I Fixed the Imported Draft! (No P/K in first round, no Carolina taking a QB)

[Actinguy1]

Re: I Fixed the Imported Draft! (No P/K in first round, no Carolina taking a QB)

There are several long term issues, the least of which the draft classes mess up computer AI "logic" by having "in stone" ratings. So it confuses the AI in drafting. Also, because the potentials of NCAA players is "set" and higher than players on the current roster, they will release year one and two players (even those with A potentials). The other long term problem is boring drafts. This is, of course, without controlling all 32 teams.

Can you specify on these issues?

1) What do you mean about the messed up/confused AI drafting logic? If you're talking about kickers, punters, and QBs of the Future, my suggestions fix that. If you're talking about something else, please share.

2) What do you mean about the potentials being set? I've had Dominique Davis become a rockstar in my most recent franchise. Living Legend just told me Davis had a "D" potential in his franchise.

3) If you're bored by a draft with real people, are you saying a draft with fake people is more exciting?

[Actinguy1]

Re: I Fixed the Imported Draft! (No P/K in first round, no Carolina taking a QB)

Yes, Keenum had a top ten grade, Weeden a top five. But using your scheme sliders the teams that fell in that area didn't need a QB so they both fell out of the top ten.

The Bills fell into that area, but they wound up with Matt Flynn. I think that's what changed the whole dynamic of how the draft fell into place. But they drafted Justin Blackmon who also had a top five grade.

Davis just had a round 1 overall grade.

Seriously??? That is fascinating. I've had QBs and other players fall out of the top ten, but once a team DID decide to take a QB, they always took the highest listed one. That is VERY interesting. Are you controlling all 32 teams? Do you have scouting set to user or cpu? Trying to figure out what's happening here.

[LivingLegend]

Re: I Fixed the Imported Draft! (No P/K in first round, no Carolina taking a QB)

If you really feel that a NCAA player was cheated out of a deserved potential rating. Change their position to kicker, bump the kicking stats way up and save.

Go back and change them back to their respected position and they will keep their new potential rating. This is the only way to give them their deserved potential without bumping their overall up.

[LivingLegend]

Re: I Fixed the Imported Draft! (No P/K in first round, no Carolina taking a QB)

Seriously??? That is fascinating. I've had QBs and other players fall out of the top ten, but once a team DID decide to take a QB, they always took the highest listed one. That is VERY interesting. Are you controlling all 32 teams? Do you have scouting set to user or cpu? Trying to figure out what's happening here.

I only controlled all 32 teams long enough to set the coaching schemes/player priority.

I changed it back to one at the staffing screen at the end of year one and simmed the draft. So, the CPU did all of those transactions. I never touched it.

[debauchlord]

Re: I Fixed the Imported Draft! (No P/K in first round, no Carolina taking a QB)

Can you specify on these issues?

1) What do you mean about the messed up/confused AI drafting logic? If you're talking about kickers, punters, and QBs of the Future, my suggestions fix that. If you're talking about something else, please share.

2) What do you mean about the potentials being set? I've had Dominique Davis become a rockstar in my most recent franchise. Living Legend just told me Davis had a "D" potential in his franchise.

3) If you're bored by a draft with real people, are you saying a draft with fake people is more exciting?

I mean boring drafts because one can relatively assume the top 2 rounds are top overall players. And from my experience, it screws up the AI logic in that the solid ratings of these players leads the AI to release their now poorly rated "A" prospects in droves.

In my six drafts (over two franchises, but admittedly a small sample), the same guys were drafted almost in the same exact order, regardless of team.

I think this is an NCAA problem foremost, as it must have something to do with how the draft classes are saved. Maybe they are too afraid of the livid fanbase if Luck randomly is an F rated prospect?

I never tried controlling all 32 teams though, and would hope I wouldn't need to....

[Cards77]

Re: I Fixed the Imported Draft! (No P/K in first round, no Carolina taking a QB)

After a LOT of work (seen here http://www.operationsports.com/forum...c-exposed.html), I finally have the CPU drafting an NCAA imported team realistically!

Here are my steps.

Controlling all 32 teams. I set everything to CPU, because I don't want to micromanage.

Before the draft, I make note of any team that has a "Future Star" at QB.

Go into coaching strategies. Set the kicker and punter priorities for each team to 0.

Set the QB priority for any team with a future star to 0.

All other priorities were left at 100 (THIS IS IMPORTANT).

It took me less than ten minutes to do all of this.

