Developer Chat

The purpose of this chat is to answer any questions that you may have regarding Gridiron Dynasty -- recruiting, game planning, upcoming features, etc.

Multiple practices affect technique according to the FAQ. For my question I am going to use DB as an example with Technique. Since tackling, hands, study film, and pass routes can affect technique (and a DB can possibly practice all 4), does a player have a max tech. attribute they can reach? Or do they have a max per practice? Meaning they can max out on tackling technique but still gain on GI technique? Thanks. (joemalaka - Hall of Famer - 2:56 PM)

Technique is rolled into 1 rating and is a general technique for that position --- for example, when the DB is making a tackle, tackling rating is more important and technique is secondary. There is a max technique rating that a player can reach (as with all ratings) as determined by that player's potential rating. There is also a max increase a player can have per practice based upon his potential, work ethic, and practice minutes...the max per practice is not a hard ceiling like potential is for overall, but rather a limit that gets approached because of the decreasing effect of practice minutes (diminishing returns).

Who plays on special teams? If I punt are my WRs gunners? I'm asking so I can practice tackling with anyone who might play on special teams. (zovakozi1 - Hall of Famer - 2:57 PM)

Generally, the sim will use the best available players starting with defensive players ---- DBs and LBs are mostly used.

Would attributes needed change based on the Offensive or defensive set I use? Ex. A ND Box RB would need more STR than a Bone RB due to more inside runs. (zovakozi1 - Hall of Famer - 2:59 PM)

I would look for the same attributes in my RB in all the formations generally speaking. The more conservative your game plan, the more I would consider strength....but I would always look for speed, elusiveness, athleticism, etc. For the blocking back, I would look more heavily at strength...but look first at blocking.

how soon will we be able to schedule our nonconference games,like hd? (tmac_04 - Hall of Famer - 3:00 PM)

It depends upon how well it goes in HD. If it works out really well, we'll likely look at moving it over to GD at some point.

When will firings be implemented in the upper levels?I believe that would fill the leagues quicker,fired coaches taking lesser jobs to stay in D-1 and new coaches would have a shot at dream schools! (tmac_04 - Hall of Famer - 3:01 PM)

We are testing this out right now --- it has taken longer to test than we anticipated and we want to make sure we get it right when it is released. I'm sure we'll still miss some things as is usually the case in software development, but we want it to be as good as possible. Hopefully this will launch very soon.

While both GI and Tq are both imporant secondary skills for the RB position. Which one would you rate as being MORE significant? (smithjd - Hall of Famer - 3:03 PM)

It's a close call....I guess technique because it will help with holding on to the ball, breaking tackles, and picking up blitzes among other things.

Has there been any consideration to keeping long term records for schools? For example, most running yards in a season. I'd love to have records to break when taking over a university. (jrmoore - Pro - 3:03 PM)

Yes --- this is something we want to do, but we are working on things that are more central to the game right now.

After just leading my very good Washington team in D-IA Bryant to a 4-9 season, I wonder how important momentum is? How much does it affect play? Can it swing a season by 4-5 games? (randallball - Hall of Famer - 3:04 PM)

There is no momentum factor in the game --- winning/losing streaks don't help/hurt your team.

This has been discussed (OK, argued) many times in the forums, but have you given any thought to the length of play (seems no less than :10 or :11). Many owners (myself included) would like to see better clock management at the end of each half. (randallball - Hall of Famer - 3:07 PM)

The length of plays is something that we plan on studying (and changing if necessary) very soon. Clock managements is something that we are continually adjusting.

If you look at the top teams in every world at least 90% of those teams run the ND Box. In addition, it’s clear that well over 60% of the teams in GD are now running it. The reason for this is obvious and undeniable. When are you going acknowledge that this is a real issue and how do you plan on resolving it such that the game is balanced? (kdforester - Hall of Famer - 3:09 PM)

Improving defensive control is something that is currently being explored --- this should aid in the overall imbalance of offense. As for the specific nature of the ND Box, that will be investigated at that time and adjustments made if necessary. I can't say off hand if it is or is not a problem without more information.

Can anything be done to correct the widening divide between IA Sims and humans. All of these teams are disentegrating and are now complete rebuilding projects. (clemsontrav - All-Star - 3:12 PM)

The sim teams should still have viable players --- we don't really want the sim teams to win, but we want them to have good core talent so that a coach can take them over and compete. This does not mean that we want a coach to take them over and win a championship the next season....he'll have to do some building. This is a hard balance to maintain, but I don't think we are far off right now.

