Bill's Coach Sliders (All-American Level)

[billharris44]

I've developed a set of sliders for you guys that play in Coach mode. The development process was pretty simple: start a CPU vs CPU game, watch, then check stats and make settings adjustments after the game was over. The total number of games was about 20, and these sliders seem to produce very reasonable results statistically.

One note: these are "tuned" to produce the best results for a 135 offensive play game (which was the NCAA average last year). I don't know the proper length of quarters to get that number of plays, because when you watch a CPU vs CPU game, the game cuts from the end of one play to breaking the huddle for the next one. If you're just watching a game, 7 minutes is the right length to produce about 135 plays (depending on the playbooks of the individual teams).

REVISION NOTES:
1.1 July 26
Changed Rush Defense from 40 to 50
Changed Running Back Ability from 65 to 90
(see explanation and testing details on page two of this thread)

1.2 July 28
RB Ability: 95 (up from 90)
Pass Rush: 65 (down from 75)
Rush Defense: 35 (down from 50)
Tackling: 45 (down from 50)
(see explanations and testing details on page five of this thread)

1.3 August 4
Holding: 60 (down from 65)
QB Accuracy: 20 (down from 50)
Pass Blocking: 5 (down from 10)
Pass Rush: 70 (up from 65)
(see details on page nine of this thread)

Skill: All-American
Injuries: On
Fatigue: On
Quarter Length: (see above note)
Play Clock: On
Home Field Advantage Effects: On

Penalties:
All at 100 Except
Holding: 60
Facemask: 55
Clipping: 50

OFFENSE:
QB Accuracy: 20
Pass Blocking: 5
WR Catching: 45
RB Ability: 95
Run Blocking: 50

DEFENSE:
Pass Coverage: 50
Pass Rush: 70
Interceptions: 10
Rush Defense: 35
Tackling: 45

SPECIAL TEAMS:
FG Power: 40
FG Accuracy: 50
Punt Power: 45
Punt Accuracy: 50
Kickoff Power: 45

Special Teams Notes:
The highest-rated kickers have kick power ratings of 96 (I think there are 3 with 95 or higher). So FG power is tuned so that those guys have the leg strength to kick a 60-yard field goal in calm winds. Only a handful of guys have that leg strength, and it's unlikely anyway because of the accuracy setting. But it's possible.

The lowest power kickers will be able to kick FG of 40+, but not 45+.

The top 100 kickers in the NCAA last year averaged 70% accuracy overall.

For punting, the highest kick power player is going to punt 48-50 yards (highest average punt last year in the NCAA was around 48 yards), and the lowest power is going to be punting 40 yarders. Again, this is under calm conditions, so it's going to vary in the wind.

I hope you coach mode guys find these useful.

[LHaze30]

Re: Bill's Coach Sliders (All-American Level)

How do these sliders work on kickoff returns? Do you see lots of kickoff returns for touchdowns?

[billharris44]

Re: Bill's Coach Sliders (All-American Level)

How do these sliders work on kickoff returns? Do you see lots of kickoff returns for touchdowns?

No, but it's a very touchy adjustment (because run block and run defense sliders appear to affect blocking on returns). I originally had the settings higher for blocking and lower for run defense/tackle to improve running offense, but the returns were crazy. Lowering blocking and increasing RD and Tackle seems to have taken care of it.

[NoleFan]

Re: Bill's Coach Sliders (All-American Level)

OMG! Bill, your 2K5 sliders were awesome and you created these coach mode sliders the exact way I would if I had the patience to create sliders. I can't wait to try these out.

[billharris44]

Re: Bill's Coach Sliders (All-American Level)

Thanks, NoleFan, I hope they play well for you.

[BRETT40]

Re: Bill's Coach Sliders (All-American Level)

are these sliders before or after the patch and for what system?

[billharris44]

Re: Bill's Coach Sliders (All-American Level)

Post-patch. I don't know why they wouldn't work on the PS3, but I tested them on the 360.

[crob8822]

Re: Bill's Coach Sliders (All-American Level)

Thanks Mr Harris, I will give these a try tonight.

[NoleFan]

Re: Bill's Coach Sliders (All-American Level)

I just finished my 1st game with these. I only used 5-minute quarters because I have to go to work in the morning.

W. Michigan (me) @ C. Michigan

WMU 24
CMU 21

WMU
First Downs: 13
Total Offense: 266
Rushes-Yards-TD: 22-116-2
Comp-Att-TD: 15-27-1
Passing Yards: 150
Turnovers: 0

QB T. Hiller: 15-27, 150 Yds, TD
HB B. West: 19-101, 2 TD
WR S. Hinds: 6-60

CMU
First Downs: 13
Total Offense: 280
Rushes-Yards-TD: 12-27-2
Comp-Att-TD: 20-32-1
Passing Yards: 253
Turnovers: 0

QB D. LeFavour: 20-32, 253 Yards, TD
HB B. Schroeder: 6-18
WR J. Pitts: 5-68, TD

[billharris44]

Re: Bill's Coach Sliders (All-American Level)

NoleFan, it looks like 7-minute quarters are about right for 130 plays, based on how many you had in 5-minute quarters.

