How much 'realism' do you strive for in Dynasties? (All sports games)

[Rudy]

I've always tried to achieve realistic stats and outcomes when I play. And I normally push for realism in my dynasty or franchise modes as well. When playing with the Detroit Tigers I try to make trades and roster moves to match the team in real life. I cut Dontrelle Willis despite a good record just because I try to keep it real since he was let go. But last year in the Show 09, which had a bad issue of DH's getting more tired than outfielders, I decided to play a season with the Reds. I didn't like some of the players so I simply traded them - some for former Tigers as well. I had a lot of fun making some moves (all fair) even though the team didn't match the real team anymore.

With all of the conference re-alignment going on, three big time conferences in the Big 10, Big 12 and PAC 10 will be screwed up in the game in year two and beyond. Who knows what further changes will be coming in the future? I was planning on playing a Big 10 season with Michigan and substitute Nebraska for Indiana. But should I just stop there? Why not throw in Pittsburgh for someone. Heck, Indiana, Illinois and Minnesota have been terrible the last 17 years with Illinois being the best with a pathetic 0.324 winning percentage (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...ons/index.html).

Part of me is thinking that I should just make a super conference and have a lot of fun. I think I might drop Indiana, Minny and Illinois and bring over Nebraska, Pitt and maybe Miami (I like the U). That would certainly be different from reality but I think I would have more fun playing with a few extra good teams than the dregs of the Big 10.

Would you guys ever do something that radical or do you try to keep it as real as possible?

[morsdraconis]

I'm one to do both as well.

There was one season where I moved around a crap ton of teams.

Basically moved WVU to the ACC and moved teams around to where WVU had all their old rivalries back (Penn State, Pittsburgh, Va Tech, Miami, and Boston College) and played through a season like that (got bored quickly though, unfortunately).

Then I've played through realistically as well many times.

It's fun as hell to make a Super Conference and play through it though. Really makes that season special to go through and play some of the hardest teams in the game and still go undefeated.

[AustinWolv]

I tend to be more of a stickler for my favorite team matching up best I can with the real team, while not really getting into the conference stuff or other teams. I'll edit my team's roster to the best detail I can and position-switch guys as dictated by what they are doing on the field and try to arrange the defense, etc. to align with what the real team is doing. This will be easier with formation subs this year.

[HuskerBlitz]

I'm kind of a stickler for realism when I play, even so much as recreating ISU to put back into my dynasty somewhere prior to moving to PS3 2010. Earlier on I had some really high stats and some really supped up teams, but now I really try to limit the amount of success or at least make it tougher to win at a high level. All in all I don't think I've done horrible. 13 National Championships in 130 seasons all combined I don't think is too far off the norm.

[morsdraconis]

I'm kind of a stickler for realism when I play, even so much as recreating ISU to put back into my dynasty somewhere prior to moving to PS3 2010. Earlier on I had some really high stats and some really supped up teams, but now I really try to limit the amount of success or at least make it tougher to win at a high level. All in all I don't think I've done horrible. 13 National Championships in 130 seasons all combined I don't think is too far off the norm.

Man, I can't wait for you to start up your Prairie Dogs dynasty again. That was some REALLY great stuff to read. I strive to get a dynasty going like that myself, but the inability to make recruiting truly difficult has always been too much for me. I'm really hoping that '11 changes that and I have the steadfastness to stick with it this time.

[HuskerBlitz]

Yeah, it can be tedious. I did realize a few years ago a way to toned down recruiting that was actually quite realistic. As I got better, the easier it was to recruit from anywhere. Meanwhile, the number of instate recruits was falling dramatically. So now, I only recruit instate and surrounding states while at the same time trying to build pipeline states little by little. That reduced the number of highly placed recruits and made my team a little more regional at the same time.

[morsdraconis]

Yeah, it can be tedious. I did realize a few years ago a way to toned down recruiting that was actually quite realistic. As I got better, the easier it was to recruit from anywhere. Meanwhile, the number of instate recruits was falling dramatically. So now, I only recruit instate and surrounding states while at the same time trying to build pipeline states little by little. That reduced the number of highly placed recruits and made my team a little more regional at the same time.

That's an excellent idea. The team I created was a fictitious team out of Massachusetts so pipeline recruiting would result in some seriously small recruiting base but I have a feeling that's the direction I'm going to have to go anyway as I try to build up my team.

