50(ish) Threshold-based Slider Set for NCAA 14

[Gtl420]

Re: 50(ish) Threshold-based Slider Set for NCAA 14

Wow I just started a dynasty with OK State and have amazing results with these. Didn't make a new profile though. Thanks!


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[VTPack919]

Re: 50(ish) Threshold-based Slider Set for NCAA 14

I've been working for the past several weeks off and on to create a setup for NCAA which provides a more balanced and ratings-based experience. The biggest issue with this game (as with all the EA football games) is that adjusting sliders affects CPU play-calling behavior and results in a number of imbalances in player performance that results in a skewed one-way outcome for the various matchups. As such, I determined that I was going to go all-in with default gameplay and penalty sliders and conducted a number of trials.

In these trials, I came to one inescapable conclusion, Heisman is not the way to go. Heisman difficulty results in a number of issues which start us down the "slider spiral"....in short, players are overly aggressive, which leads to a lot of weird things like

• "WWE tackles"
• Defenders constantly overrunning plays (opening-up the read option)
• O-linemen getting "the big push" where they can push a guy 5 yards downfield
• Over-aggression in coverage, leading poor overall coverage and animation issues.

All of these things are issues that necessitate slider adjustments in order for the game to play reasonably well. Heck, we even went down the road of coach aggression adjustments in a vain effort to massage the problem. But, as my friend Matt10 taught me, look at the animations and fix the problem as directly as possible. So...here we go....we have issues...we're going to fix the problem....bye bye Heisman; Hello All American....and hear come the cries of, "But All American is too easy...sniffle...sniffle.".

Before this new round of testing, I last played All American 3-4 years ago. What have we learned since then that can help us?

• HFA is a "keep games close" feature and is better when it is turned off.
• The game plays tougher with the Main Menu fatigue slider turned "off"
• The coach Sub Frequency is really a fatigue slider and directly impacts how well the CPU plays. We have found that a "default" value of 50 works best.
• Use of offsetting game speeds between Main Menu and Dynasty can yield better results. More on this below...
• Autosubs have a direct effect on gameplay. More on this below....

So, aside from the last two, this really is all pretty standard fare relative to my past work.

Game speeds: This worked really well on Madden and while I am not 100% on NCAA, the use of Main Menu speed at slow and Dynasty at normal works very well. I believe that when the two game speeds are identical, that the AI speed is "off" from the animation speed (so, you get QBs looking to throw to a receiver when he is only halfway through his route). By setting the main menu speed a notch slower, I believe that this tightens the gap and makes the CPU much more effective in targetting receivers.

Autosubs: I've said before that gameplay is most balanced when all of them are set to the same values. But here, let me throw a wrench into things. Default is not 60/80; but if you start with a brand new profile, it is actually 65/80! This was completely unexpected, but it got me going down the path of "which is default"? Well, I've played around with various settings for the last couple of months and frankly, I am still playing around with them a bit. I've played with 3 primary settings; 49/50, 60/80, and 65/80. I don't care much for 65/80; it feels a bit too "video-gamey" and I have ruled it out pretty quickly. Now 60/80 is very solid and if someone wanted to go down this direction, I wouldn't blame them.

But the autosub setting that has intrigued me is the 49/50 (which I pilfered from Madden's CFM setting). The most over-used word here is "organic"...but I am going to use it here...it feels organic. Tackling animations have variety, you see a good number of missed throws for the CPU (even though QBA is at 50), running backs have some "swerve", and because of the lower Autosub "In" value, the footplanting is much better overall.


Final Thoughts before I post the set....

• This set is designed to provide a ratings-based experience. That means, if you have a dominant team, you will probably dominate (as you probably do on Heisman anyways). But...I also think that if you play a truly "sim" style, that you will still have a lot of fun here. I'm playing without any house rules and I have won big, won close, lost close, and been blown out. Matchups matter, but you still get that variety.
• Also....this is the kind of set you need to play quite a few games to really appreciate. The difficulty here is deceptive. I tried the exact same setup on Heisman...and frankly, I thought it was easier because of the aforementioned issues on Heisman.
• I have not tested on CPUvCPU or Coach Mode nor will I...don't ask me about how it plays on those modes. Also, I primarily use the d-linemen at the start of the play and then switch, if needed, later on. If you solely user a LB or DB, I have no idea how this will work.
• Do not ask me about slider changes....the whole premise is to NOT adjust the sliders. I think if you play sim, give these a really long shot and just enjoy it without worrying about stats; I think many people will enjoy these.

Anyone having trouble with the attachment? Can't wait to give these a shot.

[JoshC1977]

Re: 50(ish) Threshold-based Slider Set for NCAA 14

Anyone having trouble with the attachment? Can't wait to give these a shot.

Nothing wrong with the attachment...I can see it fine on both my CPU and phone. But, here is the text version....

Main Menu
Offensive Skill - All American
Defensive Skill - All American
User vs User - All American
Injuries - ON
Fatigue - OFF
Quarter Length - 9 Minutes
Play Clock - ON
Game Speed - Slow
Threshold - 50
HFA - OFF

Dynasty
Offensive Skill - All American
Defensive Skill - All American
User vs User - All American
Injuries - ON
Fatigue - ON
Quarter Length - 9 Minutes
Play Clock - ON
Game Speed - Normal
Threshold - 50
HFA - OFF

Gameplay Sliders/Penalty Sliders all at default (both Main Menu and Dynasty).

