Rocketcan

If you think those players are good at pass rushing, then they will add a lot to the overall pass rush value. But that is it, there is no other specific benefit to it.

These changes will not come into effect for games and gameplans for at least a little bit. The coding is not quite finished. When this *IS* implemented fully, you will all need to get new gameplans as a result. I will let everyone know when that is the case.

Hello Coaches! Welcome to another Dev Diary for NewSim on SimFBA! Last Dev Diary, @TuscanSota showed all the amazing work he is doing to get the interface up and running. Today, I wanted to talk about some more changes that are coming to the NewSim engine. Right now, users are only able to select from a few run options (Inside, Outside, Power), and a few pass options (Quick, Short, Long). Also, defenses have been hampered by their inability to blitz. Soon, that will all change! New plays that will be added are: Draws Screens Play Action Blitzes Draws These plays are just like inside runs, but take advantage of a defense set to defend the pass. If this play is called when a defense either defends the pass, and/or is blitzing, the chance of an automatic breakout run increases by 16%, and the overall yardage gained will receive a boost. However, if you guess incorrectly and run a draw against a run defense, your run has a highly likelihood of being stuffed. Call this play often if you think the defense will blitz or defend the pass. These plays will be added alongside the current run plays in the gameplan as "Draw Left" and "Draw Right". Offensive Schemes will have limits on how often this play can be called Screens This is a sort of pass that takes advantage of blitzing defenses. Instead of using the abilities of the receiver to run their route etc., the screen pass treats the yardage gained formula like an outside run. Thus, quick and agile players will be best as screen receivers. Also, screens are much more likely to be completed, and sometimes will get bonuses or penalties on their yardage gained. There is also a slight chance of an interception. The chances are as follows: Complete (No Bonus): ~51% Incomplete: ~23% Complete (1/2 penalty): ~10% Complete (x2 Bonus): ~10% Complete (x3 Bonus): ~3% Interception: ~2% Just like with the draw, if a screen is called when a defense is blitzing, it greatly increases the chance of a breakout run and increases the gain overall. However, the defense is more likely to stop you if they called a run defense. Screens will be put in the same section of passing as the others. There will just be the option of "Screen" as a pass type. Play Action All of the plays so far have been geared towards defeating defenses geared towards stopping the pass and blitzing. But what about defenses that stop the run? That is where Play Action comes in. Play Action is a type of pass that fakes run and then has a better chance of completion if the defense bites on the fake. Play Action can only be run with Short or Long Passes. What happens if the Defense called a defense designed to stop the run? The Offense gets a +10% chance of completing the pass. And for long passes, that can be a HUGE difference. but, if a defense is ready for the pass and doesn't bite, that bonus gets turned into a -10% chance of the completing the pass. Also, if you called a play action pass and there is a pass rush situation, your blockers will have a much more difficult time of containing the pass rush, so be careful. Play Action passes will be placed alongside the other types of passes, but there will be two variants: "Play Action Short" and "Play Action Long". Blitzes Now, we have covered a bunch of different plays that take advantage of defenses that blitz, but we didn't really cover why a defense would blitz in the first place. The answer is simple: Pressure. Most blitzes against Short or Long passes become a pass rush situation automatically, and that combined with more pass rushers to go after the QB means the better likelihood of a sack. This doesn't come without a cost, however. If a player blitzes, they can't cover their man or zone, meaning it's entirely likely that when you blitz, you leave receivers running wide open and potentially give up a big play. There are some ways around this that we will cover later on. With Blitzes being added, the way defenses will call plays has changed. The options for defenses will likely be as follows (subject to change): Scheme (4-3 or 3-4) Defensive Formations (Personnel Groupings) Run to Pass Ratio (How many defenses should be called against the pass? Against the run?) Blitz Ratio (How often should we blitz?) Blitz Aggressiveness (How many blitzers should we send?) Cautious: Only blitz up to 1 player Moderate: Can blitz up to 2 players Aggressive: Can blitz up to 3 players [*]Blitz Safeties? (Yes or No) [*]Blitz Corners? (Yes or No) [*]Linebackers Coverage (Man or Zone) [*]Corners Coverage (Man or Zone) [*]Safeties Coverage (Man or Zone) Cautious blitzes (only one blitzer) have the benefit of not counting as a blitz for draw and screen purposes, but aren't nearly as effective for generating pass rush. Moderate and Aggressive, however, do count and you risk getting burned deep. That is it for this dev diary. I apologize for the length, but I hope it was worth it. Comment with any questions you have and I'll be sure to answer them as best as I can! Until next time, Rocketcan

I think you just have to wait for one of them to approve you for now.

