The "why I love NCAA 14 three years later" thread

[Playmakers]

Quote: Originally Posted by mjavon

Offensively, the running game can be ridiculously easy even with run.bkocking at 0, so one way around that is using player lock on the QB during run plays.

RBA Slider is the best route to go if you want to reduce rushing averages....

Lower it downwards and you'll start to see better results....

I believe 25 is the sweet spot on all levels IMO

[mjavon]

Quote: Originally Posted by Playmakers

RBA Slider is the best route to go if you want to reduce rushing averages.... Lower it downwards and you'll start to see better results.... I believe 25 is the sweet spot on all levels IMO

Does that affect carrying at all? My concern with lowering RBA was that I'd then fumble 5 times a game

[Playmakers]

I haven't played the game much since November but I really enjoy it for the CPU vs CPU gameplay....

It's the best gameplay for me hands down since I could never get the fun factor I was looking for in Human vs CPU games.

I'm hoping to start back up playing this summer as I have a terrific Classic roster set I utilize doing games.

I would love for EA to make another game but i believe NCAA 14 can carry me at least another year or two with it's replay value in roster editing

[Playmakers]

Quote: Originally Posted by mjavon

Does that affect carrying at all? My concern with lowering RBA was that I'd then fumble 5 times a game

You just have go in and set your team strategy to conservative for broken tackles it will reduce fumbles with the lower RBA Slider for you and also you get more natural looking tackles when you balance out the RBA slider set lower vs the CPU tackle slider set lower.....

More animations will start to trigger and some instances you'll even see more RB's subbing in and out of the game......

[StoneCalf]

Quote: Originally Posted by itsbigmike

Use tough recruiting rules.

This is effective. The vast majority of my roster is comprised of 3* talent. Over the last 10 years in my dynasty, I average only one player per season rated 90 or better. My starting QB average rating has been 81 (ranging from a low of 67 to a high of 92). My overall team rating average has also been 81 (ranging from a low of 72 to a high of 88). Hard to dominate when you don't have the horses.

[jello1717]

Quote: Originally Posted by mjavon

Does that affect carrying at all? My concern with lowering RBA was that I'd then fumble 5 times a game

As I wrote above, I use user RBA = 25 (which I think is essential for taming the user running game). I'm pretty sure that my HBs fumble the ball more often than most, but I think that's a great thing as I've seen tons of guys complaining that their HBs never fumble.

Below is the career rushing stats of my HBs sorted by most fumbles. The numbers are still low, so you don't need to worry about fumbling 5 times a game (none of them fumbled 5 times in their career). I don't change the strategy to conservative (I play with all game planning on balanced) like Playmaker does. I play coach mode, so the CPU is controlling my guys when they run the ball.

EDIT: also, if you look at their YPC, I'd bet that they are lower than those of most people that play w/ user RBA higher than 25.

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[Deegeezy]

There are several things you can do to stop the game from becoming too easy. Here are a few things I have done, not necessarily "proactively" to stop things from getting boring; It is stuff I have just kind of done over the years and I guess the end result has been me not getting bored with the game (if that makes sense).

- Play on Heisman and amp up the sliders. Then, every 3-4 seasons, bump the CPU-favorable sliders up by 5 and/or decrease the HUM-favorable sliders by 5. I realize Heisman isn't for everyone, but for me, it is the most "sim" mode, plus something just doesn't feel right for me personally if I am handicapping the CPU by not playing against the best it has to offer. I love the difficulty, and naturally, as your team improves and your skill level improves through repetition, you will need to increase the slider difficulty.

