Offical Tactics Thread: General / Even Strength

[gotlandskommun]

Hello pretty new to the game of ehm.. a just wonder if anyone know whats tactics thats works in Sweden..? not a download tactic just some tip whats work and not works for the bigger rinks...

[umwoz]

I'm constantly running into the issue with good goaltenders letting in 3-4 goals on 20-25 shots.

[batdad]

Not me.

[umwoz]

Oh I'm aware! Hahaha... I'm thinking of maybe dialing back the number of personal tactics I set, maybe it's messing with the chemistry a bit.

I have an Islanders game where I've been losing many games by scores of 3-2 and 4-2 while only giving up 23 shots. With HALAK in net...

[Koekenbakker]

Try safe passing and defensive for defence. Also I found out that hard back checking doesn't work for lines who re attacking minded. And the gap also did wonders for me. I had it set to normal or relaxed cause some guys are a bit slow. This resulted in lots of space to shoot. Now I'm on tight except for the slow ones. Much better!

[saberhagen83]

I've been wondering about gap control and puck pressure. I'm having these issues with defence not having very good ratings a lot of the time, even though we are winning games and playing well overall. I can also relate to letting in fair few goals on few shots at times. How much difference does gap control play into attacking players? I'm thinking gap control is more for the D-men, or am I wrong? Should I have puck pressure for my D-men (if they are good enough) or should I mainly focus on the gap to get the best out of them?

Both of these sort of require same attributes to work (according to the guide), but for me pressure is more for offence and gap is for defence otherwise I fear defenders will make alot of misstakes if I give them freedome to pressurise more.

Also my personal tactics seem to keep resetting for players. It did this during pre-season but I didn't notice untill now that several players have lost their personal settings during the playoffs.

[beefat99]

I need help with my Florida Panthers team. I have a smaller lineup with my first two lines lacking toughness but overloaded with skill.

My lines are:

Jokinen-Barkov-Boyes/Jagr
Huberdeau-Bjugstad-Boyes/Jagr
Sekac-Hayes/MacKenzie-{ } Forgot his name
Howden-Hayes/MacKenzie-Trocheck

Kulikov-Campbell
Gudbranson-Ekblad
Petrovic-Aulie/Bortuzzo/Mitchell

Now I don't coach the games myself so do should I start coaching them myself? I have a lot of picks for next year's draft as well to build up any needs I have. I honestly think my defense is the worst part of my team, but next year's Free Agency doesn't have any decent 1-2 or 3-4 defensemen.

[Primis]

No...you need to do them over in EHM EA. Reset on your own. However...the results are pretty much the same.

I copied over my .tct files from 2007 and put them in the EA folder and they load and work just fine.

Tactic files from 2007 are fine to use.

[batdad]

Cool to know.

[saberhagen83]

Quick question about defenders, if someone might have a answer to give. So I've picked up a few times that Petrovic does the same mistake over and over. Thing is, when opposition is coming at us, Gudbranson is well positioned on the left in the neutral zone, covering against the puck carrier. Out of nowhere across comes Petrovic and apply pressure on the puck carrier, leaving the right side completely exposed. Obviously the puck is passed out to their winger on that side, in the end leading to a goal against.

What may be the cause of this? I thought it had to do with puck pressure so lowered it to no real effect, in fact the scenario above is the worst one yet AFTER I lowered it. Now all I can think is if it's the position attribute that affect this behavior? Granted he only has 13 in Positioning, but would that really explain no hockey sense what so ever? I'm thinking it has to be something else causing this, maybe agresssion (set to normal), I'm out of ideas on how to fix this. Actually got so mad I waived him and brought up another defender.

[batdad]

Not sure I would trust the game in terms of its on screen performance as to what is going on in that type of play. For example in my game it appears my defense give the puck over in the corner of their own zone over and over. They shoot it into the corner and other team gets it. It has never come up as a giveaway stat. I think sometimes the game engine does not show exactly what happened on the screen. Really I just trust what the stats tell me on the player, and if that player is not screwing up all the time....giveaways, penalties for hooking etc...I think it is the game engine just messing with us to show somehow the event it simulated before showing us in the 2D version. But then again, could be a combination of things...mental attributes, anticipation, positioning, aggression, all kinds of things could cause it.

[Koekenbakker]

How about less tight gap control? As in the player getting out of position faster when he's close to the attacking player.

[batdad]

That of course could help...hence the all kinds of things

[saberhagen83]

I don't know, I feel like I can't win no matter what I do. I figured that gap control was apparently the root of most of my problems defensivly, so dropped the thinking that defenders should have a tight gap unless they are slow. Now with them normal they are finally getting better ratings and stats, but now my goalie can't save a barn door thrown at him! We are letting through like 20-25 shots most games, but we let in up to 3-5 goals way too often.

