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Beginning Offensive AI Guide

If I have made any mistakes, if the guide is not clear, the guide is not helpful, or if you want me to add something, please tell me. If you think I am poisoning the general populace with useless information and dangerous lies, feel free to post.

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The Offensive AI is a new optional tactics page that allows the Offensive Coordinator to have more control over his gameplan, apply more specific plays, and take greater advantage of his opponent's weakness and defensive mismatches. Many teams have already adopted the AI, but I know there are OC's out there who don't yet feel comfortable with the AI or are afraid they will mess up or induce a bug. Once you get into it, the AI interface is not that hard to put together, and you can easily plan a game in less than an hour. Obviously the more attention to detail and the more in-depth scouting you do, the better your chances for success.

I highly recommend using the offensive AI if you are committed to getting the most you can out of your team. As this game keeps growing, tactics are becoming increasingly important and you don't want to be left out in the rain for weaker, smarter opponents to stomp on and laugh at you.

Screenshots are available here: http://goallineblitz.com/game/forum_thread.pl?thread_id=422738 (courtesy of scarletmbb)

I do not have any claim to being an offensive genius, this guide is intended to get people started with the AI such that you can at the very least wield greater control over your offense in general and specific situations. I am the OC for an expansion team that got to the recruiting/organizing stage a bit late, but after spending countless hours attempting to seduce every decent free agent or D-leaguer in the game under level 13, I have been developing a good relationship with the AI. Since trying it out at the start of the regular season, we have managed to score 31 points against a defense with far greater depth and around 2 average levels than us (lets ignore the fact that their offense ripped our D a new one in the meantime), and winning the next with 28 points. I have certainly made some bad calls, but overall I have been very happy with the way the AI has performed for me.

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The basic idea:

The Offensive AI works using an input/output system. Essentially, what you will do as an OC is supply it with a long list of possible play situations (inputs) that can possibly occur on the field. You then add your calls telling the offense what they are allowed to do for each kind of situation (your outputs). For each input you can have any number of outputs, to which you assign the percentage chance of that play being called. For example, on a 4th down within field goal range you might only want one output (try a field goal); but on many situations you will most likely want a few plays for the offense to choose from.

The inputs can be quite vague or very specific- you may want every kind of first down to work the same way, and you can do it with just one input. Alternatively, you can have many very specific inputs- ones that will only be called only on certain field position, only with a certain score difference, only on short yardage, etc.

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The setup:

The AI reads the inputs from top to bottom. Because of this, it is very important that you place specific plays BEFORE your general gameplan, and the only way around this is to fill in a huge number of normally blank parameters. You can move your inputs up and down to keep them in order-this is extremely useful.

By properly ordering your list, your the sim will look through your the playlist first for the special defined situations that you might put in (red zone offense, w backed into your own goal) before defaulting to the regular gameplan. If your normal gameplan is listed first and you may run the risk of running a normal play in an abnormal situation.

I would recommend ordering a simple gameplan something like this (you can always have more or fewer situations, it's entirely up to you):
-Offensive plays while backed into your own goal line
-Offense at the opponent goal line
-Red zone offense
-First down situations
-Second down situations
-Third down situations
-Fourth down situations

Following all the general inputs, you can also add inputs for each specific quarter. It's very important to know that the quarter-specific inputs OVERRIDE the general inputs. This means that the AI will read all of the quarter inputs(1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, overtime) before checking the general gameplan. If the AI finds a match there, it won't even bother to look at the general gameplan.

The AI comes with a number of default input/outputs. I have found these to be generally useful inputs to keep around, although on some of of them you may want to change the outputs depending on what works best for your offense. In particular Bort has already set up for you plays that occur at the end of each half (from from 2 minutes to 30 seconds left in the half or the game), and overtime- for example trying to get within field goal range, kicking a field goal to tie or close it out under with time running out, running out the clock while ahead, running a 2-minute drill, or bombing it when behind with many yards to go. You will definitely want to look these over though, possibly add new stuff, and check to make sure the inputs are exactly right. I know some people have run into problems punting on first down, doing an inside run on 4th down backed up into their own goal- because they didn't specify the correct downs for Bort's default plays.

