Warrior General Games

This guide is meant to answer any and all questions relating to Kickers in Goal Line Blitz. Additionally, what I think to be an ideal build plan for a slowbuilt Kicker will be laid out here, though there are obviously deviations from all build plans (which I will note) depending on how you like to build players and at what point in their career you want them to be effective. If there's anything that you feel I should add to the original post, please comment and let me know.

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General Questions

Q: What is the role of a Kicker in GLB?
A: Kickers are responsible for handling all kickoffs, extra points, and field goals in the sim. They are also usually the last line of defense on kickoffs for making the tackle on the returner.

Q: Are there fake field goal/extra point plays in the sim?
A: No, not yet.

Q: What about onside kicks?
A: Nope.

Q: How much do Kickers cost?
A: 100 Flex Points for the initial creation, and 100 Flex Points for every boost. They're a great cheap investment if you like managing a lot of players or just have a little extra flex to throw around. Custom Equipment is the same cost as any other player, 300 FP for the Special Ability Tree, 100 FP for each +1 attribute.

Q: Why didn't my Kicker get very much XP last game?
A: Kicker XP is highly variable compared to other positions because there's a much larger chance you will not get as many plays as the rest of the team. Kickers get an automatic start of 25 XP per game if they play at least one play, regardless of level. If you find yourself not getting very many plays (usually when your team is not very good and thus not scoring much) ask your owner to put you on another depth chart so you get more plays (punt team is usually the standard).

Q: Why did my Kicker get so much XP last game?
A: Kickers can also get a lot more XP than other positions, but only if they get a considerably high number of plays at the natural Kicker position, as the maximum XP is capped if you're playing a different position.

Q: What's the best initial roll for a Kicker?
A:
8 in Stamina, Blocking, Tackling, Catching, Carrying, Punting
10 in Strength, Vision, Agility, Speed, Jumping, Throwing
41 points split between Kicking and Confidence

Q: What's the highest Kicking roll?
A: So far it's been reported that 28 is the highest roll for Kicking and 26 for Confidence, though it's likely that higher is possible.

Q: What are the natural gains per level for a Kicker
A:
Prior to level 22, you will have 2 SP distributed between your major attributes and 1 SP distributed between your minor attributes every time you level up.
1 Point each to Kicking and Confidence
0.16 Points each to Strength, Speed, Agility, Jumping, Vision, Throwing

These amounts reduce at level 22 to 1.5 SP distributed among the majors and 0.75 SP among the minors, thus:
0.75 Points each to Kicking and Confidence
0.12 Points each to Strength, Speed, Agility, Jumping, Vision, Throwing

These amounts reduce again at level 30 to 75% of the previous amounts, thus:
0.56 Points each to Kicking and Confidence
0.09 Points each to Strength, Speed, Agility, Jumping, Vision, Throwing

And finally they decrease again at level 38 to 75% of the previous amounts, thus:
0.42 Points each to Kicking and Confidence
0.07 Points each to Strength, Speed, Agility, Jumping, Vision, Throwing

Q: Throwing and Jumping? Really?
A: Yes. It's been hinted that Jumping helps with Punting mechanics, and some believe it also helps with Kicking mechanics. Nobody is really sure why Throwing is there, just like Tackling is a minor skill for an Offensive Linemen. Don't invest any SP or training time in it.

Q: What are the formulas for the Kickers Scouting Report bars?
A: These are all using BASE attributes, no equipment.
Overall: (1/7)Strength + (1/7)Agility + (1/7)Vision + (1/7)Confidence + (1/7)Kicking + (1/14)Speed + (1/14)Tackling + (1/14)Throwing + (1/14)Punting
Kicking: (5/9)Kicking + (2/9)Confidence + (1/9)Agility + (1/9)Vision
Tackling = (6/17)Tackling + (4/17) Strength + (3/17) Agility + (2/17) Vision + (1/17) Confidence + (1/17) Weight/5

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Performance Questions

Q: Why do my kickoffs suck?
A: Probably a combination of many things. Low Strength, Big Boot, Kicking, or Agility could all be factors. Also, the Booming Kick VA doesn't guarantee that you'll kick touchbacks, just gives you a better chance.

