Madden 23 - the impacts of your quarter length settings

[JoshC1977]

This is a more general post to serve as an FYI for all. Long story short; be cognizant of your quarter length/acc clock settings and the impacts they may have on your gameplay.

(As a quick aside - these observations were made on current gen - I have no idea about old gen)

Background:

I had been playing around with default AP settings and was pretty consistently observing this odd CPU behavior where you would flush a QB out of the pocket and on the run, he would attempt this off-balance pass down the field. Inexplicably, it would nearly always be a wobbler that would go straight to a defender for an interception. I have NEVER seen this animation/issue before; but it was consistent and a couple of guys I know were also seeing it. Great QBs like Russell Wilson were making utterly boneheaded decisions (so bad, even a MUT player would cringe)

Tried a quite few things; nothing seemed to fix it (it occurred on AM as well, but with lower frequency due to the lower number of times the CPU would be under pressure. I basically thought, it's a bug; and decided to roll with it.

Well, I had run quite a few games at that point and had been running 10 min quarters with a 20 second accelerated clock. As we actually have defense in 23 (unlike in 22), the numbers were just WAY too low. So, I turned accelerated clock off to get a few more plays. Started playing and quickly realized something unexpected; that boneheaded QB behavior with the "wobblers" that went straight to defenders completely went away. Heck, the AI as a whole was playing a much more balanced and intelligent brand of football. I'll say it right here....Madden 23 Default AP on 10 min quarters with no acc clock is the best experience I've ever had with this series.

Now, I was on discord with a friend and he tried out 11 min quarters with the 20 sec acc clock. He saw the same change in AI behavior (though increasing the quarter length did reduce the aggression, or the "bite" of the AI play).

So basically, I think what was happening is that the AI, when running 10 min quarters with 20 sec acc clock, was perceiving it didn't "have enough time". So, nearly every play, they were "trying to make things happen". This lead to a LOT of questionable decision making by the AI. When we added more plays in the game (either by disabling the acc clock or increasing the quarter length); they "calmed down" and played with more control (and not just QBs, but across the board).


Breakdown:

I personally would advise not going below 10 min/no acc clock for any difficulty - that seems to be the point where things turn bad. For most people in here, that is likely not an issue. The AI is aggressive to a fault on shorter games and it can definitely cause issues.

If you're on All Pro or Pro, I would also highly suggest you take a good long look at just sticking to 10 min/no acc clock (where I personally see a good solid 120 plays per game). This seems to be the optimal setting to get the best performance out of the CPU - higher clock settings can quickly put you in the boat of feeling like you only lose if you beat yourself (vs feeling like the AI can beat you) - a common complaint for many here.

AM players can likely manage higher quarter lengths; indeed, it might be beneficial in quieting-down some of the over-the-top issues.


Final thoughts:
Long story short: this is a cautionary post, not "the gospel" or anything like that. I'm sharing these observations as most are in the nascent stages of slider development. I strongly suggest you consider the impact of your preferred quarter length/clock setting and give different settings a shot BEFORE adjusting anything. You might be pleasantly surprised.

I also suggest that as you guys fine-tune things; you lock-in your quarter length/acc clock setting (and bypassing the 'personal preference 'trope) - and when you get the inevitable whiner asking if they can use "X clock setting", tell them it is at their own risk.

Well, that's it, I'm off...have a good slider cycle guys...

[Von Dozier]

I've sort of always figured this, even going back to last gen, but never took time to gather any actual proof. It's more the reasoning that when people play with lower quarters, ie 6 minutes EA default or shorter MUT, you'll pretty much only be getting casuals who roll out and bomb the ball every play getting a ton of touchdowns, so of course the shorter the quarter length, the more the AI also plays with desperation and increased aggression and will still with short quarter lengths end up with games in the 20s or 30s. Good post.

[tcnumba10]

Interesting post, I already play on All-Pro with 11min quarters, 15 seconds acceleration clock which is yielding realistic stats but I’m going to try turning off the accelerator clock and see what happens now with gameplay.

[muddiestduck]

Do we think that using the chew clock feature could also throw off the cpu?

Sent from my SM-G990U using Operation Sports mobile app

[TopSide83]

This was the case last year too so I’m glad you pointed it out for other slider makers.

The game plays more under control.

[tommycoa]

I’ve had this thought for years. seems like the playcalling by the cpu is better. they make more audibles and shifts. it’s like you said, when the accelerated clock is on, they seem rushed. i never thought about them being rushed during the action, just preplay. about to test this out. like playmakers thread about pro level, this is a good conversation starter.

are you seeing the cpu audible and shift and use motion more? i bet you do. i think it’a more that they don’t feel rushed preplay.

[Jagsfan24]

It’s the things like this that can impact a gameplay. I have used 10 minute quarters with no run off for a few years and it was good. Granted I guess some people want quicker games as to why they lower the quarter length

[JoshC1977]

Quote: Originally Posted by tommycoa

like playmakers thread about pro level, this is a good conversation starter.

That was the whole point of starting this thread to be honest (a "PSA" if you will). Just get people thinking about it and assessing it as part of their process. I think many people just dive into their preferred clock settings without giving it a second thought.

(but also, to point out the darn near bug-like issue with the CPU QBs forcing passes when using shorter quarter lengths)