If you start adding new quarter-specific plays, remember to keep the more specific end-of-half drills in front of them.

Every input and every output has a field where you can enter a title. These titles have no effect on the AI, but as your playbook gets bigger and bigger, I would highly recommend being consistent with your play names - be straightforward and brief, so when you look back at it and review your gameplan you will know exactly what play is contained in the box without having to scroll through the title or opening the play up.

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Making an input/output play call:

1) Decide if it will be a general play, or a quarter-specific play.

2) Scroll down to the heading that you want, and click "create new input".

3) Label your play input ("Second and long", "Fourth and inches")

4) First boxes to fill out are the Downs you want the play to happen on (You could leave these blank on some plays, but I do not recommend it). Getting the downs wrong for an input is probably the biggest cause getting bad calls.

5) Fill in any other boxes that indicate the play situation. Leaving them blank makes the play increasingly general. For example, leaving the score difference boxes blank let the play happen at any score, blank "Ball Spot" boxes let the play happen all over the field. For an input to be called by the sim, EVERY box you fill out needs to match the circumstances.

6) Add a new output.

7) Add the percent chance you want for it to occur

8) Indicate the play type- if you do not fill this in, the sim will just look at your basic tactics run/pass percentages

9) For a pass play, you can indicate the distance you want. Leaving this blank defaults to basic tactics

10) Indicate the intended receiver or rusher. Again, leaving it blank will let the basic tactics choose.

11) Add more outputs. Make sure your percentages add up to 100. For many of your basic plays, using multiple outputs is key as to not getting shut down completely or getting too predictable for scouts down the line.


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Advantages of using Offensive AI

One of the most important things to do with the AI is to set specific plays for every yardage situation for each down, in particular the critical ones (third and short, third and long, goal line downs). Running on basic tactics, the sim will generally do a decent job making decisions, such as passing on third and long or running on third and short. However, with the AI you can choose your best plays for each situation- only you know what gives you the best third-down conversion rate, the best time to go long, what actually works best in the red zone, or if you're a good scout- during what situations the opponent calls for vulnerable formations.

The other great part of the AI is that it lets you control the men in your calls better than the basic tactics- you have more options for specific types of plays to run.
-You can call for specific pass distances (short, medium, long) on each individual play, rather than setting a general percentage for the whole game.
-You can call for THREE types of runs on each specific play- inside, outside off the tackles, and a pitch/sweep play. The basic tactics only has inside vs. outside, which doesn't account for the outside run and the sweep run being in actuality very different plays.
-You can specify your intended receiver (or rather, the type of receiver) for passing plays. This means you can focus on the WRs for the long pass, a TE or HB where you expect a blitz, etc.
-The intended receiver is preferred, but the QB will still make an in-game decision. My first game with the AI I thought they would leave the TE open a lot, so I had a lot calls for TE passes. They covered him close, and the QB did a fine job just passing to other receivers.
-You can specify the rusher for running plays. This is great if you want your FB to do more of the short-yardage dives down the middle, while your fast HB does the outside sweep plays where he can beat the linebackers to the sideline.
-You can call for many output plays to one input, and change up the percents based on what you think will be most successful, what you want to try out, or give the offense a few options when you're not sure of what's best.

I have seen lots of complaints that you can't choose which individual player to throw or hand off too, or call for specific formations. Sure, that would be sweet, but this is still a huge advantage over basic tactics. I'm sure Bort is working or is planning on adding all that in at some point, so fear not. In any case, if you pay close attention to the replays you will start learning which formations they like to pick- i.e. sweep plays often come out of the shotgun, long passes are likely to use a 3 or 5 receiver set, etc.

When you call for a random rush or a pass play and don't give any specifics, the AI will look at your basic tactics to choose the direction, the length, or the position to send the ball to. The more vague you are about the output, the more possibilities there are from it, and the more it will look at basic tactic percentages.

