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MjH -> 1.3.84 Observations (11/13/2006 7:33:57 PM)
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The following are observations from a couple of games:
League Games (my own CFL league with randomly generated players)
Default Canadian Rules
Default Canadian Playbook
Both games were between computer-controlled teams (i.e. no human intervention in drafting, depth charting, etc.), games played as computer vs. computer
- 90%+ of all punts are kicked towards the right sideline
- On at least three occasions, when the punt returner picked up the ball from the ground, he was facing the sidelines. Instead of turning right and running upfield, he ran straight out of bounds -- there were no opposing players in the immediate area.
This next item is rather involved and encompasses several problems.
Very early in one game, Hamilton's kicker had a career-ending neck injury. After that, I saw at least seven different players handle kick-offs, field goals and PATs (I didn't watch the entire game, as I had some things to do around the house). None of those seven players were the punter. The players that handled the kicks must not have high kick strength or accuracy ratings, as Hamilton's kicking for the rest of the game was miserable.
The players that handled the kickoffs were only able to squib short kicks that always went out of bounds (all kickoffs were to the right sideline -- same as punts). The post play 'commentary' would then report:
"The kickoff from was returned by /r."
After the out-of-bounds kick, the kicking team was rewarded with a first down at their own 35 yard line. ????
In the quarter-end statistics, the team screen for Hamilton showed the correct field goals statistics (2 of 6), but no statistics appeared in the offense screen -- the field goal area was completely blank.
The opposing team, which went 4 for 4 for field goals, showed a strange repetition on the offense statistic page. The same kicker was credited twice as 2 for 2 (i.e. "Ditchfield 2 of 2, Ditchfield 2 of 2,").
I had recorded the numbers of the players that had substituted as kicker, so after the end of the game, I went to the team details to see what were the normal positions of those players. Interestingly enough, there were no players with those numbers on the Hamilton roster. They must have been recruiting from the stands -- this might explain Hamilton's performance in the 2006 season [:D]. It probably also explains the previous problems where the kicker's name wasn't displayed.
In general, this is definitely a different game than the first releases. The defense is better on runs -- the sweeps and pitches no longer go for 5+ yards every carry. The passing game is more effective, but hitch and swing passes are still useless. I had seen very few punt returns go for more than a couple of yards in previous releases, and now big returns are occurring. This is all with the default Canadian playbook, which is probably not the best playbook in the world, but it is better than I probably could come up with.
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