NCAA Football 12 Blog: Dynasty Tuning

[Kwizzy]

I still have questions though
3. Was pipeline fixed I didn't understand why my created school was based in PA, but my main pipeline was in California. It was very hard to get good players in surrounding states, but I could easily get guys from Florida and Texas

Pipeline is based on where the players on your roster come from. I would say that if your main pipeline was in CA then that is more an issue with where the teambuilder rosters generate your players from.

[Deuce]

I would venture to guess that between them fixing that issue and having CPU teams recruit to their style of play, that the issue of grabbing too many players of certain positions should be fixed.

It was my understanding that part of the reason why some teams were getting too many players of certain positions was because they'd have 3 QBs rated highly and going after all three of them without ever offering any of them a scholarship to close the deal, therefore, once the end of recruiting happened, those 3 QBs would all go to the highest team on their list and thus that team signing all 3 QBs when they only needed one.

That makes sense...I hope you are right.

[morsdraconis]

The big problem with it last year was that even if you were successful and moved from a low to an average, the pitch differential was negligible (ex. get 20 for low, 25 for average) so that when you failed, you completely wasted that pitch and when you were successful, it didn't garner enough benefit to be worth it. That combined with the fact that you're actually helping your opponent by swaying because obviously he'll express that same new interest in that pitch.

But it worked VERY well with the glitch that made every pitch increase by one on the week of a visit.

[Pantera1968]

I would venture to guess that between them fixing that issue and having CPU teams recruit to their style of play, that the issue of grabbing too many players of certain positions should be fixed.

It was my understanding that part of the reason why some teams were getting too many players of certain positions was because they'd have 3 QBs rated highly and going after all three of them without ever offering any of them a scholarship to close the deal, therefore, once the end of recruiting happened, those 3 QBs would all go to the highest team on their list and thus that team signing all 3 QBs when they only needed one.

I agree with this somewhat but I still think that maybe they need to add in some type of logic from the perspective of the recruit. If there is a 4 or 5 star recruit at a position where only one player is usually on the field at any particular time, if one of his favorite schools has already signed one or especially two at his position it should have an impact on him signing there (even if early playing time is not that important to him).

I think this is what also leads to a handful of great teams and the rest crap a few seasons into the dynasty. In '11 it seemed that after the first few years 90% of the 5 stars went to 3 or 4 teams.

[morsdraconis]

I agree with this somewhat but I still think that maybe they need to add in some type of logic from the perspective of the recruit. If there is a 4 or 5 star recruit at a position where only one player is usually on the field at any particular time, if one of his favorite schools has already signed one or especially two at his position it should have an impact on him signing there (even if early playing time is not that important to him).

I think this is what also leads to a handful of great teams and the rest crap a few seasons into the dynasty. In '11 it seemed that after the first few years 90% of the 5 stars went to 3 or 4 teams.

That doesn't make sense though. Ohio State, USC, Notre Dame, Texas, etc regularly are at least 1 deep at any position with 3 star or more players at their positions sometimes having 2 backups being 5 star rated players out of high school.

It's a fact of college football. Most of the 5 star players go to a handful of teams and the rest are spattered between other schools. It's the 3 star and 4 star players that make up MOST of the real star power in college football.

[Pantera1968]

I agree but not ALL in the same recruiting class. I've seen some examples in '11 of 3 five star rbs going to the same school in the same recruiting class. I'm not saying that's impossible but VERY unlikely.

I also think part of the problem is with the ratings of the 3 and 4 star players. As you mention correctly I think many really good teams are made up almost entirely of 3 and 4 star recruits. I think there are too few 3 and 4 star recruits who end up being nothing more than mediocre in '11.

Maybe when '12 comes out I will take a look at all of the players on the initial rosters who are rated 90 and above and see how many were 3 star recruits coming out of high school. Then compare that to a few years down the road in the dynasty . . I don't think I have personally EVER had a 3 star recruit end up being rated higher than 90.

