When I say outside the top 10 of previous years I probably should have said outside the top 20. There weren't any 50/50 str speed guys, all the guys with 95ish strength + speed often had very low teamwork, under 25 and no traits. 45+INT players often had 0 traits, terrible teamwork, or poor physicals. The very few 40+INT that had 45+ teamwork also had at least one wart. It was the 2013 nfl draft class of redzone draft classes

I wonder if Pete tweaked the draft output a bit. Dragons 2 had same issues and I heard same from Elite. Probably coincidence as Pete would have mentioned a change?

I was referring to the Dragons 2 draft as that was what I was in

My picks was okay, but not more...
I can need all of them, so good enough for this draft

Jonny: Welcome back to Blowing Smoke

In this episode we'll be hopping, skipping and jumping through the minefield of tactics! Possibly the most frustrating and simultaneously fun aspect of the game is the playbook, driving RZAers mad since the dawn of time, it can be a frustrating beast. Figuring out how to convey one's vision to the field, within the confines of the playbook, can be daunting, so where do we start Roel? Where do you start with building a playbook?

Roel: Well, this is a very pertinent question as when I closed my Amersfoort Alligator chapter in my life, I deleted all my (very extensive) play books to force me to really start from scratch. But shockingly, I still haven't made a proper one since I started the Deventer Devils!

The thing is, that is takes a lot of time and is very difficult to get right and, let's face it, the interface is bloody awful!

I would say however that a playbook starts before you even start working on your playbook as your personell decisions will play a huge role in what formations are realistic to play. jack6 has a very nice bit about this in his guide (chapter 04, Training your players - towards the end, header 'Training on certain formation').

Having decided that however, I always start with the very basics. Simple rules per quarter for example and ensuring I get all my 4th down calls correct as trying to troubleshoot a play gone wrong, when you have 200 lines is not fun!

That is my number one tip really, start really simple and slowly add complexity. And use scrimmages...a lot! (this is also a nice spy tool as you can see when someone has run a scrimmage so you know they are cooking up a new recipe when you see that).

I know that you are quite familiar with some concepts of Playbook management, Jonny - like how to ensure you can balance pass and rush plays somewhat. Care to deliberate on that?

Jonny: Well, I do like to keep my tricks a secret, but what I like even more is being the centre of attention

Very simply, I plan everything out in Excel before putting it into a playbook, I have rules/equations set that count the number of specific formations and whether it's pass or rush. If I wanted to go even more in depth I would work out what percentage of plays are carried out in each "section" of the pitch, eg. we cam safely assume there will be a lot more plays between our own 20 and 40 yard lines than inside the opponents 20. I haven't got that carried away yet though!

My advice for anyone new to this is that if we take it as a given you'll have different plays per down, you can then modify based on "time", "yards to go" or score. You may want to take all of these variables into account, start with one though, then build on that once you've made a playbook based on one of these variables.

But then I guess the first question you should ask yourself is "what do I want to achieve?", pass heavy, run to support the big play? How about you Roel, what style do you like to play and to what extent do you plan your team build and playbook to match that?

Roel: To my very core I am a pass heavy kind a coach. However in RZA I've tried both approaches. This is what I learned: to have a run heavy PB, you need to make sure you can dominate offensively in any game you are in. The reason is that you can dominate your division with a run heavy PB and lose the first Play Off game to a team who happened to have a good run stopping defense. In other words, there is no Plan B with a heavy run PB, you live or die by the run.

Going with a pass oriented PB is more forgiving of bad offensive performances. you can much easier have a bad offensive game and still put points on the board as you can still get pass plays that will give you a first down. With rushes this is much much harder to achieve.

Now the golden fleece in RZA is the balanced play bookm where your passes and rushes are split 50%. This way the opposing defense have at best a 50% chance to get the right defensive line up on the field but also 50% to get caught in a 5 man front against a pass for example.

I must admit that I've only ever accidentally managed to achieve this and I believe it takes a lot of testing and tweaking before you get to a functional balanced playbook.

But going back to your actual question "what do I want to achieve". Obviously to win games But seriously, in RZA i think the goal is to force your opponent to put the wrong defense on the field or to guess when and what offensive formation they will play.

To be able to do that you need to understand core concepts of RZA. How a line-up is filled from the DC, how to use the way defensive calls works in RZA etc. Come to think of it, your question (what do I want to achieve) is indeed the most important question to ask. As the more I write about this, the more I realise that a good PB is the culmination of strategic thinking about your team. I am getting the feeling we are about to start a multi-part series on this

So I have talked a lot now but still not really answered your question so let me make it personal: what do I want
to achieve with the Deventer Devils?

My vision for the Devils is to have:
1. speed over strength approach to squad building2. a dual threat QB
3. very fast, intelligent RBs
4. a 'bend, not break' type of defense meaning I will focus my talent and money more on defensive positions away from the line
5. elite pass catchers at TE and WR positions
6. elite safeties so I can blitz a lot without giving up long TDs

So this gives me direction when scouting players for my team (YA or TM). This in turn will affect what formations I can play which of course will have a big impact on the formations I want to play.

The real challenge in RZA is to be able to use your PB as an extension of your vision and not as a random play generator. But now we are back to where we started.

Perhaps we need to split up in several areas. You have defense and offense and both need a PB. I think it's fair to say most people spend most time on offensive PBs so let's start there. What I like to do is to find weaknesses in the opposing defense. It is very time consuming but when it pays off, it is very rewarding. One obvious example of this is to scout and see that your opponent only uses 5 front defenses against Big I formations. Then swap WR1 and WR2 on DC and sprinkle in a few of these plays per quarter and hopefully see some big gains.

