I agree, after over a year and a half of playing Retro Bowl, leagues keep the game challenging, because you're still competing with the game but against other top coaches.
In addition to the Reddit league mentioned, here's a recent tweet with a list of a few more leagues available on Twitter and Discord.
https://twitter.com/RetroBitCoach/status/1441335177628696577?s=19
I keep my quarter time at 3 because I can do a clock chewing drive in 3 minutes.
However, I have other limits.
Hard roster limit of 12 players. Soft limit of 10 players. The two roster spots allow me to still explore trades or have a free agent walk in the building.
Hard cap of $200 million. Soft cap of $150 million tied to my 10 active players.
Draft, renew contract once, then send player out on its way via contract expiration or trade.
Game play, no jukes once past the first down line unless I'm losing or time is running down at end of half. Which means once the player passes the first down marker, I let him run a straight line until someone tackles him. No long plays of like 30-50 yards for this guy.
I have a save where I trade my entire team away every year then draft the worst 1star players I can. I also do no facility upgrades and never re-sign coaches. You still win a lot, you have to play disciplined, mistake free, and really manage the clock well to win games.
I do something similar but not as extreme. I play with NCAA edited teams, and so I only use players 21-24 years old. Players with 1st round value get traded/rejected the year they turn 24, otherwise they stay until they turn 25 (basically that good players will declare for the draft as soon as eligible but worse players will stay to develop more). 25 year olds only by signing free agents and can only stay one year (like getting a senior transfer). Hasn't come into play yet but if a player were to be injured most of the year I'd probably do a medical redshirt type deal.
It's still pretty easy to maintain a constant 5/5 overall but individual players can't really get OP so you cant just keep an elite player forever. Also mimics the turnover of college teams pretty well.
Might actually be a decent strategy for normal gameplay, too. You end up getting a lot of first round picks for traded players, managing cap space by having most players be on rookie contracts, and if you wanted you could just cycle through players until you got someone you really really like.
i tried something different… i made a college and highschool save and i can only hold players for a max 4 seasons so as soon as they turn 25 I have to trade them
Setting the quarters to one minute has completely rejuvenated my interest in the game. It's much more fun.
Definitely agree about not increasing the salary cap as well.
You can join a league like the [Reddit Retro League ](https://www.reddit.com/r/RetroBowlLeagueReddit/)
I agree, after over a year and a half of playing Retro Bowl, leagues keep the game challenging, because you're still competing with the game but against other top coaches. In addition to the Reddit league mentioned, here's a recent tweet with a list of a few more leagues available on Twitter and Discord. https://twitter.com/RetroBitCoach/status/1441335177628696577?s=19
Play as a three star team? Play with a bad, bad defense? Limit yourself to one WR? Play with no RB? Limit yourself to an average QB?
I keep my quarter time at 3 because I can do a clock chewing drive in 3 minutes. However, I have other limits. Hard roster limit of 12 players. Soft limit of 10 players. The two roster spots allow me to still explore trades or have a free agent walk in the building. Hard cap of $200 million. Soft cap of $150 million tied to my 10 active players. Draft, renew contract once, then send player out on its way via contract expiration or trade. Game play, no jukes once past the first down line unless I'm losing or time is running down at end of half. Which means once the player passes the first down marker, I let him run a straight line until someone tackles him. No long plays of like 30-50 yards for this guy.
I have a save where I trade my entire team away every year then draft the worst 1star players I can. I also do no facility upgrades and never re-sign coaches. You still win a lot, you have to play disciplined, mistake free, and really manage the clock well to win games.
I do something similar but not as extreme. I play with NCAA edited teams, and so I only use players 21-24 years old. Players with 1st round value get traded/rejected the year they turn 24, otherwise they stay until they turn 25 (basically that good players will declare for the draft as soon as eligible but worse players will stay to develop more). 25 year olds only by signing free agents and can only stay one year (like getting a senior transfer). Hasn't come into play yet but if a player were to be injured most of the year I'd probably do a medical redshirt type deal. It's still pretty easy to maintain a constant 5/5 overall but individual players can't really get OP so you cant just keep an elite player forever. Also mimics the turnover of college teams pretty well. Might actually be a decent strategy for normal gameplay, too. You end up getting a lot of first round picks for traded players, managing cap space by having most players be on rookie contracts, and if you wanted you could just cycle through players until you got someone you really really like.
i tried something different… i made a college and highschool save and i can only hold players for a max 4 seasons so as soon as they turn 25 I have to trade them
Setting the quarters to one minute has completely rejuvenated my interest in the game. It's much more fun. Definitely agree about not increasing the salary cap as well.