As many of you know, I'm a total rookie when it comes to NFL let alone this game - but I'm willing to learn and tbh am starting to get more hooked on this game with each week that passes :)

However, there's still lots of questions that you guys could hopefully answer (in your sleep!!):

In no particular order:

1. I read in a manual about Training Camp - it says it's coming up on Weds, but can't find where I choose which players to send to it or what to train them in etc.!?

2. I've looked on the Free Agency bit to find new players but they all seem to be K and P of which I have two decent ones already. Is there much use on this by others?!!

3. What's the difference btw Early Free Agent and Late? Are these the only times we can acquire new players?

4. Do people make trades throughout the season or just in off-season? I like the look of the trading thing and have had some offers but wary of making a noob mistake and selling a hidden gem!

5. Which days/weeks do the players gain skills or is it throughout the season (not just Training Camp?) - do we see which skills they're gaining in or just their overall position ratings?

6. Do the pre-season matches add to the league or are they simply friendlies?

7. My Off head coach is 80OVR yet is 88 in Receivers - should I change him to Recievers and try to find another Head Coach?

8. When I search for coaches they all seem to be at clubs already - am I supposed to try to 'buy' them off those clubs?! I found one but he's much lower OVR than most have got :(

9. There is a very comprehensive Gameplaning sheet - so what is the purpose of the Rules section? Scenarios such as: 'leading with 5mins to go' etc???

10. OffPlays: I get this (I think!) - I basically need to choose the plays which have the highest Avg Per Call numbers next to them and ones that have high Team Familiarity - roughly speaking, right?

11. Def Plays: The opposite right - I'm lookigng for those with lowest Avg Per call numbers right?

12. Scout Offense - now this confuses me!! So, the avg per call is for them using that call right? Does the Team Familiairty bar relate to their familiarness or mine? So, I should be clicking the 10 which have the highest numbers in the Avg Per Call section right - so as to practise countering those plays which they're good at?!?!?

13. Scout Def - now this is more confusing for me!! - do i scout the ones which they have high avg per call rates on as these are clearly the areas which they're weak on right??? The guide says: "The more familiar your team is with an opponent's play, the better they will perform against it." But if my def is familiar with that play how will that help attack their defense which is what we're analysing right??!

14. Depth chart: Over-rides tab?!?! ***? Help!

15. Nearly all my players have a 1 next to their contract - should I wait until near end of season before renewing them all or act sooner? I have 20m left in cap I think!?

16. Is there somewhere which tells us how many active users this game has or which are online at one moment?

For now that will do - looking fwd to some replies! :)

Thanks in advance!

jh

On the league standings page, you can look at the section titled "Upcoming Sim Schedule" on the right for the game stages scheduled in the coming days. In the top right corner of each page on the site, you'll see a countdown next to something like "Regular Season week 10 Game in"; that tells you what the next stage is and how much time there is before the site simulates the next stage.

Training camp is simply a game stage that occurs after late free agency and before the preseason. You don't really have to do anything for this except make sure you've signed players (their current ratings improve during training camp and potential ratings may go up or down) to train and assigned them to the positions you want them to play (e.g. if you want to turn a tight end into a wide receiver you should go into the player's page and change his position from TE to WR. If you want a natural receiver to play receiver you don't have to do anything).

Training camp doesn't necessarily occur on Wednesdays; it depends on what the schedule of your league is.



After the end of each season you will find a lot more non K/P players that were not re-signed by their teams. You'll want to sign them during free agency.



Early free agency occurs right after the end of a season and before the draft. Late free agency occurs after the draft and before training camp. The best players will be available during early free agency. Free agent players can be signed during any game stage, and you can trade for other team's players from the start of each season up until Week 8.



The only time when people can't trade is from week 8 until the end of the season. In other words week 8 is the trading deadline.

When you view a trade there is a trade meter that shows you how balanced the trade is. Sometimes the meter isn't very accurate; trading is something that you will have to learn as you go. All of us have made mistakes before but you will learn from them, and you need to develop your own trading strategy. Some strategies include trading older elite players to get draft picks to rebuild, or targeting players at specific positions of need to create a well-rounded roster.



Players gain skills whenever they play in a game. You can keep track of their progress by looking at their overall position ratings. You can also look at individual attribute ratings on the player card to keep track of changes in each attribute but personally I don't look at that.



They help players improve, give your bench players more playing time, and allow you to evaluate your roster. Preseason records are meaningless; it's simply a developmental period.



As of now coaches only help your players reach their potential rating faster. The only added benefit of a head coach is that he comes with a playbook, and different coaches give you different sets of plays to run. I'd leave him alone unless you can find a better rated head coach to hire.



You can only hire coaches away from other teams before the regular season begins, and you must offer them a higher position than they are currently in (e.g. you can only offer a coordinator job to a position coach). Sometimes good coaches will be available to be hired off the street before the season starts.



They dictate what your team does in in-game situations; for example, you can choose to run the ball on first down every time you're in the fourth quarter and up by 7 or more points. This is also an area where you have to experiment in to figure out.



You may want to switch some high team familiarity plays to low team familiarity plays if the high team familiarity plays don't have good avg per call numbers and to make sure your team isn't predictable.



Basically same as 10.



I think so. I also think team familiarity is your team's familiarity with them, because the more familiar you are the better equipped you are to counter the plays. I personally don't look at avg per call numbers and instead click those with the lowest familiarity.



I'm pretty sure scout def means you're scouting the other team's defense so your offense is familiar with your opponent's defense.



Allows you to put certain players in for certain formations regardless of their position on your depth chart. So you can put your TE in at the WR position for all 3 WR sets despite the fact that he is assigned under TE in your depth chart.



If a player only has 1 year left in his contract you must extend his contract before the season ends or else he becomes a free agent at the end of the season, and you will have to bid against other teams to re-sign him.



Not to my knowledge.


I hope that helps. Welcome to the community and good luck!

That's great much appreciated - still a bit iffy on the Scout Def/Off bits. Could do with a couple of examples to get my head around it, esp as you said you'd choose the lowest avg call ones but in my head it'd be the highest avg call ones that need scouting so I know how to stop those??

So I perhaps need to focus on what my Headcoach prfers to play, then look at whether a passing game or rushing game is best with these players right?!

Do you guys understand all the stuff like LB Blitz, 2WR, fullback Flat, Inside Strong?!??! And so on!!????

Would love to find a simplified guide which help understand them all!

Thanks again

jh

Scouting teams in real life is countless hours spent prior to the game best preparing yourself/team for the up coming game. Here you get to pick ten plays that best suit your teams needs against your opponents weaknesses or strong points. I bet each player here on this game preps a different way. Cause to me it is heavily depending on the situation. Week 3 against an opponent may require 10 different plays than a week 16 game against that same opponent that same season. But don't think too hard about it. The most important thing close to talent is game planning.

But really your D looks solid so I think they could play almost any scheme. While your O looks one dimensional. ......running it behind some of your Oline. Also, I am pretty sure there are alot of auto settings to go with till you get a feel for it. There are many ways to win here. Don't forget about special teams.

Thanks much appreciated
Jh