Warrior General Games

I'm new to the D AI and have a couple questions.
What's a good way to start out?

Break it down as follows? Or is there a better way to get started.
Formation
Down
Dist
Score

Guess and check.

Some of the more successful design their D AI to combat specific formations.

You'd have settings for
strong I
Singleback
Weak I
etc..

You can group some of them together say Strong I and Big I and can get as complicated as you want beyond that.

Good luck with it. I enjoy the D AI.

PinTBC

I go by formation-distance first and foremost.

Thanks guys. Appreciate the input.

You may also want to include # of Receivers. Some formations can have 2-5 WRs...

The mistake I made was placing "Any I Formation" ahead of Weak I and Strong I....

The AI wasn't reading Weak I and Strong I because it would read "any I formation" first, which would include Weak I and Strong I. This prevented any shifts and formations designed specifically for Strongand Weak I from taking place.

This was brought to my attention by a team member and confirmed by a poster in this forum....

Basically, set up your Weak and Strong formations BEFORE your set up your I Formation ("any I formation").

I divide mine up by number of recievers, as well as down & distance. I also have goalline and 2 minute drill defenses.

I divide by number of recievers to make sure I have the right package in. I divide by down & distance so I can adjust when certain plays are called.

My playbook primarily consists of 4 plays.
4-3 Cover 2 with LBs and CBs in Man Coverage
4-3 Cover 2 with LBs and CBs in Man Coverage, MLB Blitz
4-3 Cover 2 with LBs and CBs in Man Coverage, ROLB Blitz
3-4 Cover 2 with LLBs and CBs in Man Coverage, RLBs Blitzing
In Nickel, I only use
4-2 Cover 2 with LBs and CBs in Man Coverage
4-2 Cover 2 with LOLB and CBs in Man Coverage, MLB Blitz
In Quarter, I only use
3-1 Cover 2 with CBs in Man Coverage, MLB Blitz
4-2 Cover 0 with DBs in Man Coverage, LBs Blitzing
Against 0 or 1 WRs, I use goalline package with Cover 0 - LBs and DBs in Man Coverage

I adjust how often each one is called in each corresponding situation. Sometimes I want to play conservative and not blitz much, sometimes I want to blitz a lot. Sometimes I like to be aggressive on first down, and then cautious on 2nd and 3rd down. Other times I want to bury them on 3rd down and medium or long.

In the 2 minute drill, I add in Cover 3 and Cover 4 defenses. In goalline situations, I use the goalline defense, except against 3+ WRs. For when we are down by 28+ points at any time in the 4th quarter, I have us using the goalline package against a 2 WR set, but that has never happened. It has triggered when we are behind by any amount in the last 3 minutes.

So what I've done there is divide it by score at two different intervals during the 4th quarter, in addition to providing a special defense inside the two minute warning (and outside FG range).

Sometimes I will go in by hand and switch my LBs to shift to the weak side on blitzing downs, or shift to the strong side on running downs. I'm not sure how much LB shift matters. But I figure its worth it against good run teams to shift my LBs over to the strong side. Usually I've found that these run teams favor the strong side for running plays.

I've not yet run into a team with a TE threat who I needed to switch out of Cover 2 for. Cover 2 has worked wonders in shutting down all passing attacks, its downside is that neither safety is as big a factor in the run game as they would be in more aggressive defenses. But its a conservative enough defense that I don't need to change my style when we have a big lead. If you do a more aggressive defense, you'll want to put in different settings to trigger once you have a decent lead.

Originally posted by gabrielrockman
I divide mine up by number of recievers, as well as down & distance. I also have goalline and 2 minute drill defenses.

I divide by number of recievers to make sure I have the right package in. I divide by down & distance so I can adjust when certain plays are called.

