TGT PS3 OD - NCAA Football 14 Settings & Slider Discussion

I too like Hands have been simming my defense in the second half. It keeps thing interesting for the game.

Maybe we could make a few changes to toughen up the CPU since we are all at schools considerably better then when we started.

How about trying these now that we are with better teams.

Difficulty: Heisman

Quarter Length: 8 minutes.

Speed: Normal

Threshold: 0

Game Play Sliders: User/CPU

QB Accuracy: 5 or 10/5
Pass Blocking: 40/40
WR Catching: 35/40
RB Ability: 55/75
Run Blocking: 0/50
Pass Coverage: 65/75
Interception: 35/40
Rush Defense: 45/65
Tackling: 50/50

Special Teams

FG Power: 45/40
FG Accuracy: 5/35
Punt Power: 20/45
Punt Accuracy: 50/50
Kickoff Power: 50/45

Penalties

Offside: 50
False Start: 50
Holding: 50
Face Mask: 55
OPI: 50
DPI: 50
KR/PR Inter: 50
Clipping: 55
Int Grounding: 75
RTP: 54
RTK: 50

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Escobar

How about trying these now that we are with better teams.

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:up:

The cpu accuracy needs to go up. Anytime I get a little pressure they throw it away way too early, sometimes right after they snap the ball. Our RB Ability needs to go down and the cpu needs to go up. I can easily get 5 yards per carry with a simple dive play almost eveytime. Also increase the cpu rush defense to help with that as well.

CPU QB Accuracy has nothing to do with them throwing the ball away when you pressure them. That is the way the game is programmed. It is related to the Roughing the Passer Penalty. If you turn it up too high the QB will just take off scrambling immediately whether or not they are a scrambling qb. Lower it too much and they just stand in the pocket and take sacks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Escobar

How about trying these now that we are with better teams.

Difficulty: Heisman

Quarter Length: 8 minutes.

Speed: Normal

Threshold: 0

Game Play Sliders: User/CPU

QB Accuracy: 5 or 10/5
Pass Blocking: 40/40
WR Catching: 35/40
RB Ability: 55/75
Run Blocking: 0/50
Pass Coverage: 65/75
Interception: 35/40
Rush Defense: 45/65
Tackling: 50/50

Special Teams

FG Power: 45/40
FG Accuracy: 5/35
Punt Power: 20/45
Punt Accuracy: 50/50
Kickoff Power: 50/45

Penalties

Offside: 50
False Start: 50
Holding: 50
Face Mask: 55
OPI: 50
DPI: 50
KR/PR Inter: 50
Clipping: 55
Int Grounding: 75
RTP: 54
RTK: 50

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Those are actually the exact sliders we have been using. :blush: When recommendations are made, I put in the consensus or best set recommended but don't announce the final set so people cannot get a pre-conceived notion of what will/might happen and then blame poor/odd performances on them.

Knowing this was/is the current set, what recommendations do people have?

FWIW, CPU QB Accuracy is set at 5.

How about:
- User RB Ability from 55 to 45
- CPU RB Ability from 75 to 80

-User RB Ability dropped to 45 is good.
-CPU QB Accuracy up, maybe 30-35
-CPU RB ability 85-90
-CPU Run Blocking 85-90
-CPU Pass Coverage 85-90
-CPU Rush Defense 70-75

Just my opinion, In my experience, its pretty easy to run the ball against the CPU.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by marcotte14

-User RB Ability dropped to 45 is good.
-CPU QB Accuracy up, maybe 30-35
-CPU RB ability 85-90
-CPU Run Blocking 85-90
-CPU Pass Coverage 85-90
-CPU Rush Defense 70-75

Just my opinion, In my experience, its pretty easy to run the ball against the CPU.

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I'm cool with changes in most of these areas. I don't think we need to go as drastic as some of these say but we can definitely up them.

The one suggestion here I have concern over is the CPU QB Acc. Anything over 10 and the CPU starts to complete 90+% of their passes considering the rest of our sliders. I messed around with them a lot at the beginning of the year and that is one thing I for sure figured out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HANDSWARD

I'm cool with changes in most of these areas. I don't think we need to go as drastic as some of these say but we can definitely up them.