- Don't recruit every great recruit that's available. Try to mix in 3-stars and 2-stars and even 1-stars on your roster. Don't allow your roster to become nothing but a 4 and 5 star factory, with obvious replacements for every position in place every year. I like having 1-star, 2-star and 3-star guys as depth. I especially like looking for 1-star and 2-star defenders with great speed to play special teams. I find it very enjoyable to see a guy you recruited as a 1 or 2 star making plays for you on kickoff team and maybe, just maybe find himself starting as a senior if his position group is a weak spot on the roster. It is also enjoyable to see your team have "down years." My recent Tulane team just went from an A-, 6-star prestige team in year 11 to a B, 5-star prestige team in year 12. In years 7 through 9, we had went to 3 straight national titles (winning 2), and then we had 2 years of back-to-back multi-loss years and now this season the team is even worse on paper than those years.

- To piggy-back off the last bullet point, don't over-recruit. Only sign the # of roster spots you have becoming available. If you over recruit, naturally the worst guys on your team will get cut, so the natural order of your roster evolution gets disrupted. Sometimes it can be hard to pin-point exactly how many roster spots you will have open, but I'd rather be 2-3 players short than have to cut a player.

- Never stop guys from leaving school early. If they want to go pro, let them. I find the game does a decent enough job randomizing this and fact is, if you're a great school full of big time players, guys aren't trying to stay in school and graduate, just like real life. This creates unexpected voids on the roster and in turn, makes things more difficult.

- I know this isn't for everyone and quite honestly I only do this because of lack of time due to family and work, but playing one game a week will keep the game from becoming too repetitive and boring - seriously, what's the rush? It will also capture that real-life feeling of there being a full week build up to that single game. If I get the itch during the week (I usually get a half hour to myself during the weekday mornings before work), I spend that time in practice mode to learn new plays in my playbook or I'll literally just sit there editing my guys' equipment or my upcoming opponents' equipment or studying my next opponent, not to mention recruiting and looking for gems.

- Speaking of equipment editing - It sounds weird, but you'll be surprised just how much "closer" and "connected" you'll feel to your players if you customized each of their equipment to your liking. You'll also be surprised by just how much more fun the game is when everyone on your team and your opponents' is "geared up" with more realistic/modern looking equipment.

- Give you and the CPU players college football numbers. The game for whatever reason defaults to the old NFL numbering system. All WRs have 80s, RBs and DBs all have 20-49, etc. Give some of the WRs, LBs, CBs, RBs, and even DL unorthodox single-digit numbers or teen numbers, or whatever. Do the same for your opponent. This will make the game "feel" more like college football.

- I find the game becomes too easy when you play it back to back to back. The repetition makes the game too easy. Never play games one after another. Take time to get away, enjoy your win/sulk your loss, and as stated above, allow yourself to get pumped up for the next time you play.

- Change your playbook every few seasons. I had used the Syracuse playbook for the first 10 seasons of my Tulane dynasty. I switched to South Carolina for year 11 and it reinvigorated me. It was fun being able to run plays I had never run before. And I am not necessarily referring to a complete change in offensive philosophy, I.E. going from a pro style to an option attack or no huddle. I am just referring to changing to another team's playbook that has similar stuff to what you had before, but just "different." Same can be said for switching your defensive playbook every few years.

- Put in house rules to make things more difficult, such as no hot routing, no audibilizing, no motioning WRs on run plays, etc. Every year, evaluate your playbook and what plays are working too well and ban them.

- Take a break for a couple of weeks every now and then, especially if you're like B-DAWG and I and like to do dynasty reports. Don't allow it to consume you or else it'll get old quick.

- Scheduling. Mix it up, go all over the country. Play all of the top programs and in all the great stadiums this game has to offer. Note: If you have never played a game at Florida St., you're doing yourself a great disservice. I only did it once, years ago, and I still remember it. I may do it again next season.

[falcor1234]

one thing i like to do to help keep the game fresh is to make my QB play like a realistic counterpart. what i mean is i take his awareness and use it to determine how much leeway he gets in terms of audibling. this is the chart i use

AWARENESS	RESPONSIBILITY
0-64	ONLY BLOCKING
65-70	MOTION
71-75	FLIP PLAY
76-80	HOT ROUTE
81-99	AUDIBLE

the higher the awareness the more he is allowed to do.