Strategy Guides
Short, practical notes on how Gridiron Franchise works and how to get more out of it.
Building a roster that lasts
A winning franchise is built in layers. Start by finding where your team is weakest, because one very poor position group costs more wins than one great player adds. Spread your salary cap across the lineup instead of spending it on a single star, and leave some room each season for injuries and in-season signings.
Age matters. Young players with high potential are cheap now and usually improve for several seasons, while older veterans give you a quick boost but decline and often cost more to keep. A healthy roster mixes both: veterans to win now, and drafted talent coming up behind them so you never have to rebuild from scratch.
The draft is the cheapest way to add talent. Scout early, take the best player available when positions are close, and fill specific needs when a clear gap exists. Late-round picks are free lottery tickets, so take a few players with high potential even if they are not ready to play yet.
How the schedule works
Each team plays 17 games, modeled on the NFL’s rotating format, so your opponents change from season to season instead of repeating:
- 6 games against the three other teams in your division, home and away.
- 4 games against one other division in your own conference, rotating each year.
- 2 games against the teams that finished in the same place in your conference’s two remaining divisions, so a last-place team faces other last-place teams there.
- 4 games against a division from the other conference, rotating each year.
- 1 extra game against the other conference, matched by last season’s finish.
Because a few games depend on how teams finished the year before, a strong season makes the next one slightly harder, and a bad year earns a slightly easier slate.
How roguelike scores are calculated
A roguelike run lasts 10 seasons. Each season earns points for regular-season wins, a bonus for reaching the playoffs, more points for each playoff round you win, and a large bonus for a championship. You also earn points for completing story events and for a peak team rating above 80.
That total is then multiplied. Each ascension level you choose adds 25%, and each curse adds 15%. The chaos slider on the opening screen applies the biggest multiplier:
- Standard NFL: ×0.5. A plain rebuild with no wild events.
- Quirky: ×0.8. A few strange events.
- Chaotic: ×1.0. The default experience.
- Unhinged: ×1.4. More of everything.
- Apocalyptic: ×1.9. Maximum chaos, maximum reward.
If you want a high score, higher chaos is worth more points, but it also makes seasons harder to plan. If you want a calm, realistic sim, Standard NFL is a good place to start. Daily and weekly challenges always use the default chaos level so everyone plays the same run.