Rookie Sliders (It Works!)

[airraid73]

Quote: Originally Posted by Devildog Frank

I have played two games, first half only, just to get a feel of how it plays on Rookie Level. I used default sliders, with speed set on Fast. I have to say that I am more than pleasantly surprised at what I was seeing. Drives by the CPU teams that ended up with some scoring, and some drives that were stopped after a couple first downs, or stopped for 3 and out. I got burned on deep passes, one for a 69 yd TD, and watched my DB's play good D against the pass. I had offensive drives that went down field, but stalled, and I had to settle for a FG. I also had my offense stopped for 3 and out. Now for a note on what I noticed with actual game play concerning physics. I seen really nice tackling, and realistic looking broken tackles. There was a good pass rush from both sides, but not too much. Good coverages on screen passes, and some screens that were successful for 6+ yards. Defenders doing an adequate job covering passes to the flats, and slants. So far the only issue is the very slow Kick Meter. So what I have done is I will not aim my FG kicks, but I stop the meter either early or late to place my kicks, which increases the challenge, especially with a windy game. The one adjustment I will make for now is putting FG Power at 45, and FG Acc at 38. Liking this alot. Note: I play sim style, no switch on D, all assist options off.

Yeah! The kick meter is molasses, my smaller db got pancake by one of the bigger back we played against


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[Devildog Frank]

The next game I play will be an entire game, using the 1993 Teams that are on the share. Its a great roster of teams with imo more realistic player ratings than the current EA roster. This should be intetesting.

[JoshC1977]

Quote: Originally Posted by airraid73

Hope this thread continues, when I saw joshc1977 post something I know it can be a legit topic! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It may be legitimate or not. The thing I like is that it hasn't been tried in this forum....that alone piqued my interest.

[Devildog Frank]

Quote: Originally Posted by JoshC1977

It may be legitimate or not. The thing I like is that it hasn't been tried in this forum....that alone piqued my interest.

Exactly, and thats why i decided to open my mind up to it, and give it a go. So far its better than I expected.

[mpd3892]

Quote: Originally Posted by JoshC1977

Now, this is exactly the kind of 'thinking outside the box" thinking that I love. I've not tried this level this year, but I have to confess that I am intrigued (especially when I see khalib looking at this too). A couple of 'housekeeping' questions as I might just fire this up when I return from my business trip later today. How are you handling assists (i.e. ballhawk, heatseeker, etc.)? They are set to 'on' at all levels through All Pro. However, I've seen (on AP) that they will make CPU QBs less likely to throw the ball into coverage. Now, my question is if they will still force the balls into coverage at this level even if ballhawk is on. What are you doing with the main menu injury slider? It is set to 10 at default, but you see far less defensive aggression this low (i.e. in getting proper defensive line push, in pass coverage, etc.). I have it set to 75 on AP, but I strongly suspect the AI on Rookie would be able to handle this (could be wrong though). Even if this doesn't hold up long-term, I definitely applaud the willingness to give this a shot. Will be closely monitoring this thread, that's for sure!

Definitely glad to have folks like you and khaliib contributing here. I believe it will increase interest and the experience brought will only help move us forward.

As to your questions: As I wasn't sure there really was anything here, I pretty much have left everything at default. The MM is completely default, right down to the selected team being DEN. Absolutely no changes in the MM, including leaving INJ at 10. Inside CFM I did turn all assists off and changed SUBS to 60/80. I've played around a bit with some penalty sliders, but really only to see how effective they are in being called at this level.

I've only really just begun to play around here and really have just been focused on initial impressions of QB play and interior line play (DT/OG & C interaction). The QB play has definitely been eye-opening. I've been amazed at what I've seen. Also, the interior line play does appear to be better. I've seen some push from DTs and if the QB holds the ball too long, DTs will disengage from blocks. It is rare to see the QB be able to sit in the pocket for ridiculous amounts of time. I've also seen where DEs will get around Ts and come from behind, forcing the QB to step up into a collapsing pocket.

