High Elf Thrower & Catcher skill up

[datalorex]

I skilled up my lineman after one game with Guard like most of you suggested. He was the target just like I thought he'd be and was knocked out early in the 2nd half. I lost my second game 2-1 to a tough Orc team (every kickoff table roll messed me up good). I did skill up my a Catcher and Thrower though (normal skills).

That makes for an interesting question. Do I try to set up a combo with them since they both skilled up together? I could go with Hail Mary and Diving Catch.

I'm more inclined to give both of them dodge though. I need some defensive help. I know most of you wouldn't argue with dodge on a catcher, but what about on my thrower. He already has safe throw and pass, so should I give him accurate? It seems like overkill to give him too many offensive abilities and ignore the defense.

Opinions?

[Wylder]

Accurate for the thrower. Block or dodge for the catcher.

[Bevan]

I'm more inclined to give both of them dodge though. I need some defensive help. I know most of you wouldn't argue with dodge on a catcher, but what about on my thrower. He already has safe throw and pass, so should I give him accurate? It seems like overkill to give him too many offensive abilities and ignore the defense.

Opinions?

Safe Throw is wasted unless he is doing some long passes, so you must get Accurate. Sure Hands is the only other reasonable option. Why protect a player with Dodge when he doesn't have skills worth protecting?

Yes, I would argue with Dodge on a Catcher. Get Block first. Your team needs more Block players than Dodge. You could get Dodge on the 2nd Catcher who gains a skill, but only after Block on the first.

[Robotorz]

block - catcher
why? Helps on offensiv and passive blocks. Elves dodge quite good enough w/ out a dodge.


accurate - thrower
makes passing easier. on a side-note: surehands or block are nice too depens on how you play.

I for example play a passing game with elves - so the ball changes place and player often.

If you prefare a running game block or surehands might be more usefull to you.

[datalorex]

Safe Throw is wasted unless he is doing some long passes, so you must get Accurate. Sure Hands is the only other reasonable option. Why protect a player with Dodge when he doesn't have skills worth protecting?

Yes, I would argue with Dodge on a Catcher. Get Block first. Your team needs more Block players than Dodge. You could get Dodge on the 2nd Catcher who gains a skill, but only after Block on the first.

HElf Passers start with Safe Throw. I didn't chose it. And you ALWAYS want to protect your Thrower on an elf team.

Block on a catcher seems pointless. Your catcher needs to be able to dodge through a lot of tackle zones and survive when it gets blitzed the next turn. Then it can dodge out of the way and into the endzone to catch a TD! How does block help with that?

[datalorex]

block - catcher
why? Helps on offensiv and passive blocks. Elves dodge quite good enough w/ out a dodge.

accurate - thrower
makes passing easier. on a side-note: surehands or block are nice too depens on how you play.

I for example play a passing game with elves - so the ball changes place and player often.

If you prefare a running game block or surehands might be more usefull to you.

Catcher's shouldn't be making "passive blocks." They should be moving. I can use someone else to blitz someone off the catcher or it can dodge out on its own.

If you think dodging is so easy for elves, then picking up balls is just as easy, so why consider surehands?

[Bevan]

Safe Throw is wasted unless he is doing some long passes, so you must get Accurate. Sure Hands is the only other reasonable option. Why protect a player with Dodge when he doesn't have skills worth protecting?

Yes, I would argue with Dodge on a Catcher. Get Block first. Your team needs more Block players than Dodge. You could get Dodge on the 2nd Catcher who gains a skill, but only after Block on the first.

HElf Passers start with Safe Throw. I didn't chose it. And you ALWAYS want to protect your Thrower on an elf team.

Block on a catcher seems pointless. Your catcher needs to be able to dodge through a lot of tackle zones and survive when it gets blitzed the next turn. Then it can dodge out of the way and into the endzone to catch a TD! How does block help with that?

Obviously you play differently from me so ignore everthing I said.

My thrower never ends a turn holding the ball, unless he is way up the back where noone can reach him. So he rarely gets blitzed and doesn't need protection as much as the others.

You may not have given him Safe Throw, but you paid for it when you bought him, so make use of it.

After HE Catchers get block they make better Blitzers than the HE Blitzers, due to the difference in movement. At any given time only 1 Catcher can have the ball, so the others are free to attack.

Even if he has the ball, blitzing a gap is often just as useful as dodging through a gap.

[TennBoy]

Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 1:32 am Post subject: High Elf Thrower & Catcher skill up

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I skilled up my lineman after one game with Guard like most of you suggested. He was the target just like I thought he'd be and was knocked out early in the 2nd half.

Thats ok, when you only have one guy with guard use him more as a bodyguard for the ball carrier, this will drive your opposition nuts when they have to get three guys to blitz your ball carrier or have two guys waste the blitz on the guard guy and just put tackle zones on your ball carrier, if this happens all the better cause you still have the ball and with AV8 your guy has a decent chance of staying on the field .

Stay the course, get more lineelfs with guard on doubles and watch your opponents start to cry.

[Cramy]

block - catcher
why? Helps on offensiv and passive blocks. Elves dodge quite good enough w/ out a dodge.

accurate - thrower
makes passing easier. on a side-note: surehands or block are nice too depens on how you play.

I for example play a passing game with elves - so the ball changes place and player often.

If you prefare a running game block or surehands might be more usefull to you.

