I signed up for my "free team" and had no clue what to do.
I'm not the dumbest guy on earth, but it seemed a bit more than I was willing to do for a new venture.
At least I won 1 game!!!  href="http://www.whatifsports.com/gd/TeamProfile/PlayerRatings.aspx?tid=50491" target="_blank">View Gridiron Dynasty Profile</a></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div>

It would have been helpful to recruit.

I am pretty sure you are not alone!! I would be surprised if 10% of the "free seasons" were renewed. Even some of the vets are frustrated trying to figure 3.0 out, so I understand why most "free season" guys would quit after 3 or 4 games. I hope this doesn't discourage the ones who have 2 or 3 seasons under their belt and were expecting their team to improve this year because I am pretty sure D3 recruiting was a free for all.

For all you new coaches out there, I agree It is a lot of work - no doubt. 

But if you put in a little bit at a time, it's not bad.  I started out just setting up one gameplan at a time (about 30-45 mins each day), and in 2 weeks I had all my gameplans set up.  Now, after nearly one full season, I'm just tweaking them a little (blitz percentages, passing aggressiveness, etc.). 

I hope some of you ignore a lot of the negativity on the boards and decide to give it a few seasons to try and build your teams.  Once you set things up, it's really not too much time.

I am finally getting the hang of it . At the start of the venture I was going to keep only one of my teams after this season , but now after having a full season under my belt I will keep them all . Still having to work at it but seeing good progress . Only complaint for now is the game plans . I don't want my game plans included in all my teams history . Prefer what Ver 2.0 had , 10  plans per team . 12 game plans for 5 teams is ludicrous as my teams at least play to their strengths . All in all Ver 3.0 is coming together as my understanding grows. 

As a footnote to what I posted above , I would encourage new coaches to read the forums and all relevant subject matter on Ver 3.0 . People like bhazelwood and quite a few others , who have written and posted great info on the subject make the understanding a lot better .

First timer here. I do like this game and will be staying. I am still learning and have a long way to go, but I think I got the basics down.  I think I spent about 15 hours on this game in the last week. Recruiting is a lot of fun but does last an entire week.

And it took my first game before I realized that I needed to set up my own two minutes offense. In fact, I think I will need to make a playbook for many situations. But like a poster said above, I can do one every few days or even once a week.  This is my learning season so I wont be too concerned about losing most my games.

And I really love how you can make all these formations so that you can get the specific players that you want in. And get frosh playing time on some plays. I use the User 1 and User 2 a lot.

A few questions:

What is a good number of practice minutes per formation?  I figure 8 or 10 since if you go higher, you would max out before their senior year but would they not get enough early? would I be falling behind others?  Should I give more early and then taper off later in the season?

Would an OL with good hands be a better choice at center since they handle the ball? Or would it be a useless stat for that position?

What does spending time on Special teams accomplish for others besides the punter and kickier?  Does it help the team for tackling and such?

Thanks for all you your helpful advice in this and other threads.  I am here to stay.



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8-10 minutes is about all I will spend per formation.  And even then, I only practice the ones I use.  If I never use the I-Formation, there's no point in practicing it.

Posted by bhazlewood on 11/18/2013 10:33:00 PM (view original):
8-10 minutes is about all I will spend per formation.  And even then, I only practice the ones I use.  If I never use the I-Formation, there's no point in practicing it.

Currently, Hands mean nothing for OL.

ST practice helps Punters, Kickers, and Returns. I believe it also helps with kick coverage but can't swear to that.


 

The last sentence sums up how I feel about most of the new engine. It's a freaking mystery.

Thanks bhazlewood, I think I am going to go look at my practice plan.  Truthfully, the beginning times of learning a game are very fun. Lots of experimentation and learning. I am approaching 60 years old and I never tire of learning new things.