[Rudy]

That's why I think the recruiting slider will be the biggest addition to dynasty mode bar none. It's the only reason I'm considering taking UM in a dynasty. I have taken a couple good teams to start with in the past (Bama and Georgia) when I played on a hard difficulty. Most of the time I try to take an average team to start with (like Ole Miss, Colorado, Wake Forest, Miami). Most dynasties die off for me only because it gets too easy. Even if I don't win it all I will quit and take on a new challenge. The recruiting slider may keep it from ever getting too easy.

That's why I like the idea of adding tougher in conference opponents. Not only would I be disinterested in playing Indiana or Minny, I would probably kill them most years since they suck. Now I add Pitt and Nebraska to the mix and I've got to go through OSU, PSU, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Pitt to win the Big 10. I still have little brother MSU as well. If I want more of a challenge I'll just schedule harder teams ooc.

[HawkFan]

See I struggle with this.

I have run a bunch of different dynasties over the years and I would say the majority of them have been as close to realistic that I can get them. I generally take lower teams (Army, EMU, WKU, etc) and build them into winners. Then depending on what happens first I either accept a conference invite for them and stay with the school or I take a job at a school that has been having some tough years, in the past that has been FSU, Colorado, USC, Iowa, etc. hose dynasties tend to last the longest (20 seasons in one case, most between 7-12 years) for me and are the most fun.

The second type of dynasties that I have run are generally the ones I run with my brothers where all rules are out the window. Now don't get me wrong we don't cheese on game play but we will recruit to the hilt, take top flight schools (Ohio State, USC, Bama, others in the top 10 to start on the game) and we will see how bad we can kick the crap out of each other and the CPU. Those tend to bore me pretty fast (after a couple of years).

This year I think I am going to take a lesser school, still debating between EMU, WKU, SJSU or a created team and build them into a national power.

[souljahbill]

I don't care about real life realism at all.

[JBHuskers]

I with Souljahbill here.....it is so hard to be able to do this. Especially in basketball games. I just play to progress and have fun. Football is a little better in terms of getting accurate stats, with the exception of tackles, but I'm not going to extend my game by 15 or 20 mins per game just to get accurate stats....

[SmoothPancakes]

I usually strive for realism in my dynasties, sometimes even making my teams a little worse than they are rated by default just to average out the stats vs. my stick skills.

However, in an upcoming/soon to be posted beginnings of a single player OD Navy dynasty I am going to be doing in 11, I will be going FAR from realism in terms of conference layouts and team ratings. Just as a hint, lets just say I'm gonna learn to like it rough after playing this dynasty.

[AustinWolv]

I with Souljahbill here.....it is so hard to be able to do this. Especially in basketball games. I just play to progress and have fun. Football is a little better in terms of getting accurate stats, with the exception of tackles, but I'm not going to extend my game by 15 or 20 mins per game just to get accurate stats....

I try to get a realistic number of total plays in.....that is how I judge quarter length, by using the average number of plays on the NCAA site.

[Solidice]

I try to keep it some what real. it's impossible to do 100% real though, considering its all fake anyway. plus, I normally use weak teams and build them up, so when I win the BCS NC with Middle Tennessee State, it breaks "realism".

for the most part, I usually go for fun over realism, but avoid exploits(exploits aren't fun anyway).

[souljahbill]

Take a look (and laugh hysterically) at my conference realignment and you'll see how "unrealistic" my dynasties are from the very start.

Note: The only school I couldn't fit in perfectly geographically was Ball State so I created a team and used Ball State as the model.

Sun Belt

1. Memphis
2. Vanderbilt
3. Middle Tennessee St.
4. Alabama-Birmingham
5. Troy
6. Florida International
7. Florida Atlantic
8. South Florida
9. Central Florida

C-USA

East Division
1. Arkansas
2. Arkansas St.
3. UL-Monroe
4. UL-Lafayette
5. Louisiana Tech
6. Tulane

West Division
1. Baylor
2. Houston
3. Rice
4. Southern Methodist
5. Texas Christian
6. North Texas

Mountain West

1. UTEP
2. New Mexico
3. New Mexico St.
4. Colorado
5. Colorado St.
6. Wyoming
7. Utah
8. Utah St.
9. BYU

WAC

1. Arizona
2. Arizona St.
3. Boise St.
4. Idaho
5. Fresno St.
6. San Diego St.
7. San Jose St.
8. Nevada
9. UNLV

Pac-10

1. Alaska Tech (Created school with Ball St. template)
2. Hawaii
3. USC
4. UCLA
5. Cal
6. Stanford
7. Oregon
8. Oregon St.
9. Washington
10. Washington St.

