Hello Fellow OS'ers! Longtime lurker here, and like most of you on here (at least from what I have been reading), I have been frustrated with the perceived 'super abilities' of the CPU opponents, especially when it comes to passing. I have tried MANY different settings, on all the difficulty levels, and was getting pretty close to giving up on finding that balance between fun and realism that we are all striving for. I am no stat-head by any means, so I am not overly concerned with tweaking until I get dead accurate shot totals, hit totals, PK percentages and such, but I am a pretty avid hockey fan, and even though I want my hockey video game to 'feel' as 'real' as possible, I also realize that there are some concessions that need to be made to keep it on the fun side as well; it is a video game after all! All I am looking to do is get a game that is balanced to give me a challenge, but still let me feel that I can make a difference in the outcome by the way that I play, and not feel like the CPU has 'pre-determined' the outcome, or feels like making things exciting by popping in a couple of quick goals when it is convenient! I think I have achieved that with the settings I have been tweaking for a while now, and because it has salvaged the game for me, I thought I would share them to see if anyone else can benefit from them!
As any of the slider gurus on here I am sure will tell you, the NHL franchise's sliders are the most frustrating in all of sports games, with most seemingly not doing anything at all, others that seem to be 'backwards' in their effect, and then still others that seem to change stuff not even related to the name of the slider you are adjusting! But the one slider that seemed to make the most difference in my game was the Attribute Effects slider. By adjusting that slider to 0 (I know it seems crazy!), the CPU Boost effect seemed to go away, and I found that the effects of the other sliders seemed to be enhanced. There is no super boost in the third periods anymore. Pucks are now a little looser and unpredictable, and the CPU actually misses passes!! I am also finding on Superstar that my teammates are positioning themselves better to intercept passes, being more aggressive on the forecheck, initiating body checks on their own, and I can actually leave the defensemen uncontrolled and they will defend, lol! Are there mistakes, glitch goals, and oddities occasionally? Absolutely. The AI is far from perfect, but it is WAY more liveable for me than they were before.
With the settings I have below, I am now about halfway through my second Be A GM season with the Flames, and have a 23-16-6 record. Results are all over the map, with scores 2-1, 3-2, some 1-0 nail-biters, 5-2 wins AND losses, and some blowouts too. My shot totals per period are 20-30 per side for the game, passing percentages for both me AND the CPU are between 68-78%, where with the Attribute effects slider turned up the CPU were never below 80%!
Again, your results may vary, and I am not guaranteeing that you will like these for how you play. All sliders are personal to the individual's preferences, so tweak as you see fit, and don't let anyone tell you that it is wrong! But for me, the Attribute Effects one was the key ingredient to getting the rest of the pieces to slide into place! Enough of my rambling---
Rules
Difficulty Superstar
Game Style Hardcore (custom)
Penalties MAXED
Penalty time scaling 4
Period Length 5min
Post Whistle Rules Authentic
Gameplay Settings
General
Attribute Effects 0 (IMPORTANT)
Broken Stick Frequency 3
Game Speed 2
Gameplay Version Latest (yes, I download all tuners)
Fatigue Effect CPU/HUM 3/3
Fatigue Recovery CPU/HUM 3/3
Injury Occurrence CPU/HUM 3/3
Player Acceleration CPU/HUM 2/4
Puck Control CPU/HUM 5/3
Checking
Hitting Assistance 4
Aggression CPU/HUM 3/3
Hitting Power CPU/HUM 4/4
Poke Effectiveness CPU/HUM 5/5
Stick Lift Effectiveness CPU/HUM 5/5
Passing
Manual Passing On
Pass Assist 0
Pass Speed 5
Saucer Pass Speed 5
Pass Accuracy CPU/HUM 0/0
Pass Interceptions CPU/HUM 0/0
Pass Reception Ease CPU/HUM 0/0
Shooting
One Timer Accuracy CPU/HUM 2/4 (even though nerfed, CPU still seems to have no issues hitting the net!)
Shot Accuracy CPU/HUM 2/4
Shot Power CPU/HUM 4/4
Slap Shot Accuracy CPU/HUM 2/4
Slap Shot Power CPU/HUM 4/4
AI
AI Learning 0
CPU Difficulty Adjustment 0
CPU Faceoff Difficulty 4
CPU Penalties MAX
CPU Strategy Adjustment 2
CPU Teammate Penalties MAX
Fight Difficulty user preference
User Strategy Adjustment user preference
Goalies
Goalie Cover Frequency 5
Goalie Passing 2
Goalie Reaction Speed CPU/HUM 1/4 (user pref, I just find the CPU goalie has an edge on my team's goalie at defaults, so these settings seem to level the field a bit!)
