How do you guys use Kick?

[Mootaz]

I was wondering if I use the Kick skill to its fullest. Normally I place the ball at either X or Y, depending on if I play a slow or a fast team. Of course I chose the side depending on where it makes sense so it could also be on the right side
The place is chosen because I think this is the best location to try to get the ball in the corners or near them. It's a distance of 4 fields to the bounds, so if there's no Bad Kick, it cannot go out.

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....|X......|....
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....|Y......|....
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How do you use Kick and do you have any hints on ball placement?

[Strider_fr]

What you suggest is the most sensible choice if you need the ball not to go out of bounds (and you're lucky enough not to get a Bad Kick).

However, if you're willing to try something a bit more risky (and still ignoring Bad Kick results), you could try :

(4,4) which stays on the pitch 96 (edit) times out of 100.

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...X|.......|.... 
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...Y|.......|.... 
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or
(4,5) which stays on the pitch 98 (edit) times out of 100.

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....|X......|.... 
...X|.......|.... 
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...Y|.......|.... 
....|Y......|.... 
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If someone feels like checking my maths, please do.

One footnote about LRB5 : there's no Bad Kick result anymore, which makes taking a little risk even more worth it.



edit : I checked my maths. I was actually being pessimistic.

[wesleytj]

right...moo you use it pretty conservatively. I only do it that way when having the ball go out of bounds would be totally catastrophic.

I count in diagonally 3 squares, which is even a bit more aggressive than strider's suggestions. Ignoring bad kick, which you can't really plan for anyway, the ball won't go out very often at all...though i don't feel like doing the math on it.

[Gorbad]

For strength teams with kick (and loads of guard), I sometimes do this one, giving average odds of the ball scattering next to a few TZ's, and otherwise atleast be in a reachable position. (P's are my players)

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....|.......|.... <--- on this line, depending on
....|.......|....        where the LOS guys are
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[Axtklinge]

It realy depends on who I'm playing with, and against.
Against slow teams I try to place it as close to their end zone as possible for obvious reasons, while against fast teams I concentrate more on keeping the ball on the field as they'll get it fast enough wherever the ball goes.

Axt

[Matsu]

To combine the two major thoughts in this thread, I do the following:

1. Against fast teams, I put it closer to the LOS to try to create havoc.

2. Against slower teams, I put it farther from the LOS to make it harder for them to build a cage at the LOS.

3. Against teams that pick up the ball easily, I put it closer to the edge of the field (usually the 4th square in diagonally)

4. Against teams that have trouble picking up the ball (Khemri, CDwarves, etc.), I put it far enough away from the edges so that they can't give it to a player "for free".

I generally use the same strategy as Strider (and I think the OP is being a bit too conservative), but I mostly wanted to point out that against low AG teams you want to force them to try to pick up the ball - never give them the freebie.

[Mootaz]

OK, basically what all of you are saying is that I'm too conservative with my kick. Preventing the out-of-bound is only really necessary against Khemri, etc, otherwise I should kick 1 field nearer to the edge. Makes sense, Thx guys.

[Ravage]

I use kick extremely aggressively, but usually only against fast/agile teams where they'll likely get the ball anyway. 2 squares away from the corner of the pitch, so on a 6 in 3 directions the ball will go out - and even on a 4-5, a bounce may send the ball out if it does go in one of those three directions. Against slower teams, I'll hedge my bets to 3 squares away from the corner of the pitch, since only a bounce from one of those three directions will send the ball off the pitch - still aggresive and can backfire, but the odds are good enough that I choose to take the risk.

[Richy]

This tool is handy for working out the odds of the ball going out of bounds:

http://www.ee.oulu.fi/~ttokola/BB/kick/

You just click on where you want to kick on the map on the right and it gives you the odds. There was a post about it ages ago.

[duff]

I use the short kick in combo with a couple of passblockers to try to force a pass from in passblock range of the line.

[Dave]

agree .. the use (my use) of kick is determined by botht he opposing team AND the abilities of my own team. On fast teams (Welf's, Helfs) a deep kick is essential, if dependant on teh opposing team's setup, to get to the ball before the opposition does ..

[browwnrob]

I like using this, sometimes throws the opponent off and with luck can exploit one side

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-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  X  X  O  -  -  -  -  
-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  
   -  X  -  -  X  -  -  X  -  -  -  X  -  -  
-  X  -  -  X  -  -  X  -  -  -  -  -  X   -  

O - is an Ogre usually I put the ball with kick at 4,4 on the opponents light side