Warrior General Games

I'd be in support of a "Time Out AI", letting us decide when to call time outs. Sure it would be complicated, but if you don't want to do it, don't.

But, I've always felt we should have the option to adjust when we want time outs to be called, how quickly we should run the next play, etc.

+1, if only because this Suggestion would be an improvement over the current situation.

Is it perfect or ideal? No, far from it. But it's still better than the current Timeout system.

Bumping because here's one where the clock is getting run down for 33 seconds and then the timeout is called:
http://goallineblitz.com/game/forum_thread.pl?thread_id=5098673&page=1#47581196

Originally posted by TrevJo
Sticking to this particular suggestion, here is what I suggest in terms of when to call the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd timeout on offense...
IF Offense Timeouts Left = 3, and a play ends with less than 55 seconds left, immediately call a timeout. (Assuming reasonable field position/down/distance/score.)
IF Offense Timeouts Left = 2, and a play ends with less than 35 seconds left, immediately call a timeout. (Assuming reasonable field position/down/distance/score.)
IF Offense Timeouts Left = 1, and a play ends with less than 25 seconds left, immediately call a timeout. (Assuming reasonable field position/down/distance/score.)
Don't ever run the clock down and then call a timeout except in the last-second field goal case.

And here's another one where the offense simply calls two offensive timeouts when they shouldn't have called any.
4th quarter, down by 1 point, in field goal range, pretty much you just want to run down the clock and kick it:
http://goallineblitz.com/game/game.pl?game_id=2396334&mode=pbp
4th quarter, in FG range:
1:18 2nd & 5.5 OPP 21 Offensive Timeout Called: Puffington Magic Dragons Replay
1:18 2nd & 5.5 OPP 21 SS Awesome rush [missed tackle: Ellis Farmer] to the right (3.5 yd gain) [diving tackle: Herb Weed] Replay
1:15 3rd & 2 OPP 17.5 Offensive Timeout Called: Puffington Magic Dragons Replay
1:15 3rd & 2 OPP 17.5 Free QB pitch to Ricky "Heisman" Williams to the right (1 yd gain) [diving tackle: Matt_ Blair] Replay
1:01 4th & 0.5 OPP 16.5 33.5 yd field goal attempted by Vincent "Papa" Carotenuti, made [FG] Replay

So we gave the ball back with 57 seconds left and the opponent still had all 3 timeouts because we wasted two timeouts on offense for no reason. Thank goodness we didn't fumble on 3rd down because we wouldn't have had enough timeouts left to get the ball back even with a three-and-out.

Also, lol at Puffington hurrying to the line of scrimmage to kick the field goal in that situation (merely a miraculous 14 seconds between plays), but Odessa running off 33 seconds between plays in the other example and calling a timeout.

Originally posted by TrevJo
And here's another one where the offense simply calls two offensive timeouts when they shouldn't have called any.
4th quarter, down by 1 point, in field goal range, pretty much you just want to run down the clock and kick it:
http://goallineblitz.com/game/game.pl?game_id=2396334&mode=pbp

Sim doesn't know you want only a FG.

Originally posted by jampysos
Sim doesn't know you want only a FG.

It doesn't matter. The sim knows the offense can control the clock with play-calling and the defense cannot. It's up to the offense to throw the ball if they want to take as little time off the clock as possible if they want more than a FG.
Even if we were down by 4-7 points I still wouldn't want the offense calling a timeout that early. If the sim had instead waited until <55 seconds left before it started calling the offense's timeouts, that is still plenty of time to use up all three timeouts without any of them going to waste.

However by calling two offensive timeouts with more than 70 seconds left, that just makes it very hard for the offense to manage the clock, and in many cases (including this one), it just means the other team gets the ball back with lots of time left. The defense had been struggling the entire 4th quarter and we were very lucky the other team did not answer with a game-winning field goal of their own given almost a full minute and 3 timeouts to work with.

Originally posted by TrevJo


However by calling two offensive timeouts with more than 70 seconds left, that just makes it very hard for the offense to manage the clock, and in many cases (including this one), it just means the other team gets the ball back with lots of time left. The defense had been struggling the entire 4th quarter and we were very lucky the other team did not answer with a game-winning field goal of their own given almost a full minute and 3 timeouts to work with.

That makes sense.

+1 to suggestion