The defense looked extremely familiar with this play

[Ruthian23]

I know this message has been in FOF for at least the last several versions, but I'm realizing at this point that maybe I've never fully understood it. I've had several situations in games where I have run a play that I have not yet run in the game and got this message. I'm figuring it has something to do with being familiar with the look or something, or type of play. Is there any way to determine in the game which plays are likely to get this message, and if not, how do you generally avoid getting it?

[markdub2]

Originally Posted by Ruthian23

I know this message has been in FOF for at least the last several versions, but I'm realizing at this point that maybe I've never fully understood it. I've had several situations in games where I have run a play that I have not yet run in the game and got this message. I'm figuring it has something to do with being familiar with the look or something, or type of play. Is there any way to determine in the game which plays are likely to get this message, and if not, how do you generally avoid getting it?

Part of it is the play type, so reverses and counter runs the defense will pick up on very quickly

Ive also heard using non-standard formations is a factor. I think (please correct if wrong) that 12, 11, and 21 personnel are least likely to receive the penalty. 00 or 5 wide, 10 , and 13 personnel are the quickest to receive the penalty. I think any play can get hit with it if you call it too much (maybe 5+ times?)

So if youre getting tagged with it on the first time youve called a play, it might be because youve ran that play type too many times. So you might have 5 different reverse plays in your playbook, and if you call 4 of them each 1 time, when you call that 5th one that defense is gonna be ready for it even though they havent seen that exact play yet.

I also think AI gameplans will sometimes overuse a single play when the same down and distance and game state comes up over and over. So if you dont already, it might be worth checking your offensive gameplans and making sure you have enough variety of plays for each d&d.


I think its Jims way of preventing users from gaming the engine too much and trying to mimic NFL offense personnel package usage, but it can be frustrating when youre not sure if its gonna trigger or not and then you get hit with a negative play

[Ruthian23]

Originally Posted by markdub2

Part of it is the play type, so reverses and counter runs the defense will pick up on very quickly

Ive also heard using non-standard formations is a factor. I think (please correct if wrong) that 12, 11, and 21 personnel are least likely to receive the penalty. 00 or 5 wide, 10 , and 13 personnel are the quickest to receive the penalty. I think any play can get hit with it if you call it too much (maybe 5+ times?)

So if youre getting tagged with it on the first time youve called a play, it might be because youve ran that play type too many times. So you might have 5 different reverse plays in your playbook, and if you call 4 of them each 1 time, when you call that 5th one that defense is gonna be ready for it even though they havent seen that exact play yet.

I also think AI gameplans will sometimes overuse a single play when the same down and distance and game state comes up over and over. So if you dont already, it might be worth checking your offensive gameplans and making sure you have enough variety of plays for each d&d.


I think its Jims way of preventing users from gaming the engine too much and trying to mimic NFL offense personnel package usage, but it can be frustrating when youre not sure if its gonna trigger or not and then you get hit with a negative play

Yeah, I understand the reason it's there and think it's a good idea, but like you said, sometimes I just have no idea if it's going to trigger or not. Thanks, though; this is helpful. Any other thoughts/ideas from others would be welcome as well.