Franchise Mode (basic questions)

[Ohgr]

Hello there,

I'm pretty new to Madden 08 (How could I have missed that, it's just amazing with all those mods), and obviously new to this forum now as well
A quick thanks to everyone who made those mods, utilities and so on available, you can not believe how much you've enhanced my gameplay. I don't need a new madden anymore^^

Right now I'm playing a complete fictional NFL CPU vs CPU franchise mode, all with custom teams.
And with all the guides for all the things you guys have created, I can not really find a basic guide for the franchise mode, which leaves me with a couple of unanswered questions. So I'm going to ask them here and hope someone can clarify


1. Weekly Tasks/Weekly Gameplan

The weekly gameplan drills, are they important? Do I have to do them to increase my teams chances of winning? Do they have any benefits at all to a CPU vs CPU game? Do they impact player skillpoints?


2. Practice

I can't find an answer to this question. But is the practice tab of importance? Does my team/my players benefit from it if I run this? Or is it just something for the human players, so they can practice something quickly inbetween games?


3. Player Progression

I haven't modified this. So far I have only seen Awareness going up or down. What is with the other stats, like positional skills or athletic skills? When will those numbers change?


4. Slider AI Human/CPU

Like mentioned, I like watching CPU vs CPU. Letting the coaches call, just enjoying the games as the GM. Which AI sliders do affect my team? The Human sliders or the CPU sliders?

Thanks in advance for the answers

[Rixster67r]

There are several franchise guides to choose from NZA and Revanfan that you can download here.......

viewtopic.php?f=86&t=19683&p=98853&hilit=nza+franchise+guide#p98853

and you should be able to get alot of information here.......

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=8541

Welcome to the site.......

[Ohgr]

If I wouldn't have read those guides already, I wouldn't have asked the questions that I asked. I follow NZAs guide to a certain degree.
However, both guides are advanced and do not answer the basic questions that I have.

Thanks anyways.

[RevanFan]

1. Completely unimportant.

2. Nope. It's literally only so you can practice.

3. Player progression is... weird. But the rating that is modified most often is awareness, so it will seem like that changes way more often than anything else.

4. I think, if you're just watching, it's CPU. But I'm not sure. All I know for sure is that Human sliders affect you if you're manually playing.

[Ohgr]

Thanks a ton
(I really hated those drills^^)

[BinaryDigit09]

Hi,

If you run the plays in the weekly gameplan, I think your players gain a temporary boost in some skills for the next game. But if you do poorly in the practices, it can make your players play more poorly. So I never run the practice plays, but I do pay attention to which opposing players they mention as "best in the league" etc. If they have a great DT and MLB, for example, then I'll plan to call more outside run plays and stay away from the middle.

I'm pretty sure that player progression is based heavily on the player's "IMP" attribute, in conjunction with how well they've played. If you have a guy with higher IMP (70-80) and are able to put him in a position to succeed on the field, he'll improve at a pretty good rate. As you've noticed, AWR will increase faster than most other skills, but SPD probably won't change at all throughout a player's career. All others are in-between.

[JPK]

Hi,

If you run the plays in the weekly gameplan, I think your players gain a temporary boost in some skills for the next game. But if you do poorly in the practices, it can make your players play more poorly. So I never run the practice plays, but I do pay attention to which opposing players they mention as "best in the league" etc. If they have a great DT and MLB, for example, then I'll plan to call more outside run plays and stay away from the middle.

I do something similar to that, except I just go to team management and look at the opposing roster. Helps me find mismatches, or determine if I run outside or inside, or pass short or deep. As for the temporary boost, I wouldn't know because I don't do the practice or drills.

I'm pretty sure that player progression is based heavily on the player's "IMP" attribute, in conjunction with how well they've played. If you have a guy with higher IMP (70-80) and are able to put him in a position to succeed on the field, he'll improve at a pretty good rate. As you've noticed, AWR will increase faster than most other skills, but SPD probably won't change at all throughout a player's career. All others are in-between.

I agree with RevanFan, progression is weird. Sometimes you can have a player that did incredibly well and not progress at all, and other times someone will barely do anything and progress. I had never considered the IMP attribute, I'll try to pay attention to it.

It is true that SPD won't progress, but you have to watch out for the regression that happens around age 29 or 30 (depending on the position). Madden being vastly a game of speed, I find it important to mention. It is also an important attribute (with AWR) that I look for when scouting players.

If I remember well, I think SPD can be increased through certain drills (the ones you can do just before preseason. I haven't run them in many seasons though, as I thought it gave me an unfair advantage against the CPU.

[TheRareButter]

Where is the weekly game plan practice and the 30 draft classes located in the DB Templates?

I want to globally edit the draft classes to fit a NCAA freshman type of build, while somehow forcing coach mode for the weekly gameplan practice (which im hoping can be edited for a bigger impact on player attributes). For some reason coach mode doesn't seem to work with that specific practice despite having it on and auto pass set it on, while it works fine with the normal practice mode.

[Theov]

Hello there,

I'm pretty new to Madden 08 (How could I have missed that, it's just amazing with all those mods), and obviously new to this forum now as well
A quick thanks to everyone who made those mods, utilities and so on available, you can not believe how much you've enhanced my gameplay. I don't need a new madden anymore^^

Right now I'm playing a complete fictional NFL CPU vs CPU franchise mode, all with custom teams.
And with all the guides for all the things you guys have created, I can not really find a basic guide for the franchise mode, which leaves me with a couple of unanswered questions. So I'm going to ask them here and hope someone can clarify

Hi, welcome to the forums!

1. Weekly Tasks/Weekly Gameplan

The weekly gameplan drills, are they important? Do I have to do them to increase my teams chances of winning? Do they have any benefits at all to a CPU vs CPU game? Do they impact player skillpoints?


2. Practice

I can't find an answer to this question. But is the practice tab of importance? Does my team/my players benefit from it if I run this? Or is it just something for the human players, so they can practice something quickly inbetween games?

In over 10 years of playing this game, I have actually never spent time doing these.

3. Player Progression

I haven't modified this. So far I have only seen Awareness going up or down. What is with the other stats, like positional skills or athletic skills? When will those numbers change?

Most 'skills' will go up in time depending on the stats a players puts up, but rarely more than 2 points per interval.
What I mean with 'skills' is anything that's not SPD, STR, ACC, AGI and THP. Most noticeably will be CTH, PBK (RBK doesn't go as fast), TCK, THA, and AWR.
On Run and Pass Blocking, I've kept track of all my linemen's increase in RBK and PBK.
In the first year of starting, a lineman's RBK will go up in the first year, less in the second and rarely in the third year.
PBK will go up all the time, mostly until it reaches 99... this could be due to the fact that a team gains many more yards through passing than by running.

4. Slider AI Human/CPU

Like mentioned, I like watching CPU vs CPU. Letting the coaches call, just enjoying the games as the GM. Which AI sliders do affect my team? The Human sliders or the CPU sliders?

Thanks in advance for the answers

They all have an effect on gameplay. The 'human' slider will be the slider that you use when you play.
If you let the AI run both teams, then the AI slider will be applicable to both teams. (how would the game know what is 'your' team?)