Tactics for my line-up

[miked1991]

Something seems to be going wrong with my stratagy. I'm in my 2nd season now with New York Rangers. Tried a few things myself but not helping, so I thought I'd post up here the players I've got.

Forwards

Prucha - Immonen - St Louis
Nilson - Drury - Jagr
Dawes - Hollweg - Konsorada
Boogard - Kesler - Callahan

Defence

Niedermayer - Hannan
M Staal - Ferance
Baranka - Rivet

Goalies

Lundqvist & Jaeger


Seems to me my team is strong enough. Its an improvment on last season I think, where I got to the conferance final but lost in 7 games against the Flyers (who won the cup), probably cause Jagr got injured in game 3 (i was winning 2-0!)

Can you give me any help with the tactics I want with these players?

[Shadd666]

Not a bad team you have! Even if i'm not 100% i'll choose the same lineup, but that's an other question.

To give you a better help with your tactics, tell us what tactics you actually use, and what goes wrong with your team/lines/players.

Then we could give you greater help to set your tactics and solve what's actually wrong in your team

[Shadd666]

Not a bad team you have! Even if i'm not 100% i'll choose the same lineup, but that's an other question.

To give you a better help with your tactics, tell us what tactics you actually use, and what goes wrong with your team/lines/players.

Then we could give you greater help to set your tactics and solve what's actually wrong in your team

[miked1991]

I keep most my sliders in the middle. I usually play tighter gap control though, but thats about the only change. As for other tactics, I use 2 differant tactics usually because of a top I saw on here saying to do that to prevent my opponents from countering my tactics later in the season, which really helped me last season.

I've been using one set a lot more though so far this season that the other. I use...

Breakouts - Freeflowing
Neutral Zone - Crisscross
Offencive Zone - Tringular
Forecheck - Forecheck Low
Neutral Zone Defencive - 1-2-2
Defencive Zone - Open
Offencive Facoffs - Drop Point
Defencive Faceoffs - Overload

My PP and PK are ok (20% and 90%), so I won't go into those.

As for whats going wrong, I'm regulally throwing away a lead of about 2 goals in most games and losing in OT or by one in regular time. Occansionally I've held on or got a lucky break and won by one, but not often. Games are reasonably high scoring, with about 7 goals overall on average, and a lot of 4-2 losses (after 2-0 up).



Is that all you need to know?

[Thundercleese]

Are those tactics the same for every line? It's always a good idea to have a checking line with players that are strong defensively and to play to those strengths in your tactical setup. Don't have them trying to crisscross or pull fancy moves, keep the forecheck conservative (2-2-1 is what I use), keep the breakouts simple (board play is what I use), match your lines so that your fourth is up against their first and set forward distribution to equal. On personal tactics set the checking RW is up against the opposing team's top LW and so on. Also, when you get a lead you might try unchecking the 'use unit tactics' box and setting your entire team to a more defensive mindset with the sliders at the bottom left of the tactics screen.

[Shadd666]

When you have your 2 goals lead, i suggest you to change your breakouts to positionnal or boardplay. Freeflowing requires a certain touch of creativity, as you're players don't have any specific positionning and they go out of the zone on instinct... But somtimes they may be wrong on their instinct and so make costly mistakes. Boardplay breakouts genereally requires strong players, especially the winger. As they'll along the boards, they'll take some hits and will have to resist.

The same way, turn your forecheck to 1-2-2 when you have your lead. Along with the 1-2-2 in the neutral zone defensive, it will make you play the trap system, which usually allows fewer goals without tiring your players that much.

For the sliders, maybe not a good idea to have all of them in the middle... Playing on your strengths is the key! Use the stars ratings displayed for each of your lines in the unit tactics to see where are your strength and your weaknesses. And know well every of the players who is on the lines, so you'd see better what are the strength (stars ratings is just an help, but not a complete approach).

As Thundercleese mentionned above, line matching can be usefull when you're up. I suggest you to have a strong defensive line (both D-men AND forwards) on your third or fourth line (i prefer having it on the third, some prefer the fourth...). When you're up, match this line with your opponent's top line.

[E5150_ca]

For the sliders, maybe not a good idea to have all of them in the middle... Playing on your strengths is the key! Use the stars ratings displayed for each of your lines in the unit tactics to see where are your strength and your weaknesses. And know well every of the players who is on the lines, so you'd see better what are the strength (stars ratings is just an help, but not a complete approach).

I think Shad hit it on the button here. With all your sliders in the middle, your just kinda telling your players to go out there and play hockey. Give each line (and in special cases, each player) individual tactics that will emphasize there strengths and downplay their weaknesses.

[timmy_t]

You can learn more about their strengths and weaknesses by looking at their scouting reports. Use the info there to help with the individual sliders.

[miked1991]

ok I understand what your saying, but I'm not sure how to go about it. Not entirely sure who should go on each line, and also where to put my sliders for each line (ie is it best to have your best players play more aggressivly in an attempt to score and leave the weaker ones of defencive and just try not to concede with them?). also the offencive zone choices and faceoff choices. I've read the tactics guide and know what they all do, but it doesn't help me much with knowing what would work best for my team.

