EHM The Blue Line

Posted: **Sun Dec 05, 2010 2:09 am**

Hey guys, I'm having trouble with my settings. In the Personal Tactics menu, there's a setting to change where the tactics would apply. Whenever I set it to even-strength, it changes back to All Situations when I press confirm. Any help is appreciated because this is frustrating

Posted: **Sun Dec 05, 2010 4:02 pm**

cmdrsam wrote:Ok so I am a noob but this is a messesage to any other noobs to come here looking for advise. My hockey knowledge is very limited as I am a new commer to the sport. I started to replay the game again and rolled through the exihibition season Lost one game in nine I think. Thought I had this down, regular season started and, biff I go 0-4 to start. But after rereading this topic from the very first post all the way to the end, I can see where I made alot of tactical mistakes. Retweaked the tactics from learned material and now I like how this team is playing. Also read the guide that is provided on this site. Alot of areas are broken down in segmants so it is easier to read. And don't give up. Keep learning even if its rereading material for something you missed. Some very great advise here in these threads. Now on to work on PP.

Just to answer one thing in here. Pre-season is very easy at times. Because opponents often use a lot of players on trial and players from AHL-team and so on. It's basically their way of getting in shape and have a look at guys.

Posted: **Tue Dec 21, 2010 12:48 am**

My biggest problem is that third and fourth has always problems to had good 5 on 5 game, always -10 or + at end of season for third of fourth line. So botom play sucks, have anyone tips to make botom game more effective?

Posted: **Thu Dec 30, 2010 12:32 pm**

One question about tactic. I have downloaded and slightly modified one tactic from this forum. Great stuff but too unreal. I have scored 100 goals in one nhl season then 2nd placed team, had 4 guys leading the league in +/-, 3 in points and so on. I want to play next challange and want to use my own new tactic that will match my players abilities. Guide and tactical discussions are controversial on question regarding those settings. Guide says that we should not have diifferent settings for players in one line. For example one guy has offensive setting and let say tight gap and other has very defensive and let say relaxed gap. Let say they are on same line. What do you do? Do you set them similar or do you leave their personal settings even hey are so different?

P.s. I know there is a tactic thread but no one answeres there so I decided to post it here. If needed I will erase it.
Thanx in advance

merged threads /Manimal

Posted: **Thu Dec 30, 2010 1:07 pm**

marecone wrote:One question about tactic. I have downloaded and slightly modified one tactic from this forum. Great stuff but too unreal. I have scored 100 goals in one nhl season then 2nd placed team, had 4 guys leading the league in +/-, 3 in points and so on. I want to play next challange and want to use my own new tactic that will match my players abilities. Guide and tactical discussions are controversial on question regarding those settings. Guide says that we should not have diifferent settings for players in one line. For example one guy has offensive setting and let say tight gap and other has very defensive and let say relaxed gap. Let say they are on same line. What do you do? Do you set them similar or do you leave their personal settings even hey are so different?

P.s. I know there is a tactic thread but no one answeres there so I decided to post it here. If needed I will erase it.
Thanx in advance

merged threads /Manimal

Please read this thread before asking questions in the wrong threads

Posted: **Thu Dec 30, 2010 1:55 pm**

I did apologize in advance. Anyway, I hope someone will help me and by the way, I don't see how my question about tactic fits in practice thread but you are the boss

Posted: **Thu Dec 30, 2010 2:28 pm**

marecone wrote:I did apologize in advance. Anyway, I hope someone will help me and by the way, I don't see how my question about tactic fits in practice thread but you are the boss

I put it in the wrong thread, lol
Now, I moved it to where it belongs

Posted: **Sat Jan 01, 2011 4:51 pm**

marecone wrote: Guide says that we should not have diifferent settings for players in one line. For example one guy has offensive setting and let say tight gap and other has very defensive and let say relaxed gap. Let say they are on same line. What do you do? Do you set them similar or do you leave their personal settings even hey are so different?

I sometime use a defensive-minded player with two offensive-minded players on an even-strength line. It balances things, I think

Posted: **Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:53 pm**

Peterman5000 wrote:I have seen many people on the forums here asking about a defensive system tactic.

The basic function of a good defensive squad starts with the players.

Players to look for:

Hitting: Try to find heavy hitter with a reasonably low aggression. Keep the hits high and the PIMS to a minimum
Positioning: The end all of good defensive hockey.
Pokecheck: Takeaways stem largely from pokecheck and or hitting
Anticipation: How does your player read plays?
Work Rate: Gas tank - how hard he works
Checking: Keeps the opponent honest.
Stamina: Couple this with good work rate and your players will build you a house during intermission.

