The Draft, Strategy, and Two Aspirin Please...

[Cavicchi]

I have at times been critical of this game, but I have to say it is the best football game I've ever played, younger or older. I enjoy playing chess, always have, and this game is more about strategy than any other football game I've played.

The draft takes me almost as much time as going through a season!

It just gives me a migraine when one of the teams in my division, usually Buffalo or my enemy the Colts, picks the one player I want most. I had to reload so many times and trade up to get Storm Stewart so the Bills and Colts wouldn't that I needed 2 aspirin for the headache!

Now, my question is how should I use Storm Stewart? I have Goldman and Vernon Davis at TE. I have LeRon James at HB, I have Marshall, Megatron, and Bellows at WR. I have a FB who is excellent at blocking, name is something like Maura from I think some college in Hawaii. What do you guys suggest I do with Storm Stewart?

[tarek]

Re: The Draft, Strategy, and Two Aspirin Please...

Good question. I haven't had Storm Stewart (yet) but from what I understand he's a shorter (6'3) TE. Personally I like my TEs big, at least 6'5 if I can, which is why I like Goldman and my other guy Marcus Cooper.

I haven't tried to place a TE as a HB in the depth chart but I think it would be possible. If that were the case I would probably put Storm as the 2nd HB, and the 3rd down HB (due to him being a better blocker). You could also put him at the 3rd TE on the depth chart but it would seem that depending on his progression you'd need to make a decision on him (or Davis/Goldman) within the next 2 seasons.

The beauty is that they would probably both be desirable trade assets. Sometimes it's better to strength the other conference (NFC/AFC) more than getting brilliant draft picks.

But if you can't keep all of them, see which one is the worst or nets you the highest trade value, and trade them to the NFC. Then at best you might see him during an odd season game, or face him in the Superbowl.

[tarek]

Re: The Draft, Strategy, and Two Aspirin Please...

For comparison, I have a quarterback corps of Dane Morrow,
Andre Woodson and Jake Scott. Way too talented. Woodson was a good starter as a rookie, but Morrow will be the man going forward, which Jake Scott his backup.

Woodson will be retained until his final season (next year) then I'll trade him to the NFC. He can strengthen another team in another conference for all I care. Less for me and my team to worry about.

[Cavicchi]

Re: The Draft, Strategy, and Two Aspirin Please...

For comparison, I have a quarterback corps of Dane Morrow,
Andre Woodson and Jake Scott. Way too talented. Woodson was a good starter as a rookie, but Morrow will be the man going forward, which Jake Scott his backup.

Woodson will be retained until his final season (next year) then I'll trade him to the NFC. He can strengthen another team in another conference for all I care. Less for me and my team to worry about.

I wouldn't mind trading almost any of my "treasures" to the other conference, but it is difficult. I once put Shawn Merriman (93 OVR) on the trade block, and the only team interested was...in my conference, the Chargers. I thought that was weird because there were a few teams in the NFC who did not have one single ROLB!

I read about using Stewart at HB and that might be an option if I can't sign James when his contract is up. I suspect Stewart may have an OVR close to Goldman even though Goldman is in his second season. I do like the idea of a twin TE combo of Stewart and Goldman, and I have created pass plays for 2 and 3 TE setups.

Now it's time for me to get back to the draft.

[bblack1207]

Re: The Draft, Strategy, and Two Aspirin Please...

I Would Trade Vernon Davis For Picks And Go With Stewart And Goldman. Both Will Give You Max Production. Another Good Pick-up If You Feel You Need 3 TE's-Kevin Boss Is Always Productive, Reliable, And A Beast In this Game Everytime I Have Had Him.

[SloeyEZ]

Re: The Draft, Strategy, and Two Aspirin Please...

I have at times been critical of this game, but I have to say it is the best football game I've ever played, younger or older. I enjoy playing chess, always have, and this game is more about strategy than any other football game I've played.

The draft takes me almost as much time as going through a season!

It just gives me a migraine when one of the teams in my division, usually Buffalo or my enemy the Colts, picks the one player I want most. I had to reload so many times and trade up to get Storm Stewart so the Bills and Colts wouldn't that I needed 2 aspirin for the headache!

Now, my question is how should I use Storm Stewart? I have Goldman and Vernon Davis at TE. I have LeRon James at HB, I have Marshall, Megatron, and Bellows at WR. I have a FB who is excellent at blocking, name is something like Maura from I think some college in Hawaii. What do you guys suggest I do with Storm Stewart?

