Warrior General Games

This has come up enough on the forums that I thought it might be worth doing in a systemic fashion. Let me start off by saying that I am most definitely not one of those people who thinks that SAs are a waste of points. It is entirely correct to say that you should (ideally) focus on your attributes for the first few seasons, to maximize the benefit you get from level up bonuses. However, if you’re out of the D-Leagues and not on a slow build team, your on field performance matters, and, all other things being equal, a player with points wisely invested in SAs will outperform one who hasn’t touched them. As I said in the thread title, this is a work in progress, so please feel free to jump in with your own opinions.

Each SA is given a star rating, on a scale of 1-5 stars for overall awesomeness, and I also indicate what sort of a range of investment is reasonable for a mid-career FS.

Coverage Abilities: (If you’re going to buy Custom Equipment, I really feel there is no contest as to where you should put the SA bonus: here. As FS, your job is more concerned with pass coverage than run support, and the fact that I’m not sold on two of the Hard Hitter SAs seals the deal for me)

First Step- My least favorite SA in the Coverage tree. As a FS, you’re going to be lining up way back from the line of scrimmage, so your initial move is going to be less important than your ability to follow the play as it unfolds and make a decisive move. However, Bort has stated that this SA is triggered whenever your current speed drops below a certain threshold, and not just on the first step of the play. This makes it more useful if your FS is frequently lining up in Man coverage schemes.

Rating: ** (or *** for FSs who frequently play Man coverage schemes)
Suggested Number of Points: 2-4

Change Direction- This is a SA that really helps out when you’re playing Man coverage. However, I think it’s important for all Safeties. If you’re playing a off the receivers, you may well have to make a cut or two to get to the ball carrier, and you do NOT want to shed speed while trying to get to that player. While it is useful, I wouldn’t go overboard putting points into it. It might be interesting see a FS who heavily invested in this SA as way of offseting a lower Agi.

Rating: ***½
Suggested Number of Points: 3-6

Swat Ball- I think this SA gets downrated a bit because people tend to think investing in it might lower your chance of making an Int. It’s highly unlikely that that’s the case, as it’s really two different types of actions (catching vs. deflecting), and getting better at one won’t impact the other. I’ve personally seen a noticeable uptick in PD after dropping a couple points into this skill. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t put too much into it over what’s needed to pump SV.

Rating: ***
Suggested Number of Points: 3-4

Superior Vision- I’m not going to be arguing uphill, so I’ll say it: this is the best SA for FSs. As a FS, your job is all about reading the play as it unfolds and taking action either to break it up, or make the tackle. This SA helps you do the most important part of job better. So if your a FS with high vision (which is pretty much all of ‘em), you should pump this skill as soon as you can without sacrificing the growth of your attributes.

Rating: *****
Suggested Number of Points: 5-8

Shutdown Coverage- Like many other skills in the Coverage tree, the usefulness of this SA increases dramatically if your FS is playing a lot of Man coverage. In fact, if you look at the description, you’ll see that this skill ONLY works during Man coverage. So it’s usefulness is entirely dependent on how your DC employs you. Still, every FS plays a little man coverage, so a couple points can’t hurt.

Rating: ** (or **** for heavy Man coverage)
Suggested Number of Points: 1-2 (3-5 for Man coverage FSs)

Hard Hitter Abilities:

Wrap Up Tackle- Ok, here’s where I’m going to get a little controversial. As a FS, you have a lot attributes you need to juggle investing points in (Spd, Vis, Agi), so you need to economize wherever you can on point spending. I think you can slack off on putting some points in Tackling and put a smaller number into this SA instead. SA that work in sync with an attribute (like SV and Vis) are mentioned in the descriptions, and the description of Wrap Up doesn’t mention high Tackling. Clearly you can’t neglect tackling entirely, but this might be a shortcut.

Rating: ***½
Suggested Number of Points: 2-4

Diving Tackle- Like Wrap Up, this is a SA that can help boost a low Tkl number. Given that you’re the last man on defense, you want to be really certain you can bring you man down, so this can save your bacon in a tight spot. What’s more, Jmp is important skill for FSs, which helps boost the effectiveness of this SA. Not as useful as Wrap Up, though.

Rating: **½
Suggested Number of Points: 2-3

Growl- Ugh, just ugh. You’re not going to really get the benefit of the morale hit unless you tackle the same guy over and over, and for FS that’s not gonna happen unless you’re on a really terrible team. The only scenario where this could be useful is if you were on a team that decided to really emphasize the morale sapping SAs across the whole defense.

Rating: *
Suggested Number of Points: 0-whatever you need for CS

Big Hit- Of the two morale depleting SAs, I would slightly prefer this one, because it also increases your chances of creating a FF. Given that Spd is component of FF, FSs can produce some, especially on Special Teams. Still, I’d avoid this one.

Rating: *
Suggested Number of Points: 0-whatever you need for CS

Closing Speed- After SV, this is the other contender for best FS SA. Why? Same as for SV, it helps you do one of the most important parts of your job better. Slightly less useful because while reading a play is a crucial part of every snap (SV) closing in on the ball carrier (CS) only happens every once in a while. Plus, it’s buried at the end of a bad tree.

Rating: ****
Suggested Number of points: 0-4

That's really good. I think I would give diving tackle a little more respect though. maybe 3 1/2 stars. like wrap up.

+1. good write up

yes very nice

yes someone finally tells me I'm right

cause the only Hard Hitter SA I have is wrap up (3) and diving (2)

but I have SV(4) and CD(3) with FS(3)

My FS agrees with this thread.

can we get an update for SS?
i'd just like to see what you'd have to say for your tougher brothers

Growl's description says that it makes it easier to tackle the ball carrier. If it increases the % chance for every attempted tackle to succeed, it may be worth a point or two even if you'll almost never get the cumulative demoralizing benefit.