-----

Now depending on what type of actual play style you choose you can modify the type of player you are looking for.

For example. If you want to play defensive hockey with board play, add strength to this. Your forwards will need to be strong to dig the puck out of the corners and make plays.

I have used a defensive system for several years and have had success with borderline NHLers.

Gap control is a big aspect of playing a good defensive system. If your top four defensemen are not sound positionally you cannot use a tight gap. The first thing to find is fast, positionally sound defensemen. Next, you want to find at least TWO wingers with good acceleration, checking and positioning. They will contribute to the defensive system, and you can have the luxury of using tighter gap lines. These types of forwards also help with good backchecking and forechecking.

I use Crisscross breakouts and a heavy forecheck system. I usually start with 3-2 forecheck and manipulate my lines as the season moves a long. I [refer heavy forechecking because the system I play does not create heavy offensive chances, so I look to create pressure and score the cheap goals.

If you have the luxury of good defensive pairings, you can use positional in the defensive zone. Sometimes I will use collapse, but I usually address my defensemen from the get go.

Most people would laugh at this but a guy I always pick up is Jeff Woywitka. He has good ratings for playing a defensive system. I'm using an older Lidas roster set, I think it's 1.3. Woywitka always becomes a top four blueliner for me, with aggressive practices. I always seek out coaches with high determination and either defensive minded or cautious but direct. It seems to get the players into incredible shape.

Send me questions if you have any, send me screenshots. I would eventually like to release a descriptive defensive tactic.

I haven't played EHM in a while, hence the very late reply, but thank you very much for the detailed response. I plan on starting a new franchise with using a more defence-first tactic system very soon (using some of your pointers as well). The only thing that I find difficult about using a lot of personal tactics/finding certain players, is that I generally play by the challenge rules (even when not playing in a challenge), thus it takes me a while to have a turnover of the players I want.

That all being said, thanks for the reply, it was much appreciated. I plan on testing new tactics out very soon.

Posted: **Mon Jan 03, 2011 5:20 pm**

marecone wrote:One question about tactic. I have downloaded and slightly modified one tactic from this forum. Great stuff but too unreal. I have scored 100 goals in one nhl season then 2nd placed team, had 4 guys leading the league in +/-, 3 in points and so on. I want to play next challange and want to use my own new tactic that will match my players abilities. Guide and tactical discussions are controversial on question regarding those settings. Guide says that we should not have diifferent settings for players in one line. For example one guy has offensive setting and let say tight gap and other has very defensive and let say relaxed gap. Let say they are on same line. What do you do? Do you set them similar or do you leave their personal settings even hey are so different?

As Manimal said, it's okay to mix settings on the same line. I often use Left Wing Lock on my offensive lines and I'll have a LW that can skate well and has good defensive abilities on that line's LW. This allows the other forwards on the line to play more offensively. Most importantly, look at a player's abilities and don't try to use him in ways that he can't perform. Also, look through this thread at some of the info on personal tactics. I always use those. I makes a huge difference!

Posted: **Thu Jan 06, 2011 5:27 pm**

Kbs wrote:Hey guys, I'm having trouble with my settings. In the Personal Tactics menu, there's a setting to change where the tactics would apply. Whenever I set it to even-strength, it changes back to All Situations when I press confirm. Any help is appreciated because this is frustrating

The menu view always defaults back to All Situations when you confirm out of the tactics screen. It doesn't change anything, it's just how the dropdown menu works. "All Situations" shows simply because it's at the top of the dropdown menu, not because anything is being changed.

Your settings for Even-Strength should still be saved. You can check by changing the view back to Even-Strength and seeing if your settings are still intact.

Posted: **Fri Jan 07, 2011 11:53 am**

Situation:
Line tactic used
1st offensive
2nd normal
3rd defensive

I have 3 good off defenders and 3 good def defenders
How should I set up defending lines? Do I set 3 defending pars with 1 off and 1 def player at each line or should I make it like this;
1st 2 off defenders
2nd 1 off and 1 def defender
3rd 2 def defenders

Thanx in advance

Posted: **Fri Jan 07, 2011 2:18 pm**

I usually go with my 3rd pairing being 2 defensive defensemen. I can see the merit in pairing 1 offensive and 1 defensive defenseman in each pairing though.

Posted: **Sun Jan 09, 2011 7:35 pm**

After reading a BUNCH of posts and replies on tactics i want to know if you experienced EHMers are setting individual setting for each players? That's question 1

And 2 if so do you change those settings when is playing even pp or pk?
3. do you set the personal THAN the lines?
4. i've always played zone rather than mano à mano but wich one is the best?
5. barrage or selective shooting?