The one suggestion here I have concern over is the CPU QB Acc. Anything over 10 and the CPU starts to complete 90+% of their passes considering the rest of our sliders. I messed around with them a lot at the beginning of the year and that is one thing I for sure figured out.

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True, so maybe not 90, but def. these areas need to higher. We all just seem to have a decent amount of blowout games. Maybe if the CPU had the ball a little longer, we wouldn't score in the 40-50 range regularly.

I made a few changes to the penalty sliders and it has definitely changed the way the game is playing with the sliders Escobar posted above which I believe is what we are currently using.

The changes I made were to drop User slider for RB ability to 45 (I was averaging about 4.4 with the RB ability at 55. I tested them at 45 and the run was better defended but was still racking up yards with the read option. The other change I made was to Kick off power by dropping it to 25...power kickers can still kick it out of the endzone at that low a setting.

Dropped the RBA for CPU to 65 because there were too many broken tackles at 75. If that is what people want we can leave it as is. Good RBs will be tough to bring down. Just played a game against Florida and Matt Jones was killing me with the run. He finished with 24 att and 136 yds rushing. Avg was 5.6 yds per carry. :up:

The one gameplay setting I changed was raising the speed threshold to 30. I had a few large runs by the CPU where I wasn't able to catch them from behind. Good angles to the runner are a must. We can leave it as is or change.

You can also change CPU QBA from 5 to 10 for more of a challenge though it seems like they were completing way too many passes at 10. With User QBA at 5 I was overthrowing alot of passes due to my QB's accuracy being low. Went 13 of 25 for 225 yds and 52% completion, 2 sacks and 3 INTs.

QB tendency definitely comes into play with these changes as Pocket Passers will throw the ball away if they sense pressure and Scrambling QBs will take off on you. We can tweak this one if necessary. I found that I ended up with more sacks against scramblers due to the fact they would take off towards the edge of the line and get sacked by a DE coming off a block. Ended up with six sacks against Florida. Still it makes you account for the QB on D. Also makes coverage tighter so it doesn't break down quite as much as when it is at a lower setting.

Anyway, just my .02.



Penalties

Offside: 99
False Start: 50
Holding: 99
Face Mask: 54
OPI: 60
DPI: 25
KR/PR Inter: 48
Clipping: 50
Int Grounding: 75
RTP: 50
RTK: 1

So i looking around and found this guys opinion on how sliders control different aspects of the game I would like your feed back since we are discussing sliders......

" Roughing kicker slider undoubtedly controls running game
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After 4 hours of testing in dynasty, the roughing the kicker slider dictates ease of rushing for user and CPU by affecting the angles and response time to ball carriers. The only way to really prove it is for you to take whatever setting u have and put it to 50 then play normally and see if u don't have much greater rushing yardage and YAC for that game. I was averaging 130 yards per game and just had 3 in a row with 200+ against top 25 teams playing as Uconn.

Just thought I'd share

Settings were AA 50 thresh normal speed
Run block 50
Run def 50
Run ability 50
Tackle 30
User and CPU same

Point is for anyone looking to tweak their running game easier or harder, 50 RTK=easy and 100=hard

According to kblovers testing it controls defensive aggresiveness."

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KBLover

Based on my observations - not claiming it's absolute, but it's what I've seen with a few examples on some of them to illustrate:

Offsides
Higher - Increases block shedding and acceleration/explosiveness at the snap (think of how some defenders try to 'guess' the snap - they are exploding off the line right at or just before the snap). This highlights "those who can't" i.e. the ones who are slower off the ball and are weaker at getting off blocks.

Lower - Causes the defenders to hold back more. They don't explode as much off the line (though high ACC defenders still DO come off the line). This highlights "those who can", the guys who can get off the ball, get off blocks, etc.

