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| Main / Friendly Cups / Newbie Bootcamp Friendly Cup Search Forum | |
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| posted: 2023-07-04 07:26:45 (ID: 100175213) Report Abuse | |
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We'll be seeing two interesting match-ups coming sunday. I'll be writing a bit about setting up an offensive playbook this week, because that can be tricky.
Therefore a reminder: I played a pretty basic playbook in the first three games of this cup, please take a look at how it is set up. Yes, a great deal of the success of my squad is the Defense (although I defended with only two formations, and each for each half of the games). But I still wouldn't win with an offense that does not work, and even this basic offensive playbook does that pretty good. I even used it in a Friday Friendly Game last week to surprisingly great effect. So have another look, because with my further explanations I will build upon what I already set up. Btw: @eroman, I will of course play the same playbook in our match-up on Sunday. But I will add a few plays to make it a bit more complex. You may now choose which kind of formations I therefore use: Singleback or Shotgun?  |
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eroman
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posted: 2023-07-04 12:43:07 (ID: 100175217) Report Abuse |
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Chrill wrote:
Btw: @eroman, I will of course play the same playbook in our match-up on Sunday. But I will add a few plays to make it a bit more complex. You may now choose which kind of formations I therefore use: Singleback or Shotgun? Well since you are giving me a choice I'll go with the Singleback 
Lets hope that power mode gives me a better shot than our friendly games  |
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| posted: 2023-07-05 14:28:40 (ID: 100175249) Edits found: 1 Report Abuse | |
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Building an offensive playbook is a venture that can take a few days to complete. The possibilities to create an attack are many and can be quite overwhelming at first. But the Offensive Playbook is, even more than the Defensive counterpart, a big part of what makes this game so attractive. Because it is here where you test your wits against the opponent and try to come up with a way to win.
Let’s have an overview of the 10 offensive formations that you’re able to choose from: I-Formation – the classic 21 Personnel Package with a Fullback and a Runningback behind the Quarterback, a Tight End lined up on the right side of the O-Line and one Wide Receiver on each side; good for Rushing or Passing. Big I-Formation – a bit more suitable for Rushing than the normal I-Formation due to its 22 Personnel Package with 2 Running Backs and 2 Tight Ends, with one Wide Receiver lined up on the far right side. I have seen it being used for Passing to a fairly successful degree, though, too. Flexbone – 3 Runningbacks, with the FB behind the QB and two HBs lined up slightly behind and outside of the Tackles, two WRs on each side. You can involve the Running Backs in the Passing game by throwing down the middle, but to be honest: I have yet to understand how to use this formation to any effect. Wishbone – the same 30 Personnel Package as in the Flexbone Formation, only with the two HBs being lined up left and right behind the FB. It somehow works better for me, although I do not understand why. Pro Set – another 21 Personnel Set, but instead of FB and HB there are two HBs positioned left and right behind the QB. Another formation where you can rush and pass from, but beware: no FB to pick up blitzing LBs or coming DEs makes this formation vulnerable to Sacks. Shotgun 2 WR – a great passing set-up with a FB to guard the QB, two TEs to either side of the Line as well as a WR on each side. Having good TEs lets you pass to every direction in this one, making this the most popular passing formation. Additionally a great FB can rush from this to great effect due to the protection of the TEs. Shotgun 4 WR – one FB to guard the QB, no TEs, but 4 WRs lined up wide, 2 on each side of the line. An obvious passing formation, hence often defended as such. You can rush, of course, but gaining big yardage is rare due to no additional blocking from a TE. Singleback Big – see SG 2 WR, but with a HB instead of a FB, meaning no blocking protection for the QB, but since most HBs are better at rushing you may be able to get more yards on the ground with this formation. Singleback Spread – see SG 4 WR, but again with HB instead of FB. Goalline O – nearly identical to SG 2 WR, but with the FB lined up on behind the QB instead of to his right make this an obvious QB-Sneak-Formation… which most Coaches know and defend as such, so there may be a chance to surprise with clever passing from this one. You can, of course, use only one or two formations and be successful. As I already pointed out: I have a team in my Division that beats other teams on a regular basis using only two formations the whole game. But this is a) a lot less fun (at least for me), b) is it written that „the games engine will award players carrying well thought tactics.“ (here) and, most importantly, have c) such managers very seldom won the big games using these kinds of attack 
More on this in the coming days Last edited on 2023-07-05 17:51:12 by Chrill |
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| posted: 2023-07-08 11:40:40 (ID: 100175276) Report Abuse | |
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Chrill wrote:
Btw: @eroman, I will of course play the same playbook in our match-up on Sunday. But I will add a few plays to make it a bit more complex. You may now choose which kind of formations I therefore use: Singleback or Shotgun? eroman wrote:
Well since you are giving me a choice I'll go with the Singleback
Will do so
#funfact: When I revisited the Playbook to add the aforementioned formations to the mix I discovered that I had an 'any'-line sorted too high regarding the second quarter... and I always wondered why my squad was that unsuccessful in Q2  |
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| posted: 2023-07-08 12:55:42 (ID: 100175277) Edits found: 3 Report Abuse | |
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When you’re setting up the Offensive Playbook from scratch there a different routes you can go.
