GLB Times

Bort Droppings for July 24

Foo — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 06:40:13 +0000

Super Vision – “It is not a flat bonus to vision. It only applies in specific situations, and gives a bigger bonus than a couple points of vision ever would. It is also sometimes used as an “insurance policy” for when you fail your vision check. With Super Vision, you sometimes get second chance to succeed, with a roll against Super Vision’s level.”

Also, according to Bort, Super Vision only applies to Defense.
http://goallineblitz.com/game/forum_thread.pl?thread_id=3002388

Dump Pass – “+Pass Quality for short passes, less likely to throw an errant pass.”
http://goallineblitz.com/game/forum_thread.pl?thread_id=3010926

Concession Sales for the Playoffs: “Concession sales don’t care what kind of game it is (that portion of code doesn’t even know what kind of game it is). Only thing that matters is they type of fans that came to the game. Low income fans buy cheaper stuff and less of it.”
http://goallineblitz.com/game/forum_thread.pl?thread_id=3022357

Test Server News for July 18, 2009

Foo — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 07:43:33 +0000

The D-Line Gap Exploit, Elusive Backs, and Punters at QB were main focuses of testing.

Defensive Line “Gap Exploit” has been undergoing extensive testing on the test server. While most games have not produced major sack numbers, this particular game produced a combined 18 sacks, plus an additional 18 hurries. No explanation was given in the game description.
http://test.goallineblitz.com/game/game.pl?game_id=1268

Tests were done on updates to elusive backs, presumably checking on the juke/HF issue.

A punter was used at QB and compared to a regular QB at the position. Although the punter was not terrible stat-wise, he was sacked 15 times, and hurried 11 more. The regular QB fared alot better in avoiding the pass rush in the test game, but the passing numbers were not that different.
http://test.goallineblitz.com/game/game.pl?game_id=1282
http://test.goallineblitz.com/game/game.pl?game_id=1275

Bort Droppings For July 16, 2009

Foo — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 07:11:20 +0000

Boosting after the Decline, Juke/Head Fake for WR’s, and Offensive Packages.

Boosting
A poll is being conducted. “I’ll base my decision most likely on what I was leaning towards already. I’m just very curious to the actual overall response to the “boost after the decline” issue, as opposed to the response of 20 people.”
http://goallineblitz.com/game/forum_thread.pl?thread_id=2992209

Juke/HF for WR
“Yes, you can juke & hf during a route, though they happen right as you make a cut (or through creative route running). It’s kinda hard to juke somebody on a streak route.”
http://goallineblitz.com/game/forum_thread.pl?thread_id=2990738

Offensive Packages
Testing is underway. According to Bort, “It’s a modification/add to the current [AI]. However, I think it will make the lives of those with large AI’s much easier, since it allows you to basically re-use sets of plays (called a package) in multiple situations. Then you can just update the package and it updates in all places where it’s used in the AI.”
http://goallineblitz.com/game/forum_thread.pl?thread_id=2915207

Tanking in the Cloud.

Foo — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:19:03 +0000

Let’s say for a minute that someone realizes it is time to start rebuilding their team at a lower level. They have a full stadium, and a good amount of cash on hand. They gut the team, accumulating more cash in the process. They request a demotion to a 21-capped league to begin the rebuilding process.

They sign an entire offense and defense, of level 21’s. After looking over a couple rosters in their conference, they realize they have no chance to win the title that season,and they decide to tank. They go 0-16, while their players continue leveling up and get boosted to level 28.

Under the cloud system, their team drops into a level 16 cap. The next season. They choose to boost again, and are now a team full of level 30 players, in a level 16 capped league. They have been rewarded for their failure. Other teams in their league cannot do anything to counteract this, as they are limited to signing players below the cap. It ruins the competition in that league, and encourages more teams to go that route.

This is just one scenario, but there are many others where this can happen. The obvious solution is hard caps on the player level. A team should be required to get its entire roster below the cap to start the season, just like real world sports teams must do with salary caps.

If a team desires to stay together, despite having players at a variety of levels, they need to either go to the cap that fits them, or go into an uncapped league. Perhaps the uncapped leagues need to be broken down abit further to matchup teams based on their median level, to ensure competition in those leagues.

This is an issue that needs to be addressed sooner, rather than later. Many teams do not aspire to ever make Pro, and are more than happy to use a strategy of Tank, Win, Tank, Win, in order to accumulate some titles in the lower leagues. It is not inconceivable that this becomes the only strategy to win at the lower levels. If Bort waits until the offseason to address this, no one is gonna be happy about it. Teams need to be given the time to recruit and set up their rosters for next season. Everyone sees this issue coming, and it is understandable that it was not anticipated, but it is not too late to close the loopholes.