Few questions from a semi Newbie

[CStateAttack]

I'm getting ready to start a franchise on Madden (obviously) and i'm going to do a fantasy draft. I'll be doing the entire draft of my team, not allowing the computer to pick anyone for me. I'll also be doing this for NHL after I complete this fantasy draft and get it underway. My questions are as follows..

1. What level of gameplay is considered to be the best for a starting point? I'm going to adjust sliders on my own and i'll be posting some more questions in the sliders section. I just need somewhere to start and adjust from there.

2. How long should quarters be to get accurate simulation stats for the CPU? Also, how long should quarters be for me so I can get good stats that are mostly realistic?

3. Any other suggestions anyone has will be gladly accepted as well. Thanks a lot!

[DoubleIt5]

As far as sliders its all a personal preference. Since you say you are new to Madden I'd start with with Pro or All-Pro (depending how steep you want the learning curve). But definitely check out the sliders forum for a good base if you want some sim style stats. Quarter length doesn't matter as far as sim stats, what does depends on what patch you have, if any. Again the sliders forum has some tips on adjusting CPU coaching sliders (you need to control all 32 teams to do this). For your games, personally I play 15 min quarters with accelerated clock 20 second runoff. This gives around 120-130 plays per game, which is the NFL average. I have also had success with 12 min quarters 15 second runoff or 7 min quarters no accelerated clock. All of the options will have games taking roughly an hour to complete. I use 15 min quarters because I like realistic time of possession. Again personal preference. Hope this helps.