Figured I'd share the set I am rolling with this year. My ultimate goal when creating sliders is to generate a challenging experience that also plays out authentically and gives realistic and believable stats at the end of the day. Some years EA makes that a challenge if not outright impossible. So far, this year with Madden 24 I am having some good games right now, so I felt like sharing the sliders I've been rolling with.
These sliders, like all other sets, are not for everyone. If they don't play out in a fun manner for you, that's alright. There are other sets out there that I know will play well for many. There are many talented slider creators on this board.
Now, I wanted to lay out the way I play the game so you can feel free to play in a similar manner or not. Just take into account where our playstyles may differ and how that may impact certain factors in the gameplay.
First, I play no switch on defense. I control whoever the highest rated player on defense is and user them the entire game. The reason I do this is to make the higher rated players feel more impactful and it allows my 10 other teammates on the game to matter, so building a skilled defense as a GM matters more, imo.
Second, I do not do anything the CPU cannot do preplay. So I don't hot route, send players in motion voluntarily, etc. I audible, flip plays, and ID the Mike. That's it. While I love all the tools EA has given us, I do not like the fact that the CPU cannot use most of the tools, so I do all I can to remove any possible advantage I can have over the CPU do to limitations in the game itself.
Third, I only call plays on one side of the ball. What this means is if I am playing as a defensive head coach, then I call the defensive plays however I see fit, but on offense I use the Ask Coach or whatever it's called nowadays to pick my plays. I'll scroll through the suggested plays, but that's it. I don't seek out specific formations and call plays on offense like I do on defense. And, obviously, if I am using an offensive head coach then I do the inverse.
Fourth, I basically super sim all special teams plays. This is for multiple reasons. One, I as a user will likely never miss any easier FG's with how easy kicking is in the game. Two, blocks are basically non-existent again, but they do happen when super simming. Three, the CPU is in love with the idea of punting the ball straight out of bounds for 21 yards. The only times I might play a 4th down out are when it's the game trying to kick some 60+ yard FG. I will manually punt it myself, or field their missed FG and try to get a touchback if possible to simulate them having punted. Also, sometimes the game will say the CPU picked a FG or Punt Formation on a 4th and short situation, but then the super sim plays out a normal play, so when I have a gut feeling that may happen, I just field the punt or watch their FG attempt to ensure that doesn't happen.
Now with that said, here are the sliders.
V 1.0
V 1.1
V 1.2
V Comp 1.0
V Comp 1.1
V Comp 1.2
Game Options
All-Madden
Comp
8 minute quarters
Accelerated Clock On - 20 Seconds
Ball Hawk Off
Heat Seeker Off
Injuries: 42 (really is user preference here)
Fatigue: 100 (comp has a reduced fatigue rate, so a higher value is needed)
Player Speed Parity Scaled: 100
Penalties - We are still testing if these do have any impact on the gameplay.
Offsides 99
False Start 0
Holding 0
Facemask 99
Block in the Back 70
Roughing the Passer 0
Def PI 0
All others except for OPI and KCI are set to Off
Player/CPU Skill
QB Accuracy: 26/10
Pass Blocking: 8/26
WR Catching : 43/44
Run Blocking: 0/99
Ball Security: 12/20
Reaction Time: 80/100
Interceptions: 16/11
Pass Coverage: 65/100
Tackling: 56/72
Special Teams - I do often sim these like I have said before, but sometimes I feel like not doing it for presentation purposes, so I have tested some values out to get a better experience here.
All default 50 except...
FG Accuracy 36
Punt Accuracy 90(any help the CPU can get pin pointing their coffin corner attempts is needed)
The tweaks in this set are:
Lowered Quarter Length to 8 minutes to get the total plays per game in line with simulated stats
Boosts to User/CPU Pass Accuracy, User/CPU Ball Security, CPU Tackling
Nerfs to User/CPU WR Catching
All the penalty slider changes to test their impact
The WR Catching nerfs were to increase more knockouts and open field drops. The catch rates for all WR's were way too high, this change was needed. The boosts to accuracy were in response to these WR catching drops, but they aren't strong enough to where it just offsets the changes. Overall, the net decrease to catching outweighs the increase to Accuracy leading to a buff to defensive play while also removing the wildly inaccurate passes that were occurring too often.
The Boosts to Ball Security are because 1) fumbles from QB's were way too frequent, and 2) a response to the boost tp CPU tackling to try and help their Run Defense. Again, this change has an overall boost to defensive play, but the ball security boosts were needed to keep fumble rates at a more realistic rate.
We're nearing the end of the first full season with penalty adjustments, so I will have numbers soon to see if they do actually impact the gameplay or not. I've had more defensive games this season than before, and that may be due to the penalty slider adjustments, but I cannot say for certain yet as I haven't ran the numbers. Neither user has had the scenario luck that they had last year were by season's end the entire team had morale boosts through the roof, so that is also likely at play, plus anyone worth anything on my offense has either been injured for the season or missed half of it, so my offensive play has been putrid at times. Still, we're remaining an open book and will let the numbers do the talking.
If they say the penalty slider changes have led to more realistic yards per play outputs, then we'll have to believe that they might just impact gameplay somewhat. Or, it's a major coincidence this season with a 36-game sample size. Regardless, we'll continue to run with the penalty changes in future seasons, so we'll only continue to gather data that will hopefully help us see for sure if they do or not.
Hope you guys enjoy the tweaks.