The CPU knows every play you call and more

[JVM]

I find it very interesting that practically every time I call a HB Toss, the CPU has a defender at the side I am running to, all by himself in the middle between sideline and DE. Even more interesting is of the 2 WRs on the other side, one WR doesn't have anyone defending him! I tried letting the play clock expire and calling the same play again, and still the same scenario occurred.

Also interesting is the CPU's Center runs out over 5 yards, sometimes 10 yards, to block my MLB who doesn't move so the HB can gain yardage.

The ball is in the air and CPU's WR turns to catch it while my DB looking in same direction just stands there or bends down to let him catch the ball.

The CPU's 5'7" DB jumps up to deflect the pass thrown to my 6'5" WR who is like 5 yards ahead of him. This particular play has been happening at least once in the past few games.

Ratings don't seem to mean much when my WRs rated mid to high 90's and CPUs DBs are rated in 70's.

The CPU has an amazing assortment of WRs and HBs rated B or C that have Speed ratings in the mid to high 80s and Acceleration of 99.

When the CPU wants to run for some yardage, the HB bounces off my MLB with 98 TKL and 95 HPW even when the HB is rated in low 80's for Trucking. Plus, it amazes me that the MLB with 98 TKL and 95 HPW doesn't cause a fumble when hitting a HB or WR 99% of the time. Now when my players get hit with much lesser talent, dropped passes or fumbles occur with more frequency.

My QB, Konrad Young, rated 98 with 94 THP and best accuracy ratings quite frequently overthrows/misses wide open receivers in every single game more often than its QB rated low 80's.

I still have Shaydon Favors HB on my team with Carry rating of 90. He fumbled 13 times last season--the most in the NFL.

The bottom line for me is the CPU knows every play you call and decides what should happen without regard for realism, except that the better team should win. In case you're wondering, my team is rated 97, highest rating in the NFL, and I'm in my 14th season of Franchise.

I do enjoy the game, but there are glaring issues, at least glaring issues for me in my Franchise.

[Sausage]

How can they fix this? I can't think of any other way the A.I brain could hang with our human brains. I guess I unconsciously counteract what your saying by flipping my plays and sending another blocker to that side. Overall I have never felt the A.I. was psychic, but occasionally like us just calls a better play than us.

[PantherBeast_OS]

I kind of agree that the AI knows every play you pick and every move you make is dumb. But the AI needs to know all plays to be able keep up. The problem with this ain't that the AI knows everything. I could careless. My problem the AI is way to overpower on both D and Offense. They do need to tweak somethings with the AI and make the human D better then it is on madden 11. But while the main focus in madden 12 is franchise mode. I'm sure Ian and crew will keep tweaking and trying to make the gameplay better. Honestly I felt the gameplay and the balance between AI and human was much better before patch 3 come out. But since the AI blitz every play just about no matter what team it is. But again the main problem here is the AI is way overpowered and I feel the madden crew needs to adjust the AI. I don't want them to dumb down the AI or anything. I just don't want to see the AI be so overpowered.

[Cnada]

I know exactly what you mean has been my biggest gripe for a long time!

Lets find a way to raise awareness of this problem!

You pick a run and they know it and stack the box, so you audible to deep and the safety moves deep , you audible back and AI does the same WTF!

Lets Bump this up so that it can be fixed asap!

[Senator Palmer]

From another thread:

I have never bought into the conspiracy theories regarding the way the game unfolds, but there is anecdotal evidence that makes me wonder. I was playing as the Falcons against the Eagles.

On the FIRST play of the game, I come out in a heavy run formation, but the play I call in the huddle is a quick slant. The Eagles, on the FIRST play of the game, come out in a 3-3-5. Now why in the world would a professional football team known for their aggressive 4-3, come out in a 3-3-5 against a known run-first team on the FIRST play of the game?

[Dats ignant]

I have run into a lot of similar problems as the OP. I think the main thing is the CPU has to be toned down a bit below God-mode.

[BezO]

Yeah, the CPU needs to call defenses with down, distance, tendencies & offensive personnel in mind. That's it!

And they must find a way to have defenders react to actual keys instead of the Tecmo like system in place now.

The engines currently used were not built with football in mind. I believe this makes it very difficult to make realistic football changes. I doubt VC devs were that much more talented, if at all. I think someone there just had better foresight and built a better, more flexible game early on.

[Nunyerbiz]

I agree with the previous posters, you can easily see this in action by just coming out over and over again in a 4WR shotgun set with a HB draw called. Probably 7 out of 10 times the CPU will have linebackers in the box while ignoring slot recievers.

That said, I have noticed that the CPU is easier to shake via the use of audibles. I don't find that they "cheat" and follow audibles nearly as consistently as when you first break the huddle. Just for kicks and to see if it would work, I torched the CPU with an insane amount of passing one game, just by coming out in 4WR shotgun with the HB draw called and then audibling to four verticals.