Couple Questions on Gameplay

[silentrob]

I've been playing for a while now trying to get the game to play as close to real college football, but a few things I just can't seem to get right no matter how I adjust things. First, players almost never fumble the ball. I'm not sure if I've ever recovered a fumble on defense. Maybe once in about 20 games. QB sacks are also difficult to come by no matter what the sliders are set to. I played with Alabama, blitzed about 80% of the downs, played a team that threw the ball over 50 times, and got 2 sacks. Which is more than I get with average teams playing a more regular style of defense. About half the sacks I do get are on screen passes. Also, I've never had a pass interference call, either for me or against me, since I started playing the game with those sliders set on 100%. If anyone can suggest some ideas to even these things out I'd be most appreciative. I also apologize if someone has raised these issues before, but the search function on the forums is not all that helpful. Cheers!

BTW, all the settings (like aggressiveness level) are on standard, only the sliders have been manipulated.

[silentrob]

Well, I finally figured out a couple things, at least for fumbles. I experimented and found that if I set my defense to aggressive at causing fumbles, then turn down facemasking a bit on the slider, I get a decent matchup there, and if I set my runners to more aggressive for the big play, they will fumble once in a while. Still struggling with the other two things, however. Why even have penalty sliders for penalties that never get called?

[RavensFan2k3]

what do you have your penalty sliders set to?

[claphandw]

Sent a long message before that didnt post.

For PI Penalties, set them to 100% and manually take over your WR's. Be careful with this because you can draw Offensive PI just as easy. This will not always work, but it is the only way I have seen to get these penalties called.

For Fumbles, Use LB's and Safties with good Hit Power and Tackling abilities as well as use the (Strip and Big Hit buttons) Using the features in combination with the good players will help cause fumbles without using the strip feature and risking several facemasking penalties. Keep in mind that if you are playing against or with a Fresh/Soph RB or with a poorly rated FB, you are more likely to see fumbles.

For Sacks,

• Recruit great (not good) DT's and DE's. Try recruiting ATH projected as DE's as they often have much more speed of the edge which helps.
• Recruit CB's and Safties based on your style of play. If you play a lot of zone, recruit CB's who are good in zone opposed to man or vice versa. If you play man, look for CB's who have a good Press ability as they jam WR's at the line causing the QB to hold the ball well. If you recruit CB's with poor or average Press be weary of playing Press coverage.
• Do not use any of the Down Linemen when playing. Stud DL play much better as CPU players than as User players. Good DT's will stay in the passing lanes, eat up 2 blockers and tip a lot of passes which causes the CPU to hold onto the ball longer, thus more sacks.
• Do not blitz up the middle. To much traffic, it is hard for your players to get through.
• Use the Jump Snap feature for your DL. Set this to aggressive. Good DL avoid most encroachment penalties and this helps get a head start.
• Blitz from the outside with FS/SS/CB/AND FAST OLB's.
• Do not blitz every play as the CPU AI will factor this and adjust routes accordinly getting the ball out quicker.
• Use at least 4 DL defenses. Everyone loves the 3-3-5, quarters, and 3 DL Dime sets, but obviously, the more DB's on the field the less chances for sacks.
• Anticipate the snap count particularly when at home and with the opposition in the Shotgun formation. Often the QB will lift his leg to signal for the ball allowing you to anticipate off the edge. Be careful with this because the AI will catch up and the QB will start lifting leg to put personnel in motion causing you to jump OS.

I average about 40-50 sacks per year in an online dynasty (Trust me, I lose on this dynasty to the CPU time to time, this is not a dynasty set for 50 - 0 blowouts with unrealistic stats) on Heisman level with very difficult sliders set in favor of the CPU. I get approximately 20 - 25 of these with DB's coming off the edge. The rest the CPU gets themselves by way of me having good DB's and Stud DL.

Good luck. Hope this helps.

[silentrob]

Quote: Originally Posted by RavensFan2k3

what do you have your penalty sliders set to?

Offsides - 100
False Start - 100
Holding - 55
Facemask - 35 (to offset my aggressive ball-stripping on defense, before that it was 55 or so)
OPI - 100
DPI - 100
Clip - 60
IG - 50
Rough Passer - 60
Rough Kicker - 50

I am new to the later versions of this game, and am just learning about faking snaps and so forth to draw penalties on the opposition (or sometimes on me) but I've never had PI called once in about 25 games I've played.

