Just Wondering..

[GGGswim]

A newbie question...made worse b/c I haven't --at all-- gotten into formation substitutions while I'm trying to get better at everything else including recruiting.
Does the CPU start subbing back-ups in with a certain lead? Any ez tips to help me get those BUs in the game to, as you say, see the future and let them get some playing time (doesn't that also help their 'improvement' OVR from season to season?)?

[NFLEnthusiast]

I'm on board with this comment. When I play video games, I have play from the point of view of someone. When I'm playing NCAA Football, I have to assume it's the point of view of the head coach (or sometimes I choose to supersim D and control Offense, in which case, I'm the O-Coordinator, etc).
[/quote]

I agree with you on this. I hate playing defense. Instead of Head Coach, I like to think of myself as the O-Coordinator and coach in charge of recruiting.

[crowhop]

Quote: Originally Posted by GGGswim

A newbie question...made worse b/c I haven't --at all-- gotten into formation substitutions while I'm trying to get better at everything else including recruiting. Does the CPU start subbing back-ups in with a certain lead? Any ez tips to help me get those BUs in the game to, as you say, see the future and let them get some playing time (doesn't that also help their 'improvement' OVR from season to season?)?

There are a couple of things that affect when they come in. And some of this may or may not be exactly correct...just the best I can tell after playing 8 seasons...every game.

The first are your "Auto Subs" settings. Those are found under the "MY NCAA" tab in the Dynasty screen under "Strategy". Set those as to when your players will come out after they are tired. There seems to be a wear-and-tear factor involved in playing games. A player will never be 100% fresh in the 4th quarter if he's played the other three. So it seems as if once they get so tired, they never do get back to even 90%. If your Auto Sub is set to only sub them in after they hit 90%, they'll never come back in the game. This seems to happen a lot with RBs as, presumably, they take a beating. You will be wanting to milk the clock or pile up stats, and he'll never come back into the game. This can hurt you though as you will see WRs and LBs playing DB late in games unless you have good players to sub in behind the starters. The game just picks the next best available player to sub in...regardless of where he might actually play. This is why you'll see FBs and DTs playing OL on long drives if you aren't careful. Or QBs playing CB...it happens. So, be careful using this until your team is deep enough to withstand a long drive...yours or your opponent's.

The other way is under the "TEAM MANAGEMENT" tab under "Coach Philosophy". There you set your Offensive and Defensive Substitution rates. This is where the cpu will take over and take your guys out of the game after you have an insurmountable lead. This also has a negative affect if the team you are beating makes a comeback. Once the game determines to take them out, they are out for the rest of the game. The more quality depth you have, the higher these values can be. For Offense, 75 works well for me and 85 for Defense. I try to play as many as possible to avoid injuries (I don't Redshirt many players due to the auto-subs glitch of playing guys out of position).

Then, of course, there is "MASS SUBS" in the Strategy section of the Pause menu during the game where you can sub in your entire 2nd string.

I think that answers your question. Some may know better...that is just how it has seemed to me in the time I have been playing.

[ashamael]

What's the point of not playing, you ask? Well... I used to sim *every* game and even had a 60-year dynasty on ncaa 2007. I kept a lot of stats and details and played to see the progression of my recruits and team. It was really fun because the sim stats were good back then, and I had not yet discovered that I could actually have good games with good slider sets. I didn't want my "playing skill" effecting my recruiting/managing decisions.

*sidenote: I still played one game each season just to see what my team felt like, and it was usually versus someone that it would be realistic for me to blow out, since... yeah. I didn't want my "playing skill" effecting my recruiting/managing decisions.

In 2008 I did a sim *every* game dynasty AND I did a *play* every game dynasty. Both lasted well into this year, when I picked up my first "next-gen" ncaa. I can't say which was more fun...

After a couple of practice years (to get the feel of recruiting, which is very, very different from last-gen!), I started my real dynasty with my favorite team, Alabama. This isn't really a challenge, but I'm not doing it for a challenge. I'm doing it to see my favorite school advance and dominate.

I mostly simmed (like I did in the past), but quickly grew frustrated at the stats that were generated, as it was nothing like the offense I built (a spread option offense where everyone on the field was a threat to carry the ball). At some point (year 6 of my current dynasty) I decided to start playing every game. The options in next gen allow me to fly through a game if I feel like I need to (can super-sim the defense, conservative clock, etc), but most of the time I don't, as I am having a blast with it. I'm very dissatisfied that it's taking me so long to go through my only dynasty (recruiting takes so long now, and having the computer do it defeats my primary purpose in dynasty: recruiting and seeing those recruits develop), but I'm having so much fun actually playing now that I probably won't do a sim every game dynasty ever again. I'm fixing to play the national championship of 2020 (year 11) and am ready to get 2021 started.

(on a side note, the dynasty has been extremely easy since 'Bama was so outrageous to start with, but as long as I'm getting realistic results and an upset every once in a while... as long as it's still fun, in other words, I'm happy)