Rudy and Jaymo's Madden CCM experience

[Rudy]

I think the Ryan thing is he's getting older and his rating is only 85. Jake Locker is up to 85 now. JJ Watt got a 5 year, $55 million extension. Quite a few players reject in season offers. I have only $2 mil in cap space but cutting Tannehill would help but he's sticking as my backup right now. Peyton Manning is still going and on the verge of breaking the all time TD record.

I'm really disappointed with the way this game handles difficulty level. I've got a pretty good set of sliders on all madden for me in Play Now but they are WAY too easy in franchise. I'm sick of messing around. I beat the Pats in game 1 30-3 of the new year and I'm quitting all madden. It would take a ton of work to test it out in CCM so I'm just going to stick with all-pro from now on. Just boosted my old all pro set and lost to the Saints and Drew Brees 34-31. The game doesn't have the intensity of all madden or the intelligence but enough boosts keep them competitive. It's hard to get a strong passing team to be a strong passing team in this game. I will just have to accept this but the Madden team needs to really work on this area.

[jaymo76]

Just picked Madden 13 up today for $30 off. I will get back to iit tonight if I have time. I think I will continue my season pass with the Raiders.

[Rudy]

Just dump Carson!

[jaymo76]

upon loading the game i quickly remembered some of the really annoying stuff. However, season pass loaded properly and currently i am 6-2.

[Rudy]

Have fun! I do think the offseason stuff combined with scouting makes CCM FAR better than Madden 12. Heck, I watched every pick in the first round in my last draft. I would skip ahead one pick at a time to see the trade ups and downs and who got picked, especially the guys I scouted in the first round. Akari Christmas (my son loved that his last name was Christmas) was a DT projected as the #1 pick and slid a tiny bit. The Jags moved up to #4 to get him. I was panicking because I thought someone was moving up to get my QB and I couldn't make a deal to get up that high. And because he was one of the handful of rookies featured Trey Wingo has a longer feature on the player when he got drafted.

If I could have one wish it would be to be able to turn off all the RPG stuff. I hated doing the practice stuff during the year to be able to buy the scouting package and other stuff. I hope you selected a team builder coach so you have 2000 scouting points per week. Buy that scouting upgrade as soon as you can to get to 3000. Most of the guys on OS do not scout the way I do. I focus mainly on the overall and save my points for that. Most on OS scout a lot of individual traits and get more info on more players but less overalls. I like my method but to each his own. Either way I do think 3000 points per week is near perfect for this system. You just have to gameplan properly and scout both early and late picks. Both Jimmy Johnson and especially Bill Parcells liked to target guys in the real NFL. Parcells used to have a really small draft board. He wouldn't just go down the list and take the next highest rated guy. He targeted guys he wanted and waited them out or moved around a little to get them.

[jaymo76]

Yeah I am mostly looking forward to the offseason. I fully expect to make a run for the SB this season since after all, this is MADDEN NFL football and reality and fantasy are together as one Just checking out my injuries and signings, I have made some big moves to enhance my team. Tatupu, Fasano, Massaquoi, etc. are all starters on my team. I had both Leinart and Palmer on the block but had zero interest. Not having a transaction log drives me nuts as I have had to piece together my memory from tweets and roster observations.

Right now most of my scouting is for the TE position. There are two projected first rounders that I will look at. In the off season my goal is to make a move for Kirk Cousins. Currently I don't like any of my QB options. It drives me absolutely insane that you cannot save new schemes... still. I don't know why this isn't fixed??? My team is listed as a vertical offense yet I use Tom Landry's playbook??? At least my RB situation is solid so that I can run the heck out of the ball. Mcfadden and Goodson will be tired by the end of the season.

To EA's credit it"s nice to see that they have returned some editing ability. Also using the 2nd controller to change the cpu uniforms is a nice addition as well. However, there is a lot of room for improvement. I look forward to seeing what 14 has to offer.

[jaymo76]

Played my first game of Madden 13 in a long time (August 28th). I ended up winning 17-10 versus Baltimore. It was actually a pretty good game. However, I need major slider work as Palmer went 20-22 for 192 yards and 2 tds while Flacco was 14-25 for 118 yards 1 td and three pics. Frankly my secondary played too well and my qb was far too accurate. So I am now at 7-2 and about to play the Saints. I will use the rest of the season to figure out my all pro sliders.

[jaymo76]

Kind of cool to see this. Playing the Saints I knock Brees out of the game on the first drive. He gets a concussion and then about two minutes later they do a cut scene with commentary where he is on the bench going through the concussion test. It all looked very authentic.

Hey Rudy, question for you... do auto subs work??? the subs don't seem to happen that often.

