Warrior General Games

Disclaimer: I'm not posting this to brag. I just want to share an experience and maybe give people ideas on how to build their RBs. It's been a lot of fun. I also realize that my HB played slightly lower leveled competition so some of that comes into play, too.

Okay, so this RB I made back in season 1 has been quite the project for me. I started him off as a pure power back and didn't really play well, with a 3.2 YPC in his first season and 3.9 ypc in his second season.

So, I thought about retiring him. Then, I said, "What the hell..let's try a combo back." I pumped a ton of points into agility and some into speed. And it created some better results with a 4.3 ypc in his 3rd season with 18 TDs.

Now, after that I started to get a little weird with his build. Most people told me that speed was the most important attribute for a RB. I disagreed. Here's my theory:

My HB will never be stronger than a DT and never be weaker than a LB. Therefor, I leave his strength in between the averages for those levels(right now it's at 68). This let's me break LBs and DBs and I don't really worry about getting tackled by DL.

My HB will never be faster than a DB or LB and will never be slower than a DL. There's no point in pumping my speed up to 80 when most CBs have 90 speed. They'd catch me regardless. However, by getting my speed in the 50s I can outrun DL.

MOST builds undervalue agility. DBs pump up speed, speed, speed. DL pump up strength, strength, and strength. However, very few bother pumping up agility. This makes it a GOLDEN stat and should be as high as possible. I keep it in the 70s right now with plans to get it in the 80s.

So, that's how I built my HB...with good results. In his 4th season he ran for 1600 yards on a 6.2 ypc.

Now, this last season is when I decided to really do something different. Because of season one I had quite a bit of SAs in the power back. After watching replays I noticed that elusive backs dance around and get stuffed early too often, and I didn't like that. But, at the same time I had 70 agility and didn't want it to go to waste.

Therefor, I pumped a TON of points into the elusive tree and I ran on combo. I then noticed that X, too, danced around. So, I switched him to power running and learned this:

Elusive tree + Power running = gold.

X topped 3000 yards, had a 8.6ypc, and 47 total touchdowns. That was the most yards and second most TDs. He absolutely dominated.

The result was a powerful RB who would juke past the first level of defenders(DL) and then plow over the second and third levels. He was only held below 4 ypc once this season and had 7 ypc or more in most his games.

Here's a couple examples of runs:
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?game_id=207881&pbp_id=10935695
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?game_id=165139&pbp_id=9308189
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?game_id=165120&pbp_id=6455395
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?game_id=165104&pbp_id=2560136

If I could go back in time I would have done this build from the start. As it is, I'm pretty excited for whenever I decide to do a new RB and can build him similarly. I'd like to see what they could do facing guys higher leveled then them.

I might try this eventually, my strength isn't exactly that high yet, but I think its worth a try.


And I remember your runningback, Springfeild Atoms Season 1 . Damn that was a long time ago! Glad to see you're still kicking ass!

I am very interested in your build. I have a lev 33 elusive who I have been running on elusive. I have high agility in the 70's with my speed high 60's. My strength is high 30's though. I have a lot of points balanced in my SA elusive tree with only 2 in cover up in power back tree. My question is with this build do you think if I run on Power running. I ran on Elusive all season and ran for 2400 yards and 55 TD's. If I can improve these numbers by just switching to power running I will try it. What do you think? With the Atributes I have do you think by switching running style from elusive to power. Will it make a big difference based on your study?

Originally posted by sitdown
I am very interested in your build. I have a lev 33 elusive who I have been running on elusive. I have high agility in the 70's with my speed high 60's. My strength is high 30's though. I have a lot of points balanced in my SA elusive tree with only 2 in cover up in power back tree. My question is with this build do you think if I run on Power running. I ran on Elusive all season and ran for 2400 yards and 55 TD's. If I can improve these numbers by just switching to power running I will try it. What do you think? With the Atributes I have do you think by switching running style from elusive to power. Will it make a big difference based on your study?

Well, that's a good question to ask. High 30s likely won't break LBs but it *would* break CBs and *could* break some safeties and LBs. My suggestion would be to try it in a preseason game. My problem with that is that it seems you have to have a bit of a strength difference to actually break tackles...so having 2 more strength than a SS wouldn't be nearly as effective as having a 20 strength difference.

Maybe consider pumping more into strength? Mine is at 68 but honestly I'm honestly thinking of taking my custom equip out of strength, bringing it down to 62, and putting it into agility(just an issue of wasting flex points).

You wont break many tackles without the Sa's to go with it.

Originally posted by skel1977
You wont break many tackles without the Sa's to go with it.

Was that directed towards me or sitdown?

Originally posted by VTBuc
Originally posted by skel1977

You wont break many tackles without the Sa's to go with it.

Was that directed towards me or sitdown?

I think it was for me.

Very cool. I knew Combo Backs could be great, they're one of those archetypes that really sucks until they hit a certain level, and then it's like a switch turns on and they freak out and go for(using the OP) 3000 yards and 50 TDs. I've always wondered what would happen if you would build your HB like a Speed back but then softcap Carrying and set him to power running, or vice versa, building like a Power back and then softcap Speed and set him to power running.

exactly. now run up the middle 100 percent, and you have a master peice!

Behind a power blocking fullback.

Ubuntu moved up a league this year, and here's how his second scrimmage went:

18 rushes, 177 yards, 9.9 avg, 16 BTK, 1 TFL, 2 TDs. 3 Receptions, 60.5 yards, 1 TD.

Here's some plays worth looking at:
http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?game_id=263776&pbp_id=886420

Ubuntu jukes through the first line, powers through the safeties.

http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?game_id=263776&pbp_id=886977

Beats the LBs to the edge. He does get caught up by a corner otherwise it's a TD. Looks like I could probably use a *bit* more speed, though I'm surprised he didn't break the tackle.

http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?game_id=263776&pbp_id=887130

Just a nice run for a TD.

http://goallineblitz.com/game/replay.pl?game_id=263776&pbp_id=883916

VERY nice screen play. They work great for combo backs.

Arent you like 5 levels higher than the defense?

I agree they are nice runs, but just pointing out the level difference.

Yea the level difference is there, but when you get into the 30's it becomes less of a difference than if it was 20-14 or 26-20. Most people have 2 or 3 attributes softcapped by then so it takes 3 or so points to move it up once. Interesting build approach nonetheless. I enjoy when people do these.

Not read other peoples posts but that sounds like a great combination!

Great stuff!

Originally posted by HATEMOBSTER
Yea the level difference is there, but when you get into the 30's it becomes less of a difference than if it was 20-14 or 26-20. Most people have 2 or 3 attributes softcapped by then so it takes 3 or so points to move it up once. Interesting build approach nonetheless. I enjoy when people do these.

I would say skel has the right idea, 5 levels for a RB is pretty huge versus defenses, A DT around the 30s he can afford to put points in Agility or speed to counter combo backs. On the same note, CBs have the points to put SP into strength. In the 30s, builds start to flesh out because people are lax to spend 3 sp to raise a stat by 1.

A note to OP, you seem to be stiff arming everyone and powering through every now and then. How many points do you have in Stiff Arm? Having a similar build (str, spd, and agi 50+) I noticed I did significantly better (with 3 in stiff arm) when I finally soft capped my Agility. Maybe the increase in your effectiveness is how much you outlevel the competition coupled with the correct stats for you SA?