My contribution to sliders

[ebongreen]

After considering many options listed here (and props to claystone and adembroski for their research and contributions) I rolled my own, with which I'm pretty happy. My general rule of thumb was to perturb the defaults as little as possible to better balance gameplay - YMMV.

In my current 'chise I'm on an 11-0 roll in 2008, but had two very narrow escapes (including one overtime victory) from relatively talent-free Buc and Seahawk squads in this first year. At the same time, a good Cowboys squad lost 38-3 and the very talented (though slightly injured) Colts got blown out of Lambeau 55-0.

Pluses:

• I have a running game now. I can't run at will (yet), but Ray Rice will finish the year as a thousand-yard-plus rusher, barring injury.
• The competition is able to run against me (1500+ yards so far this season). Again, not at will, and not necessarily really well, but I have to actually worry about Rashard Mendenhall (Bears) and Adrian Peterson (Vikings) when I play those teams. Run blitzing is essential and doesn't always work.
• Chump QBs like Tarvaris Jackson, God bless him, are no longer completing passes at will against Al Harris and Nnamdi Asomugha in man coverage.
• Penalty frequency seems relatively realistic. GB is leading the league in fewest penalties assessed, though not yardage. Looking at the team stats generally so far this year, I'm not leading the way in all categories (which was common on the default sliders).

Minuses:

• There's no fixing the defensive AI's vulnerability to the play-action pass.
• Packers QB Andre Woodson went over 4000 yards passing in less than twelve games(!), and is averaging nearly 400 yards per game. The Packers coaching staff has a lot of "help-the-QB" special skills between Mike McCarthy and Tom Clements, so those numbers aren't as unreal as they seem. He's also averaging only 66% completion - in line with other top passers - and is near the league lead in attempts. He just happens to be completing a lot of long pass plays (161/187 deep attempts, DAvg 20.4), helped in great measure by YAC-masters Driver (310/4.5) and Jennings (314/5.3). For comparison, both Mannings, McNabb and Romo were over 3000 yards passing in the same time period.
• Kenny Phillips, starting at SS, has over ten picks already this year. Of course, he does have WR-class hands, and I set him up well.

QBA- 40
PBK- 40
WRC- 40
RBA- 80
RBK- 60

AWR- 40
KND- 40
INT- 50
BRB- 40
TAK- 40

FGP- 45
FGA- 40
PTP- 50
PTA- 50
KOP- 40

Quarter Length- 15 Minutes
Play Clock- On
CPU Play Downloading- Your Preference
Offside- 50
False Start- 50
Holding- 50
Facemask- 40
Offensive PI- 53
Defensive PI- 53
KR/PR Interference- 75
Clipping- 50
Intentional Grounding- 75
Roughing Passer- 75
Roughing Kicker- 75

[Mike3207]

It looks pretty good. Only change I would suggest making is increasing both Punting Power and Punting Accuracy; the punting game at default is way too weak. I would suggest Punting Power at 99 and Punting Accuracy at 70, but see what's best for you.

[ebongreen]

I always figured that the reason Jon Ryan was so erratic as a punter was that Mike Stock, the Packers STC, was pretty poor. Performance of 2, 2-3 in Physical Development, 3 in Intangibles... Other teams seem to punt well and consistently, but not the Packers (until/unless the STC gets all the special skills).

[cloudedskate]

Do you have a lot of fumbles with these sliders? I am playing Bears vs Lions and my RB Ray Rice has fumbled twice and the Lions QB Daunte Culpepper has fumbled twice.

[ebongreen]

I can't say I've seen an extraordinary number of fumbles, but they do happen. In fifteen games and 289 carries, Ray has fumbled seven times, which is a 2.4% rate. That's in-line with Ryan Grant and Michael Turner, less than Joseph Addai, and more than Steven Jackson or LDT. I will note that Ray tends to fumble vs. defensive-minded teams (like SEA, CHI, TB, TEN) which probably have coaches with the Hard Hit specials.

Culpepper, OTOH, has always been a fumbler - 23 in one year! - and his 45 Carry rating reflects that. Worse than Rashard Mendenhall or Steve Slaton, the two worst RBs for CAR, and right about Devin Hester/Mario Manningham territory.

[cloudedskate]

Yeah. That game finished with 6 fumbles, as Culpepper was harassed by my defense en route to 6 sacks and 4 forced fumbles. I'm playing the Giants now and I like the sliders. I have only played 1.5 games but they are better than the Crazy 80's I was using before.

[ebongreen]

I just finished my first full season with these, and I just played the most exciting Super Bowl in my history with this game. Greg Jennings broke his arm in the NFC championship, so I was down to one reliable wide-out facing a full-strength Colts squad.

After starting the game with an Addai fumble that Dre Moore returned twenty yards for a touchdown, the Colts had me down and dead-to-rights in the fourth quarter when Calais Campbell recovered a second Addai fumble. One pass later to Donald Driver on a curl and a missed Bob Sanders tackle, and I was back in the game.

After a missed Vinatieri field goal, I managed another score to go up by eight just before the two minute warning. But this is Peyton and the Colts: eighty yards means nothing to them, and they scored a touchdown with six seconds left as I gritted my teeth. Two point conversion for the tie, 3WR vs 2LB nickel. I blitz both 'backers, and Peyton completes his pass a yard short of the endzone on a TE drag route.

What a hella fun game.

[Mike3207]

Passing sliders seemed to make the passing game a bit too inefficent, so I moved them up to 45. I'll try that for a while.