PDA

View Full Version : Heisman vs. All American



Rudy
12-23-2010, 07:58 AM
I've played quite a bit of NCAA 11 this year. I've also played a lot on both AA and Heisman. I'm normally an AA guy but I did play on Heisman for parts of this year, a good part of NCAA 09 as well a decent portion of NCAA 06.

From my experience this year both AA and Heisman can play very well after the 3rd patch. With slider tweaks I think both levels can play very similarly but there are a few differences that I have experienced.

1. Outside Running Game. The user's outside running game is far more open on AA than Heisman. It's easily the biggest difference I've seen after the third patch. On Heisman the outside running game is tough for the user. Getting a long gain is unrealistically rare on Heisman while AA long gains happen too much imo. Adjusting the human RBA slider can help with this.

2. Heisman Blitzing - the cpu blitzes a bit more. Coaching sliders help as the cpu is blitz happy, particularly on 3rd down but it does seem more prevalent on Heisman.

3. Heisman Cpu FG Kickers - they attempt long field goals that they have no chance of making. On AA the cpu won't attempt a FG that is way out of their range. On Heisman you will see some kicks barely make it into the end zone sometimes. I don't know why the logic would only be broken on Heisman but EA should fix this.

I've gone back to AA and am staying there. For those who are better than me Heisman may be the only choice. For those that are a little tired of AA maybe Heisman should be considered. I don't believe that Heisman cheats at all. I simply believe the base set of underlying sliders is that much higher. I actually created a conversion excel sheet that will convert a set of AA sliders to Heisman if you want to see how your AA sliders translate to Heisman.

jaymo76
12-23-2010, 01:30 PM
I have stuck with AA almost the entire time. I get to frustrated with Heisman cheating. My only concern with AA continues to be the sporadic cpu run game.

Rudy
12-23-2010, 04:19 PM
I've got the cpu running game pretty good. It does work better if you jack up the cpu RBA but I don't like turning average RBs into superstars to make it happen. What are your settings for the cpu running game?

I've got cpu run block at 100, human rush defense at 45 (basically a 55 point advantage in cpu run block), cpu RBA at 60, human tackling at 50. That has been working pretty decent. (I may have human rush defense at 40, have to double check).

JBHuskers
12-27-2010, 08:20 AM
I have stuck with AA almost the entire time. I get to frustrated with Heisman cheating. My only concern with AA continues to be the sporadic cpu run game.

I feel the exact same way.

mundo
01-01-2011, 12:57 PM
I have been playing heisman more because of the running game by the CPU issue and the general competitiveness. The CPU does cheat (in my mind as well), but not as bad as past years. The things that drive me crazy are (a) their players generally play well above their ratings vs yours, epecially vs the run (b) their ability to stuff the run 85% of the time,even when you have them outnumbered and outranked (c) Their defenders actually play zone in outstanding fashion in key moments while yours are completely clueless. Gonna guess a lot of it is still the CPU having a "good" defensive call is them actually knowing the offensive play as opposed to having the right defense.

Ultimately it makes it hard to stick to my "house rules" of not calling 4 verts or others that abuse the middle because I get so annoyed. But in general it makes the results of wins/losses more accurate and the game as fun as it can be overall.

jaymo76
01-01-2011, 03:28 PM
I think that one of the toughest things to get my head around is quality of my dynasty team versus # of patches. I am the type of guy who buys the game and after the first week I am in season two of my dynasty. By the time the last patch has hit I can't tell whether the patch has changed things, whether the patch has screwed up the sliders, or whether my recruiting has been so good that the game will play different regardless. If I were to restart my franchise today with Arizona St and use the same sliders I currently have, I wonder if I would be complaining that the cpu run game sucks or would I be saying that my D is terrible and i can't stop the run???

JerzeyReign
01-02-2011, 08:22 AM
How does Heisman cheat? Never understood this one.

mundo
01-02-2011, 10:39 AM
How does Heisman cheat? Never understood this one.

