The Ladder 2018 - Bowl Season - Deadline is 11/29 (Sat) at 11 p.m. EST

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Not available right now. Will try again. Sometimes teams become available as you juggle other team's schedules. UCLA came free for USC that way.

4 vs #9 Clemson

1 at NC State
3 vs Maryland
4 vs #9 Clemson

Will try playing with schedule a little more after I get my daughter to bed.

[Eaglesfan27]

Now, I have used my scouting points. Thanks again for the reminder Kodos!

[Kodos]

Sorry, chesapeake. I can't get UNC on your schedule. I tried all the tricks I know.

[Kodos]

Welcome to Week 1 in NCAA 2014! Finally!

=============== Indiana Hoosiers (0-0) ===============
This week, the Hoosiers are idle.

=============== USC Trojans (0-0) ===============
This week, the Trojans will host #20 UCLA (0-0).

=============== Rice Owls (0-0) ===============
This week, the Owls will host #5 Georgia (0-0).

=============== Buffalo Bulls (0-0) ===============
This week, the Bulls are idle.

=============== Florida Atlantic Owls (0-0) ===============
This week, the Owls are idle.

=============== South Florida Bulls (0-0) ===============
This week, the Bulls will host UCF (0-0).

=============== UTSA Roadrunners (0-0) ===============
This week, the Roadrunners are idle.

=============== Duke Blue Devils (0-0) ===============
This week, the Blue Devils will host NC State (0-0).

[Eaglesfan27]

Awesome! I can't wait to beat the Bruins!

I should get my game in by tomorrow at the latest (I'm on call tonight and might play it tonight if I don't get too tired.)

[Julio Riddols]

Awww titties

[chesapeake]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Sorry, chesapeake. I can't get UNC on your schedule. I tried all the tricks I know.

Disappointing, but thanks for the effort. I guess I will just have to vent all of my rivalry aggressions on NC State.

If you can't go to college, go to State!

My junior year, when we played NC State at home the devil entered the stadium driving a tractor with a headband that read, "Welcome, fellow scholars!" That one still cracks me up.

[Eaglesfan27]

USC starts off with a 23-6 win over UCLA. WE had to settle for FG's on most of our drives and Thurman didn't have huge stats. I feel bad that I didn't get a better WR this year. Still, he was mostly efficient with 19 of 28 pasing for 214 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT. His run numbers would have been much better if he wasn't sacked 5 times.

JR star RB Greg Alexander just missed 100 yards with 17 carries for 99 yards. JR Justin Wilkinson added 5 runs for 73 yards.

Receiving stats were spread all over the place with 4 receivers leading the team with 3 catches and 3 more with 2.

Star MLB Alex Monroe led the defense with 12 tackles (but no sacks.)

[gstelmack]

Missed this yesterday, I'll try and get my game in tonight.

[Julio Riddols]

My recruiting is done.

[chesapeake]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

Missed this yesterday, I'll try and get my game in tonight.

Ditto.

[CU Tiger]

Ready to advance.
We are really going to need a good year on the field, feels like a major step back in recruiting. Last season in 13 was the first I could compete for some 4*...
This season I will likely be signing 2* as we are only 60 to 90 bonus points on most targets.

My favorite part of the game is recruiting this is going to really test my skills there...I like it!

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

Ready to advance.
We are really going to need a good year on the field, feels like a major step back in recruiting. Last season in 13 was the first I could compete for some 4*...
This season I will likely be signing 2* as we are only 60 to 90 bonus points on most targets.

My favorite part of the game is recruiting this is going to really test my skills there...I like it!

Yeah, recruiting is MUCH harder this version. I think this will probably end up being a much lower rated class than I have been bringing in the past.

[cartman]

My team got nerfed in the conversion.

Got blown out by Georgia, and rushing was pitiful. My HB had 19 carries for 23 yards.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Yeah, recruiting is MUCH harder this version. I think this will probably end up being a much lower rated class than I have been bringing in the past.

Yep...add in that I have almost all D-...I can only recruit guys in FL...luckily we got a great class last year we can lean on.

Ive got a couple of high 50s guys on the board right now.

