Published on June 20th, 2012 | by Shopmaster

Deep Dive Into Connected Careers – Day 1 Diary

So I’m here in Orlando, Florida and at the Tiburon Studio to get a closer and deeper dive into Madden NFL 13′s Connected Career.

I will be keeping a running diary of those who want to follow along. As questions in the comment section and I will try to go with it.

I’ll be asking questions along the way also.

11:44 – I’m here and I’m ready to start, should I play as a player or Coach? Let me know.

11: 49 – I decided to be a coach and go the Created Coach option and I selected the Redskins. You have a choice of 3 backstories (Motivator, Strategist, and Team Builder). I really think that these are going to determine who you gain XP throughout your career. The customization of the Coach is somewhat limited. 6 face types, 2 skin tones, 3 body types, and 4 apparel options.

I chose Coach!

Coach Name: Raymond Goode Jr

Team: Washington Redskins

Backstory: Motivator

Offensive Style: NYJ – Playbook (I was going to choose Redskins but there weren’t any Wildcat formations for RG III)

Defensive Style: NYJ – Playbook

Let’s Go!

12:00 – Crash …. argghhh! This is normal, don’t want people freaking out.

12:05 - Ok, back up and in. Here are the settings that the commissioner already set:

Salary Cap: On

Skill Level: All-Pro

6 Minute qtrs.

Player Progression Frequency: Weekly

Coach Firing: On

Game Play Tuning: Yes (This allows the commissioner to adjust gameplay tuning sliders).

Injury: On

Trade Deadline: On

Trade Type: Enable All (Determines the type of trades (human vs. cpu, cpu vs cpu, etc …)

Then there are some personal settings like strafe, draft player, re-sign player, etc …

Whew finally can start my career as Coach Goode!

12:20 - The twitter feed is crazy. Looks like Mike Tomlin got fired. Here are some of the Headlines: An Era Ends (Tomlin fired), Eagles Clean House (Reid fired), M. Shannahans out in Washington, etc.. There are about 12 stories and you can also filter the Twitter news to just ‘My Stories’.

12:37 – So I went straight to schemes and it has West Coast for my Offense and Base 3-4 for my defense. My question for Josh was what determines that. His response is you will have the scheme of the coach before you. So because I have the Redskins I still have Shannahan’s Scheme. The great thing is that you can choose what type of players you are looking for to change your scheme. So right now I am running a west coast offense with zone blocking offensive line. You can change the type of position you want in your scheme. Of course it doesn’t change those players that you already have but this will determine what players you are looking for in the draft and free agent. So it’s better to set each type of player before you start scouting or the draft.

Here are some examples:

QB Types: Field General, Balanced, Pocket Passer, Strong Arm, West Coast,

HB 1: Balanced, Power Back, Speed Back, Receiving Back, One Cut,

LE 1: 3-4 Versatile, Smaller Speed Rusher, Balanced 4-3, 4-3 Run Stopper, 3-4 Run Stopper,

CB 1: Man to Man, Press Run Support, Balanced, Prototype, Zone,

You’ll notice that there is a 1 and that just means that you can select the types for more than just the starter.

12:52 – So I look at my checklist for the week and I have 9 to do, so let’s get theme done. People are waiting on me to advance.

Here are my tasks for Week 1:

Cut Days (Cut 5 players)

Practice

Preseason Game

1:58 – Ok, back from lunch and we are advanced to week 2 of the preseason and I have to make 5 cuts. Gonna be tough.

Play or Simulate Practice, let’s play practice.

Playing “Comeback Kid” Practice Scenario – Down by 8 with 2:54 left win get 500 XP

Week 4 Preseason ( missed the first week)

2:15 – Ok, so after 3 weeks I’ve only ained 2,225 XP. I can’t buy anything except for Contract Packages 1,050 XP for individual players, free agent pacjages for 787 XP for players, and 1,050 XP for XP Boost Package. Crazy!

I hate Cut Days, I have to cut 6 players.

Oh no, Reggie Wayne got hurt in a Preseason game and is out the rest of the year.

