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Originally Posted by akita7334 |
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The way I based determining what sliders need to balance out is simple. I think way too much over thinking goes into slider adjustment, and I am seeing too much over thinking with my sliders as well.
I simply looked at the Offense and Defense and what players interact during a play. Whether a slider is 0 or 100 it doesn't completely remove that players ability on the field it just tones it up or down. What I mean is if you set a slider to 0 doesn't mean the player will just stand there and do nothing.
So when I looked at the sliders I realized that, for example the QB accuracy is still there no matter what the slider is at the QB just throws to a little bigger area on the field. So if I truly want to create an accurate playing game I must consider what else affects the QB accuracy? That would be P D React Time as well as AI decision making, or User decision making. So if your the user and want a realistic game you have to adjust all of the aspects while keeping the sliders balanced to create a game that plays realistic.
I say balanced sliders because that's how the game was designed. So if I want to make the USER QB have a more difficult time, which I should do because I can make much quicker decisions than the CPU can, I lower my QB accuracy slider to 40 and raise the PD React Time to 60.
As most do, then I want the CPU QB to be more accurate so I raised the QB accuracy to 70 and lowered the USER P D React Time to 30. I also raised Game speed to fast because it speeds up not only the QB but the CPU AI over all on both sides of the ball and allows the CPU to make quicker decisions. To me this also looks the most realistic.
Broken Tackles/Tackling: I wanted more gang tackling over all so I raised both USER/CPU Broken Tackles to 55 and lowered Tackling to 45. This coupled with game speed at fast creates a very realistic interaction between the ball carrier and tackler.
Pass Blocking/Pass Rushing: The USER can again react quicker than the CPU Throwing the pall, so I want more pressure on the USER. Hence USER/CPU Pass Blocking 45/70 and Pass Rushing 30/55. With game speed at fast you get a nice rush against you and the CPU does a nice job holding you up just enough on your pass rush and the QB gets the ball out of his hand quickly enough to make challenging to get sacks. Sacks should be difficult to get and it should be your DE/LB getting most of the sacks, not your DT.
WR Catching/Intereception: The receiver catches the ball no matter what setting this is on. And the WR is competing against the DB to catch the ball. Intereception is really the DB Catch setting, how often the DB will catch the ball when able too. Overall DB's have a low catch setting and at 50/50 the WR drops to many balls and the DB's catch to many. I want the better receivers to make better catches and the DB's to drop more than they catch. To do this I raise both USER/CPU WR Catch to 70 and lower Interception to 30 for both. This creates realistic amout of Interceptions and drops as the WR will drop the ball, especially when being hit and the DB, depending on his ability will not pick every ball off.
Run Blocking/Block Shedding: Again, the USER can react quicker. So I lower USER Run Blocking to 45 and Raise CPU Block Shedding to 55 to compensate for the slower CPU. For the CPU I raise Run Blocking to 60 and lower USER Block Shedding to 40. This allows the CPU to gash you if your not paying attention, and makes the USER have to think more about stopping the pass or run. The USER also has to work much harder and be disciplined when running the ball. Game speed at fast affects this as well, holes close quicker.
Fumbles and R D React Time: These sliders do not have a direct affect on any other slider. I find adjusting these two sliders off 50/50 affects other aspects of the game and throws the game out of balance. If they are adjusted keep the 100 balance. Example if you change fumbles to 40 for USER, bump it to 60 for the CPU. Same with R D React Time.
Bottom line is this works the way I have stated and is a very good representation of what we see on Sunday from the real game of Football. The games I have played are unpredictable and you really need to use strategy to keep the CPU off balance, as I have noticed the CPU does a great job as well. That's what I have always wanted form Madden, don't you?
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Akita, I wasn't disagreeing with you in any respect. What I was pointing out is that, well, what you are offering is far more important than what you explicitly stated.
Yes, there is this thing we'll call "100 Balance Complementary Sliders" which you are 'professing.' I'm totally on-board. As I mentioned, the past several years of slider threads have ample references to oddities in sliders where someone noticed a relationship between sliders or noticed that when they changed slider A, they also noticed that it didn't have the same impact as when they changed slider A within another set. More than likely, when they changed slider A the first time, they were not using a 'balance complementary' set (I mean, who used to) and that really hosed things up.
But what I was pointing out is that the use of a 'balance complementary' set is not limited to 100. After checking out the 100's, I moved to 50. . .for instance, HUM QBA at 5 (five!) and CPU Pass Reaction at 45...Hum WRC at 22 and CPU Int at 28. It was interesting to say the least. It was very, very tight...and only 1 pick thrown by me. I'm actually thinking that the actual number (e.g., 100 or 50) doesn't matter. What you have 'uncovered' is that one can pretty much maintain the 'out of the box' game balance while enhancing / improving difficulty and tightness by adjusting the sliders so long as the complementary sums are consistent. That is sweet!
More interestingly. . .I think this sheds light on what sliders are. Perhaps they are not so much 'tweaks' to values...rather they are value differentiators. As the speed threshold manages differences between player speeds, the sliders are managing the differences and 'scope' of aspects of the game.