Originally posted by merenoise
Here are the days I generally make note of and do things on. Some things get moved around depending on what I have going on and holidays and such but you'll get the general gist.
Day -8 First VA Planning
Day -4/-2 VA plan needs to be distributed to team - First draft of AI and packages updated
Day -4 Tournament signups generally close
Day -2/0 Tactics set up distributed to team - Final depth charts set up - Final draft of AI and packages updated
Day 0 Player salaries set to make up for deficiencies in confidence, last day to sell tickets for teams that play on day 1 and max revenue
Day 6 Second round of tournaments generally begin / send out scrimmage requests
Day 8 Endorsements get handed out
Day 10 Contracts get sent out
Day 12 Third round of tournaments generally begin / send out scrimmage requests - last day to set player salaries up to maximize morale boost for the playoffs
Day 16 Endorsements are handed out
Day 18 Fourth round of tournaments begin
Day 20 Free agency opens
Day 24 Trade / Cut Deadline - Final endorsements are handed out
Day 26 Final rounds of most tournaments
Day 33/34 First round of playoff games
Day 35/36 Second round of playoff games
Day 37/38 Conference championships of playoff games
Day 39/40 League championships of playoff games
Day 41 Roster Freeze
Day 42 Signing day
Day 48/49 End of offseason
Okay most that I do not have so set a schedule for, and some things I do at different times (I scrim all the time and VA plan in the post season if I can get to it). But most of that is directly related to the play of the game, in as much as you know its post season because you aren't having any games, the start of the season is coming because thats the point of everything you are doing etc.
And if you screw them up, most of them are not that big a deal. Just do it a day later. Might cause some disruption, but not much. If you do not get all of your VA suggestions to your players on the exactly same day its a minor thing, half of them were going to ignore you or did it already anyway.
What I have problems with are the little trip ups in the timeline that can cause you serious season ratfrakking AND which are so unrelated to on the field game play that you may not think of them in the flow of game preparation, or that are just sooo important that its good customer service to remind people even if they should have known it themselves and that are once a season events,
The four days that I think warrant such a reminder via an announcement are the -
Promotion/VA Reset lock day, aka start of the season. Not getting your season promos in is a big freaking thing, so big that whether or not its something you should know, the game should still have a tickler for it via an announcement. And its also its not really a part of the normal flow of game play. Its unrelated to real football planning. Its not about anything that happens during a game or in your AI. So there is nothing to remind you about it in the day to day tinkering. And it only happens once a season. Good time to mention the Survivor Days to promote participation and remind busy agents to make time for that side game.
Roster Lock/Trade Deadline, this is not as important as the Promotion day, but its something that is far from the game to game planning and dot maintenance and which would warrant a reminder as a courtesy to customers that an arcane game feature is about to have its once a season appearance. It ALSO would help remind those Agents who want to retire a dot for flex to pay for team ownership or playoff boost a contending dot that they need to get the coach to let them out today.
Day 40 End of Team Ownership, End of Contracts. For obvious reasons. Explaining the post season activities here would be nice too (reduced chemistry hits Day 41 contract freeze so noobs can learn these events etc)
Day 48 Last Day To Boost, Last Day of Chemistry Hit Reduction to remind agents to sign their offers. Explain begining of VA Resets in Pre-season, first reminder to owners about promotions and in general explain the preseason to noobs and old player returnees.
Now, do tell me why you care about Endorsement Days????? Just to adjust depth charts?