My playbook primarily consists of 4 plays.
4-3 Cover 2 with LBs and CBs in Man Coverage
4-3 Cover 2 with LBs and CBs in Man Coverage, MLB Blitz
4-3 Cover 2 with LBs and CBs in Man Coverage, ROLB Blitz
3-4 Cover 2 with LLBs and CBs in Man Coverage, RLBs Blitzing
In Nickel, I only use
4-2 Cover 2 with LBs and CBs in Man Coverage
4-2 Cover 2 with LOLB and CBs in Man Coverage, MLB Blitz
In Quarter, I only use
3-1 Cover 2 with CBs in Man Coverage, MLB Blitz
4-2 Cover 0 with DBs in Man Coverage, LBs Blitzing
Against 0 or 1 WRs, I use goalline package with Cover 0 - LBs and DBs in Man Coverage

I adjust how often each one is called in each corresponding situation. Sometimes I want to play conservative and not blitz much, sometimes I want to blitz a lot. Sometimes I like to be aggressive on first down, and then cautious on 2nd and 3rd down. Other times I want to bury them on 3rd down and medium or long.

In the 2 minute drill, I add in Cover 3 and Cover 4 defenses. In goalline situations, I use the goalline defense, except against 3+ WRs. For when we are down by 28+ points at any time in the 4th quarter, I have us using the goalline package against a 2 WR set, but that has never happened. It has triggered when we are behind by any amount in the last 3 minutes.

So what I've done there is divide it by score at two different intervals during the 4th quarter, in addition to providing a special defense inside the two minute warning (and outside FG range).

Sometimes I will go in by hand and switch my LBs to shift to the weak side on blitzing downs, or shift to the strong side on running downs. I'm not sure how much LB shift matters. But I figure its worth it against good run teams to shift my LBs over to the strong side. Usually I've found that these run teams favor the strong side for running plays.

I've not yet run into a team with a TE threat who I needed to switch out of Cover 2 for. Cover 2 has worked wonders in shutting down all passing attacks, its downside is that neither safety is as big a factor in the run game as they would be in more aggressive defenses. But its a conservative enough defense that I don't need to change my style when we have a big lead. If you do a more aggressive defense, you'll want to put in different settings to trigger once you have a decent lead.

The cover 2 can be decent against the run if you send the SS in a blitz. Not the FS...the SS and have CB2 play Medium coverage because the WR2 has the go routes and you don't want him getting beat long, if at all.

Originally posted by Public_Ebony
Originally posted by gabrielrockman

I divide mine up by number of recievers, as well as down & distance. I also have goalline and 2 minute drill defenses.

I divide by number of recievers to make sure I have the right package in. I divide by down & distance so I can adjust when certain plays are called.

My playbook primarily consists of 4 plays.
4-3 Cover 2 with LBs and CBs in Man Coverage
4-3 Cover 2 with LBs and CBs in Man Coverage, MLB Blitz
4-3 Cover 2 with LBs and CBs in Man Coverage, ROLB Blitz
3-4 Cover 2 with LLBs and CBs in Man Coverage, RLBs Blitzing
In Nickel, I only use
4-2 Cover 2 with LBs and CBs in Man Coverage
4-2 Cover 2 with LOLB and CBs in Man Coverage, MLB Blitz
In Quarter, I only use
3-1 Cover 2 with CBs in Man Coverage, MLB Blitz
4-2 Cover 0 with DBs in Man Coverage, LBs Blitzing
Against 0 or 1 WRs, I use goalline package with Cover 0 - LBs and DBs in Man Coverage

I adjust how often each one is called in each corresponding situation. Sometimes I want to play conservative and not blitz much, sometimes I want to blitz a lot. Sometimes I like to be aggressive on first down, and then cautious on 2nd and 3rd down. Other times I want to bury them on 3rd down and medium or long.

In the 2 minute drill, I add in Cover 3 and Cover 4 defenses. In goalline situations, I use the goalline defense, except against 3+ WRs. For when we are down by 28+ points at any time in the 4th quarter, I have us using the goalline package against a 2 WR set, but that has never happened. It has triggered when we are behind by any amount in the last 3 minutes.