[silentrob]

Quote: Originally Posted by claphandw

Sent a long message before that didnt post. Many thanks for your good advice, I've inserted a couple comments where relevant. For Fumbles, Use LB's and Safties with good Hit Power and Tackling abilities as well as use the (Strip and Big Hit buttons) Using the features in combination with the good players will help cause fumbles without using the strip feature and risking several facemasking penalties. Keep in mind that if you are playing against or with a Fresh/Soph RB or with a poorly rated FB, you are more likely to see fumbles. The first thing I thought of before posting here was to use the strip button on defense, but that was not helping. Perhaps my timing was poor. I understand what you are saying here, but it would be nice if average players could cause the occasional fumble when facing other average players. I don't always play with great teams with lots of good players, I prefer close games that are exciting to play than seeing the Gators chomp Vandy, for example. For Sacks, Recruit great (not good) DT's and DE's. Try recruiting ATH projected as DE's as they often have much more speed of the edge which helps. Recruit CB's and Safties based on your style of play. If you play a lot of zone, recruit CB's who are good in zone opposed to man or vice versa. If you play man, look for CB's who have a good Press ability as they jam WR's at the line causing the QB to hold the ball well. If you recruit CB's with poor or average Press be weary of playing Press coverage. I have only played games in the original season so far, so I haven't had a chance to do this yet. Do not use any of the Down Linemen when playing. Stud DL play much better as CPU players than as User players. Good DT's will stay in the passing lanes, eat up 2 blockers and tip a lot of passes which causes the CPU to hold onto the ball longer, thus more sacks. I was not aware of this but I will certainly try it. I usually play the top DL, I guess I'll try ILB or something and see how it goes. Do not blitz up the middle. To much traffic, it is hard for your players to get through. I did notice this with Bama. Hightower and McClain are studs but I couldn't get pressure with them. Use the Jump Snap feature for your DL. Set this to aggressive. Good DL avoid most encroachment penalties and this helps get a head start. I take it I can use this in tandem with the penalty sliders to get something realistic? I'll try it as well. Blitz from the outside with FS/SS/CB/AND FAST OLB's. Do not blitz every play as the CPU AI will factor this and adjust routes accordinly getting the ball out quicker. I only did that in the one game with Bama. Usually my style tends towards the somewhat conservative, I just didn't notice that much change no matter what I was calling on D. Use at least 4 DL defenses. Everyone loves the 3-3-5, quarters, and 3 DL Dime sets, but obviously, the more DB's on the field the less chances for sacks. Anticipate the snap count particularly when at home and with the opposition in the Shotgun formation. Often the QB will lift his leg to signal for the ball allowing you to anticipate off the edge. Be careful with this because the AI will catch up and the QB will start lifting leg to put personnel in motion causing you to jump OS. I average about 40-50 sacks per year in an online dynasty (Trust me, I lose on this dynasty to the CPU time to time, this is not a dynasty set for 50 - 0 blowouts with unrealistic stats) on Heisman level with very difficult sliders set in favor of the CPU. I get approximately 20 - 25 of these with DB's coming off the edge. The rest the CPU gets themselves by way of me having good DB's and Stud DL. Good luck. Hope this helps.

Again, thanks for all the good pointers. As I mentioned above, I haven't played the more recent versions of this game too much, so I have much to learn when it comes to little things. Cheers!

[silentrob]

Quote: Originally Posted by claphandw

Sent a long message before that didnt post. I average about 40-50 sacks per year in an online dynasty (Trust me, I lose on this dynasty to the CPU time to time, this is not a dynasty set for 50 - 0 blowouts with unrealistic stats) on Heisman level with very difficult sliders set in favor of the CPU. I get approximately 20 - 25 of these with DB's coming off the edge. The rest the CPU gets themselves by way of me having good DB's and Stud DL. Good luck. Hope this helps.

One more question for you if you come back and read this. When you are blitzing from the edge with a nickelback, say, do you usually control the blitzing player? When I've tried this, if I let the AI do it, the player won't creep up on the play and seems to get there too slowly, but if I take control I struggle to get the guy on the correct side, lined up properly, etc, before the AI snaps the ball. Perhaps I just need more practice?

[silentrob]

One further question for anyone checking this thread out. Trying to block a kick has me stymied as well. Anyone have suggestions on how to get to the kicker or punter at least once in a while, or has the game gone back to where this is essentially impossible like it was in some of the earlier versions?