Maybe my playing skills are keeping my guys from advancing that much!

[WolverineJay]

The big problem with it last year was that even if you were successful and moved from a low to an average, the pitch differential was negligible (ex. get 20 for low, 25 for average) so that when you failed, you completely wasted that pitch and when you were successful, it didn't garner enough benefit to be worth it. That combined with the fact that you're actually helping your opponent by swaying because obviously he'll express that same new interest in that pitch.

My brother used this to his advantage and it pissed me off lol. I would always unlock pitches and he rarely did, and I would use the sway pitch a lot as well. He would wait to unlock pitches on the recruits we were competing for until I swayed them up higher like from avg to high thereby reaping all the benefits of my work when he unlocked the pitch even though initially it would say his interest was avg, but the next week after he unlocked the pitch it would automatically jump to whatever I swayed it too. Needless to say I started saying he couldn't be in the room when I was on my recruitng board, but he still knew my recruiting strategy and would unlock more pitches as our Dynasty went on.

[CLW]

Personally, I think sway pitch is too affective. That's right too affective. I use it frequently b/c I have noticed that several times when you are successful it also bumps up SEVERAL other pitches as well. This has led to multiple MOSTs and VERY HIGHs (more than the 1 and 2 respectively) which allows you to accumulate a ton of points in a hurry.

If that "glitch" isn't fixed/patched swaying will be an even better strategy to employ on the trail.

I noticed no mentioning of whether you could edit cost prestige once the dynasty/OD has started. I presume that means once you start you are stuck and there will be 30-60 A+ prestige coaches running around the college football ranks in fairly short order on all dynasties.

[steelerfan]

I noticed no mentioning of whether you could edit cost prestige once the dynasty/OD has started. I presume that means once you start you are stuck and there will be 30-60 A+ prestige coaches running around the college football ranks in fairly short order on all dynasties.

I don't know the answer, but I'm assuming/hoping that if you reach a point where there are too many highly rated coaches, many of them will drop quickly. Afterall, they can't all continue meeting their goals.

[Cipher 8]

I would venture to guess that between them fixing that issue and having CPU teams recruit to their style of play, that the issue of grabbing too many players of certain positions should be fixed.

Agreed. I don't care if I see multiple players going to one school but when it gets to be like 4+ of same position then it's a little flawed. Plus really two top QB's would not go to the same school but if they did I'de like to see one transfer.

[Jayrah]

I don't know the answer, but I'm assuming/hoping that if you reach a point where there are too many highly rated coaches, many of them will drop quickly. Afterall, they can't all continue meeting their goals.

This is a great point. Great coaches (as rated where they are) will be woo'd and offered to bigger, but not necessarily better jobs. The upper echelon teams looking for coaches will be schools that struggled (for the most part with the exception of surprise vacancies via alma maters) to meet their previous goals, which means the bigger schools will be/are a bit "down" at the time of hire. Theoretically a coach will decrease at least a little bit with dynamic prestige ratings because while he is "rebuilding the program", as we know, it takes talent and because he is now coaching a "down" team, he will take 2-3-4 years to pull it in and start winning consistently. During that time prestige will have to decrease while goals are not being met and exceeded. The smaller schools won't often get those super highly rated coaches off of a hire unless they have alma maters, and even if they do, recruiting is tough to come by with those smaller schools against the big boys, so the same plateauing prestige will affect the small schools as well.

I think we are reading too far into the "coach prestige" piece of this though. A school has many other recruiting pitches/issues that will factor into the overall success of the program. And there are only so many teams that can be consistent winners. Everybody plays the same amount (generally) of games and there are still winners, and still losers to those games. Not everyone can have a winning season with an A rated coach, so coaches will move up and down accordingly (theoretically) with dynamic prestige.

[Jayrah]

Agreed. I don't care if I see multiple players going to one school but when it gets to be like 4+ of same position then it's a little flawed. Plus really two top QB's would not go to the same school but if they did I'de like to see one transfer.