False Start

Basically like Offsides, but for Offensive Linemen/blockers on the play. Same thinking can be used - they are trying to 'cheat' and get a head start on their kick steps, blocking stance, pulling, etc

Holding

Higher: Increases duration of blocking engagements and success rate of defenders maintaining the block when a shed attempt is made (this is what sometimes triggers the holding animations and the penalty). This aids "those who can't", i.e. the guys who struggle in making and holding blocks - this helps them succeed at the cost of maybe triggering more penalties. This also causes those who ARE good to cause more penalties because some successes will be considered "illegal".

Lower: Decreases duration of blocking engagements and makes it more likely that defenders will shed blocks. This also decreases the number of holding animations (because the blocker will outright fail more often) and lowers penalty call possibilities. This highlights "both", the guys who can block and pancake and do all that good stuff without creating more mistakes. It also exposes the scrubs because they'll get no "help" and just suck.

This creates a frustrating trade off. If you want calls and those who suck to make penalties, you also have to give the good guys more likelihood to have "bad calls" against them. While that does happen - usually it's the guys who get beat, have bad awareness/technique, and have to "compensate" that tend to draw more flags.

Face Mask

Higher: May increase the "violence" of hits and the success/incidence of hit stick/Big Hitter tackles. Also increases the occurrence of the facemask animations and penalty call likelihood resulting. This may make most guys into hard hitters, regardless of POW.

Lower: May decrease the number big hits and decreases the number of facemask animations and calls. This may highlight POW more, even if they are "Big Hitter: Yes" players.

Defensive Pass Interference

Higher: Decreases the aggressiveness of the pass coverage. Think of it as the defender is worried about triggering a DPI call, so he plays back more and more conservatively. This is probably why we don't see more DPI with it up high.

Lower: Increases the aggressiveness of the pass coverage. The defender isn't worried about the penalty call and is going to make the most aggressive play he can. While this sounds like it always favors the defense, it can burn the defense if the defender is aggressive and/or has low AWR/PRC/MCV/ZCV.

Interesting thing here is that I think lower DPI is overall more help. Defenders tend not to have a lot of ball awareness - until an interception is "rolled up" (you can almost see it, the defender will take coverage/route to the ball with a different animation, etc). This doesn't create more of that animation (INT slider), but it lets more "free form" aggression to play out i.e. "I see the ball and I'm gonna swat it/pick it/attack that pass." I think lower plays out both the "Plays the Ball" trait and the AWR/PRC/MCV/ZCV of the defender better.

Offensive Pass Interference

Higher: The receivers run their routes more passively. Similar logic as above for DPI - the player is concerned about triggering OPI so there's "physicality" in the route running. This might also impact press coverage as well. If the WR are less physical in their routes and ball reactions, it would follow that press should last longer. Higher tends to emphasize "those who can" i.e. the guys who can run sharp routes, beat press coverage, make the special catch, hold on in traffic.

Lower: The receivers run their routes with aggression and physically. They worry less about OPI calls and will do what it takes to get the ball. They are more willing to play like Michael Irvin or other physical WRs. It follows that they'll also tend to go aggressively after passes and may beat press coverage more.

Depending on what you want - you can go either way here. If you want to make route running and ball skills more valuable, a higher setting works well (and I consider 50 "high" here - above that and it seems like you start killingeveryone's ability a bit much), if you want to make the scrubs instead of the higher end players stand out (i.e. you feel that just about every NFL player can run a decent or better route), a lower setting does that job well, imo.

Punt Catch Interference

Higher: All out, go get 'em, get that ball carrier, see that ball, close on it in the air, get there and make the tackle, smack that receiver and tackle that completion for no YAC. That's what higher tends to do. Defenders will see the ball, close on it's location and rally to tackle whoever ends up with it.

Lower: Defenders tend to play a little more cautiously. They want to "read" (such that it is in this game) more and wait until the play is a little closer to them to respond. Seem to worry more about being caught out of position than to anticipate what might happen next.

Creates another interesting trade-off. Deception may well work better on higher, though it might also create more of what some consider "psychic" play by the pursuit when the play is not deceptive*/defender is not fooled, etc. Lower, you might get guys not responding to what's in front of them sometimes, but they may be less pulled out of position because they aren't trying to shag anything that moves and do less "freelancing". So which is "right" - both. Depends on the kind of defense you want to emulate, disciplined, conservative, but sometimes too much so, or aggressive, attacking...but sometimes too much so. Each has strengths and weaknesses. I've used 0 and 100 - both extremes and anything in between can work.