Q: Why did I miss a ## yard FG?
A: Again, probably a combination of things. Depending on how long the kick is, maybe Strength or Big Boot. Depending on how many plays you've had so far in the game, maybe Confidence or Stamina. Or maybe the sim just decided it didn't want you to make that FG. It happens to everyone.

Q: Why did I only make 27/28 XPs last game!?! OMG I missed 1 and my team only won by 224 points instead of 225!!11
A: Everyone misses XPs occasionally. Nobody quite knows why, as the misses seem pretty random, but it's most likely that the sim is just programmed to have a higher rate of missed XPs than you'd expect in real life. There's obviously a bigger chance of a miss in a game where you kick many more times, as more chances = more opportunities for failure.

Q: Has anyone ever built a Kicker/Punter hybrid player?
A: Yes, I'm sure someone has. It's not very effective though, because you just end up spending more SP in an attribute where you'll get no natural gains, and you'll be significantly less effective compared to a pure Kicker or Punter. Plus, it's 100 Flex to create either, so who really cares?

Q: I saw a thread about an OT/LB/TE/STD/GLBT kicking XPs at the same or better percentages than a Kicker. What's the use of Kickers if they aren't even better than others playing the wrong position?
A: Let me see them kick a touchback. Or make a 50+ yard FG to win a game. As a real answer, it's probably just far too small of a sample size. Again, it's 100 Flex. Who cares?

Q: Does the sim tell you how you missed a FG or XP? (Short, Wide, etc)
A: Not yet. People have been asking for it for many seasons now and it's not been added, so it's likely not happening anytime soon.

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Build Questions

Ahh, now we're in the meat and potatoes of this thread, the build plan. Again, this is purely opinion as build preference varies from person to person, but I believe this to be a very strong plan which will eventually create a Kicker who is capable of performing and excelling in the Pro leagues. This is a quite extended plan as well, as I personally believe it's worth it to sacrifice multiple seasons at the beginning of your career so that you can have higher attributes during the final years of your career. This is a cap-based slowbuild strategy and it helps if you know how that works. This plan also assumes that you will boost your player every season. Prior to level 29, wait until the last day of the season to boost for maximum training time. After level 29 you can boost at the beginning of the season with no loss of XP. I'd advise against boosting from 22 to 25 for Veteran XP, as it doesn't make a huge difference in Kickers.

First of all, you'll want to roll all 8s in Stamina, Blocking, Tackling, Catching, Carrying, Punting. It also helps if you have much higher Kicking than Confidence.

In every case, you'll want to fill your training bar between 95-99% before putting SP into the attribute to take it to the 48-cap. Later on in the career, when you're happy with the attribute number, you can train that attribute on Normal and the bar will roll over, giving you 1 point in the attribute at a very high cap. 1 point might not seem like much, but when you're at the point where it costs 8 or 9 to go up 1, you'll love this little trick.

1. Kicking to 48-cap while training Kicking/Strength on intense
2. Kicking to 68-cap while training Confidence/Vision on intense
3. Confidence to 48-cap while training Confidence/Vision on intense
4. Confidence to 68-cap while training Agility/Vision on intense
5. Kicking to 73-cap while training Agility/Vision on intense - You should actually get here on natural gains while boosting up Confidence
6. Confidence to 73-cap while training Agility/Vision on intense
7. Kicking to 77-cap (or higher)* while training Agility/Vision on intense - You might actually get here on natural gains while boosting up Confidence
8. Vision to 48-cap while training Speed/Agility on intense
9. Agility to 48-cap while training Speed/Agility on intense
10. Vision to 60-cap while training Strength/Jumping on intense or Strength on normal for shopping tokens (look for an Automatic or Big Boot piece so you don't have to waste as much SP on SAs**)
11. Agility to 60-cap while training Strength/Jumping on intense or Strength on normal for shopping tokens
12. Strength to 60-cap while training Speed/Stamina on intense
13. Spend in SAs, 10-10-10*** after Custom/Advanced Equipment (again the Automatic or Big Boot piece helps a lot in saving SP), train Speed/Stamina on intense for rest of career.

I would not necessarily only change training combinations at those exact times. If I got to the low to mid 30s on any attribute that I'm going to cap while training, I'd likely switch away from it to the next one, because training value is quite low between 32-48 or so. You'll likely only run into this on Agility, Vision, and maybe Confidence if you got a pretty high roll for that. You could also train attributes after taking them to the 48-cap, as there's some good value in training there. Just don't forget the fill-bar trick to get yourself an extra point later on.

