I thought I'd start a separate thread for our Friendly cup.
And as previously mentioned, the cup is power mode, which means all player skills (and therefore team ratings) will be equal, which has one effect of giving more value to the playbook, so I thought I'd also start a discussion about tips for setting up your playbook. I've noticed that several managers in our league have playbooks that do not set them up for success, and I'd like to help all of us become more competitive.
Part of my hope for the cup was to be a practice/training for younger managers. So far we don't have many of those signed up. In fact, we currently have 8 interested managers. I'd love to have 16, which I might get if I email each manager in the league and see how many will join up that might not read the forums, but thought I'd open that up for discussion also. What do you all think? Run with the 8, or go for the 16? (There's no in-between allowed)
Before going into the playbook suggestions part of my post, I wanted to place the normal disclaimer. Playbooks will rarely overcome a substantial difference in player skills/team ratings. This is intentional in the game design, since this is a management game, not a head coaching game. For similarly talented teams, the PB can make the difference in games, (though often enough dumb luck will trump all else.) A BAD playbook WILL make you lose games, but a good one won't always guarantee a win. Either way, a team with 10+ points advantage in team rating will usually win, regardless of playbook use.
After a few tips, I'm going to post the easiest, effective way to set up your offensive playbook, a concept which is used by several experienced managers. This is for those who don't have time or don't want to mess with the complication of setting up their own effective playbooks.
PB tip #1: Your offensive playbook must NOT be predictable. You just can't run the same play on the same down for a whole quarter and expect to be successful. The game engine is set up to stomp you down if you do this, and you set yourself up that handful of insane mangers (like me) who scout out opponents' playbooks before games and set up their defense to beat you like the noob you are.
PB tip #2: Assuming you have any free time, DO scout your opponents and set up your defense to beat them like the noobs they are. The easiest way to do this is to look at the stats page of recent games they've played and see if they always use the same rush/pass option out of certain formations. You can go deeper and study out their plays for each quarter and look for tendencies. It is so much easier to stop your opponent if you know in which situations they're going to run or pass. (for examples, see my recent games against Aberthaw and Champ and notice how often their rush plays ran into a 533)
PB tip #3: When in doubt, blitz the QB. Unfortunately, there is no run blitz in this game, so a blitz against the rush is a wasted LB/SF. (mostly use LBs for this!) But this game engine takes very seriously pressure on the QB. Even if you don't sack him, a hurried QB is more likely to misthrow the ball, maybe even gift it to one of your players! (This is valuable info I've learned from Pete's posts... you know, the guy that created this game?)
PB tip #4: If you are going to create you own detailed offensive playbook, use more than one and rotate between them. This makes it harder for opponents to scout you, plan against you, and toss your QB around like a wet rag.
PB tip #5: Don't use the 317 defensive formation, and be very careful where you use the 434. The 317 doesn't stop anything, and the 434 is very vulnerable to pass plays. Also be very sparing in the use of Deep and even Medium pass plays, as they increase your chance of throwing interceptions.

OK, so here's my quick guide on setting up an easy, but still effective, offensive playbook:
- Only set up situational plays, such as when to kick a field goal, punt, or go for it on 4th down, what to do on 3rd and short, or 3rd and long, or nearing the end of the game situations. (You can add more situational plays as you feel comfortable doing so, but for this concept, keeping it to the necessities is key. There's no real reason to plan any 1st or many 2nd downs for this idea.)
- For the rest of your plays, use the Game Settings screen and choose random formation for pass and rush. If you like you may choose to run or pass it more or less on each down, though I would suggest keeping it close to 50/50 except for choosing more passing on 3rd downs.
That's it! A super-unpredictable playbook that will foil both the game engine and scouting opposing managers. This will use all formations except goalline. If you have a team build that focuses on certain positions/formations this idea might not work for you, but for most teams, it's completely viable and far better than a predictable, half-baked playbook.
Later we can talk about making a detailed playbook that works, but this is a great place to start from.

I'm hoping for plenty of discussion, so post whatever other comments or questions you may have!

I agree with most everything Olband said. I would add that you can save time by using the import/export options to make generating new playbooks much quicker (although still not quick) and using blank lines (deactivated rules) within the playbooks to help with legibility of the playbook.

On whether to go with 8 teams or try for 16, I think you go with 8. I would love to have more join and like Olband, I would love to see some new guys jump in, but getting 8 is difficult when pulling from all leagues. Just pulling from Fire would make 16 very difficult. Once we get this going and set up a thread in the forums, I think it will catch on. Maybe we can move up to 16 in future iterations of the cup.

Great that the 2 team Owners, that had 16-0 Season in Fire League , share a part of the gameplan.. I as a Football Coach bought many good Books for the real world.. a good insight to what formation did against a Defense, so a short pass under the LB in a pass coverage.. will bring a TE into good catching skill { if he can} - - on the idea of a playbook.. in RZA, some of the book ideas can work.. for those who don't know about cover 2, cover 3, man to man and zone Defense - C2 is two back deep with half the field to cover.. C3 is 3 back and a third coverage - Man2Man Covers each other, WR - CB, RB - LB, Zone is that , an Area that they cover, rather than a player..

I had a very strong roster advantage this season. That and a favorable schedule outside my division really helped. Olband is the real deal though. He does a lot with the roster he has.

would do to be sure .. but no credits..

Be sure to vote for the game online and get your 5 free credits every month. They add up pretty quick. If you are on the desktop version of the game, be sure and check the blue circle with the question mark in it. That will direct you on how to vote and claim the free credits.

I would participate on a friendly cup. When would it start?

So far I have 11 managers who've expressed interest, so either have to drop 3 or get 5 more signed up. I'll send out some e-mails to those who haven't responded and see if there's a chance at getting there.
I haven't seen anything from Golrath: are you in?

I would drop out Ol

Same. I am in if needed to make the 16, but would rather see the spot go to a newer manager.