Would like to see opinions and thoughts, especially from players who have a couple of seasons or more under their belts, and have been putting time and effort into improving their team(s) and their game, and are having to compete with one or more "Super Teams" in their league.

The example I will be using involves a player that consistently builds "Super" teams and is in a number of leagues. He does so primarily by acquiring 1st and 2nd round draft picks in high numbers. Will not break down the positions into key attributes, but will say that they match to the defaults. So, here is one example of one of his teams...

Offense .. 13 players rated over 80, most in mid 80s to low 90s, which include QB & RB. Offense leads the league in Pass completions, passing yards/game. Rushing yards per game around 120, at 5 yards per carry. They are averaging close to 40 points per game.

Defense ... 12 players rated over 80, which include a couple of "perfect" players - having 100 ratings in relative attributes, league defensive MVP types, currently ranked in top 5 for the league.

Team is undefeated and average margin of victory around 30 points.

Obviously, this is a great team, and the player who assembled it is the best at doing so. His teams all have one thing in common. They have double and triple the top rated players with default values of 80s and up than the other teams in their leagues, mostly done by acquiring many more 1st and 2nd picks than the other teams. He is not the only one who has been able to do this, but I would vote him the best at doing so based on the leagues and teams I have looked at.

Think Patriots times 3, is what I would say the comparison is to the real NFL, for a "Super Team" in this game. Now, here's the question ..... what would you expect the payroll for that "Super Team" to be? High? Medium? Low? Doesn't Matter?

One of the problems pointed out in two other recent threads, "Trade Dilemma" and "Fair and Ethical Play" is that the cap does not do what it is supposed to do, which is to prevent "Super Teams" from easily being created, same reason salary cap was initiated and used for the NFL.

So, back to the above example. What do you think a team with 25 players, about 1/2 a roster, who are considered "high rated" or with key attributes of 80+ should be at relative to the "room under salary cap"? In this particular example, the current cap room is over $30 million! This team's next draft has 2 first round and 3 second round picks, and in the following draft they have another 2 first round and 2 second round picks.

Compare the number of high raters to your roster and the number of 1st and 2nd round DP's. How do you compare? Because this is the current standard of "best" from what I have seen.

Relative to the game, my opinion at this point is that if one of the game's goals is to be as much a simulation of the NFL as possible, then it should reflect that in how the salary cap works, and how players are retained. Is an All Pro QB going to settle for less than $2 mill for the season? LOL This was brought up in the previous threads mentioned, by a well respected and excellent player in this game. I thought it was worth more discussion and focus along with a good example. If you like "Super Teams" being created, then no big deal. But if you want a better "reflection" and simulation of the NFL, then the salary cap feature should not be hard to change/adjust to do what it is supposed to be doing.

And, how is it done? How do you pick up more 1st round picks than the other teams in your league? Well, just in case you dont already know, here's how.

Both of the leagues I am in have Super Teams already. So, thought I would take a look at the trades that took place with a focus on how the extra 1st and 2nd round draft picks were acquired by Super Team. Here is one example of how, nicknames used to protect both the innocent and the guilty,lol.

Super Team: Sends Backup FS with high 70s defaults, Round 5 pick next draft, Round 1 pick in the 2nd draft.

Not Super Team: Sends Rounds 2 & 3 next draft, Round 1 following draft, and Round 2 the following draft.

Nice way to trade off your backup FS, who can be easily replaced, and you pick up a mid 1st rounder, plus a 5 round pick that can be used in other trades, for those who think a Round 5 pick is worth considering when dealing away their Round 1 and 2's.

This trade was commented on in the league forum..... Wow this is unbelievably one sided lol nice work getting this one to go through XXXXXX.

No reply from Super Team owner to that comment, and he usually replies. The player who made that comment has been in the league for 6 seasons, and has a won-loss record of 45-53. Which makes me tend to believe that there are those who are happy to play this game w/o having a winning season and/or record and either are oblivious to the fact or dont care that one or more teams in their league are dominating by gaining a strong advantage through unbalanced trades and accumulating !st and 2nd round draft picks.

The Not Super Team won their division, the player has been in the league 4 seasons, with a just over .500 record thanks to their success the last season, congrats! Am assuming that the backup FS they got was an improvement. The Super Teams FS starter? His defaults are over 90, and the backup FS, acquired in the first round and is now in 2nd year, is on his way to his high 80's rating with 98 speed. Which is why, in the final analysis, that the Super Team continues to win and dominate the league. Hard to catch up when the top gun keeps reloading easily. Thats why in the NFL, Super Bowl teams do not get one of next years top picks, unless they really pull off a miracle trade to get there, dont know if that has been done in the last several years.

Thats how its done folks. Again, if that doesnt bother you, and you are happy with a won/loss of.500 or less, and/or you like not having a good shot at winning your league championship, no problem, you can support keeping the game the way it is. If you really want to compete for a league championship, you can learn how to do the trades the way the "Super Team" guys do them, and have trading to harvest 1st rounders with 85-100 attribute levels continue as the most important phase and component of the game. Otherwise, you may want to encourage JDB to correct the situation by making salary cap and contract renegotiation a more critical component of team management, one that cannot be manipulated along with the trade meter being upgraded and improved so that tactics like using a punter/kicker to help make a trade go through can no longer be done. Anything that can make a simulation more of a simulation is a good thing, isnt it?