[Rudy]

Auto subs work in Play Now. The slider settings are ignored in CCM I believe (another bug). I don't think it matters what you put in there unfortunately. If you want to see more players in the game you have to increase fatigue. 60 will get guys in the game. As for user accuracy on All-Pro, most OS slider sets have user accuracy between 5 and 15 I believe. You really have to drop it to see misfires.

As for the cpu passing game, it is one of the most difficult things to tune on All-Pro. I must say it's nearly impossible and I don't think I will ever get the cpu passing game the way I like it. Boost cpu qb accuracy, pass block, WR catch and drop user INTs (it also affects coverage). Pass reaction is backwards so I would put that at 100 but you still don't see really loose coverage. The only thing I notice is on the outs.

I really hope we can change our freaking main playbook next year! Not just schemes. And let me edit position or allow for secondary positions so I can turn Cam Wake back into a 3-4 OLB and run a 3-4 defense again. I miss my 3-4.

Do most of your slider tweaks in CCM since Play Now and CCM do not play the same. It's close for All-Pro but forget about testing All-Madden in Play Now. All-Madden plays a lot easier in CCM. Apparently most OS slider guys test their sliders for All-Madden on fake franchises because of this. No excuse for this EA.

Thought I would be starting the year 1-2 but an epic comeback in Buffalo after being down 20-3! My goal this season is to win the Superbowl. There better be some wiggle room in that. John Fox got fired after losing in the playoffs last year.

[jaymo76]

I don't know Rudy I think that pass reaction sliders are 100% broken. At zero or 100 I saw no visible difference in coverage. My passing % is at about 79% after two games. The only area I am having issues is with ints. I have throwb four in two games.

[jaymo76]

It's frustrating that you cannot adjust sliders during games. That is a strange design decision. It's almost impossible to tinker the sliders the way you want if you cannot play with them during the game.

[Rudy]

I don't know Rudy I think that pass reaction sliders are 100% broken. At zero or 100 I saw no visible difference in coverage. My passing % is at about 79% after two games. The only area I am having issues is with ints. I have throwb four in two games.

I agree. The slider is close to useless. I don't think it does anything for zone and next to nothing for man. I think I see more of a difference in all madden but it truly is hard to tell. The only area I have seen a difference in is the out route for man defences. It does seem to affect that a little.

It's frustrating that you cannot adjust sliders during games. That is a strange design decision. It's almost impossible to tinker the sliders the way you want if you cannot play with them during the game.

It's retarded. You can't change game speed either. Not even a menu option in franchise but is available in exhibition. I don't get it. Not having special teams sliders separate for human and user is short sighted as well. The fact play now is different than CCM just underscores the big mess of their slider system. The blocking sliders are incredibly watered down. It is very clear to me that the dev teams for Madden and NCAA don't care much about sliders and do very little testing on them.

[jaymo76]

I agree. The slider is close to useless. I don't think it does anything for zone and next to nothing for man. I think I see more of a difference in all madden but it truly is hard to tell. The only area I have seen a difference in is the out route for man defences. It does seem to affect that a little.



It's retarded. You can't change game speed either. Not even a menu option in franchise but is available in exhibition. I don't get it. Not having special teams sliders separate for human and user is short sighted as well. The fact play now is different than CCM just underscores the big mess of their slider system. The blocking sliders are incredibly watered down. It is very clear to me that the dev teams for Madden and NCAA don't care much about sliders and do very little testing on them.

Well with the clear goal of online play being pushed so hard by EA, it's not a wonder that sliders have taken a backseat. Maybe I am too simple in my approach but for sliders I want to see extremes. If catching is at zero, not one ball gets caught, etc. Give the user full control and make it as easy as possible to customize the game the way you like it.

[jaymo76]

I just played the Bengals and won the game 20-12 to move to 9-2 on the season. The cpu had more yards passing and rushing and dominated time of possession. In the first half McFadden was held to 1 yard rushing. Cincy should have won the game ...BUT... in the 2nd half the cpu play calling sucked. I held Dalton to four fgs because as soon as Cincy hit the red zone the cpu went dumb.

The cpu play calling in 12 was far, far superior to 13. In 12 I genuinely didn't know if I would win or lose. In 13 it feels like you will always win if you don't turn the ball over. SLIDERS or lack thereof play a huge role in this IMO.

[Rudy]

Well with the clear goal of online play being pushed so hard by EA, it's not a wonder that sliders have taken a backseat. Maybe I am too simple in my approach but for sliders I want to see extremes. If catching is at zero, not one ball gets caught, etc. Give the user full control and make it as easy as possible to customize the game the way you like it.

