Ladder and Pyramid - New rule proposal

[Kodos]

Please vote.

[Radii]

I know the slider/difficulty discussion is a constant one and its really hard to get right, but if this is happening enough to consider this kind of rule, then we need to look at making things more difficult, not implementing house rules to keep stats in line. If someone can win a game 100-0 and they want to do that, more power to them. If too many people are doing it too frequently, make it harder to do.

[CU Tiger]

I voted no and I want to explain why. It is more to do with the Ladder than the Pyramid. I think my FAU tea in the Ladder got squashed in the conversion. We were competing with everyone for top recruits last season, as evidence by EF27 and I going head to head on a 5 star QB/ATH until the end.

With the new conversion I am far and away the lowest ranked team in recruiting points. And have D-s across the board. Simply put I can not compete in recruiting right now. I know 2014 recruiting inside and out. I have over 60 SP seasons logged and 20+ MP seasons logged. And by logged I mean tracked and spreadhseeted with recruiting results, bonus points etc. Wewill struggle to field a recruit class this year. I am actually looking for 4* busts that no one wants because the # of 4 * will impact my contender ranking and help future recruiting classes even if I cut them in camp. Of my 35 recruits on my board only 2 have more than 100 bonus points and a solid 11 have 5 or 0 bonus points. This is more difficult than any SP dynsaty I have ever tried, even starting with a zero team builder and this should be year 5 of our progression. All of that is ok, I like the challenge. The only thing I have to compete against the field is my ability to try and level up my coach as quickly as possible. That is why I am throwing the ball an drunning jet sweeps up 50 late in the game.

I submit again that this isn't unrealistic. For an example: IRL Clemson a top 25 school, plays SC State this weekend. They will likely score 50 and win by 35 and rest the starters the entire 4th quarter if not the entire second half. If they wanted to they could easily score 100 IRL. They choose not to because of interpersonal relationships, and human decency not wanting to humiliate opposing kids. Opposing computer coaches dont have relationships with me and opposing computer bytes dont have emotions and dont feel humiliation. As such I feel no shame running up the score.

Here is the deal, if the rule is implemented, it just means we will go more cheesy and call 4 verts in the hurry up mode and score in 1 play instead of 5. maybe interceptions will be increased...

At this point in the evolution of The Ladder we SHOULD all be top teams. We have been playing for nearly a decade of seasons. I for one am interested (and scared of the logistical nightmre at the same time) to see the entire human field comprising the top tier conference.

I feel like we are trying to squash button mashing skills, and Im not sure how we do that unless we make it a coach only league.

All that said, I am clearly opinionated here but it is still all in fun. If you make a rule that I hav eto punt on 3rd down I will still try to hang around and beat everyone. Its not running me off, I guess I just dont see how some people are having their fun spoiled by others doing well.

Heck lets crank it up to Heisman difficulty, turn speed diff to 5 and we can all go 1-11 and neve rcompete for top recruits...Im down. I still want to lead the game in rushing yards

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

With the new conversion I am far and away the lowest ranked team in recruiting points. And have D-s across the board. Simply put I can not compete in recruiting right now. I know 2014 recruiting inside and out. I have over 60 SP seasons logged and 20+ MP seasons logged. And by logged I mean tracked and spreadhseeted with recruiting results, bonus points etc. Wewill struggle to field a recruit class this year. I am actually looking for 4* busts that no one wants because the # of 4 * will impact my contender ranking and help future recruiting classes even if I cut them in camp. Of my 35 recruits on my board only 2 have more than 100 bonus points and a solid 11 have 5 or 0 bonus points. This is more difficult than any SP dynsaty I have ever tried, even starting with a zero team builder and this should be year 5 of our progression. All of that is ok, I like the challenge.

At least one of my initiatives to make things less of a cakewalk for humans is working.

In general, it seems like I am in the minority in my desire to make it a bit less routine to easily win games against the Top 25 (or at least tone down the human stat whoring). I s'pose that's okay. That's what solo careers are for. And I've certainly stat-whored myself in the Ladder at times. The season where Matt Jones won the Heisman, I was getting the ball to him as much as I could, even late in games. So I understand. And the game certainly rewards running the score up. It just annoys the immersionist part of me a bit. The whole leveling-up thing adds a certain gaminess to NCAA 2014. I'll just have to live with it.

[CU Tiger]

Tusculum allowed minus-100 total yards and minus-124 yards rushing to set NCAA single-game records in both categories Thursday night in a 71-0 victory over the College of Faith in Greeneville, Tennessee.

Tusculum (1-0), a Division II school, had three safeties, which tied a D-II mark, according to the Pioneers' website.

The previous record for fewest total yards allowed was minus-69, by Division II school Fort Valley State against Miles in 1993. The previous record for fewest yards rushing allowed was minus-112, by Division III program Coast Guard against Wesleyan (Connecticut) in 1989. Fort Valley State also had three safeties against Miles in '93.