For example, I have this on 100 and saw Rolando McClain abandon his zone because he thought Freeman was about to scramble into open space. Freeman saw that and hit his TE who beat the man coverage...right where McClain was...and I've done similar to the CPU.

*by deceptive, I don't mean just read options and PA. I mean reverses, counters, draws, incorrect committing (you do pass commit, CPU does shotgun draw), or a player making a mistake and recovering (he fooled himself, was fooled initially on a double move route, etc)

Clipping

Higher: Back to worrying about penalties - players are less inclined to make certain down field/open field blocks (perhaps it's the angle of the would be contact - and if it would cause clipping, the player doesn't do the block). Similar to holding, this may cause more mistakes from those who do often block down field (high IBL players?) or cause more otherwise legit blocks to animate and be called as clipping.

Lower: Players are more apt to just hit a defender. See defender, hit defender. See defender, block defender. Defender trying to get down field to cover kick/punt, chase defender hoping for a chance to hit defender. Good down field blockers won't get called as much on lower settings, but it might make poorer down field blockers more successful because they'll block more, and less likely to get called if they DO make a bad block.


Intentional Grounding

This might be my favorite one.

Higher: QB gets worried about pressure more. "Clock in his head" ticks faster, he thinks "I need to get rid of this ball. I NEED to get rid of this ball. ****! WHERE CAN I THROW THIS ******** BALL?!?!?!?!?!11!!!" And more often will tend to throw it away. "Shoot, I ain't tryin' to die for a football game."

Lower: QB doesn't want to abandon a play. Always wants to make something happen. It's the Ben Rothlisberger setting. QB thinks "I'm gonna find someone open. Just wait, someone will open up. They getting close, but I got time, someone will open up." Then when the pressure gets there:

QB will either force the ball, take the nearest open receiver, start to scramble, throw it away, manuever around until feeling safe, then repeat the above "Lower:" process - Josh Freeman did this to me in that game I just played - he moved around, didn't run, found someone open and hit him. His "Force Passes" is Ideal...

You can do so much with this slider because it also seems to determine when the above scenarios happen. Lower makes fewer "no one open, throw it away" situations - so coverage droops a bit. Higher can create more of those "throw it away" - Coverage might improve some. Lower makes the QB more patient. If everyone is covered 3 seconds into the play, he's more likely to keep looking. Higher makes the QB give up more - everyone covered in 1.5 seconds - screw it, throw it away.

This slider can help make the QB traits show up more. The value will depend on your other settings and what not, but I think lower will make the Force Passes trait really show out (especially if you have good coverage). Higher might make Sense Pressure show up (you might see the patient QBs do better than the Paranoid). What I'm still trying to figure out is which shows more degrading in play due to sacks/hits, and more impact on the User QB.


Roughing the Passer

Higher: In addition to creating more roughing the passer calls (almost literally, high enough and the QBs will take a dive to try to draw a flag even when grazed). Defenders will also understand it's two-hand touch on the QB and pull up more and be less aggressive getting to the QB.

Lower: All bets are off. QB is a football player and we'll treat him like one. Refs look the other way on MOST late hits on the QB (you can still get some roughing QB penalties). Best of all, the pass rush will get more determined and fierce, and when in trouble, QBs better think fast.

Lower seemed to get my pass rushing going. Guys like Von Miller really get after me when they are blitzing and if a DL gets free, they don't hesitate to go after the QB. I make sure I have to either roll out or check it down even before it might actually open up (anticipate the pressure, which creates chances for me to be deceived). For the CPU, it can help stop the throw-it-deep always type thing, forcing the CPU to check down or to use intermediate throws more.

The downside is that I can't draw as many flags as a scrambling QB throwing just before I'm hit. That was one of Terrelle Pryor's best attributes, er...I mean...

Roughing the Kicker

Higher: For whatever reason that only deities and whoever programmed this game knows, this seems to impact overall pursuit in all phases and activities in the game, decreasing it because...I don't know. It impacts more than just kicking situations. Perhaps it's a proxy for all late hit type penalties, like if you hit stick someone near the boundary. I actually got called for that recently.