So I don't think I've still not really answered your question but I think it's fair to say that a PB is a like a spider in a intricately spun web build of squad decisions and Depth Charts considerations (where to put your best offensive linemen to give just one devilish conundrum). Perhaps we should stick to the very basics for now. What are other fundamental truths of play book (building) Jonny?

Jonny: The big one for me is properly figuring out why things are happening a particular way during games, this then extends to team build as well as the playbook.
I'll give some examples of what I mean by that:

1: If you team is constantly involved in high scoring, but close games, it would be easy to think that your offense is doing well and your defense letting too many points in, you then start to spend more money on defense and time on the defensive playbook. It turns out though, after some analysis, that your offense is scoring because your defense is giving them short fields and creating turnovers. Also, your defense is giving up a lot of points because your offense is giving up the ball too easy and your special teams is poor.

2: You see that you're averaging a lot of yards out of one particular passing play, so you add more of that to your playbook, with some analysis though, the reason you are getting those yards is because the defenses are expecting runs, adding more passes means the defense now expect a pass and your averages drop.

Another fundamental is making sure each element of your "vision" matches up. You gave the example of finding weaknesses in the oppositions defense, definitely a great tactic, but can be difficult to achieve for each game if you have a very large and complicated playbook. It's not necessarily chose one or the other, but to find your ideal balance and remember most things affect something else.

Last, but not least, is once you have your plan, make sure you stick to it until it's completed. Small modifications and minor deviations might come up as you learn more about the game, but it can take a long time to get to where you want to be, giving up on the plan can due to impatience is the easiest way to get waste time, game money and get forum yellingly frustrated

What about the HR dept. Roel? Recently, I was having a conversation Feras, of the Mülheim Seahawks, about the HR dept. and it made me think back to when I started the game and had to learn how to really get the most out of HR, it also made me question whether what I do really is the most effective method.

So Roel, to what extent do you use this feature, and is there anything you learned the hard way with your previous team that will now influence the way you use HR with The Devils?

Roel: Great insights on the workings of the Playbook there. It definitely shows you as the more organised manager of us.I think the closing comment that making a good Playbook takes time and a great amount of dedication and patience!

Over to HR department. I indeed use it and I used it pretty much straightaway with the Devils. To me it's a no brainer as you can save a lot of money doing so as you can contract players on a lower wage then they are requesting. The only downside is that you need about an hour every season to sort out the contracts. A small price to pay!

But thinking critically, one thing that comes to mind is franchise contracts. I initally, back in the day, made the same mistake as every one and signed my rookie QB to a franchise QB. But this is not how it works in RZA. I see franchise contracts as a way of freezing wages when the player is in the final stages of his development before he hits the prime of his career. You then have two options:
1. You can sign him to a franchise contract at a cheap(-ish) salary while you train him up to where you want him to be. This way his salary is kept artificially low before you sign him to the contract he deserves.
2. or you can train him to the max level of salary you can afford / can live with and then train him as far as you can go during his franchise contract. This way you can get a player you normally could not afford. The downside is that once his contract expires you either need to sell him or let him go on a free transfer as his salary will be too high to renew.

I usually sign other players to a 3 season deal (the 'This and 2 seasons' option) unless I am really not sure about a player and I want to re-evaluate after one season before renewing.

Of course, the most important thing impacting salary is training as his two highest skills determine his salary level. So managing your contracts means managing your training, week in and week out. I am susceptible to 'forgetting' about training for a few weeks due to RL business and then seeing a player spike to 45+ skill levels.

And my no.1 tip to new players re this to new players is that Agility is considered a skill in RZA and therefore contributes to salary!

Are there any other tips or insights I missed out on Jonny? If not, perhaps you can give, to wrap the playbook related BS up, tips on how properly analyse a game to see how your PB (or opponents PB for that matter) is working?

Jonny: You've set me up there! Obviously the best way to analyse any game in RZA is through the wonderful RZA Game Analyser
Using this allows you to be as creative as you like in your analysis. For your own team simply figure out what works well, what percentages of passes out of a specific formation over a specific range actually work, what gives you the best chance of making a 3rd and short, defensively you can work out which formations are working for you, the choices are endless and I stress how useful this tool is.

When looking at your opponent it's usually good to look out for obvious things, do they always run on third and short, do they always pass within 10 yards of either goal line to trick defenses? You spoke about finding weaknesses, does their defense always set up 533 on 2nd and short, giving you an opportunity to make a bit passing play?

Regarding HR, there's nothing you missed, but I am going to emphasize planning ahead once again. If you don't use Excel then you should, it's not as daunting as it may look. Throughout the season you can quickly work out what your next season's wage spend is likely to be, you then know whether or not to keep training certain player's top two skills or not, it's the way I've found most useful to keep myself out of financial difficultly or be forced to sell a player I really wanted to keep.

If anyone wants to ask questions about anything we've covered, or neglected to cover, the please do in the forum

So Roel, you're into the divisional round, will we be seeing The Devils in D1 next season?!

Roel: Well, I do seem to have momentum on my side and I think I'll be in with a shout tonight but the Bowl is out of my reach. But if I win tonight, then it's just one game right and anything can happen in one game

Thanks all again for reading and sticking to the lengthy end and, as Jonny says, do reply with questions or your views as we love to hear them. Until next time!

Read my comment in my play off loss here

Next episode will be draft one, could someone email that to Role and I, we'll give you our email addresses

 RZA Game Analyser ???

This app ask you to upload a file. So how do you save your game stats to a file?

So has anyone successfully used this app?

good question. I'm actually the creator of the app I've used it successfully. When I'm back from holiday I will reply in earnest.

This has a video however on how to use it: RZA Game Analyser thread