We can discuss more about this one on one.

Hello Coaches! We have another important update for everyone! As we make more and more progress on the back end of the simulation (Dev Diary #37), and the front end that users will interact with (Dev Diary #38) we are getting very close to our first CFB regular season! As of right now, we are looking towards the end of June for that to occur, and to make that happen we have to implement a few more things. First on that list is recruiting! Taking cues from @Wahoo with his excellent recruiting system, @subsequent has been hard at work designing a system to make recruiting realistic, engaging, and most importantly, fun. All of that work would be for nothing without @alexfall862 tirelessly building the system we will use for our first season of recruiting (before recruiting can be moved to the interface). I do want to thank everyone I mentioned here for their dedication and effort they are putting into this project so we all can have a fun experience. I say all of this to preface this statement: We need help. A system this complex under the hood requires a good amount of testing in order to work out the kinks and make it ready for the first season. So, this post is a call for users who want this sim to succeed and be a good experience for everyone to step up and give us a hand! This will require a small level of daily commitment. We will need testers to: Put points on recruits every game week for an entire recruiting season (About 20 weeks). Each real-life day will have one or two game weeks. AND Give feedback on the user interface, your experience specifically, and the recruiting system as a whole. Since this is a decent amount of work, we are prepared to offer a bit of an incentive. Any tester who is not an admin that participates in each game week of recruiting AND provides the feedback we requested will be allowed to help create a recruit (up to 5 stars) for the first CFB season. This means you get to pick the Name (semi-memey is allowed but don't go overboard!), Position, Archetype, Height and Weight (within reason for their position), Hometown, School, State, and Star Level of a player that will exist in the sim for years to come! Given the nature of the incentive we are offering, I am limiting this to the first five users that agree to and meet these conditions. Also, the admins individually will not be allowed to generate a player in this manner, but we may still be able to put something together. Please reply to this thread and include your discord username if you are interested and willing to make the commitment. I will PM each of you individually to confirm and give you some more information. Happy Crooting! Rocketcan Current volunteers: @Vivid @Kremit @TheSam @DarthJarJar @SyndaKyt @tsweezy @Bingo415 @ChizDippler @PoopyRhinoPickle @caesari @jordanozenne

Approved for Texas State! Go ahead and post here to request your roster: Roster Request Thread Also, check out this Dev Diary to get yourself set up for scrimmages: Dev Diary #37 And finally, read through the Dev Diaries to get an idea of what you are looking to do to have a good team!

Hello Coaches! We are getting there! We are currently working on adding a few more features to NewSim, creating a more efficient recruiting system, and hammering out some logistical details for a regular season (schedule, polls, etc.). As such, we now need some more help. For this first season we appear to have around 35-50 or so user-controlled teams, and that will be more to manage than just the handful of us can. So, we need to bring two of you on to be conference commissioners! Specifically we would have one for all Power 5 teams, and one for all Group of 5 teams. You must be a coach in the group of conferences you represent. The job descriptions are as follows: P5 commissioner Description Temporary position until enough teams are coached to require individual conference commissioners [*]Duties Recruiting and interviewing prospective P5 conference coaches Responding to all P5 conference team applications Driving the production of P5 conference media and ensuring coaches are maintaining their depth charts, recruiting, and other team-related tasks Removing or penalizing repeated offenses by P5 conference coaches G5 commissioner Description Temporary position until enough teams are coached to require individual conference commissioners [*]Duties Recruiting and interviewing prospective G5 conference coaches Responding to all G5 conference team applications Driving the production of G5 conference media and ensuring coaches are maintaining their depth charts, recruiting, and other team-related tasks Removing or penalizing repeated offenses by G5 conference coaches Please apply using the link here: Conference Commissioner Application Until next time, Rocketcan

As of right now, @Tazer has confirmed he will be active this season. If that changes, or he moves, you may apply for Central Michigan and be put at the front of the line for it.