The first is already being taken by Rookie Managers from the very beginning, without being known to most of them: creating a playbook for situations and manage formations with the game settings. Rookies use the Basic Playbook that’s provided by the game, which is built entirely of rules for the most basic situations of the game: 4th-Down-solutions with Punts and Field Goals as well as what to do when you lead by x amount of points in the 4th quarter to secure the win. This route is still (or again) taken by experienced managers, although their Playbook is, due to many seasons of experience, way more intricate than the basic one. This route has one BIG advantage over the following, which I’ll come to at the end of this entry
The second route is planning the whole game with the playbook. And with this you can throw yourself into a whole lot of work. Making use of all the possibilities that the playbook provides will take a bit of time and thinking, because you can now even more decide how your team should play offensive football. Here you can fully use your findings from experimenting with simple Rush-Rush-Pass-Sequences and vary your formations on different downs and distances, at a special point of time in the Quarter or when you are behind points wise. Keep in mind that Defenses „learn“ over the course of a game, but will slightly re-adjust at half time if they are set up only for specific formations, not situations. One thing that you do not want to be with your playbook is one thing and one thing only: predictable. I do not know how many managers truly invest this work, but especially when you’re quite new to this game you can create an advantage for you by scouting the opponent and find solutions to defend his play. And this of course becomes a lot easier when you have repeating patterns of plays that can be detected. I’m a big fan of keeping a playbook short. But that makes it a lot tougher too make it as diverse as a 3.000 line long playbook would be (and yes, there are managers with playbooks that have over 3.000 lines). That's why I still use an old playbook that I had set up in S50 from time to time, where I took the approach of planning for every play in all 4 quarters, but without taking "Leading/Behind" or Clock into account. Although I don't use this route anymore, the old one still works great, and I have one opponent that I always win against with this playbook. But it is very predictable, and we did not advance all that far into the playoffs with it... I guess it's because especially in the meaningful games at the end of a season, the managers remaining in the tournament do indeed invest the work to plan against an opponent. Here'ss where the route „situational playbook and game settings“ has the advantage. Sure, the situational solutions may still be the same, but since you chose the formations for your attack in the settings you can keep it way more diverse from a game-to-game aspect. However you do: Don’t forget to regularly check you doings with the playbook-checking-tool as well as doing scrimmages. Nothings more infuriating than seeing the situation in the game coming up, knowing that you have the perfect solution and then… experiencing something totally different because your lines are not in the right order  Last edited on 2023-07-08 15:11:09 by Chrill |
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| posted: 2023-07-10 10:42:16 (ID: 100175316) Report Abuse | |
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The Semifinals of the first Bootcamp-Cup have come and gone yesterday, and both games were won by the underdogs. That is awesome
Juggernauts 19:13 Córdoba Kalifas The Juggernauts led the game from the 8:46 minute mark, when Kicker Ray Peeples made his first of overall 4 Fieldgoals, and never gave up their lead. After the half they scored their one and only touchdown, going up 16:3, when the Kalifas rallied and first scored a FG, then a TD themselves. But the home team never came closer to the goalline of the Juggernauts than 45 Yards in the 4th quarter, while their Defense gave away another FG . Thus the 3–0 candidate from group 1 was beaten, and the Juggernauts, who clawed their way into the playoffs, advance to the final game. Nothing much to say here, both teams played the basic Playbooks. So it was a duel at eye level, with a winner being determined by daily form and/or luck. Congrats to the Juggernauts 