Goalie Screen Effect CPU/HUM 6/3 (user pref, same reasons as the reaction speed)
Advanced Settings
Away Shot Aim AUTO
Home Shot Aim AUTO
Auto Backskate OFF
Line Changes Auto
Visual Settings
Auto Zoom Off
Camera Dynamic High (Camera setting DOES affect the feel of play, but adjust as you see fit)
Indicator Size Small
Puck Highlight Small
Puck Size Normal
Good Luck, and keep your stick on the ice!
As any of the slider gurus on here I am sure will tell you, the NHL franchise's sliders are the most frustrating in all of sports games, with most seemingly not doing anything at all, others that seem to be 'backwards' in their effect, and then still others that seem to change stuff not even related to the name of the slider you are adjusting! But the one slider that seemed to make the most difference in my game was the Attribute Effects slider. By adjusting that slider to 0 (I know it seems crazy!), the CPU Boost effect seemed to go away, and I found that the effects of the other sliders seemed to be enhanced. There is no super boost in the third periods anymore. Pucks are now a little looser and unpredictable, and the CPU actually misses passes!! I am also finding on Superstar that my teammates are positioning themselves better to intercept passes, being more aggressive on the forecheck, initiating body checks on their own, and I can actually leave the defensemen uncontrolled and they will defend, lol! Are there mistakes, glitch goals, and oddities occasionally? Absolutely. The AI is far from perfect, but it is WAY more liveable for me than they were before.
With the settings I have below, I am now about halfway through my second Be A GM season with the Flames, and have a 23-16-6 record. Results are all over the map, with scores 2-1, 3-2, some 1-0 nail-biters, 5-2 wins AND losses, and some blowouts too. My shot totals per period are 20-30 per side for the game, passing percentages for both me AND the CPU are between 68-78%, where with the Attribute effects slider turned up the CPU were never below 80%!
Again, your results may vary, and I am not guaranteeing that you will like these for how you play. All sliders are personal to the individual's preferences, so tweak as you see fit, and don't let anyone tell you that it is wrong! But for me, the Attribute Effects one was the key ingredient to getting the rest of the pieces to slide into place! Enough of my rambling---
Rules
Difficulty Superstar
Game Style Hardcore (custom)
Penalties MAXED
Penalty time scaling 4
Period Length 5min
Post Whistle Rules Authentic
Gameplay Settings
General
Attribute Effects 0 (IMPORTANT)
Broken Stick Frequency 3
Game Speed 2
Gameplay Version Latest (yes, I download all tuners)
Fatigue Effect CPU/HUM 3/3
Fatigue Recovery CPU/HUM 3/3
Injury Occurrence CPU/HUM 3/3
Player Acceleration CPU/HUM 2/4
Puck Control CPU/HUM 5/3
Checking
Hitting Assistance 4
Aggression CPU/HUM 3/3
Hitting Power CPU/HUM 4/4
Poke Effectiveness CPU/HUM 5/5
Stick Lift Effectiveness CPU/HUM 5/5
Passing
Manual Passing On
Pass Assist 0
Pass Speed 5
Saucer Pass Speed 5
Pass Accuracy CPU/HUM 0/0
Pass Interceptions CPU/HUM 0/0
Pass Reception Ease CPU/HUM 0/0
Shooting
One Timer Accuracy CPU/HUM 2/4 (even though nerfed, CPU still seems to have no issues hitting the net!)
Shot Accuracy CPU/HUM 2/4
Shot Power CPU/HUM 4/4
Slap Shot Accuracy CPU/HUM 2/4
Slap Shot Power CPU/HUM 4/4
AI
AI Learning 0
CPU Difficulty Adjustment 0
CPU Faceoff Difficulty 4
CPU Penalties MAX
CPU Strategy Adjustment 2
CPU Teammate Penalties MAX
Fight Difficulty user preference
User Strategy Adjustment user preference
Goalies
Goalie Cover Frequency 5
Goalie Passing 2
Goalie Reaction Speed CPU/HUM 1/4 (user pref, I just find the CPU goalie has an edge on my team's goalie at defaults, so these settings seem to level the field a bit!)
Goalie Screen Effect CPU/HUM 6/3 (user pref, same reasons as the reaction speed)
Advanced Settings
Away Shot Aim AUTO
Home Shot Aim AUTO
Auto Backskate OFF
Line Changes Auto
Visual Settings
Auto Zoom Off
Camera Dynamic High (Camera setting DOES affect the feel of play, but adjust as you see fit)
Indicator Size Small
Puck Highlight Small
Puck Size Normal
Good Luck, and keep your stick on the ice!
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