Approved for Utah! @Kirby please get this man Utah stuff!

Great question. Basically, the ones at the top will be pulled first for things like kick coverage, rushing punts, blocking for FGs, etc. So if you want a player to see the field more on special teams, put them higher. Usually the top 8 or so will see the field every special teams play.

Hello Coaches! Welcome to another Dev Diary for NewSim on SimFBA! Last time, we talked about what kind of schemes you can choose for your teams and how you can call your plays, and now, we are going to talk about how you get to actually use the sim! That's right, scrimmages are back! For now, while NewSim is still in Alpha, there are tons of tweaks that will need to be made (like there are not fumbles or penalties yet), and so the games that we play now won't actually count towards anything. They are just for funsies and testing purposes. Now that all that is out of the way, let's talk about how you can actually submit to have your team play in a scrimmage! SCRIMMAGE REQUESTS Agree with another coach on the site to play a scrimmage. One of the coaches go to this forum and submit a thread: 2021 Scrimmage Requests Threads here should have the following format: Title: "Team A vs. Team B" Body: "Team A challenges Team B to a scrimmage." (Something to that affect. BE SURE TO TAG THE OPPOSING COACH) [*]Team B's coach should then respond to the thread with a confirmation of the challenge. ("Team B confirms", etc.) [*]Once both coaches post, they can move on to the next step in the process. SUBMITTING DEPTH CHARTS Create a copy of this Google Sheet: 2021 Depth Chart Template (DO NOT EDIT THIS SHEET DIRECTLY) Follow ALL of the instructions on the sheet. When you are finished, create a thread in the following forum: 2021 Scrimmage Depth Charts Threads here should have the following format: Title: "Team A Depth Chart" Body: Provide a valid link to your depth chart sheet. [*]MAKE SURE TO GIVE AT LEAST VIEWER ACCESS TO ANYONE WHO HAS THE LINK. If you do not do this, I cannot actually pull the depth chart. SUBMITTING GAMEPLANS Create a copy of this Google Sheet: 2021 Scrimmage Gameplans (DO NOT EDIT THIS SHEET DIRECTLY) Follow all of the instructions on the sheet. When you are finished, go to this link and submit the sharing link for your gameplan sheet: 2021 Scrimmage Gameplan Submission When you have completed all of these steps, you're done! Then you just have to wait for me to get off my lazy butt and actually run the games! I probably won't have a set schedule to post the games. I'll just run them as I find time. So except an irregular posting schedule. Speaking of posting, here is the link to the forum where games will be posted while we are having scrimmages: 2021 Scrimmage Results You should already see a couple of games there. This is it guys! Games! From NewSim! New system and everything! All of these threads and submission forms are open and available now for you guys to start! If you have any questions about submitting things, depth chart, gameplan or thread formatting, go ahead and post them here. I'll get to them ASAP. Until next time, Rocketcan P.S. Once you submit your depth chart for a scrimmage, it can be pulled at any time. Therefore, your submission is considered FINAL whenever you post it. EDIT: DO NOT just submit your old depth chart and gameplan. The templates have changed!

Gameplan Template: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/145Lot8IeL3PqmtY4Vz_VGg3PI2e4AIYN-OQN7Yq-9l8/edit?usp=sharing

Probably something like this: Scheme: Formation 1: (Ratio) Formation 2: (Ratio) Formation 3: (Ratio) Run to Pass Ratio: Runner Ratios: - QB: % - BK1: % - BK2: % - BK3: % Type of Run: - Inside: % - Outside: % - Power: % Type of Pass: - Quick: % - Short: % - Long: % Targeting Metrics: - WR1: % - WR2: % - TE1: % - etc.