[chesapeake]

I was very fortunately to emerge with a win against a vastly inferior (on paper) NC State team. Their 4 and 5 man rushes pounded my QB repeatedly, hitting him on just about every play and sacking him 9 times. One of those sacks, when a DT blew past my C (skill level of 92) and hit my QB before he finished his drop back, resulted in a fumble which was returned for State's only TD of the game. Their kicker was incredible, hitting 6-6 FGs, several from +40 yards.

Admittedly, my O line has a couple of weak points -- I think I've got 2 guys in the low 90s, a high 80s, low 80s and my RG is right at 80 -- but 9 sacks and no time to throw against a crapbucket like NC State raises some flags for me. I see USC got sacked a bunch, too. I'll be interested to hear how others fare.

[Kodos]

Maybe the OS guys are just better than us?

We can always try to modify them a bit. Or try EF's sliders. I would love to be able to put the whole sliders thing to bed at some point.

[chesapeake]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Maybe the OS guys are just better than us?

I freely admit that this is the most likely reason, which is why I am curious to see what happens other teams in our dynasty when they play.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Maybe the OS guys are just better than us?

We can always try to modify them a bit. Or try EF's sliders. I would love to be able to put the whole sliders thing to bed at some point.

Originally Posted by chesapeake

I freely admit that this is the most likely reason, which is why I am curious to see what happens other teams in our dynasty when they play.

I know there are a lot of guys on OS better then me. I am good with whatever we do with sliders but I think there is a good chance I lose to Alabama with these sliders.

If we do decide to tweak, I have thought of a few suggestions.

[Kodos]

Open to suggestions. God knows I am not a god on the sticks.

[CU Tiger]

I dont have a game this week but I played around in practice mode to see how my team converted....

I'm...concerned for next week.

The only issue I have with EF27's sliders is I think they unfairly favor the passing offense. They make passing too easy IMHO and make running too difficult.


I really think the last version of OS sliders before these were much better in my limited testing so far.

I almost wish we would just run stock AA sliders and let everyone score a ton. We wll all meet at the top of the polls in a few seasons and sort it out there.

[Kodos]

So far, people haven't seemed wild about that previous OS version that we are currently running in the Pyramid.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by Kodos

So far, people haven't seemed wild about that previous OS version that we are currently running in the Pyramid.

I wasnt "crazy" about the last version either. Thats precisely why I stopped evolving with them about 3 versions ago. They had a good gamplay balance I thought and then got cute trying to trigger more animations.
Again I havent played many gams with this newest set, but I seem to see a bunch of ball batting from everyone, including Dlinemen that I havent previously seen and a general loss of speed.

I'm really curious to see how my Ladder team plays because in practice last night it was...bad.

Please dont take this as bitchin..its frustration with EA more than anything. I just long for the time when we can get something playable and adapt and go.

[gstelmack]

This is why I've always been anti-slider - they are so particular to how a player plays and what they are good at or bad at, it's hard to get a set that balances for everyone. I had hopes for these because they said "coach only", which I assumed meant they were tested with just playcalling, no joystick-jockeying, but I'm disappointed at what I'm hearing so far.

I think we had more fun with 13 when we didn't touch the sliders much at all than when we were on 12 and kept tinkering. I don't want to get back to tinkering. I'd rather go with the "AA and leave it all alone" than keep tinkering.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Open to suggestions. God knows I am not a god on the sticks.

If we just modified these sliders, I would do the following:

Take tackling down to 50 (or lower) for both.

Up Human pass blocking at least 1 or 2 ticks.

Take CPU RB Ability down to at least 70 and up human to 50.

Up Human run blocking to 5.

Take interceptions down to 30 for each (or lower.)

[Eaglesfan27]

Dola -

But, I'm fine with whatever we do. I can enjoy the game with whatever sliders we use.

[Julio Riddols]

Funny, with EF27's sliders I found the pass game incredibly hard. QB's are generally very inaccurate on throws over 10-15 yards. Bullet passes are near impossible.

On the OS sliders, I had receivers open all day long. It was as if the defense had no idea how to cover anyone on either side of the ball. When you throw for almost 500 (600?) yards with the Wyoming offense, something is up in my opinion.

