Any way to make recruiting more difficult?

[SecretSquirrel30]

I agree not over-signing is a great rule to have in place. The rest are all meh in my opinion. Recruiting is as fun as playing the game to me. I love spending time digging around trying to find guys I can steal that aren't initially interested in my team. Also if you limit yourself to 500 points per recruit and you are going up against CPU Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, etc, and they have 700 points, they will beat you for that recruit far more often than not. For that reason I don't like the 500 pts thing either. I think not oversigning or I'm in a league where you can take 4 over the amount of SRs you graduate to take into account transfers and underclassmen declaring for the NFL.

[jello1717]

In every NCAA game I've limited myself to only signing enough to get to 70 total players.

So far in my Michigan offline I haven't used any restrictions. Starting as a lvl 1 on slow progression it took me until 2019 to get to 23 points in my recruiting tree. Once I got that I signed probably the most ********ly good recruiting class I've ever gotten in an NCAA game (where I've always used restrictions before). I signed 7 5*, 9 4*, and 2 3* with an average OVR rating of 78.

Starting in 2020 the restrictions I've decided on was to limit my recruiting coach tree by not allowing myself to max out some of the overpowered skills. I only allow myself to get 2/3 for these skills:

• royal treatment
• opener
• closer
• kitchen sink (I actually needed to put 3/3 in order to open up the top tier, but I limit myself to only 600 max per recruit)
• insta-commit
• letter of intent

Limiting myself to only 2/3 for insta-commit, kitchen sink, and royal treatment should go a LONG way towards limiting the ridiculously easy recruiting with a full tree.

[JLoco11]

I've never personally agreed with the "no oversign" house rule. I know some like it, but if you have a 95 rated JR player, there is a good chance he's going to declare for the draft.

In the game, it's pretty easy to sway them to come back, but say you get that one person who leaves... and decided to gamble and not recruit for that position. You could be left thin.

Personally, I go for 2-3 star players for depth. Fill the open slots, and with the remaining scholarships of the 25, go for depth players.



Also, "easy" recruiting also depends on the school. Judging by a Longhorn avatar, that's probably one of the more easier schools to recruit for. Top notch pitch grades, Texas recruits, access to Florida & Cali without losing Dealbreakers on location.

Recruiting is more of a challenge in areas with less talent, at smaller schools. Like UMass or Uconn with limited access to top recruits. Or Minnesota who will fight Michigan & Ohio schools for their recruits. That makes chase of a recruit even more challenging.

[canesfins]

Just to prove how easy it gets once your a powerhouse with a full recruiting skill tree. Week 1 I got 5 4/5* star auto commits.

[DFogarty3]

When your a head coach just make sure your game management and recruiting points are equal. It helps keep your recruiting bonuses down and makes it a bit harder to recruit against the major schools as you level up.

[thelasthurtknee]

Quote: Originally Posted by JLoco11

I've never personally agreed with the "no oversign" house rule. I know some like it, but if you have a 95 rated JR player, there is a good chance he's going to declare for the draft. In the game, it's pretty easy to sway them to come back, but say you get that one person who leaves... and decided to gamble and not recruit for that position. You could be left thin. Personally, I go for 2-3 star players for depth. Fill the open slots, and with the remaining scholarships of the 25, go for depth players. Also, "easy" recruiting also depends on the school. Judging by a Longhorn avatar, that's probably one of the more easier schools to recruit for. Top notch pitch grades, Texas recruits, access to Florida & Cali without losing Dealbreakers on location. Recruiting is more of a challenge in areas with less talent, at smaller schools. Like UMass or Uconn with limited access to top recruits. Or Minnesota who will fight Michigan & Ohio schools for their recruits. That makes chase of a recruit even more challenging.

no, you still get offseason to recruit for any transfers or early departures. Its not that its a over recruit rule its a no cut rule. Never cut anyone if you want some difficulty in recruiting. never over offer scholarships should be the rule instead of over recruit. if you have 12 openings, 35 guys on board you should never have over 12 offers out at once. I also never touch my board after the preseason. your 35 guys are your 35 guys. you will still get all your numbers even if you are a one star team.

the reason you lock up your board is because its so easy for the last few years of ncaa to sign tons of top talent if you wait till week two. i can have not one player on my board until week two and sign a better class than if i at 35 to start the season and dont touch them, even if they all want to go to my school.