I kind of agree with some of what you're posting. But to compare roster management and owner decision making in this game to the NFL is downright silly. In the NFL the guys making decisions on each and every team have jobs and millions if not billions of dollars on the line, not to mention decades of experience. In this game you have owners with vast differences in how football even works and vast differences in involvement and interest. Yes joining a league and having to take over a barren roster can be frustrating, especially with established teams and owners, but many of us have also built teams from basically nothing while taking our lumps to compete and even win some of those leagues. Everyone has an equal chance to improve their teams, smart owners and players are going to find ways to win regardless.

I kind of agree with you too lellow, and the only comparison I make to the NFL is in generalities, the things that a game like this could be able to simulate. The cap salary feature in this game is not being utilized anywhere near where it could be, which would definitely help reduce the overuse and abuse on trades. The current situation with trades is out of balance, it just needs to be brought back into a good balance with the other important factors in the game. Then, a "Super Team" would have to better manage their rosters and plan for salary increases and demands from those high rated players.
Yes, everyone has a chance to improve their teams, but not win a league championship when you have one or more teams with a vast abundance of 80+ rated players and 2 or more 1st round picks every season. There is a chance you can beat a Super Team with a decent roster and in-depth knowledge of game-planning, rules, & overides, but... there are maybe one or two players that I have seen so far that know how to do that. And even then its a real slim chance, as usually the Super Team owner also has a pretty good grasp on game planning and strategies. And I am not going to be a hypocrite on this subject, you can bet that when I become trade eligible next week, I will be using these same trade tactics and keeping a good open cap to acquire good players and keep them as much as I can. I dont have a problem with someone being smart enough to figure those things out and taking advantage of them. My hope is for a "balanced" game that is more a simulation to the real thing. So again, isnt that what a simulation game should strive to be? Its not soccer or some other game, not college football, it is Pro football, based on 32 teams in the NFL with the same city names unless changed in custom leagues. The plays and team structures are based on the NFL. No, of course the game will never come close to the real NFL, but getting as close as it can is what makes this already good game even better.

+1

There have already been changes made to address the cap situation. However, those changes will take a few years to have an impact due to existing contracts.

Sorry, I cannot agree, its not silly at all. If that is the case then why have any of the NFL related team management conditions and game style at all? Why have salary caps and renegotiate contracts? You know why? Because its a simulation, trying as much as it can to relate and resemble the pro football business in a fun-2-play online game format. Pure and simple. What is downright silly is to say the game is not a simulation of NFL style football, because it already is. Cant understand why there would be a reluctance to reduce trade abuse and imbalance when it is not hard at all to do. Unless you already have a Super Team yourself, get off on dominating your league, and want to keep it that way.

good to hear, thanks War

Perhaps it would be better said "expecting roster management and owner decision making in this game to resemble the NFL is downright silly".

Also, I agree that I do not like trade abuse, but we probably have a different opinion of what that is.

The current trade meter is pretty restrictive, so much so that perfectly legitimate trades are often not allowed to go through. I think it is rare that a super unbalanced trade is processed. However, it does happen still from time to time, which is just another example of how screwed up the trade meter is.

However, as has been pointed out, what is unbalanced (or bad) to me may not appear that way to you.

I know that in the past I have been willing to give up a 1st round pick for "older" players who I thought would help my team. You would probably have thought it was ridiculous for me to make those trades, but I feel it is within my rights as the owner to make a deal that I feel is in my best interests, regardless of what others may think of it.

I have also traded away aging superstars instead of resigning them for the best offer I can get for them. Some people prefer to build their teams through trades, some through FA, and some though the draft. I don't see anything wrong with any of these options, regardless of how many draft picks, trades or FA signings another team may have.

I think that one of the problems is that the AI requires SO MUCH for a highly rated "old" player, as well as kickers/punters. In order to trade for one of these players, often you have to give up much more than what others may feel he is worth. That doesn't mean those trades shouldn't be allowed. It may not be "worth it" to you, but it may be to someone else.

Every owner is different and should be allowed to learn with experience. I'm sure most of us that have been here a while would evaluate trades differently now than we did when we first started. And we would also have different opinions from each other. None are "right" or "wrong".

I say all of that just to say this: I do not think there is as much "trade abuse" as you seem to. When there is a questionable trade the community usually asks for an explanation (I think the owners should have the common courtesy to respond). If both owners respond and are happy with the deal, I'm usually good with that.

If it is bad enough JDB will investigate (if he is made aware and agrees it is worthy of an investigation).

"Pro Football Business".

Well, the CFL is Pro Football. Arena is Pro Football. There are a lot of "Pro Football", not just the NFL.

To view MFN through the lens of the NFL isn't fair to MFN at all.

For one, those guys spend Millions every year on Scouting, have entire teams dedicated to trying to make an informed decision.

How much money have you spent scouting these guys? How many people are on your FO Team to help you make these decisions?

How many Owners can you contact directly via phone daily to make real time moves?

How many Players in the NFL are controlled by a Game Engine?

This is NOT an NFL Sim. It's a Football Sim.