Difficulty Setting - Does it matter?

[nmhcrk48]

So, I will start off by saying, I am relatively new to the slider community on OS. However, I scroll through here almost daily hoping to see if someone has found some sort of breakthrough with their set. Whether it's on Heisman, AA, Varsity but where I am at now, I am whole heartedly confused lol. And i mean in the sense of I have gone from playing Madden 13 to now playing mainly All-Madden Difficulty. Never had a problem playing the CPU because you know I was younger and didn't care as much. Would also play online a lot, but that's beside the point. Now I go through the threads trying to find a way to make the game feel "fair". My MAC team shouldn't be running with an SEC or whatever. And i feel as though majority of posters on here agree, but where I feel a little confused is following the house rules (no switch, no cheese, etc...). I have no problem playing this way i actually have found it much more enjoyable at times, feel more immersed. However, I don't get why the difficulty then matters. Like is that strictly for how the user plays on offense? Cause if so, even on Heisman i can find an open receiver or hit the right gap just based off of my knowledge for the game and the coverage/defense they are in.

I guess what I'm trying to figure out is if someone builds a set on varsity, and the only thing that's changing from a user perspective is how the defense plays vs you (cause when user is on defense I feel pretty insignificant) then couldn't just adjusting the sliders make it more challenging? What would be the need for AA set, or a Heisman set where we know that the game behaves in drastic ways to affect the "difficulty" rating.

If someone who has been here a while making different difficulty sets, or someone who has played multiple would give me their two cents that'd be appreciated. I'm about to try a Varsity set just not sure if its worth my time.

[BrianE]

Great question, and I wonder what “baked-in” modifiers are applied for each difficulty level.

Looking at a lot of CPU vs CPU sliders sets, even at different difficulty levels, the values are equal for both teams because they’re running the game on Slow Sim. Playing that same game as a USER vs CPU, one side would have an advantage based on the difficulty level applied, yes?

which difficulty level does NOT apply that modifier?

[moTIGS]

My MAC team shouldn't be running with an SEC or whatever.

I don't have anything to add to any slider discussion, but this line resonated with me. I'm currently running with Western Michigan, and I've found it quite difficult to police myself so I remain competitive with other MAC teams and don't quickly become a program that's hanging with P4 programs. I went in thinking I would recruit "realistically." But then there's a local four-star recruit who doesn't have any offers. And then there's one other four-star who you're convinced you could easily get, so maybe just two. And then before you know it, your team is an 86 overall in year three, every other MAC team is a 65 or lower, and you're beating Nebraska and Tennessee in your non-conference games.

Early on, a lot of people talked about how recruiting was harder. But it's still incredibly easy to build a program pretty much anywhere that can hang with most programs on paper.

As someone who enjoys controlling non-power conference teams, doesn't want to move them to a power conference, but also don't want to consistently be 20-30 points in team overall better than 2/3 of my schedule and pretty consistently beat P4 programs, a good slider set feels important (along with some better house rules for recruiting I actually hold myself to).

[nmhcrk48]

I don't have anything to add to any slider discussion, but this line resonated with me. I'm currently running with Western Michigan, and I've found it quite difficult to police myself so I remain competitive with other MAC teams and don't quickly become a program that's hanging with P4 programs. I went in thinking I would recruit "realistically." But then there's a local four-star recruit who doesn't have any offers. And then there's one other four-star who you're convinced you could easily get, so maybe just two. And then before you know it, your team is an 86 overall in year three, every other MAC team is a 65 or lower, and you're beating Nebraska and Tennessee in your non-conference games.

Early on, a lot of people talked about how recruiting was harder. But it's still incredibly easy to build a program pretty much anywhere that can hang with most programs on paper.

As someone who enjoys controlling non-power conference teams, doesn't want to move them to a power conference, but also don't want to consistently be 20-30 points in team overall better than 2/3 of my schedule and pretty consistently beat P4 programs, a good slider set feels important (along with some better house rules for recruiting I actually hold myself to).

