I am looking into ways to tighten up the gameplay and make it a tad more difficult to win while staying away from cheesy HoF mode. I want to keep the parts of these sliders that are working well, but improve on a few things also.
So, rather than just shooting in the dark and going purely by feel, I decided to use a data-driven approach. I compiled and averaged stats for the last 15 games I played with this set (I feel that more recent games are a truer indication of my current skill level) and I was actually surprised at some of the data that came up.
Check out the table below; the data are given in per game units and the 3 columns correspond to my team (PHI), the cpu (OPP), and the best NBA per team average stats I could find for comparison (NBA). In other words, to make this a truer sim, the closer the PHI and OPP numbers are to NBA, the better--although these NBA values are
averages. Only one or two teams will realistically play at an "average" level, while most teams will be a bit spread out from this to both extremes.
Code:
PHI OPP NBA
PPG 99.1 96.4 101.0
FGM 39.4 38.0 37.7
FGA 88.2 90.6 83.0
FTM 12.6 12.7 17.8
FTA 19.2 18.1 23.6
3PM 7.9 7.6 7.7
3PA 24.4 24.4 21.5
Dunks 6.3 2.9 6.0
FB PTS 13.9 9.0 13.0
PiP 51.1 42.0 41.6
2nd PTS 9.8 8.3 13.0
Bench 34.0 27.5 30.8
AST 23.3 21.0 22.0
OREB 9.8 10.5 10.9
DREB 41.9 41.3 31.8
STL 7.2 8.6 7.7
BLK 5.6 2.6 4.7
TO 12.6 12.2 14.6
Fouls 13.3 14.1 20.7
FG% 44.6 41.9 45.0
FT% 65.4 70.4 75.9
3P% 32.2 31.3 35.7
- My first point of emphasis is I need to raise the cpu shooting sliders. The cpu was shooting only 41.9% from the field, which is well below average. The cpu was also shooting about 4% lower than average on 3's. I am going to raise the cpu's shooting sliders all by 1 click and the mid-range and 3PT by 2 clicks each and see how that goes.
- Secondly, both my team and the cpu are shooting too low on FTs. I thought this would get better as I learned my guys' motions, but it's still low. I am going to lower the FT difficulty slider from 55 to 50 and see if it does the trick. Using the shot stick timing really makes this tougher.
- Third, it looks like there are too many possessions per game for both teams. There are 5-8 more shots per game per team than average, which is leading to 5-10 more defensive rebounds per game than there should be. To limit the number of possessions, I will try lowering the speed and quickness by 1 click for both USER and CPU. Raising the FG and FT sliders should also lead to fewer defensive boards.
- The turnovers are also a bit low, which is leading to too many possessions that end in shots, so I will try decreasing hands and ball handling sliders by 3 clicks each for both USER and CPU. Hopefully this will result in a couple of basketballs that squirt through players' hands instead of adding cheesy steals. Only need to eek out 1-2 more TOs per game here.
- The cpu is light on blocks, so I am going to raise up their blocking slider from 65 to 80. I don't want to touch the vert because that will influence rebounding etc.
- The fouls are actually pretty good compared to most other sets, but we are still about 5 fouls too few per team per game. I am going to try and eek out some more fouls by boosting the layup defense strength takeoff and release from 72 to 90. I am also going to raise the jump shot defense strength (gather) from 60 to 75 and the jump shot defense strength (release) from 45 to 60. Hopefully this added tight defense will create more contact. I will also raise contest shots for USER and CPU both from 52 to 55 to maybe get a few more fouls on jump shot and-1s.
- I am going to decrease USER dunking ability from 50 to 45, dunk-in-traffic success from 50 to 45, dunk in traffic freq from 65 to 60, and layup success from 47 to 45 to make it a bit tougher to score in the paint. I have been getting about 50% of my points in the paint, while the average NBA team gets closer to 40% (the NBA-leading Pistons get 52% by comparison).
- Finally, I just want to make a few general tweaks to add a little more challenge. Some of the changes already made (boosting cpu shooting sliders, blocking sliders, and decreasing USER finishing around the rim) will do this so I don't want to over do it. But, some changes I will make to USER sliders to increase difficulty (in addition to those above): HUS -2, On-ball D -2, blocking -1, O AWR -2, D AWR -2, consistency -2
- Some changes to cpu sliders to increase difficulty (in addition to those above): contact shot success +2, O AWR +2, D AWR +2, consistency +2, take 3's -2, backdoor cuts +2
Finally,
I am not going to update the OP with these changes until I've had a chance to test these. These are still experimental and it'll take 5-10 games to see if the changes are doing what they're supposed to.
05-05-2014, 05:15 AM
I was the Warriors 
