Please Note : It is not necessary to set your playbooks to play the game! If you prefer to play the game with a more hands-off approach, or do not yet feel comfortable managing such intricate details, the game will use a default playbook that runs very realistically.

Setting Your Strategies

For those wishing to modify when plays are run and what sorts of plays are run, the game allows for extreme micro-management of your team. You begin setting the strategy for a specific team by mousing over the "My Playbooks" option and selecting the team whose playbooks you wish to modify.

The first thing all owners will want to do when setting their strategy, is to set their default offensive and defensive playbooks. These are situation specific playbooks created by us, and cover every possible situation that may occur in a football game. For players not wanting to create their own playbooks (or for leagues that do not allow you to moedify your own playbooks), their plays will be called from the default playbooks they select. For players wanting to create their own playbooks, the default playbooks will only be used if the game encounters a situation the player has not specified in one of his own active playbooks.

Figure 1 - Setting Your Default Playbook

All default playbooks are set to "Balanced (1)" by default. If you believe you have a stronger running team than a passing team (or are playing a team with a weak running defense), you will likely want to set your default offensive playbook to "More Run (2)." If, however, you believe you have a stronger passing team than a running team (or are playing a team with a weak passing defense), you will likely want to set your default offensive playbook to "More Pass (3)." You can set your defensive playbooks similarly. After you are finished, be sure to click the Update Playbooks button to save these changes.

Figure 2 - Two Point Conversion Chart

After saving your default playbook selections, you may want to edit your "2 Point Conversion" chart by clicking on the link near where you set your default playbooks. This chart determines when, after a touchdown, your team will go for a two point conversion verses an extra point kick. Extra point kicks are obviously converted at a much greated percentage than "2 Point Conversions", but there are instances (particularly near the end of a game or when the score dictates) when going for a "2 Point Conversion" is a better option. Your defaults are set to that of a team that is neither overly aggressive nor conservative. If, however, these options do not suit you, you can change them here. When you are finished, click the "Update Conversions" button to save your selections.

The default playbooks you can choose from are solid, and will call realistic plays in just fine. If, however, the league you are in offers this choice and you really want to get your feet wet and modify your playbook to your teams strengths and weaknesses, we're ready to get started explaining one of the deepest interfaces for a simulated football game you could imagine.

Next : Understanding The Situational Playbook Options