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A Sample Gameplan

For those who are are confused, scared, lazy, or just trying to learn, I will run you through a sample gameplan. Once you have a good idea of how to use the AI, you can start adding in giant schemes of inputs, however, even a simple AI plan can still allow you a huge amount of control over the plays you do- and is a big step above the basic tactics page. I will try to outline an average gameplan- one for a flexible offense, but can be easily changed to cover up your weaknesses or take advantage of your opponent's. To me, the most important part of a gameplan is a focus on the first downs. Continuity in each drive, and consistently getting the yards you need on each down is the simplest way to take the heart out of a defense and put yourself in scoring position every time.

For this gameplan, we will try a wide variety of plays- as if your whole team was pretty consistent, you didn't know what to expect from your opponent, and you wanted to give everyone some playing time and spread the ball around. A gameplan like this is easy to change around for each opponent- setting certain outputs to zero, raising up others, adding a few plays here and there. Nothing fancy. The main idea is to try a few things on first downs, and as we get closer to 3rd down we make more and more specific plays that gives us the best shot at moving the chains. The offense will generally be the same throughout the whole field, unless you are backed into your own goal line, or you have reached the opponent's.

I have pretty much taken a selection of plays from the inputs I use, so I have changed the outputs a lot as to make a more general and give less insight into my own team's strategy (just in case).


The format is this:

Originally posted by Input/Outputs

Input Name (All filled settings here) comment
---50% Play name 1 (Settings)
---50% Play name 2 (Settings)



AI for All Quarters (General Settings)

Backed in to own goal (Ball Spot: Own Goal to Own 5, Down: 1 to 3) Preferably a reliable option to not get tackled in the backfield
---100% Run down the middle (Play type: Inside Run)

Goal Line First (Ball Spot: Opponent 5 to Opponent Goal, Down: 1 to 1) We have 3 goal line plays set up for each down- we don't know what's going to work best against the defense, so we try a few different things
---20% Outside Run (Play type: Outside Run-Off tackle)
---50% Outside Sweep (Play type: Outside Run: Pitch/Sweep, Rusher: HB)
---30% Short Pass (Play type: Pass, Distance: short, Primary Reciever: WR)

Goal Line Second(Ball Spot: Opponent 5 to Opponent Goal, Down: 2 to 2)
---30% Inside Power (Play type: Inside Run, Rusher: FB)
---30% Outside Run (Play type: Outside Run-Off tackle)
---10% Outside Sweep (Play type: Outside Run: Pitch/Sweep, Rusher: HB)
---30% Goal Line offense (Play type: Goal Line)

Goal Line Third (Ball Spot: Opponent 5 to Opponent Goal, Down: 3 to 3)
---25% Outside Run (Play type: Outside Run-Off tackle)
---25% Inside Power (Play type: Inside Run, Rusher: FB)
---50% Goal Line offense (Play type: Goal Line)

First and very long (Down: 1 to 1, Yards to first down: 11 to 100) In case you got a penalty. We want good yards out of this mess, so a pass or a fast run down the sidelines could get it for us. This looks like a good time for the D to blitz us, so we're going to up the chances of a pass to a wide open TE or a fast HB avoiding the mess in the middle
---15% Long Pass (Play type: Pass, Distance: long)
---15% Medium Pass (Play type: Pass, Distance: medium)
---35% TE Option (Play type: Pass, Distance: medium, Primary Reciever: TE)
---40% HB Sweep (Play type: Outside Run: Pitch/Sweep, Rusher: HB)

First Down (Down: 1 to 1) 50/50 Running or Passing. You could just run an unspecified pass and it would default to basic tactics, but I like the control here in case I want to change stuff up. Personally, I would have percents out for each different run type, but it's important to know it's not necessary to write out each type of run or pass play. In fact, arguably we don't even need a first down play like this, since it will probably be similar to the default basic tactics.
---10% Long Pass (Play type: Pass, Distance: long)
---30% Medium Pass (Play type: Pass, Distance: medium)
---10% Short Pass (Play type: Pass, Distance: short)
---50% Random Rush (Play type: Rush (random))

Second and short (Down: 2 to 2, Yards to first down: 0 to 3) Maybe it's safe to assume we can convert a third down, so perhaps you want to take your chances
---100% Surprise Bomb (Play type: Pass, Distance: long, Primary Reciever: WR)

