Licensed college football video games are back, baby, and we are having the time of our lives (wobbly option controls and all) with EA Sports Football 25. A sequel to NCAA Football 14The game introduced many features, including the addictive Piping system.
The Pipeline system available in Dynasty mode helps the game better replicate real-life college football recruiting. You may be wondering What are pipelines And How to choose the best pipelines In EA Sports Football 25. Then you are exactly right here.
What are pipelines?
Pipelines are states or regions that a school or coach is particularly familiar with. Mechanically, this means that recruits from your school or coach’s pipeline regions are more likely to be interested in your school.
This is meant to mimic real-life recruiting, where high school athletes are often (but not always!) more interested in schools in or near their home state than moving far from home. Even that’s included in the game – for some recruits, proximity to home state is a high priority (or even a deal-breaker); for others, it barely matters. But the pipeline will help get you in the door.
Some states are split into multiple pipelines, while others are grouped into a single pipeline. For example, the extremely talent-dense states of California, Georgia, Florida, and Texas are all split into multiple pipelines (e.g., “Central Florida,” “South Georgia”), while states with lower talent density are grouped into multiple state regions, such as “Big Sky” and “Pacific Northwest.”
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Image: EA Tiburon/Electronic Arts via Polygon
Schools operate on a tiered ranking system for their pipelines, from one (weakest) to five (strongest). Each school has a pipeline tier based on how well they have recruited in that region in the past. These pipeline tiers for schools are fixed and do not change over the course of your save file, but you can change your coach’s pipeline through the Edit Coach menu.
What is the best pipeline for my team?
When you create a coach in Dynasty mode, you select a pipeline for the coach. Narratively, this represents your coach’s professional background – where did they get their first experience before getting this position? Where do they have the most contacts with high school coaches? Mechanically, this is a way to select which region you want to get a head start on recruiting.
For example, I have a Dynasty Mode file with Maryland, where I went to school. As my trainer there, I chose the Tidewater Pipeline because it covers the region where Maryland is located and where Maryland generally likes to recruit from (there is no official explanation of what “Tidewater” covers, but since Maryland, DC, Virginia, and Delaware are not Pipeline options, I think it’s safe to assume that’s what Tidewater means here). My goal at this save is to eventually dominate the Tidewater region with Maryland and get the best recruits there year after year.
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Image: EA Tiburon/Electronic Arts via Polygon
But for a dynasty with New Mexico, a school I don’t want to stay at forever, maybe a Texas or California pipeline would make more sense than the New Mexico pipeline. Both states are close enough to New Mexico that I would still score well on the proximity to home rating, and hopefully that would allow me to snag some overlooked recruits from those crowded regions.
Additionally, schools prefer coaches whose coaching pipelines mesh with theirs, so if you’re currently building a dynasty at a one-star school but ultimately want to land a job at Alabama, it might be smart to select Alabama as your coaching pipeline.
What are the best pipelines in general?
Again, it’s best to consider this in the context of your school and your goals for the backup file. This is a subjective and not an objective decision.and it’s generally better to choose an area that makes sense for your school and your backup file rather than simply choosing the most crowded region.
But maybe you’re coaching at a school that can get virtually any recruit it wants, like Alabama or Georgia. With so many options to choose from, what should you prioritize?
The different Florida, Texas, Georgia and California Pipelines are good places to start – each will have a large number of talents in each class. In addition, Louisiana and Metro Atlanta are other talented options worth considering.
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Each pipeline region not only has a certain level of qualified talent, but also Type of high quality talent tied to the region. We don’t know every one of them, but here are a few examples of EA’s Deep dive about Dynasty mode:
For example, Southern California is known for producing great quarterback talent, while East Texas consistently produces some of the best wide receivers in the country. But we didn’t stop there. We wanted to dig deeper to make sure we captured the authenticity of the high school talent. Yes, East Texas is known for producing great receivers, but more specifically, the city is known for how big and physical its receivers are. So East Texas will produce bigger and more physical receivers, while South Florida will produce incredibly fast, smaller receivers who are also dangerous down low.
The short answer is, “It depends on what you want.” Are you looking for quarterbacks first and foremost? Then Southern California is the right choice. Do you want to dominate your school’s region? Then choose that one.
The beauty of college football dynasties is that they are what you make of them, and you can set your own goals – and the Pipeline System is just another way to enrich that experience.
For more College Football 25 Tutorials, check out our beginner’s guide or learn how to throw a perfect touch pass.