HSL 31:35 Antilopes This game began like the group games that the SEA LIONS played, jumping in front with a 61 Yard TD after 8 minutes when they surprised the opponent with a first down pass after having played the rushing game until then. But they did not account for the beast that they had woken up with this, and this beast answers to the name of Nando Uzamukunda, being the QB of the home team. He threw the first of two TD-Passes to WR Ollie Stubbs, a 72 Yard Pass, right after the changeover to Q2, with the first of three TD-Passes to the other WR Refik Krejza only 5 minutes later. And while the Antilopes kept scoring in the second half, their Defense prevented the SEA LIONS from doing the same. So when all the chips were down in the 4th Quarter, with only 5:30 to go and trailing by 3, Nando again took the burden and not only scored the TD for the lead, but didn’t leave enough time on the clock, too, for the opponent to answer. I noticed the right thought as early as in Q1, as eroman is already working with the Rush-Rush-Pass-concept offensively. BUT: To take advantage of a timely switch to another defensive formation you need to stay within the same formation to do the trick. You may have an opponent who sets up general defensive rules for all formations, not for each formation separately, so the sequence in which the Defense switches may not be at the same point for the different formations you use. Beyond that I can only congratulate for an impressive performance by the Antilopes: The Defense is set up nicely, it seems it’s all well tested and especially in the second half worked like a charm, forcing us to punt 5 times out of the 8 total punts by my squad. And the QB is a machine right now, with awesome stat lines. There’s a lot good going on in Lusaka
I’d like to thank the Córdoba Kalifas for their participation in this cup, and wish good luck for all the future games |
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| posted: 2023-07-11 16:16:04 (ID: 100175324) Report Abuse | |
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If there are any questions please don't be shy to ask them. We're getting close to the end of this here Bootcamp Cup, and after that I'll be taking my energies to the looming battles for playoff seeding. So if there's still something you want to have addressed please let me know
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| posted: 2023-07-12 09:40:03 (ID: 100175330) Report Abuse | |
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So, you have set up a great playbook and already bought a few players to improve your squad. Sure, they still need a bit of time to adjust to their new teammates, but once they are up to par they sure will contribute greatly on their position. Now, wouldn’t it be nice if you could make sure that your QB throws the ball to your 5-Star-WR when they are lined up in Formation Y on 3rd and long?
#funfact: You can At least as long as there are no substitutions happening in the game
Like in the game settings you can give a direction to the plays that you implement into the playbook. Pass to the left flank, Rush down the middle, Pass to the Running Back… you can give pretty precise orders for your team to execute and create a tight game plan with this. But how do you make sure which player will get the ball? That’s where your Depth Chart comes into play. You set up which players are selected in the order that you wish with your DC, but you do set up for which side they are selected, too. For example my Depth Chart for the Offense would look like this: QB and OL are set and not that relevant for this example (although the mechanism works the same way there, too, of course), the same for the FB because you usually have only one in the lineup HB: 1st - Jeffe, 2nd - Mo TE: 1st - Sherman, 2nd - Hans WR: 1st - Baron, 2nd - Larry, 3rd - Simeon, 4th - Mark The engine always works from the top down, and for the offense it set’s your players from left to right. If I were to play the I-Formation the squad would be lined up like this: Baron - O-Line - Sherman - Larry QB - FB - Jeffe In Pro-Set that would look like this: Baron - O-Line - Sherman - Larry Jeffe - QB - Mo In SB Big it’ll be like this: Baron - Sherman - O-Line - Hans - Larry QB - Jeffe In Big I-Formation it’s like this: Sherman - O-Line - Hans - Baron QB - FB - Jeffe With 4 Receivers, like in SB Spread, it’ll be like this: Baron - Simeon - O-Line - Mark - Larry QB - Jeffe Notice how it depends on how many players for each position are needed to see where they line up. E. g. in I-Formation TE Sherman is lined up on the right side of the O-Line, in Big-I he's lined up on the left. The same applies to the defensive side, of course, only that the engine sorts from right to left then, mirroring the offensive side. So if you want your Top 1 CB lined up opposed to the WR who’s on the left, you