The Ladder 2012 Season Thread

[TRO]

Something is definitely up with the CPU running game over the last several weeks. If we want to up human tackling, I'm ok with that.

I don't notice too many broken tackles against the CPU, but I am averaging close to 8 yards per carry, so a tweak is certainly warranted.

[MacroGuru]

I was actually going to come and complain about it. Last game and this game against teams I should have won I was destroyed and it was because of the running game. I had guys bouncing off of RB's, WR's and QB's.

I was frustrated, I am turning this Buffalo squad around and I have some nice young talent coming in, but I am not going to get anything but 1 and 2 star recruits coming if I never win...

[Kodos]

Yeah, we'll bump up CPU tackling too. Here are the rushing averages for the top rusher on each human-controlled team, along with their rating:

Kansas   8.0  89
Buffalo  7.2  67
Indiana  6.2  87
USC      4.9  87
Duke     4.8  88
USF      4.8  86
Rice     3.5  73

[TRO]

Well, fwiw, I don't know that these are that out of line:


Indiana 6.2 87
USC 4.9 87
Duke 4.8 88
USF 4.8 86
Rice 3.5 73

The KU and Buffalo totals are certainly outliers though.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Week 11 Results

EF27 breathes a sigh after USC wins in his absence.

Kansas 43, Kentucky 40
USC 23, Kent State 3
USF 24, Iowa State 14
Duke 24, Tulsa 16
Indiana 34, Memphis 27
North Texas 66, Buffalo 17
Fresno State 58, Rice 45

Sweet!!! I'll get my game in later tonight. Just got back and tired.. need a vacation from my vacation, but had an absolute blast! Best vacation of my life!

[Kodos]

Man. My D just can't get a stop. And I hate how defenders go for the ball so much more aggressively than my receivers do.

Needless to say, we lost.

[Kodos]

Glad you have a great vacation, EF27. You deserve one.

[Eaglesfan27]

Got my game in now... think I will pass out early tonight instead of an afternoon nap. I won 30-7 as we were a bit rusty. We are all set to advance

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Glad you have a great vacation, EF27. You deserve one.

Thanks!

[Kodos]

Week 12 Results

Kansas 35, Fresno State 23
USC 30, Wake Forest 7
USF 55, ECU 7
Duke 42, Colorado 41
Louisiana Tech 48, Indiana 38
Memphis 77, Buffalo 35

[Kodos]

#4 USC (9-0) at Northern Illinois (2-7)
#9 Kansas (9-0) at Iowa State (3-6)
#10 USF (8-1) at Kentucky (3-6)
#13 Rutgers (8-1) at #24 Duke (8-1)
Rice (5-4) at ECU (2-7)
Ball State (3-5) at Indiana (6-3)
Buffalo (2-7) at Washington State (8-1)

[MacroGuru]

Yeah...I don't know what to do against the run...honestly I can't stop it, no matter what I do..my guys bounce off of the RB, even if I get him behind the line of scrimmage. I do get stops, but if he gets through my DL, he is gone..my DB's and LB's have no hope of really tackling him.

Oh well, I am happy to have 2 wins this season.

[gstelmack]

I had one or two of the "can't tackle the guy" big runs against Kentucky, who has a star RB. How much of the problem is the high "running back ability" slider we have? I can't tell how much is the low tackling slider, how much is the RB ability slider turning everyone into Barry Sanders, and how much is the way NCAA works. But for me it's only an issue against "star" RBs, I don't have the problem against more normal talent, and I don't break very many tackles with my RBs.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Kodos

To go into effect in Week 15:

All-American
Time: 8 min.
Game Speed: Slow
Speed Threshold: 25

Offense (HUM/CPU)
QB Acc. 15/25
Pass Block 50/50
WR Catch 45/45
RB Ability 45/80
Run Block 20/55

Defense
Pass Coverage 40/50
Pass Rush 25/15
INT 25/3025
Rush Defense 10/55
Tackling 1525/1525

Special Teams
FG Power 45/45
FG Acc. 30/35
Punt Power 50/50
Punt Acc. 40/40
Kickoff Power 50/50

Here are the current sliders after the recent adjustment. Maybe knock CPU RB ability to 70 from 80?

