Lower speed, Has anyone tried this?

[Red467Doby]

Searching the forums, I have not seen anyone talking about adjusting the speed of the players for more realistic gameplay.

Madden has the exact same problem as 2K5. The players accelerate too fast. Unfortunately in 2K5 there is not an acceleration attribute. So the only way to get the correct 10 yard split time right is to lower speed.

The passing game is screwed up because defenders will be running full speed in one direction, stop, turn, and run 2 yards back to deflect the pass or intercept the ball. Agility plays a small part to this as well.

I tested the speed of Wr's during practice on normal speed by letting the cpu run a fly route, pull up the replay, and record the 10 yard times and 40 times. The 40 times are correct yet the 10 yard is way too fast. I feel that 10 yard split times are more important because most plays are within ten yards and that affects gameplay the most.

Dropping ta 99 speed player to 49 on fast speed gave them about a 1.49 ten yard split. The 40 time was too slow. If there was an attribute that affected acceleration then we could make both work.

Most people are probably thinking why not just choose slow speed. Choosing slow speed might give you accurate 10 yard times, but the QB release and velocity of the ball also slows down proportionately. Therefore setting to fast will give the defenders less time to react and equal less INT's and deflections.

Try it, take the default roster, reduce all positions speed by 50 and agility by 25. This along with some additional edits will give you a realistic amount of INT's and just makes the game look better IMO. I am testing 16 games cpu vs cpu with all 32 teams at this time and will post the results when finished. Right now through 3 games there have been 4 INT's and an average of 7 deflections per game. The nfl average is 5.5.

[dophin26]

Actually, this has been discussed before, just not to that extreme. Some of us already use modified speeds.

My general speeds (with some exceptions, of course, are ranked accordingly:

1. D-Backs (high 80s, into 90s)
2. Receivers (low 80s to low 90s - very few hit 90)
3. Running backs (mid/high 70s to high 80s)
4. linebackers / tight ends (high 60s to low 80s - very few hit 80s)
5. quarterbacks (anywhere from mid 40s (Marino) to low 70s (Cunningham))
6. Defensive ends (60s and 70s)
6. guards (high 50s to mid/high 60s so they can pull)
7. tackles / def. tackles (40s and 50s, one or two might be in 60s)
8. centers (40s to low 50s)

I still get running backs with long runs, but I also get what I had yesterday- a running back (Larry Kinnebrew of the Bengals) bust a long run only to get dragged down from a d-back coming from wayyy back on the 5. He is a 68 speed fullback and the d-back was in the 90s. He still got a 60 yard run, but he didn't score. Guys in the 80s will generally still outrun a d-back in the 90s over 40 yards or so.

Tackles make up for lack of speed with decent agility and strength

Receivers are still effective and will occasionally blow by defenders, but don't often get the separation they might otherwise get.

The lower speeds with QBs make it a gamble to try to scramble with the ball + they will get dragged down from behind instead of being able to outrun DEs to the corner all the time.

Slighly lower DEs will not always get to the corner to stop the sweep, but when you get a good one (decent speed and run stopping), he will still dominate his side.

OLBs are almost always faster (low-mid 70s to low 80s) than the ILBs (mid 60s to 70s) with some minor exceptions, like Pro-Bowlers.

DEs/DTs have to try much harder to get sacks. Along with their reduced speed, I also decrease pass rush (chart is available elsewhere here) and jack up the blocking. I still get realistic sack totals, even manning the d-line.

Finally, this is used for my rosters and there are no 40 times available for the 80s. Although, even if there were, I'd probably still modify it somewhat, because I like the results

[Red467Doby]

Thanks for the reply. Dolphin, I didn't realize you made rosters. Do you not publish them pubicly? Maybe I just missed them I your site.

I am having much success with the lowering of the speed. As soon as I get enough test games I will post results, sliders, and edits.

Suprisingly, the completion percentage is higher when I max the coverage slider, but the yards per attempt are lower, which is something I didn't expect. I think the computer tends to repeat what is working, so if you make the passing game too easy they will keep throwing it downfield, resulting in lower completion percentage but higher yards per attempt. If the coverage is better they tend to throw more short out patterns and to the flats more often. Anyone else seen this?

By the way I still can't get over how much better this series is than Madden.

[dophin26]

Quote: Originally Posted by Red467Doby

Thanks for the reply. Dolphin, I didn't realize you made rosters. Do you not publish them pubicly? Maybe I just missed them I your site.

Ive made 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, re-edited 1994 and am currently working on 1987 (but I don't release info on projects too early, so people don't have any expectations). I post the links here, but all my rosters reside on my site.

Although I don't know that I would change how I make mine now, I do notice patterns in cpu play and I do like the shorter throws idea. Make sure you test multiple teams though, as I've noticed the cpu will take what you give it. If your secondary blows, they'll pick on it and if you can't stop the run, they'll tend to go that way. I was the 87 Falcons (who were last in everything that year) and played the 87 49ers (who were great all-around) and held them to a 10-10 tie at half, because they tried to pound it up the middle and were coming up short. In the second half, they found my weaknesses and started hitting Rice deep and Roger Craig was runing outside and breaking 15-20 yarders. Then Harry Sydney came in and busted the gamebreaker up the middle. I lost 49-17.

[Todem]

Quote: Originally Posted by dophin26

Ive made 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, re-edited 1994 and am currently working on 1987 (but I don't release info on projects too early, so people don't have any expectations). I post the links here, but all my rosters reside on my site. Although I don't know that I would change how I make mine now, I do notice patterns in cpu play and I do like the shorter throws idea. Make sure you test multiple teams though, as I've noticed the cpu will take what you give it. If your secondary blows, they'll pick on it and if you can't stop the run, they'll tend to go that way. I was the 87 Falcons (who were last in everything that year) and played the 87 49ers (who were great all-around) and held them to a 10-10 tie at half, because they tried to pound it up the middle and were coming up short. In the second half, they found my weaknesses and started hitting Rice deep and Roger Craig was runing outside and breaking 15-20 yarders. Then Harry Sydney came in and busted the gamebreaker up the middle. I lost 49-17.

Your site rocks and I will be downloading your classic 80's rosters Dan Marino fan boi here.

I will be sending in my donation as well. Great job dophin26. A great community service for an amazing football game that still holds up so well today.

Question about all your rosters and all the rosters for that matter.

How does it affect sportscenter and berman etc. Do they know the names or they go by numbers?

Really curious!

[dophin26]

If the last name is in the database, Berman will say it. If not, like Marino, he says the number. I manage to get a majority of the players announced though.