Finesse percentages

[Passacaglia]

Has anyone tinkered with finesse percentages at all? I don't touch them. Does anyone have any ideas as to what kinds of players are good/bad for running finesse plays?

[gstelmack]

High YAC receivers would seem to be a good choice.

[Passacaglia]

What? Are you serious?

[C-Bailey]

If his question is referring to TCY, then the finesse percentages wouldn't have much to do with WR's i don't think. I think that section of the gameplan referes to runs such as draws and sweeps - things of that nature. As to the sucess of those runs in relation to percentage i have no idea but i would suspect that RB's with a high rating/potential in breakaway running would have some success but maybe someone with better insight or research could chime in here.

[flere-imsaho]

I would think that elusiveness would help, as would breakaway speed.

[Passacaglia]

I was thinking of FOF 2004, where the finesse plays are also runs -- or so I thought. I was thinking elusiveness mostly, but I wasn't sure, really. There's not much to go on with the o-line ratings really. I could see breakaway speed, or speed to the outside, having an effect as well.

[QuikSand]

I had always though of "speed to the outside" here, but I confess I have never fiddled with it much. Generally, when I have a team based on inside, power running - I set it low. When I have flashy speed-type backs, I set it higher. That's been about it for me.

[gstelmack]

I thought "finesse" plays included WRs running reverses and the like. A high YAC receiver would have good open-field running skills, and thus be amenable to making good yards on a reverse or similar play.

So, uh, yes, I was serious ;)

[Alf]

Interesting notes here. I might try to play with these finesse % if I ever find the screen. My RBs are more breakaway speed, elusiveness and speed to the outside than pound in the middle RBs...

[QuikSand]

One tiny note -- at one point, I was experimenting in FOF 2004 , trying to get my QB to run the ball more. I tinkered with this (setting the finesse running rating high) but it didn't seem to have any effect. I wasn't surprised, but it seemed worth sharing, since there seems to be fairly little concrete to work with here.

[cthomer5000]

I'm trying to run some sort of basic test on this now.

My gut feeling as well is that high finesse running would probably favor backs with higher 'elusiveness' and perhaps 'breakaway speed' or 'speed to the outside'.

I would think that backs high in 'hole recognition' might do best in a straight-ahead power system.

[jbmagic]

what is elusiveness? what does it affect?

[cthomer5000]

what is elusiveness? what does it affect?
I think it's explained in the help file, but I think it's basically the likelihood that the back will break a long run. But high elusiveness also increases the odds he'll get stuffed for a loss as well.

Basically, a guy like Barry Sanders would have a 100 in elusiveness.

[chinaski]

funny this should come up. I signed 2 RB's with very comparable ratings, and both had 99 for elusiveness. I figured this was a good time to try messing with the finesse play %'s and so I bumped them up 10% for every formation.

Result: Failed miserably, team was dead last in YPC.


finesse running percentage indicates how many runs featuring misdirection (reverses, counterplays, draws and traps) will be used whenever a running play is called using the selected formation.
'reverses' is a little confusing, im wondering if that means the running player will reverse direction, since wr reverse frequency is covered in the game plan?


elusiveness (ability to occasionally break long runs at the expense of sometimes getting caught begind the line of scrimmage)
I believe that elusiveness has nothing to do with a successful finesse play, it of course helps; but elusiveness seems to be more of a 'bonus' rating.

Since the bulk of finesse plays boil down to traps, counters, and draws... it seems logical the best player for high finesse plays would be one with high Power Inside and Hole Recognition ratings. Neither one of my 2 backs in my experimental finesse system had good Inside Power or Hole Recognition.

[Warhammer]

I would assume hole recognition is most important, you can run a draw either inside or outside along with counter plays.

[CraigSca]

I had always assumed finesse plays were good to call when your talent wasn't good enough to run the ball down an opposing team's throat. Finesse plays, imho, are more of a high-stakes way of running the football. If you don't have the talent to run between the tackles, call more finesse plays to see if you can catch the defense leaning the wrong way.

Therefore, I'm not sure I'd look for a particular rating by a back to determine whether he's a good finess runner or not. Purely conjecture, however.

[Rhone Ranger]

This is just conjecture on my part, but might finesse plays be good when the opposing defense is frequently calling "aggressive run" defenses? The idea being that an aggressive run defense is "over" pursuing, and you can catch them out of position with a trap run or a reverse.

The flip side is that a finesse run would likely do worse than a standard run play against a "normal" (non-aggressive) run defense.

FOF is such an excellent game. I just wish its documentation was a little more thorough. :)

[sovereignstar]

This is just conjecture on my part, but might finesse plays be good when the opposing defense is frequently calling "aggressive run" defenses? The idea being that an aggressive run defense is "over" pursuing, and you can catch them out of position with a trap run or a reverse.

The flip side is that a finesse run would likely do worse than a standard run play against a "normal" (non-aggressive) run defense.

FOF is such an excellent game. I just wish its documentation was a little more thorough. :)

I'd say both you and CraigSca are right.