Results: Punter Drew Butler...projected to go third overall...WAS NOT DRAFTED. Likewise, the Bengals (who have a future star QB) skipped all the QBs at the top of the list and used their first pick on a safety. Realistic picks across the board. No punters were drafted at all, and only one kicker was taken, in the 7th round. Carolina took a wide receiver with their first pick. Teams that needed a QB took one, teams that didn't didn't. One safety who was projected in the top ten dipped to 17th. A halfback projected for the first round dropped to the 2nd. Two guys projected for the second round went in the first.

VERY happy with the results. For those interested in the full first round's results, click the link above. It's on the last page.

Hope this helps everyone finally start to enjoy imported draft classes!

EDIT:

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1) Do I have to control all 32 teams? Yes. Controlling even just 31 teams WILL result in a punter being taken in the 1st round. You can set all options to CPU, and you can certainly be hands-off during the draft itself, but you must control all 32 teams so you can change their priorities, as listed above.

2) Can I tweak this formula? I want my QB at 50, my HB at 70, and my DT at -32. You are certainly welcome to try. However, this formula is posted here for a reason: It actually works. Many, including myself, have attempted other formulas. They have ALL resulted in a punter being taken in the first round...even when the punter priority was zero.

3) Can I play the season as 1 team, then switch to 32 teams during the offseason, make the drafting priority changes, and switch back to my 1 team? In theory? Yes. In reality? No. There is a serious bug where attempting to do this results in a game-breaking bug when you access the NYG's coaching strategy screen.

Does this work after you've already started a franchise or do you have to start over. I started one with me controlling all 32 teams and I'm in week 3 or 4. Can I just set all this stuff mid-season? Thanks.

[Actinguy1]

Re: I Fixed the Imported Draft! (No P/K in first round, no Carolina taking a QB)

I only controlled all 32 teams long enough to set the coaching schemes/player priority.

I changed it back to one at the staffing screen at the end of year one and simmed the draft. So, the CPU did all of those transactions. I never touched it.

To be sure I'm following...you controlled all 32 teams in year one, then at the staffing screen in preseason, you switched the priorities and then only controlled one team? And Dominique Davis was taken in year one?

I mean boring drafts because one can relatively assume the top 2 rounds are top overall players. And from my experience, it screws up the AI logic in that the solid ratings of these players leads the AI to release their now poorly rated "A" prospects in droves.

In my six drafts (over two franchises, but admittedly a small sample), the same guys were drafted almost in the same exact order, regardless of team.

I think this is an NCAA problem foremost, as it must have something to do with how the draft classes are saved. Maybe they are too afraid of the livid fanbase if Luck randomly is an F rated prospect?

I never tried controlling all 32 teams though, and would hope I wouldn't need to....

That's actually a "feature." You can argue the point, but last year's imports had players got randomly-assigned OVR's. This year, there's only a mild randomness to it...Andrew Luck tends to be somewhere between 80 and 86, give or take. But as for a livid fanbase...given what Living Legend is reporting regarding Dominique Davis, it looks like potentials actually might be random after all. Or, at least, a few randomly chosen flops (and, presumably, diamonds.)

Does this work after you've already started a franchise or do you have to start over. I started one with me controlling all 32 teams and I'm in week 3 or 4. Can I just set all this stuff mid-season? Thanks.

You should be in good shape. You're already controlling all 32 teams, so you're fine. I set the stuff right before the draft...but I may change to setting it right before the free agency instead, and then RE-resetting it before the draft.

[volsman]

Re: I Fixed the Imported Draft! (No P/K in first round, no Carolina taking a QB)

Is there any way to having the free agent bidding process take place when controlling all 32 teams?

[LivingLegend]

Re: I Fixed the Imported Draft! (No P/K in first round, no Carolina taking a QB)

To be sure I'm following...you controlled all 32 teams in year one, then at the staffing screen in preseason, you switched the priorities and then only controlled one team? And Dominique Davis was taken in year one?

Yes, and ahead of players that panned out to have a better Potential rating and progressed better than he did.

[jwills22]

Re: I Fixed the Imported Draft! (No P/K in first round, no Carolina taking a QB)

I hate to spoil the fun but there are some major issues in later years with this approach without actually taking over some of the teams decisions.

The first few years went smoothly and then about 4 or 5 years in free agency was filled with great QB's while the teams that did not resign them had garbage at QB. For example, the Colts didn't resign Manning (still 92 OVR) and have 3 QB's on their roster at the start of week 1 of the regular season that are all below 50 for OVR. This is just one of many examples.