Reload? Are you serious? Shame!!! shhhaaaaaame!!!!!! shaaaaaaaaAAAAAAME!!!!

But I feel ya...I wanted Patrick Boma sooo bad, I had him figured for the 4th round, he was a gem and I knew it!! and FRIGGIN NE picked him ONE pick ahead of me...I've never restarted a game but that was the CLOSEST I ever came!!! Oh , and sure enough, he's a beast RG

I still fall asleep at night tossing and turning, moaning BOOOMA....

[SloeyEZ]

Re: The Draft, Strategy, and Two Aspirin Please...

By the way, I can't believe there are still HC threads!! Blows my mind that this game didn't "make it"

Having said that...I wanna ask you guys sumthin...I'm thinking about switching CJ2K to WR in my Raiders franchise. I drafted him because of who he is in real life, and this BCV is sooo low in HC he isn't very good...so two part story

Part I, based on the last two years of CJ2K's career...I was at first upset that he was so poor in HC, but then when I thought about it, and a comment I actually heard on NFL Network about how his troubles this year were due to them switching to bigger OL and the holes were not as big as zone blocking linemen...I started to realize that maybe the team at HC got CJ exactly right!! Pretty interesting that he was given the attributes he was before anyone really knew who CJ was...so prime rate kudos to the attribute team

Part II, I say "thinking" about switching him to WR because I haven't done it yet. Something inside me makes it feel "wrong". This is because I'm comparing him to real life and it doesn't seem like they would flat out change him to a WR even though he had been used spread out often with Fisher as coach. So, is the game, I won't say easier but maybe more fun as you get longer into your career and the resemblance to the actual NFL isn't so pronounced? I almost think I'd prefer a game without actual NFL players sometimes...but...not sure about that either although it does seem to make the game a little less enjoyable because you either a) get frustrated that your player isn't performing like his real life namesake or b) you feel guilty when you have a D level player in real life performing like a Pro Bowler in the game.

[tarek]

Re: The Draft, Strategy, and Two Aspirin Please...

This is to address SloeyEZ. I'm not a big NFL fan so I fortunately haven't got enough knowledge to really find players not performing up to their 'real' levels too distracting.

But I will say that playing the game longer would make it feel less attached to the real world NFL. The beauty is that the draft classes are constant. You can build a world because you know who the gems are and who to look out for. Like jack English. Trying to see how he develops, etc etc.

I like the common draft classes the most really. It means everyone is kind of working in parallel rather than diverging.

[Cavicchi]

Re: The Draft, Strategy, and Two Aspirin Please...

I Would Trade Vernon Davis For Picks And Go With Stewart And Goldman. Both Will Give You Max Production. Another Good Pick-up If You Feel You Need 3 TE's-Kevin Boss Is Always Productive, Reliable, And A Beast In this Game Everytime I Have Had Him.

I have tried trading Davis but no team seems interested. Last night I created a few more plays for Stewart. The guy has WR speed and could be used as a WR or even a HB. Right now I'll keep him at TE. If I can't keep LeRon James, then I would consider moving Stewart to HB.

This is to address SloeyEZ. I'm not a big NFL fan so I fortunately haven't got enough knowledge to really find players not performing up to their 'real' levels too distracting.

But I will say that playing the game longer would make it feel less attached to the real world NFL. The beauty is that the draft classes are constant. You can build a world because you know who the gems are and who to look out for. Like jack English. Trying to see how he develops, etc etc.

I like the common draft classes the most really. It means everyone is kind of working in parallel rather than diverging.

You know who most of the gems are, but you still have to pick and sign them. There is lots of strategy going on. Now the one thing I'm not sure of is how signing players relates to AI integrity.

I signed Stewart in first round at pick 19. He kept asking for 5 million bonus and I had to give in, the rest is like 10 million over 5 years. Now, I signed Goldman for less than 500K a year and less than 1 mil bonus. TEs usually do not ask/get large contracts, so what's with Stewart?

I read somewhere how signing players after Pick 17 results in a much better salary situation. Well, 5 million bonus for a rookie TE?

[SloeyEZ]

Re: The Draft, Strategy, and Two Aspirin Please...

I have tried trading Davis but no team seems interested. Last night I created a few more plays for Stewart. The guy has WR speed and could be used as a WR or even a HB. Right now I'll keep him at TE. If I can't keep LeRon James, then I would consider moving Stewart to HB.