There definitely needs to be more exploring done here. Unfortunately my job sees me away from home frequently (currently in France until the weekend) and home time is limited as well, so I don't have the time that others might have to see what we might have here. Together, however, I'm confident we can see what is here and if this will work for all.

Thanks for bringing your insight and knowledge to this thread.

[mpd3892]

Quote: Originally Posted by capa

I have always believed the only way to get more realism on the field is to edit ratings. Did you do this before your first few tests on Rookie? If so, wouldn't that invalidate the test as editing player ratings is the key to better on field game play at all levels? C

Thanks for the great question. I ran a few games with a mix of edited QBs and non-edited QBs. Like you, I just believe that we can better overcome some of Madden's limitations by editing players. In fact, I'm of the belief that most ratings are simply too high and because of the pressure from real players EA inflates them. But that is something saved for another day.

While I believe that certain traits have an impact on home players actually play within the game, I don't think that there is much of an impact on QB accuracy. By changing the QB traits as I did, my hope was to cut down on issues where the QB holds the ball too long and "waits" to take a sack. By changing FORCES PASSES to IDEAL my hope was that the CPU controlled QB would be willing to make throws into tighter coverage down the field and not always check down.

The key take away here, I believe, is that on ROOKIE players play more to their actual ratings then at other levels. With everyone's input we'll be better able to learn what ratings matter and what impact, if any, various traits have.

[mpd3892]

Quote: Originally Posted by airraid73

In the game I had with the Saints , Ingram had some shifty moves he made on me ! But the game I had with Vikes Matt Asiata power was noticeable I'll go back and provide stats in that game Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You bring up another good point here. There appears to be a difference in how various types of players play. As in your example: power backs are more apt to run over defenders, whereas speed backs are more apt to put juke moves on.

Its driving me crazy not being able to explore this even more. Its exciting to think that just maybe Madden really is the game we've all been looking for. I love to explore and find new things about stuff that others have been looking at for some time. Perhaps that is why I've been doing investigations for almost 30 years now.

[mpd3892]

Quote: Originally Posted by Devildog Frank

I have played two games, first half only, just to get a feel of how it plays on Rookie Level. I used default sliders, with speed set on Fast. I have to say that I am more than pleasantly surprised at what I was seeing. Drives by the CPU teams that ended up with some scoring, and some drives that were stopped after a couple first downs, or stopped for 3 and out. I got burned on deep passes, one for a 69 yd TD, and watched my DB's play good D against the pass. I had offensive drives that went down field, but stalled, and I had to settle for a FG. I also had my offense stopped for 3 and out. Now for a note on what I noticed with actual game play concerning physics. I seen really nice tackling, and realistic looking broken tackles. There was a good pass rush from both sides, but not too much. Good coverages on screen passes, and some screens that were successful for 6+ yards. Defenders doing an adequate job covering passes to the flats, and slants. So far the only issue is the very slow Kick Meter. So what I have done is I will not aim my FG kicks, but I stop the meter either early or late to place my kicks, which increases the challenge, especially with a windy game. The one adjustment I will make for now is putting FG Power at 45, and FG Acc at 38. Liking this alot. Note: I play sim style, no switch on D, all assist options off.

First, love the name. Please tell me you are a brother Marine?

You bring up great points about defensive coverage. Something I had noticed, but not really focused on at this point was that it does seem that defenders play coverage much better. I noticed on several occasions when a QB dumped off to the flats, a defender (usually a LB) quickly closed in to make the tackle. From limited observation it just seems defenders play zone and man better, like they are supposed to.

As I pointed out earlier, there still remains a number of legacy issues. One of those definitely being kicking accuracy. One suggestion for the slow meter speed is to lower kicking accuracy. According to an article I read sometime ago, the kick accuracy slider actually affects the speed of the meter for the user and not the accuracy. Try it out and let us know how it works.

And just in case: SemperFi