* I only stop at the 77-cap in this build plan because most people will not want to spend SP at this high of a cap. Personally, I'd probably take it at least 1 or 2 more caps to get the maximum value out of the natural gains in Kicking.

** See section below on SAs

*** SAs: Most people agree that Calm Nerves and Big Boot help, and do basically as they say on their descriptions. Automatic is a little bit of a mystery though. There are people with high levels of Automatic who don't see significant differences between their performance and the performance of players with little to no investment in Automatic. It's up to you whether you want to invest in this SA. I personally do, because there's not much else to spend SP in near the end of the career. I would NOT purchase an AE piece with Calm Nerves, because it's not costly to invest in, compared to Automatic which costs double the SP. I might buy one for Big Boot, but only if I was going to avoid Automatic.

When your kicking gets high enough naturally, like the 10:1 or 11:1 cap, you should train it on normal once to push the bar over and get yourself a free SP at such a high value. You should do the same with Confidence too, but at a bit lower of a cap (6:1 or 7:1 probably).

The point of doing the see-saw on Kicking/Confidence after awhile is because they each get huge natural gains every level (1 point each before level 22). You're best off taking advantage of that early and pumping them very high, that's what sets great Kickers apart from normal Kickers. Strength is overrated, and really only saved for last because you're stuck training it with Jumping which is lame to use early. That's part of the reason why you train it with Kicking first, to get it up a little bit and not have to waste any more training time on Jumping than necessary. The Agility/Vision extended training is incredibly helpful here, you shouldn't have to spend very much SP on them at all to get them to the first cap.

All equipment should be in Kicking. The only exception to this is if you find a piece of Advanced Equipment with an SA you want and it has +2 or +3 in another useful attribute (Confidence, Strength, Vision, Agility). Even then you should put all the upgrade points into Kicking.

Suggested VAs (in order I would invest in them): Booming Kick, Clutch, Heart of a Champion (only if you're on a perennial playoff team), Hometown Hero, Big Heart, Swagger

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Alternative build directions

- Take Strength to 68-cap instead of Agility to 60-cap

- Take Agility and Vision to 68-cap and Strength to 48-cap

- Continue pumping Kicking and Confidence until level 38 to take advantage of the natural gains as much as possible. This would be an incredibly extended plan though, and by the time you're useful enough in high level games, you'd only have a season or two left before player decline.

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Q: Why do you take Agility so high?
A: Agility seems to help in all facets of kicking. I've seen very similar builds, only differentiated by Agility, and the higher Agility build out-performs the other by miles. If you don't believe it, you don't have to do it, but I've yet to see a great high level Kicker without Agility at least to the first cap.

Q: Won't higher Strength help me kick longer FGs/Touchbacks?
A: Short answer: Yes. Long answer: Yes.... but is 68+ Strength really necessary? If you just take it to 60, but augment it with Big Boot/Booming Kick, you should be just fine. I'm not against Strength as much as some people are, but I do agree with them that it's not as helpful as it may seem. There's plenty of good examples of Kickers with 50 Strength performing just as well as kickers with 70 Strength. If you'd like, you can always dump SP into it after you're done spending in SAs, though I'd personally do Agility or Vision.

Q: Why do you train Jumping/Speed? Are those even useful for a Kicker?
A: I mostly just train them because they're the most useful combinations available with other attributes that I want to train. If you'd rather train Tackling/Strength instead of Jumping/Strength, feel free to, I just don't like investing in tackling since it's rare that a Kicker will make the tackle on a kickoff. As far as them being useful for a Kicker, nobody is really sure on that. Speed seems more useful than Jumping, and I've even seen some builds with Speed capped, though I would personally never do it. Speed likely helps with kicking mechanics, but not as much as Agility.

Q: How high should I take Stamina?
A: I would never worry about Stamina for a Kicker. After you're done training all your main attributes, Speed/Stamina is really the only worthy combination left to train, thus you'll have a long time to work on it. Honestly, Stamina likely plays a very small role in Kicking. Even if your energy is drained near the end of a game, I wouldn't do anything drastic and spend SP or train Stamina before anything else. If you're really getting that tired in a game, your team probably won anyways, so what does it matter?

