BTS: Frequently Asked Questions

[RchW]

Originally Posted by BCStone

Please!! No helmets without face guards in Facegen. I would feel I'm coaching a team from the 40's. I like the idea of the players in there team uniforms wearing hats with team logo on hat much like we have now in OOTP.

Is there a hover feature where the bars disappear when the cursor is on the picture?

[goalieump413]

Kind of a hybrid question/suggestion...

Taking a few concepts from HC09, I'd like to see a gameplay mechanic that necessitates playbook learning (once teams have unique playbooks), taught by OC's or DC's and the position coaches, each of which has ratings just like a hitting or pitching coach in OOTP. Isn't the code already there in OOTP? Better pitching coaches have a quantifiable impact on your pitching staff, so it's no stretch to think that, eventually, your team's coaches should have an equal impact on their players' playbook knowledge too.

[jozza800]

This sounds fantastic! I've grown up with Football Manager/Champ Manager and love EHM and OOTP.

The match engine videos look great and very reminiscent of the early versions of the Football Manager 2d engine. Just a few questions regarding the match engine view.

- Will the field graphics be customizable?
- Any plans for future versions to go down the 3d route. More in line with the current FM engine than say Madden!! (obviously a ways in the future!)

My other point of interest is the players attributes. This was the only thing I couldn't quite get my head around in OOTP. A players attributes are scouting opinions rather than actual attributes. I do prefer the more finite attributes in FM.

- How are the player attributes handled in BTS? Like FM or OOTP?
- Different attribute sets for the various player types?

[Francis Cole]

- How are the player attributes handled in BTS? Like FM or OOTP?

OOTP more than FM. But not exactly like OOTP.

- Different attribute sets for the various player types?

All the players will have the same attributes, even a QB is going to have a punting attribute. It won't be very high though.

[Orioles1966]

Let's say its the last day of the regular season and they are 8 -1 pm game and 8-430 pm games. There are all kinds of games with playoff implications. If one-430 pm game would decide the AFC playoff match-ups, do we still have too play all the 1pm games first(or can we edit the start time schedule)?

[Francis Cole]

You'll probably have to wait for the first fixtures to be complete like real life (except it will only take a few seconds and not hours )

I await your next obscure question!

[ihatenames]

I'm assuming it's possible to have real teams but fictional players?

[Orioles1966]

Originally Posted by Francis Cole

You'll probably have to wait for the first fixtures to be complete like real life (except it will only take a few seconds and not hours )

I await your next obscure question!

Can you edit the start times?

[Francis Cole]

I'm assuming it's possible to have real teams but fictional players?

Probably.

Can you edit the start times?

Unknown yet.

[BradC]

V1 won't have historical play. That will be added in a later version, along with other leagues and such.

Also, someone had mentioned Friday games. When's the last time an NFL game was played on a Friday? I'm sure it has happened, but it must have been decades ago.

These days, you typically have a slate of Sunday games, with 2 Monday night games and 1 Sunday night game. Then you have the Thanksgiving Day games on a Thursday, and later in the season there are a few Thursday night games too. I recall there used to be some Saturday games late in the regular season, after college football ended its regular season, but I don't think that has happened in recent years -- Saturday games just happen during the playoffs.

And then, yes, you have preseason games that happen on various days of the week, but, honestly, I barely pay attention to those since preseason records don't give you a good indication of how good or bad a team will be during the regular season.

Originally Posted by dave1927p

Is the start date customizable? I would like to do modern day rules but start in the late 50's.

[Raidergoo]

Originally Posted by BradC

Also, someone had mentioned Friday games. When's the last time an NFL game was played on a Friday? I'm sure it has happened, but it must have been decades ago.

It's illegal since 1961 to telecast pro football on most Fridays and Saturdays during the regular season.

15 USC Ch. 32: TELECASTING OF PROFESSIONAL SPORTS CONTESTS

[Orioles1966]

Originally Posted by Raidergoo

It's illegal since 1961 to telecast pro football on most Fridays and Saturdays during the regular season.

15 USC Ch. 32: TELECASTING OF PROFESSIONAL SPORTS CONTESTS

The UFL televised games on Saturday(when they still existed). I remember watching Hartford home games on NESN.


The CFL televised games on Saturdays from US cities(when they had teams in the USA).

[statfreak]

Originally Posted by BradC

These days, you typically have a slate of Sunday games, with 2 Monday night games and 1 Sunday night game. Then you have the Thanksgiving Day games on a Thursday, and later in the season there are a few Thursday night games too.

Brad,

The NFL has started on a Thursday night for a few seasons now and there is a Thursday night game every week through Week 15. There are three games on Thanksgiving.

The game every Thursday night started in the 2012 season.

