There is a big learning curve in this game (takes about maybe a full season). In the interests of fairness, the veteran owners (well at least me) will be sharing their tips and tricks so that everyone can get up to speed faster and the playing field will be equal. Each season takes about two months to play out so screwing up could cost you for a long time. And if you have questions, don't be shy, just post and ask. I will answer.

First thing up is the dispersal draft. We actually haven't done this before, but I assume it is like the normal draft. How it works is that you go into the draft war room, and you will see the schedule of when each team picks. Each team has a set time throughout the day. What you do is that you create a draft list and when your turn comes up, the computer will draft whoever is at the top of your draft list. It is very important that you have a list, otherwise the computer will autodraft for you. The computer is very bad at autodrafting because it drafts on need, not talent. For example, if there is a rank 80 RB on the board, but you already have 3 RBs on your roster, it will instead draft a rank 70 LB because you only have 1 LB on your roster. The computer only looks at raw ranks too, which brings me to the next topic, positions importance and ratings.

The overall ratings are not everything. They are a general guide but factor in all stats. If you are lazy, yes, high rank usually means better, but not always. More important are the individual skills. First out of all skills to value is speed. Speed is a set skill that never increases, only decreases with age. Simply put, speed is the most important skill. RB with speed 100 is better than an RB with speed 50. WR with speed 100 is better than a WR with speed 50. Anyone below speed 50 is basically unusable as a RB, WR or DB. I have seen teams try use speed 50-70 guys as power RBs or possession receivers, but in my opinion that rarely works. I would suggest minimum 70 speed on RB, WR, and DBs (because your speed 50 CB will get burned all day long). Speed is actually important for LBs and DL too, but you can get away with less. Your LB might have to cover a RB, so same thing, a speed 15 LB is unusable. Low speed LBs might be ok vs. the run, but will die vs. the pass. The defensive line is similar. You won't get speed rushers on the QB without speed. There aren't any speed 100 DL, but don't expect your speed 10 DT to get any sacks.

Along those lines, look at the key stats for each position, not just the overall rank. Example, for WRs, you look at catching, route running, pass reception courage, speed, acceleration. Do you care if he has low run blocking skills? Or has poor ball carrying? This is especially useful on defense, where you can find extra value. For example, let's say you always play man-to-man coverage. Well one CB might have a low overall rank because his zone coverage rating is only 15, but his man-to-man rating is 90! Well, you can get that guy and he will be good for your system, even though his overall rating is lower. Here are my opinions on the important stats for each position (other than the aforementioned speed):

QB - arm strength, accuracy
RB - speed and acceleration
TE - same as WR, and also run blocking, pass blocking
WR - Catching, Pass rec courage
OL - strength, run blocking, pass blocking
DL - strength, tackling, pass rush, run defense
LB - tackle, pass coverage, run defense
DBs - man to man or zone
K - kick power/accuracy

For team building, this game is different from the NFL. I'm not 100% sure of the precise rankings, but here are what I think the key positions (i.e., who you need to focus on in the draft).

WR is one of the most important positions. Then DBs to defend the WRs. Offensive and Defensive line next. QBs, and LBs next. RBs probably worth the least, then specialists. You don't need a super QB to win, if you have good WR and OL. A good QB can lift your team, but you can easily win the Super Bowl with a rank 70s QB. You will have a hard time winning with a rank 70 WR as your WR 1, or rank 70 OL as your best OL. RB is just like the NFL, you can put anyone back there if your OL is good. You just need speed. I have seen rank 50 RBs rush for 1000 yard seasons.

I'll post more when I think of it. Next episode of game tips will be on free agency.

More tips on drafting - explanation of certain traits.

Intelligence - this only affects how quickly the player learns your playbook. The better they know your playbook, the better they execute.

Discipline - this only affects penalties. Less discipline means more likely to get penalties.

Volatility - this is really important to take note of for draft picks. I do not know if it applies to the dispersal draft, but I would assume it does. Each player is randomly coded to be a boom or a bust. The volatility rating lets you know how extreme a boom or bust the player will be. For example, you are drafting with the #1 overall pick and there are 2 QBs, both are peak rating 90. On is volatility 0 the other is volatility 100. If you draft the volatility 0 guy, it will be guaranteed that he will eventually reach peak 90. He is a sure thing. If you draft the volatility 100 guy, two things will happen. Either he will be a bust and his ratings will fall to peak 80 (or lower), or he will be a boom and his peak will shoot up to 100. There is a risk/reward calculation everyone has to make.

