How do you play your MF?

[WallysWorld]

doI've had MF for about three weeks now and still getting around it, but I wondering how the rest of you use MF. I have set up a CFL and a USFL league, but haven't decided how I will play the game with these leagues.

I mean, I've tried the coaching mode, but found whatever playbooks (both delivered and user created) I use, the defense cannot handle the pass that well. 15 minute quarter coached games end up with very high scores (61-21 in a recent CFL game for myself winning on All Pro mode). The simulated games seem to turn out pretty well, but the coached games have high scoring. It's (dare I say it?) almost too easy to win if I coach a team.

I almost feel like playing these leagues but with all teams computer controlled and just simming them all with one game a week I would watch in its entirety with the computer coaching both teams. But is that fun? To basically just simulate a season without taking control of a team?

So I would like to ask my fellow gamers, how do you use and play MF?

Many thanks for any and all replies.

[garysorrell]

I have done the GM style before, where I run one team, as if I was owner/GM. I sim most games, watching my team and occasionally another, especially late in the year and during playoffs. I pretend the playbooks are the coaches, and keep it as long as its successful. In fact, back in my FBpro days, each playbook had a coaches name. So it seemed I wasnt changing playbooks, I was firing a coach and hiring a new one. Eventually, if you have enough playbooks, you forget which coach was with which playbook and rely more on the win/loss associated with each coach. For CPU teams, I would make changes for them in relation to their success or failure.

I plan to do that with MaxFB also, and also will likely have a second league with a team I control with the Gravis.

[Deft]

ORIGINAL: WallysWorld

doI've had MF for about three weeks now and still getting around it, but I wondering how the rest of you use MF. I have set up a CFL and a USFL league, but haven't decided how I will play the game with these leagues.

I mean, I've tried the coaching mode, but found whatever playbooks (both delivered and user created) I use, the defense cannot handle the pass that well. 15 minute quarter coached games end up with very high scores (61-21 in a recent CFL game for myself winning on All Pro mode). The simulated games seem to turn out pretty well, but the coached games have high scoring. It's (dare I say it?) almost too easy to win if I coach a team.

I almost feel like playing these leagues but with all teams computer controlled and just simming them all with one game a week I would watch in its entirety with the computer coaching both teams. But is that fun? To basically just simulate a season without taking control of a team?

So I would like to ask my fellow gamers, how do you use and play MF?

Many thanks for any and all replies.

The biggest reason I have seen for coach mode being easy is the limited capability of the playbook profile in its current condition. Hopefully David can do for it what he did for defensive play design.

[Tbird]

With fbpro I controlled a team and won 16 out of 33 seasons 5 in a row at one point (it could've been more but I lost on purpose to break the streak).  Midway thru the second season I got the hang of it and started winning, but eventually towards the end I just slow simmed all the games cuz I got bored with the winning.

Pretty much it was the same with Madden even with the comeback code you would eventually figure out how to beat the computer before the season was over. 

[hack153]

I mean, I've tried the coaching mode, but found whatever playbooks (both delivered and user created) I use, the defense cannot handle the pass that well. 15 minute quarter coached games end up with very high scores (61-21 in a recent CFL game for myself winning on All Pro mode). The simulated games seem to turn out pretty well, but the coached games have high scoring. It's (dare I say it?) almost too easy to win if I coach a team.  

 
if you make your defensive and offensive profiles really in-depth that will help with high scoring games vs. the computer.  it's takes a while to make them that in-depth.  hell, i'm still working on them...working document in progress. 
 
any computer game will be easy after a while.  i have the same issue with most sports game (all EA sport games, and some others), but much better with simulations (OOTPB, MFB, FOF, etc...)

[boggyjr]

I usually just sim the seasons and compare results. Playing out each game takes too long. Either that, or I take control of one team and see if I can make them win just by roster adjustments.

I used to play Madden 06 on my XBOX a lot. I still do, but I mostly make the custom tournaments, sim all the way through, and play the championship game in person. More on the line that way. With some of the longer seasons, it doesn't matter if you lose a few games.

However, we actually bought MF for a different reason. My dad coaches high school football, and we wanted a tool that helps him design and test plays without wasting time in practice.

However, he's fed up with the PDS. He has no idea how it works, and we can't find a decent tutorial on FBMax...

[Marauders]

However, he's fed up with the PDS. He has no idea how it works, and we can't find a decent tutorial on FBMax...

 
What is he having a problem with?
 
What does he want to do?
 

[Tbird]

ORIGINAL: boggyjr

I usually just sim the seasons and compare results. Playing out each game takes too long. Either that, or I take control of one team and see if I can make them win just by roster adjustments.

I used to play Madden 06 on my XBOX a lot. I still do, but I mostly make the custom tournaments, sim all the way through, and play the championship game in person. More on the line that way. With some of the longer seasons, it doesn't matter if you lose a few games.

However, we actually bought MF for a different reason. My dad coaches high school football, and we wanted a tool that helps him design and test plays without wasting time in practice.

However, he's fed up with the PDS. He has no idea how it works, and we can't find a decent tutorial on FBMax...

I found looking at other plays extremely helpfull

[hack153]

However, he's fed up with the PDS. He has no idea how it works, and we can't find a decent tutorial on FBMax...

 
PDS is actually pretty easy after you work with it for hours.  just got to put in those first frustrating hours that you pull your hair out while slamming your head against the keyboard!
 
 

[David Winter]

The Play Development System does have a learning curve to it. That's just an unfortunate side effect of being able to do pretty much whatever you wish with it.
 
The Madden play editor is pretty quick to use, but also limited in what you could do with it. I don't think it's any more complicated than the one in FBPro and once you 'get it', it's pretty intuitive.
 
 

[Marauders]

There is a learning curve, but as David stated, that is because it is detailed.
 
The one thing to remember is to right click after creating the logic points, and then selecting them to edit.  Otherwise, one gets more points with more left clicks or trips up to the menu.
 
The Playmaker Tools that I am working on will have sorted formations and pass patterns.  This will make creating basic plays much easier, but knowing how to use the PDS will still be needed.
 
I am sure that most people purchasing Maximum-Football want a detailed and powerful Play Development System, and having that much power comes with a bit of price in having to learn it.  It is not really much different than the play creation utility in FBPro in many ways, so people coming over from that game should not have too hard of a time getting used to the PDS of Maximum-Football.