Q: Are there any out of position SAs that would be good to search for in Advanced Equipment?
A: No, not really. If you really care about tackling on kickoffs, I guess you could look for something like Diving Tackle, but it's not really worth it.

Q: How long is this plan supposed to take?
A: A pretty long time. It's impossible to gauge the level you'll be at when it's completed because of the varying amounts of XP and varying lengths of offseasons, but I'd guess by around level 45 or so you'd be at the point where you're adding into SAs. It also depends on how high you take Kicking in Step 7, so it could take even longer (or shorter, if you decide to stop at 73-cap). This plan is meant to be extended; that's the only way you're going to be able to take full advantage of the natural gains in Kicking/Confidence and it's what I feel to be the best way to build a player to compete in high leveled leagues. If you'd like a shorter plan, you can skip steps 5, 6, and 7. The natural gains in Kicking/Confidence will still help you out a lot, though you won't be able to achieve nearly as high of values as if you'd take them to higher caps, which is what I believe sets builds apart.

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I think that's about everything I need to address at the moment. If there's anything I missed in this, please let me know so I can add it in. Hopefully this can get stickied and people will actually read it before posting the same questions over and over in this forum.

Title is spot on here.

Needs to be stickied.

Originally posted by Splitdragon
Needs to be stickied.

No it does not. The build recommendation is quite incorrect and should not be used as a guide for new players.

Originally posted by Tom the Bomb
Originally posted by Splitdragon

Needs to be stickied.

No it does not. The build recommendation is quite incorrect and should not be used as a guide for new players.

It's not perfect, but it's better than most. Much better than the misinformation usually passed round the forums.

Worthy of a sticky just because of the sheer number of questions it answers.

Originally posted by Firenze
Originally posted by Tom the Bomb
Originally posted by Splitdragon
Needs to be stickied.

No it does not. The build recommendation is quite incorrect and should not be used as a guide for new players.It's not perfect, but it's better than most. Much better than the misinformation usually passed round the forums.

Worthy of a sticky just because of the sheer number of questions it answers.
Questions are okay but the build recommendation is completely ludicrous. I guess it give people an idea of what to do but the big question, about build, is what is going to get keyed in on and the guideline is really far out there.

The big problem I have with the build guide is that there are zero benchmarks. What level equals what cap? What numbers to aim for at what level? The guide is simply telling what numbers to shoot for but those numbers are not realistic.

Originally posted by Tom the Bomb
Originally posted by Firenze

Originally posted by Tom the Bomb

Originally posted by Splitdragon

Needs to be stickied.

No it does not. The build recommendation is quite incorrect and should not be used as a guide for new players.It's not perfect, but it's better than most. Much better than the misinformation usually passed round the forums.

Worthy of a sticky just because of the sheer number of questions it answers.
Questions are okay but the build recommendation is completely ludicrous. I guess it give people an idea of what to do but the big question, about build, is what is going to get keyed in on and the guideline is really far out there.

The big problem I have with the build guide is that there are zero benchmarks. What level equals what cap? What numbers to aim for at what level? The guide is simply telling what numbers to shoot for but those numbers are not realistic.

A lot of the "benchmarks" would be dependent on your initial roll and training, which can vary greatly depending on how fast your player gets XP. It's almost impossible to accurately guess when you'll hit certain marks with a player who has such volatile XP gains. If you have a better recommendation for a build plan, feel free to share and I'll note it in the initial post! Or maybe you just missed the part about build plans being opinionated and all that.

EDIT: It's also not necessarily just a guide for "new players". I clearly state that it's a plan which will create a player capable of performing in high level leagues. Hopefully it can help GLB vets who have never built a Kicker or don't know how to go about building one.

I've written enough guides on various forums to tell you, just ignore the people who say it sucks but don't offer any insight of their own.

Originally posted by Octowned
I've written enough guides on various forums to tell you, just ignore the people who say it sucks but don't offer any insight of their own.
lol If that is directed towards me, then your reading comprehension is down because I never said it sucked. My point is there are few benchmarks to abide by. While the experience and first roll consideration is valid to a point, the levels of which are in that guide take many levels to achieve... somewhere near 40 by eyeballing it. Inform the reader of that or by which those levels might be achieved.