Catcher's shouldn't be making "passive blocks." They should be moving. I can use someone else to blitz someone off the catcher or it can dodge out on its own.

If you think dodging is so easy for elves, then picking up balls is just as easy, so why consider surehands?

You said you needed more help on defence than on offence? Then block on the Catcher will help a lot. Catchers, with their 8 MA, are great blitzers once they get Block. And you only get 2 Blitzers on the roster.

Block will help him when getting hit on offence too. Block is never, never a bad choice for the Catchers. Block then Dodge and NoS on a couple of catchers. With the Safe Throw Throwers with Accurate, you have a close to unstoppable passing game.

Your Blitzers, I would give them Tackle first to help of Defence. For the other two Catchers, you can develp them as defence specialists with block, dodge, pass block, shadowing, tackle, side step (not all of these obviously ... depending on what teams you play against and your style of play.

I like to consider the two Blitzers and the 4 Catchers as the 6 do-it-all positionals.

Specialise in scoring and causing turnovers. Or specialise in the hit-and-run tactic, whatever you like.

[Father911]

As an alternative strategy.

With Pass, Safe throw and AV 8 High elf throwers make great runners. Give him dump off and nerves of steel and your opponent will have to defend against the passing and running game.

Give the catcher leap. MV 8 and leap means he can get to just about anywhere. Block is less usefull if you can't get to where you need to be first.

[Snew]

I don't know why you guys are trying. Apparently datalorex knows way more than the rest of you. Guard was a bad choice so you can't be trusted now. I can't wait to see how Cramy's suggestion is using the players all wrong, probably because he's not familiar with the roster or AG4. I'd say let him choke on his vomit and move on but I want to hear what you suggest. I'm always learning from you guys who are willing to give up some knowledge. It's always great to hear what Bevan has to say, especially since he posts so seldom.

Datalorex, you might just shut up and listen for a minute.

[TuernRedvenom]

I skilled up my lineman after one game with Guard like most of you suggested. He was the target just like I thought he'd be and was knocked out early in the 2nd half.

Sounds like he did his job then!

Catcher's shouldn't be making "passive blocks." They should be moving. I can use someone else to blitz someone off the catcher or it can dodge out on its own.

Blocking is always preferable to dodging! A dodge with dodge will fail 1 in 36 times and you cannot reroll it. However if you blitz the guy free instead of dodging him your chances of turnover are less as a 2-die block with block has 1 in 36 chances of failing BUT you can still use your reroll making it a lot safer.
Dodge is a good skill for catchers but for High Elves early in development Block is better. You only start with 2 players with block on the roster which is a big liability for "stupid" turnovers.
And block protects your players better then Dodge as it cannot be negated by tackle.
Block also helps advancing your team, you'll score those touchdowns anyway with elves but to score cas you need any help you can get.

Don't get me wrong dodge is an absolutely vital skil for elves, but Block is even more vital early on.

As for the thrower, I usually advocate building every elf player with defensive skills as they don't need help on offence but a thrower (only one though) is the only exception I make to that since he can have such a huge impact. It forces your opponent to cover every receiver even if they are spread out wide and he's got your middle man marked.

[datalorex]

As an alternative strategy.

With Pass, Safe throw and AV 8 High elf throwers make great runners. Give him dump off and nerves of steel and your opponent will have to defend against the passing and running game.

Give the catcher leap. MV 8 and leap means he can get to just about anywhere. Block is less usefull if you can't get to where you need to be first.

I was actually considering Leap too. If I need to get by a defender, I would have to make a leap roll (3 or higher) and then a dodge roll (2 or higher). If I had dodge, I would have to to 3 dodge rolls to get by the defender. Even with a reroll because of the Dodge ability, it's less trustworthy.

The only reason I'm still leaning towards Dodge is because I need a way to keep on my feet when the defenders swarm me after I get around the first set of defenders.

[datalorex]

I don't know why you guys are trying. Apparently datalorex knows way more than the rest of you. Guard was a bad choice so you can't be trusted now. I can't wait to see how Cramy's suggestion is using the players all wrong, probably because he's not familiar with the roster or AG4. I'd say let him choke on his vomit and move on but I want to hear what you suggest. I'm always learning from you guys who are willing to give up some knowledge. It's always great to hear what Bevan has to say, especially since he posts so seldom.

Datalorex, you might just shut up and listen for a minute.

Wow, flaming an newbie. Way to grow the community. I thought this was a DISCUSSION board. I need to know the thoughts behind player choices so I can get better. I'm not just going to take people at their word without understanding the logic behind it.

I took Guard like was suggested. I'm glad I did, and I learned a lot from the discussion. I'm learning a lot from this board too.

Thanks warriors!

[datalorex]

Then block on the Catcher will help a lot. Catchers, with their 8 MA, are great blitzers once they get Block. And you only get 2 Blitzers on the roster.
Block will help him when getting hit on offence too. Block is never, never a bad choice for the Catchers. Block then Dodge and NoS on a couple of catchers. With the Safe Throw Throwers with Accurate, you have a close to unstoppable passing game.
I like to consider the two Blitzers and the 4 Catchers as the 6 do-it-all positionals.
Specialise in scoring and causing turnovers. Or specialise in the hit-and-run tactic, whatever you like.

This is what I'm talking about! You guys are making great points about using block. Should I be concerned about my catchers having 7 AV? That's what makes me scared to use them as blitzers.