Some insights on custom PB creation (formation order)

[RogueHominid]

I wanted to share some insights I’ve come across as an OCD person working on custom PBs who has always been frustrated at how formations seem to get jumbled when you do this.

For D:

If you want to base out of the 34, you can have a book that goes 34, big nickel, all your nickel sets, and all your dime sets, in that order, but you can’t add quarter or prevent or 5-2 or goal line.

If you want to base out of the 43, you’re a little more limited, but you can go 43, big nickel, then your dime sets, but you can’t have quarter or prevent or 52 or goal line.

There’s some sacrifice involved, but if you love your custom PBs and are also OCD about formations, I wanted to throw that out there.

How you get there is you strip down a PB to zero then you add the sets and plays you want, and as long as you add only the sets that are named above, they should display correctly.

For O, you can get pretty close, too:

If you strip down a PB to basically 0 (KC reduces to 2 plays in Gun Strong Nasty or something like that), you can add formations and plays more or less in the order you choose from there.

If you want to go just ace and gun, that’s the cleanest, as those will appear in that order. If you want to go ace, pistol, and gun, you’ll have those in a sensible order as well.

If you add 21 personnel, the game will go strong I, weak I, I, and then your ace, pistol, and gun sets.

I have one full split filed match coverage 34 D book fully built out that shows how this can look, and I have a placeholder 43 D book that also shows how it would look, if those would be helpful, but I think this explanation will get you where you want to go if these considerations matter for you.

[CM Hooe]

Thank you for spelling out the pain I have been enduring with custom playbooks for several years and didn't have enough patience to spell out for everyone else lol.

Custom playbooks is long overdue for a makeover. The plays you call is just as much a part of your football team as the players you roster, some good tools for power users to organize and streamline getting in and out of the formations and plays we want are long overdue.

[RogueHominid]

Happy to help; trying to bring something constructive here, since I’ve taken a deeper dive into this world than normal, and I was shocked at how much more immersed I was in the game when I put the game plan together myself and was accountable for whether or not we had answers.

I do think for defense that the 34 is the most robust in that you can have answers for most situations and have tons more formations at your disposal, but I think the 43 can be workable, and for folks that are willing to go with big nickel as their actual base with nickels and dimes after that, you can actually go “43” base and just run big nickel, nickel, and dime.

I’ve kind of been tempted to try it. I think if you use some strategic run blitzing, you can probably handle a lot of what you’d see from most teams in the run game, save perhaps the TENs or CLEs of the world with those crazy good backs.

Has anyone tried to base exclusively out of big nickel and had it go well?

The complete Saban guide that shows you how he and Kirby play certain calls makes it seem like you could absolutely get away with basing out of 33 Odd and 33 cub much of the time.

[shooter135]

Quote: Originally Posted by RogueHominid

Happy to help; trying to bring something constructive here, since I’ve taken a deeper dive into this world than normal, and I was shocked at how much more immersed I was in the game when I put the game plan together myself and was accountable for whether or not we had answers. I do think for defense that the 34 is the most robust in that you can have answers for most situations and have tons more formations at your disposal, but I think the 43 can be workable, and for folks that are willing to go with big nickel as their actual base with nickels and dimes after that, you can actually go “43” base and just run big nickel, nickel, and dime. I’ve kind of been tempted to try it. I think if you use some strategic run blitzing, you can probably handle a lot of what you’d see from most teams in the run game, save perhaps the TENs or CLEs of the world with those crazy good backs. Has anyone tried to base exclusively out of big nickel and had it go well? The complete Saban guide that shows you how he and Kirby play certain calls makes it seem like you could absolutely get away with basing out of 33 Odd and 33 cub much of the time.

Excellent work, appreciate the info. Are these books available to download. Also, what Sagan guide are you referring to? I’d like to check it out.

[RogueHominid]

Quote: Originally Posted by shooter135

Excellent work, appreciate the info. Are these books available to download. Also, what Sagan guide are you referring to? I’d like to check it out.

I can easily share the 34 PB and update this post with an edit once it’s shared.

The guide I was referring to is actually a Kirby Smart one, but with roots in Saban, by Philosopher 0, I think, and it’s here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...jTM8_3rh4/edit

This guy is awesome for scheme breakdowns and how it all translates to Madden.

EDIT: I put up the 34 book under XBOX GT Rogue Hominid, and it’s called 34 2 High Match. It’s a 6/9/4/3 seam PB meant to show proof of concept for how you can put a custom PB together and get the right formation order.

I’m not a genius on schemes, so season to taste, but it’s got audibles set and could be a good starting point!

[matt2053]

How do you handle the duplicated red zone situations?

[RogueHominid]

Matt, I’m not an expert here on the situations, and I should have prefaced by saying that I just put 10 plays in most situations for what I’d consider my “base,” but I know there are some quirks with how situations populate and sometimes get copied over from one to the other.

TBH, even though I populated the situations with some starter content, I typically call my own plays by formation and feel, rather than by suggested.

I think some more learned folks here might be better able to assist on how to manage this issue, but please do share what you learn!

[Coach Captures]

I think it’s ok for the most part if you know what type of system you’re gonna run. Thus what types of players where. Base fronts, coverage and tactics.

Personally I’ve always like the quarters base coverage combined with sn over front. However I like the 34 odd as a base formation agaiant 21 personnel. Also I like the Big Nickel the way it fits a lot of the 11 personnel formations and how it has the SS one the slot. The Raiders playbook plays onto that. Side note, 34 even is probably the best run for formation IMO.

If I go 43 I like the Chiefs. It’s got the Big Nickel and also a 33 Nickel. It’s for the typical under and over fronts as well.

I know this is a thread on custom but it’s really understanding how you want to set up your team.