Madden 13 sliders work the exact opposite. They are VERY watered down to almost useless. The blocking sliders are terrible. The stupid thing is they go to a true 100 point scale to allow us greater fine-tuning but you might as well left it at 5 point intervals since they are so useless. The only sliders that work better are the tackling ones imo. INT and catching aren't so bad either.

And yes, the cpu playcalling is pretty bad, especially in the red zone and late in games can be down right stupid. I have found it got better in my 3rd year of franchise. First year was really stupid. I don't know why or how it has changed but it has gotten better in areas.

[Rudy]

Cut Tannehill. I needed room to sign Lamar Miller to an extension. I'd like to see Arizona sign him since he's young and better than any of their QBs.

I'm seeing quite a bit of injuries this year. Two of my WRs including AJ Green got hurt and are out for 3 weeks. My SS Jones just dislocated his hip and is out 8 weeks. My rookie FS will start now while I slide my FS Ford (natural SS) back over.

I must say I like my "mistake" pick in the 4th round at RB. He's small but quick, a good returner and now my 3rd down back.

[jaymo76]

So get this, I am now on my fourth strong safety of the season. Last night after destroying Denver to move to 11-2 I find out that I lost yet another safety. I have lost Mitchell and Branch for the season so I signed Sanders but he got hurt yeterday. I just signed another SS to fill in for the backup of the backup SS. How am I still the number one ranked d? I have seven players out on d right now.

Oh by the way, Rudy, are the sliders you posted a few pages v=back still what you are using? I just can't get the cpu offense to improve as of yet.

[Rudy]

Yeah, I'm using the All-Pro ones. The all-Madden ones are way too easy in CCM for whatever reason. The cpu can definitely move the ball on the ground - at least for my skills. Their passing attack is still hit or miss. I find it's still too easy to get to the QB if you rush with a DE by just engaging and then turboing around the OT. I am house ruling myself to only using r-stick moves if I play as a DE when pass rushing.

Difficulty is All-Pro
GAME SPEED Slow
SPEED THESHOLD 30
INJURIES 60
FATIGUE 60

PASSING HUM CPU
QB ACCURACY 10 75
PASS BLOCK 0 89
WR CATCH 50 65

RUNNING HUM CPU
BROKEN TACKLES 40 54
RUN BLOCK 0 60
FUMBLES (higher=less fumble) 55 55

PASS DEFENSE HUM CPU
REACTION TIME (backwards) 100 50
INTERCEPTIONS 15 30
PASS RUSH 0 35

RUSH DEFENSE HUM CPU
REACTION TIME 0 100
BLOCK SHEDDING 0 95
TACKLING 35 41

SPECIAL TEAMS BOTH
FG LENGTH 55
FG ACCURACY 45
PUNT LENGTH 50
PUNT ACCURACY 50
KO LENGTH 50

[jaymo76]

Yeah, I'm using the All-Pro ones. The all-Madden ones are way too easy in CCM for whatever reason. The cpu can definitely move the ball on the ground - at least for my skills. Their passing attack is still hit or miss. I find it's still too easy to get to the QB if you rush with a DE by just engaging and then turboing around the OT. I am house ruling myself to only using r-stick moves if I play as a DE when pass rushing.

Difficulty is All-Pro
GAME SPEED Slow
SPEED THESHOLD 30
INJURIES 60
FATIGUE 60

PASSING HUM CPU
QB ACCURACY 10 75
PASS BLOCK 0 89
WR CATCH 50 65

RUNNING HUM CPU
BROKEN TACKLES 40 54
RUN BLOCK 0 60
FUMBLES (higher=less fumble) 55 55

PASS DEFENSE HUM CPU
REACTION TIME (backwards) 100 50
INTERCEPTIONS 15 30
PASS RUSH 0 35

RUSH DEFENSE HUM CPU
REACTION TIME 0 100
BLOCK SHEDDING 0 95
TACKLING 35 41

SPECIAL TEAMS BOTH
FG LENGTH 55
FG ACCURACY 45
PUNT LENGTH 50
PUNT ACCURACY 50
KO LENGTH 50

Thanks! I am going to try some of these out. With the qb accuracy so high for the cpu what are the stats like? I think I read somewhere that 61% should be the goal for the nfl qb's. Also, how is your rushing? It seems the cpu D would have a huge advantage???

[Rudy]

The blocking sliders are so weak that you have to go to extremes with them. You will see. You can still run the ball but it is tough although you can break tackles. The cpu run game is strong though. You really need to call plays to stop the cpu running game which helps open their passing game a little. Big backs will break tackles on you so gang tackling is important.

The CPU QB slider seems to affect their timing and decision making. Cranking it will not make them impossible to stop. Tweaking the CPU passing has been my number one issue on all-pro. They are normally too weak in this department.