Hello Coaches! Welcome to another Dev Diary for NewSim on SimFBA! This Dev Diary continues to explain the transition to the new game engine. Last time, we talked about wrapping up special teams and individual plays. This time, we are talking about what kind of schemes you can choose for your teams and how you can call your plays! This will probably be a long Dev Diary as there is a ton of information for you coaches. So for now, there are just offensive and defensive schemes. Here is a link to the current run down of schemes: Initial Schemes It is probably a good idea to glance over that document before reading on, but here is a basic summary of the schemes: Offense Pro Air Raid Spread Option Double Wing Option [*]Defense 4-3 3-4 Offense: Each scheme determines the 3 formations that your offense will run (likely to expand later), how often you may run/pass the ball, who can be a ball carrier, and how often you may target a particular receiver along with other miscellaneous restrictions (like whether or not the QB can be designated a ballcarrier). Once you have chosen your scheme, then you will choose the percentage of time you wish to have certain formations on the field. The formations are to allow you to tailor how often certain players see the field. So, if you run a Pro Style offense and you want to see your FB on the field more often, you would choose to run the "I Formation" more than you might otherwise. Then, you set actual playcall metrics. Those are: Run To Pass Ratio % Type of Run Inside Outside Power [*]% Type of Pass Quick Short Long [*]% Target Receivers WR1 WR2 WR3 WR4 WR5 TE1 TE2 HB1 FB1 etc. Of course, as new plays and such are added, these options will expand. Defense: On defense, there are only two types of schemes for now: 4-3 and 3-4. This is just for alignment purposes. Each Scheme has three formations (Base, Nickel, and Dime). Just like on offense, you get to choose the percentage amount you want each formation to be on the field. Beyond that, there is only one other option for defenses right now, and that is which play to run. There are only 4 currently: Cover 1 Man Run Defense Linebackers: Man (SS1 is considered LB) Corners: Man Safeties: Zone [*]Cover 2 Man Pass Defense Linebackers: Man Corners: Man Safeties: Zone [*]Cover 2 Zone Pass Defense Linebackers: Zone Corners: Zone Safeties: Zone [*]Cover 3 Zone Run Defense Linebackers: Zone (SS1 is considered LB) Corners: Zone Safeties: Zone Run Defenses provide a bonus vs the run and a malus vs the pass, and vice versa for pass defenses. The one glaring omission so far is of course blitzes. That will likely be added for the beginning of a regular season, but that is still up in the air. I hope you enjoyed this dev diary. I want to really get your feedback to this one. I probably won't be able to change too much of the structure, but smaller tweaks are definitely possible. Please let me know what you guys think and if you have any questions!! Until next time, Rocketcan

Hello Coaches! Welcome to another Dev Diary for NewSim on SimFBA! This Dev Diary continues to explain the transition to the new game engine. Last time, we talked about punts and punt returns. This time, we are talking about Field Goals and Extra Points. So there are 3 or so important groups of players for field goal type plays right now. Some groups aren't as fleshed out as others. They are: Kicker Blockers (Not yet implemented) Rushers For now, there won't be a holder or long snapper. Kicker: Field Goal ranges are broken up into several distance ranges. They are: < 25 yards 25-34 yards 35-44 yards 45-49 yards 50-54 yards 55-59 yards 60+ yards As such, each kicker has a base chance the the kick is made based on the distance and their kick power. Higher kick power ratings will have better chances of making longer field goals, but they will still be more likely to make shorter ones. Kick Accuracy is a modifier here and can either hurt or help the kicker. At low accuracies, the modifiers will be negative for all be the shortest of distances. At mid-range accuracies, the kicker will benefit on short range kicks, but still be hurt slightly on longer range ones. At the high-end, kickers will receive bonuses across the board, but will still receive more bonuses at shorter ranges. For Extra Points, there is only one skill that matters: Kick Accuracy. The higher the kick accuracy, the better chance of making the extra point. For right now, the worst kick accuracies still have an 87.5% chance to make an extra point, as even most of us could make them given that they are only 20 yards. But that is still at 12.5% failure rate which could easily swing a close game. The most accurate kickers, however, will have a success rate of about 99%. Rushers: For now, these players are just kind of "on the field". Their attributes don't really affect anything for now. In the future, they will be pitted against the blockers/coverage players to determine modifiers for a potential blocked field goal. So the only thing these players can do is be randomly attributed with a blocked field goal if it occurs, and then potentially recovering it. Here's the part I bet you're waiting for: examples! Field Goals: College Extra Points: The rates of extra point misses are not 50/50. I am just showing that they can happen. I hope you enjoyed this Dev Diary. This was the last of the play types that needed to be done in order to run a game! That means the next dev diary should be about how these things all get put together into an actual game! I will keep you posted as development continues! Until next time, Rocketcan

Yes, but obviously it is MUCH more difficult to get it there. And punters that have enough leg to get close probably won't have enough accuracy to actually move it there.