Autosubs: All 49/50

[wolverinemaniac]

Re: 50(ish) Threshold-based Slider Set for NCAA 14

Hi Josh

I am going to fire up your AA set later today and see if I can have some fun. Thanks for posting up! Hope all is well with you bro

[VTPack919]

Re: 50(ish) Threshold-based Slider Set for NCAA 14

Nothing wrong with the attachment...I can see it fine on both my CPU and phone. But, here is the text version....

Main Menu
Offensive Skill - All American
Defensive Skill - All American
User vs User - All American
Injuries - ON
Fatigue - OFF
Quarter Length - 9 Minutes
Play Clock - ON
Game Speed - Slow
Threshold - 50
HFA - OFF

Dynasty
Offensive Skill - All American
Defensive Skill - All American
User vs User - All American
Injuries - ON
Fatigue - ON
Quarter Length - 9 Minutes
Play Clock - ON
Game Speed - Normal
Threshold - 50
HFA - OFF

Gameplay Sliders/Penalty Sliders all at default (both Main Menu and Dynasty).

Autosubs: All 49/50

Must be my computer then... thanks Josh!

[BV28]

Re: 50(ish) Threshold-based Slider Set for NCAA 14

Excited to give these a go, thanks brotha!

[JoshC1977]

Re: 50(ish) Threshold-based Slider Set for NCAA 14

Looking forward to hearing from people....but really try to give these a 6-7 game shakedown.

Also, I cannot stress this enough though....please make sure that your autosubs are set to 49/50...this is really the lynchpin of the set.

[switch8]

Re: 50(ish) Threshold-based Slider Set for NCAA 14

i played a quick game last nite in play now before bed last nite and had 2 things happen ive never seen before 1 blocked punt and 2 a punt that hit inside the 20 and died flat on the turf instead of doing the crazy bounce thru the endzone like normally does ive tryed to post videos i took but my isp is crap and the upload is almost nothing so it keeps timing out

[JoshC1977]

50(ish) Threshold-based Slider Set for NCAA 14

i played a quick game last nite in play now before bed last nite and had 2 things happen ive never seen before 1 blocked punt and 2 a punt that hit inside the 20 and died flat on the turf instead of doing the crazy bounce thru the endzone like normally does ive tryed to post videos i took but my isp is crap and the upload is almost nothing so it keeps timing out

Interesting....bear in mind that these are strictly designed for dynasty mode (but you must enter the main menu and dynasty sliders in as stated for the proper effect in dynasty)...the 'play now' mode definitely plays differently.


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[Gtl420]

Re: 50(ish) Threshold-based Slider Set for NCAA 14

I just have one question with auto subs.. I got the first one at49/50 but had to do 50/51 for the rest. Wouldn't let me and was wondering what I did wrong?


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[Gtl420]

Re: 50(ish) Threshold-based Slider Set for NCAA 14

Or does it not make a difference?


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[JoshC1977]

Re: 50(ish) Threshold-based Slider Set for NCAA 14

I just have one question with auto subs.. I got the first one at49/50 but had to do 50/51 for the rest. Wouldn't let me and was wondering what I did wrong?


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Hit reset so it goes back to 60/80...
lower the "out" to 45
lower the "in" to 50
raise the "out" back up; it will stop at 49

Do that order for each one....

[DavidTheGreat20]

Re: 50(ish) Threshold-based Slider Set for NCAA 14

Played a few games yesterday with the new set and I was taken aback on how much smoother the game played. There were some great animations and I definitely could see the talent difference between teams.

My squad was much better than the teams I faced, and it definitely showed. For the first time in quite a while I actually shut out an opponent!

I'll play some more games today and I'll let you know how it goes.


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[JoshC1977]

Re: 50(ish) Threshold-based Slider Set for NCAA 14

Played a few games yesterday with the new set and I was taken aback on how much smoother the game played. There were some great animations and I definitely could see the talent difference between teams.

My squad was much better than the teams I faced, and it definitely showed. For the first time in quite a while I actually shut out an opponent!

I'll play some more games today and I'll let you know how it goes.


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Good to hear...pretty crazy though, isn't it? I never thought I would go back to AA, but I absolutely love the look and feel of this set.

And oh yes, you can definitely tell the difference in matchups. I'm a sucker for the 2013 roster and started a Virginia dynasty. Fought hard and lost a 22-17 game to an evenly matched BYU and then got drilled by Oregon 38-3 (and it wasn't even that close...their run game just brutalized me for over 300 yards.)


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[DavidTheGreat20]

Re: 50(ish) Threshold-based Slider Set for NCAA 14

Good to hear...pretty crazy though, isn't it? I never thought I would go back to AA, but I absolutely love the look and feel of this set.

And oh yes, you can definitely tell the difference in matchups. I'm a sucker for the 2013 roster and started a Virginia dynasty. Fought hard and lost a 22-17 game to an evenly matched BYU and then got drilled by Oregon 38-3 (and it wasn't even that close...their run game just brutalized me for over 300 yards.)


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As with Madden 17 (I use yours there as well), I'm guessing that AA is kinda similar to All-Pro. It seems like Heisman cheats you at times similarly to All-Madden difficulty.

I also noticed the speed differences the most here. Subbing in a change-of-pace back has never been so fun, I placed my 92 speed RB in and he got me some much needed chunk plays.


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