[Raidergoo]

Originally Posted by Orioles1966

The UFL televised games on Saturday(when they still existed). I remember watching Hartford home games on NESN.

The CFL televised games on Saturdays from US cities(when they had teams in the USA).

NESN is a cable network, thus face a different regulatory regime than ABC, NBC, CBS, or Fox.

US law would be inapplicable to the CFL except in a very few instances. Plus the CFL season largely would fall out of the regulated window when NBC carried the CFL, so it is largely moot.

[Molson]

Another thought about offensive line play...

It has often been said that the offensive lineman play better when they get experience together as a unit. Perhaps, though it sounds kind of daunting, there would be a way to code "cohesiveness" for lack of a better word. So that the offensive line gets a slight boost when playing together as a unit for multiple games.

[Postman]

Originally Posted by Molson

Perhaps, though it sounds kind of daunting, there would be a way to code "cohesiveness" for lack of a better word. So that the offensive line gets a slight boost when playing together as a unit for multiple games.

That's part of FOF not only for offensive line but for the passing, defensive front and secondary, and I believe it's critical. I don't believe it's all that difficult to implement.

It is indeed called cohesion in that game.

[Postman]

Would player ratings be as specific as, say, separate ratings for the different techniques (e.g. "3 technique") for defensive linemen? That would be really cool.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by BradC

Also, someone had mentioned Friday games. When's the last time an NFL game was played on a Friday? I'm sure it has happened, but it must have been decades ago.

Not quite decades ago. The five most recent Friday game in the NFL in reverse chronological order:

Dec. 25, 2009, Week 16, San Diego at Tennessee
Oct. 21, 2005, Week 7, Kansas City at Miami
Dec. 24, 2004, Week 16, Green Bay at Minnesota
Dec. 24, 1999, Week 16, Dallas at New Orleans
Dec. 31, 1993, Week 18, Minnesota at Washington

Originally Posted by BradC

These days, you typically have a slate of Sunday games, with 2 Monday night games and 1 Sunday night game. Then you have the Thanksgiving Day games on a Thursday, and later in the season there are a few Thursday night games too. I recall there used to be some Saturday games late in the regular season, after college football ended its regular season, but I don't think that has happened in recent years -- Saturday games just happen during the playoffs.

Below is a table showing the games played by day of the week from 1995 through 2013.

NFL Regular Season Games Played
by Day of the Week, 1995-2013

Year  Tot  Tu  We  Th  Fr  Sa  Sun  Mo
--------------------------------------
2013  256   0   0  17   0   0  222  17
2012  256   0   1  16   0   1  222  16
2011  256   0   0  10   0  14  215  17
2010  256   1   0  10   0   1  226  18
2009  256   0   0   9   1   1  228  17
2008  256   0   0  10   0   1  228  17
2007  256   0   0   8   0   3  228  17
2006  256   0   0   8   0   3  227  18
2005  256   0   0   3   1  18  217  17
2004  256   0   0   3   1   6  230  16
2003  256   0   0   3   0   6  231  16
2002  256   0   0   3   0   5  231  17
--------------------------------------
2001  248   0   0   5   0   6  222  15
2000  248   0   0   4   0   5  222  17
1999  248   0   0   5   1   3  222  17
--------------------------------------
1998  240   0   0   4   0   4  215  17
1997  240   0   0   4   0   4  214  18
1996  240   0   0   4   0   4  215  17
1995  240   0   0   5   0   7  211  17

13 games on Sat. Dec. 24, 2011
13 games on Sat. Dec. 24, 2005

The large number of Saturday games in 2005 and 2011 was due to Christmas falling on a Sunday, and as the NFL only permits one or two games on Christmas Day, the remainder of the games got moved forward to Saturday.

The number of Thursday games has increased markedly over the last two seasons. In 2013, there was at least one Thursday game per week for the first 15 weeks of the season.

Originally Posted by BradC

And then, yes, you have preseason games that happen on various days of the week, but, honestly, I barely pay attention to those since preseason records don't give you a good indication of how good or bad a team will be during the regular season.

Including the Hall of Fame Game, in 2013 the breakdown of the 65 games scheduled for the preseason was as follows: Thursday, 28 games; Friday, 14; Saturday, 17; Sunday, 5; and Monday, 1.

The point of all this is that BTS should be able to handle any regular season game scheduled from at least Thursday through Monday. The only thing an earlier in the week game does is compress the preparation time routine for the next game as compared to a 'normal' week.

[Molson]

Francis Cole, meet Le Grande Orange....

He has a schedule fetish. That's why we love him.

[Francis Cole]

I'm starting to work out the areas that everyone is interested in, it's certainly "interesting"