Yes it's fine if multiples end up going if they are recruited and commit within a 2 weeks buffer. But the winner of the position battle as far as your depth chart decision goes should be the prime candidate for your "position in waiting" player, which would in turn leave the other player with a better "likelihood" of transferring, especially after 2nd year of riding in 3rd position string. Top 2 position would stay imo to see if he could overtake the starting job or at least earn meaningful playing time, unless his transfer to another school would clearly put him in a starting role with that school according to his skill set vs the offensive style of that school.

[Rudy]

I like the fact that CPU will now offer a scholarship to a recruit when they should. This is a much needed addition as well as recruiting to their style as well. Good stuff!!

CPU recruiting to their style and better ratings for new recruits. Boom goes the dynamite!! Ah yeah!

Any word on the CPU recruiting too many players at one position? I don't feel like this was addressed but maybe the other fixes have corrected this?

Yes. This is great news. I've never understood why a top prospect would be #1 on a team's board and the team just wouldn't offer a scholarship. The kid is dying to play there and the team didn't offer. That was probably the weakest part of cpu recruiting. On Heisman if I went head to head with Texas for a Texas kid, I would lose 95% of the time unless I had Texas as a pipeline state. Even then it was tough. When the cpu wants someone they did a good job of getting them. Their biggest problem was not recruiting the right talent and seemingly ignoring the talent that would be a good fit.

[Rudy]

Personally, I think sway pitch is too affective. That's right too affective. I use it frequently b/c I have noticed that several times when you are successful it also bumps up SEVERAL other pitches as well. This has led to multiple MOSTs and VERY HIGHs (more than the 1 and 2 respectively) which allows you to accumulate a ton of points in a hurry.

If that "glitch" isn't fixed/patched swaying will be an even better strategy to employ on the trail.

This is a very good point. Was this fixed?

Also, can you choose to sway a recruit's interest DOWN? If I'm at Michigan and a kid has high interest in being close to home and he's from Washington, I'd like to point out some benefits for leaving the nest.

[souljahbill]

This is a very good point. Was this fixed?

Also, can you choose to sway a recruit's interest DOWN? If I'm at Michigan and a kid has high interest in being close to home and he's from Washington, I'd like to point out some benefits for leaving the nest.

You know what, you're right. If I'm at Hawaii and I'm recruiting a kid from Maine, Proximity to Home should be a D and if the kid says that's he doesn't care about that, you should actually get MORE points for that (right now, you'd get like 5 points or something). If a kid has a high interest in academic prestige but my academic prestige is a C, I should be able to downplay the pitch in order to gain points (like telling the recruit that he can get a good education anywhere he goes, not just at Stanford).


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[morsdraconis]

That's an excellent idea, but it would need to be balanced somehow. Plus, most of the time, recruits only really have 3 or 4 big topics that work for them. Kinda hard to downgrade those when they are locked in at Very High or Most.

[souljahbill]

That's an excellent idea, but it would need to be balanced somehow. Plus, most of the time, recruits only really have 3 or 4 big topics that work for them. Kinda hard to downgrade those when they are locked in at Very High or Most.

Unless you're Alabama, ND, Texas, Ohio St. or USC. Then EVERYTHING works because you have an A+ on every pitch.


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[morsdraconis]

Unless you're Alabama, ND, Texas, Ohio St. or USC. Then EVERYTHING works because you have an A+ on every pitch.

Which I think is crap. There's no way the campuses (aka beautiful women) for Alabama, ND, Texas, or Ohio St are as good lookin' as USC, Arizona St, San Diego State, etc.

[Pig Bomb]

Texas is for sure. I've been all over the country and University of Texas girls are amazing.

[JeffHCross]

I also believe the term is "Campus Lifestyle", which would include a lot more than just beautiful women. Sure, that's the main hook for your average football playing male ... but even a beautiful campus (and women) mean little when it's in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do.