set him at 1, too. Now you can define exactly who'll get the ball in which situation. A pass down the middle to Sherman? "Pass" "left and middle" from SB Big. A desperate throw outside the right numbers on 3rd and long to Baron? "Pass" "right flank" from Big I-Formation (since on any other Formation he'll be lined up on the left). This only works, like I mentioned above, as long as no substitutions are being made because of exhaustion. When this begins to happen you do not have power over „who plays where“ anymore because the engine chooses who’s fit enough to play and substitutes on this account. But for the first Quarter, maybe even for the first Half, you can create an attack that does exactly what you want. I like to think of it as the equivalent to the saying that „the first 15 Plays of an NFL game are scripted“. The beauty is that no one can say that you should or shouldn’t do that. But having the opportunity sure is another thing of what makes this game so great |
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| posted: 2023-07-15 16:20:36 (ID: 100175424) Report Abuse | |
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We’ll have an exciting final game to this Cup tomorrow, and this Bootcamp Friendly Cup is officially ending with a last entry on Monday.
There are so much more topics that are worth working on while setting up a successful franchise. But like the author of the great RZA Guide once told me: Don’t do everything all at once, or this game will overwhelm you. Take one step at the time, understand the playbook before you go into HR department business, for example. You will have enough fun with this later. BTW: I hope you all know the aforementioned RZA Guide? Jack6, one of the Knights of RZA, wrote very lengthy articles about everything that was mentioned in this thread, in fact I have a lot of knowledge about the things I wrote about here from his Guide. So please check out his posts, and take your time with every aspect. This Cup, though, should have helped you to get the most basic things of this game all set, from having an eye for the economy to building the roster… and usually that leads to first success. Which this tournament ultimately was all about
Tomorrow I might post a potpourri of some small notes that I find worth sharing. Like I already wrote: If you want to have something addressed let me know. Otherwise I’m looking forward to tomorrows clash between the Lusaka Antilopes and the Juggernauts |
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| posted: 2023-07-16 12:59:13 (ID: 100175428) Report Abuse | |
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Before we go to the game and the big closing party to this Cup later today here are two things that I wanted to share. They are more good-to-know kind of things, to evaluate your team better
Do not underestimate the power of the Special Teams A great Punter is of great value, everyone knows that. Kickers can win or lose you games. And who doesn’t take an awesome Return, maybe even to the house? Make sure you have your best Players in the Special-Teams of the Depth Chart lined up correctly, and you will have a bit more security with this third phase of the game: STBL (this Unit is on the field to receive a Punt/Kick; both KR left and right should be those that are defined in the KR-section of the Depth Chart) KR - FB - TE - OL - OL - OL - OL - OL - TE - FB - KR STT (this Unit is on the field to Punt/Kick away; both G that are listed here are the same as in the G-section of the Depth Chart, same goes for the K) G - CB - SF - LB - DL - K - DL - LB - SF - CB - G Interceptions are not always the QBs fault While it helps a lot to have an intelligent and experienced Quarter Back on the team, you might find yourself in the situation that still a lot Interceptions are happening. That’s because once the ball is in the air there are still factors that influence the pass from being complete or intercepted, and these factors lie with the positions that are still part of this play: WR and CB/S/LB. An experienced and great Defensive Backfield is more likely to pick against an unexperienced WR-Corps while the connection of an experienced QB with a veteran WR can win you a lot of games against unexperienced Defenses. These values influence the possibility of an Interception: QB - VIS, PAS, IQ ; CB/S/LB - VIS, POS, IQ ; WR - VIS, POS, IQ… and EXP helps a lot, too. A good O-Line is probably a factor, too, giving the QB a sense of safety while winding up to throw. So, with these two things out of the way, let’s go watch an awesome football game  |
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