Hrm… I honestly haven’t had this one come up but it was mentioned at bbtactics as being one of the skills that might not always be desirable to use. It may be that this isn’t actually implemented properly in the current version.
I should clarify that I am saying I only think 1 reroll is necessary, as in you should definately have at least one. If you play a practice game or two you’ll find out if you personally can’t play without more. I mentioned this because a lot of the strategy guide starting rosters tend to have 2 or 3 positionals and no big guy or wacky units in order to start with 3 rerolls. What’s the fun of playing a unique race if you have a team of entirely linemen?
I don’t really see the SPP hog argument as the only points you can control are touchdowns, and any player can only hog SPP if you decide to give the same guy the ball for a touchdown every time. In my campaign teams my linemen have more casualty causing SPP than my big guys. Remember that there is almost no chance of a big guy ever getting a touchdown, so you have to hope they get MVPs or kill someone to level up.
Fan factor is something you spend your money on when you have less than 50k left and can’t afford a reroll, player, or apothecary. I just mentioned it because it might seem tempting to buy cheerleaders or coaches or try and bank it for later, but starting with some extra fan factor will earn you a bit more money to buy other things later and still has an effect on the game itself.
Damn. Yeah, it’s definitely useful to have it optional vs. Frenzy, but it looks like the UI won’t let you do it. :-/
I’ve done well starting with 1 Reroll (i.e. the Hepcats), but I think whether that’s a good plan depends on the team.
I liked it with Dark Elves because of all the AG 4, starting with lots of Block, my 2 Assassins with their risk-free stabbing, and my focus on defensive play – overall I had less need for rerolls than other teams might. I had to pay more for rerolls later on, but on the other hand I saved $70k on each linemen I thereby avoided.
I did have to play very cautiously until I bought another reroll though!
Single player campaign mode and competitive (albeit friendly) online leagues are different worlds. For one thing, the computer is kinda dumb. You probably could get away with no rerolls. Also, gold isn’t as much an issue because you’ll simply play a ton of games quickly in single player, win most of them cause the computer is dumb, and be floating in cash. People getting into the new private leagues are going to be pressed for money as they’re only likely to make maybe another 200k over the course of the entire season, and some of that will go to replace players.
Maybe a few teams that start with a lot of reroll skills could get away with a low reroll count, but even then that’s dicey and not something I’d recommend for a new coach. If you’re just starting out you need a safety net and you aren’t going to be playing optimally enough to get away with walking a tightrope every game.
Having expensive positionals early that you can’t properly defend or replace if they get maimed sets your team up for failure (and a lack of rerolls just makes this even more likely). Hell, LK bought a Krox on his starting lizard team that died in the very first game of the S2 Old World league, leaving him with a TV760 team that is going to have a rough time on the LoS. That’s why the starting rosters are set up the way they are - they’re set up for a different type of game.
40K in the bank guarantees you can buy an apothecary after your first match, or maybe even another reroll. Spending it all on Fan Factor (which counts towards TV and will reduce your inducements) makes this a crapshoot. Not worth it, except maybe for Vampires because they don’t need an Apothecary and they’ll probably be starting with 4-5 rerolls already. The Fan Factor money won’t even pay itself back until the season is over, and if it costs you a player lost to the apothecary you couldn’t afford, or a game lost to the wizard you were 30k short from buying, then it totally wasn’t worth it.
SIDELINES ARE NOT YOUR FRIEND
Kalle is starting a clearinghouse thread to discuss his own views on BB formations and the like, for those of you looking for ideas.
One thing I’ve been struggling with is playing defense with non-bashy teams. I love bashing, but I’m almost completely lost when playing the Skaven for instance and kicking off. Unless there is an obvious opening like they fumble and I can swarm the ball I get a bit lost.
The formations for kicking off are useful, but what do I do from here? Am I sole ly sitting back in a prevent avoiding contact, almost hurrying them to endzone or what should I be doing?
I guess I’m wondering what my focus after the formation should be.
I’m just pointing out that everything is subjective here, even though some guides and stuff make it sound cut and dried. Some things like cheerleaders are super easy to get later so aren’t worth getting at the start. Will 30k of inducements change the outcome of a game? Probably not, but it is impossible to say for sure since in the end it is all the will of Nuffle. You have a point that you might want to not chance having to wait two games for an apothecary instead of one.