Generally it involves their players playing well above their player ranking but examples I can think of off the top of my head:
-A 70 ranked DE playing the RB on the zone read and then coming back to kill the QB for a 3 yard loss like he is Michael Strahan
-You catch them in a front with 4 players vs your 5 OL and their 65 ranked NT abuses your 73 ranked center like he is my sister crushing a surefire big run for a loss
-LBs covering WRs like they are Deion Sanders

Things I haven't seen as much this year:
-You come out in a pass, they are in a dime, you audible to a run, they audible to a 3-4 all blitz, you audible back to pass they audible back, back and forth... until you call a timeout
-WR inexplicably stopping on routes on 3rd down

Those are things that bug me

JerzeyReign
01-02-2011, 11:16 AM
So 70 overall DEs are not allowed to make any plays? 65 Overall NT can't have his day versus a 73 OVR offensive lineman? To keep LBs from sticking to your WRs, put the threshold at 0. Then again some of these linebackers can cover as well;)

No offense to anyone but those who say 'Heisman cheats' just hate losing. Their are some hurdles you have to tweak to make them playable but its possible. Now their are instances where I'm like 'WTF?!' but never has it been an entire game or does it happen all game long.

mundo
01-02-2011, 03:33 PM
I am not trying to start a war or say I hate the game... I play regularly on Heisman so obviously I don't find it that disgusting. Neither am I saying the defense should have zero success or the computer win. They often beat me on plays that make sense and in my TB dynasty, as a cupcake, I have lost several games. Its more about the cpu winning when it makes very little sense. When I mix it up and have them set up where I want them from a football perspective on a very key drive (and especially 3rd down), superman shouldn't come to save the day. If it had happened once, maybe twice that would be one thing... but the number of times I have seen it in ALOT of games... it is a duck. I believe it is in there to keep you from abusing the AI at times and I can understand that from a programming perspective. To the credit of the developers, it is much better this year than it has been in the past and I really think it is close to not even needing this stuff to give you a hard time.

And not to be picky but: Some DE from North Texas or U La La shouldn't have the ability to follow the RB to the center, stop, then turn around and crush your QB. On the other hand, that DE making the correct read, staying home to take the QB and another defender(s) coming off of a block to tackle the RB for a short game is the realistic "good" play... and it happens by the CPU all the time. Just to do that. If I have them outnumbered in the box, the NT should be doubled... and he shouldn't make the play either. Hopefully there will be a day where the CPU sees I have them outnumbered and they audible. Ultimately these kinda fixes will make the game even deeper and fun because it will keep people coming back to play the CPU.

Ultimately this could be that whole arcade vs sim thing and that just comes down to personal preference.

JeffHCross
01-02-2011, 04:46 PM
Jerzey, Heisman does have the CPU to play drastically above their ratings. This is widely accepted as known, not just mundo's opinion. The problem is not individual plays, it's consistency. As in, on Heisman, lower-rated players are consistently able to make plays that you would normally see only from highly talented players (in real life).

Rudy
01-03-2011, 07:42 AM
I think it's obvious that the cpu players play better than their ratings on Heisman but that's not cheating imo. Cheating is a ball going through your DB to a WR for a TD. Cheating is the cpu knowing your play and calling the perfect defense/offense every time. That's not what is going on here. Ratings boosts is not cheating - it's just a way to make the game more difficult. Same thing goes for Varsity. The cpu players get downgraded in abilities. If anyone says that Heisman is cheating because the cpu gets player boosts then any human that plays on Varsity is cheating because they win all the even matchups.

mundo
01-03-2011, 10:18 AM
I can see what you are saying Rudy and maybe at times I agree. However, if it is a key 3rd or drive and their ENTIRE defense plays above their talent level such that you have no chance on a play against a team that is just not that good, where does the making it harder end and "cheating" begin. It is prob splitting hairs and what is difficult about programing sports games.