Originally posted by Tom the Bomb
Originally posted by Octowned

I've written enough guides on various forums to tell you, just ignore the people who say it sucks but don't offer any insight of their own.
lol If that is directed towards me, then your reading comprehension is down because I never said it sucked. My point is there are few benchmarks to abide by. While the experience and first roll consideration is valid to a point, the levels of which are in that guide take many levels to achieve... somewhere near 40 by eyeballing it. Inform the reader of that or by which those levels might be achieved.

Are you going to be playing in Pros before you're level 40? Likely not! It's pretty common sense that it's an extended plan, but I'll gladly add that question in to that section.

Lets work from a career standpoint and move backwards. Lets assume a level 40 kicker and evaluate where a level 40 kicker should be or could be given one train of thought. Actually, there are three trains of thought and they are as follows:
Super slow build = playing in D-league or on a roster for 2 season to simply gain points via training
Slow build = playing in D-league for 1.5 seasons or at least 2 off seasons.
Ready now = play in D-league for one season and join a team after one season.

I have built my kicker under the slow build process although it was more in line with a Super slow build due to contract stuff going on back then and more than one kicker on my d-league team which slowed my experience but allowed more training.

With that said, what attributes should a level 40 kicker have?

What is or will be your goal with your kicker throughout his/her playing career?

My kicker right now at level 33 has the following numbers in his main attributes:

Strength = 60.86
Vision = 64.86 (+1 due to equipment)
Confidence = 78.86 (+1 due to equipment)
Kicking = 101.99 (+16 due to equipment)
- As I am past level 32, I can get some upgrades. I have +3 yet to receive and those +3 will go into Confidence.
- I also have two advance pieces of equipment with 40 and 32 tokens on them respectively. Those will not be upgraded past 48 tokens as the financial burden for the +1 at 56 is far too great and much greater at 64 to get the +1/+1. When those are upgraded to 48, another piece will be sought and slowly upgraded but possibly never used depending on the piece.
- I also do not have any custom equipment so I could have, essentially, +6 more in attributes and +1 more in each special ability.
- My current special abilities are 7, 7, 3 (with +3 in Big Boot and +3 in Automatic due to advanced equipment)

Moving on, with all of that said, my last season and it really does not matter what type of league you play in as a kicker... you either make the kick or you do not... I was 18/19 in field goals with 11/11 past 40 yards... you all can look at the stats yourselves.

How did I get my attributes to these levels and what, if anything might have I changed?

Soft cap or 2:1 cap kicking ASAP (level 3 at the earliest if you are gaining experience). Even at the 2:1 cap, I trained Kicking/Vision or I may have trained Kicking/Strength (it was so long ago) because I could later train Agility/Vision anyway. I trained Kicking anyway for at least a +1 while in the 2:1 cap and bumped it up to ~99% before hitting the 3:1 cap. The 3:1 cap can be obtained by level 7... meaning 61 points. It is at this time I left Kicking alone... forever... save equipment. Level 7 equals 61 but it really equals 76 (if I am doing the math correctly) due to natural level gains. It is also then equal to 81.25 at level 29. If you would happen to by custom and put that into kicking you will be sitting at 87.25 with, presumably, +12 due to equipment making your kicking level at 99.25. Reading level 32 will put you near 101 and further equipment upgrades could see you at ~105. Is that enough kicking? I believe it is. Kickers with 110+ kicking have other weaker attributes with very little gain in terms of field goal percentage or game play.

Moving onto Confidence, since it is the other 1-point increase per level. Since your first 7 levels might be used on kicking, you can now begin to build up Confidence. I never trained Confidence and only added skill points to it. By doing so, you can expect to reach the 2:1 cap in Confidence near level 11-12*****. You can then be expected to reach the 3:1 cap by level 15 or so. Once again, I then left Confidence alone to reach the level it currently is (other than the future equipment gains to it).
***** if you have your kicking training level near 90-99% before Confidence is to the 3:1 cap, you could bump the kicking to the next point or begin training vision/agility... it really does not matter.

Strength, since it does not have a good training outside with kicking, I also left alone and continued to train Agility/Vision. I increased Strength and Vision incrementally, although if I did it again, I would increase Vision first as I believe Vision is more important to field goal making than Strength is. Either way, I was able to get Strength and Vision to the 3:1 cap before level 33... they would have been there sooner but I put points into my special abilities. It is conceivable to have each of these at the 3:1 cap before level 27 or so if you neglect special abilities... which you can do, your preference.

