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SFG · 01-01-2015, 01:33 AM

Read all 30+ pages and looking forward to this. Always enjoyed FM and OOTP, but American football is my favorite sport. My questions:

1. You said coaches, at least defensive coaches will have a 3-4 or 4-3 preference as listed on their profile? For offensive coaches, will they have a preference for West Coast, Coryell, Erhardt-Perkins, etc. possibly for V2 (introduction of new playbooks)?

2. Handling the media is big for a coach and to a lesser extent, the GM. I assume that's not in V1? It's a big part of Football Manager, of course, and influences team morale. Like your QB had a crappy game and the media guy asks you a question about it. And then it gives you options like:

a) "He made some plays, but Cincinnati is just a good team."
b) "We just need to play better as a team."
c) "I think the whole offense can take fault for that display."
d) "He made some poor throws and needs to play better if we expect to win football games."
e) "No comment."

If you say a), you might maintain a good relationship with the QB, but becomes complacent and doesn't improve his play. Kind of like if you do too much ass-kissing in FM. Sometimes they **** the bed against inferior competition.

If you say b), you might lower the morale of the team a bit overall, but they're more motivated to play well.

For c), you might lower the morale of the offense only (and to a greater extent than b), but motivate them around the same level as in b).

For d), you'll really irritate the QB for throwing him under the bus for the loss to the media, and your relationship with him will worsen. Morale of the other players stays the same.

Etc. etc.

Maybe another V2 idea I suppose. You might have insight in how to code it because you worked for Sports Interactive in the past if I read correctly.

3. Will player personalities factor into draft assessment (i.e., how valued they are as a prospect)? For example, Randy Moss and Dez Bryant were top-notch prospect, top-5 or top-10 at worst, yet fell because of character concerns. Just wonder if players could fall similarly in the draft? On the upside, you get a highly talented player. But on the downside, you could have a cancer who gets a lot of penalties for dirty play, is a suspension risk, lowers team morale, may demand a trade, etc.

4. Will player morale be included, as in OOTP?

5. Will draft-day trades be possible, as in you'll receive trade offers from teams wishing to trade up -- or announcing their pick to be available? Or do we have to initiate them?

Will these trades make sense based on a trade value chart or on positional need -- like a team may be resistant to give up its pick if it has a crummy D-line and there are good DE and DT prospects available?

Example of a trade value chart: Draft Countdown - Trade Value Chart

Sometimes the AI may accept less than "fair value" for a pick if it doesn't like the prospects available or demand more than fair value if it really likes the player(s) that could fall to them?

6. Will draft picks make sense? Like the 49ers don't need to draft an ILB in the first round given they have two All-Pros starting there already and a very good back-up. Likewise, it wouldn't make much sense for Green Bay to draft a QB in the first round with Rodgers sure to be capable of holding down the position for the next eight years or so.

That's really the main detriment of other GM football games I've played. It's easy to get an advantage over the AI because their drafting decisions are stupid and end up drafting three QB's in a row in the first round. Also, in one game I played there weren't even any QB's available in the draft past pick #40 because the game engine placed such a high value on QB's that teams took them early even if they had 55/100 potential. It should be a more even distribution where the 80's/100 QB's get taken in the first round whereas it's still possible to maybe get a 65/100 guy in the later rounds.

And in this same game (Football Mogul), no receivers were even taken until the mid-second round, which made no sense. You could get starting-quality receivers in the late rounds every year but couldn't even draft a half-ass center past the third round. And no trading of draft picks were available. I had to make my own trades based on whatever made sense.

And hopefully some statistical variability exists such that 5th-rounders can actually turn into really good starters every now and then.

7. Will there be a mock draft before the draft takes place. Or at least "projected round" given in the player's profile, as given by your scouts?

8. Speaking of scouts, will they exist in V1? Perhaps just a scouting director, whose quality is rated by ability to scout positions? For instance, you could have scout rankings out of 100 as so:

Scouting quality:

QB: 71
RB: 65
FB: 81
WR: 44
OT: 76
OG/C: 79

DE: 62
DT: 65
OLB: 85
ILB: 87
CB: 59
FS/SS: 60

K: 42
P: 37

So you could think, hey this dude can scout the hell out of LB's, but he won't be able to find me many good WR's, defensive backs, RB's, d-linemen... So maybe you would want to hire somebody else. Like for me, my biggest need would be having a good QB, so I'd like a guy who could give me an advantage in the market of scouting good value on QB's. For people who like building strong O-lines/D-lines, they might want to look for a guy who has at least 70 rankings on this.

Of course, most of the good scouts would already be on NFL teams, so maybe you could take advantage when their contracts run out and offer them more money than anybody else.

Or you could go with the lexical designations like OOTP:

QB: Good
RB: Decent
FB: Excellent

And so on.

But I think just a scouting director like OOTP would be fine. I don't want to micromanage 20 scouts. I don't even like hiring coaches in OOTP because it's boring so I just let the AI do it for me.

