08-28-2004, 03:07 AM
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#1
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MVP
OVR: 20
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 1,268
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Getting the CPU to run
The main complaint I hear is that the CPU can't run. The two problems I see the most is that:
1. The LB's fly to the ball on hand-offs, even before the QB has handed off the ball.
2. At times, the CPU offensive line makes horrible blocking assignments.
In order to solve the first problem, I opened my teams roster and edited the awareness ratings for all of my LB's. I reduced this rating 20% in order to hopefully tone down their agressiveness.
In order to solve the second problem I increased OL awareness to 99 across the board and was very pleased with the result. However, this is a problem as I would have to edit every teams offensive line which is not a fun thing to do. So what I settled on to solve this problem was re-setting the OL to their default ratings and using Headrulz version 2.8 beta sliders which has the CPU run block and ability maxed out.
So in summary all I did was edit my own LB awareness ratings -20%.
I think I am on to something good here. First, lets look at 2 real NFL teams rushing stats from a game. I used last years Super Bowl New England vs Carolina. Here is the breakdown from the combined teams run plays:
Negative yardage 7% of total run plays
0 yards gained 4%
1-2 yards gained 37%
3-5 yards gained 28%
6-9 yards gained 20%
10-15 0
16-20 0
20+ 4%
Now lets look at a game with Madden's default rosters using Headrulz sliders. This is Baltimore at San Francisco (me) using a balanced mix of defensive plays with shifting of players only used when mismatches were present. Most plays were from a base 4-3 defense:
Lewis:
28 attempts
78 yards
2.8 yard avg
5 Broken tackles
Negative yardage 18% of total run plays
0 yards gained 18%
1-2 yards gained 21%
3-5 yards gained 21%
6-9 yards gained 18%
10-15 4%
16-20 4%
20+ 0
Now lets look at a game with adjusted San Francisco LB ratings (-20% awareness) using Headrulz sliders. This is Baltimore at San Francisco (me) using a balanced mix of defensive plays with shifting of players only used when mismatches were present. Most plays were from a base 4-3 defense:
Lewis:
27 attempts
122 yards
4.5 yard avg
7 Broken tackles
Negative yardage 20% of total run plays
0 yards gained 10%
1-2 yards gained 13%
3-5 yards gained 13%
6-9 yards gained 20%
10-15 yds gained 23%
16-20 0
20+ 0
Now, lets separate runs in 3 basic categories:
Poor runs: Negative to +2 yards.
Avg runs: 3-5 yard runs.
Good runs: 6+ yard runs.
The results:
Real NFL/default rosters/modified rosters:
Poor= 48% 57% 43%
Avg= 28% 21% 13%
Good= 24% 26% 43%
The good thing is that the modified rosters have the lowest amount of poor runs. They also have the largest percent of good runs although there were no break-away plays (the biggest gain was a 15 yard TD.)
My concern looking at these percentages is that maybe the LB's aren't tackling. However, here is the total number of tackles per unit:
Default rosters:
DB tackles: 18
LB tackles: 18
DL tackles: 8
Modified rosters:
DB tackles: 20
LB tackles: 21
DL tackles: 6
The lack of DL tackles is remarkable but probably attributed to the maxed run block ratings for the CPU. The important thing though is that the LB's still make tackles, and good LB's such as Peterson will still make great plays flying across the field chasing a sweep. The big difference with the modified ratings is that the LB's will not be as aggressive on run plays. Instead the will not react until they know for sure it's a run.
There were occasions where I thought they still reacted a little fast, therefore I am recommending reducing the awareness ratings 25% instead of 20%. There may be more adjustment necessary if you have an all-pro linebacking crew.
These numbers are based off a total of 2 Madden games. I don't have time to do more testing now so if anyone out there would like to post their results it would be appreciated.
Last edited by swaldo; 08-28-2004 at 03:16 AM.
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