• How do I control my substitutions now?
  • In the previous version of the game, coaches had an unrealistic level of control over substitutions that resulted in hockey style line changes between formations.  There is not a single college football team playing today that changes out all 11 guys on the field based upon the formation they are using or the play they are running on offense or on defense.  This was common in GD.  With the new depth chart, you can still control who plays, but the substitutions are done in a much more realistic way.  Looking at the offensive side of the ball, your QB and OL will only come out of the game when they are tired... .....We feel this is much more in line with realistic football substitutions. 

• My team was within my maximum field goal setting but did not attempt the FG – why?
  • The max field goal setting is the maximum distance from which your team will attempt a FG. If you are within your max field goal range, then the engine determines the chances that your kicker will make the FG. This is done looking at your kicker’s ratings (primarily technique and strength), your team’s special teams rating (improved through special teams practice) versus the other team’s special teams rating, and the distance of the kick. Then based upon that chance along with field position and distance to go for the first down, the simulation engine decides if your team will kick the FG, go for the first down, or punt. This means that you may not attempt the FG even if you are within your maximum field goal range.

• My team has been dominating running the ball prior to the update, but now I’m having a hard time generating offense – why?
  • Numerous teams that were doing very well in the previous version of the engine are setup to run the ball almost every play.  In the past, this resulted in long touchdown drives with rare punts.  With the update, the running game was made much more realistic in terms of running back performance.  The most common run is 2 yards now with about 10% of runs going for a loss and the overall average around 4 yards.  This means that a team can’t just run the ball and be successful.

• Why is my QB throwing more interceptions?
  • The QB position is impacted most by the increased importance of formation IQ and the addition of an experience factor.  For all players, these factors can combine to impact a player’s ratings by as much as +/- 12.5%.  At the QB position, a player with a low IQ and/or less experience will force throws into coverage and not see open receivers or know where to go with the ball.  The second factor is the style of play dictated by your game plan.  An aggressive play call sends receivers further down the field, reduces the number of players providing protection (RB and TE), and requires better protection from the OL to give the QB time to get the ball down the field.  Receivers that are further down the field increases the distance of the throw and can reduce accuracy.  Less players blocking means an increased chance of pressure, which in turn increases the chances that the QB is rushed and decides to throw into coverage.  If you are having interception troubles, you should try dialing back the aggressiveness of your passing game as a first step so that your QB is under less pressure to perform and can better manage the game and take care of the football.  Increasing the amount of practice time spent on formation practice would also help.

• Why are more upsets happening?
  • Prior to the update, upsets were relatively rare.  If you had the more talented team on paper, you generally won the game.   Now that there is increased realism in terms of offensive and defensive performance, team play (IQ), experience, and special teams, a few plays can completely turn a game and allow a lesser team to win.  These big plays are what produce upsets and keep things interesting both in GD and in real college football.  If we simulated each game 100 times and then determined the winner by the average result, there would never be an upset.  However, within those 100 games, there would by some upsets, often the result of a few big plays.  But we don’t simulate each game numerous times, just a single time, and it can turn out to be an upset, perhaps because of a few key plays made by the underdog.

• Why was an update to the simulation engine needed?
  • Over the past several years, we have received a lot of feedback from our coaches about the game.  A good portion of the feedback was concerning the realism of player performance, offense vs. defense balance, unrealistic substitutions, and poor clock or game management.  These were made the main focus of this update and we believe makes for a much more realistic and fun game.  As part of the update, we also positioned the game to allow for more updates in the future with increased stat tracking, the possibility to add more formations, and far greater play-by-play detail.

• Why was an update to the simulation engine needed?
  • Over the past several years, we have received a lot of feedback from our coaches about the game.  A good portion of the feedback was concerning the realism of player performance, offense vs. defense balance, unrealistic substitutions, and poor clock or game management.  These were made the main focus of this update and we believe makes for a much more realistic and fun game.  As part of the update, we also positioned the game to allow for more updates in the future with increased stat tracking, the possibility to add more formations, and far greater play-by-play detail.

Classic!

Posted by polabonez on 11/18/2010 2:02:00 PM (view original):
I had started my own thread before I saw this posted, I think it fits here:

I played nice yesterday.  Maybe because I was drinking.  But now I'm ******.

From the CRITICAL NEWS:

• Why was an update to the simulation engine needed?
  • Over the past several years, we have received a lot of feedback from our coaches about the game.  A good portion of the feedback was concerning the realism of player performance, offense vs. defense balance, unrealistic substitutions, and poor clock or game management.  These were made the main focus of this update and we believe makes for a much more realistic and fun game.  As part of the update, we also positioned the game to allow for more updates in the future with increased stat tracking, the possibility to add more formations, and far greater play-by-play detail.

What total garbage.

Thank you for whoever was giving all of this feedback.  I assume it was those who say the run was too powerful but never built a team to actually tried to stop it.  To all of you that went on building all run teams as well to try to win and couldn't. While I won't argue that the TOP D1A Teams were difficult to stop - all mediocre D1A teams could and every lower level team could.  Those of us that went out of our way to prove it, did. 

To all of you who thought the "unrealistic subsitutions" were that out of line.  I won at least half of my NC's my not manipulating line changes at all.  Maybe getting a freshman start here and there on lower level teams on 2nd and short, but it was barely an effect on this game.  If you wanted to fix freshman starts, the solution was simple - Get rid of freshman starts.

Poor clock and game management?  Yes it was.  But now it's worse.  I can't even decide if I want my Kicker to kick a field goal or not.  The Real coach decides that, Sim AI

To all of you that caused this failure, Thank alot.  I loved this game.

I can't believe this ****.