It could be worse

I agree on the gaminess part. Unfortunately even if you turn coach progression off, CPU coaches progress and steal all your recruits.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Kodos

In general, it seems like I am in the minority in my desire to make it a bit less routine to easily win games against the Top 25 (or at least tone down the human stat whoring).

I'm not routinely easily winning games against the top 25. I'm scraping to do it.

[Kodos]

Mine were non-contests, but different teams. I suspect Bama is tougher than Louisville.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Kodos

In general, it seems like I am in the minority in my desire to make it a bit less routine to easily win games against the Top 25

I'm all for this. I know everyone is at different skill levels, but in The Pyramid, I have the worst rated human team and I think its not even close? S Alabama was rated 68 OVR and playing basically in the SEC. Once we lowered the difficulty only one of my last three games was close, and I never really felt like I was going to lose that one if I'm honest. These were all teams rated 93-98 OVR.

I played two human teams last year, the style of play I played against you guys is exactly how I play against the CPU. Zero option plays, only occasional 4 verts (though I think in NCAA14 short/medium passing is better anyway).

It seems like at least Gramm and CU Tiger are having similar results, albeit with better rosters.

If some guys still struggle, no problem, but my perspective is that with the current sliders, basically every facet of the game is too easy without gimmick plays, just with smart play calling. My style of play (lots of grind it out play, lots of 3rd downs, just w/ a high conversion rate, lots of 12+ play drives) is never going to lead to the wild 70+ scores that some guys get, just a lot of 42-21 type wins against teams rated way way higher.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Mine were non-contests, but different teams. I suspect Bama is tougher than Louisville.

Bama was my easiest (I still think there's an overflow or something going on, a 99-rated team should not be losing like they are, especially not to other AI teams). Florida (at home) and Georgia (on the road) I had to work for.

[Kodos]

Mine were home games. I don't know how big a factor that was. But #6 Louisville and #17 Michigan were basically never competitive in our games against them. Purdue, whose roster was rated similar to ours (I think slightly better than ours) only scored a field goal after I turned it over deep in my territory. We beat them 50-3. Michigan, we were up 30-0 at the half.

[Grammaticus]

I can go either way. I don't really like forcing chew clock as you cannot ever call much of an audible. I would rather just manually slow down. Maybe requiring the human teams to put in second string players when up by 30 and in the second half. Or something like that. Maybe you have to take out your first string QB, RB and WR.

[Kodos]

My main hesitation with that is I had at least two instances in NCAA 2013 where I manually put in my second string and then had the game freeze before I finished it. I haven't had freezing issues with 2014, but it is EA we are working with here.

[chesapeake]

If you can run up the score, I say go for it. I aspire to be good enough to run up the score on someone.

[CU Tiger]

played around a bit with chew clock as I hadnt previously used it.
One frustrating thing was plays with designed pre snap motion...(like where a FB shuffle steps to one side and then blocks) you cant run because of a delay of game penalty.

Not a huge deal just ignorant on EA's part.

[Grammaticus]

I'll throw this slider option out again. It came from the old Utopia website. A group of guys used it in a league where they had a wide variety of user skill level. I did not play in that league, so I don't have personal experience. They said it made things a little harder for the high skill players without completely overwhelming the lower stick still players. They also had all of their players in one conference, so most of their games were user vs user.

I have used in a solo dynasty to try it out. I did not find it hard, but it is more difficult than AA standard, etc. It might be a valid compromise.

My suggestion would be to load the sliders and play at least two short games in exhibition with a team that is similar to your dynasty team. You can eve peg the quarters at 4 minutes to make it go fast. But that should give you an idea of how they would work.

It splits the offense / defense on AA / Heisman.

Difficulty/Clock Settings
Offensive Skill: All-American
Defensive Skill: Heisman
Quarter Length: 7 or 8 Minutes (I have used both).
Game Speed: Normal
Speed Threshold: 25

Penalties
Offsides: 58
False Start: 55
Holding: 58
Facemask: 58
Offensive Pass Interference: 80
Defensive Pass Interference: 80
Clipping: 55
Intentional Grounding: 100
Roughing the Passer: 54
Roughing the Kicker: 100

House Rules (User/CPU)
QB Accuracy: 10/25
Pass Blocking: 30/30
WR Catching: 40/40
RB Ability: 50/45
Run Blocking: 50/50
Pass Coverage: 70/60
Interceptions: 70/60
Rush Defense: 50/60
Tackling: 60/50
FG Power: 25/45
FG Accuracy: 35/40
Punt Power: 35/55
Punt Accuracy: 45/50
Kickoff Power: 40/50

[CU Tiger]

I have played with those when you suggested them before and agree they were nothing crazy...only thing I will say is this: with 100% Intentional Grounding the CPU QB will NEVER throw the ball away...those 8-9 sack games will become 15s I would think.

[gstelmack]

Lowering pass blocking seems counter to what I've been seeing when playing my games.

[Grammaticus]

I guess splitting defense on Heisman and offense on AA, along with other sliders impacts the overall set. Also, depends on your stick skills and pass reads.

I can only recommend that you give it a try.