When a Punter or Kicker is not on a team and another position is doing the kicking...when I view the stats of that team the bottom where punting and kicking will show up doesn't show up...looks like an error because the table breaks at that point. Will this be fixed? Thanks. (joemalaka - Hall of Famer - 3:12 PM)

I've never noticed this --- we'll have to look into it. Thanks.

Will the out of position issue be re-addressed soon? A few threads show that this is not fixed and even the opposite is happening. A kicker with sub 5 for both str and tech is over 90% in both FG % and Extra point %...and some high kickers with much better attributes are lower %. Thanks. (joemalaka - Hall of Famer - 3:14 PM)

The out of position penalty has been substantially raised --- this sounds like there could be a problem with how easy it is to kick a FG. I'd have to look into it more. As for the penalty, we'll watch it for a while and see how everything goes and then make more changes if necessary.

Do OL hands play a part in recovering offensive fumbles, or is that strictly based on the player who commits the fumble? (treyomo1 - All-Star - 3:14 PM)

Yes --- hands play a large role.

I know that the recruits are spread out all over the country to be fair etc, but there are several places where there is a great deal of teams competing for average number of recruits, good example of this is the new england football confernce and the new england small football conference. Is there any way to concentrate recruits to equal the concentration of schools? Thank you, (ajm641126 - All-Star - 3:16 PM)

Recruit distribution is fairly good right now --- the talent distribution is lean in some areas....what I mean by this is that there are plenty of recruits, but the talent levels of the recruits may be lower in some areas than in others. I don't know if we'll be making any changes here in the near future....but it will likely be modified some down the line.

I have noticed the SIM's in DIA going for DII recruits, is this common and would a BCS school really go for a DII player? (ajm641126 - All-Star - 3:17 PM)

These are usually players that are recruited for depth/fill final scholarships....you can out recruit the sim for these players since the sim doesn't have much to offer these players.

When a player is taken subbed due to fatigue, does the player coming in move to that players spot? Or do all players move up one and the player coming in move to the bottom? This concerns me more with DB's. (billyg74 - Hall of Famer - 3:18 PM)

Everyone shifts "up" the depth chart while the player is out. When the player is rested enough to return, he takes his original spot and the other players are shifted back down.

Any chance the box scores will be expanded to include who is making the tackle, which QB throws each pass, etc? (badgercf - All-Star - 3:18 PM)

This is something that we could add I think.

In your opinion are the polls working as you like? (smithjd - Hall of Famer - 3:22 PM)

Yes. What many people don't understand is that the polls are computer polls --- this means that rely strictly on objective data and therefore will not operate like the real life AP poll for example. Human bias is removed, ranking inertia is gone, etc. This brings big changes in the rankings, especially in the first half of the season. Think about winning percentage as one component --- team A wins and their percentage is 1.000.....they lose next week and drop to .500....this will drop the team significantly in the rankings. All the components adjust like this. After half the season is gone (think about why the BCS is not released right away), the numbers become more stagnant and are not subject to such wild swings ---- the causes the polls to balance out and not have as big of movements. I think that by the end of the season, the polls are pretty accurate.

Any thought to color coding players in the depth charts like they do in the baseball sim.Injuries,redshirts,etc.Would make managing multiple teams much easier. (FlDragonS - Hall of Famer - 3:23 PM)

I've never thought about doing that --- I'll add it to the list of suggestions for review.

Why are LBs limited to a speed rating of 82? In reality there are plenty of college LBs that are just as fast as RBs yet RBs in GD can have a speed as high as 92... (kdforester - Hall of Famer - 3:24 PM)

They are not.

Any chance to add in the future the ability to pick what RB you want in short yardage or goal line plays? I would love to bring in a very strong RB (FB) for these situations. (billyg74 - Hall of Famer - 3:24 PM)

You can do this by changing formations now. I don't know if we will get more in depth than that in the near future.

How much does GI or ELU play in DL getting sacks? And would you consider SPD very important for DL? (ajm641126 - All-Star - 3:25 PM)

It's hard to say since I don't have the formulas in front of me...they are both important to see the play development and get off of blocks. The speed will come into play when he tries to chase down the QB.

Any possibility of showing players' fatigue levels at halftime (coaches could only see their own team)? (pds65 - Hall of Famer - 3:26 PM)

Yes --- never thought of that, good suggestion. I'll add it to the list.

Do all attributes decrease the same when fatigued? So if a guy is at 90%, all his attributes go down 10%? Or do some decrease faster/slower? Thanks. (joemalaka - Hall of Famer - 3:26 PM)

They all fatigue at the same rate.

Thanks for taking the time to post your questions, comments and suggestions.