Vampires....are they any good?

Morgy1970 · Post by **Morgy1970** » Tue May 17, 2005 7:57 am

Whats the verdict?.....i am interetsed in peoples experiences with and agianst them.....

Joemanji · Post by **Joemanji** » Tue May 17, 2005 5:15 pm

In a word: no.

That said, they are similar to Chaos and Ogres in that, whilst they start poorly, if you persevere with them eventually you might end up with a reasonable team. In theory, Pro can be a very useful skill for minimising the effects of Bloodthirst. I don't know if anyone has actually gone down the route of giving every Vampire Pro as a first skill choice; I too would interested in this kind of feedback.

I still think Bloodthirst casualties should be limited to BH. Thralls, at AV7, take enough damage as it is.

Tritex · Post by **Tritex** » Tue May 17, 2005 5:29 pm

I still think they should have a blood suck special attack against opponents and injure them when the lust comes on. Could be more interesting.

Frankly I have enough issues with my players & opposition without them beating each other up!

Skummy · Post by **Skummy** » Tue May 17, 2005 6:08 pm

Having played with the Vamps a fair amount, I've had some good results taking pro on the vamps early. They are a very interesting team, but do better against inexperienced coaches. Bash teams make very short work of them, and can do a ton of damage.

Generally, I like to have twice as many rerolls as vamps on the field, and I've never fielded more than 4 at a time. If you get the rolls going, they can be extremely difficult to stop, though.

falconeyed · Post by **falconeyed** » Tue May 17, 2005 8:35 pm

After playing an entire season with them, I can unequivocally say that they are NOT worth the lead they're molded out of. The thralls are excruciatingly frail and the vamps are simply not reliable enough to make the plays that they invariably need to make. Thralls more or less should be used to get in the way in order to let the vamps make plays, but more often than not, things will fall apart.

Pro as a first skill is almost automatic, in order to better control the lust, but by the time they have pro, most other similar ball-handlers will have block, dodge, etc.

If the thralls had AV8 as opposed to AV7, then it might be somewhat easier, but the vamp game ends up with a KO / CAS box full of thralls, which doesn't leave enough support for the vamps.

Someone else said it best ... vamps live and die with the ridiculous play ... something along the lines of a double gaze, followed by a third vamp blitzing the ball carrier, followed by a fourth picking up the ball and pitching it to an open thrall. However, if you're scoring TDs with thralls, you're wasting SPPS.

I would look elsewhere if you're looking to start a new team.

Gandhi · Post by **Gandhi** » Wed May 18, 2005 6:32 am

Why does everyone kick them?

My personal experience with Vamps is, that they are no super-duper team BUT you can have a lot of fun with them. Most people get bored when it comes to essential moves and the Vamps start to suck (well...blood) just when they are suposed to get the ball moving. Ok, thats tough.

BUT

with Vamps it's like playing with murphy's law. You just have to know that your moves won't turn out any good with those thirsty blokes oon the field, like they would with another team. You just have to adapt to their style.

We had a pretty tough season (team-wise) and in the end it turned out, that the Human coach and the coach of the fragile Vamps had to play the final. Why, you ask? Well the other coaches aren't inexperienced but the Vamps coach simply played the Vamps like it should be done (and not even with fortuna as sideline staff) and won his matches due to this playing style. (Don't ask me how they should be played, though

)

The point is: They are a decent team. Some coaches can't get more out of them as out of a gobbo team, some coaches can take them over the edge. They don't like risky plays, since they won't forgive any mistakes (even self-inflicted) but having that in mind one can start to play them that way.

My 2 cents

Gus · Post by **Gus** » Thu May 19, 2005 3:16 am

vamps are very interesting.they play like no other team. you have to rely on positioning and potential and threats. you have to refrain from moving all your vamps every turn. just let them positioned so that your opponent HAS to act as if you would move them, but don't risk OFAB for nothing or almost. don't field more than 3 vamps. keep a pool of rookie thralls from which to drink, and to put on the LoS. try to skill your vamps, at their price, they need to have an impact, and not just stand there doing nothing.
as a development, i'd say pro then dodge on most, excluding doubles and stat increases of course. +AG and +ST is good, i wouldn't bother with +MA though: while it is of course always nice to go faster, they earn skills too rarely, or rather, have so much skills to take, to have the luxury to take a +MA.
you need to start a team with no less that 4 RR, 5 being good, and get 6 as soon as you can, i'd say after you get a 4th vampire. of course, considering their price, you should always have almost max thralls. when your thralls get a permanent injury, don't fire them as you would in another team; use them on the LoS or as a snack, better eat that -MA,NI thrall than the Block,Guard right ?

Morgy1970 · Post by **Morgy1970** » Thu May 19, 2005 3:32 am

Good run down thanks Gus......I have started a Vamp team in Fumbbl to practice for real life......played 2 games so far and i am happy with their performace.....have had a loss and a draw but both were close and with some more positional practice i know i can improve......i try to limit the Vamps moving at all and so i liek to play a defensive game......when receiving i like to try for the fast TD and take risks to get it........I have tried to always tag team a thrall with no spp with the vamp and move him ahead to where the vamp has to be in case i fail OFAB......thanks ot all for their input and i shall keep you informed......