Vampire development

[Cooper]

Ok,...i started my team with 2 Vamps and 5 RR's

i had some tough game sin the beginning resulting in dead thralls, not a lot of money and a lot of SI's,...

now we are getting there, i just won the 3rd in a row, but i am rolling pretty good for the Vampires,....
i chose pro as first skill on both the 2 starting vamps. This wasnt the best choice,...should have been block. 5 RR's and 2 Vamps can be handled without pro. Once you get more vampires you need pro ofcourse.

first one has pro-block
second one has pro +AG
third one has +ST

My first idea was to make that third one into block-dodge-guard-sidestep something, but the ST isnt that bad,...but what to give him next? Block? Guard?

I would like to make someone block-guard-mightyblowt-tackle as well,...but all these skills...thats hard to get,...and thats even if i DONT take pro,...

what do you think is best? Pro everywhere? and thereby make an allright-allround team, or go with some hitters without pro.

the AG5 guy is my passer at the moment,...what to give him next? i was thinking leap perhaps? or just dodge or block?

W

[cyagen]

Blodge is NEVER a bad thing to have, makes you hard to bring down.

I would go Block on the +1 St then dodge

and Dodge then Block on the +1 AG

Never forget that you need to be polyvalent, aging can play havoc with development plans.

[Ravage]

you need block OR dodge, certainly. I dont think it's always a requirement to have them both on vamps when they have access to so many categories of skills. And if you're positioning them properly and allowing the vamps to play the roles you define for them, you shouldnt have to worry about them being hit too often.

Personally on the +ST, I'd go block next. He needs to be your hitter, but I would go for something other than Dodge after that... tackle, MB would probably be my top 2 choices (I have a 6/5/5/8 block/tackle vamp on fumbbl myself )

on +ag I'd go for dodge, then either sure hands or a passing skill. If you want to make him a ballhandler/passer as opposed to an offensive guy (in which case you can never go wrong with AG5/leap), you want to get him moving in that specialized direction soon.

get guard on the pro-block vamp next. and if you EVER roll doubles on a thrall, get guard there every time. (unless it's his second or it's a +ST... personally I'd pass up the MA from a 5-5 to get guard instead)

Pro is nice on vamps, but only if you're building a "generic" lineup of them. Otherwise if you've got the RR's and you arent putting too many vamps on the pitch at once, I think one or two vamps having pro is more than enough. Others would probably disagree... but as you said yourself, taking pro first is a bad choice because while you're preventing some ofabs, your vamps are still just as "vanilla" as when they started. And you want them to get some useful offensive/defensive skills under their belts ASAP.

[mattiash]

When I made a vampire team I chose Pro as first skill for all of the vamps. BUt I soon found that I often used a team RR instead because I didn't dare fail that OFAB roll, especially on a blitz. It came down to me almost never using the Pro on the vampires, so personly I rather use other RR-saving skills like Dodge and Block to save those TRR for the OFAB roll.