I also took some time, not much, to train Agility/Stamina simply because I did not want to have an 8 or 9 in stamina.

So, what are your goals?

The main attributes for a kicker appear to be (in order) - Kicking, Confidence, Vision, Strength, Special Abilities, Agility.

You will gain ~26 points for Kicking and Confidence from level 1 to 29 for natural gains. You will gain 140 skill points to utilize. How are you going to use them?

To me, the most you should bump up your attributes might be the 4:1 cap so you can bump up other attributes. I am in the camp that the points in your attributes have a relation in them which work better if they are nearer to each other. In short, if you have kicking:confidence at 100:80... that is better than 110:70

Originally posted by Tom the Bomb

With that said, what attributes should a level 40 kicker have?

What is or will be your goal with your kicker throughout his/her playing career?


I don't know why you're still stuck on "a level 40 kicker". Nowhere in this have I said that your player will be effective and the build would be complete by level 40. I have consistently stated that the goal is to have a player build that will excel at the highest leagues.


Originally posted by Tom the Bomb

- I also have two advance pieces of equipment with 40 and 32 tokens on them respectively. Those will not be upgraded past 48 tokens as the financial burden for the +1 at 56 is far too great and much greater at 64 to get the +1/+1. When those are upgraded to 48, another piece will be sought and slowly upgraded but possibly never used depending on the piece.


If your team can't afford 48 upgrades, they're pretty bad at finances. Most teams shouldn't even have trouble affording level 56 upgrades, actually. But this is all beside the point, other than the upgrades still being worthwhile assuming you have the money.

Originally posted by Tom the Bomb
Moving on, with all of that said, my last season and it really does not matter what type of league you play in as a kicker... you either make the kick or you do not... I was 18/19 in field goals with 11/11 past 40 yards... you all can look at the stats yourselves.

What was your touchback percentage? 19 Field Goals isn't really a huge sample size, either.

Originally posted by Tom the Bomb
Level 7 equals 61 but it really equals 76 (if I am doing the math correctly) due to natural level gains.

level 32 will put you near 101 and further equipment upgrades could see you at ~105. Is that enough kicking? I believe it is. Kickers with 110+ kicking have other weaker attributes with very little gain in terms of field goal percentage or game play.

Do you mean 67? I hope so.

I don't think that's enough Kicking. Not when you can easily get it higher, and still have strong stats in other attributes. You still seem to not understand that my plan is NOT intended for instant results. It's meant to take a long time and sacrifice a few seasons to get to the ultimate goal.

Originally posted by Tom the Bomb
Strength, since it does not have a good training outside with kicking, I also left alone and continued to train Agility/Vision. I increased Strength and Vision incrementally, although if I did it again, I would increase Vision first as I believe Vision is more important to field goal making than Strength is. Either way, I was able to get Strength and Vision to the 3:1 cap before level 33... they would have been there sooner but I put points into my special abilities. It is conceivable to have each of these at the 3:1 cap before level 27 or so if you neglect special abilities... which you can do, your preference.


That's why I save Strength until near the end to train on Normal and look for AE. Again, I'm not looking for instant results, I'm looking for a great build in the last 5 seasons of his career. I'm not sure I follow about you increasing them incrementally, that's not really cap-based building, which you said you followed. It doesn't really matter since the natural gains on those are so small, but it also shows that you were building your player for the moment and not for the future. I personally would never put a point into SAs on ANY player until at least level 40, usually later!


Originally posted by Tom the Bomb
So, what are your goals?

The main attributes for a kicker appear to be (in order) - Kicking, Confidence, Vision, Strength, Special Abilities, Agility.

You will gain ~26 points for Kicking and Confidence from level 1 to 29 for natural gains. You will gain 140 skill points to utilize. How are you going to use them?

To me, the most you should bump up your attributes might be the 4:1 cap so you can bump up other attributes. I am in the camp that the points in your attributes have a relation in them which work better if they are nearer to each other. In short, if you have kicking:confidence at 100:80... that is better than 110:70

I strongly disagree with your order of main attributes. I'd put Vision/Strength/Agility all equal to each other, and all far more important than SAs.

