Talking 'bout tactics

DFyvie · 11-05-2016, 02:31 PM

Just thought we could have a discussion on tactics (ie what tactics are we using, why, and how they work).

I'm using the 2016 Flames and using the Activated D/1-3-1 forecheck. I also employ the Inside 1-3-1 powerplay and Diamond PK. Reason for using these? The Flames have a deep corps of mobile d-men and both 5v5 tactics require your blue-liners to have mobility. So far the results have been a 1-2 loss to the Oilers in Edmonton, and a 7-2 win against the Oilers in Calgary. So a pretty small sample size.

One thing that seemed to help, in the second game, was making minor role changes going into the 3rd period with a 2 goal lead. I also slowed the pace down and reduced offensive risk-taking. Oh.. and Talbot was a sieve.

Torgonius · 11-05-2016, 03:11 PM

I love some of the work that went into the descriptions... like for 'Shoot the Puck' - "An approach often vocally exhorted by fans but, for some reason, avoided by the less knowledgeable coaching staff, "

As a coach (USA Hockey Level 5), this tactics system is a (I'd say home run, but that's the wrong sport) hat trick.

There are still some tweaks that can be made to make it a natural hat trick, like having an Advance Scout (good at Evaluating Ability, Offensive and Defensive Skills) that could report out on the upcoming opponent both in terms of tactics they employ and the roles their players take.

Having our own scout or assistant coach report on our team's players best fit for roles would also go a long way towards helping people get the most out of the system, especially those who may not have as in depth a knowledge of hockey.

Another tweak I'd make is to have a simple animation of the formation in use playing in some of the dead space on the Tactics screen. I love the descriptions, but I know there are some people who need the visual to actually understand the concept.

I'm developing an alternate reality playthrough of the season where I'm describing the various choices, and why they would or wouldn't be a good fit for the team using the ratings of the players as plugged into the system.

For my team, I'm also leaning Activated D, but Left Wing Lock for defense. 1-3-1 PP and Diamond PK.

And one other tweak, now that I think of it, is when we choose a 'non-traditional' tactic, like 1-3-1 PP, instead of describing the roles/positions for the lines in terms of LW, C, RW, LD, RD, adapt the positions to 'Left Circle, Net Front, High Slot, Right Circle, Point'. You always know where you're going to find Ovechkin, Stamkos or Tavares on the PP. They are camping out at the top of the circle / side boards... For Ovechkin, since he's a winger, it seems more natural, but Stamkos and Tavares are centers, Do I line them up at Center, or should they be in a Wing slot for the PP?

DFyvie · 11-05-2016, 05:10 PM

Yeah.. the Tactics and the ability to augment them in-game is a massive improvement over the previous version.

I like the idea of the advanced scout giving you a break down of the opponent's system and suggestions for breaking it down (within your own system).

And yeah.. the animation was something I was thinking too. I love the game and watch a lot of it.. but I never played as a kid so some of the tactics take me a bit longer to formulate in my imagination. There's not too much online, but the written descriptions in the tactic section are really well done.

DFyvie · 11-07-2016, 02:47 AM

So.. the Activated D and 1-3-1 forecheck have been abandoned. Basically I was giving the puck away too cheaply and being too passive without the puck. As a result I've changed my approach (and re-started the game) and have gone with something a bit more focussed on puck retention on offense and something a bit more aggressive on defense: Puck Control/Half-Ice Overload. With any luck I can reduce giveaways and increase takeaways. We'll see how it goes.

beezer2434 · 11-07-2016, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DFyvie

So.. the Activated D and 1-3-1 forecheck have been abandoned. Basically I was giving the puck away too cheaply and being too passive without the puck. As a result I've changed my approach (and re-started the game) and have gone with something a bit more focussed on puck retention on offense and something a bit more aggressive on defense: Puck Control/Half-Ice Overload. With any luck I can reduce giveaways and increase takeaways. We'll see how it goes.

Puck control for offensive tactic is my favorite so far...for the top 2 lines im using:
power forward-sniper-playmaker
Power forward-playmaker-two way player

3rd line im using two-ways and defensive

4th line going with the power forward-playmaker-two way again.

I also flipped flopped the minutes of the 3rd and 4th line since we can use whatever combo we want on the 4th line

Ladd-Tavares-Barzal
Lee-Strome-Nelson
Kulemin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck
Chimera-Beauvillier-Bailey

DFyvie · 11-08-2016, 04:56 AM

One thing I have noticed.. is that I am extremely bad at in-game adjustments. I seem to always let the game get away from me in the 3rd period. Has anyone else experienced this? I get that you can change roles for each player.. but I am wondering if I should be tightening up my system in the 3rd.. or opening it up.. I can never really get it right. I feel like the minute I tighten up the tactics (more defensive) I give up a goal.. and likewise when I loosen it up for more offense. It's pretty frustrating. Perhaps I should juggle the lines more.

DFyvie · 11-20-2016, 02:30 PM

Have been experimenting with some different tactics. Puck Control seems to be used by most of the teams in the league (sandbox 2016).. that and Stretching the D. I've yet to really try too many offensive systems yet.. but my team seems to mesh well with the Brooks System and the Cycle with respects to getting the puck to the net.

I feel Puck Control almost suppresses your offence along with suppressing your opponent's offense.

