Maybe everyone in MFN who wants to write rules is already doing it. But, if you want to trust yourself more and the AI less, here is a short primer on how to go about writing your own rules. I am no expert, but maybe this can be a starting point for someone.

https://groupoffive.myfootballnow.com/forums/1/84?page=1#392

The Group of Five is deteriorating and I am afraid this post will be lost when the league is deleted. I am going to paste it here, just in case someone finds it useful.

There are coaches who have no use for rules. They either don’t want to take the time to write them or believe they can be just as competitive in MFN without them. And, that is just fine. I am writing this post for the coaches who believe they could be more successful with rules and want to try them but don’t know where to start. This is meant to be a primer, not to cover every possible scenario.

And, I know there are coaches much better at this than myself. I am just a volunteer. If you see something amiss, please correct it and don’t leave it unedited for some poor sap to find and follow years from now.

The advantage of rules is that they should allow you a greater degree of control over the outcomes. Rules override the default gameplan’s logic, which we know isn’t always completely logical. That doesn’t mean poor payroll management, player evaluation, and “randomness” will never cost you a game, even with rules, but rules may be more effective over the long run than entrusting your team’s fate to the AI.

A couple notes:
• Don’t try to write an entire set of rules at once. I started off writing one rule a day until I had the basics covered. Later, I wrote more rules as specific opponents’ strategies made it necessary.
• Start off by writing rules for specific situations (late game, close to the goal line, etc.), then work your way down to basic scenarios (first-and-long, first-and-medium, first-and-short).
• Remember, the rules at the top override all rules under them. So, be very specific with the top rules. You can move rules around using the “Move Up” and “Move Down” buttons. It is a gigantic pain and I sure wish we had drag-and-drop.
• Be sure to name your rules. In addition to a description, I add a three-letter prefix to make sure I am using the most recently edited versions (you may change your rules quite a bit, for instance, when a new version of MFN comes out).
• Develop a spreadsheet and enter the settings from your rules into it as you go. This will help prevent conflicts.


Here is an example of the first three plays from a spreadsheet for a team I no longer own:



And on defense:



The next post will discuss tips for writing rules.

Tips For Writing An Offensive Rule
• Distance — Yardage is more precise than using MFN’s sliding interpretation of short/med/long.
• Location on Field — Never stop at “1.” Always use “0”. Early on, I lost a couple games because my rules did not apply to plays from the “zero” yard line.
• Play Types — Your philosophy and the situation will dictate the distribution.
• Personnel — If you are running inside 100 percent of the time, you will need to plug in only the personnel from which you have inside run plays in your playbook. In this example, I have six formations from which I do inside runs. So, each number gets roughly 16 or 17 points (6 x 16.66=100).


Tips for Writing a Defensive Rule
Same as above, with these modifications:
• Vs. Personnel — If your defense will be predicated on your opponents’ most-used offensive formations. For instance, all dime coverages vs. 014 and 104. In case you are really new, 014 means 0 RB, 1 TE, 4 WR and 104 means 1 RB, 0 TE, 4 WR.
• Secondary/LB — Based on the defenses in your playbook. The dime defenses I was using at this time included 100 percent 1-deep man coverage and the LB were split 50/50 between Blitz 2 and Man.


The next post will give you a list of rules to write over time, based on priority.

Here is a list of rules you should write over time, based on priority, or where they will sit in your stack of rules. I have grouped these into top, middle, and bottom groups. Please note that this was written when long passes were much more viable. I rarely use long passes anymore, except in specific desperate situations. Also remember to enter all these on a spreadsheet so you can prevent potential conflicts (or figure out where the conflict occurred in case things go haywire).

With the defenses vs. formations, be sure to save the rules you use because, down the road, you are likely to need them again. Say, an opponent passes 100 percent of the time out of 103, so you write a “All Pass vs. 103” rule. Keep that rule so you will have it the next time you see a coach doing this.

Offense
Top
Inside Own 10, Losing Late, Passing
Inside Own 10, Inside Runs
Losing Late, First Half, Medium/Long Passes
Losing Late, Second Half, Medium/Long Passes
Losing Late, Final Minute, Hail Mary
Winning Late, All Runs
Middle
Losing Late, Down 3, Far Away (outside opponent’s 40)
Losing Late, Down 3, FG Range (inside opponent’s 40)
Tied Late, Inside Own 20
Very Long To Go (11 to 30 yds), Long Pass
Inside Opponent’s 10
Inside Opponent’s 5
Losing Big, 4th Quarter (more aggressive passing)
Winning Big, 4th Quarter (more conservative)
Go For It, 4th and Short, Late, Winning (Quarters 2 and 4)
Go For It, 4th Short, Late, Losing (Quarters 2 and 4)
Bottom
First/7-10 to go
First/4-6 to go
First/0-3 to go
Second ... etc.
Third ... etc.
Fourth/7-10 to go, losing late
Fourth/4-6 to go, losing late
Fourth/0-3 to go, losing late

