Retro Bowl Front Office: Fans, Facilities and Coordinators

Retro Bowl's front office is where games are won before kick-off, and it is easy to skim. Four things run it: fan happiness, the salary cap, the facilities and your coordinators, all paid for in coaching credits. The quoted lines below are the game's own help text, so you know what each one really does before you spend.

What do fans do in Retro Bowl?

Fans are your job security. The game tracks Fan Happiness, and the head coach's own morale is "affected by team morale and fan approval". Winning raises it; losing, and a bad answer in the post-game press questions ("What would you say to the fans who were disappointed…?"), lowers it. Between seasons the game tells you where you stand with lines like "The fans are demanding success this season!" or "Your relationship with the fans has decreased during the off season", and a fan poll rates your season at the end.

• Stadium upgrades "make fans more positive after a win and less negative after a loss", and the loading tips add that an upgrade gives the fans an immediate boost.
• Trading a player you have only just signed hurts both team morale and your fan relationship — the game warns you before it happens.
• The Fan Favorite coach trait adds +1% fan happiness per game, but takes a hit if you are fired.
• Coaching credits are, in the game's words, "not cash, it's kudos" — the respect you have from the owner, team and fans — and they pay for every upgrade below.

The salary cap

Every player's contract counts against the cap, and the cap is tight enough that a roster full of stars is impossible. The trick is that the same ability costs very different amounts depending on the contract. A drafted rookie is cheap on his first contract; once he develops into a star, his next contract asks for far more. So the rhythm of a well-run team is draft, develop, win with the players while they are cheap, then either extend the ones you cannot replace or let the rest walk and draft again.

• Extend a key player a season before his contract ends. His asking price rises sharply in the final year.
• Release veterans whose ability no longer matches their wage. The cap room does more for you than they do.
• Do not sign a free agent to a long deal at a position where you have a high-potential rookie. You will be paying two people for one job.

What do the facilities do?

1. Training facilities. "Higher quality training facilities help players gain XP faster." XP is how a cheap rookie becomes a star, so this is usually the first upgrade. You can also set the training regime: HARD gives more XP per game but costs energy, morale and injury risk; LIGHT does the opposite.
2. Rehab facilities. "Better rehab helps players maintain good condition and recover from injury quicker." Upgrading also gives tired players an immediate boost and reduces how many injuries you suffer. Rehab slowly declines if you never touch it.
3. Stadium. Fan mood, as above: bigger swings up after wins, smaller drops after losses.

What do offensive and defensive coordinators do?

Your coordinators "determine the base rating for defense and offense (the rating before star players are taken into account)". Only your key players have star ratings — up to 10 of them, or 12 if you pick the $200m salary-cap option — and the rest of the squad is hidden; their contribution to the offense and defense ratings depends on the coordinator ratings. Because you never play defense yourself, the defensive coordinator is the biggest lever you have on that side of the ball.

Can you raise the salary cap?

Yes. From the salary-cap screen you can pay coaching credits to persuade the league commissioner to permanently increase the cap. The league also raises it on its own from time to time ("The salary cap has been raised to…"). Free agents cost both cap space and coaching credits, and the quality of the free-agent pool runs down as the season goes on, so sign early if you are going to sign at all.

Morale

Every player has a morale rating and it changes with playing time, wins, contracts and what you say in press conferences. A player with high morale performs above his rating; one with low morale performs below it and, if he is a star, eventually asks to leave. The press conference after each game is where most morale is won and lost. Praising a player costs nothing. Blaming one for a loss drops his morale immediately. When the question is about the team, answer for the team; when it is about a player, be kind or be neutral.

A first-season plan

1. Pick a bad team with cap room and a top pick.
2. Draft a quarterback with high potential, or a receiver if the quarterback is already there.
3. Spend the first credits on the training facilities, then a good defensive coordinator.
4. Sign one or two cheap veterans to fill the holes that lose games now.
5. Win enough to keep the fans happy, answer the press kindly, and extend your best young player before season two.

Do that and the second season is a playoff run. The Retro Bowl itself usually comes in the third.