[Julio Riddols]

I'd like to get a game in with this team before I make an assessment with whatever sliders we're using here, however.

[Kodos]

I'm starting to agree with Greg about no sliders. It just seems impossible to strike a good balance.

[CU Tiger]

I'm good with whatever.

Just for observational purposes.
I played another game tonight. The one thing I noticed is RB cuts are nearly gone. There are no more crisp cuts

[Julio Riddols]

No sliders works too.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

I wasnt "crazy" about the last version either. Thats precisely why I stopped evolving with them about 3 versions ago. They had a good gamplay balance I thought and then got cute trying to trigger more animations.
Again I havent played many gams with this newest set, but I seem to see a bunch of ball batting from everyone, including Dlinemen that I havent previously seen and a general loss of speed.

I'm really curious to see how my Ladder team plays because in practice last night it was...bad.

Please dont take this as bitchin..its frustration with EA more than anything. I just long for the time when we can get something playable and adapt and go.

Do you still have the sliders that you thought worked?

My one hesitation with stock AA is that it then becomes too easy.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Do you still have the sliders that you thought worked?

My one hesitation with stock AA is that it then becomes too easy.

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

Ok...here are my thoughts.

OPI and DPI need to be turned way down or passing is way too easy.
Penalty sliders dont just effect penalties called they also effect how AI plays. So with PI at 50 they play HUGE cushions.

The OS community sliders have them at O20 D19....I think we need to seriously consider this. It makes passing a challenge and lets you play defense.

If you do this however and leave INTs at 25 they will be too high. 15-20 INts would be better with the lower PI setting.

Intentional grounding should be turned up to eliminate the quick snap throw aways. I run that setting at 90 personally.

Heck...Im just going to post my sliders I play (and are used in other OL dynasties I am in and let everyone weigh in)

Offensive Skill - Heisman
Defensive Skill - All-American
Speed: Normal
Threshold: 5
Quarters - 9 minutes

Sliders
User/CPU

QB Accuracy: 30/55
Pass Blocking: 35/35
WR Catching: 35/35 (This negates the QBA bump and brings the Catching ability of WR into play)
RB Ability: 50/50
Run Blocking: 5/25
Pass Coverage: 75/30
Interception:20/20
Rush Defense: 35/50
Tackling: 30/30
FG Power: 60/60
FG Accuracy: 5/40
Punt Power: 35/50
Punt Accuracy: 50/80
Kickoff Power: 0/45

Subs
QB 0/1
HB 59/70
FB/TE 35/36
WR 64/65
OL 0/1

DT 84/85
DE 84/85
LB 0/1
CB 0/1
S 0/1

Penalties

50 for all except.

Rk 15 (this generates a rush and occasionally you will see a blocked punt...maybe 1 per season either way)
IG 90
OPI/DPI 20/19

That said...these aren't "perfect" either. But you can win games handidly against teams you should and get beat badly by teams you shouldnt all while feeling like you have some control over the game.



That said, I think one fundamental issue is that the OS teams tries to make NCAA play like a real life NFL game.

College games are full of big "chunk" plays. Scores on average are higher than NFL games and the margin of victory is, on average, much higher. There are comparatively few tight games in college.

[Eaglesfan27]

On first glance, these are much more in line with my preferred type of sliders. College tackling isn't that good in most games I watch and I always think the interception slider needs to be lowered. I might get a game in with them in my solo dynasty today.

Edit: Playing now. I'm in the college football frame of mind

[Eaglesfan27]

My USC team in my solo dynasty is loaded. Kessler is a 90 plus QB, we have 3 90 plus WR's (as Lee came back for his senior year, plus Agholor, and Farmer.) We have a great stable of RB's. We clearly outclassed Oregon State and I struggled to beat them with the slider set we used in week 1 of this dynasty although I did eventually pull ahead for a 35-16 win.

With the set that CU Tiger posted, I played Cal who is a bit worse than Oregon State. I crushed them 35-0 at the half, 56-0 after 3 quarters when I pulled my starters and 70-7 for a final. Here were some of the key stat lines:

Kessler: 21 of 25 for 257 yards with 3 TD's 0 INT's and 4 sacks. If I tried to throw deep, time in the pocket was an issue. Most of my offense consisted of short quick passes with a few intermediate passes and 1 long bomb mixed in.