If I am drafting high, I usually favor "safe" players with lower volatility so you can get a sure thing with your high draft pick. But if is a lower pick, I will gamble and hope for some volatility luck. A rank 70 something player with high volatility can become a rank 80 or 90 player (or a rank 60 player). If that's third round pick, might be worth gambling on. For last round picks, I pretty much look only for volatile players (and they usually get cut regardless - because even if your rank 50 7th round pick booms like crazy, he only gets up to rank 70). But I have seen player, as low as 4th and 5th rounders become solid starters and even star players (though that is obviously rare).

Looks like the draft will start simulating on Sunday. Set up your draft lists and read these tips.

Veteran owners, most of the AFC are newbies, so share any advice you have.

Additional draft tip - look at the ages of the players too. Some players start declining at age 30, others don't decline until later. It's random. A quick "cheat" to see how valuable a player is - look at the player card and click "details." It will show you their trade score from 1 to 3000. Obviously someone ranked 3000 is worth a lot and someone ranked 1 is worthless. This number accounts for things like age and potential, so old guys, who are still really good, will have a lower trade score than a young guy who has room to improve.

An adjustment to your speed advice, I believe speed is currently calculated by the weight of your player. You can adjust the weight of your player by switching them to a position that has lighter players. For example, if your RB is 210lbs, 80 speed RB, you can switch his position to WR and his weight will slowly lower in the next few seasons, possibly ending up at 190-200lbs and maybe 85-90 speed. I agree with everything else about speed. A high speed defender can reach an offensive player that a slow player won't be able to in some situations. Same idea with fast offensive players, they'll beat defenders to spots on the field, while a slower offensive player will get tackled long before that. Basically, speed is king and you should value it.

On the other side of the coin, if you lower the weight of your player by moving them to a lighter position, I believe they can be shoved around a lot easier. This probably affects the OL and DL the most so don't go and turn everyone into a WR. Also, the developer of this game releases updates a few times a year so what might work here may not work once updates come.

As for the ratings of each player, I'll take Norm's recommendation and add mine to it.
QB - arm strength, accuracy, intelligence (intelligence determines how fast the QB learns the plays), scrambling (helps deal with pressure better I believe)
RB - speed/acceleration, ball carrying, avoid fumble (these are the bare minimum for RBs, anything else is just gravy)
TE - same as WR, and also run blocking, pass blocking
WR - Catching, Pass rec courage, speed/acceleration
OL - strength, run blocking, pass blocking
DL - strength, tackling, pass rush, run defense, speed/acceleration
LB - speed, tackle, pass coverage, run defense
DBs - speed/acceleration, man to man or zone, tackling (if they miss the tackle, a 10 yard pass will go for 60 yards)
K - kick power/accuracy

Best Player Available

For those who hate the draft board that the AI selects for you, you can adjust it so that it will select the best player available. This can be done by going into the War Room, click edit on the right side, then set all goal counts to 0. Then for all positions, set the first line to 1, except for Kickers and Punters which you will set to 0. This will set it to best player available regardless of position, except for kickers and punters which will be ignored.

This can result in a surplus of players at some positions, but a surplus of good players is better than say drafting a 33 year old running back in the 1st round.

Don't forget to adjust your settings if you want best player available!

You can start scouting your draft now. New owners please read. Experienced owners share any tips.

Bumping this for everyone.

For those who hate the draft board that the AI selects for you, you can adjust it so that it will select the best player available. This can be done by going into the War Room, click edit on the right side, then set all goal counts to 0. Then for all positions, set the first line to 1, except for Kickers and Punters which you will set to 0. This will set it to best player available regardless of position, except for kickers and punters which will be ignored.

This can result in a surplus of players at some positions, but a surplus of good players is better than say drafting a 33 year old running back in the 1st round.

As your league champion, you can trust me.

My suggestion is to drop all highly rated players to waivers and make sure that every player's strengths are focused on kicking (really underrated stat).

Skill positions don't need speed. Slow players are harder to bring down.

Lineman need to have low strength and blocking skills.

Let the computer pick your gameplans; after all the computer knows best and is executing the plays for you. A good manager knows who to put in charge to delegate responsibilities.

Something about TE's

Unless you plan on moving your TE to an offensive lineman, Pass blocking isn't worth anything. Why do I say this? Because on 95% of the passing plays any team runs, the TE is also a target. So you are wasting weighing an attribute for that position because of one less lineman. Yes...you want a fast, good route running and pass catching person at the position, especially in the red zone, but, in my opinion, pass blocking for a TE is useless. Focus on speed, strength, run blocking, pass-catching, and route running.

Just my two cents