I've stated my goals plenty of times! If you want it in number form, I'll make a rough estimate of where things will be before you start investing in SAs. Again, it's going to vary depending on training time, length of offseason, initial roll, etc on some of these. All these numbers are without equipment.

Estimated stats at level 44-45

Kicking: ~96 (+24 Basic Equipment, +6 Custom Equipment = 126)
Confidence: ~89
Strength: 61
Agility: 62
Vision: 62
Stamina: ~15
Jumping: ~15
Speed: ~20

How do you feel about 130:90 Kicking:Confidence? I feel it's a lot better than either of your examples, and quite easily manageable with other attributes being brought to a nice level by this point in your career. You have to remember how little of gains the minor attributes get for a Kicker and how that relates to building a player. If you don't take advantage of Kicking and Confidence early, you'll never be able to reach such high numbers in them, which is what I believe sets great Kickers apart. If the most you're willing to spend is 3:1 (to get to the 4:1 cap) you're never going to make up those points on a player who went the extra cap or two.

Originally posted by Tom the Bomb
level 32 will put you near 101 and further equipment upgrades could see you at ~105. Is that enough kicking? I believe it is. Kickers with 110+ kicking have other weaker attributes with very little gain in terms of field goal percentage or game play.

nonononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononono

comeasur337 I'm just curious why you think agility is so important? Do you have some FG stats handy? Most of us seem to think it's first cappable, and then trainable at the very most. My level 53 trained it for ages, put a few SP into it to cap it, then resumed training it again, and it's close to 54 now. Is it because of Finkle? Is it because it's factored into the kicking bar the same as vision? I think a certain amount is needed but it's not really clear how much better a 60 agility is than a 50 agility kicker all else being equal, or how much better a 100 agility kicker would be, all else being equal.

Originally posted by
I don't know why you're still stuck on "a level 40 kicker". Nowhere in this have I said that your player will be effective and the build would be complete by level 40. I have consistently stated that the goal is to have a player build that will excel at the highest leagues.
I use level 40 as a barometer because if a player does not boost at all, level 40 is about the pinnacle in that career. If a player does boost starting around level 22-25 to maximize experience and not waste money boosting, level 50 or so will be reached in season nine or so. It is a simple barometer.

Originally posted by
If your team can't afford 48 upgrades, they're pretty bad at finances. Most teams shouldn't even have trouble affording level 56 upgrades, actually. But this is all beside the point, other than the upgrades still being worthwhile assuming you have the money.
Well, you obviously did not look at my current team and its stadium. Needless to say, the cost benefit of level 56 equipment does not do a team good. It gives +1 for max of 1.5-2 years and then the player will start declining... supposedly. I am not going to accept money for those upgrades because the benefit is lacking overall from it.

Originally posted by
What was your touchback percentage? 19 Field Goals isn't really a huge sample size, either.
The last two seasons my kicker has missed 3 total field goals and 3 total extra points while also going 9/9 in the playoffs.
- 41/44 FG
- 323/326 EX

Originally posted by
Do you mean 67? I hope so.

I don't think that's enough Kicking. Not when you can easily get it higher, and still have strong stats in other attributes. You still seem to not understand that my plan is NOT intended for instant results. It's meant to take a long time and sacrifice a few seasons to get to the ultimate goal.
No, 76 is correct because if a kicker is level 7, and leaves kicking along after that level, they will gain +15 due to natural level gains... thus making 76 the number it will be when level 22. Add in the ~6 points or something by the time the kicker is level 29, and you get a higher number.

Kicking is not easily able to get higher at the 3:1 level. If by level 7 it is 61 with 0 skill points banked, it takes 3 points to increase it one... raising confidence or vision is better spent at that time.

Originally posted by
That's why I save Strength until near the end to train on Normal and look for AE. Again, I'm not looking for instant results, I'm looking for a great build in the last 5 seasons of his career. I'm not sure I follow about you increasing them incrementally, that's not really cap-based building, which you said you followed. It doesn't really matter since the natural gains on those are so small, but it also shows that you were building your player for the moment and not for the future. I personally would never put a point into SAs on ANY player until at least level 40, usually later!
You did not read it slowly enough. I followed the principles of slow building but I varied it a little as time went on... like any person would do. I looked at games and my kickoffs were not real good when Strength was ~30ish so instead of raising vision, I raised Strength at that time. I clearly stated this was one area that I may do differently if done over again. But, I took the team into account rather than my player.