Also, I still don't like the fact that there are no surprises in the draft. Basically, where a player is drafted with imported drafts is how good he is going to be. You aren't going to see any 4th-7th round picks becoming stars. None.

[Actinguy1]

Re: I Fixed the Imported Draft! (No P/K in first round, no Carolina taking a QB)

Is there any way to having the free agent bidding process take place when controlling all 32 teams?

Yes. Set the free bidding to CPU in franchise options. If you've already started your franchise, you'll have to do this for all 32 teams, but if you're starting a new franchise, you only have to do it once.

Yes, and ahead of players that panned out to have a better Potential rating and progressed better than he did.

That is so cool. Are we sure the teams are keeping the priorities you set before switching control to one team?

I hate to spoil the fun but there are some major issues in later years with this approach without actually taking over some of the teams decisions.

The first few years went smoothly and then about 4 or 5 years in free agency was filled with great QB's while the teams that did not resign them had garbage at QB. For example, the Colts didn't resign Manning (still 92 OVR) and have 3 QB's on their roster at the start of week 1 of the regular season that are all below 50 for OVR. This is just one of many examples.

Also, I still don't like the fact that there are no surprises in the draft. Basically, where a player is drafted with imported drafts is how good he is going to be. You aren't going to see any 4th-7th round picks becoming stars. None.

I simmed four years and didn't see the QB issue you encountered even though I was specifically tracking QBs. Are you controlling all 32 teams all year round? Did you set the Colts QB priority to 0, whether on purpose or by accident? I don't know if that would cause what you're seeing, I'm just exploring possibilities.

This fix doesn't claim to do anything about surprises in the draft. It claims that kickers and punters won't be taken in the first round and that teams with QBs of the future won't take a first round QB. Sounds like it's working. I don't work for Madden, I only have access to the same game and tools that you do. There is a limit to how much of the game I can fix.

If I'm understanding your concerns, this has nothing at all to do with my fix. These are problems that are occurring with Madden itself, especially when you import drafts.

[Actinguy1]

Re: I Fixed the Imported Draft! (No P/K in first round, no Carolina taking a QB)

I had originally planned to play five years with NCAA rosters and then use Madden classes after that since the names will be made up regardless.

However, now that I'm getting realistic drafts, I decided to sim all 30 years of NCAA and...once the new rosters are out tomorrow...control all 32 teams (actually doing everything except the FA and playing the games), to report on everything that happens over the next 30 years in a franchise blog.

It won't be stories, etc...it'll just be reports on who each teams starting QBs (and other positions?) are...who makes it into the playoffs/superbowl...who goes in the 1st round, where each QB goes, etc etc. Plus NCAA stuff like who were the top three teams, who won the Heisman, who broke NCAA records, who played the BCS game, that sort of thing.

In addition to the fun of seeing the (made up) future, I think it could be a great learning experience as I tweak my draft settings and other items to see what effects what.

What do you guys think. Is that something you would read? Any suggestions for things you want to see?

[Actinguy1]

Re: I Fixed the Imported Draft! (No P/K in first round, no Carolina taking a QB)

Decided to take a closer look at how free agency works, and how I might adjust the priorities to properly fix it...if it is in fact broken.

Of course, the first part of any test is the control. I checked the Bears depth chart, after progression and re-signings, but before free agency. I determined they had the following desperate needs: FB, TE, C, G, OLB, and MLB.

I saved, then, without changing any settings, I sat back and watched who the Bears bid on, and who they actually won.

They bid on multiple FB, TE, C, G, DT, and P. They won bids on two LGs (76, 75), a TE (76), a C (75), a DT (81), a P (64), and a FB (71).

I was disturbed by the P and DT, plus the fact they had won two Gs when they only had a serious need for 1, yet they hadn't bothered to bid on OLBs or MLBs.

But when I checked the Bears new depth chart, I saw the method to the madness. First, they DID have a desperate need for a P, I just hadn't noted it. Of course, with an OVR of 64, they STILL have a desperate need at P.

Also, while they did not have a desperate need for DT, the one they picked up in FA DID become their starter. His OVR of 81 was higher than their original starting DT of 78.

Likewise, one of the G's filled the desperate starting need while the other G beat out someone for the 2nd string.

The TE, C, and FB all became starters.

CONCLUSIONS: The Free Agency works the exact same way as the draft originally did. Teams bid for a player with a higher OVR than their current players in each position. I'm not sure why the Bears never looked at the linebacker positions when they had two desperate needs there. Is it possible that there's a hard limit on how many players a team can bid on in free agency? That was the case in previous years.

