Reaction Time & Pass Cover Focus Thread

[4thQtrStre5S]

Re: Reaction Time & Pass Cover Focus Thread

So you really don't see much difference in Tackle until 30 or above? What speed are you using, Normal? All-Pro? Thanks for taking the time to explain some of this stuff!

I use All-Pro and Slow speed.....I plan on trying normal speed in the near future....I started out with working from the defaults and will work my way to testing game speed once i'm happy with the game play, enough, at current speed.

I really do not see much difference in tackling between 30 and 5 or even 0; but i do not use zero because I am not sure how the engine handles zeros...So i go no lower than 1; and generally no higher than 99 or 95, when testing.

[4thQtrStre5S]

Re: Reaction Time & Pass Cover Focus Thread

NOte: I dropped QB Acc. down to 13; seems for some reason the QB does better getting the ball out faster when under pressure....Not sure if this has anything to do with the relationship between the QB Acc. slider and a particular penalty slider like Intentional Grounding....My next testing project is penalty sliders...

[Neddy_87]

Re: Reaction Time & Pass Cover Focus Thread

Is it worth trying having the pass coverage lower so the wr's are open more and a high reaction so ur defenders can break up the odd pass? I know it isn't completely real life which everyone seems to be chasing but it may be a fair compromise with some of the issues

[Felkmaster]

Re: Reaction Time & Pass Cover Focus Thread

What are u doing to get user rushing below 5yds a carry?

[SunRise]

Re: Reaction Time & Pass Cover Focus Thread

Is it worth trying having the pass coverage lower so the wr's are open more and a high reaction so ur defenders can break up the odd pass? I know it isn't completely real life which everyone seems to be chasing but it may be a fair compromise with some of the issues

Based on what I saw playing it's essential to keep pass coverage low in order to reduce the sacks number (CPU QB accuracy doesn't affect whether the CPU QB tries or not deep throws. It depends only on the coverage). Regarding pass reaction: it's the time the defenders need to get to the ball carrier (RB, TE, WR, QB) once the ball is in their hands. High pass reaction means less time (the defenders fly to tackle the ball carrier). So I think pass reaction has an impact only on the YAC.
Penalties have a big impact on the gameplay and higher the penalty is set higher are the chances that the penalty is called (also higher are the chances that the animations that trigger the penalty happen but not always the penalty is called: false start, facemask always get called; IG, OPI, DPI never called). This is to say that even if the penalties are not called the higher the penalties are set the more the CPU will behave (because of a code) the way to trigger the penalty: High IG throw ball away even if in the pocket, high DPI, OPI more aggressiveness by DB and WR...and so on). So a high IG is also essential to reduced the sacks number. This has to be combined and balanced with pass coverage, WR catch, OPI, DPI and facemask to get WR open enough that brings QB to throw the ball fast but also open (not wide open) the way that sometimes the DB (with the help of DPI and facemask) can breaks the catch (to keep completion % real).

[4thQtrStre5S]

Re: Reaction Time & Pass Cover Focus Thread

What are u doing to get user rushing below 5yds a carry?

Seems to be a number of ways of doing it:

1. lower run blocking
2. lower Reaction time (lowering reaction time seems to loosen zone coverage reaction to the ball, so there is a negative to lowering this slider, as it will allow more passes to be completed in zone coverage, mainly deep middle passes on Cover 2 zones it appears so far, and deep passes to the right or left side of the field on cover 1 zones; cover 3 zones, if you play a lot, seems to do better with a lower reaction time, but I have not tested Cover 3 enough to say for certain)
3. increase tackling (also reduces yards after catch and increases tackles for loss, potentially)

an issue may be that sacks and tackles for loss are a play design issue or something in the programming itself and needs a patch to fix....With a pass block of 56, i can get screens off better with fewer sacks, when I user the QB)

(or a slight combination of all or 2 other the above changes)

[Felkmaster]

Re: Reaction Time & Pass Cover Focus Thread

Tried all that but still get over 5ypc at least. Usually much more. Someone suggested deleting the tuner. Game is unplayable. How are others not having this problem?

[4thQtrStre5S]

Re: Reaction Time & Pass Cover Focus Thread

Tried all that but still get over 5ypc at least. Usually much more. Someone suggested deleting the tuner. Game is unplayable. How are others not having this problem?

tough to diagnose without knowing your slider ratings; what skill level ur playing on; your penalty slider settings; fatigue, speed threshold....

Are you mixing up runs or do you have a select few real good run plays you are running? I can run trap plays all day and gain 5+ yards a lot of the time, so I stay away from them as much as possible if I do not wanna alter sliders that may take out of balance another area of the game..

[Felkmaster]

Re: Reaction Time & Pass Cover Focus Thread

I tried many different settings. I use the eagles and choose the suggested plays. Runs are mainly up the middle.

[rudyjuly2]

Re: Reaction Time & Pass Cover Focus Thread

I tried many different settings. I use the eagles and choose the suggested plays. Runs are mainly up the middle.

That's because Madden is pretty broken with regards to the run game. dts get driven backward by the guards every single time. I'd love someone to record a video of a DT make a TFL because I've never seen one the last two or three years. M15 is very unbalanced in the outside running game is hard but runs up the middle easy. I've moved to all-madden and I turn run block to 0 and you can still gash the defence up the middle. The blocking sliders are terribly weak and ineffective too.

