All Pro Football 2k8 - Season 5 Draft Discussion Thread

This is where we talk about what's happening in the draft so we can keep the draft pretty much clear of comments.

I was really torn on what to do with my early picks. I know I'm a newbie at the game, and I know that my biggest weakness is not knowing how to play well with direct control of players in the game. So I need to make sure I have solid players in key positions to run decently on their own when I'm out of my element.

With that, I went ahead and snagged Rod Woodson as one of my two gold picks. I figure between giving me a solid cornerback and providing an overall bonus with his leadership trait, that should be a decent start for my defense.

I know that this season I will have a very cobbled-together team, as I don't really know the game well enough to have a solid strategy idea (doesn't help that I don't really follow football itself a whole lot either; I'll watch a game here and there with the guys, otherwise just playing video game football).

I expect to be a pushover to you experienced guys, but it'll be a much better learning experience than just playing the AI. You can't banter with a computer, after all!

Farscry wrote:

I was really torn on what to do with my early picks. I know I'm a newbie at the game, and I know that my biggest weakness is not knowing how to play well with direct control of players in the game. So I need to make sure I have solid players in key positions to run decently on their own when I'm out of my element.

With that, I went ahead and snagged Rod Woodson as one of my two gold picks. I figure between giving me a solid cornerback and providing an overall bonus with his leadership trait, that should be a decent start for my defense.

I know that this season I will have a very cobbled-together team, as I don't really know the game well enough to have a solid strategy idea (doesn't help that I don't really follow football itself a whole lot either; I'll watch a game here and there with the guys, otherwise just playing video game football).

I expect to be a pushover to you experienced guys, but it'll be a much better learning experience than just playing the AI. You can't banter with a computer, after all!

I thought it was an excellent pick. I don't look forward to trying to pass on that side of the field

Farscry wrote:

I expect to be a pushover to you experienced guys, but it'll be a much better learning experience than just playing the AI. You can't banter with a computer, after all!

You and I are in the running for last.

I like to go with gold guys on offense and I know what kind of offense I (try) to run, so those picks are easy. It's just figuring out what bronze and silver defense guys I want/need that I find difficult.

I tend to play better on defense than offense generally, so I like to tilt my team slightly that way for its strength. It's not so much that I myself control the defenders well, so much as that I tend to be decent at choosing defensive plays. Granted, that's against an AI. We'll see how that works against another human.

maxox wrote:

Please make sure your pick shows on every sheet of the spreadsheet.

Did I do mine right? I tried to catch everywhere it needed to go.

Please make sure your pick shows on every sheet of the spreadsheet.

Farscry wrote:
maxox wrote:

Please make sure your pick shows on every sheet of the spreadsheet.

Did I do mine right? I tried to catch everywhere it needed to go.

You didn't strike-through Woodson on the first page. No big deal. Some of the vets missed some things as well. I went through and updated what was missing.

My pick isn't going to be so much of an anti-Ruthless pick as much as it will be a pro-Maxox pick.

Wow. Marino and Rice both gone. Let me guess, the next pick is Billy Sims. I'll just put it in the spreadsheet for you.

In our semi-final game last season Ruthless and I talked about how the loser probably won the Marino Bowl for next season. I'm glad a random number generator put me ahead of him.

I think someone already said this in the one of the threads, but if any of you new guys want a good way to figure out your teams and picks then the best way to do that is to play online vs. other Goodjers. My preseason/team building games vs. Jayhawker, Ruthless and firesloth not only helped me figure out who I wanted, but I also got a better feel for playing against humans.

Yeah, I'll be trying to get some preseason games in soon for fun. I've just been so hooked on 1943!

Farscry wrote:

Yeah, I'll be trying to get some preseason games in soon for fun. I've just been so hooked on 1943!

I know the feeling!

The draft is moving pretty briskly! We might be playing before preseason is over.

Shakes fist at Ertic. First Okoye now Clark.

So question, for the online league play, do we construct our team as a locally saved team based on the draft results, and then go online with that team pre-selected and signup to a league that way?

Yes. When you signup you'll be given the option of choosing a team on your hard drive. That team is the one you'll take online. Everything including the stadium you choose, the logos, team colors and of course the players. We've actually had it happen before where someone put a player on their team for testing and then registered their team with that player, who unfortunately happened to be on another team after the draft.

Farscry wrote:

So question, for the online league play, do we construct our team as a locally saved team based on the draft results, and then go online with that team pre-selected and signup to a league that way?

Yes, that is exactly how we do it.

Also, for a heads up on creating playbooks and making changes. Once the league is active, you can sign into the league and make changes to your playbook and personnel that will take effect in the league only. This includes setting guys to a specific position, and to left or right side, your audibles, and of course all the plays and formations you want to run.

You can also do all of this stuff offline before you sign-up for the league, and it will be carried into the league. But you will have to make any further changes while signed into the league while on XBL. But you are not locked into a playbook at any point.

I'd also suggest spending some time in the playbook if you haven't yet. There are a ridiculous amount of plays and formations. Of course, many plays are just copied into new formations, but if you haven't really spent time there, you may be surprised at how many choices you have.

DSGamer wrote:

We've actually had it happen before where someone put a player on their team for testing and then registered their team with that player, who unfortunately happened to be on another team after the draft. :)

He was allowed to keep the player after receiving one kick in the groin from each other player in the league. So all was cool with that!

My suggestion is to create a couple of teams that you are using to evaluate players with different team names. Than save the team you will take online as a team name you have not used. It can be a little confusing to make sure you got the right team if they have the same names. The only downside to that is that there isn't a fucntion in which you can save a playbook from one team to another, and it can take some time to customize a playbook.

Do we have to call dibs on team names/logos/color schemes, to avoid confusion, or do we just go with whatever?

Jayhawker wrote:

I'd also suggest spending some time in the playbook if you haven't yet. There are a ridiculous amount of plays and formations. Of course, many plays are just copied into new formations, but if you haven't really spent time there, you may be surprised at how many choices you have.

Good idea, thank you for the recommendation! I'll start messing around in there.

Farscry wrote:

Do we have to call dibs on team names/logos/color schemes, to avoid confusion, or do we just go with whatever? :D

We've pretty much just gone with whatever. There have been at least one, and maybe a couple of times we had teams with the same name.

I had the Gunslingers the first few seasons. Then went with the Hawks in the last season, as I had used one of those codes to replicate the Jayhawks uniforms. I'm considering sticking with the Hawks, or moving over to the Cougars, and selecting either black and orange or purple and gold for team colors. Both were high school teams, one in St. Louis that I would have attended, and the other in KC where I did play high school ball.

I usually choose a team name/logo that is so ridiculous, no one else would choose them. So far I've had the Navigators (not *that* bad) and the Swallows. I suppose I was the Swashbucklers one season. I think I actually won a few games that season, too. Maybe I want the Swashbucklers again!

Moving this conversation from the draft thread ...

Jayhawker wrote:
maxox wrote:

Let's get this done before I step on a plane to Australia on Thursday!

I'm hoping we can get this done, but in the event we don't quite make it, you might be able to get a list to one of us that won't be cometeting for players in the same tiers you have left. Just an idea that might help us get the draft done.

Depending on where we are in a few nights I might enlist one of you to do just that.

The problem I just thought of is not being able to sign up with my team. Is there a way around that too. If there is I'm guessing it involves giving someone the keys to my XBL account?

I don't trust XBL to be that portable. Hmm... Maybe it would work. I would think you'd have to take the team online from your XBox 360, though. Let's just try to be snappy-ish and we can get it done. We're pretty deep into the draft as it is.