So what I've done there is divide it by score at two different intervals during the 4th quarter, in addition to providing a special defense inside the two minute warning (and outside FG range).

Sometimes I will go in by hand and switch my LBs to shift to the weak side on blitzing downs, or shift to the strong side on running downs. I'm not sure how much LB shift matters. But I figure its worth it against good run teams to shift my LBs over to the strong side. Usually I've found that these run teams favor the strong side for running plays.

I've not yet run into a team with a TE threat who I needed to switch out of Cover 2 for. Cover 2 has worked wonders in shutting down all passing attacks, its downside is that neither safety is as big a factor in the run game as they would be in more aggressive defenses. But its a conservative enough defense that I don't need to change my style when we have a big lead. If you do a more aggressive defense, you'll want to put in different settings to trigger once you have a decent lead.

The cover 2 can be decent against the run if you send the SS in a blitz. Not the FS...the SS and have CB2 play Medium coverage because the WR2 has the go routes and you don't want him getting beat long, if at all.

Nice help guys. This is some of what I've been looking for.
I've started small (formation, distance) and am adding a little here and there.

We played a CPU team last so it was a good test. I didn't see any major screw-ups and we did shut them out. (I know that isn't hard to do against CPU) But it gave me some confidence and understanding to how some of the plays work.

I also have a pretty in-depth inside the 5 and inside the 10 by formation and downs. And 3rd/4th down and short.

Thanks for the help.

Originally posted by Public_Ebony

The cover 2 can be decent against the run if you send the SS in a blitz. Not the FS...the SS and have CB2 play Medium coverage because the WR2 has the go routes and you don't want him getting beat long, if at all.

I don't understand the logic of blitzing the SS out of the C2. Why wouldn't you run a C1 and blitz the SS?

Originally posted by Hogfan
Originally posted by Public_Ebony


The cover 2 can be decent against the run if you send the SS in a blitz. Not the FS...the SS and have CB2 play Medium coverage because the WR2 has the go routes and you don't want him getting beat long, if at all.

I don't understand the logic of blitzing the SS out of the C2. Why wouldn't you run a C1 and blitz the SS?



Less likelyhood he gets gobbled up by a blocker?

Originally posted by taz20075
Originally posted by Hogfan

Originally posted by Public_Ebony



The cover 2 can be decent against the run if you send the SS in a blitz. Not the FS...the SS and have CB2 play Medium coverage because the WR2 has the go routes and you don't want him getting beat long, if at all.

I don't understand the logic of blitzing the SS out of the C2. Why wouldn't you run a C1 and blitz the SS?



Less likelyhood he gets gobbled up by a blocker?

Doesn't it leave his half of the field, deep..pretty much wide open over the top, though?

And, just setting focus to pass will keep the SS back enough to give him a running start at the blitz.

Originally posted by Forbin
Originally posted by taz20075

Originally posted by Hogfan


Originally posted by Public_Ebony




The cover 2 can be decent against the run if you send the SS in a blitz. Not the FS...the SS and have CB2 play Medium coverage because the WR2 has the go routes and you don't want him getting beat long, if at all.

I don't understand the logic of blitzing the SS out of the C2. Why wouldn't you run a C1 and blitz the SS?



Less likelyhood he gets gobbled up by a blocker?

Doesn't it leave his half of the field, deep..pretty much wide open over the top, though?

And, just setting focus to pass will keep the SS back enough to give him a running start at the blitz.

1) Yes

2) The only reason I can see it working well is if the RB gets past the blocker that would normally take out the SS. Then the SS gets to the RB unblocked. Definitely risky though.

If your secondary is quick enough you can run mostly cover 0 or cover 1. I don't like cover 2 much at all. From what I've seen from cover 2 on this game is basically it puts the safeties in a position to make the tackle after the catch. Not guard anybody to prevent the catch. And thats a big difference