NCAA '14 First Year Recruiting & Skill Tree Guide

[majesty95]

Nice post. Very good info. Thanks for taking the time to do it.

[JLoco11]

Quote: Originally Posted by snyder5man

JLoco, you da man! Great write up. Everyone should take notes. Few questions: You take about progression speed. Does the computer get the new coaching abilities, also? If so, is it off of xp points in their simed games? If so, can we play against the teams that are recruiting rivals, to drop their xp gains? Or even mess up visits, by kicking their backside during that game.... You talk about the computer has obvious advantages. If we can hinder them with loses, we might be able to take the advantages back....I know that makes for a more unrealistic "sim" season and would take more time, but just a thought.

Yes, the CPU gets to upgrade their coaches as well... and coaches like Saban, Meyer, Brown, Miles etc, have headstarts on most programs. If you set the progression to Fastest, they rank up just as fast as you do.

Playing directly against them will slow their coach progression speed, but not their existing recruiting skills. Instead of getting 500XP towards their next coaching skill tree point, they may only get 200XP. It won't stop how many bonuses a coach already has or how good the school pitches are.

Loses and stats will affect their weekly bonus and potentially on campus visit bonus. Let's say HB's get a bonus of 100 extra points for each game you rush for over 100 yards. If you play against a team and hold them to under 100, they won't get that bonus.

They still get pitch bonuses like Academics, Facilities, TV Exposure etc... and those account for more points. So you do have an affect on the CPU, but it's not a c0ckblocking type affect that makes a recruit automatically jump ship to you.

[buickbeast]

I'm actually happy the cpu gets the first hand at scheduling visits, even if it means we don't get a chance to set one up. It would just be too easy to set up the first interview with every single kid. It's recruiting, it's supposed to be ugly lol

[JLoco11]

One other final thing to note... and I will not add this to the main guide.

There are ways of "cheating" in recruiting offline (and possibly online from the commissioner of the league). You can sabotage a team mid season if you wanted. You can land all 5 star prospects if you wanted to sabotage multiple teams, but obviously, this is meant to be played fair. And my tips are made on how to play fair against the challenges the CPU offers.

I'm sure people know how to do this, and it's certainly possible in dynasty mode, but it's completing unfair, cheap and cheating. And I'm very surprised EA hasn't fixed these loopholes.

[JLoco11]

Quote: Originally Posted by buickbeast

I'm actually happy the cpu gets the first hand at scheduling visits, even if it means we don't get a chance to set one up. It would just be too easy to set up the first interview with every single kid. It's recruiting, it's supposed to be ugly lol

I wouldn't mind it if I wasn't the top team...but if I am the #1 team in a close battle, it seems a bit odd that the #1 team doesn't have a chance.

I think it would have been fair for at least a Player team to get a chance if they're #1. If you're #2 or lower, that is fair game, but being #1 and missing out is a bit unfair.

[vicnic]

Thanks for this!

[thinkjoey]

Quote: Originally Posted by JLoco11

One other final thing to note... and I will not add this to the main guide. There are ways of "cheating" in recruiting offline (and possibly online from the commissioner of the league). You can sabotage a team mid season if you wanted. You can land all 5 star prospects if you wanted to sabotage multiple teams, but obviously, this is meant to be played fair. And my tips are made on how to play fair against the challenges the CPU offers. I'm sure people know how to do this, and it's certainly possible in dynasty mode, but it's completing unfair, cheap and cheating. And I'm very surprised EA hasn't fixed these loopholes.

I know exactly what you mean by this. Like make a person into a kicker with great QB skills...get him then change his position to QB again. No way I was going to do this because it takes away from the integrity of your dynasty. Yea you have a great team, but where is the struggle?

Sometimes when I am about to lose a close one...i want to restart so bad, but winning a tight one is more fun when you know what it is like to lose it as well.

[c_law23]

Very good post. Nice tidbits of information to keep in mind. Thanks