Couple Questions on Gameplay

[claphandw]

One more question for you if you come back and read this. When you are blitzing from the edge with a nickelback, say, do you usually control the blitzing player? When I've tried this, if I let the AI do it, the player won't creep up on the play and seems to get there too slowly, but if I take control I struggle to get the guy on the correct side, lined up properly, etc, before the AI snaps the ball. Perhaps I just need more practice?

I always control the player blitzing off the edge. You are point on, it does take practice to learn to get the player under control. You will find that the better "Defender" you are able to recruit, the easier they become to control. As you get bigger and stronger safties, you will find that you can often push smaller RB's back into the QB while they are trying to throw. Keep working with it and you will have more success.


One further question for anyone checking this thread out. Trying to block a kick has me stymied as well. Anyone have suggestions on how to get to the kicker or punter at least once in a while, or has the game gone back to where this is essentially impossible like it was in some of the earlier versions?

On this, the only thing I can tell you is that it is next to impossible. I have played hundreds of matchups on this years game and I have seen (1) blocked punt and (1) blocked Extra Point. The only punt I have seen blocked came when my opponent had me backed up on the 1 yd line and they blitzed all and got to the kicker. On the Extra Point, you have to simply guess when the kicker is going to attempt the kick and come off the edge. I personally have never gotten there, but I have had one of my kicks blocked this way. It was a pure luck issue.

Back to the fumbles item: You can do this with average teams, but as you said, it is a little harder. However if you are playing evenly matched teams you should be ok. Keep in mind that when you begin to recruit, even if you have a small school, you can find many (3) star players who will come in just as good if not better than many (5) stars. The trick is to scout the players and determine what you are looking for. I have had several (5) star players come in at 78 - 79 Overall as Freshman while I have had 3 stars come in at 81 - 82 on certain occasions. It's all in the scouting.

Another trick to get faster at LB is to look at converting SS to LB's. If you do this, try and pay attention to the tackling and hit power abilities. If a SS has poor or average "Block Shedding" be weary of putting them in as a MLB. Overall though, you will often find that SS convert quite nicely to OLB and MLB with Speed + increased coverage abilities. If you play with Alabama stick to recruiting real MLB's and ATH, but if you are a smaller/less talented school, try the above.

[silentrob]

Thanks again, my friend. I did do a practice season so I could learn how recruiting works, and it didn't seem too hard to find good guys. This game gives you so much data on player abilities that it isn't that hard to pick out ones who should rate above their star value, and vice versa. Which is kinda too bad, because if you look at the actual top 100 recruits of 4 years ago and what they are doing now, you'll see that some did just fine but others have barely played. Recruiting is a very inexact science, like drafting baseball players out of high school. Wish the game had a bit more uncertainty in this area.

I was afraid you would say that about kick blocking. I remember the 07 game where you could block about half the kicks if you tried. This appears to be one area where EA just doesn't care if they get it right or not; they yo-yo back and forth between too easy and impossible. There are many areas like that to the game, which is partly why I don't spend my money to buy it every year. And part of why monopolies and lack of competition hurt consumers. But I'm sure this conversation has happened many times on the forum, so I'll stop there.