Alford (my true Freshman QB who is a pure scrambler with a strong but inaccurate arm) - 3 of 6 for 23 yards and 1 sack.

Zach Kline - a 78 rated QB for Cal who is a pocket guy mostly: 10 of 36 for 122 yards with 1 TD and 6 INT (he floated some ugly passes. Worth mentioning I don't do user interceptions. All of them were CPU interceptions.)

Tre Madden - a Power back who was completely ineffective with the harder sliders was effective with these sliders: 18 carries for 80 yards and 2 TD's with 1 fumble. He had 37 yards after contact.

Ernest Dykes - a True Freshman #1 rated player in the country with 95+ speed and acceleration - 16 carries for 106 yards and 3 TD's and 17 yards after contact.

Cory Alford - My scrambling QB has 94 acceleration and 93 speed - 8 carries for 56 yards and 6 after contact.

Bigelow (Cal's best player with a 91 rating) - 11 carries for 62 yards. They abandoned the run by late in the 2nd quarter and most of his damage was done in the 1st.

Lee - (my 99 rated WR who was also held in check with the other sliders but did well here) - 7 catches for 104 yards and a TD.

Agholor (90 rated WR) - 4 catches for 103 yards with 62 yards after the catch. 1 TD.

Farmer (91 rated WR) - 2 catches for 33 yards.

Greg Townsend (backup DE rated 88 overall as our front 7 is very highly rated but struggled in the other game with the other sliders) - 5 tackles, 3 sacks.

Leonard William (94 rated DE) - 3 tackles, 2 sacks.

Sophomore S (rated 89 overall) Su'A Cravens - 2 passes deflected and 2 INT's.

CB Kevon Seymour (rated 89 overall) - 2 Interceptons.


These sliders from CU are definitely easier. But, I think they are harder than default All-Pro and I think they are likely to be more enjoyable than the other set of sliders for the majority of players. CU's sliders have my vote for moving forward and I'm going to keep using them in my solo dynasty.

[Eaglesfan27]

Dola -

I do like the challenge of the other sliders and I'm good with whatever we do.

[Julio Riddols]

Lets play with em a while and see how things go, if people just aren't being challenged or if the CPU routinely sucks at passing, we can adjust as needed.

[Julio Riddols]

If we review em every 4 weeks or so, I think we can slowly zero in on the right settings.

[Kodos]

So let's give CU's sliders a try, with AA as a fallback.

[gstelmack]

I'll get my game in soon so I can post my impressions and we can move on. Been a busy couple of days.

[gstelmack]

We won 21-13, which was tighter than it should have been given the talent level. Thoughts in order of impact:

- I could NOT get a running game going to save my life. This seemed to mostly be a lack of run blocking by my O-Line, as opposed to tackling being too high (although it is a bit, thoughts more below). My only decent runs came from the outside, with my only successful inside run coming when my RB got tripped up at the line and stumbled forward for a 5 yard gain. My O-Line should have been better than that.

- I threw 3 picks, 2 were of the bullshit variety. I threw right to the MLB on the first one (my fault, misread the defense), tried to hit a curl route but my QB threw the streak route right to the defender playing off my receiver (who was wide open after the curl), and one on a wide-open corner route that I'm still not sure how the safety broke fast enough and made the pick.

- I took too many sacks. A couple I held the ball too long, but again my O-Line should have done better here. Not as bad as the run blocking, but a small nudge in pass blocking seems deserved.

- Passing game for me was not all that bad overall. Turn the two picks into passes defensed and I'm probably okay with the sacks.

- We could not cover his receivers to save our lives, they were just way too wide open on way too many plays. My secondary is better than that.

- His running game seemed about right, although yes we could use a few more broken tackles. Not many though, a slight nudge. Biggest issue here was the typical NCAA "ignore the run game", although UCF's best players are at QB and WR so it was not really bad tactics on his part.

Seems like human run blocking needs a major push, pass blocking MAYBE a minor push, we need something to keep human secondary covering somewhat better, tackling needs a nudge down on both sides (but just a nudge).

