Achieving a Realistic Kicking Game

[DeuceDouglas]

Field goal kicking has been an annoyance in Madden for me now for quite a while. My main problem is how ridiculously easy field goals are. I've tried numerous methods with the RS meter to achieve some sort of challenge but it's just not there. I've done some other things but never really stuck with it or kept track of how effective it was. I think I may have found what works best though.

Over my last two seasons (33 games) of CCM I SuperSimmed every FG attempt for both me and the CPU to get an idea of what kind of results I would get. Here they are:

0-19 yards - 9 of 9, 100%
20-29 yards - 32 of 33, 96.9%
30-39 yards - 22 of 27, 81.4%
40-49 yards - 19 of 22, 86.3%
50+ yards - 15 of 26, 57.6%
Total - 97 of 117, 82.9%

I though it was cool to see that the FG% last year in the NFL was 82.9% which is identical to what I got over my two seasons. I also looked up field goal stats dating back to 1996 to compare.

0-19 yards - 251 of 257, 97.6%
20-29 yards - 4060 of 4256, 95.3%
30-39 yards - 3820 of 4498, 84.9%
40-49 yards - 3221 of 4639, 69.4%
50+ yards - 781 of 1452, 53.7%
Total - 12129 of 15094, 80.3%

Two seasons is a small sample size but I think it compares pretty well with the real NFL numbers and I think over time it would become closer to those numbers.

I did come across some issues while using it though.

The most common has to do with the clock. There are times when you SuperSim the FG and absolutely no time comes off the clock and then there are times where 20-30 seconds will come off. I didn't find it too be much a problem except when it came to late half and game situations.

In my two seasons, there was a total of four field goals blocked, two of which were in my last game of my second season so that kind of inflated those numbers.

Also, SuperSim field goals are not exciting in the least bit. Hitting a button and reading text of a game winning field goal sucks. No other way to put it.

With all that being said, I think that, for now, SuperSim is by far the best way to achieve a realistic kicking game. Since user FG's are my main issue, I'm going to go into practice mode and test kicking sliders for the CPU to find out what works best so that I end up only SuperSimming my own field goals. I'll also probably update my SuperSim FG numbers at the end of each of my CCM seasons.

SuperSim FG Totals (83 games)

0-19 yards - 14 of 14, 100%
20-29 yards - 68 of 71, 95.7%
30-39 yards - 66 of 76, 86.8%
40-49 yards - 70 of 89, 78.6%
50+ yards - 44 of 70, 62.8%
Total - 262 of 320, 81.8%

[brandon27]

Interesting to see that Super Sim gets the stats right down to what the average was last year. I've super simmed extra points alot, I just can't be bothered with them, and It's amazing how many I see getting blocked, or missed.

To me it seems like the CPU misses alot of FG's. Could just be my slider settings though as well.

I've always found kicking field goals to be easy in Madden. It is what it is though probably. This year though, I've been really frustrated with it since the wind meters are backwards (still yet to be fixed/patched).

Also, I'd like to see them have the wind meter shown somewhere in your playcall screen prior to takin the field to kick a field goal. Nothing worse than taking the field for a long FG try, and then realizing how windy it is, and that you've got no chance probably.

[tfctillidie]

Drop the FG Accuracy slider to about 15-20. Straight line on the RS or no bueno.

[Drtro]

At 15-20 accuracy, the CPU will never make anything past 30. Flawed logic.


I go by the house rule of not changing the direction of the arrow and using the right stick to aim when I kick the ball. My first season FG's were 29-38 with the Seahawks kicker.

[DeuceDouglas]

Quote: Originally Posted by Drtro

I go by the house rule of not changing the direction of the arrow and using the right stick to aim when I kick the ball. My first season FG's were 29-38 with the Seahawks kicker.

Yeah, that's what I had been doing on M12 and started doing this year but after a while I realized that the vast majority of FG's that I missed were short ones where no matter how hard I angled the RS, the kick wouldn't angle in time and a lot of them would bounce off the uprights.

[Drtro]

Quote: Originally Posted by DeuceDouglas

Yeah, that's what I had been doing on M12 and started doing this year but after a while I realized that the vast majority of FG's that I missed were short ones where no matter how hard I angled the RS, the kick wouldn't angle in time and a lot of them would bounce off the uprights.

Put it around 45-47. The lower the more swerve you will get on the kick with the right stick (which we want to aim) but any lower and the CPU misses everything. Anything higher and you won't get a lot of swerve.

I have 46 power, 47 accuracy.

[DeuceDouglas]

I just finished a bunch of testing in practice mode. I had the CPU using Ryan Succop (93 pwr 90 acc) and I kicked 10 field goals from the left and right hash as well as from the center of the field. I kicked them from 52, 55, and 58 yards. I left the Kick Power slider at 50 for all of them also.

50 Kick Accuracy - 67 of 90
52 yards - 30 of 30
55 yards - 19 of 30
58 yards - 18 of 30

49 Kick Accuracy - 66 of 90
52 yards - 30 of 30
55 yards - 19 of 30
58 yards - 17 of 30

45 Kick Accuracy - 60 of 90
52 yards - 30 of 30
55 yards - 15 of 30
58 yards - 15 of 30

44 Kick Accuracy - 58 of 90
52 yards - 28 of 30
55 yards - 15 of 30
58 yards - 15 of 30

43 Kick Accuracy - 32 of 90
52 yards - 16 of 30
55 yards - 7 of 30
58 yards - 9 of 30

40 Kick Accuracy - 27 of 90
52 yards - 15 of 30
55 yards - 9 of 30
58 yards - 3 of 30

I'm going to do some more testing with 43 and 44 accuracy with 30-40 yard field goals and see what happens. I'm thinking 44 accuracy is going to be best because 43 accuracy was very erratic. I also need to mess around with the power because Succop with only 93 for kick power had 60+ yard leg which is a little much.

[tfctillidie]

Quote: Originally Posted by Drtro

At 15-20 accuracy, the CPU will never make anything past 30. Flawed logic.

Supersim their kicks instead of your own?