Talk Fantasy Football

8 coaches, 17 weeks, 6 newbies (2 new but promising, 2 grab-bag, 2 ready to take some lumps), 2 veterans.

I: Preseason
Before the season begins, we'll have a month-long open preseason. Build 1M teams and have at it, up to three games per coach per team race. If we go into multiple seasons, coaches cannot coach teams they've already run in the preseason.

Then, after the preseason, each coach picks a team race and gains 1.1M to build a team. They may hire up to three players from their last team of this race, including the preseason, at total TV add.

Each team will be placed into a division, either the Force division or the Finesse division. An effort will be made to keep from stranding novice players in the "wrong" division, and the two veterans will select their teams based on what's out there when they make their selections.

So, you have two divisions of four, or four cross-divisional teams and three division rivals.

II: Regular Season
You play five games (one against each division opponent and two against cross-divisional opponents) over five weeks, and then we take one week off so those who have fallen behind can catch up (maybe we'll watch Blood of Heroes on gameday). Then we'll repeat the process in weeks 7-12, except that the two cross-divisional opponents this time are the ones that weren't played the first time. Notably, the final match (#10) will absolutely be a divisional affair. I'm using home-field rules, so there will be a home-and-homes series in the division and two-each across divisions.

After ten matches (12 weeks), each team is ranked among the four teams in its division according to their standing in the ten games so far. Tiebreaker order goes:
1: Most wins.*
2: Fewest losses.
3: Head-to-head record.
4: Best division record.
5: Strength of Victory.
6: Team Value (+ Treasury).
7: Coin toss.
* I'm not using percentages, in an effort to penalize ties. I've found that mandatory overtime sucks, so I have a reduced penalty for conceding in OT. This makes up for it.

Then, after you have your 1-4 ranking in your division, comes the Bowl.

III: Bowl Game
There are four bowl games: the Golden Bowl, the Silver Bowl, the Brass Bowl and the Lead Bowl. The top ranked teams play in the Golden Bowl, and so on down the line, so that the division trailers are playing in the Lead Bowl. There are as many halves of Overtime as needed, and after the match erase all Miss Next Game results. The Bowl game gives you your playoff seed.
1: Golden Bowl Winner
2: Silver Bowl Winner
3: Golden Bowl Loser
4: Brass Bowl Winner
5: Silver Bowl Loser
6: Lead Bowl Winner
7: Brass Bowl Loser
8: Lead Bowl Loser

IV: Playoffs
There are two routes to the playoffs: the Cadillac Classic and the Scramble for Survival. In each case, the lowest rank plays the highest at the higher-standing team's field. There is no overtime: the lower-ranked team must affirmatively win, or the higher-ranked team is the victor.

Cadillac Classic: 4 @ 1, 3 @ 2. The winners of the Cadillac Classic get a bye round in the Wildcard, plus 1d6x10,000 GC, a point of FF, and a celebratory ritual "match" where they earn an honorary Completion and TD to players of choice plus a random MVP. They will next be seen hosting the Semifinal. The losers must host the Wildcard.

Scramble for Survival: 8 @ 5, 7 @ 6. The losers are eliminated, while the winners go on the road for the wildcard.

Wildcard: Cadillac Classic losers host Scramble for Survival winners. Losers eliminated, winners go on the road to face the Cadillac Classic winners in the Semifinal.

Semifinal: Classic winners host Wildcard winners. Losers eliminated, winners play Championship.

Championship: Unlimited overtime as necessary.

Like? Everyone guaranteed 12 games,eventual champ will have 14-15.

That feels a bit like they way aussies do it. So complicated only nerds who are into the sport can follow it...

You calling him a nerd...?

Oops... tiebreaker #3 was supposed to be head-to-head. Fixed.

The regular season and the final three playoff rounds are supposed to emulate the NFL. The bowl game is to keep the weakest teams from getting the toughest schedules, which invariably happens when there's a divisional format. The NFL handles it through a pair of cross-divisional games (you play your div twice, one other div in each conference, and the two equal-ranked teams in your conference that aren't in the div you play), but since we only have two divisions that doesn't work. We also have to consider that there will be turnover and every season will be its own thing, so the bowl game based on this year's record works better than the NFL's last-year's-record bit, as they have continuity that we don't. The Scramble and Classic are essentially just a way to milk one more round out of the playoffs, since a standard Swiss bracket is kind of anticlimactic with only eight teams.

Matt, it definitely looks good, not sure i would go to that level of detail ever.

Every time I have tried to formalise the process I have had drop outs....

Good Luck!

The preseason is my mechanism for dealing with dropouts. You know your team won't crash before you get to build a few skills, as you restructure after the preseason, presumably with some early skills. Likewise, newbies who aren't having fun can drop before the sched is finalized.

Alright... I have something more flexible. It's kind of wonky, but in context I don't think it matters. As long as my coaches can read it, go "yeah, ok," and then trust that I'm holding to it, that's enough.

Preseason: Play up to 3 games with 1M team, then reset team at 1.1M. You may take up to 3 players from preseason teams or previous season's teams, with priority going to the coach of the team from which the player is drawn. It's a bit more complex than that, but in the end, coaches will start with up to three veteran players on their 1.1M teams.

Regular season: Over weeks 1-5 and 7-11, you will play one game against each cross-divisional opponent and two games against each divisional opponents, with two divisions of four based on calculations of relative team-race bashiness and coaching skill, in that order. Cross-divisional matches, in weeks 2, 5, 8 and 10, are fixed at the beginning of the season. Divisional matches will be organized twice, according to relative rank. Here's how it works:

In weeks 1, 3 and 4, you'll play division opponents, and also in weeks 7, 9 and 11. In weeks 1, 3 and 4 each team is given a rank within its division (using last year or a randomizer). On week 1, it's 1 vs. 3 and 2 vs. 4, while week 3 is 1 vs. 2 and 3 vs. 4, and week 4 is 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3.

Week 6 is special: it's the Challenge week. Teams are ranked, and coaches may drop out or enter (coaches with new teams may play an ad-hoc "preseason" against preseason teams to catch up). Then, the bottom-ranked team in each division may challenge any other team in its division to a match: the other team must either accept or concede. Teams not involved in the challenge receive a week of rest.

Then, teams are ranked for status after the challenge. This new ranking is used to set the schedule for the second half of the season. Weeks 8 and 10 are cross-divisional and already set. Week 7 is 1 vs. 3, 2 vs. 4. Week 9 is 1 vs. 4, 2 vs. 3. Week 11 is 1 vs. 2 and 3 vs. 4.

Then the bowl game is in week 12, with a week off in week 13, the Cadillac Classic, Scramble for Survival and Wildcard in week 14, and the semifinal and final in week 15.

More flexible? I'm not worried about complexity as long as it makes sense: from a coach's perspective it's "ok, I play this guy then that guy then that guy, then we'll go from there."