[Eaglesfan27]

Sounds good to me.

[chesapeake]

I had an opposing RB break 4 and 2 tackles on long TD runs and a WR break 3 en route to another. He also caught a ball at the 1 despite being triple covered. I had a bad game.

[cartman]

I'm gonna need an extra day. I don't get home from this trip until Friday afternoon. I'll get my game in then.

[Kodos]

No problem, cartman. Thanks for letting me know.

[Eaglesfan27]

We took care of Northern Illinois 35-13, but we lost our star QB again, this time for 1-2 weeks.

[Kodos]

He seems a bit fragile.

[Kodos]

We're on to Week 14. Had to advance us using my phone. Comcrap internet is.down. supposed to come fix it Monday. Macro, will let you know when I am back in action for our game.

Edit: Here's the schedule

#3 USC (10-0) at Tulsa (7-3)
Kent State (4-6) at Duke (8-2)
#6 Kansas (10-0) at Rice (5-5)
#9 USF (9-1) at Temple (3-7)
Buffalo (2-8) at Indiana (7-3)

[gstelmack]

FWIW, things on the running game side felt better against Temple. They don't have a very good O-Line, but do have a decent RB. He was breaking tackles, but not at an obscene clip, and his biggest issue was the O-Line not able to break holes for him. Felt right. He did break one long one, but that was one of those crowd-the-line defensive calls by me, he broke one or two tackles at the line but then had no one else to beat.

There are other things that I don't think are ideal, but I don't think we can fix them without breaking NCAA, they are more the fault of the game. I think I have too many drops, basically whenever a receiver is hit within 2 steps of catching it, not matter how light the hit, he's going to drop it. But I generate enough offense that if I was making those, my B-rated offense would be piling up far more yards than it probably should. I also don't think I generate enough INTs, but again at the rate I'm knocking down bad throwing decisions by AI QBs, if it adjusts up much at all I'll be getting 4+ per game, and opposing teams already have a tough time scoring on me.

I'll be curious to see what happens as talent level goes up. I do like that talent levels really do matter right now. For example, my QB improved from last year, and he is definitely more accurate. I can steamroll lesser defenses, but have real trouble working against AI teams at a similar talent level, which feels right.

But right now, while the details may be broken, the overall effect seems pretty good. At least until we start really playing with the big boys, but then I don't truly have big boy talent yet, either.

[Kodos]

Alright. Hopefully I am back in business. Macro, when is good for you to play?

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Alright. Hopefully I am back in business. Macro, when is good for you to play?

I can play any night after 930 pm EST or Friday (Which I know is past the deadline) after 6 pm EST

[cartman]

It was a close game until right before halftime, when TRO got a 14 point swing by returning a fumble over 80 yards for a TD, and then added another 7 with yet another fumble recovery for a TD with less than 20 seconds until the half. He ended up getting the hat trick of fumble recovery TDs in the 4th quarter.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by MacroGuru

I can play any night after 930 pm EST or Friday (Which I know is past the deadline) after 6 pm EST

How about tonight at 9:45 or so?

[TRO]

It was a turnover fest in our game, that's for sure.

The first fumble return was a huge momentum swing as it was right after an interception deep in our own territory.

Both defenses really stood tough in the red zone.

[gstelmack]

My game with TRO taught me to pay more attention to "Adjustments" page...

[Kodos]

Aggressive settings?

[MacroGuru]

I can probably do 10 tonight.


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[Kodos]

Sounds good.

[Kodos]

Sorry for the delays. Was finishing up cleaning my fish tank.

[Kodos]

Fun game, Macro. Very even first half. Things got away from you in the second half. Losing the fumble after your successful punt fake must have been pretty frustrating. I think your team is coming along. While I am driving mine into the ground with poor recruiting. Last year, I grabbed too much low-hanging fruit. This year, I aimed higher and missed. Now I am scrambling just to fill needs.

Why can't we do mass subs in online games is beyond me. Isn't that where you would be most likely to want to do it?

[TRO]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Aggressive settings?

