What some good House rules for FOF 5.1d for solo play?

[jbmagic]

What some good House rules for FOF 5.1d for solo play?

what are the house rules you use for solo play when playing?

thanks

[Fonzie]

You might want to check out some of the dynasties for ideas - their authors will typically post their house rules in the introduction.

[QuikSand]

For me, I have always felt that playing solo, my ability to use "creative" contracts was just too big an advantage over the computer opponents. So, any time I built house rules, I start there - with the contract opportunities.

My favorite foundation rule set is basically:

-I can never renegotiate any contracts, period
-Any multi-year FA contract I offer must include bonus at least as high as the highest year's salary
-I don't use the franchise tag
-No offering trades, except within the draft, and then only including this year's picks
-Trades offered by CPU teams may be accepted if they pass the "fairness test" (modify, put back, then try to accept it... if the team would still accept, then the trade passes the test)


That's my usual foundation - and I find it wipes out a lot of the structural advantages you get jut by being savvy with contracts.

[AlexB]

I change every time tbh, I'm currently using the Cards, and have made myself stick to the following:

Staff contracts must be honoured - i.e. can only sign new staff when contracts expire

Cannot trade for oppositions players unless they are offered to me by the AI

Can only trade my players for draft picks

Cannot renogotiate any player contracts until the player is in his final year of his existing deal, unless it is a player who was traded to me (see above), when if I want to offer a new deal I must do so immediately I receive the player

Once I've offered a FA a contract, even if another franchise offers more, I won;t change my own offer

I was hoping to stick to break even, and if I'm with another franchise I will do this, but it's absolutely impossible with the Cards, so I altered this slightly to do my best to keep losses to a minimum while remaining competitive: I know this is woolly, but in effect it means I will always go for a cheap FA ranked maybe 6th/7th instead of the higher priced but better player. To try and maintain this, I keep myseld to around $30m below the cap at worst.

Injuries 200, Wall St level

Think that about covers it.

[QuikSand]

You have pushed me over the edge, I'm starting a new dynasty as we speak.

I'm going to play with a rule that the only multi-year deals I can ever offer any player will be to my drafted rookies. All other contracts will be for one year only, including my established veteran players. Cohesion should be very tough, unless I want to maintain a pretty shabby roster of guys that nobody else would dare touch.

[jbmagic]

thanks guys

"Cannot renogotiate any player contracts until the player is in his final year of his existing deal"

is that because its easier to sign him cheaper if player has more than 1 year on contract left?

[QuikSand]

Renegotiation is a slipperly slope -- by smartly renegotiation contracts, you can squeeze a whole lot of extra room under your salary cap, making the game a good deal easier. If you're looking to make the game more challenging, this is a good place to start. Either limit renegs to the last year of a deal, or else get rid of them altogether (like I prefer). It's a function of how restrained you want to be.

[AlexB]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

thanks guys

"Cannot renogotiate any player contracts until the player is in his final year of his existing deal"

is that because its easier to sign him cheaper if player has more than 1 year on contract left?

Spot on.

I used to follow the rule of never renegotiating at all and competing with the AI for them in FA, but changed to the above for a slightly increased element of realism (or reduced element of unrealism, dpending on which way you look at it) as the players who are willing to resign at levels I am willing to pay are generally not stars anyhow, and at least you get some continuity.

Basically I think people put house rules in place as it is too easy otherwise to beat the AI - how far you go depends on whether you want the hardest game possible, or increase difficulty while retaining the enjoyment factor, as at the end of the day, it's all about enjoying the game.

[Ryche]

What I've been using for rules:

No changing the play calling settings except for 3-4/4-3.

Limited trading. No hard or fast rules here, but I only accept computer trades if it makes sense for them. I will sometimes trade within the draft, but if I do, it's to move up to grab a player and I give the computer more than a fair offer in return. And I will occasionally trade someone I want to cut but don't want pissed at me for cutting them for a 7th rounder. That way I'm really getting nothing, but the player may come back one day.
And no trading QBs. It's too easy to develop decent quarterbacks from late picks and then trading them for better picks later.

No renegotiation except for franchised players. Cannot franchise the same player in consectutive seasons.

Those rules have kept my current team going for 50 years without ever feeling like I have been dominant. Part of that may because I'm far too willing to keep players I like with large contracts rather than dumping them for cheaper alternatives. That and my utter lack of ability to groom a dominant QB.

[Peregrine]

I pretty much play empty cupboard all the time now. I start the dynasty by releasing all players and hire only undrafted FAs. Each year I can only sign FAs that have gone through both FA stages without being signed, and I can't sign any players that have more experience than the year I started in. So if I'm in the 4th year of my dynasty I can't sign anyone with more than 4 years of experience. I can offer renegotiation in the final year of the contract, but I have to accept whatever the player demands. No franchise tag, and rarely accepting computer trades (only if they are good, basically.)

It usually takes around 5 years to build a competitive team with this system, at some point after that I release everyone and start over at year 0.