Second and medium (Down: 2 to 2, Yards to first down: 3 to 7) Pretty flexible play, putting emphasis on the run as to avoid third and medium
---10% Short Pass (Play type: Pass, Distance: short)
---20% Medium Pass (Play type: Pass, Distance: medium)
---30% Inside Rush (Play type: Inside Run)
---30% Outside Rush (Play type: Outside Run)

Second and long (Down: 2 to 2, Yards to first down: 7 to 10) Maybe you will want to try other stuff, but I want yards
---60% Medium Pass (Play type: Pass, Distance: medium)
---40% Outside Sweep (Play type: Outside Run: Pitch/Sweep)

Second and very long (Down: 2 to 2, Yards to first down: 10 to 100) I would expect a blitz or tight coverage in the secondary, so we leave our options open, but still look for good yardage

---25% TE Option (Play type: Pass, Distance: medium, Primary Receiver: TE)
---25% Medium Pass (Play type: Pass, Distance: medium)
---25% Long Pass (Play type: Pass, Distance: long)
---25% HB Sweep (Play type: Outside Run: Pitch/Sweep, Rusher: HB)

Third and inches (Down: 3 to 3, Yards to first down: 0 to 1) Need someone with guaranteed yards
---100% Inside Power (Play type: Inside Run, Rusher: FB)

Third and short (Down: 3 to 3, Yards to first down: 1 to 3) Same as third and inches, but we need a few more
---50% Inside Power (Play type: Inside Run, Rusher: FB)
---30% Outside Rush (Play type: Outside Run)
---20% Short Pass (Play type: Pass, Distance: short)

Third and medium (Down: 3 to 3, Yards to first down: 3 to 7) Here we begin to get very predictable, but we are behind schedule and have no choice
---80% Medium Pass (Play type: Pass, Distance: medium)
---20% Outside Sweep (Play type: Outside Run: Pitch/Sweep)

Third and long (Down: 3 to 3, Yards to first down: 7 to 10)
---50% Medium Pass (Play type: Pass, Distance: medium)
---50% Long Pass (Play type: Pass, Distance: long)

Third and very long (Down: 3 to 3, Yards to first down: 10 to 100)
---100% Long Pass (Play type: Pass, Distance: long, Primary Receiver: WR)

Fourth and inches (Ball Spot: the 50 to Opponent Goal, Down: 4 to 4, Yards to first down: 0 to 1, Special Circumstance: Outside field goal range, Score difference: -300 to 0) If you need to score and are in a safe position, its not a bad idea to go for it
---60% Inside Power (Play type: Inside Run, Rusher: FB)
---40% GOALLINEBLITZ (Play type: Goal Line)

Fourth within field goal range (Down: 4 to 4, Special Circumstance: Within Field Goal range)
---100% FG (Play type: Field Goal)

Fourth out of field goal (Down: 4 to 4, Special Circumstances: Outside field goal range)
---100% Punt (Play type: Punt)

All of these quarter-specific settings are default settings, they are a good starting point.

Quarter 1 Specific

Quarter 2 Specific

End of Half, FG Range (Time remaining in quarter: 30, Down: 1 to 4, Special Circumstance: Within field goal range)
---100% Field Goal (Play type: Field Goal)

End of Half, inside RZ (Time remaining in quarter: 60, Ball Spot: between Opponent 20 and Opponent 5, Down: 1 to 3)
---50% Rush (Play type: Run (random))
---50% Short Pass (Play type: Pass)

End of Half, outside RZ (Time remaining in quarter: 60, Ball Spot: between Opponent 20 and Own 20, Down: 1 to 3)
---50% Bomb it out (Play type: Pass, Play distance: long)
---50% Medium air (Play type: Pass, Play distance: medium)

Quarter 3 Specific

Quarter 4 Specific

Late in Game, FG on the line (Time remaining in quarter: 30, Down: 1 to 4, Score difference: -3 to 0, Special Circumstance: Within FG Range)
---100% Field Goal (Play type: Field Goal)

Near FG Range (Time remaining in quarter: 30, Down: 1 to 3, Score Difference: -3 to 100, Special Circumstance: Near FG Range (10 yards)
---100% Get within range (Play type: Run (random))