Defense
Top
Winning Late, Inside Own 40 (dime vs. all formations)
Winning Late, Outside Own 40 (prevent vs. all formations)
Quarter vs. 005
Dime vs. 014, 104
Third and Long
Middle
Vs. 113 (based on opponent’s tendencies)
Vs. 203 (based on opponent’s tendencies)
Etc. (Note you can build these over time as you run into different opponents with different tendencies)
Bottom
First/Long vs. Passing Formations (113, 203)
First/Long vs. Running Formations (122, 212, 221, 230, 311,
First/Medium vs. Passing Formations
First/Medium vs. Running Formations
First/Short vs. Passing Formations
First/Short vs. Running Formations
Etc.

In the next post, we will help you write your first rules.

Writing Your First Rules
Offense
Your first two rules are going to be:
• Inside Own 10, Losing Late
• Inside Own 10

Why do we need two rules? Because you don’t want to be running up the gut when you are losing late in the game, no matter what your field position. Here is what these will look like when finished:



Let’s build the first rule first.
Click on the Add Rule button.
Type: Offense
Down: Click on Add Down. Add First Down, Second Down, Third Down
Distance: Select Yardage. Move sliders to go from 0 to 30
Location on Field: Select Custom. Move sliders to go from Own 0 to Own 10
Quarter: Select Fourth Quarter
Time: I use 5:00 to 0:00.
Score: Down 29+ to Down 1
Play Type: In the old days, I used 60 percent medium pass, 40 percent long. With the advent of the long pass “nerf,” I now use more medium.
Personnel: Based on the number of formations from which I could throw medium and long passes, I used 7 percent 014, 32 percent 113, 7 percent 122, 14 percent 203, 33 percent 212, and 7 percent 311. In other words, I had 14 medium and long passing plays in my playbook. So, each was worth roughly 7 points. I had two medium and long passing plays in 203, so 203 got 14 “points.”

Click “Save”

Voila! Your first rule is written!

Now, let’s build your first defensive rule.
Your first two rules are going to be:
• Winning Late, Dime vs. All, Inside Own 40
• Winning Late, Prevent vs. All, Own 40 and Longer



Why? Some coaches may disagree with me, but I think the prevent inside the 40 gives the opponent too much room to operate. So, here we go:

Click the Add Rule button

Select Defense
Down: Click on Add Down. Add First Down, Second Down, Third Down, Fourth Down
Distance: Select Yardage. Move sliders to go from 0 to 30
Location on Field: Select Custom. Move sliders to go from Own 0 to Own 39
Personnel: Click on the Add Personnel button until you have all formations listed
Quarter: Click the Add Quarter button until you have Second Quarter and Fourth Quarter listed
Time: 1:00 to 0:00 (you may want to go longer than 1:00)
Score: Up 4 to Up 29+ (because, if you are up 3, you don’t want to give up enough yardage to allow your opponent to get into field goal range. This defense is just to keep them out of the end zone).
Personnel: Dime 100 percent
Secondary and Linebackers: Depends on your defensive playbook. For this team, I had 50-percent 2-deep man and 50-percent man in the secondary and 100 percent man in the linebackers.
RunPass: Pass 100 percent

Click “Save”

Great stuff tribewriter I have always had an Idea of what I wanted to do. Really struggle sometimes making it happen on the field. Especially, in "big" games. I've been in and out of MFM for a little over 4 (RL) years now. I have written some real doozies. I'll tell you. Honestly I should have been put in the stocks, or sent to the Iron Maiden. I wrote my first rule (never forget) to change my coach's . play calling. It was a simple rule. 4th Q, Go for it on 4th/inches/down 3+ with less 6 mins left. it worked so well in my head, I tossed in a 4th & 1-6 it in the 3rd Q then I added a "surprise". I thought no one will expect me to go for it in the 1st Q from the 40 to the 30, heck why not a long pass this time? WRONG! I got the times crewed up and instead of the rule occurring "inside the opponents 10. I was going for it on 4th and 1+ from my own 10 to his goal. It worked 1 time out of 12-13 tries. The one time was a 40+yard TD run. I lost that one by more than 50! lol. I was noob and the other guy was a crusty vet. He PM' d me and helped me get it squared away. He suggested to write it out on paper and work it out a couple 6 times first. I still do that tothis day, I don't have a lot of time = I Don't have a lot of rules.

I guess my point to newer Owners is to be aware of what your putting into the game plan. Consider what happens If the rule is a dud or worse. What if it becomes "the other teams best play". I'm not trying to discourage. Just warn. It's a part of MFN that can make your teams take off or flake off. ;)

Yes, that is part of the reason I put them on a spreadsheet, to help figure out where they went wrong, if they do.