But in case of my issue with Petrovic, I suppose it is very possible the 2D doesn't show a proper representation of what happens (like you said batdad), so it may have looked worse then it actually is, even though I belive he still was out of position I suppose he may not have gone across the ice like that really. He was decent 1st half of the season but have had less good stats going for him after that, have swapped him and done better as a result. Even though we are still letting in way too many goals from like 25 shots or so. I just can't figure it out.

[RomaGoth]

I spent at least an hour looking through the site with no success. I am looking for a deeper explanation regarding the coaches tactics:

Attacking Style
Flashy Attacking Style
Straightforward Attacking Style

Defensive Style
Patient Defensive Style
Cautious but Direct Style

Patient Style
Straightforward Style
General Style

Some of them make basic sense (i.e., Defensive). I am trying to implement a puck-possession style and am curious which one of these most resembles that type of tactic. Does anyone or can anyone offer an explanation of each of these styles?

Much appreciated!

[Francois Tremblay]

It's pretty funny for me to come back to this board after many years... And seeing my name as the originator of a sticky thread! I didn't remember that this happened! I got the new EHM... long live EHM! (and for once I'm managing to win...)

[Tasku]

It's pretty funny for me to come back to this board after many years... And seeing my name as the originator of a sticky thread! I didn't remember that this happened! I got the new EHM... long live EHM! (and for once I'm managing to win...)

Probably a combination of mixed tactics threads merged into one "official" thread to keep the forum clean.

Welcome back!

[addseo1115]

Great posts. Thanks for posting the discussion here. It's so useful.

[batdad]

SO I Got this by PM, and instead of answering one I will answer here. INterestingly, all of these answers are on this board already.

A. I am not giving away all of my secrets. I took forever to find them, and so should you. It is part of the fun of the game.
B. These work with the type of players I like. Fast, big and physical. Varied results depending on A MILLION THINGS as this game has NO SIMPLE ANSWER.

anted to ask you since you seem to ''get'' the tactics in this game.

1- Do you use a pre determined tactic file for all of your games or do you always make them from scratch depending on the team/rosters you have to work with ? No they change from game to game, month to month, season to season week to week day to day and occasionally period to period. BUT LINE CHANGES so other teams cannot match lines works just as well sometimes, and often better

2- Do you always use personal tactics ? If so do you modify the settings to apply in all situations or only even strength / pp / pk ? Yes and yes

3- Is there something you always set the same way no matter what the team/rosters you have (unit tactics or personal tactics) ? NOt that I know of, except usually very offensive line tactics.

Cheers and thanks in advance !

[Vadim10]

So there is no problem when changing lines or tactics between periods? I would rather think that players don't know what to do if you change tactics or lines too often. Or is attunement no factor? Of course you can surprise your opponent by changing lines so they can't match that easy, but do your players play good enough together to get the advantage?

And how do you prevent from being counter-attacked when playing very offensive? Do you reduce the gap or is it by matching lines? I know there is not ONE answer, but there could be a small hint in the right direction

[batdad]

Cannot do it all the time, no. But occasionally I do, if it appears the team is not playing well. If I am not out shooting opponent, or someone has 5 ratings. Things like that. Will also some times change eqaul-overload-normal in between periods. I mean if they are already not doing well how much harm can you cause by moving to a different line for a period or 2?

I usually leave my tactics alone for say 5-6 sometimes 7-8 games. Just adjust the lines here and there with scratches etc. Then if still not going well, will look at tactical changes.

I have my personal tactics set appropriately for every player. I match lines maybe 3 times a year, and two of those are in the playoffs.

[Vadim10]

So you set personal tactics i.e. for a defensive pairing with one stay-at-home defender and one offensive defender, did I get that right? Sounds interesting to give it a try ... I changed tactics recently because we scored only 2.87 goals per game, now we are at 3,96 but the number of goals against has nearly doubled though my changes shouldn't have left my defense blanked. I guess it is about a lot of fine tuning necessary to get things going...

[batdad]

Yes and no. I set all the sliders for all players based on scout reports, and what type of player they are, and what I expect to get out of them when they are fully developed. For instance as the passing attribute improves on a player I change the slider on his passing.
Unless you have a very special defenseman I would not have them join rush at even strength.

[Vadim10]

I never set defensemen to join the rush unless they are excellent (17+) in stamina, stickhandling, deking and strength ... and so you can count on your fingers, how many this will be . But interesting to know (and thanks for that info) that you rely on your scout's reports to set the sliders. I relied completely to the attributes, checking their offensive attributes like passing and shooting to their defensive like pokecheck and positioning. And then I decided which one of the pairing will be the stay-at-home defender and which one (if at all) will play more offensive.

[batdad]

Well it is not like I do not look at the attributes. But if my scout (This is 2007 mind you) tell me d man is stay at home d man, I will play him to move the puck up, dump it off glass, unless he has a very high passing rating. The attributes adjust but if my scout tells me he is an offensive dman, I want him to be one despite his attributes.