I agree with the above that this felt like a Madden game, not a mismatched college game (I had a definite edge in both matchups here, should have scored more). I don't think it should have been a blowout, but I struggled more than I should have, especially in the running game.

[Kodos]

Sliders for Week 2.

Originally Posted by Kodos

Okay. Sliders are set as follows:
AA
Default
Pass Acc and Ints set to 30 for both humans and cpu
Min speed 5

[Kodos]

Welcome to Week 2! New AA sliders are in effect, and my apologies to everyone who had to play with the crappy ones in Week 1.


=============== #25 USC Trojans (1-0) ===============
Last week, USC won 23-6 against UCLA (0-1).
This week, the Trojans are idle.


=============== South Florida Bulls (1-0) ===============
Last week, South Florida won 21-13 against UCF (0-1).
This week, the Bulls will host #9 Alabama (0-1).


=============== Duke Blue Devils (1-0) ===============
Last week, Duke won 28-25 against NC State (0-1).
This week, the Blue Devils are idle.
In recruiting news, the following Duke targets have announced their decisions:
- (****) WR Brandon Paris has committed to Virginia Tech


=============== Indiana Hoosiers (0-0) ===============
Last week the Hoosiers were idle.
This week, the Hoosiers will host #17 Michigan (0-0).


=============== Buffalo Bulls (0-0) ===============
Last week the Bulls were idle.
This week, the Bulls will host Penn State (0-0).


=============== Florida Atlantic Owls (0-0) ===============
Last week the Owls were idle.
This week, the Owls travel to Monroe to face the UL Monroe Warhawks (0-1).


=============== UTSA Roadrunners (0-0) ===============
Last week the Roadrunners were idle.
This week, the Roadrunners travel to Athens to face the #4 Georgia Bulldogs (1-0).
In recruiting news, the following UTSA targets have announced their decisions:
- (***) K Ricardo Duncan has committed to Texas


=============== Rice Owls (0-1) ===============
Last week, Rice lost 37-13 against Georgia (1-0).
This week, the Owls are idle.

[Julio Riddols]

Opening up against number 4, nice.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Julio Riddols

Opening up against number 4, nice.

Hopefully the new sliders will give you a chance. I couldn't do anything against them in week 1.

[MacroGuru]

Penn State, Awesome!

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by cartman

Hopefully the new sliders will give you a chance. I couldn't do anything against them in week 1.

Sorry you got hosed in the whole sliders thing.

[Julio Riddols]

Well, Georgia was tough as shit, we were down 31-20 with 4 minutes left, but scored with 2:25 or so left, then forced a 3 and out and returned a punt 21 yards to set up a go ahead TD with about 30 seconds left. This put us up 2, because we had gone for 2 on the prior drive. Georgia promptly came out and completed a pass to move the ball toward mid field, but we managed to get some heat on them and finish the damn job.

My starting passer threw 4 picks on 8 incompletions, including 3 inside the 10 yard line. The Georgia coverage was fooling me badly early on. I tried twice to go to the curl route on plays where they had a LB drifting over and I thought I could still muscle it in. They also made me pay on the first play of the game when I hit the wrong button, lobbing a soft one out to my RB in the flat, who was covered like a blanket.

When the backup passer came in, he was sharper, although he was picked on a deep ball where I thought my speedy tall WR had the D beat, and then picked again on a pass to a WR who was running a short curl and decided to try and turn upfield before catching the ball. The DB just stepped under him for that one.

Their pass attack was brutally efficient until we finally figured out how to get some pressure on their guy. He started 15/16 but finished 25/32 and a lot of those late incompletions were crucial. We had been playing very aggressive run D early on, which I think was our main problem against the pass.

Ended up with the number one rated game when it was all said and done.

[MacroGuru]

We destroyed Penn State. I had the backups in at halftime and we won by a lot.

[CU Tiger]

We won.
I like that the new sliders let more of the animations and controls work. Is nice to be able to spin or bull rush a DE and see results.

Now 15 sacks may be a bit much...but it is nice to see the results. Not sure how much of that was the cupcake we played