9. When trading for draft picks during the year, will the AI recognize the value of its picks based on their projected record? For instance, in OOTP I can take advantage of the AI by trading a really good but not top-notch player to a really crappy team for the #1 or #2 picks in the draft. Because I think it views all draft picks the same based on round. Like each first-round pick is worth the same value when that simply isn't the case.

Of course, a #1 picks has far, far more value than the #30 pick (3,000 points versus 620 based on the chart I linked above) and should be considered. So if I'm making a trade to a 2-14 team (or one that projects to be that bad) they should be extremely resistant to giving up their first-rounder, whereas if it's a 12-4 team, they'd be more willing.

10. Will coaches be rated similar as they are in OOTP? Handle veterans, handle rookies, handle players, offense rating, defense rating, scheme preference, etc.

11. Maybe game graphics could be similar to ESPN GameCast at first? Just text based with a graphical representation of a field above. Would be cool to get Madden-like 3D graphics eventually. But I realize that might be something for like 2025 and would require a lot more staff members to come on board.

12. I'm fine with the only coaches being HC/DC/OC. Like scouts, I don't like to micromanage a bunch of lower tier coaches. It should be included eventually for realism's sake, but with the option to have your HC make the hires for you?

13. You'll be able to fire the coach, right? I know a lot of people will coach every game anyway.

14. Like a poster above me said, will home-field advantage be worked into the game somehow? OOTP seems to have it worked out well and fine tuned to perfection. I always perform slightly worse on the road than at home and matches up well with what happens in real life. Home field is hugely important in football, of course. So maybe stats get auto diminished or auto increased for road players and home players, respectively. Just a bit to make it realistic.

15. Will we be able to adjust the financials of the game, like TV contracts, ticket prices, average merchandise sales, etc.? And maybe edit our stadiums.

16. Saw this mentioned before, but weather effects should be included but is low priority. Like higher kicking accuracy in domes, versus in outdoor cold-weather stadiums in December/January.

17. Will the cap be adjustable? I figure it wouldn't be too hard to set and based on the CBA of players getting a certain % of league revenue? But we could adjust it manually, or set it to 0 to disable it? It doesn't seem like it'd be too difficult to implement. I prefer to set the cap to 0 just because the AI isn't very good at negotiating contracts and doesn't have very good ability to do re-negotiations, when to cut players, hands out too much money, etc. It makes the game too easy if I'm able to make the salaries fit into the cap like a glove whereas the AI is incompetent. So I just get around it by setting it to 0 and holding myself financially accountable.