2:35 – Diving into Player Progression. I’m going to manually progress RG III, my HBs, WR, LBs, and DB

RG 3 had 1, 259 XP and does not qualify for any boosts. The lowest boost available was for 1,500 XP

Tim Hightower – had 1,274 XP again, nothing to spend on

Roy Helu – has 1,263 XP

Santana Moss – 1,699 but the only thing I could buy was Toughness that would move him from a 70 to 71

Week 3 Regular Season Record 1-1

Now my TE Fred Davis is looking to negotiate his contract. You have a choice to Negotiate, Withdraw Offer, or Delegate for the CPU to handle it. I’m going to negotiate.

I offered him less and less bonus and he said that his agent will get back to me. So there is no immediate decision.

Week 4 Regular Season Record 1-2

So in this week I actually started using the News Center to filter the news. You can filter the league news by Top Stories, My Stories, and Draft Stories. I used the filter to look at Draft Stories and to scout the rookies coming into the league.

I’m starting to think I need more Scouting Points. Right now you only get 1000 scouting points and that seems like enough until you see that you need 10K to unlock some of the scouting like overall.

Week 5 Regular Season Record 2-2

Now my FB wants to negotiate his contract. This practice week I decided to play the “Halftime” scenario where the game is tied at 7 coming out of the half.

I decided not to negotiate with my FB, I can find another FB, plus he drops everything. So I’m going to withdraw my offer. BTW – Fred Davis rejected my offer also. He doesn’t really fit my scheme so he’s going to test the Free Agent Market. Maybe I can trade him.

Share and Enjoy

Tags: community day, connected careers, tiburon

About the Author

Shopmaster Shopmaster is a die-hard hardcore Madden Player. He also serves an EA SPORTS Game Changer that provides the community with help and information regarding Madden.

http://twitter.com/ovfd55 ovfd55

Can you change playbook on game screen b4 starting a game like in franchise in 12 or you stuck to the book you pick when creating?
- Shopmaster
  
  You can change playbooks before the game.
  - cws3e
    
    Ick. This means that practicing agasint your opponents playbook does absolutely no good. EA had made it sound like you would be practicing against the playbook you would be playing against.
    - Jay Jackson
      
      Why are you changing the CPU playbook, then? Just because you CAN change it, why would you? If you mean online — obviously, it would be impossible for the CPU to know for certain which playbook your opponent would run.
    - Shopmaster
      
      If you are playing against the CPU then your practice team will be playing the defensive playbook that your opponent will be using.
bagz919er

i really want to know what determines your scheme
- Shopmaster
  
  What determines your scheme is the scheme that the team was running before you got there. Then you have to set the type of players you wan’t for your scheme.
  - General_Hon
    
    Can you change your team’s scheme? If I take over the Ravens, can I change them to a 4-3?
    - Shopmaster
      
      Yes you can, but you really won’t have the personnel to do so. This means that the players you have (3-4 defensive lineman), will not receive the max amount of XP thatn those that fit your scheme.
  - Adam
    
    or as you change the player types you want, does your scheme change? or if I start with a 3-4 D scheme, and change my players so they are best suited for 4-3 am I always going to be stuck with the 3-4 scheme?
bagz919er

what determines ur teams scheme? is it the playbook or r there other options
- bagz919er
  
  so its like an equation u pick what u want then the game decides the best scheme. then its up to u to find the players that fit the scheme, if thats what ur sayng thats cool and t might allow for more diversity … thx
  shopmaster . ill keep checkiin periodically throughout next 3 days
  - Shopmaster
    
    Exactly! Except the scheme is picked from the coach before you.
Adam

In his Connected Careers blog Josh said ”
At the heart of it, Connected Careers is about connecting you and your friends, in the ultimate career mode, online or offline.” can you ask how this works offline with friends? Thanks!!
- Shopmaster
  
  Yeah, but you can’t play with your friends offline.
  - Adam
    
    ok thanks for the response!, His wording is very misleading – saying it’s all about connecting you and your friends online or offline…
  - Jay Jackson
    
    OK then… if I’m coaching, when I go to play the game as my team — can you slide two controllers over to the Human team? My friend and I have always played a franchise where I control the QB (and switch, obviously), and he’d play the RB and the intended receiver — with both of us obviously on defense.
    
