The Gaming Tailgate Video Podcast
Hi NCAA Football fans, NCAA Football 12 designer Jordan Peterson here once again, this time to discuss some of the other improvements that have been made to Dynasty mode this year. This blog is going to focus on some of the tuning that was done this year to improve your overall Dynasty experience as well as answer some of the questions that have come up after the other Dynasty blogs were released this week. As you are about to see, based on your feedback we've made a lot of great improvements to the Dynasty mode experience in NCAA Football 12. Let's get on to the updates.
Sway Pitch
One complaint we heard last year was that Sway Pitch felt like too much risk without enough reward and because of this, a lot of fans avoided using Sway Pitch all together which is something I never want to hear as a developer. This year, Sway Pitch has been tuned to provide more of a bonus when you are successful, and less of a penalty when you fail. Additionally, we've adjusted the percent chance that a Sway will be successful to help make Sway Pitch a more effective recruiting tactic, I believe you will now find the Sway Pitch option to have a greater impact during recruiting.
CPU Scholarship Offers
In addition to Sway Pitch, another significant improvement to recruiting is how efficiently the CPU will offer scholarships. Previously, the CPU would occasionally have a recruit that, even though he was ranked first on their board they would not offer a scholarship in order to close the deal and sign the prospect. The CPU will now offer scholarships more intelligently, and as a result, causes some much closer recruiting battles with the CPU against other CPU controlled teams and the user.
CPU Recruiting Based on Play Style
We have heard feedback regarding CPU not recruiting based on their play style, so this was one of our earliest adjustments for NCAA Football 12. Previously, if you were running an option offense, the CPU would simply take the best quarterback that was available, or possibly one just interested in the school. Now, you will find that the CPU will focus upon players that fit their particular play style. That means scrambling QBs will be targeted by option teams, while air raid teams will look for pocket passing quarterbacks.
Another community concern that we addressed for NCAA Football 12 is the balancing of the top 150 recruits. There was some discussion that there were not enough highly rated defensive prospects appearing in the ESPNU Top 150. Based on that feedback we have increased each defensive position's chance of having a prospect worthy enough of being considered one of the top 150 prospects in the recruiting class.
Sim Running Stats
The sim stats for the running backs, backup running backs and quarterbacks were also tuned. Meaning when you sim in Dynasty, the backup HB will get more touches and, in turn, more rushing yards. Quarterback sim stats were adjusted to be more in line with actual NCAA results. The added benefit of tuning these stats is that it facilitated tuning Heisman. Throughout Dynasty you should now see a much better balance of several different position types winning the Heisman.
Incoming Prospect Ratings
Finally, we've updated the incoming ratings for all generated prospects with a focus on ensuring they are consistent with the recruits on the default roster. Now you won't notice a drop off in overall player talent in future years of the Dynasty when the players on the default roster have graduated. I think you will find that some positions, in particular Kickers and Punters, will be far more accurate this year.
Answers to Previous Blog Questions
Earlier this week, we released the blog for Coach Carousel and two Quick Clip videos. I would like to take this opportunity to address some additional questions that I've seen on the forums.
Coach Carousel – Who was that mystery man?
In part 2 of the Quick Clips video, NC State hired their Offensive Coordinator, but he was not one of the top 3 candidates. Good catch! This is an example of the bonus that is provided to hiring within the current school. The Offensive Coordinator was not initially one of NC State's top candidates, but when it came time to hire a coach they decided to stay in-house. Also, you may have noticed that as an A rated coach, he had a lower rating than some of the other Offensive Coordinators that were available.
Coaching Carousel – How fast can you climb the ladder?
Can you become a Head Coach at a 6 star school from a 1 star Offensive/Defensive Coordinator within 2-4 seasons? Yes, it is possible. However, it will require some exceptional skill on the player's part to pass most, if not all, of their goals and some luck on the carousel. The right jobs need to open up at the right time to progress that quickly. This is certainly possible, but by no means easy to do.
Coaching Carousel – Prestige and Progression
How much does Coach Prestige impact progression? Coach Prestige is now a significant factor in the progression formula. It can also be tuned via Live Tuning Packs, so if at some point we feel it needs to play more or less of a part of progression, we can adjust it accordingly. However, we have kept the importance of Coach Prestige in mind when tuning and are very comfortable with its current impact upon progression.
Coaching Carousel – Is Coach Prestige your only rating?
As mentioned above, there have been a lot of questions on coach ratings and how the addition of the Coach Carousel will alter the course of a Dynasty in future years. We've talked a lot about how play styles move with the coach from one school to another and the impact that Coach Prestige has on the game, but I also wanted to point out that the Coach Loyalty rating is dynamic as well. If you are the type of coach that looks to hop from job to job every year, expect to have some struggles on the recruiting trail when a prospect wants to know if you will be there all four years to coach him. At the same time, there will be 119 other coaches out there just waiting to use that pitch against you when they get the chance.
Coaching Carousel – Default coach ratings
There seem to be quite a few A+ coaches? Keep in mind that default Coach Ratings can be edited, customized, and shared via Roster Share. If you want more of a challenge in your Dynasty, dropping their initial ratings will cause them to progress slower. Having said that, during the Carousel, schools will always look at A+ rated coaches that are out of a job.
Furthermore, each player in the Dynasty will start out with a Coach Prestige of D+. The contracts were designed with a slow progression to A+ in mind.
Coaching Carousel – Job Security and Wins/Losses
As an Offensive/Defensive Coordinator, will Job Security go up if we fail the objective based goals but win a lot of games? These contracts were implemented so that Wins and Losses have a significant impact upon job security. However, it is largely dependent upon the team prestige and the caliber of the contract.
Custom Playbooks – Formation Audibles
How are formation audibles set? Formation audibles are set automatically by the CPU for each formation in a custom playbook. The CPU will pick the play out of those in the custom playbook's formation that most closely matches that particular formation audible.
Thanks once again for checking out our blogs this week and I'll see you online when NCAA Football 12 releases on July 12th.
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