Here's my line up but somes move around not a lot but time to time

sharp-J.Thornton-iginla
pouliot-crosby-J.carter
Dawes-Arnott-Stewart
Sprukts*-W.Primeau-Gasparini
Pandolfo & C.Armstrong

Bouwmees-Morris
Eminger-Green
White-Jokela
D. Syvret

Esche - Caron

I know this fourth line looks bit weak but they did good for me even Sprukts and Gasparini is one of my fav fourth liner in the game always happy produced a little but bring is grit to the game every night! 200 body checks and 72 blocked shots.

3 years in a row dominating the league, 2 times cup finalist but this season we didn't even passed the first round (0-4).
cause of the first 2 deception i changed my tactics entering the playoffs against a team i've struggle in the season wich might be the mistake. I've builded 3 tactics scheme 1 for 5-5 one when we're losing and one when we're winning. so first period i use the 5-5 and as the game goes on i adjusted. Has i've read that might be a mistake.

now i'm waiting for my brother-in-law to finnish the series (that's a cheap shot to take lol)

Tell me what you think about it
here's the players who can make it on my roster for next season:

Forwards:
Iginla, crosby, Stewart, thornton, carter, arnott, pouliot, sharp, primeau, dawes, armstrong, gasparini, A.heinrich, V. Leino, pandolfo, sprukts

Defense:
C.White, Bouwmees, eminger, morris, jokela, bouwmees, syvret, green, S. Weber, m. Lojek, b. Valabik, A.emelin

Goalies:
Price & Caron

On the trade block: thornton or arnott?(salary issues), sharp, dawes, pandolfo, sprukts, jokela, syvret, lojek,
Looking for a first liner LW scoring and one more L handed D-man.

I like my team big skillfull and scary... plays on pk don't bother me as long as i have above 87% p.k. wich i had with a 20% pp

Reading this what are your toughts and if you can put your answers like 1... 2... 3... etc. so its easy to find especially the personnal tacticts.

Posted: **Wed Jan 12, 2011 8:07 am**

After spending days (yes days:)) on going over every post about tactics I am now even more confused.
I have used guide and some post to determine wich att are needed for every personal setting. For example my huge excel now calculates is player good for puck pressure, hitting and so on. Based on this info I got a clear idea wich players are good for what and it is basicaly easy to set up personal tactics. Guided by many posts here I did choose centers on based on their abbility to pass and to be playmakers. Wingers will mostly shoot and if tgey lack that ability then they will pass.
I will use line tactics and this is where questions come up.

Guide says that for example that players should not be set with too different mentality and I guess some other settings as well. I did brake down tactical system as well. For example if your players lack ability to pressure puck then collapse would be probably better choice then open where you should pressure puck. Conected with this is neutral zone def systeme where there are also settings that favor or dislike pressure.
Based on this my idea is to have players in line that are compatible in this setting.
Other thing is mentality. If my first line plays offensive my guess is that all players should be set to minimum normal mentality.
Same goes for tempo as well. My assumption is that if I play fast offensive game all players should be able to play fast.

Here go questiins

1. Based on your experience is it better to have mixed lines (off sniper, play making cener, two way forward, off defender, stay at home defender) or specialist lines (example, line with let say big offensive players that can play board game and play agressive)?
Specialist line IMHO are good for same general settings and then my idea would work fine but I didn't find post where people play that way.
2. As you can't set how willyour defenders play in each line there could be some problems. Example; if I setmy first defending pair as offensive defenders who attack, what will happenwhen thy will play with let say 4th linewich is my defensive line? Will attacking three defend and will my defenders attack? This could be a huge ptoblem

.

Hope you understood me and sorry for my english.
Thanx in advance

Posted: **Wed Jan 19, 2011 3:02 pm**

Did a lot testings lately and this is what happened.

1. Made excel tables that calculate areas in wich player is good. Areas included are from pressure, hitting, tempo and others to carry puck...
2. Made my lines in such a way to match players with similar strenghts. Example 3rd line has strong players that can dump and play both ways.
3. Went to game and gave all personal orders to all players
4. Set up tactic. Example, those strong guys from 3rd line play boards
5. During match I redo shift lenghts acirding to ingame ratings. If let say 2nd line players are all 8 or 9 i give that shift more ice time in next period

Result; second with Atlanta in 15 games (challange, no trades)
Very satisfied so far

Posted: **Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:18 pm**

After reading a BUNCH of posts and replies on tactics i want to know if you experienced EHMers are setting individual setting for each players? That's question 1

And 2 if so do you change those settings when is playing even pp or pk?
3. do you set the personal THAN the lines?
4. i've always played zone rather than mano à mano but wich one is the best?
5. barrage or selective shooting?

