1. I understand now. Yeah returns are a bit off. Yes, a 20 yard return is good, but a td. would be better . Right now it tough to get a good return , and really it's only a blocked kick ,if you get close enough to tackle the punter .
Both allowing a td and blocking a punt is pretty hard to do under our current engine, so kicking a line drive in that situation would work , but it would be an exploit. The return game has been tweaked in the past to level of tds being ridiculously overpowered to current where averages are OK but tds are not.
3. This one could use a separate topic as I am not completely sure of the problem.
The developer is open to new ideas but the game play adjustment allows me to mix up my gameplan by using the different sets of plays in different senerios at different times. In terms of passing I could be throwing a short pass in a long situation. With three guys are still going deep on that particular play, and say it's a 3rd and 13 , this call is a formidable choice. Same as if had a long play with 2 guys going deep.
Yes, looking deep is the obvious choice, but if a defense has some great dbs sometimes hitting the te or RB will get you more yards. This starts to fall into a subjective range as secret strategy is at work cause coaches would be at a handicap to divulge their tactics to a possible opponent.
My team in the beta test league is throwing less than 20 % long passes which is low for me . In the past long passes favored fast players. Currently , nerfs are in place to normalize numbers, but passing is tough to relate to the real world at the visual level. Still, much strategy is involved and elite users use rules to call particular plays at certain times.
I use no rules, and get the plays I want run to at level I find acceptable . But it would not be without the settings available . It may not be intuitive but I am OK with them as my team is doing really well with the short passes by throwing to deep guys anyway or getting yards after they catch the ball on shorter routes .
These settings are tricky but AI choices are considered a "safe" strategy in terms of here or the nfl. Safe also means predicable. Rules change alot, and both sections could have pages of documentation . Seth guides are the best current information as many users obsevations / questions are similar to yours.
If your getting plays called outside of you game plan that is a bug . Recently , I have only seen this caused by using zeros in the game plan and high settings in the slow down section.
4. Simply said yes, but I could go on for hours on this subject and how our game relates to the real world. But here its pretty simple the farther a player travels , depending his weight and rest time between plays, dictates fatigue levels.
Really all these are great observations, and with knowledge of how the game works in relation to real life is the way our suggestions can make this game great!