Down Late, a Long Way to Go (Time remaining in quarter: 120, Ball Spot: Own Goal to Opponent 40, Down: 1 to 4, Score Difference: -300 to -1)
---50% Bomb it out (Play type: Pass, Play distance: long)
---50% Medium air (Play type: Pass, Play distance: medium)

Down Late (Time remaining in quarter: 120, Down: 1 to 4, Score Difference: -300 to -1)
---100% 2 Minute Drill (Play type: Pass)

4th down, losing big, short yardage (Ball Spot: Opponent 35 to Opponent Goal, Down 4 to 4, Yards to first down: 0 to 3, Score Difference: -10 to -300)
---80% Up the Gut (Play type: Inside Run)
---20% Short Pass (Play type: Pass, Play distance: Short)

Down two scores Late (Time remaining in quarter: 360, Down: 1 to 3, Score Difference: -300 to -8)
---100% Air It Out (Play type: Pass)

Overtime Specific

Within FG Range, 4th down (Down: 4 to 4, Special Circumstance: Within field goal range)
---100% Field Goal (Play type: Field Goal)

Close to FG Range (Down: 1 to 3, Special Circumstance: Near FG Range(10 yards))
---100% Get within range (Play type: Run(random))

All of these quarter-specific plays come from Bort's default settings. DEFINITELY LOOK THESE OVER. You want to know what each of them does, and when they activate, so there are no surprises. Especially for plays like RZ offense, or getting within FG range with little time left, you will want to be using your best plays for that situation, and the default is only guessing.

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Adding more tactics

Many people will tell you the defensive AI can do a lot more than the offensive AI. Maybe so, but you can still implement a TON with the offensive AI if you are willing to put in the time.

For example, you can develop entire gameplans for an offense defending a lead, an offense playing catch-up, a specific offense on your half of the field, or a specific offense approaching the red zone. On my current gameplan (not to give anything away if the other team reads this ), I am planning an entire, heavily focused gameplan for the first half, which it will stick with until we start falling behind, at which point I assume that plan has failed and it reverts to my normal inputs. In this sense, you can plan something of an auto-adjust feature for your own offense, except you still have control over the plays. I am skeptical of how this will work out, as the inputs don't have a good sense of how well the plan is performing, only what the score is. Nevertheless, the sky is the limit.

I would recommend running a simple gameplan like the one I outlined above until you are comfortable with it. As long as you didn't forget anything, you are already doing better than the basic tactics.

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The Basic Settings:

- For the AI to do anything at all, you need to check "Enable Offense AI (required for these settings to work)"

- I have not seen a good reason to check the "Follow my AI EXACTLY, even when there is no match (use with caution!)" box. I have been running the AI without this box checked, and have not run into any problems, and it seems to follow my play-calling to the letter. Personally, I don't mind having the basic tactics to catch me if I am missing something. The only thing I know of that might hurt you here is the auto-adjust, which SHOULD BE TURNED OFF ANYWAYS.

-I highly recommend leaving the "Max Field Goal Range" blank, letting the sim estimate my kicker's FG range for me. Personally, I see no reason why I would be able guess our FG range better than the AI. Especially if Bort has been tweaking the kickers.

The only reason I can see to put it in for yourself is:
1) Your kicker is unprecedentedly lame and you need to specify he is only capable of kicking a 20-yarder
2) You have an amazing kicker, both teams have amazing defense, you need to try every field goal you can even get close to, might as well try for the 60-yarders.

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Updating and Saving

Every time you change your gameplan, you MUST hit update before doing anything else. Otherwise, you might turn into a very angry GLB addict. This can take a moment so be patient.

Once you have a solid gameplan that is flexible and might be useful in the future, you should save it. Type in a name, and hit "Save Current as Preset". You can load these presets later. This is an awesome feature, and unless there are space limitations I will be saving every gameplan that goes into the sim, just in case.

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Other information

If you haven't seen this thread, Bort made a post aimed at people who were having trouble. I can add a FAQ section too. I am sure there are plenty of things I don't know about or haven't tried, but hopefully someone will have all the answers.

-The Bort-
Originally posted by Bort
I've noticed a few things that keep coming up with people's AI settings that's giving them problems.

