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Franchise Hockey Manager 4 - General Discussion Talk about the latest FHM, officially licensed by the NHL!

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Old 11-16-2017, 11:33 AM   #1
Dethjesta
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Tactics - My Approach

I’ve been trying to figure out how to select and set up tactics in this game and have found it very difficult. I feel like the interface is missing some key information/connections. From what I can make out (from reading the manual a couple of times and looking through this forum) Tactical Roles seem to be key and selecting the correct ones for the right players at your disposal seems like the essence of getting the tactical system to work well - at least as a starting point.



The issue I have with the interface is that it’s very difficult to determine which roles each tactic contains/needs (without selecting each one and looking through them one at a time) and which roles are best suited to each player. This disconnect makes picking the correct tactic very difficult. But instead of getting upset (complaining that a sport manager game’s tactics are cheating you is so cliché), I decided that I would attempt to fill that disconnect and work it out for myself.


My first test and the example below is based on the Calgary Flames – primarily because I’m a Flames fanboy; but also because they are a slightly above average NHL team who should be able to make the play-offs but it’s not a certainty – so a good test case, IMHO.


Step 1 – What roles do each tactic need?
For this I mapped out all the roles for the top three lines of each of the games Offensive and Defensive tactics in a spreadsheet. This way I can, at a glance, see and compare the roles needed for each tactic.
I also tried to determine how attack/defence or aggressive/conservative focused each Offensive and Defensive system were. Firstly, because it’s a good thing to know and secondly, because it makes little sense to me to select a very aggressive offensive system with a very conservative defensive system or visa versa (pure conjecture). To achieve this (or at least to get an idea) I gave each of the tactical roles a value and summed up the values. The manual describes player roles in three categories Offensive/Balanced/Defensive and although they are different to Tactical Roles they match up almost one-for-one (I’ve assumed Checking Forward and Defensive Forward should be comparable). Offensive roles get a 2, balanced a 1 and 0 for defensive. From here I can order the tactics in terms of aggressiveness/offensiveness. I also tried to work in the Shoot/Pass property of offensive tactics and the forechecking property of defensive tactics into this a little, my logic being that a pass focused tactic is likely more conservative than a shoot focused one and that a heavy forecheckings tactic is more aggressive than a passive one. None of this is conclusive but I find it helps me understand the general ‘feel’ of each tactic a little better.


Step 2 – What roles suit my players?
I would love to be able to look at the players attributes and to be able to determine their best Tactical Roles, but I cannot. An good example would be how well Gaudreau and Tkachuk suit the Playmaker or Goalscorer role. Their ratings in what I would have thought are the key attributes aren’t all that different but Gaudreau get a 5 and Tkachuk gets a 3 for both. I’m sure there is a programmatic reason but I cannot figure out how they differ that much.


Therefore the only other solution was to pick two or three tactics which covered all the major Tactical Roles and place each player on the top line (I did this a line at a time) and note the scores given. I recorded any Primary Tactical Role (e.g. GoalScorer rather than Perimeter Shooter) where the player scored a 4 or 5 in at least one of the Specific Roles (e.g. Perimeter Shooter). The reason I only wanted to know the 4 and 5 scores is partly that I intend to pick my tactic based primarily based on the top two lines because getting a tactical score of three is fairly simple for most plays in many Tactical Roles (particularly the defensive ones which are very common on line 3). I ignored the Defensive Forward Tactical Role too, as high scores are very common in this role.


The results were very surprising and told me that, for this game, I didn’t understand my team all that well. I suspect this partly comes from preconceptions of the quality and the style of a player from real life – a very common failing when playing computer sports manager games (the real life player and the game player may be similar but as everyone can have a different opinion of a player the game player won’t necessarily match your opinion).


Step 3 – Picking my best lines (1 and 2) and a tactic to suit.
Before selecting a suitable offensive tactic, I discounted a few. This may not be a good idea, but I chose to discount any tactic that sounded antiquated or that used Dump zone entry. The reason for the former is simply that I was playing in the modern era of the game; the latter is partly ideological but also because I should skate or pass into the zone based on the players I had I shouldn’t need to dump the puck much. Therefore I eliminated Early Modern, Stay In Lanes, Ultraconservative Offense, Shero System, Dump and Chase and Shoot the Puck.


After much more thinking (and to cut a long story short) I decided upon Puck Control. Firstly (and by far away mostly) the roles required on the first two lines suited my team well but also I thought that a slightly conservative tactic that focused on possession sounded like a sensible modern approach.


For the defensive tactic I discounted Conservative Traditional as antiquated and The Gong Show for not being suitable to my team. Then after a process of elimination (driven by role suitability) I was left with a shortlist of: 2-3 System, Hound the Puck and Midlane Backcheck. I think that any of these would be suitable but I’ve chosen to go with 2-3 System, I think it’s probably a slightly better fit than the other two on the roles I want and it’s a slightly conservative system that matches up well with the offensive system I chose (honestly, I have no idea if this is necessary but seemed like a good idea to me).


Notes: A key consideration I had when assigning roles and planning which tactic to choose was the Defensive Forward role. I suspect that it would have a negative effect on offensive production if selected for a player, the Shadow sub-role states as much. It’s also very easy to get a tactical score of 5 for the Defensive Forward defensive role. I therefore chose NOT to select this defensive role on my best offensive player on any given line. E.g. Gaudreau is my best offensive player and could get a tactical score of 5 for the Shadow role, but he won’t be getting it as I need his offensive production.


Also, all Defensive Systems have at least one offensive role (Offensive Forward, Goalscorer, Playmaker, Power Forward) on the top line (some have more). I feel it makes most sense to assign this to your best offensive player (on the whole) so that he can concentrate on winning you the game with goals/assists. When I was selecting my defensive system I wanted to choose a system that allowed me to give Gaudreau either Offensive Forward, Goalscorer or Playmaker as he scores a 5 on these and NOT Power Forward for which he only got a 3. The most common Offensive Role in Defensive Systems is Power Forward so a few got discounted this way. Again this goes back to choosing complementary Offensive and Defensive systems.


I'll update this thread with how I get on - I've only played preseason so far but with reasonable good results.
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Old 11-16-2017, 03:44 PM   #2
Sabres2000
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how do u decide as far as defense/penalty kill pp etc
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Old 11-16-2017, 06:26 PM   #3
Dethjesta
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I'm going to look at PP and PK in more detail later. For now i'm just using Umbrella and Box.
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Old 11-16-2017, 06:36 PM   #4
Adam B
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dethjesta View Post
I'm going to look at PP and PK in more detail later. For now i'm just using Umbrella and Box.
Really liking the read so far!

Just keep in mind with Power Play and PK it's all about the type of players for the system you want to use, just like in real life.

(as a Winnipeg Jets fan), It's really fascinating to see them play 1-3-1 on PP1 and closer to the Umbrella on PP2 due to personal.
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Old 11-16-2017, 06:39 PM   #5
Sabres2000
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam B View Post
Really liking the read so far!

Just keep in mind with Power Play and PK it's all about the type of players for the system you want to use, just like in real life.

(as a Winnipeg Jets fan), It's really fascinating to see them play 1-3-1 on PP1 and closer to the Umbrella on PP2 due to personal.
in fhm4 can u even use different tactics for each pp like u discribed
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Old 11-16-2017, 06:45 PM   #6
Adam B
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sabres2000 View Post
in fhm4 can u even use different tactics for each pp like u discribed
Not yet no. You need to pick with one.
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Old 02-27-2018, 03:59 PM   #7
geisterhome
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So to be successful should I avoid systems like early modern and stay in your lanes in nonhistorical simulations?
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