Question about HFA, pass completion %, etc.

[mazhirui]

If you turn Home Field Advantage off, does that mean that the crowd doesn't go crazy when you're playing in a big stadium? Or just that the crowd going crazy doesn't have an effect on the team? I know some people have had problems with the AI and completing passes and such. Does turning off HFA seem to help this?

It also seems to me that a QB's pass accuracy has more to do with receivers catching the ball than their catching ability does. My first two seasons I had a very accurate pocket passer that usually completed in the 55% range. The last two seasons I had a scrambler whos' pass accuracy was only maybe an 82-83 and the guys seem to drop a lot more. His pass accuracy so far this year is around 40% (including 35% in the last game).

Any ideas? Suggestions? Jistic, I'd love to hear from you on this one.

[mercalnd]

Turning off HFA means the crowd will not affect your players. You'll still hear the crowd go nuts. One thing I've noticed is that it screws up the commentary. I was playing as Texas in Austin and I got a big lead so the crowd quieted down a bit because there wasn't that much excitement left in the game and before every play one of the three stooges, I'm not sure but I think it was Nessler, kept saying "These fans aren't as rowdy as they were earlier." It gets real annoying real fast so I turned off the commentary altogether.

About the problems, it seems to help with the slowdown on XBOX but I don't see that it helps the CPU's completion % that much. I get somewhat better results than before but rarely over 50% completion, even by the likes of USC. Against me, the CPU completion ratio has gone from the 25-37% range to 37-50% which mind you is a significant improvement but I wouldn't call the problem solved. I think the difference in turning HFA off is that the crowd won't rattle the CPU's receivers. Ideally, I'd like to see it between 45-65%. I think part of the problem is that the CPU doesn't use short passes enough.

About your observation that accuracy makes more of a difference than catching, I would tend to agree because even with catching maxed out, the receivers drop wide open easy balls. I've personnaly noticed that my receivers will drop easy balls in the open and then make amazing catches in double coverage. I've found some sliders that make the game playable for me although not as good as I'd like it. As someone suggested in another thread, the best thing to do is to find the best combination you can to reduce whatever problems you have with the game and enjoy the resulting game experience, if you can. I've come to expect my NCAA games to be tilted towards big plays and incompletes and I can live with that because I get some close games. But I can't expect any kind of realistic stats. I hope this has answered some of your questions.