[Oraeon1224]

Re: Reaction Time & Pass Cover Focus Thread

Based on what I saw playing it's essential to keep pass coverage low in order to reduce the sacks number (CPU QB accuracy doesn't affect whether the CPU QB tries or not deep throws. It depends only on the coverage). Regarding pass reaction: it's the time the defenders need to get to the ball carrier (RB, TE, WR, QB) once the ball is in their hands. High pass reaction means less time (the defenders fly to tackle the ball carrier). So I think pass reaction has an impact only on the YAC.
Penalties have a big impact on the gameplay and higher the penalty is set higher are the chances that the penalty is called (also higher are the chances that the animations that trigger the penalty happen but not always the penalty is called: false start, facemask always get called; IG, OPI, DPI never called). This is to say that even if the penalties are not called the higher the penalties are set the more the CPU will behave (because of a code) the way to trigger the penalty: High IG throw ball away even if in the pocket, high DPI, OPI more aggressiveness by DB and WR...and so on). So a high IG is also essential to reduced the sacks number. This has to be combined and balanced with pass coverage, WR catch, OPI, DPI and facemask to get WR open enough that brings QB to throw the ball fast but also open (not wide open) the way that sometimes the DB (with the help of DPI and facemask) can breaks the catch (to keep completion % real).

I have had a hard time testing reaction but after someone called my attention to it I think it really does impact zone coverage reactions once the ball is in the air. I turned pass reaction down to 20 in my slide set with pass coverage at 5. Previously with Pass reaction higher I saw no deflection. Now when I call zone I do see the occasional deflection as the defender warps to the ball (went from 0 to 2-3). I think it is correct that a low pass reaction slider reduces reaction times and increases deflections (of course it could be fluke...I wish EA would post an answer in at least which direction it works).


Penalty sliders in practice mode have no discernable effect on anything in madden with regards to passing or blocking. Non the less feel free to change them as they don't appear to do much of anything except for facemask, offsides, and false start.

[Oraeon1224]

Re: Reaction Time & Pass Cover Focus Thread

That's because Madden is pretty broken with regards to the run game. dts get driven backward by the guards every single time. I'd love someone to record a video of a DT make a TFL because I've never seen one the last two or three years. M15 is very unbalanced in the outside running game is hard but runs up the middle easy. I've moved to all-madden and I turn run block to 0 and you can still gash the defence up the middle. The blocking sliders are terribly weak and ineffective too.

I actually think it is an AI issue. In football if you call a pass defense and someone runs you will get gashed up the middle. I noticed in their playbooks they have a lot of dime calls when the offense is in 3 WR sets. If I was getting repeatedly gashed up the middle I might even move to a 3-4 or 4-3 set against 3 WR or at least move my safety up in the box or an inside Safety blitz. The AI can't do any of that, I think it randomly calls from its defense based on your WR set.

[4thQtrStre5S]

Re: Reaction Time & Pass Cover Focus Thread

I have had a hard time testing reaction but after someone called my attention to it I think it really does impact zone coverage reactions once the ball is in the air. I turned pass reaction down to 20 in my slide set with pass coverage at 5. Previously with Pass reaction higher I saw no deflection. Now when I call zone I do see the occasional deflection as the defender warps to the ball (went from 0 to 2-3). I think it is correct that a low pass reaction slider reduces reaction times and increases deflections (of course it could be fluke...I wish EA would post an answer in at least which direction it works).


Penalty sliders in practice mode have no discernable effect on anything in madden with regards to passing or blocking. Non the less feel free to change them as they don't appear to do much of anything except for facemask, offsides, and false start.

TO test penalty sliders, you have to change one or two and then go and play a game, note the results, play another game or so, and compare notes, and then make changes from there....It is a pain in the butt...Thank goodness there are threads like, "An epiphany about penalty sliders" to give some insight and direction.....The thread is in this slider forum, I believe still on the 1st page.

http://www.operationsports.com/forum...sliders-2.html

[rudyjuly2]

Re: Reaction Time & Pass Cover Focus Thread

I actually think it is an AI issue. In football if you call a pass defense and someone runs you will get gashed up the middle. I noticed in their playbooks they have a lot of dime calls when the offense is in 3 WR sets. If I was getting repeatedly gashed up the middle I might even move to a 3-4 or 4-3 set against 3 WR or at least move my safety up in the box or an inside Safety blitz. The AI can't do any of that, I think it randomly calls from its defense based on your WR set.

That is part of the problem. They don't adjust well enough. But even when they have a run defense called the DTs never slip past a guard to make a tackle for loss. I'll see a DE do it on outside runs and I'll see LBs make plays but the DTs just don't make plays. I've tweeted Clint at EA about this and they just don't see the problem. The DT play needs to be more organic imo.

Double teams are also a problem since they consistently blow the DL backwards opening up large lanes. It would be nice if a good NT could actually hold his ground once in awhile.

As for coverage I'm going to mess around some more. Right now I find that zone coverage is more effective than man coverage so I would argue that reaction time should be less than the pass coverage slider but I'm not sure exactly where to go with it.

[4thQtrStre5S]

Re: Reaction Time & Pass Cover Focus Thread

Can stock team playbooks be edited and saved to where the CPU team will use the playbook still as it's default playbook? Or does it recognize an edited playbook and it is placed in a different category?

If we could edit the plays and rankings for what is most likely to be called, so much could be done to improve CPU game play.