D-Line & QB Accuracy Findings

[JRod]

Let me start by saying that I've come to this findings in a round about way.

In UEFA Euro and FIFA, EA took the gameplay decision to "force" the user to do everything. This left many of the CPU teammates braindead until you too control on them. I don't know if this was a design decision or just how the controls, or lack thereof, work.

With that in mind, I decided to play with that approach. Here's a few experiments I did last night.

Test #1 Pass Rushing with the best rated DL I had.

I am playing as Boston College in my Dynasty. In my 2nd year, I have a 90 rated DT. In the first game of the season, I line upped against a 99 team Florida State.

My only goal was to play as the DT to see if this created the QB to make more offline throws due to hurried passes. I don't have the ratings for the FSU QB but he finished the game going about 14-24 for 150 yards with a 50 yard screen play in the 2nd half to gain most of those yards. The scoreline was 35-3 and it was total dominance by FSU.

Second try against Clemson with a notably, lower rated DL. They are a slower team and it shows. Again the results were somewhat similar but though they passes more often and gain more yards.

This also worked in random exibitions but I'm not near my 360 to post those stats.

Key Findings:
I don't think anyone will say that the defensive game is perfect. I don't think it's a lost cause as so many have said. The key, is that you must take control of a DL if you want to create pressure consistantly.

I beleive that there is some sort of trigger in the game, when you control a lineman, you can cause the CPU QB to throw bad passes and "look" away from his primary receiver. Somehow the behavior of the QB is affected when you control the DL.

It seems there is a magical circle where the QB feels pressure. the second trigger is the ability to get to the QB. And the third is that you are in control of one of the players creating pressure. The lineman can not be engaged or at least coming off a block. I've noticed that QBs with a lower awareness will turn away from their primary WRs. More noticably they will run away from the screens setting up.

I want to be clear that this doesn't mean that you will not see a decrease in amount of pancakes or that the completion of the CPU QBs completion rate will drop to below 50%. In fact, the DL play doesn't look realistic. But I do beleive it's possible to force the CPU QB to make bad throws and not play near perfect games.

Passing Accuracy and Interceptions -
This was an interesting test. I took the QB with the best throw accuracy and lowered his rating to zero. It was the Texas Tech QB.

To test this out, I only played games because I think sliders and everything have a different effect in practice.

The stats aren't important but what happened was. EA has programmed certain instances where the ball will go directly to the QB. You can also see this if you lower the QB Accuracy slider.

I was mainly using flag or post routes. I don't have any videos because I forgot to save them when I was doing this. But let's say your X WR was running a post. So he's on the left running toward the sidelined.

With ACC for the QB at zero, and *always* trying to lead the WR on the sideline shoulder, the ball would somehow turn into a guided missile straight to the safety playing zone. Now it could be that the controls are that sensitive and I didn't press the correct angle or I was late in doing it. But on deep passes the ball would be thrown not at the direction I was pressing the L-stick but rather where ever the safety was.

Findings: This means that certain INTs are canned. Which also means that since it isn't random or organic, this could be an area where the AI can predetermine and interception. I don't know if there's actual AI doing this or just something we have long suspected but at the very least the engine allows for this type of AI exploit.


*Some things to note. In the first test, I had the Hum Pass Acc. slider set at 40. In the second test the slider was at 50.


** I was using Heisman difficulty with modified Farktaf's (sorry that has to be wrong) sliders.

*** My play calling was pretty normal. I had to call 3 deep zones to take away the WRs speed. I blitzed conservatively but I did blitz.

[tate09]

i had noticed that when i was able to get a little pressure with a stud DT (DE's might as well be in wheelchairs) the QB play was more realistic.

i completely agree about the predetermined INT thing. for a few games i was switching QBAcc from 40 for me to 20 for the CPU and everytime i would forget to switch it back i would throw an INT. It would always happen the first time i attempted to make a throw more than 10 yds downfield and my QB would either lob the ball up in the air allowing every defensive player 5 seconds to react to it or he would throw an absolute rocket right at a db who was usually 15-20 yards away from the intended WR.

[Matt Diesel]

You should only play DL in this game. I got 5 sacks one game , 3 another playing just D linemen and the CPU QBs accuracy goes down. It also seems LBs are in better position to swat balls if you dont take control of any of them.

[therizing02]

J, it's funny that you mention FIFA and EURO because I actually had the same thoughts regarding the programming of the "AI" of your teammates. I wondered if the FIFA guys and the NCAA guys talked programming.

A lot of the rage in the forum is similar to what went on in the Soccer forum when FIFA first came out. It didn't subside until people figured out how to play the game. I know that my thoughts regarding this game have changed (for the better) the more I play the game. Don't misunderstand me though, as I think this game has serious flaws and I'm disgusted that I have to use "house rules" for certain parts of the game.

Great findings nonetheless.