Playbooks and gameplanning

[Ronm]

A couple of questions.
1 Is there a way that I have not yet seen, to allow teams to have their rosters remain AI controlled, but to put in playbooks and game plans they will use? Thus far, if I leave them AI controlled, they erase any changes I make, and revert to the same dumb choices that i got them out of with new gameplans and plays lol. What I'm looking for is either the ability to edit the playbooks and setup that their coaches use, or a way to put in their gameplan and custom plays, but allow them to run AI.

2 A way to add custom plays into the play.xml file..

Thanks!

R

[AKH]

1) they have to be either CPU or human, but you can put them on human (if youre in sandbox) during the season, and switch them to CPU during the offseson.
2) you you can add plays directly in the plays.xml - you can see the correct names of actions in the other plays. Bear in mind though that we are very reluctant to help troubleshooting such things, basically because we dont want to spend time looking for missing brackets or spelling errors for you, so make a backup of the file.

[JDB]

.
2) you you can add plays directly in the plays.xml - you can see the correct names of actions in the other plays. Bear in mind though that we are very reluctant to help troubleshooting such things, basically because we dont want to spend time looking for missing brackets or spelling errors for you, so make a backup of the file.

It's very difficult and very time consuming to do it this way right now. Please make this function easier in the future releases.

[Ronm]

Thank you AKH.
And thank you, JDB as well...yes it is very difficult to do, trying to guess about the bracketing for example, which is different for many plays, etc.

On the team control aspect, is there a way to alter what a coach will do, at least "usually", while still letting CPU run their team?
An example... Coach X runs the 2020 KC Chiefs... as a Raider fan myself, I ****wish**** their real life coach was as foolish as Coach x, who has them...the same real roster...at 1-8 and last in the league offensively, with Pat M. as the leagues 29th rated QB... but I want to make them a realistic challenge to my Raiders, so I go in (sandbox) and watch their 10th game...and see short throws on 3rd and 12...inside runs trailing by 2 with less than 2 minutes to play from their own 36...and a 24-22 loss that drops them to 1-9...
I change their game plan to "custom" and adopt the same offensive playbook I am using for the Raiders, who are a comfortable 6-4 (pretty realistic) and 5th offensively...good deal! watch the next week unfold, watch the Chiefs fall to 1-10 with a 29-10 loss...look at them...and my changes were undone...its from custom, and RDR OFF...to Coach X... Rdrs have a heady lead in the AFC West...but not really because we are doing "great" so much as that our main opponent makes horrible calls and doesnt use his stars very well...
So the only way to fix that would be seriously sitting as human owner and calling their plays?

[brooks_piggott]

.
2) you you can add plays directly in the plays.xml - you can see the correct names of actions in the other plays. Bear in mind though that we are very reluctant to help troubleshooting such things, basically because we dont want to spend time looking for missing brackets or spelling errors for you, so make a backup of the file.

It's very difficult and very time consuming to do it this way right now. Please make this function easier in the future releases.

We have an easier way to create plays... it's in the custom plays/playbooks screens of the game.

Editing the plays.xml file is only for advanced modders who really want to test out different movement styles or formations or other customizations. It's not something we expect, or encourage, normal users to attempt.

[Ronm]

Thanks Brooks
I mostly want to share my plays..they have worked well for my teams...but I cannot find a way to share them, because they arent part of the plays.xml, so even porting them between my own laptop and desktop doesnt work really, when they arent part of that file.

[JDB]

.
2) you you can add plays directly in the plays.xml - you can see the correct names of actions in the other plays. Bear in mind though that we are very reluctant to help troubleshooting such things, basically because we dont want to spend time looking for missing brackets or spelling errors for you, so make a backup of the file.

It's very difficult and very time consuming to do it this way right now. Please make this function easier in the future releases.

We have an easier way to create plays... it's in the custom plays/playbooks screens of the game.

Editing the plays.xml file is only for advanced modders who really want to test out different movement styles or formations or other customizations. It's not something we expect, or encourage, normal users to attempt.

I understand how to create custom plays using the custom plays screen. But I think what is being asked here is to have the created custom plays in the plays.xml file so that AI coaches would use them in their playbooks, and they can be shared with other users using custom pkaybooks. But apparently in order to share them, the other users would have to have these plays in their plays.xml file or else it won't work.

[brooks_piggott]

There is a custom plays .xml box in options where you can add your own plays via cut and paste without having to mod the plays.xml file. I'll have to check on AI usage of these in a future version... should be doable to get the AI coaches to use plays in plays.xml, custom play xml, and any custom plays you created using the game as long as they're public.

[Ronm]

There is a custom plays .xml box in options where you can add your own plays via cut and paste without having to mod the plays.xml file. I'll have to check on AI usage of these in a future version... should be doable to get the AI coaches to use plays in plays.xml, custom play xml, and any custom plays you created using the game as long as they're public.

Hey Brooks, thank you.
That custom in options won't remain under AI control however...it was the other half of my original post.. you can keep teams under human control,but then have to deal with each ones rosters, injuries, contracts, etc...a headache for a 32 team NFL..ut for the moment in my own first season in the 21 game, I decided to finish the season out doing it anyway while I think about alternatives...but letting the AI coaches run teams does not seem to be a viable alternative if also wanting them to use custom plays

Anyway...beyond that issue, great game again. Thanks for the work.

[brooks_piggott]

Yea, I don't think we have plans for a hybrid AI where you can set some things for a CPU team but not others. We will probably have to do some more work on matching up coach tendencies, with coach ratings, with plays in a playbook to make the AI teams a bit more competitive. We may need to extend this to custom plays as well so people can flag what type of offenses or defenses should be able to use the play.