[lunch pale gang]

Quote: Originally Posted by actionhank

Some pretty solid ideas. The AI management of their players is just weird in general. The 3 on 3 OT lines just seem like the developers went "Oh yeah, forgot about that!" and quickly tossed something in there. The Blues by default have (If I remember right) Stastny - Bouwmeester - Pietrangelo Lehtera - Gunnarsson - Parayko Brodziak - Edmundson - Bortuzzo The AI is set to have 2 defenders, so the game automatically places in two defenders, and then instead of using my 3rd line Center, uses Kyle Brodziak. This isn't a huge deal for me, since I can set my lineups...but the issue is with the AI teams, as they're leaving snipers on the bench, and putting out two defenders for no reason. On the same note (and it applies to every other part of the game) the on-ice AI doesn't really seem to know what to do in 3 on 3. Maybe they didn't get enough time, but the AI just seem lost, and spread so far apart. Equally frustrating is making it to the shootout, and having to see defenders like Gunny shooting after the 5th shooter, because I can't pick that far, and the AI just seems to randomly pick players. Same goes for injuries and penalties. I don't know why Ryan Reaves is subbing in for Alex Pietrangelo when Pietrangelo is in the box on a penalty...but it makes no sense. I notice the AI has the same issue when they're down a goal. If you're down by 1 goal, with 3 minutes left, your 4th line probably isn't even seeing the ice. Instead in EA's NHL, 4th liners are out there eating up 2 minutes as their timeout goes unused, and their snipers sit on the bench doing nothing. I really hope the next version has some more intelligent on-ice AI managing and players. As it stands now, it seems like the AI just intends to start and finish the game. Their goalies get left out for 5 goals against (I scored 4 in the first period once, and the goalie never got pulled. Finished the game 7-3 with the same goalies). As for the free agents, I agree, a little more interaction would be great. I had a season with Carolina, and got them to the Eastern Conference finals, before getting knocked out. I was trying to get Tyler Johnson to sign, and it was between Winnipeg and us. Winnipeg finished dead last in the NHL, and yet Johnson signed with them saying "He wanted to go to a team that's going to be winning soon". It would be nice to have agents you could talk to for players, and say you're interested, get their interest back, and then make an offer that they counter, with how much extra you throw in depending on how badly they want to play for you. If you're the only person interested in a player, and they're interested in you, it should mostly be looking at how long, and how much (which would be awesome to have affected by the player's age, skill, and what other Free Agents and similar players are making). If you're up against 3 teams, and you're a smaller team, maybe you have to offer more money, or goal incentives, or a Non-Movement Clause...

You hit the nail on the head as far as cpu line management. The current way of doing it could definitely use a tune-up. I snickered when you wrote about the a.i. sending out their fourth liners in critical situations simply because they have more energy. This happens all the time and it really takes away from the experience. That situation could be avoided if the cpu would use its timeout and then, even if the developers didn't want to address the coding that simply puts the most rested line on the ice no matter what, the cpu's top line would be on the ice when it needed to be.

I play full 20 minute periods because I enjoy having an experience of a full game and the a.i.'s line management skills really takes away from that experience. For example, if I'm playing the Bruins, it makes no sense seeing a 3rd line D-man like Kevin Miller ending up with the same ice time as Chara at the end of a game.