Originally posted by Ezra~cult~
casual, so I am trying to fix the GLB progressions by not passing up the guy I want to get the ball.

Ah I see.

Originally posted by Robbnva
u have 1 receiving TE or 2?

if 2 receiving TEs - choose both of them as your targets and profit

Yeah, no kidding. I have 3 TEs (rec, combo with CB%, and BTE).

I also use a high catching sFB in the mix.

Bhall-I can GM you if you want to look at the game I just had. The #2 fav target saw the seocnd most passes, and the #1 fav target with go to guy saw the 4th most, but did see more looks in traffic than he had in the past

Naw that's fine. I got enuff gm's. I wont ever need to use fav targ anyways.

Originally posted by bhall43
Naw that's fine. I got enuff gm's. I wont ever need to use fav targ anyways.

true

I double stacked the favorite target in back to back games.

He has 130 speed, 90 catch, 25% catch ball, go to guy.

He was not getting passed to much before I did this. Once I did it, games were as follows:

7/8 for 90+ yards
5/6 for 68+ yds


It appears to work in casual much the same way as forcing one dot the ball in non casual (WR2, WR2, WR2 etc)

Originally posted by Ezra~cult~
Basic checkdown orders go Primary Target followed by WR1, WR2, WR3, WR4, WR5, TE, HB, FB

Correct right?

So Favorite target either does one of the following:

Stays on the WR for some unspecified # of ticks once they are reached in the order above (or however the progression is set in your AI), or

-Alters the progression so that they get first look.

What I am looking at is specific to casual. Assuming that the checkdown order is as listed above, am I rearranging the order with favorite targets, or am I making the QB look at the receiver for extra ticks?

Or, am I simply forcing a throw into traffic?

I need some bort quotes or some evidence if you have it.

Thanks!

Be careful with bort quotes as whether or not they are accurate is inversely proportional to how long it's been since he coded that specific function.

My belief is this:

Favorites were added before custom progressions and they were mainly designed to improve default progressions. So lets say the default progression was WR1, HB, TE, WR2, FB, if your QB had the WR2 as a favorite target it might target him sooner or even first in the play. Again a lot has changed since this system was implemented. Now there are hot spots on routes, the QB holds on to the ball longer and there are custom progressions.

With custom progressions set, I don't believe the favorites really do anything. This is based on my personal experience. I would set a TE and a HB as my QB's favorites and basically I saw no difference whatsoever in targeting. The sim just rolled through my progressions like always. But you could test it yourself. Just line up a few scrims against the same opponent with a handful of plays and run 2 games with favorites set and 2 games without then watch the replays and see if there is any difference in QB targeting for a given play, but I doubt there will be any significant difference.

Having said that, for Casual teams I think it could make a difference since custom progressions do not exist for them. The use would be somewhat limited, because, for example, even if a QB wants to target WR2 immediately he has to hold on to the ball longer, and there is a penalty to him targeting WR2 too early in his route, etc. so by the time he gets around to where the situation is favorable to target him he may no longer be open.

Right. Casual makes sense. Regular makes zero sense as you would be favoring a target on every play hypothetically rather than using your progressions to favor them on specific plays.

Originally posted by tpaterniti
My belief is this:

Favorites were added before custom progressions and they were mainly designed to improve default progressions. So lets say the default progression was WR1, HB, TE, WR2, FB, if your QB had the WR2 as a favorite target it might target him sooner or even first in the play. Again a lot has changed since this system was implemented. Now there are hot spots on routes, the QB holds on to the ball longer and there are custom progressions.

With custom progressions set, I don't believe the favorites really do anything. This is based on my personal experience. I would set a TE and a HB as my QB's favorites and basically I saw no difference whatsoever in targeting. The sim just rolled through my progressions like always. But you could test it yourself. Just line up a few scrims against the same opponent with a handful of plays and run 2 games with favorites set and 2 games without then watch the replays and see if there is any difference in QB targeting for a given play, but I doubt there will be any significant difference.

Having said that, for Casual teams I think it could make a difference since custom progressions do not exist for them. The use would be somewhat limited, because, for example, even if a QB wants to target WR2 immediately he has to hold on to the ball longer, and there is a penalty to him targeting WR2 too early in his route, etc. so by the time he gets around to where the situation is favorable to target him he may no longer be open.

See you are of the school that believes it does affect progressions. The other school is that it affects targeting risk.

I have no idea what the default progressions are for each play in the casual sim. I suppose I could open an AI and make a note of each one, assume it applies to casual, and then force the play as much as possible in casual with favorite targets in place. In theory, I would see say WR2 (set as both favorites) adjust in the progression as you said. However, what I feel like I am seeing is that my QB will hit a guy in heavy coverage when he normally would have passed him up.

To me the last part is what is key in causal since I have a tall, slow, high catch possession WR. I need my QB to gun at him, even in traffic, because he will win the roll for the catch. It seems to be working just fine and I do see a big change. Then again, he has 15 in go to guy so who the hell knows?

I will ask about this in a very carefully formatted question for bort in the next Q and A.

Defalut is main progression followed by w1 -wr2 - wr3 - wr4 - wr5 - te - bte - hb - fb

Effecting to risk on a target would effect the progressions as it would be like doubling up a guy in theory.

Originally posted by bhall43
Effecting to risk on a target would effect the progressions as it would be like doubling up a guy in theory.

good point.

Originally posted by bhall43
Defalut is main progression followed by w1 -wr2 - wr3 - wr4 - wr5 - te - bte - hb - fb

I'm surprised that BTE preceeds HB and FB.

Originally posted by Ezra~cult~
I'm surprised that BTE preceeds HB and FB.

BTE actually is just a guess from me. The only answer Bort has stated is that the progression comes after Regular TE. But I would assume it to come prior to HB and FB just as all the other main ones do. Especially since those are the dump pass options.

Originally posted by bhall43
BTE actually is just a guess from me. The only answer Bort has stated is that the progression comes after Regular TE. But I would assume it to come prior to HB and FB just as all the other main ones do. Especially since those are the dump pass options.

So if I set dump pass to "often," does that change the progression up front, or just make HB/FB option #1 if under pressure?