01-01-2015, 01:33 AM	#610
SFG Minors (Single A) Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 50	Read all 30+ pages and looking forward to this. Always enjoyed FM and OOTP, but American football is my favorite sport. My questions: 1. You said coaches, at least defensive coaches will have a 3-4 or 4-3 preference as listed on their profile? For offensive coaches, will they have a preference for West Coast, Coryell, Erhardt-Perkins, etc. possibly for V2 (introduction of new playbooks)? 2. Handling the media is big for a coach and to a lesser extent, the GM. I assume that's not in V1? It's a big part of Football Manager, of course, and influences team morale. Like your QB had a crappy game and the media guy asks you a question about it. And then it gives you options like: a) "He made some plays, but Cincinnati is just a good team." b) "We just need to play better as a team." c) "I think the whole offense can take fault for that display." d) "He made some poor throws and needs to play better if we expect to win football games." e) "No comment." If you say a), you might maintain a good relationship with the QB, but becomes complacent and doesn't improve his play. Kind of like if you do too much ass-kissing in FM. Sometimes they **** the bed against inferior competition. If you say b), you might lower the morale of the team a bit overall, but they're more motivated to play well. For c), you might lower the morale of the offense only (and to a greater extent than b), but motivate them around the same level as in b). For d), you'll really irritate the QB for throwing him under the bus for the loss to the media, and your relationship with him will worsen. Morale of the other players stays the same. Etc. etc. Maybe another V2 idea I suppose. You might have insight in how to code it because you worked for Sports Interactive in the past if I read correctly. 3. Will player personalities factor into draft assessment (i.e., how valued they are as a prospect)? For example, Randy Moss and Dez Bryant were top-notch prospect, top-5 or top-10 at worst, yet fell because of character concerns. Just wonder if players could fall similarly in the draft? On the upside, you get a highly talented player. But on the downside, you could have a cancer who gets a lot of penalties for dirty play, is a suspension risk, lowers team morale, may demand a trade, etc. 4. Will player morale be included, as in OOTP? 5. Will draft-day trades be possible, as in you'll receive trade offers from teams wishing to trade up -- or announcing their pick to be available? Or do we have to initiate them? Will these trades make sense based on a trade value chart or on positional need -- like a team may be resistant to give up its pick if it has a crummy D-line and there are good DE and DT prospects available? Example of a trade value chart: Draft Countdown - Trade Value Chart Sometimes the AI may accept less than "fair value" for a pick if it doesn't like the prospects available or demand more than fair value if it really likes the player(s) that could fall to them? 6. Will draft picks make sense? Like the 49ers don't need to draft an ILB in the first round given they have two All-Pros starting there already and a very good back-up. Likewise, it wouldn't make much sense for Green Bay to draft a QB in the first round with Rodgers sure to be capable of holding down the position for the next eight years or so. That's really the main detriment of other GM football games I've played. It's easy to get an advantage over the AI because their drafting decisions are stupid and end up drafting three QB's in a row in the first round. Also, in one game I played there weren't even any QB's available in the draft past pick #40 because the game engine placed such a high value on QB's that teams took them early even if they had 55/100 potential. It should be a more even distribution where the 80's/100 QB's get taken in the first round whereas it's still possible to maybe get a 65/100 guy in the later rounds. And in this same game (Football Mogul), no receivers were even taken until the mid-second round, which made no sense. You could get starting-quality receivers in the late rounds every year but couldn't even draft a half-ass center past the third round. And no trading of draft picks were available. I had to make my own trades based on whatever made sense. And hopefully some statistical variability exists such that 5th-rounders can actually turn into really good starters every now and then. 7. Will there be a mock draft before the draft takes place. Or at least "projected round" given in the player's profile, as given by your scouts? 8. Speaking of scouts, will they exist in V1? Perhaps just a scouting director, whose quality is rated by ability to scout positions? For instance, you could have scout rankings out of 100 as so: Scouting quality: QB: 71 RB: 65 FB: 81 WR: 44 OT: 76 OG/C: 79 DE: 62 DT: 65 OLB: 85 ILB: 87 CB: 59 FS/SS: 60 K: 42 P: 37 So you could think, hey this dude can scout the hell out of LB's, but he won't be able to find me many good WR's, defensive backs, RB's, d-linemen... So maybe you would want to hire somebody else. Like for me, my biggest need would be having a good QB, so I'd like a guy who could give me an advantage in the market of scouting good value on QB's. For people who like building strong O-lines/D-lines, they might want to look for a guy who has at least 70 rankings on this. Of course, most of the good scouts would already be on NFL teams, so maybe you could take advantage when their contracts run out and offer them more money than anybody else. Or you could go with the lexical designations like OOTP: QB: Good RB: Decent FB: Excellent And so on. But I think just a scouting director like OOTP would be fine. I don't want to micromanage 20 scouts. I don't even like hiring coaches in OOTP because it's boring so I just let the AI do it for me. 9. When trading for draft picks during the year, will the AI recognize the value of its picks based on their projected record? For instance, in OOTP I can take advantage of the AI by trading a really good but not top-notch player to a really crappy team for the #1 or #2 picks in the draft. Because I think it views all draft picks the same based on round. Like each first-round pick is worth the same value when that simply isn't the case. Of course, a #1 picks has far, far more value than the #30 pick (3,000 points versus 620 based on the chart I linked above) and should be considered. So if I'm making a trade to a 2-14 team (or one that projects to be that bad) they should be extremely resistant to giving up their first-rounder, whereas if it's a 12-4 team, they'd be more willing. 10. Will coaches be rated similar as they are in OOTP? Handle veterans, handle rookies, handle players, offense rating, defense rating, scheme preference, etc. 11. Maybe game graphics could be similar to ESPN GameCast at first? Just text based with a graphical representation of a field above. Would be cool to get Madden-like 3D graphics eventually. But I realize that might be something for like 2025 and would require a lot more staff members to come on board. 12. I'm fine with the only coaches being HC/DC/OC. Like scouts, I don't like to micromanage a bunch of lower tier coaches. It should be included eventually for realism's sake, but with the option to have your HC make the hires for you? 13. You'll be able to fire the coach, right? I know a lot of people will coach every game anyway. 14. Like a poster above me said, will home-field advantage be worked into the game somehow? OOTP seems to have it worked out well and fine tuned to perfection. I always perform slightly worse on the road than at home and matches up well with what happens in real life. Home field is hugely important in football, of course. So maybe stats get auto diminished or auto increased for road players and home players, respectively. Just a bit to make it realistic. 15. Will we be able to adjust the financials of the game, like TV contracts, ticket prices, average merchandise sales, etc.? And maybe edit our stadiums. 16. Saw this mentioned before, but weather effects should be included but is low priority. Like higher kicking accuracy in domes, versus in outdoor cold-weather stadiums in December/January. 17. Will the cap be adjustable? I figure it wouldn't be too hard to set and based on the CBA of players getting a certain % of league revenue? But we could adjust it manually, or set it to 0 to disable it? It doesn't seem like it'd be too difficult to implement. I prefer to set the cap to 0 just because the AI isn't very good at negotiating contracts and doesn't have very good ability to do re-negotiations, when to cut players, hands out too much money, etc. It makes the game too easy if I'm able to make the salaries fit into the cap like a glove whereas the AI is incompetent. So I just get around it by setting it to 0 and holding myself financially accountable. Last edited by SFG; 01-01-2015 at 01:43 AM.