Hello Coaches! Welcome to another Dev Diary for NewSim on SimFBA! This Dev Diary continues to explain the transition to the new game engine. Last time, we talked about kickoffs and kickoff returns. This time, we are talking about punts and punt returns. So there are 4 or so important groups of players for punt plays right now. Some groups aren't as fleshed out as others. They are: Punter Blockers/Coverage Players Returners Punt Rushers/Return Blockers Punter: For now, we won't really be worried about long snappers, so punters are where the sim first cares about what happens. There are two skills that matter to a punter: Punt Power and Punt Accuracy. The sim first will look at the punt power to see just how far the punt will travel. If you're pinned back, then the longer the punt the better, but if you're closer to midfield or just past it, then you also don't want to boom a punt through the endzone and generate a touchback. That is where punt accuracy comes in. Basically, each punt is "aimed" at the 10 yard line, and high punt accuracy will allow punters to get those punts closer to the 10 yard line. Expect low accuracy punters to get a bunch of touchbacks. Punt Coverage: Players here are worried about one thing: speed. In a later update, these guys will also have to worry about skills like tackling and agility, but for now, speed is the only skill that matters. And even then, it is just used to determine WHO made the tackle, not WHERE. So, faster players are more likely to make the tackle than slower players, but a faster punt coverage team (for now, this WILL change) will NOT affect the return distance. When Return blockers actually blocking is added, then other skills will come into play. Returners: There are always two returners for the Punt Return team. Punts will be fielded by Returner #1 about 70% of the time, and Returner #2 will handle the other 30%. From there, if the ball was fielded in the endzone, there will always be a touchback. Otherwise, the returner will try to return the ball as far as possible. This brings us to the skills important to a returner: Speed and Agility. Speed is the most important and you will really want to put a blazer here. The faster a player is, the farther they are likely to go on their return. If a player is agile enough, and rolled well enough on the initial return, there is the possibility of a "multiplying" roll. If this occurs, the sim will roll to see if there were extra yards gained based on the agility of the returner (higher agility means better chance of breaking away). Once a breakaway occurs, the speed of the player comes into play once again, and determines how far they go with that extra space (faster players will make more of any opportunities created by their agility). So to summarize: high agility translates to more chances to break away, and high speed will translate into doing more with each individual chance. Punt Rushers/Return Blockers: For now, these players are just kind of "on the field". Their attributes don't really affect anything for now. In the future, they will be pitted against the blockers/coverage players to determine modifiers for a potential blocked punt. So the only thing these players can do is be randomly attributed with a blocked punt if it occurs, and then potentially recovering it. Here's the part I bet you're waiting for: examples! I hope you enjoyed this Dev Diary. Please check in next time when we will probably keep the focus on Special Teams! Until next time, Rocketcan

HYPE

Source: (God, 2021).

Hello Coaches! Welcome to another Dev Diary for NewSim on SimFBA! This Dev Diary continues to explain the transition to the new game engine. Last time, we talked about defending against the pass. This time, we move over to the realm of special teams and get down to how kickoffs and kickoff returns work and what players you should play on them! So there are 3 or so important groups of players for kickoff plays right now (a 4th will be added in a later update). They are: Kicker Kickoff Coverage Players Returners Return Blockers (Not currently implemented. Will be in the future) Kicker: Kickers start off the play, and so we'll start there. There are two skills that matter to a kickoff kicker: Kick Power and Punt Power. The sim will look at whichever skill will produce the longer kickoff, so feel free to place punters as your kickoff specialists! The main thing to take away from this is, the higher the Kick OR Punt Power, the farther the ball is likely to travel before it can be fielded by a returner. Simple! Kickoff Coverage: Players here are worried about one thing: speed. In a later update, these guys will also have to worry about skills like tackling and agility, but for now, speed is the only skill that matters. And even then, it is just used to determine WHO made the tackle, not WHERE. So, faster players are more likely to make the tackle than slower players, but a faster kickoff coverage team (for now, this WILL change) will NOT affect the return distance. When Return blockers are added, then other skills will come into play. Returners: Finally, returners. There are always two returners for the Kick Return team. Kickoffs will be fielded by Returner #1 about 70% of the time, and Returner #2 will handle the other 30%. From there, if the ball was fielded in the endzone, the returners will have to make a decision: take a knee or now? Right now, they will take a knee and go for a touchback about 50% of the time. Now, if the returner decides to take the ball out of the endzone, or if the ball was kicked short of the endzone, then the returner will try to return the ball as far as possible. This brings us to the skills important to a returner: Speed and Agility. Speed is the most important and you will really want to put a blazer here. The faster a player is, the farther they are likely to go on their return. If a player is agile enough, and rolled well enough on the initial return, there is the possibility of a "multiplying" roll. If this occurs, the sim will roll to see if there were extra yards gained based on the agility of the returner (higher agility means better chance of breaking away). Once a breakaway occurs, the speed of the player comes into play once again, and determines how far they go with that extra space (faster players will make more of any opportunities created by their agility). So to summarize: high agility translates to more chances to break away, and high speed will translate into doing more with each individual chance. Here's the part I bet you're waiting for: examples! I hope you enjoyed this Dev Diary. Please check in next time when we will probably keep the focus on Special Teams! Until next time, Rocketcan