[Thundercleese]

If you have defensemen with big shots set faceoffs to point shot. I've played around with faceoffs a bit and it doesn't seem to make a tremendous amount of difference how you set up, it's whether you win or lose the draws that counts. Aggression usually dictates how players hit and check. High aggression means they'll go out of their way to level the other team which often can result in penalties or breakaways by the other team. It can be good to have that intimidation factor on a line, but don't overdo it or you'll be in the box all game long. For a checking line you want players with high defensive attriubtes: checking, pokecheck, positioning, anticipation, bravery, work rate, etc. get those guys together on a line to match up against the other team's top scorers. If you have to trade for guys who are better at this than your current lineup you should do so, a checking line is a very important element to a team's success. For sliders, keep your checking line on defensive or very defensive, backchecking hard, aggression depends on the players themselves...gap control should probably be on the tight side, puck pressure and hitting I have on high in most situations; tempo, shooting and passing are all set lower because defensive players don't usually have much offensive upside.

Offensive guys are generally less aggressive, let them take it easy on things like backcheck, gap control and hitting but keep puck pressure high because you want to create turnovers. Tempo should probably be high, passing creative to adventurous depending on how proficient your players are in that skill set (passing, creativity, anticipation are important), shooting depends on the goalie you're facing--if you're up against Norm Maracle you probably want to go with a barrage, if you're against Marty Brodeur, be more selective. Go to individual tactics for these guys especially and set whether or not they pass or shoot at the very least.

[Shadd666]

ok I understand what your saying, but I'm not sure how to go about it. Not entirely sure who should go on each line, and also where to put my sliders for each line (ie is it best to have your best players play more aggressivly in an attempt to score and leave the weaker ones of defencive and just try not to concede with them?). also the offencive zone choices and faceoff choices. I've read the tactics guide and know what they all do, but it doesn't help me much with knowing what would work best for my team.

For the choice of the lineup, the part of the Guide about it will be released shortly
Usually, you use your top players on the top lines, as the top lines have more icetime. But then you should tweak and mix your players to build more cohesive lines. For example, if you have two goal-scorers on a line, it would be better to put a playmaker with them to create a strongly offensive line. In the same way of thoughts, two defensive forwards shouldn't have to play with an offensive forward. An other defensive forward (usually called checking forwards) or a two-way forward should be a better choice.

Usually, i like to have my top two lines being able to score goals, no matter their style of play. It's where i have my most talented players. My third line is usally a checking line, who will allow very few goals while my top two lines are having a little rest. My fourth line is build with the rest of the players. There should be enforcers who love to drop the gloves, youngsters that need some experience but aren't skilled enough yet to log high minutes, or just the less skilled players that are remaining in my roster.

To know what tactics to use, i think the guide should help you... We tried to give explanations on each system and what is required to succed with those systems... So when you know where a line is strong, you should try to adopt everything that will allow your players to use their strength.

And if you have troubles finding good tactics for your team, just keep in mind that if something doesn't work, then you should erase this possibility from your possible tactics set and try something else

[miked1991]

I've sorted out some tactics for myself which look to be ok. I traded Callahan and a poor rookie (4th line potential) I had the rights to for Steve Konovalchuk to try to improve my defence. Konovalchuk went straight to my 3rd line checkers to play alongside Clark and Hollweg. Didn't want to go through setting unit tactics so I just did team tactics but gave my 3rd line some individual instructions. Sorted out personal choices aswell. Played one game so far, and beat the Penguins 5-0 who are currently 9-8-1. Seems to be working well. I'll post more results later.

[miked1991]

Played many games now with those new tactics. Since applying them, I am 20-5-0, so problem seems to be solved. I did throw away a 2 goal lead once, but it happens once every so often anyway so I don't think its anything to be concerned about. I also used your tips in my stratagy for the USA U20's, and won the world junior championships with them! Thanks for all the help!

But, I know later in the season other teams can counter my tactics. What should I do then for tactics to keep myself unpredictable without playing against my strengths

[Thundercleese]

Sometimes I just change my line distribution (from equal to normal or normal to overload or whatever) to mix it up and I'm pretty successful throughout the season. Line juggling is a good idea too, toss around a couple of players from line to line and it makes it harder for the other team to counteract each line. Often it keeps players producing as well, unless you have a line that really clicks. If you're an offensive team don't pretend to be defensive or vice-versa so big time changes will just hurt your results.

[Shadd666]

miked1991: maybe your opponents counter your tactics...or maybe it's just your team who has a bad run of luck, or maybe your players are a bit tired with the accumulation of games (give them some resting days if possible).

However, nice to hear that our advices helped you

[miked1991]

Well my season's over and I've won the Stanley Cup!!! Thanks to your help I've gone from a average playoff team to Stanley Cup Champions! Now the question is, where do I go from here?

[Thundercleese]

Just build around your strengths. Make sure to re-sign key players and coaches...sometimes players won't re-sign with you right away but if you let them go into free agency they'll sign for much less than you paid them the previous season, that's one of the perks of being the Champ (other free agents will typically sign for cheaper too because they want to play on a winning team). In the draft make sure you're not drafting players that you won't need. For example with a young Petr Prucha on your left wing it doesn't look like you'll need a scoring winger on that side for several years. Don't draft too many players in the same position, too, or you'll end up with a logjam. I'm the Flames and I have four roster-ready, first or second line centers who aren't all gonna get the chance to play because the roles are filled, although it bugs me to no end that I'm going to have to let some of this young talent get away.

[Shadd666]

miked1991: Nice to see that we succeeded to help you that great! Keep up the good work!

[Minstrel]

Nice work boys

And Mike congrats on bringing that Cup home Have fun planning your parade!

[miked1991]

Most of my players were in multiple year deals so I'm not losing many at all and so most of my cap space is allready filled for next season. Costs are much higher now because Marc Staal and Henrik Lundqvist have both jumped from under $1mill a year to about $3mill with their new contracts.