AustinWolv
01-04-2011, 10:21 AM
I play on Heisman. AA is too easy. The 'cheating' on Heisman is way less than past years in this version. Consequently, the same BS of ratings boosts or whatever can occur on AA with some of the slider sets out there. I'd rather play on downtuned Heisman sliders than uptuned AA sliders since people regularly turn the game on AA into an arcadey pass-happy play style.

HawkFan
01-04-2011, 12:30 PM
I play on Heisman. AA is too easy. The 'cheating' on Heisman is way less than past years in this version. Consequently, the same BS of ratings boosts or whatever can occur on AA with some of the slider sets out there. I'd rather play on downtuned Heisman sliders than uptuned AA sliders since people regularly turn the game on AA into an arcadey pass-happy play style.

So honestly what do you think of the sliders in our dynasty? I have actually never played on Heisman because I have always heard about the cheating of the cpu and never wanted to deal with it.

AustinWolv
01-04-2011, 03:49 PM
So honestly what do you think of the sliders in our dynasty? I have actually never played on Heisman because I have always heard about the cheating of the cpu and never wanted to deal with it.
Last season - too easy.
This season - still easy......I grabbed a new playbook last night, one I had never used, and simply pounded the ball for something like 370 yards. I'd have to play more games since I haven't really paid attention, but basically the CPU is very accurate throwing the ball, and the CPU rushing attack was amped up. They'll probably give better games than last season's sliders though. It is just arcadey though still as let's say you do get into a 3rd and long, it should be very tough to pick up a 1st for example......but it isn't on AA usually. You can play more reckless and mistake-prone on AA because you can get away with things on AA if you get behind the chains. I don't know, I'll have to play some more games and pay attention to make better discussion points.

The problem with sliders in this year's game is that the running game isn't equitable if you are using a spread offense. Tune sliders to spread offense rush game and then the regular sets rushing game is overpowered. Tune the sliders to account for regular sets rushing game and the spread rushing attack is underpowered.

HawkFan
01-04-2011, 05:26 PM
I hear you Austin but what's the solution. I have been tinkering with sliders for AA to make more competitive games but the way it sounds like I should start with Heisman and work from there. Do you have any advice as you have played Heisman before and I have not.

AustinWolv
01-04-2011, 08:19 PM
For the past two versions, I have simply started and stayed on Heisman and tweaked sliders from there. Prior to that, I would often start on AA and try to make it challenging, but it never worked or I got used to the game and made the jump to Heisman. Prior to these past two versions, Heisman always did feel very 'cheap' and like the CPU cheated. I think this year it is pretty fair though.

So yeah, I'd say start on Heisman and tweak from there.

In the sliders forum, there are some threads with good sets, but it has been a long time since I've messed with posting mine, so I'd have to look them up on the console and see where they are now for my personal dynasty.

Rudy
01-05-2011, 05:49 AM
I hear you Austin but what's the solution. I have been tinkering with sliders for AA to make more competitive games but the way it sounds like I should start with Heisman and work from there. Do you have any advice as you have played Heisman before and I have not.

Honestly, why don't you try my excel convertor in post #1? It's not a specific slider set. It takes the sliders you like on AA and converts them into a good Heisman base set. Plus your sliders into it and then try out the Heisman set it spits out. I think you will be surprised as to how similar it can play.

HawkFan
01-05-2011, 12:15 PM
Honestly, why don't you try my excel convertor in post #1? It's not a specific slider set. It takes the sliders you like on AA and converts them into a good Heisman base set. Plus your sliders into it and then try out the Heisman set it spits out. I think you will be surprised as to how similar it can play.

I'm going to try that tonight. I will post results when I get a chance. Just looking for the best results possible and to make the games tougher for everyone.

JeffHCross
01-06-2011, 07:51 PM
For the past two versions, I have simply started and stayed on Heisman and tweaked sliders from there.I still remember the "Austinwolv's Heisman sliders thread" from the old days.