Hello Coaches! Welcome to another Dev Diary for NewSim on SimFBA! This Dev Diary continues to explain the transition to the new game engine. Last time, we talked about defending against the run. This time, we will talk about more defense. Specifically about how to stop the pass! Since I have to go into pretty much everything that a pass play can be, this will likely be a long one, so buckle up! Like I mentioned last time, defenses are divided up into three "levels" (DL, LBs, DBs). Each of these levels has a job when it comes to the pass. The first and second can rush the passer (and eventually sometimes the third), and the second and third provide the coverage. As such, there are three separate things that can happen on a pass play: An attempted pass, a pass rush and/or a run (QB scramble). Every play will have at least one of these things, but sometimes a pass rush can still result in an attempted pass or a run. Let's look at each one individually. Attempted Pass: The most common occurrence on a pass play is when the QB attempts to complete a pass to an intended receiver. Each play has an initial intended receiver, but sometimes the play is "redirected" to another receiver. This is to simulate the QB going through reads and progressions. While the distribution of the redirected passes (who it gets redirected to) is hard-coded, the chance that a redirection occurs is dynamic depending on the play, and can be changed through input files on the backend. The attempted pass process takes all of the information we talked about in Dev Diary #26: Throwing and Dev Diary #28: Catching and combines that with the coverage information we will talk about in a moment to produce the final chance of 4 possible events: Completed Pass Incomplete Pass Interception (based on defender) Interception (based on overall defense) The last two are probably confusing, but just think of it like this: the first interception category is when a pass is thrown poorly enough that the defender has a chance to intercept it. If they catch well enough, they will. If not, it falls incomplete. The second interception category is for when the QB makes a poor read/decision and misses a defender "lurking". This defender isn't the one covering the receiver, but rather is another player that cut underneath the route, or perhaps was a safety coming in over the top. If the pass is completed, a number is rolled to see how far the receiver got with the ball, and then the play is complete. If the pass was incomplete, the play is over. If the pass was intercepted, the defense will return it, and that mostly depends on the speed of the intercepting player. Pass Rush: Sometimes, a play calls for a pass rush check. This is more likely on longer passes and plays with more pass rushers. There are two types of pass rush checks: Matchups and Overall Pass Rush. Matchups: The sim selects a pass blocker and their corresponding pass rusher and has them face off. Whatever the difference between the blocker and the rusher's skills are will be added to the chance of a sack. So if a pass rusher is better than a pass blocker, there will be a high chance of a sack, and vice versa. Obviously, if there is a sack, this pass rusher will get the credit for the sack. Overall Pass Rush: The sim adds up the pass blocking of all pass blockers, and compares it to the sum of the pass rush skills of all of the pass rushers. Similar to the matchup, the difference between these two numbers is compared and applied to the sack range. However, differences here are DOUBLED before they are added to the sack range. So a difference of 2 becomes a difference of 4, making a bigger difference. There are four things that can happen after a pass rush: Sack Run Pass Interception The Sack is pretty obvious. We will talk about running in the next section. The pass and interception basically