We do run a swarm and strip defense. Several of our settings are actually on conservative, but obviously, not all of them

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Fun game, Macro. Very even first half. Things got away from you in the second half. Losing the fumble after your successful punt fake must have been pretty frustrating. I think your team is coming along. While I am driving mine into the ground with poor recruiting. Last year, I grabbed too much low-hanging fruit. This year, I aimed higher and missed. Now I am scrambling just to fill needs.

Why can't we do mass subs in online games is beyond me. Isn't that where you would be most likely to want to do it?

Great Game...I felt good in the first half...I will admit, I threw a water bottle across the room with that fumble, that was a major game changer.

Your RB is a beast...and you bottled up my return man.

I also noticed I couldn't challenge a call, which I was trying to do on that play..so no mass subs and no coaches challenge on p vs p.

The negative, I lost a starting TE for the game and my starting RB for 4 weeks...I am done, Cleveland cannot handle the role of leader like Ingram did.

[Kodos]

Funny thing is, I strongly suspected a punt fake was coming, and called one of the punt coverages that is supposed to help contain that, but those plays are useless. I should have just called a regular defense.

In general, you were winning the kicking game. Your pooch kicks were giving my return men fits.

I think sometimes it won't let you challenge a call if it hasn't advanced to the playcalling screen yet. I believe you can challenge plays head-to-head. Could be wrong though.

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by Kodos

In general, you were winning the kicking game. Your pooch kicks were giving my return men fits.

Yeah, my special teams gunners suck, they are to slow and my punter has horrible hang time so I have had to figure out how to create a kicking game that doesn't hurt me...

[Eaglesfan27]

USC beat Tulsa 37-14 after jumping to a quick 28-7 lead. We are all set to advance.

[chesapeake]

I think I have a scheduled beating from USC coming up next. I am headed out of town for a wedding and won't be available to play until Tuesday at the earliest. Hopefully you can administer the thrashing that night, as I am usually booked up on Wednesdays.

[gstelmack]

I've got a scheduled matchup with Rice. Cartman, I'm out from Friday morning until Sunday afternoon, can play any other night, can usually start between 8:30 PM and 10:00 PM eastern (any later than that and I'll be falling asleep during the match).

[cartman]

Will Thursday (tomorrow) night work for you? I get home around 7pm Central from my trip.

[Kodos]

Week 14 results

USC 37, Tulsa 14
Kansas 38, Rice 16
USF 35, Temple 14
Duke 35, Kent State 10
Indiana 34, Buffalo 14

[Kodos]

We're on to Week 15. Some BIG matchups.

#23 Duke (9-2) at #3 USC (11-0)
#5 Kansas (11-0) at Temple (3-8)
Rice (5-6) at #9 USF (10-1)
Indiana (8-3) at Washington State (9-2)
Buffalo (2-9) at Ball State (4-6)

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by cartman

Will Thursday (tomorrow) night work for you? I get home around 7pm Central from my trip.

Sure, just post a time from 8:30 Eastern on and I'll log in.

[cartman]

Let's shoot for 9pm Eastern/8pm Central.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by cartman

Let's shoot for 9pm Eastern/8pm Central.

I'll look for you then!

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by chesapeake

I think I have a scheduled beating from USC coming up next. I am headed out of town for a wedding and won't be available to play until Tuesday at the earliest. Hopefully you can administer the thrashing that night, as I am usually booked up on Wednesdays.

Any chance you can play during the day tomorrow? If not, I will try to make time Tuesday night.

[gstelmack]

Good game cartman, the talent discrepancy was just too big with the rain and the home crowd. I did love how you chewed up almost the entire fourth quarter with that late drive. I do apologize for the spike at the start of the next drive, I hit "A" instead of "X" trying to call the QB kneel, and that dragged it out accidentally.

[cartman]

That was pretty brutal. I was 0 for 8 on 3rd downs, and my passing game never got started. Well, it did start with an INT. But I'd either have a horrible throw, or the guys would drop the pass. Once you got it to 38-0 in the 3rd, it was time to pack it in. Maybe I should have run that offense the whole game.

[MacroGuru]

I will play tonight and get my stuff simmed, I have been away all weekend

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