CBS Franchise Baseball

[revo]

Is that to train up one guy or to unlock level V/VI training for your team?

That's to unlock a trainer. To fully train up a Level VI player, it costs 7,500!

[mjl]

revo - your advice about just clicking on the button again if you don't have any opponents you dominate has been a game-changer. i didn't realize it had that effect, which is pretty awesome. i think i've lost 1 daily game in two days, and that was one that i was a 93/7 favorite...

a new discovery on that front: you can also go to the Standings (in the same menu as Milestones) and play anyone on that list. If they're lower level than you, you only get half rewards, but you can just find someone the same level with worse stats and pick on them, I think.

(also available in football)

[heyelander]

I don't get the football one. I look at the stat matchups and it looks like the other team should crush me, but then I go to play the game and it says I'm a 75% favorite or something.

[mjl]

here are my guesses, because I've seen that too.

1) the number ratings aggregate a lot of data and your strengths may match up unusually - a team might have good passing but terrible pass protection, and if you have bad coverage but pretty good pass rush you might have an advantage even with a worse overall rating?

2) There's an advantage to being the home team, although it may not be huge. You can actually see this in that if you go to that Standings page, you can choose to play yourself. I think when I did this before I had about a 55% chance to win. Anecdotally I also see that in leagues my home record tends to be significantly better than my away record, and the game structure actually favors the away team, since they always start with the ball in overtime and it doesn't use modern NFL rules re a field goal not ending the game in the first drive in OT.

3) yeah, it's weird. I don't entirely get it myself. I am not particularly good at predicting which team on the daily screen will give me the best chance of winning either.

[heyelander]

is a good kicker as important as I'm starting to feel it is?

[revo]

is a good kicker as important as I'm starting to feel it is?

I dunno. I'm at Level 49, and I've had the same kicker (Fuad Reveiz) since day 1.

[revo]

What do you make of the synergies with the plays? Sometimes it seems like the "Basic" plays work better.

[Pogues]

I don't get the football one. I look at the stat matchups and it looks like the other team should crush me, but then I go to play the game and it says I'm a 75% favorite or something.

I look for lower win/loss records, but mostly I look for low number of games played compared to everyone else. At level 6, if they have played less than 100 games, I win nearly every time.

[revo]

I look for lower win/loss records, but mostly I look for low number of games played compared to everyone else. At level 6, if they have played less than 100 games, I win nearly every time.

You should look for lower defensive ratings than your offense.

[revo]

Finally made it to the Legends level in football, and picked up Troy Aikman and Bullet Bob Hayes as my two legends to start with.

[mjl]

I am finally planning to replace my starting QB, and if I can make it from Pro 3 to Pro 5 I can get the first guy with ratings in all five categories, but my team is clearly a little outmatched. I actually took the 24-hour contract for a 200-rated safety after the last league and it is definitely helping. However there's a guy in my league who has apparently been sandbagging for a long time and has finally decided to start playing leagues, because in the last six leagues he's played he has gone undefeated and gotten every possible leader award, I think. After five games he has a point differential of +524. Enh, I just have to make the playoffs and get through one more with this contract guy and I'll make it.

[Vecmizer]

Damn you guys! You pulled me back in.

I played the the last format of this game and had a really good team thanks to endless hours playing the damn thing. Then they brought in the new game and I lost my old legends team. I had finally got the team they way I wanted with the right players and they pulled the carpet on me. So I am back at level 3 with a bunch of tools that are struggling to hit .200. If this holds up similar to the last one getting pitching early seemed to help a lot. Time to learn the new game.

[Pogues]

Nothing like going 18-0 in a league, and still not winning it. Lost run differential by 21!

[mjl]

a couple notes:

Baseball:

I got to level 32 and suddenly there are a ton of teams in the dailies that have been sandbagging and have ridiculous ratings. I'm hoping that level 33 is less crowded. That said, I clearly have the best team (by ratings anyway) of the teams without 4x my games played, so that's good, I guess.

I am thinking that what I should do is even if I don't want to level aggressively (which maybe I shouldn't), I can still enter leagues, but when I play my games I can bench my #2-#5 pitchers and a couple of my hitters so I don't win too many games, but I still have a shot of winning some categories with my best hitter and pitcher. I don't see other people doing that. Is there something wrong with that plan?

Football:

I'm at level 25 and finally getting my first players with all five categories. Winning most of my games in dailies but not doing so hot in leagues, I think partly because I'm running into some people who buy all of the bonuses and partly because I finally replaced my original QB with Pennington and for some reason he is a pick machine. Is it Awareness that controls that?

If you haven't read the articles in the Brain Droppings thread on the forum, you really should. It's stickied in the lower right and has a bunch of useful content.

[revo]

I think once you get to a certain Level, like the one you're at, the difference between the quality of teams doesn't vary much within a 10-level span. I don't see anything wrong with your plan, but I hated to lose games.

AS far as football, I'm not sure what Awareness helps, but I do know that your RBs and WRs should have the Power/Speed combo over route running. Despite being at a Legends Level that may be far over my head, Bullet Bob Hayes always wins me the Receiving Yards category.