follows the same as a regular pass attempt, with the following difference: some QB types will be better at throwing on the run and under pressure than others! Specifically, in order of best to worst: Balanced Scrambling Field General Pocket NOTE: Scrambling is lower than Balanced because of the likelihood that they are going to run, which we will get to next. So the chances that one of the four things that can happen on a pass rush happening are also determined by the QB type: Scrambling QBs are quite slippery and will likely be sacked the least. They also will choose to run with the ball over passing it, and will throw it the least under pressure. Balanced QBs are decent at avoiding pass rush, while not as good as Scrambling QBs. They are more likely to throw than Scramblers, but will still decide to tuck it and run a fair amount. Field General QBs are a bit vulnerable to pass rushers and will go down more often than our previous types, but make up for this with a decreased likelihood of throwing INTs as well as using their arm to get out of a bad situation rather than their legs. Pocket QBs are the perfect target for pass rushers. They very rarely can avoid the rush, but when they do, they usually make the defense pay. They are the least likely to throw and interception, and the most likely to complete a pass if they avoid the rush. What they will pretty much never do is run with the ball. Which leads us to our next section: QB Scramble: Finally, a pass rush can induce a QB to take off with the football themselves. This is most dangerous and likely facing against Scrambling QBs, but is pretty much not a threat against Pocket QBs. This event is treated just like a regular run (just without any blocking or defending modifiers). The QB uses their agility (like an outside run) to determine how far they run with the football, and can have a breakaway run just like any other run play. Whew. That's a lot! But it is all to try to make the sim more realistic! Also, imagine having to code all this! :thisisfine: So what skills make a pass defender? Well, that depends on whether you want a defender to rush the passer or to drop into coverage. If you want the player to rush the passer, the following skills help: Pass Rush Speed Strength Football IQ Ok, so how do each of these things affect how well a run defender will play? Pass Rush: This skill is pretty straightforward. The higher this value is, the better a player is at getting past blockers and sacking/putting pressure on the QB. Speed: High speed players will get a small boost to their ability to rush the passer. Strength: Players with high strength also have a slight bonus. Football IQ: Intelligence can provide a slight benefit or malus. What about a player in coverage? Speed Man Coverage Zone Coverage Speed: This skill specifically applies to covering deep routes. You don't want slow players covering speed WRs running streaks! Man Coverage: This skill will directly influence the completion chance against a covered receiver while in a man coverage assignment against them. Zone Coverage: This skill will directly influence the completion chance against a covered receiver while in a zone coverage assignment against them. Now, I bet you noticed a little tidbit in there about man and zone assignments. Well, now we have the ability to determine whether corners, linebackers and safeties are playing man or zone for a given play! This will allow you to play to your defense's strengths! Ok, so that was a TON of words, but if you made it this far, I have a treat for you! All of what I talked about is currently coded up and functional! Here is a little taste: That is it for this dev diary. I apologize for the length, but I hope it was worth it. Comment with any questions you have and I'll be sure to answer them as best as I can! Until next time, Rocketcan

