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Old 09-15-2017, 07:39 AM   #73
GoldenCrest Games
High School Varsity
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
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Just finished up the games with the Blues. Today we played the Purples and the Pinks.

Before getting into the results, I should mention that the stint with the Blues was largely a success. I took on the Blues to tighten up offense, and it's safe to say that it's light-years ahead of where we were during the Greens games. I just updated the run blocking logic and now both pass and run blocking are really effective. In fact, they might be a little too effective.

Granted, I'm using the Blues team, who have the 3 most elite OL in the league.

For run blocking, I changed how OL select their block targets. Before, I was using a really simple "who's closest" system based on identifying key defenders that need to be blocked. Now I use a system that figures out the angle between the point-of-attack and the key defenders, and then figures out who the best OL is to make the right block. After that block is determined, it goes down the list of defenders until everyone has a blocking assignment. (all pre-snap) Post-snap we just go into the open-field system.

Once the blocking AI was updated, I really needed to redesign my running plays to take advantage of new blocking schemes. If you don't pay attention to where you line blockers up, and where the PoA is, you'll get weird blocking responsibilities.

Now on to the games!

Week 8: Blues vs Purples

This was a fun game. The Purples have a lot of weird players that have skills I wasn't prepared for. In the end, the Purples rolled us 21-42. I had no answer for the Purples RB and special teams. The Purples special teams is so good that their KR was able to house a kick, even though he has (at best) average speed! It seemed like it took him forever to get there, but he slowly bobbed and weaved his way through the excellent ST blocking until he finally plodded into the endzone. I'd never seen a slow guy take back a kick until today. It was pretty funny.

The Purples also had some success with their running QB. Halfway through the game, I started calling plays I knew would result in the QB taking off. It was actually fairly effective.

Week 9: Blues vs Pinks

Once again, the Pinks were atrocious. We were up 56-21 after about 10 minutes when I called it. Frankly, it stopped being fun. Something in fundamentally wrong with the Pinks. They suck at every aspect of the game. I'll have to dig into it after the season and figure out what the difference is. On offense it didn't matter what play I called, it was almost guaranteed to be a first down. On defense, I just had to try and not let them break a run. The home-run ball was their only hope.

In the arms race between offense and defense, the offense is clearly winning. Now that the games with the Blues are completed, I'll take over the Reds for their 3 remaining games and try to tighten up the defense. After that, we only have 3 games left in the season!

Based on the engine updates made while running the Blues, here's the new draft strategy:
  • Round 1: Draft Urquhart
  • Round 2-3: Try to get the 2 most skilled OL to play the tackle positions. Try to get OL with DL skill
  • Round 4: Either get a highly skilled QB or RB.
  • Round 5-7: Make sure I have 3 skilled OL and 2 skilled DL. If I'm filling DL, try to get fast ones too.
  • Round 8-9: Get the fastest WR and CB with skill. Make sure I have a serviceable #1 for WR/CB (don't need to be the same guy)
  • Round 10-12: Fill out defense with skilled players, speed is secondary, ignore strength.
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