The only problem I have with this opinion is that LK has two options if he wants a Krox: start with one or save up for one later. As you pointed out you’ll probably not make much money over the course of the season, so he likely wouldn’t be able to get one before it’s more than half over anyway. Putting him on the field now doesn’t make him any safer, in fact it’s probably more dangerous for the Krox since it’ll be new and everything else will have a level or two. He might be instantly killed now instead of at the start, with the only change being LK saved up to lose all that money halfway through the season instead of right away. Poor LK got hosed by Nuffle, so now he gets inducement players until he can buy himself something new at which point the outcome is the same: 11 players (or however many he has) and a dead Kroxigor.
Any player can be killed by a goblin at any time, so depriving yourself of silly antics that you enjoy is a losing proposition in my book. Buying them later so they don’t get killed early just means they’ll get killed later if Nuffle has it in for you.
I’m still learning this myself, but that starting formation is where a lot of problems start, namely not measuring tackle zone layers carefully enough. Often in my case, shifting one character on each side one square has noticeably changed my ability to stall and channelize, which is really what you’re after. It’s hard to prevent them from crossing at all depending on what your stronger/more capable players are made of(or at least will include some luck), but if you can at least guide them into a place where you can grind them up (always remembering that just because contact usually favors the strong defender doesn’t mean you should overextend) you’ll be in much better shape if they do score. The other thing you want to work on is getting a kicker, since being able to accurately place the ball can buy you a lot of time and force them to spread in the wrong direction.
Also, it’s good to have a plan in a turn where you might force a dropped ball for positioning around it or retrieving. Knocking a ball out of their hands so the next guy can pick it up and run it in is a singularly frustrating experience, and you want to make it as challenging as possible.
One of the biggest things, though, is timing. You want to score at the end of a half, even if a team can’t score in one turn (based on movement including go for it). You probably want to think carefully about receiving and kickoffs, and whether you want to grind them before your possession. Measure your MA carefully, since there’s always a tendency to have that last two turn panicked cage get broken up as you hustle down the pitch.
Stopping the TD is a bonus. Preventing their possession altogether, though, is the heart of your strategy even if early on that means your best case scenario is a tie.
Great stuff in here that I wish I had known 24 hours ago.
I will add that tapping ‘c’ will rotate between three camera views: vertical/end zone, horizontal/sideline, and auto-cam. That’s important for me because I prefer the sideline view, and it’s much easier to tap ‘c’ once or twice than it is to manually re-adjust the camera when it re-sets after every turn.
Check out this article on cage breaking. The diagram on page 2 is a decent example of what you’re looking for. Basically, try to form 2 player deep columns spread out 3 spaces apart.
There are lots of variations on how to attack the cage, or alternately how to get them to score quickly so you can answer, but stalling them like that is the basic strategy. Get in their way, and limit the non-Blitz blocking you receive. If they try to push into you, then you fight back, taking advantage of their moving next to you so you can Block first.
Totally agreed. It’s much more difficult to level up rookie Big Guys once the opposition has leveled up. It is a bit risky until you can get your Apothecary, but overall I think it’s the better approach.
Well, at least for teams that most benefit from their big Guy (Humans and Skaven come to mind). Orks are probably better off waiting and maxing out on Black Orks and Bltizers first, as their Troll isn’t so crucial, and a late rookie Troll won’t take so much heat.
Thanks everyone, all useful stuff. Especially n & g.
An important lesson that I’ve learned–keep a safety back. Just the threat of a blitzer in the backfield that can slam the ball carrier generally prevents opponents from attempting a quick break out run or pass, severely restricting their options. The downside is that you have one fewer men in the action, but the tradeoff seems worth it.
You can do it via the main menu, options.
Besides wrestle, multiblock and piling on are good to make optional.
Err, you can? When I try it there the option looks available, but I can’t actually check “Ask” for Dodge…
The option works fine for me with Wrestle though.
Other skills that should be put on optional are Stand Firm (sometimes you want to be pushed back) and Juggernaught
No you are right, my bad.
What makes that option annoying for me is that you can’t get a good look at the affected area of the pitch while a dialogue box is open in your opponent’s turn, same for skills like Shadowing, you just have to guess whether it’s going to be helpful or remember what the tackle boxes looked like.
Just one of many horrible UI decisions that Cyanide took.