Lower: Players don't care. They'll just go and hit and try to make tackles and such. Though, I haven't seen the CPU get called for a late hit like I did, but I know they've tried it. Just in the game I just finished, the CPU corner drove Denarius Moore into the ground about 5 yards out of bounds. Maybe this is why I saw a defender plant Robert Griffin III into ground...on a kneel down...WAY after the play...with no flag.

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A lot of great points maybe we should take some of these into consideration.

Anything to make the computer a little more competitive.

A lot of great points in Jokers article. If we lower intentional grounding, maybe the cpu QB wont throw the ball away as soon as its snapped?

Our teams are getting pretty good, so maybe we should look at some things to make the cpu more competitive.

My opinion
Increase - cpu wr catching,cpu run blocking, cpu pass cov, cpu rush D.
Decrease - user rb ability (maybe to 35-40), user rush D (maybe 35-40)

Keep the feedback coming! Thanks for the feedback, marcotte.

Hey I think we should look into make some recruiting restrictions to make the dyn a little more challenging. Here is my suggestions.............................

*Can only recruit and sign max of 5 players that are 4 star or higher
* Can only recruit 1 player nationally (all other recruits must be from a conference state, in my case SEC)
* Must cut any player recruited/assigned to your team by the CPU (for some bewildering reason, the CPU will add 1 to 3 players to my class, even though I've got recruiting assistance off.
* Only 1 redshirts per season and only allow 1 attempt per offseason to try to persuade a player to stay (when they declare or want to transfer)
* Only sign up to 70 players and not cut anyone that you signed.
* Cut all of the "phantom" recruits that the AI signs for you anyway. (even with all recruiting assists turned off) The game usually tries to get you as close to 25 signings as it can, so I've seen as many as 10 extra guys signed for me before and with 6* Michigan, some of these guys are really, really good (but not usually).

* Using the slowest progression rate so even though I'm in year 22 of my dynasty, I'm still only a level 31 coach (54 is max). (THIS ONE IS MAJOR TOO ME)
* Recruiting tree restrictions:
-You can only put 2 points into the following skills
• Royal Treatment
• Opener
• Closer
• Kitchen Sink (have to spend 3 points to get 20 point requirement. CANNOT SPEND MORE THAN 600 PER RECRUIT)
• Insta-commit (With these restrictions there are guys that you have to fight tooth and nail for as well as guys that you simply cannot sign, even as 6* Michigan. If I was allowed 3 points in royal treatment and kitchen sink, I could sign not only ANY recruit I wanted, but also EVERY recruit you want before the offseason, I know this from experience).
* When adding recruits during the season(not the preseason), I can only add someone that has me in his top 10 already. It WAAAAAAAAAAY too easy to find superstars midway through the season that have no one pursuing them. By requiring them to have me in their top 10, it really, really cuts down on the cheesy signings you can otherwise get.

* No more than 20% of a class can be ATHs.

I'm against any recruiting restrictions. I have spent all my progression on recruiting and I feel it is a big part of the mode. I enjoy recruiting and scouting and trying to find the best players. To put restrictions on it seem like the equivalent of saying "you must lose at least 2 CPU games a year on purpose".

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HANDSWARD

I'm against any recruiting restrictions. I have spent all my progression on recruiting and I feel it is a big part of the mode. I enjoy recruiting and scouting and trying to find the best players. To put restrictions on it seem like the equivalent of saying "you must lose at least 2 CPU games a year on purpose".

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I agree with Hands, I think we should focus on how to make the cpu more competitive without making it unrealistic.

What are your guys sliders

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Originally Posted by Matt10156

What are your guys sliders

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Read the above posts, there are the base sliders and adjustments from there.

Since are teams are pretty good, I want to suggest some slider modification.

Increase:
cpu pass block
cpu RB ability
cpu tackling

Decrease:
user run blocking
user pass blocking
user RB ability
user Rush def
user Tackling

These are just my suggestions, as it seems like most of us are just consistently blowing out the cpu.