One thing I've noticed/learned is to spread out the icetime more.. your top lines and players get all the icetime due to special teams anyway.. but you won't get lit up late in games if you give the 4th line more time. I've been going with 18, 15, 15, and 12 minutes for the offensive lines.

11-05-2016, 02:31 PM	#1
DFyvie Major Leagues Join Date: May 2014 Location: Cambridge, UK Posts: 370 Blog Entries: 2	Talking 'bout tactics Just thought we could have a discussion on tactics (ie what tactics are we using, why, and how they work). I'm using the 2016 Flames and using the Activated D/1-3-1 forecheck. I also employ the Inside 1-3-1 powerplay and Diamond PK. Reason for using these? The Flames have a deep corps of mobile d-men and both 5v5 tactics require your blue-liners to have mobility. So far the results have been a 1-2 loss to the Oilers in Edmonton, and a 7-2 win against the Oilers in Calgary. So a pretty small sample size. One thing that seemed to help, in the second game, was making minor role changes going into the 3rd period with a 2 goal lead. I also slowed the pace down and reduced offensive risk-taking. Oh.. and Talbot was a sieve.

11-05-2016, 03:11 PM	#2
Torgonius All Star Reserve Join Date: Nov 2013 Posts: 826	I love some of the work that went into the descriptions... like for 'Shoot the Puck' - "An approach often vocally exhorted by fans but, for some reason, avoided by the less knowledgeable coaching staff, " As a coach (USA Hockey Level 5), this tactics system is a (I'd say home run, but that's the wrong sport) hat trick. There are still some tweaks that can be made to make it a natural hat trick, like having an Advance Scout (good at Evaluating Ability, Offensive and Defensive Skills) that could report out on the upcoming opponent both in terms of tactics they employ and the roles their players take. Having our own scout or assistant coach report on our team's players best fit for roles would also go a long way towards helping people get the most out of the system, especially those who may not have as in depth a knowledge of hockey. Another tweak I'd make is to have a simple animation of the formation in use playing in some of the dead space on the Tactics screen. I love the descriptions, but I know there are some people who need the visual to actually understand the concept. I'm developing an alternate reality playthrough of the season where I'm describing the various choices, and why they would or wouldn't be a good fit for the team using the ratings of the players as plugged into the system. For my team, I'm also leaning Activated D, but Left Wing Lock for defense. 1-3-1 PP and Diamond PK. And one other tweak, now that I think of it, is when we choose a 'non-traditional' tactic, like 1-3-1 PP, instead of describing the roles/positions for the lines in terms of LW, C, RW, LD, RD, adapt the positions to 'Left Circle, Net Front, High Slot, Right Circle, Point'. You always know where you're going to find Ovechkin, Stamkos or Tavares on the PP. They are camping out at the top of the circle / side boards... For Ovechkin, since he's a winger, it seems more natural, but Stamkos and Tavares are centers, Do I line them up at Center, or should they be in a Wing slot for the PP?

11-05-2016, 05:10 PM	#3
DFyvie Major Leagues Join Date: May 2014 Location: Cambridge, UK Posts: 370 Blog Entries: 2	Yeah.. the Tactics and the ability to augment them in-game is a massive improvement over the previous version. I like the idea of the advanced scout giving you a break down of the opponent's system and suggestions for breaking it down (within your own system). And yeah.. the animation was something I was thinking too. I love the game and watch a lot of it.. but I never played as a kid so some of the tactics take me a bit longer to formulate in my imagination. There's not too much online, but the written descriptions in the tactic section are really well done.

11-07-2016, 02:47 AM	#4
DFyvie Major Leagues Join Date: May 2014 Location: Cambridge, UK Posts: 370 Blog Entries: 2	So.. the Activated D and 1-3-1 forecheck have been abandoned. Basically I was giving the puck away too cheaply and being too passive without the puck. As a result I've changed my approach (and re-started the game) and have gone with something a bit more focussed on puck retention on offense and something a bit more aggressive on defense: Puck Control/Half-Ice Overload. With any luck I can reduce giveaways and increase takeaways. We'll see how it goes.

11-08-2016, 04:56 AM	#6
DFyvie Major Leagues Join Date: May 2014 Location: Cambridge, UK Posts: 370 Blog Entries: 2	One thing I have noticed.. is that I am extremely bad at in-game adjustments. I seem to always let the game get away from me in the 3rd period. Has anyone else experienced this? I get that you can change roles for each player.. but I am wondering if I should be tightening up my system in the 3rd.. or opening it up.. I can never really get it right. I feel like the minute I tighten up the tactics (more defensive) I give up a goal.. and likewise when I loosen it up for more offense. It's pretty frustrating. Perhaps I should juggle the lines more.

11-20-2016, 02:30 PM	#7
DFyvie Major Leagues Join Date: May 2014 Location: Cambridge, UK Posts: 370 Blog Entries: 2	Have been experimenting with some different tactics. Puck Control seems to be used by most of the teams in the league (sandbox 2016).. that and Stretching the D. I've yet to really try too many offensive systems yet.. but my team seems to mesh well with the Brooks System and the Cycle with respects to getting the puck to the net. I feel Puck Control almost suppresses your offence along with suppressing your opponent's offense. One thing I've noticed/learned is to spread out the icetime more.. your top lines and players get all the icetime due to special teams anyway.. but you won't get lit up late in games if you give the 4th line more time. I've been going with 18, 15, 15, and 12 minutes for the offensive lines.