I'm going to experiment with the QB accuracy slider this afternoon, because I remembered that in past years, that slider also affected QB throwing power.

[koebner]

Re: Bill's Coach Sliders (All-American Level)

These are very close to what I'm using against the cpu,I only knock the cpu QB ACC down to 40 or 45.

The sliders are very powerful post-patch,so small changes can have big effects.

[NoleFan]

Re: Bill's Coach Sliders (All-American Level)

NoleFan, it looks like 7-minute quarters are about right for 130 plays, based on how many you had in 5-minute quarters.

I'm going to experiment with the QB accuracy slider this afternoon, because I remembered that in past years, that slider also affected QB throwing power.

Yeah, I did the math based on that game that I posted and 7-minutes is likely going to be the way to go. I also call plays fairly quickly so that helps to mimic how the cpu handles its cpu vs. cpu games.

[billharris44]

Re: Bill's Coach Sliders (All-American Level)

Okay, here are some details on the testing I did today.

I really wanted to check out the kickoff returns, since they're tied to the Run Block/Run Defense sliders (unfortunately). So you almost have to balance the CPU run game by balancing kick returns first, because if you don't, there will be a ton of kick returns for touchdowns.

I picked an A+ team versus a D+ team to see how bad it could get, and picked a team with an excellent return man.

With the sliders set on Run Block 100, Run Defense 0, and Tackle 50, here were the results of 20 returns for the A+ team:
Average--55.95 yards
TD's--6

That's insane. And it was easy to see happening, too, because most of the defensive guys were pancaked on every return.

So I tried the opposite settings: Run Block 0, Run Defense 100, Tackle 50. Again, 20 returns for the A+ team:
Average: 24.4
TD's: 0

The sliders work. That's encouraging.

Then I tried 50-50-50:
Average: 26.4
TD's: 0

So what happens if Run Block gets bumped up to 60 and Run Defense down to 40:
Average: 59.1
TD's: 7

Disaster. That means my original settings in this post have to be changed. Again, you could see it happening--too many guys were getting knocked down for there to be any chance to defend.

I tried 55-45, but still too many returns for long yardage.

So to keep kickoff returns under control, Run Block and Run Defense basically have to stay at 50.

It seemed like the run game was going to be ruined, but I tried changing the Running Back slider to 100 to see if it changed the skills of the kick returners. It didn't, and changing it to 0 didn't, either. It may be that if the returner is a running back, they'd get a boost or a drop, but I don't know of many running backs returning kickoffs (or punts).

So I started fiddling with the RB Ability slider.

First test: A+ offense versus D+ defense.
RB Ability slider set at 100.
Ball Spotted at 50.
Play #1: Inside Handoff
Defense: Cover 2 Buc
20 plays (for all tests).
Average Gain: 6.65

Play #2: RB Stretch
Average: 12.75

Now if I set the RB Ability slider at 0, I get this (same plays, same defense):
Inside Handoff avg. gain: 3.1
RB Stretch: 2.7

What I like about these sliders is that you can see a visible difference between 0 and 100. I don't think this slider makes backs any stronger--it just makes them faster. At 0, it looks like they're running through glue. At 100, they hit holes pretty respectably.

I then tested an A+ offense versus a B+ defense.
RB Ability slider at 100. Same plays, same defense
Inside Handoff avg. gain: 3.9
RB Stretch: 7.8

If I change RB Ability to 80, I get:
Inside Handoff avg. gain: 2.95

I felt that was a bit low for an A+ versus a B+, so I think the 90-100 range is more accurate.

Okay, final test. A+ offense versus A defense. RB Ability at 90.
Inside Handoff avg. gain: 3.4
RB Stretch: 6.8

There were a couple of big plays that pushed those averages up, but it "looked" right on: a few bigger gains, but plenty of plays that gained nothing or only 1-2 yards. That seems reasonable for the levels of the two teams.

So I'm changing these settings (and will update the first post):
Run Defense from 40 to 50
Running Back Ability from 65 to 90

This should kill the kick return issue, but it should still allow the CPU to run (and RB's look better at a slightly higher speed, too, which is another benefit).

[NoleFan]

Re: Bill's Coach Sliders (All-American Level)

That's interesting because I really liked what I saw in the game that I played....though it was only the one game with 2 C teams.

[billharris44]

Re: Bill's Coach Sliders (All-American Level)

I think that eventually the return problem would have shown up, and in a big way. The best returners would be going wild. I think the adjusted settings are going to both look better (running back speed) and be a bit more realistic.

It's encouraging that the sliders make a significant difference this year.