You know who most of the gems are, but you still have to pick and sign them. There is lots of strategy going on. Now the one thing I'm not sure of is how signing players relates to AI integrity.

I signed Stewart in first round at pick 19. He kept asking for 5 million bonus and I had to give in, the rest is like 10 million over 5 years. Now, I signed Goldman for less than 500K a year and less than 1 mil bonus. TEs usually do not ask/get large contracts, so what's with Stewart?

I read somewhere how signing players after Pick 17 results in a much better salary situation. Well, 5 million bonus for a rookie TE?

check out his personality though. thats one of the great things about the ai, the different personalities make the ai treat signings differently...good or bad...at least every player isn't handled the same way

[Cavicchi]

Re: The Draft, Strategy, and Two Aspirin Please...

check out his personality though. thats one of the great things about the ai, the different personalities make the ai treat signings differently...good or bad...at least every player isn't handled the same way

I don't think that's it. When it came time for me to Franchise a player, my LG rated 73 was at over eight million! All the lowly rated players on the list were over 6 million. You know why? I say it's because the AI did not want me to sign any of them, wanted me to let them go. My honest opinion is the game cheats, and not just with contracts. Thus, I cheat in the draft, but the AI can get back at me by making me pay big for whoever I stole :wink:

[SloeyEZ]

Re: The Draft, Strategy, and Two Aspirin Please...

I don't think that's it. When it came time for me to Franchise a player, my LG rated 73 was at over eight million! All the lowly rated players on the list were over 6 million. You know why? I say it's because the AI did not want me to sign any of them, wanted me to let them go. My honest opinion is the game cheats, and not just with contracts. Thus, I cheat in the draft, but the AI can get back at me by making me pay big for whoever I stole :wink:

Well, you can feel that way, I doubt any amount of debate between the two of us could decide anything short of some programmer saying "yes, we programmed the game so that desirable players were prohibitively expensive to sign, just to keep the game even"... lol, sorry I laugh just typing that, i would equally laugh at myself if we ever did find out that there was ai written specifically to keep human players from doing something.

I would suggest though, that a game that makes you feel like it's cheating against you is better than a game that is too predictable isn't?

[tarek]

Re: The Draft, Strategy, and Two Aspirin Please...

I don't think that's it. When it came time for me to Franchise a player, my LG rated 73 was at over eight million! All the lowly rated players on the list were over 6 million. You know why? I say it's because the AI did not want me to sign any of them, wanted me to let them go. My honest opinion is the game cheats, and not just with contracts. Thus, I cheat in the draft, but the AI can get back at me by making me pay big for whoever I stole :wink:

I thought franchising a player meant they got the average of the top five contracts at that position. So $8million a year for a LG franchised would be irrespective of his talent or overall ratings.

Unless you mean he was asking for an $8million contract normally, which is pretty absurd.

[thedudescrew]

Re: The Draft, Strategy, and Two Aspirin Please...

Just a heads up when it comes to signing Draft Picks. NEVER, and I repeat, NEVER sign them to what they want. They WILL always sign package #1. I have NEVER found a guy who wouldn't. Never cave in, they will say this is my final offer or whatever but they will ALWAYS come back and will ALWAYS sign package #1 so hold your ground and don't give in.

Hope this helps those of you who just got into the game. There is NEVER a reason to offer a ton of money and incentives. The rookies will ALWAYS sign the lowest package.

[SloeyEZ]

Re: The Draft, Strategy, and Two Aspirin Please...

Just a heads up when it comes to signing Draft Picks. NEVER, and I repeat, NEVER sign them to what they want. They WILL always sign package #1. I have NEVER found a guy who wouldn't. Never cave in, they will say this is my final offer or whatever but they will ALWAYS come back and will ALWAYS sign package #1 so hold your ground and don't give in.

Hope this helps those of you who just got into the game. There is NEVER a reason to offer a ton of money and incentives. The rookies will ALWAYS sign the lowest package.

That's interesting. I consider myself pretty thrifty when it comes to rookie contracts, but i dont think i've ever had a 1st rounder settle for #1 package...but you do realize that the 1st package listed isn't #1 all the time right? Especially after you've made a few offers...it stops showing the low #s and may show package #15-27 for example, because that is the new range the player is willing to accept...just wondering if that is what you mean by always the #1 package...?