One more thing to add that I forgot: The strength and speed bonuses do NOT stack. You only get one or the other. They are the same amount of bonus, though, so it doesn't really matter which one is applied.

Hello Coaches! Welcome to another Dev Diary for NewSim on SimFBA! This Dev Diary continues to explain the transition to the new game engine. Last time, we talked about blocking. This time, we will talk about some defense! Specifically, what things make players good at defending the run. First, let's talk about who might be in a position to defend against a run play. Defenses are divided up into three "levels" (sensing a pattern here?). Those levels are: Defensive Line Linebackers Secondary The first two levels are the ones that will be called upon to stop the run. So you usually won't have to worry about corners and safeties trying to stop the run, but safeties sometimes get in on the fun when they are rolled down into the box. So basically any position but CB will sometimes defend against the run, and even then, more often than not, it is your front seven doing the heavy lifting for you. The next thing to understand is how the sim determines who defends against the run, and who blocks. The way the sim determines this is based on the play call (inside, outside, power, etc.) and then it selects a few players from both sides (sometimes just one side, sometimes from both) as "key" to the development of the play. These are the players that are compared when a run occurs. For example, on an inside run to the left, the sim might call for the offense's LG and the defense's MLB to be compared. The net sum between the Run Blocking of the LG and the Run Defense of the MLB is added directly to the number of yards the RB gained (or lost) on that play. (The numbers that follow are not the raw skills of the player. They are processed first by the sim) Examples: #1 RG Run Block: 3 MLB Run Defense: -3 Yards added to RB gained yards: 0 [*]#2 RG Run Block: -1 MLB Run Defense: -3 Yards added to RB gained yards: -4 [*]#3 RG Run Block: 3 MLB Run Defense: 2 Yards added to RB gained yards: 5 Now sometimes, the sim will actually only have players from one side. This usually results in a big play for either side because one side doesn't have any numbers to offset the other team's. For example, it is possible for a run to be defended by two defenders (like a DE and an OLB on an outside run) and NO blockers. Thus, a DE with a Run Defense of -2 and an OLB with a Run Defense of -3 would cause 5 yards to be subtracted from whatever the RB gained. This also goes in the other direction, in that sometimes there will only be blockers, and no defenders. So what skills make a run defender? The following do: Run Defense Speed Strength Football IQ Ok, so how do each of these things affect how well a run defender will play? Run Defense: This skill is pretty straightforward. The higher this value is, the better a player will defend on a run play. This skill will DIRECTLY reduce the number of yards the RB gains. Speed: High speed players will get a small boost to their ability to stop the run. This simulates speed-oriented defenses that emphasize swarming to the ball with multiple tacklers (Think mid 2010s Seattle Seahawks). This bonus only kicks in above a large speed threshold. Low speed does not provide any maluses. Strength: Players with high strength also have a slight bonus. This simulates defenses that want to try to push the offense back off the line of scrimmage and attack the backfield (Think 1985 Chicago Bears). This bonus only kicks in above a large strength threshold. Low strength does not provide any maluses. Football IQ: Intelligence is key to being able to defend the run. Understanding tendencies and opposing blocking schemes can really give a defender an advantage. Thus, a small bonus is given to players with high Football IQ, whereas players with a lack of Football IQ will suffer maluses and potentially struggle. This one was longer since I explained how the offense and defense actually match up on a play, but hopefully it made sense. Next we will talk about defending the pass! That is it for this dev diary. Comment with any questions you have and I'll be sure to answer them as best as I can! Until next time, Rocketcan

Hello Coaches! Welcome to another Dev Diary for NewSim on SimFBA! This Dev Diary continues to explain the transition to the new game engine. Last time, we talked about how receiving works and what things would make a good receiver. This time, we will talk about blocking. This will encompass any player that has a chance to be designated a blocker on any given play (basically anyone but the QB). First, let's talk about who can be a blocker. The two main types of blocking are run blocking and pass blocking. The following positions could potentially be called on to block on running plays: C OG OT TE FB RB WR And the following could be called upon to pass block: C OG OT TE FB RB So what skills make a good blocker? The following do: Run Blocking Pass Blocking Strength Football IQ Ok, so how do each of these things affect how well a blocker will play? Run Blocking: This skill is pretty straightforward. The higher this value is, the better a player will block on a run play. The better run blockers you have, the more yardage your ball carrier will gain before they make contact. The way this is calculated is this value will directly add (or subtract if they are bad!!) yardage to the yards gained by the ball carrier. Pass Blocking: Like Run Blocking, this skill is straightforward. The higher this value is, the better a player will block on a pass play. The way this is applied is during a pass rush situation. To avoid sacks, having several players blocking with high pass rush values is key, as this can avoid some (though not all) of those situations from occurring altogether. In other instances, a pass rush matchup can occur, and if the pass blocking is higher than the pass rushing values, the difference is applied to the chance of a sack. This means that a dominant pass blocker can actually give the QB more time to throw. Strength: Strength can provide a small bonus to blocking, but that bonus is only reached by exceptionally strong players. This is to show that sometimes a player is simply a bulldozer and can push even the largest humans out of the way. Football IQ: This skill, for now, only applies to individual blocking situations (although it might be possible in the future for Line Captain centers to share some of their football IQ bonus). This boosts (or detracts) from a players ability to block on a given play based on how smart they are. The idea here is, that a savvy player will know the playbook inside and out and might also have some other tricks up their sleeve to give them an advantage. This one is a bit short today since the calculations and data are much simpler than the previous ones. Next, we will likely talk about stuff on the defensive side of the ball! That is it for this dev diary. Comment with any questions you have and I'll be sure to answer them as best as I can! Until next time, Rocketcan