the main reason is athletes but also the fact that in week two you can sort by % of interest and put anyone on your board who doesnt have a offer. just go after anyone that is still in the teens. by end of season you will have 4 or 5 5 star players 10 4 star and the rest 3. and the athletes are way over rated and you can get the easier than any other player. the game is just heavily flawed by making players wait till the end of season to sign. you can sway these guys so no one can come back and steal them.

so if you want recruiting to be hard:
1. put 35 guys on board in preseason and never tough unless you drop guys. no additions allowed (in a mulitplayer OD this can be tough if you share a region with alot of hum players)
2. never offer more scholarships than you have open spots available to sign (the bonus of having a scholarship offer to a player is a big boost and if you do this for 35 guys it just becomes fish in a barrel)
3. never ever cut a player
4. a max athlete amount is also a good idea. 3 should be your max as that is what I do. these guys are just way to good and I would say over half come in higher than advertised.

I have never once not gotten all the players I needed, the cpu will recruit for you anyway if you dont. Idk why it does that. The lowest class i have had in my 8 year dynasty is 44th. that was my first year at army.

even with my rules my championship contender ranking is always on the rapid rise.

so no matter how you slice it is way to easy. love or hate house rules, you gotta have them with this game. I have had them since 99. and as you can see even with my rules I do far better than real life counterparts and my team is loaded in a few years. its just to easy.

[TarHeelPhenom]

2 suggestions...1 is short and one is long.

1) Allow your "assistants" to recruit for you. You set your board or even let your "assistants" set your board. Based on the board you decide which players are offered ships. Let your assistants control everything else.

2) Use the editor in the roster forum and go in and user control all the teams. Set each team regarding the type of player for their system and priority level for each position. That way the CPU won't oversign at specific positions. Plus through the editor you can mass edit coaches XP and put it at 0 or whatever you like.

[JLoco11]

Quote: Originally Posted by thelasthurtknee

no, you still get offseason to recruit for any transfers or early departures. Its not that its a over recruit rule its a no cut rule. Never cut anyone if you want some difficulty in recruiting. never over offer scholarships should be the rule instead of over recruit. if you have 12 openings, 35 guys on board you should never have over 12 offers out at once. I also never touch my board after the preseason. your 35 guys are your 35 guys. you will still get all your numbers even if you are a one star team. the reason you lock up your board is because its so easy for the last few years of ncaa to sign tons of top talent if you wait till week two. i can have not one player on my board until week two and sign a better class than if i at 35 to start the season and dont touch them, even if they all want to go to my school. the main reason is athletes but also the fact that in week two you can sort by % of interest and put anyone on your board who doesnt have a offer. just go after anyone that is still in the teens. by end of season you will have 4 or 5 5 star players 10 4 star and the rest 3. and the athletes are way over rated and you can get the easier than any other player. the game is just heavily flawed by making players wait till the end of season to sign. you can sway these guys so no one can come back and steal them. so if you want recruiting to be hard: 1. put 35 guys on board in preseason and never tough unless you drop guys. no additions allowed (in a mulitplayer OD this can be tough if you share a region with alot of hum players) 2. never offer more scholarships than you have open spots available to sign (the bonus of having a scholarship offer to a player is a big boost and if you do this for 35 guys it just becomes fish in a barrel) 3. never ever cut a player 4. a max athlete amount is also a good idea. 3 should be your max as that is what I do. these guys are just way to good and I would say over half come in higher than advertised. I have never once not gotten all the players I needed, the cpu will recruit for you anyway if you dont. Idk why it does that. The lowest class i have had in my 8 year dynasty is 44th. that was my first year at army. even with my rules my championship contender ranking is always on the rapid rise. so no matter how you slice it is way to easy. love or hate house rules, you gotta have them with this game. I have had them since 99. and as you can see even with my rules I do far better than real life counterparts and my team is loaded in a few years. its just to easy.

If you like your own rules, good for you. Saying recruiting leads to or help win championships in NCAA isn't exactly accurate since people can control their teams to go 12-0 each year.... unless of course someone is simming.

What I'm saying is that planning ahead should be factored in. If I have 12 openings, I look for those 12 players, but if I see a JR that is potentially going to leave, having a low level depth chart player on the radar is always a back up plan since you can't depend on transfers.... and more in line with what schools usually do with star players.

Each person is going to have their own house rules, but nobody's house rules trumps another persons. That's like telling people your parents think you're the most handsome person on earth and believing it to be true.

If people truly want a challenge without making up house rules, reset recruiting points at the beginning of the year, and leave all the points off, staying at level 1. That's a challenge as is without phantom restrictions.