I will mention that in one of my sims a couple days ago, the 49ers went into the FA with two QBs in their 80s, bought a 3rd one because his OVR was one point higher than their current two 80 QBs, and then drafted a 4th one in the first round of the draft because his OVR was higher than the FA purchase. They ended up with four 80+ OVR QBs on the roster, although they did cut one in the preseason. For this reason, there may be value in setting teams with QBs 80+ OVR to either 0 or 50 priority on QBs, unless age is a factor of course. I'll keep messing with it.

[Actinguy1]

Re: I Fixed the Imported Draft! (No P/K in first round, no Carolina taking a QB)

Tried out a new priority formula for the draft.

Immediately prior to the draft, I checked all depth charts and noted all QBs with their names and OVRs. If the starting QB was over 35, I circled him.

Then I went through the player roles for all teams. If a QB was a future star or franchise QB, I drew a square around their OVR (unless they already had a circle.) If he was fumble prone, injury prone, underachieving, etc, I drew an X over their OVR.

Then I set the following formula:

1) If a team has a QB OVR 80+ AND a backup QB AND the QBs didn't have a negative player role, their QB priority is 0.

2) If a team has a QB OVR 80+ but he's 35 and doesn't have a decent backup ready to step up, their QB priority is 50.

3) If a team has a QB OVR 80+, under 35, but no backup, their QB priority is 50.

4) If a team has a starting QB who is either franchise or rising star, and is under 35, the priority is 0 regardless of the backup situation.

5) If a team has no starting QB 80+, or if he's over 35 years old with no good backup, or if he has negative player roles, the priority is 100.

All kickers and punters remain at 0. All other positions remain at 100.

In my case, after FA, resignings, retirements, etc etc, I had this.

100: Bills, Colts, Eagles, 49ers, Lions, Raiders, Redskins, Seahawks

50: Dolphins, Patriots

The rest were 0 QB Priority.

Although I was worried, this actually worked! Three kickers went in the sixth-seventh rounds. One punter went in the seventh round.

The QBs:

Draft positions - (Projected) - Name and college - Team -Team Need - OVR - Potential

1-16 - (top ten) - Landry Jones, Oklahoma - Seattle - 100 - 82A
1-17 - (top ten) - Ryan Lindley, S.D. State - Lions - 100 - 82A
1-26 - (1st) - Brandon Weeden, OK State - Bills - 100 - 81A
2-59 - (1st) - Dominique Davis, ECU - Redskins - 100 - 79A
3-93 - (2nd) - Kellen Moore, Boise State - Colts - 100 - 76 B
4-99 - (2nd) - Dayne Crist, Notre Dame - Cowboys - 0 - 76 B
4-116 - (4th) - Case Keenum, Houston - Raiders - 100 - 73C
5-147 - (5th) - Ryan Tannehill, Texas A&M - Dolphins - 50 - 70C
6-171 - (5th) - Bryant Moniz, Hawaii - Titans - 0 - 70C
6-173 - (5th) - EJ Manuel, Florida State - Eagles - 100 - 70C
6-181 - (6th) - Darron Thomas, Oregon - Packers - 0 - 67D
6-185 - (7th) - Nick Foles, Arizona - Vikings - 0 - 66F
6-189 - (7th) - Russell Wilson, Wisconsin - Colts - 100 (already filled) - 66
7-207 - (7th) - Dan Persa, Northwestern - Rams - 0 - 65F
7-213 - (7th) - Jacory Harris, Miami - Packers - 0 - 64F

Conclusions:
Kickers and punters only in 6-7 rounds. Colts find a B level QB in the 4th round.

Not every team with a 100 need took a QB. The Bills' only QB is Hasselbeck, OVR 83, age 35, in a two-year contract. I'm surprised they never took a QB.

The other two needy teams who never took a QB, 49ers (100) and Patriots (50) are not in as bad shape, and can afford to wait until next year, where Andrew Luck just might actually declare for the draft, assuming he doesn't decide to get his Doctorate or something.

Overall, I'm very happy with this...even if I wasn't able to duplicate Living Legend's Dominique Davis mystery.

[Jdoug312]

Re: I Fixed the Imported Draft! (No P/K in first round, no Carolina taking a QB)

So with the rosters coming out tomorrow, I plan on starting my franchise instead of waiting until patch 25 like previous years(default game is alot better this year). Is this (and deleting the made up players)the only things I need to do to have a great stress free franchise?

Thanks btw and that Andrew Luck comment literally had me lol