    If this is out, that would mean there is no way to play with a friend outside of one-off games which after all these years would be completely unacceptable.
    - Shopmaster
      
      No, two controllers to one team.
Adam

Also, one other thing – Josh said in his blog about Connected Careers: ”
Oh by the way, potential has been removed from the game. Any player can become a star in Connected Careers. There are no limitations. And yes, we’re tuning it to make sure that doesn’t happen to CPU teams.” It sounds to me like they are making it so that CPU teams WON’T GET superstar players…is that what he means there? It seems to me you’d want to make it so the CPU can get experience and upgrade their players as well. Thanks!!!!
- http://twitter.com/ovfd55 ovfd55
  
  I think he means you won’t see Super teams where every postion is a 99
  - Adam
    
    ok cool, hopefully that’s what he means – I’d hope the CPU gets the same opportunity to have players progress and regress as our teams.
- Shopmaster
  
  No, he just means that you don’t have to worry about CPU controlled teams progressing guys up to 99 OVR.
  - Adam
    
    Thanks for confirming!
FootballFan

You mention zone blocking scheme, what are the other schemes and what effect does your blocking scheme really play within the game? Is this something that you can ask or get more details on? Seems like a big item given that EA said they only “tuned” blocking in ’13. Thanks.
- Shopmaster
  
  balanced, big mauler, zone blocking, run blocker, pass blocker.
jfsdhfkjsdhkfl

Please tell me if Aaron Corp and Stephen Garcia are in the game on the free agents list! thanks, P.s. This may not be relevant to ccm for you but it is to me!
- KimgD
  
  Ole Garcia. Haha. Tough as nails. Hope he gets a shot somewhere
- Shopmaster
  
  Nope, not in FA.
  - Mrcuss
    
    Damn, thanks for the response. Wonder if they will have any undrafted rookie qbs
Joe and Hannah Montana

Please ask if they will make the option availble to OFFLINE CC to play any game on the sked, when choosing coach.
- Shopmaster
  
  I will ask but I don’t think that will be an option. There are too many things you have to do each week.
aholbert32

Shop, I dont want you to actually do this but as a coach do you have the option to switch teams at any time? For example, does the game give you the option to switch from the Redskins to someone like Mike Tomlin and the Steelers?
- Shopmaster
  
  So in theory you can switch from coach to coach without advancing the week.
  - aholbert32
    
    Thanks man. After you complete a game, does the week automatically advance or can you switch coaches? I’m looking for a roundabout way to play other teams games.
http://twitter.com/ovfd55 ovfd55

how much do backups play in preseason games?how much xp do they earn?for ex Chase Minnifield if he’s in
- Shopmaster
  
  backups don’t receive a lot of XP or playing time.
http://twitter.com/ovfd55 ovfd55

I think it sShould be very hard to find out ovr so happy iy costs more than normal
http://twitter.com/SlangCreator Drago ☁Cloud ☁Strife

Connected Careers is going to be a disaster. Mark my words,
- Jay Jackson
  
  There are things that I’m not sure about — but I think you are wrong and this is a major step in the right direction. I’m an offline franchise player who was waiting till online franchise was actually a “franchise” mode. I think I’ll be extremely pleased at the depth of the mode.
  
  Also, no one is going to mark your words when you don’t say anything to back up the point you are trying to make.
  - http://twitter.com/blood9585 Clifton-Wisepegasus
    
    I think Drago is wrong as well…I was dying for online franchise mode upgrades. Even though Fantasy Draft is gone (and missed), Salary cap and so much more have been added to the online experience.
http://twitter.com/Excuse_Me_Miss_ BeeJay Da Gigolo ♐

i like!
mrcuss

Are you taking lots of pictures? I love the screens of ccm
- Shopmaster
  
  Sorry, I’m not allowed to take pictures.
pabryant

Quick question Shopmaster, if you don’t mind, when you trade or the cpu attempts to trade with you, do you have the large number of trade packages that Head Coach had or is it similar to the trading style we have seen in Madden games thus far?
Thanks in advance.
- Shopmaster
  
  No trade packages, just select player or draft pick.
cameron

is irving, sanders and other sanders in franchise mode
- http://mygamerpad.com/members/shopmaster/ Shopmaster
  
  If you unlock them in MUT then you can use them in Connected Careers, but they will be the rookie version of those guys.