ACC

Coastal
1. Maryland
2. East Carolina
3. Marshall
4. West Virginia
5. Virginia
6. Virginia Tech

Atlantic
1. North Carolina
2. North Carolina St.
3. Duke
4. Wake Forest
5. Clemson
6. South Carolina

Big East

1. Boston College
2. Temple
3. Penn St.
4. Pittsburgh
5. Syracuse
6. Buffalo
7. Rutgers
8. UConn

MAC

East Division
1. Michigan
2. Michigan St.
3. Eastern Michigan
4. Central Michigan
5. Western Michigan
6. Toledo
7. Bowling Green

West Division
1. Ohio
2. Ohio St.
3. Cincinnati
4. Miami (OH)
5. Akron
6. Kent St.

Independants

1. Army
2. Navy
3. Air Force

Big 10

1. Kentucky
2. Louisville
3. Western Kentucky
4. Illinois
5. Northern Illinois
6. Northwestern
7. Minnesota
8. Wisconsin
9. Indiana
10. Notre Dame
11. Purdue

SEC

East Division
1. Florida
2. Florida St.
3. Miami
4. Georgia
5. Georgia Tech
6. Tennessee

West Division
1. Alabama
2. Auburn
3. Ole Miss
4. Mississippi St.
5. Southern Miss
6. LSU

Big 12

North Division
1. Kansas
2. Kansas St.
3. Nebraska
4. Missouri
5. Iowa
6. Iowa St.

South Division
1. Texas
2. Texas A&M
3. Texas Tech
4. Oklahoma
5. Oklahoma St.
6. Tulsa

[Rudy]

I'm going to do a Big 10 dynasty and I'm moving in Nebraska and Pitt. I'm also blowing up the MWC. TCU and Boise St. will go to the Big 12 and Utah to the PAC 10. Notre Dame heads to the Big East to replace the Pitt move.

1. Swap Nebraska for Minnesota.
2. Swap Minnesota (Big 12) for TCU.
3. Swap Pittsburgh for Indiana.
4. Swap Indiana (Big East) for Notre Dame.
5. Swap Utah for Washington St.
6. Swap Boise St. For Iowa St.

[morsdraconis]

I think that's excellent!

I wish the conferences and divisions matched up that well in real life.

[SmoothPancakes]

I think that's excellent!

I wish the conferences and divisions matched up that well in real life.

Yeah, some of those would be perfect in terms of locality of schools in the same conference (having ALL of the Michigan schools together, etc). Some are obviously "lol" worthy, but some of those conference setups would be pretty sweet seeing in real life, especially the Sun Belt and Mountain West.

And damn you, you stole my idea for my dynasty of having all three of the service academies as independents.

[Solidice]

for my single player OD, I planned on possibly playing as San Diego State and rearranging the MWC a little.

replacing New Mexico(worst team in the MWC ratings wise) for Boise State. Also, possibly bringing over Frenso St.(who is a rival of both Boise and SDSU), and replace Wyoming. thought about also replacing UNLV with Nevada, but UNLV is also a rival of SDSU, so I'm not sure if I want to do that. and I want to keep Colorado State and Air Force in. may not be BCS tough ratings wise, but it should be a fun dynasty. if conference invites are in OD, I'll be able to eventually to get to the Pac-10, but if not, the MWC should be competitive with Boise, Utah, TCU, and BYU as the top teams. Fresno being in Cali, could pull some good seasons as well.

[JBHuskers]

I'm going to do a Big 10 dynasty and I'm moving in Nebraska and Pitt. I'm also blowing up the MWC. TCU and Boise St. will go to the Big 12 and Utah to the PAC 10. Notre Dame heads to the Big East to replace the Pitt move.

1. Swap Nebraska for Minnesota.
2. Swap Minnesota (Big 12) for TCU.
3. Swap Pittsburgh for Indiana.
4. Swap Indiana (Big East) for Notre Dame.
5. Swap Utah for Washington St.
6. Swap Boise St. For Iowa St.

I'm going to do something similiar for my TeamBuilder dynasty. Going to remove probably Eastern Washington and put Iowa State in the MAc, put Nebraska and Nebraska Tech in the Big Ten, and kinda work out the rest of the moves from there.