I've been looking for a challenging way to play this game for two decades. I've bounced between a lot of different ideas, many of them inspired by various members of this community. QuikSand's incredibly written FOF Dynasty Reports, going all the way back to the beginning of my time here, have always inspired me to find more challenging and interesting ways to play these games we love that lose some of their difficulty as they're mastered, but a recent re-read of The Highlander Challenge inspired me to take some recent house rules I've been playing with and document an OOTP career here on FOFC.
I do think I've found something that works for me. My major gripe with OOTP is that I feel like I can get whatever player I want, especially in Free Agency. I can always offer more money (if I have it) and it's pretty rare that I ever have to *stop* bidding. I've implemented a system that uses some dice rolls to help prevent this, both limiting the number of transactions I can make, and limiting the quality of players I can pursue day-in and day-out throughout the offseason.
Without further delay, here's the gist of how I'm playing:
- At the beginning of every offseason, we roll a RNG 2x from 0-3. The first roll is the number of Free Agents we can sign that our scout rates as 45+ Potential (20-80 scale, increments of 5). The second roll is the number of trades we can make until the following offseason. If I roll a 1, and a 2, that's one FA acquisition of substance and two trades I can make for the next 365 days.
- A player acquired on waivers or added in the Rule 5 Draft (who, additionally, must be 26 or older for us to claim/draft) will remove one from my choice of those totals.
- I can trade two-for-one to gain an extra transaction (e.g. If I have 3x free agency adds and 1x trade, I could "trade in" 2x of my free agent adds to gain an extra trade.)
- One transaction from either Free Agent Acquisitions or Trades can be rolled over into the following season, but not both.
- Additionally, Free Agency has its own wrinkles on *when* I can make an offer; I can only make offers to Free Agents on Monday, in-game. Additionally, to make an offer, I roll a RNG from 2-8. If the player is rated as a 60 POT, I need to roll a 6 or higher to make an offer. If the player is rated as a 45 POT, I need to roll a 5 or higher. If they're rate as a 80 POT, I need to roll an 8. If I don't roll the number required, I sim ahead until the following Monday and can try again. But as you can imagine, the good players often get taken while I'm waiting to roll the right number
Some quick Settings notes:
- Scouting is set to low.
- Ratings are 2-8, and we only see potentials. No current ratings (other than defense, speed, etc)
- TCR is set to 125.
- Injuries on High.
- Trading Difficulty is set at 75% to the right and Hard Mode is turned off.
- We're starting in 1912 with no history. Stats, financials, and overall feel of the game is modern despite the year. Uniforms, stadiums, etc are stuck in a 1950's era time loop. Players and teams are all fictional. Modifiers are re-calced every year based on 2012 real-life totals. Such is the beauty of this game.
Finally, I've posted similar recaps from prior careers on Reddit under a different name, so if you frequent r/OOTP, the house rules may look familiar.
Okay, FOFC. Let's do this.