GREAAAAAT.... I prefer tougher games rather than easier games also.... I tried to go back and capture the flavor of V.3, which was the last pre-patch set. I felt that, the V.3 set, was close to perfection.... What I liked about that set was that HUM running was challenging, NO FRICKING GIMMIES, and the CPU running game was ready to pin its ears back and steamroll you like armadillo Texas road kill.....
V.6 is beautiful.... And if you are looking to "tinker" under the hood, please be advised that I have cracked M13's slider code...
For those of you who like tackling sliders and would like to tune them to your own tastes, listen up....
I believe most will agree that the HUM and CPU passing game is spot on with V.6... If you find that it favors CPU than lower the WR CTCH slider by 10 fricking points to 45.... If you believe that the HUM passing game is too easy for you, then lower the QB ACC slider down, from 7 to 5, or 6. SPEED THRESH is not tied to the act of throwing or catching the rock....
DO NOT TOUCH CPU/HUM PASS BLK or the CPU/HUM PASS RUSH.... You will screw up the passing game
more than you can imagine.... PASS BLK is tied to PASS RUSH slider, they kind of complement each other.... BUT,
MOST IMPORTANTLY, the SPEED THRESH is FULLY TIED INTO both of these sliders and INFLUENCES PASS RUSH and PASS BLK....
Soooo, simply moving one slider to address sacks (either to increase them or decrease them), WILL NOT fix your issue, in fact it will ruin the slider set .... you would have to move two sliders in complementing tandem and then, and only then, test your settings at DIFFERENT SPEED THRESH settings to get the desired "
feel/time in the pocket" that you desire to dial in....
Furthermore,
DO NOT TOUCH CPU/HUM BRK TKL or CPU/HUM RUN BLK or CPU/HUM RUN REAC, or CPU/HUM TKLING, or CPU HUM BLK SHED to fix
ANY aspect of the CPU or HUM running game.... These sliders all work in unison and INSTANTLY become obsolete, the moment you change the SPEED THRESH....
TA DA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THERE IT IS.... The crippling "krypton green crystal" that first reared it's powers in Superman movies.
This green crystal has crippled and utterly frustrated all "slider gurus" since M13 was dropped in August has now been identified and I believe, solved through V.6...
The formula to solve the "optimum slider set" or the
Holy Grail of Madden as I've coined it, actually turned out to be quite simple once I understood how the game's A.I. reacts to slider tweaks...
LISTEN UP LADIES, here is the KEY: M13 A.I. is directly tied to SPEED THRESHOLD. In other words, every game speed setting: VERY SLOW, SLOW, NORMAL, FAST, and VERY FAST, has a corresponding,
OPTIMUM, speed thresh / slider combo setting....
As you all know, I have been striving for the
Holy Grail of Madden since M13 dropped. What is the
Holy Grail? Glad you asked.
For me, I define it as:
1) Realistic Animaitons
2) Realistic Gameplay from the BEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAASTS / Studs
3) Realistic Stats
4) Realistic "Feel", not overly fast, not overly slow
5) Realistic "Ebb & Flow", a back in forth, tug of wills between you and the CPU
6) Realistic Peripherals, meaning proper amount of injuries, total plays, etc.
My slider effort has been to try to reach the aforementioned goals, through choices in game speed, speed thresh and slider settings. Unfortunately, M13's A.I. has its flaws. In fact, we all know that unfortunately, M13 has two serious flaws. CPU gameplay calling, CPU running game. There are other issues, but these two have been deal breakers for many, and have driven many Maddenites to return M13 for credit or to pick up NBA 2k13....
Wellll, for those that have been patient with the thread, I believe that we are all going to benefit from our collective efforts, because V.6, has incorporated my "A-HAA" moment and is the FIRST version of sliders that I have created that incorporates and harmonizes the following three areas:
1) Game speed: Slow
2) Selection of a slider set to match SLOW game speed
3) Selection of a Speed Thresh setting that complements the Game Speed and slider set
I can tell you with 1000% certainty that passing and catching the rock ARE NOT tied to Game speed nor Speed Thresh, they are simply a function of moving the slider up and down.
I can tell you with 1000% certainty that the rest of the game plays within the aforementioned triad of factors: game speed choice, speed thresh choice, and sliders that you dial in.
If you doubt my theory, try the following test.
1) DO NOT move the sliders
2) Change speed thresh to "0"
I guarantee you that the CPU RB and HUM RB will now be able to snap off HUGE LONG RUNS....GUARANTEED!!!!! Realistic? No...
Now, you may be asking yourself, why am I going through all of this jibberish? Because you want to improve HUM run game by raising HUM RUN BLK by 2 or 3 units.... Will not work bud. You would be better off, considering dropping CPU TKL to 0 or CPU BLK SHED to 0.... But the SURE FIRE solution would be to lower speed thresh to 60, 55, or 50 and voila, problem solved. The problem is that you have now also put the CPU running game on 'roids.... So then you are going to want to futz with HUM TKL, HUM BLK SHED and HUM RUN REAC, to counter the BEEEEEEEAAAAASSSST CPU running game.... And once you start doing this, you are out of the game, the sliders are shot and useless!
Bottom line, there is smidge of know-how and skill involved in slider creation...
And just an FYI, my lab data indicates that the OPTIMUM speed thresh setting for SLOW game speed, is actually around 73 -77... I just didn't care for the pace of the HUM /CPU running game at that setting, I felt as if my team was running in sand... Now at 73-77, the sliders would be different, not the same ones as V.6...
So in closing, there is very LIMITED areas and ranges that these sliders can get messed with before you render them obsolete....
Trust me when I tell you that V.6 sliders are battle tested.... Studs will kill you, and if you game plan properly, they still MAY kill you...
You will notice how simplistic the sliders are, this is because you get the best animations and player attributes as programmed by EA, by using simplistic, "zero" oriented sliders...
In fact, I am going to coin another phrase.... "Zero is the Hero"... Of course, to have the proper "zero hero" you also need the right game speed and the proper speed thresh... If you don't have all three, then the
Holy Grail of Madden will only be a mirage on your flat screen... Lates.
Keep playin'! Keep postin'! Keep Maddening!
the Gospel of Madden has spoken.