I actually had seen on someone's slider set or maybe on the main page some house rules for recruiting that were really good, I take my a step further.
For ex:
1. No scouting besides in state
2. Depending on school rating no recruiting at all outside of pipelines. So what i mean is like a 1 star can't go after any players outside of their pipelines (you have recruiting star caps on players in pipelines still based off school stars) and then for like a 3 star program you can only recruit 1-2 star players with no pipeline for your school (Not like you are going to but just keeps me from reaching for 3 stars). Then if you become a 4 star school the max you can recruit outside of your pipeline is like a 3 star.

Someone had rules that i basically implemented into my dynasty. Not taking credit for these but definitely helps!

[Pizzaguylol]

Not sure how accurate this is, but ChatGPT (take with a grain of salt) says, based on folks who decompiled NCAA 09-14:

Freshman = Madden’s Rookie

• Massive user boosts, huge CPU nerfs. Training wheels. Not realistic for sim play.

Varsity = Madden’s Pro

• Mild user boosts, mild CPU nerfs. Can be tuned into something decent, but still favors the human-controlled side.

All-American = Madden’s All-Pro

• Closest to “ratings-only” — no major hidden boosts or nerfs.
• Best neutral starting point for realism in both User vs CPU and CPU vs CPU.
• CPU can feel a touch passive; most realism slider sets start here, then bump CPU reaction, coverage, and tackling to sharpen play.

Heisman = Madden’s All-Madden

• Full CPU advantage package (+ awareness, speed, reaction time, blocking; − user ratings).
• AI feels more aggressive and "alive," but can cross into "cheaty" territory.
• Works for challenge seekers, but usually needs sliders to rein in stat inflation.

[nmhcrk48]

Wanted to post in here instead of starting a new thread again. But i’ve seen a lot of people talking about CPU ball carrier logic. I know it sucks it’s kept me from really diving into dynasty and having fun (outside of robo QB and CPU playcalling). But what i will say is maybe i’ve found something. And i want to give credit to the following for it.

SGN for the XP slider theory
For Gameplay slider manipulation Matt10/Canes/FlexonEm and Khalib (if i butchered anyones usernames apologies).

I’ve recently just been stuck testing and trying to figure out what difficultly and what to set all these sliders to for the best experience. And i’ve really only gotten as far as AA, however on AA when Ball Security was dropped to 10 i saw massive improvements in ball carrier path and moves (it could all be placebo but i’d say profile delete, run some games or practice on AA with everything default then do that). It won’t fix outside zone but a lot of the stretch, power runs, inside zones you will see a difference im confident. Now it wasn’t good enough still but i remembered that I’m apart of SGN’s community members and plugged in on all default sliders in my dynasty 150 RB XP. And what i will say, total difference. You don’t have to believe me, i ran the reps in practice with UMass and the rbs moved beautifully. like i said you can call it placebo but i truly feel like i see a difference and recommend you all try it and report findings back.

Like there are a lot of people on these sliders in OS viewing or making them, but i urge yall to try this out regardless of beliefs or past experiences. I ran stretch while on the defensive side of the ball (hand off controller) vs a 4-3 cover 3, then a nickle cover 2. Repeated those defenses for a gap style run, an inside zone and a true outside zone with different backs and i’d say its a huge difference.

i’d hope this piece of information means some people will test it, i’m going to try and gather further XP player progression data outside of what he has provided just to see if non NIL players develop way more drastically and so that player behavior and progression can be the best we can get it to be. But i’d urge yall to try it as recommended.

once again i’m not the finder of this but credit was listed above to those i’ve read all their post for to make this game better

[nmhcrk48]

I also tested 200, 250 and 300 and saw better results each time even if slightly better, but player progression will get screwed up. So i’m not saying SGN’s are wrong, i just want to to a really deep test track as much as i can, stats, W/L, playing time, coach XP traits if possible, player dev traits. As much as i can, i got an excel made and will post when done. But i just wanted to help cause it seems like most people are frustrated with a game that could be so good.