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Watch out for multiple inputs that are mutually exclusive, where there is a gap in the middle.

For instance:

input 1: Outside FG range, between own goal and opponent 35: Punt
input 2: Inside FG range, between opponent 35 and opponent goal: Kick FG

If you're on the opponent 38 and your FG range is for the 40 yard line, neither of these will trigger.

Input 1 won't fire because you're not outside FG range.
Input 2 won't fire because you're not between the 35 and opponent goal

So it goes on to the next thing which is probably a pass or something and you go for it.

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Trying to get too complex too fast:

The intent of the AI stuff was to allow you to add overrides for certain situations that you didn't like in the game's general play calling AI.

I've seen some people put in 100-200 inputs and outputs to try and make a crazy playbook. While this should technically work, you are very likely to run into problems you didn't account for and will then be hard to track down because you have 7 bajillion inputs to look through.

The best way to approach it, in my opinion, is to start simple, with a few things you want to do, such as go for it on 4th down within the 30, or always pass on 2nd and long, etc. Then watch your next game with your settings, and add more input/outputs for situation that come up in the game that you don't like the playcalling for.

If you try to think of every little thing ahead of time, you'll probably end up missing something and scratching your head for 3 hours trying to figure it out.

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Double check your inputs:

I've seen some inputs created with downs 1-4 entered when people actually wanted only 2nd down, or no scores entered when they wanted it to be only when trailing, etc.

Fields to watch especially:

Down
Score
# Receivers (0 - 6 is the default; make sure you change it or it will match every single play!)


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Field goal range:

Set it to the length of the kick, not the line of scrimmage. A 40 yard kick is from the 23 yard line (LOS + 10 for the endzone + 7 for the place hold).

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Use the AI tester! There's an offense one and I will add a defense one shortly. These will help you test before your game happens so you're not flying blind.

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Hope that helps some of you!



Last edited Aug 5, 2008 21:09:13
 
Stobie
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+1
 
northstar09
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Only problem I see is with your second quarter specifics you might want to have a setting to kick the FG (when you get within range, of course) once the clock reaches 5-10 seconds. Because by then you are usually out of time-outs and if you run an offensive play the clock will expire and you will be left with nothing. You'd rather have 3 points thatn 0 points.

Other than that, this is very good and should be useful to a lot of people. Well done.
 
pestface
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Originally posted by northstar09
Only problem I see is with your second quarter specifics you might want to have a setting to kick the FG (when you get within range, of course) once the clock reaches 5-10 seconds. Because by then you are usually out of time-outs and if you run an offensive play the clock will expire and you will be left with nothing. You'd rather have 3 points thatn 0 points.

Other than that, this is very good and should be useful to a lot of people. Well done.


The first default setting (everybody starts with it) in the second quarter will try to kick a FG when 30 seconds are left, if in range. On any down, too.
Last edited Aug 5, 2008 21:54:13
 
Nixx
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Didn't read the whole thing closely, but looks pretty good to start with.
 
pestface
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.
 
scorch80271
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Al
 
mw54finest
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Sticky!?!
 
Nixx
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Added a link to this (and all the other AI guides) in the 'tactics discussion' forum: http://goallineblitz.com/game/forum_thread.pl?thread_id=775619
 
Procrustes
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Originally posted by Nixx
Added a link to this (and all the other AI guides) in the 'tactics discussion' forum: http://goallineblitz.com/game/forum_thread.pl?thread_id=775619


also added to [LINKS]
http://snipr.com/links-glb
 
nightstar289
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Bump
 
Hyperiond
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Is there a basic guide to setting up your deffense somewhere? -like the one here...
 
Nixx
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Originally posted by Hyperiond
Is there a basic guide to setting up your deffense somewhere? -like the one here...


http://www.glbwiki.com/index.php?title=Defensive_AI#See_Also
 
jatrix32
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bump
 
tshizzle
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if i want to say have a play for 2nd and 0-5 yards to go, and 2nd and 5+ yards to go, do i need the inputs to be:

a) Yards To Go 0-5
b) Yards to Go 6-100

or


a) Yards To Go 0-5
b) Yards To Go 5-100

?

what happens in those situations if its 2nd and 5?
 
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