Well, I just started the season, so I will have to see what happens down the road. What I am enjoying the most is using a wide variety of plays. I used to use Singleback, I-Form, and Gun. Now I am using all the formations and running out of three receiver sets and draws out of the Gun.

I know what you are saying about time. Right now (due to the economy) I am a stay-at-home-dad. I watch my two kids who are 2 and under while my wife is an RN who works nights. My son begs me to play ball so he can watch and he can't tell the difference between a game and practice mode, lol.

Re: Scripting plays
 

It does sound time consuming but I love your thought process. I actually used to do this for my Super Bowl and some playoff games, only I was never as in depth. I used to take a single page of paper and write down a few key offensive and defensive stats from the opposing team to decide who I wanted to take away, who was the weak linemen in protection, a team's run/pass ratio etc. and just jot down a few thoughts on how to attack.

I also loved to look at the opponent's ratings to cross check the stats, but was a CB's man coverage rating, a rb's carry rating. It did keep me engaged, even when the game didn't unfold the way I thought.

I used to love the gameplan feature in last gen and have been waiting for it to come back, even if it was just three plays to watch out for and one to scout. I'd love an advanced gameplan feature like script the play to be integrated into the franchise interface.

Just curious, how many pages of gameplan/scouting do you have? Do you have an actual playcall sheet separate from the first 30 and when you get away from the first 30 does your playcalling slow down?

Oh, and one more thing. I see you've got a some draws integrated into your playcalling. This is the one play I almost never call and I'd really like to master. I'd like to know your secret, do you slide protection or anything special? I play on All-Madden default sliders, does that make a difference?

Re: Scripting plays
 

First of all, my scouting is comprised of going through each player offensively and defensively and writing down their important attributes which is between 5 to 7 on each player. I actually would like to watch the entire game of my opponent the preceding week, but I haven't been able to figure out how to watch their game CPU vs CPU without it automatically simming my game, and I don't want to control all 30 teams.

Back to your question, Scouting the offense is usually one page of notes, scouting the D is usually another page of notes. Gameplanning how I want to attack offensively and defensively takes another page and then the scripting is another page split down the middle (so it would be two bacause I expanded it to 45).

I make adjustments at half-time. So, I basically script the entire first half. My play calling is relatively the same speed whether on or off the script. I actually have my entire playbook written out by hand available at all times, so I can make half-time adjustments. I even have who the primary receiver is and the direction of the running play. I wish that I could find a site that has all the playbooks written out with diagrams, that would help. I just have them written out.

I don't konw if that answers your question, entirely or not, thanks for the questions.

Re: Scripting plays
 

I play on Bill Harris sliders. He is still tweaking post-patch. I anticipate it will get more difficult to run. However, I practice all my plays usually about 5 times apiece. If I am tight on time, I don't do as many reps on the plays I really like.

I hate draws, PA, and screens. So I practice them sometimes 10 to 15 times apiece. With draws I have noticed that the key for me is to allow the blocking to develop so that you don't cut off the OLine from making their blocks. I also don't speed burst until I am in the hole, that allows me to "save" a juke that I use to springboard me into a cutback. That allows me to break it outside. I actually think the way the camera moves in a draw play makes it more difficult to run out of. I am getting better at them. I am getting some good yardage even before I break tackles.

Re: Scripting plays
 

I "Ask Madden" on offense, and don't require more than 2 plays out of my defensive scheme to blowout the CPU or most people I play against... Then again, I only have about 7 plays I run on defense. I've got a few favorite offensive plays, but I only have about 10 I would actually search for in a playbook.

Guess I'm kinda like Denzel from Remember the Titans... I don't need a ton of plays if I'm viciously efficient with a handful on offense and defense.

Sounds like a good idea to get a little more enjoyment out of the game though... but Madden's AI is so horrible I don't think I could bring myself to bother with such a thing.