Posted: **Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:19 pm**

hey marecone could i get my hands on that excel sheet?

Posted: **Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:25 pm**

1. Yes, I always set individual settings based on the player's attributes.

2. Yes, I usually tweak those individual settings for the PK and PP too. For example, I might set a player's Passing to "Creative" only on the PP. Or I might tell the player No for "Join the Rush" on the PK.

3. I set my lines tactics, then I set the player's personal tactics, then I will tweak the player's personal tactics for special teams lines.

4. I usually play Zone too but I go with Man coverage on the PP. I think it opens my players up a little more.

5. I go with Barrage for my defensemen that have good slapshots. Usually, I'll have one shooter per pairing. For forwards, I set the speedy wingers with 13, 14, or 15 in wristshot to heavy shooting while forwards with 16 or higher in wristshot get set to selective. They're the sniper that is going to pick his shot and make it count. The other guys are just throwing everything at the net and hoping to create rebounds.

Posted: **Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:35 pm**

About the "Join the Rush" and ''carry the puck option'' do you know what it brings to the game? i'm not stupid and i know what it means but like for a D-men like bouwmees or other offensive Ds do you select them? and if you don't does it mean that the guy will look to pass rather then carry it? if you don't select a join the rush will it means that a winger will rarely get onffensive and will rather play defensively?

Posted: **Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:40 pm**

That's the way I've always thought it worked. If a player is not set to Join the Rush, he shouldn't be looking to make any play to help offensively. He should just be focusing on his defensive responsibilities.

As for Carry the Puck, that's when a guy is more likely to skate with the puck to move it rather than pass it along to move it into the zone. I rarely use Carry the Puck and if I do, the player must have good strength, deking, stickhandling, and getting open attribute ratings.

Posted: **Wed Jan 19, 2011 9:05 pm**

King_Louis wrote:hey marecone could i get my hands on that excel sheet?

I will put it here or in downloads section once I prepare it better and add instructions. Basicaly I went through this thread and all guides and inputed formulas for each setting. I did not finish whole season yet so I am not sure if this is the best way but I guess it can't hurt to know in wich areas your guys are good or bad.
Anyway, give me a week or two and I'll do my best to share it with rest of you.

Slight off topic; this game, this site and members here thought me so much of hockey in such a short time. I am still a rookie but after spending much time here and in game my view of RL game changed dramaticaly.

Posted: **Wed Jan 19, 2011 9:27 pm**

Thanks BRUINS72 and MARECONE

yep me too this is one heck of a community! And i must say that EHM (i've got ehm07) is one of the most complete game i've played. You don't even control the players on the ice and man i can't stop playing this game. EA sports got to learn a thing or two. Imagine having EHM 2011... they should do an anniversary release or something like that.

P.S" i know i'm off topic... won't do it again lol those admins scare me...

Posted: **Sat Jan 22, 2011 5:21 pm**

So I gave Captcrunch's settings a go (adjusted for junior players as pointed out by Bruins72. I got off to a decent start of the season (7-3) but things have since gone hella south, which I think has resulted in me trying to micro the tactics maybe a bit too much.

I find myself at 10-11-1, and I figured I'd ask for some clarification from this.

First off: Gap Control. When you say the "Highest Setting" you actually mean tighter, right? (which is to the left).

Next up is aggressive. I imagine the thinking for this is that you're telling the player to play a style he is comfortable with? Aggressive players will want to play aggressively, and non-aggressively players would rather not? I'm hesitant to jack my aggressiveness because I don't want to spend an eternity in the penalty box.

Also, do people that adhere to this just basically ignore line settings altogether (except for puck dumping). Are there advantages disadvantages to having players on the same line playing with a different mentality/tempo/etc.?

Thanks!

Captcrunch wrote:Hello everyone!

I'm currently having a blast with my challenge team and I'm in the process of trying to develop a personalized personal tactic roadmap for my club. The goal was to establish a simple structure to help me put all my players in the same frame of reference. I also wanted to bypass default unit tactics and change players from line to line instead. Thx to EHM guide and this discussion for inspiration! This roadmap is subject to change and their effectiveness will change depending on the line's tactical positioning and general team's option.

