Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Adjusting Rookie Talent Levels (Football Mogul)


Football Mogul 2014 has a new feature that lets you adjust the talent level, the talent distribution, and the improvement potential for each of the 15 position types in the game.

This is implemented by the addition of a file called DraftTalent.txt, located in the same folder with FB2K14.exe. If you have trouble finding this folder, you can choose "Open Game Folder" from the Help Menu.

DraftTalent.txt includes instructions, but I will include them again here for convenience.

The first 15 lines of DraftTalent.txt look like this:

  0,  0, 0, // QUARTERBACK
  0,  0, 0, // RUNNING_BACK
-30,  0, 50, // FULLBACK
-50,  0, 0, // TIGHT_END
-10,  0, 0, // WIDE_RECEIVER
 30,  0, 0, // TACKLE
 50,  0, 0, // GUARD
 70,  0, 0, // CENTER
-40,  0, 0, // DEFENSIVE_END
-60,  0, 0, // DEFENSIVE_TACKLE
-30,  0, 0, // LINEBACKER
  0,  0, 0, // CORNERBACK
  0,  0, 0, // SAFETY
  0,  0, 0, // KICKER
  0,  0, 0, // PUNTER

Each line refers to a position (shown at the end of the line, after the '//'). Football Mogul actually ignores all text after '//'. The position names are only there so humans know which line refers to which position. What Football Mogul does care about is the line order. The first line will always modify QB talent, then next line is for RBs, then FBs, and so on.

For each position:
First number = base talent level
Second number = talent level variation
Third number = "potential" (i.e. the difference between "Overall" and "Peak")

The default value is 0. A positive number indicates an increase. A negative number indicates a decrease.

Example #1: Your amateur draft has 10 QBs with the following Overall/Peak talent levels:
60/70, 63/73, 65/75, 67/77, 69/79, 70/80, 71/81, 73/83, 75/85, 77/87, 80/90

Increasing the first number will increase the entire talent pool, as in this example:
65/75, 68/78, 70/80, 72/82, 74/84, 75/85, 76/86, 78/88, 80/90, 82/92, 85/95

Increasing the second number will increase the talent level variation (while the average remains the same):
55/65, 59/69, 62/72, 65/75, 68/78, 70/80, 72/82, 75/85, 78/88, 81/91, 85/95

Increasing the third number will increase the amount that each player improves after the draft:
60/75, 63/78, 65/80, 67/82, 69/84, 70/85, 71/86, 73/88, 75/90, 77/92, 80/95

For overall talent level, changing a 0 to 10 *roughly* equals a 1-point change in the "Overall" rating.
For talent level variation, changing a 0 to 10 *roughly* increases the distance between the worst and best player by 1.

Note that college players are generated for the draft at the end of each regular season (i.e. at the start of the playoffs). So, in order to see your changes to DraftTalent.txt reflected in the game, you will need to make any edits (and save the new file) before the first playoff game.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Pre-Season Power Rankings (by Football Mogul 2014)

Teams are listed by division; rankings are for the entire NFL (out of 32 teams).

Note that Power Rankings may differ from predicted record, because projected standings were determined by simulating the actual 2013 NFL schedule.

For example, the Patriots are projected to win more games than the Broncos, despite having a lower Power Rank, because the Patriots play in a much weaker division.

AFC Teams
Power
Rank
New England Patriots
4
Miami Dolphins21
New York Jets
29
Buffalo Bills
30
NFC Teams
Power Rank
Philadelphia Eagles
9
Dallas Cowboys
14
New York Giants
15
Washington Redskins
24
AFC North
Power
Rank
Cincinnati Bengals
8
Baltimore Ravens
10
Pittsburgh Steelers
17
Cleveland Browns
25
NFC North
Power Rank
Green Bay Packers
6
Detroit Lions
16
Chicago Bears
20
Minnesota Vikings
22
AFC South
Power
Rank
Indianapolis Colts
7
Houston Texans
12
Tennessee Titans
27
Jacksonville Jaguars
31
NFC South
Power Rank
New Orleans Saints
5
Carolina Panthers
11
Atlanta Falcons
19
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
23
AFC West
Power
Rank
Denver Broncos
2
Kansas City Chiefs
13
San Diego Chargers
28
Oakland Raiders
32
NFC West
Power Rank
Seattle Seahawks
1
San Francisco 49ers
3
Arizona Cardinals
18
St. Louis Rams
26

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Football Mogul Predicts the 2013 Season

Predictions by Football Mogul 2014 for the upcoming season (100 seasons simulated):
AFC East
Record
New England Patriots
12-4
Miami Dolphins
8-8
New York Jets
6-10
Buffalo Bills
5-11
NFC East
Record
Philadelphia Eagles
10-6
New York Giants
8-8
Dallas Cowboys
8-8
Washington Redskins
6-10
AFC North
Record
Cincinnati Bengals
10-6
Baltimore Ravens
9-7
Pittsburgh Steelers
8-8
Cleveland Browns
5-11
NFC North
Record
Green Bay Packers
10-6
Detroit Lions
9-7
Chicago Bears
8-8
Minnesota Vikings
8-8
AFC South
Record
Indianapolis Colts
11-5
Houston Texans
9-7
Tennessee Titans
5-11
Jacksonville Jaguars
3-13
NFC South
Record
New Orleans Saints
11-5
Carolina Panthers
10-6
Atlanta Falcons
6-10
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
5-11
AFC West
Record
Denver Broncos
13-3
Kansas City Chiefs
10-6
San Diego Chargers
7-9
Oakland Raiders
3-13
NFC West
Record
Seattle Seahawks
13-3
San Francisco 49ers
12-4
St. Louis Rams
7-9
Arizona Cardinals
5-11

Monday, September 2, 2013

A Note On Tackles

"Tackles" have been an official stat since 2001, but there is still some confusion about what the term means. For example, CBS Sports and NFL.com both show Luke Kuechly with 164 Tackles in 2012. But Pro-Football-Reference only gives him 103 tackles.

Luke Kuechly had 103 "tackles" last year. Or did he?
This is because CBS and the NFL are adding together "Solo Tackles" and "Assisted Tackles", but Pro-Football-Reference is only counting "Solo Tackles" (with a column next to it for "Assisted Tackles").

ESPN adds more confusion. Instead of a column called "tackles", they have a column called COMB (for "combined") and one called TOTAL. This doesn't clarify anything, because "total" and "combined" are essentially synonyms, both meaning to "add up".

(This convention even confuses ESPN's own writers. Their Fantasy Projection for Kuechly mentions "200 total tackles" when it is clear that what they really mean, according to their own nomenclature, is "200 combined tackles".)


So... for Football Mogul, we are sticking to the NFL's official definition:
[A tackle is] recorded when a defensive player makes contact with an offensive player, forcing him to go to the ground. Tackles can be recorded as either "solo tackles" or "assisted tackles".
In other words, "tackles" includes both "solo tackles" and "assisted tackles". For every tackle that occurs in the simulation, Football Mogul either awards a "solo tackle" to one defensive player, or an "assisted tackle" to each of two different players.