Some Questions I've been asked

[Ragin Cajun]

So in my YouTube series I sometimes get questions from viewers. I've got a few I do not know the answer to and hoped that you could enlighten me so I could pass the information along.

1. Is there a "fog of war" effect on ratings in the game? If so, how does this work? Does any of your coaches skills/attributes affect this?
2. Is the ratings (OVR etc) 100% accurate? What exactly can cause these to change over time? (I think the answer is that new players entering the league via draft would affect this as well as decreasing skills/OVR from time/age/etc for existing players...but again just a guess on my part.)
3. Is there anyway that I'm not seeing to offer "guaranteed money" in a contract to lessen the salary cap hit in future seasons?

Thanks in advance.

[brooks_piggott]

1. Fog of war really only affects scouting and the draft. We use words there to cover up the true numbers and it's affected by coaching staff abilities.
2. OVR is absolute and does not change unless the underlying player ratings change. We removed relative ratings a couple versions ago to simplify the game.
3. There is a way to front load or back load contracts if you want, but not really any way to do guaranteed money like the NFL does.

[Templer]

... to simplify the game...

I'm not sure if we want a simplified game...

[brooks_piggott]

Having both relative and absolute ratings confused people who were only used to absolute. Having just one option makes it easier to pick up the game and play without having to do research on what settings are in effect. It also helped with mods and imports from college game.