Personal tactic format

Attribute rating
1-7: Weakest setting (1/5)
8-9-10-11: Second weakest (2/5)
12-13-14: Normal setting (3/5)
15-16-17: High setting (4/5)
18-20: Highest setting (5/5)

Criterias

Mentality: Look in the player's scout report. Defensive player = defensive. Two way = neutral. Offensive = offensive. Scout's career role might influence it a bit (a career checker with a two way game might get a defensive setting instead of the normal one)
Aggressiveness: Look at aggressiveness attribute
Backchecking: Look at acceleration, speed, stamina and checking attributes
Gap control: Look at acceleration, speed and positioning attributes
Puck pressure:Look at checking and pokecheck attributes
Hitting: Look at hitting and strength attributes
Tempo: Look at acceleration, speed and stamina attributes
Passing: Look at passing and creativity attributes
Shooting: Look at Slapshot + Wristshot. Low at both lowers the setting. High at both elevates the setting. Low wrist + high slap, I follow the slapshot setting up to barrage. Low slap + high wrist lowers the setting to get more quality and precision at the cost of volume.
Dumping the puck: Depend on the line's role. Not personalized.

Shoot/Pass bias: Strongest skill. Career role in scout report can influence the decision. There must at least be 1 passer and 1 shooter per line, ideally of opposite hand side.
Fighting: strenght, aggression and value of player

Carry puck: Deking + stickhandling
Join rush: Look at acceleration, speed and off the puck attributes

Posted: **Sun Jan 23, 2011 5:07 pm**

alanschu wrote:So I gave Captcrunch's settings a go (adjusted for junior players as pointed out by Bruins72. I got off to a decent start of the season (7-3) but things have since gone hella south, which I think has resulted in me trying to micro the tactics maybe a bit too much.

I find myself at 10-11-1, and I figured I'd ask for some clarification from this.

First off: Gap Control. When you say the "Highest Setting" you actually mean tighter, right? (which is to the left).

Next up is aggressive. I imagine the thinking for this is that you're telling the player to play a style he is comfortable with? Aggressive players will want to play aggressively, and non-aggressively players would rather not? I'm hesitant to jack my aggressiveness because I don't want to spend an eternity in the penalty box.

Also, do people that adhere to this just basically ignore line settings altogether (except for puck dumping). Are there advantages disadvantages to having players on the same line playing with a different mentality/tempo/etc.?

Thanks!

Captcrunch wrote:Hello everyone!

I'm currently having a blast with my challenge team and I'm in the process of trying to develop a personalized personal tactic roadmap for my club. The goal was to establish a simple structure to help me put all my players in the same frame of reference. I also wanted to bypass default unit tactics and change players from line to line instead. Thx to EHM guide and this discussion for inspiration! This roadmap is subject to change and their effectiveness will change depending on the line's tactical positioning and general team's option.

Personal tactic format

Attribute rating
1-7: Weakest setting (1/5)
8-9-10-11: Second weakest (2/5)
12-13-14: Normal setting (3/5)
15-16-17: High setting (4/5)
18-20: Highest setting (5/5)

Criterias

Mentality: Look in the player's scout report. Defensive player = defensive. Two way = neutral. Offensive = offensive. Scout's career role might influence it a bit (a career checker with a two way game might get a defensive setting instead of the normal one)
Aggressiveness: Look at aggressiveness attribute
Backchecking: Look at acceleration, speed, stamina and checking attributes
Gap control: Look at acceleration, speed and positioning attributes
Puck pressure:Look at checking and pokecheck attributes
Hitting: Look at hitting and strength attributes
Tempo: Look at acceleration, speed and stamina attributes
Passing: Look at passing and creativity attributes
Shooting: Look at Slapshot + Wristshot. Low at both lowers the setting. High at both elevates the setting. Low wrist + high slap, I follow the slapshot setting up to barrage. Low slap + high wrist lowers the setting to get more quality and precision at the cost of volume.
Dumping the puck: Depend on the line's role. Not personalized.

Shoot/Pass bias: Strongest skill. Career role in scout report can influence the decision. There must at least be 1 passer and 1 shooter per line, ideally of opposite hand side.
Fighting: strenght, aggression and value of player

Carry puck: Deking + stickhandling
Join rush: Look at acceleration, speed and off the puck attributes

I find it better to play aggressive regardless. Yes you end up with a lot more penalties at times, but at the same time, you get the other team to do more mistakes, have the puck more and shot more. In most games that is.

To me it sounds like an disadvantage to have guys on the same line with different mentalities. Because after all, they are supposed to work together, but also in certain teams. I guess that works. That's why teams IRL got some small guys and a big dude at the same line. Think you just has to test a little and see what works.

EHM The Blue Line

Offical Tactics Thread: General / Even Strength

Re: Defensive system

guess what... tactics...