Originally posted by
I strongly disagree with your order of main attributes. I'd put Vision/Strength/Agility all equal to each other, and all far more important than SAs.

I've stated my goals plenty of times! If you want it in number form, I'll make a rough estimate of where things will be before you start investing in SAs. Again, it's going to vary depending on training time, length of offseason, initial roll, etc on some of these. All these numbers are without equipment.

How do you feel about 130:90 Kicking:Confidence? I feel it's a lot better than either of your examples, and quite easily manageable with other attributes being brought to a nice level by this point in your career. You have to remember how little of gains the minor attributes get for a Kicker and how that relates to building a player. If you don't take advantage of Kicking and Confidence early, you'll never be able to reach such high numbers in them, which is what I believe sets great Kickers apart. If the most you're willing to spend is 3:1 (to get to the 4:1 cap) you're never going to make up those points on a player who went the extra cap or two.
Again, I did special abilities because I believe they enhance the kicker. I also stated I should have 3:1 capped Strength and Vision before putting points into special abilities... oops.

Originally posted by
Kicking: ~96 (+24 Basic Equipment, +6 Custom Equipment = 126) ....................... 102
Confidence: ~89 ............................ 78.7
Strength: 61 ........................... 61
Agility: 62 ........................... 35
Vision: 62 .......................... 65
Stamina: ~15 ........................ 14
Jumping: ~15 ......................... 15
Speed: ~20 .......................... 15
Those numbers look nice for a level 45... where are the special abilities though?
My current numbers in comparison to those at level 33 are up above. I have not added in the level upgrades from level 33 to 45... but those will then be my true numbers at that time. I am also missing +7 between level 32 and level 40 upgrades in the numbers above. I am also missing +6 from custom equipment which I do not have. If one was to give my "true" numbers, meaning all of these added in for level 33 (which I will do below) that is my current build. I will distribute those numbers in respect to how I will/might distribute them when I get them i.e. equipment.

Kicking: 86 raw at level 33... 102 with current equipment, 108 with custom
Confidence: 77.68 raw at level 33... 78.68 with equipment...
Strength: 60.86 raw at level 33
Agility: 34.86 raw at level 33
Vision: 63.86 raw at level 33... 64.86 with equipment
Stamina: 14 raw
Jumping: 14.86 raw
Speed: 14.86 raw

My current kicker at level 45 with equipment upgrades noted and custom noted. Not noted will be skill point distribution:
XXXXXX ======= level 45 ========== with equipment =========== custom
Kicking ========= 107.55 ============= 107.55 ================ 113.55
Confidence ====== 84.28 ============== 91.28 ================= 91.28
Strength ======== 61.78 ============== 61.78 ================= 61.78
Agility ========== 35.78 ============== 35.78 ================= 35.78 **** will increase with training as well
Vision ========== 64.78 ============== 65.78 ================= 65.78 **** will increase with training as well
Stamina ======== 14.00 ============== 14.00 ================= 14.00 **** may increase
Jumping ======== 15.78 ============== 15.78 ================= 15.78
Speed ========== 15.78 ============== 15.78 ================= 15.78
Special Abilities = 7, 7, 3

In between then and now, I will also gain 60 skill points for distribution. If I was going to raise my special ablities all to 10, not naturally, but with equipment in mind... that will cost a total of ... 14 for Calm Nerves, 6 for Big Boot, 18 for Automatic (38 in total)

Leaving me with a new total of 22 for attribute distribution. I could see those going into Strength and Vision to get to 68 or nearer to the 4:1 cap.

Originally posted by
How do you feel about 130:90 Kicking:Confidence?
Those numbers are nice to look at, but what is the result of the build, the effectiveness of the kicker, and the benefit of the team?

If my kicker continues to miss one or two field goals a season... that is pretty good and my numbers will not be near the 130:90. All in all, pumping up kicking that high is not needed to be effective. It might look pretty, but it is not needed. As far as kickoffs and touchbacks go. Those stats are not kept to my knowledge. But, as far as a kicker goes, Kick Erass is pretty darn good.

And, I am looking to get 10-11 years out of my player. I am not looking to get 5 years or 4 years after I slow build him up.