PDS Defense

[dreamtheatervt]

After creating some standard offensive plays that were tearing apart the premade defenses, I figured I needed to make a few defenses base defenses to see how my plays fared for real.

After tinkering around with it, the defense really needs some love. There is no mention of the defense in the manual (not really a big deal), so all I had to rely on was trial and error.

The man-to-man coverage is very ineffective.
There is no control to how man to man is played (loose/tight, under/over), and the game adjusts the DB's alignment. If I wanted my DB's to line up 6 yards off the line, I would have put them there. I can't play my corners up in press, or 10 yards off; same with my safety.

It won't let me draw zone coverages.

All positions need more logic commands. DL need to be able to read, plug gap (sit in a hole and hold ground, so it's not really a rush), and be able to drop into zone for zone blitzes.

LBs and DBs should have a "blitz" stance where he approaches the line of scrimmage showing blitz; the decision to rush can be made after the snap.

Coverage needs to be addressed. In order to cover someone man to man, a player shouldn't have to line up on him.

Aggressiveness levels in pursuit need to be assignable. It's important to have an aggressive, risk taking play for when you are trailing, and a safer, reactionary defense for protecting a lead or 3rd and very long situations.

Differentiation between DE's and DT's, as well as CB's, safeties is essential; and differentiation between middle and outside backers (even strong and weak side) and SS and FS are not essential, but would be great. DE's and DT's require completely different skill and tool sets, and are not interchangeable. Same with CB and safety. A great DE would get dominated on the inside as a DT, and most DT's don't have the speed and edge skills to play DE.

I know I'm asking for a lot, but as it is I think the defensive side of the PDS is severely lacking. I want to be able to do a lot of things on defense, and right now it just seems like it is not possible. That said, I love the offensive side for the most part. I finally got it figured out and I'm having a blast drawing up plays.

[Marauders]

After tinkering around with it, the defense really needs some love. There is no mention of the defense in the manual (not really a big deal), so all I had to rely on was trial and error.

Hopefully, that will change in the manual.

The man-to-man coverage is very ineffective. There is no control to how man to man is played (loose/tight, under/over), and the game adjusts the DB's alignment. If I wanted my DB's to line up 6 yards off the line, I would have put them there. I can't play my corners up in press, or 10 yards off; same with my safety.

Programming all of that would not be easy to do, but it would be nice to see how much could be done. David has stated he will be working on defensive improvements given the time.

It won't let me draw zone coverages.

The game doesn't allow this, yet. There is still hope for this one as a future feature.

All positions need more logic commands. DL need to be able to read, plug gap (sit in a hole and hold ground, so it's not really a rush), and be able to drop into zone for zone blitzes.

I agree. I have written comments about guard reads and defensive play in the beta forum, so David is aware of this.

LBs and DBs should have a "blitz" stance where he approaches the line of scrimmage showing blitz; the decision to rush can be made after the snap.

I have asked David to include defensive motion in any future defensive update, but it is his call. The ability to bring up a safety or linebacker would add a lot of fun to the game not to mention realism.

Coverage needs to be addressed. In order to cover someone man to man, a player shouldn't have to line up on him.

In a computer game, the defender does need to find the offensive player and line up on him. He does not need to change depth, and additional logic that set the player shading (over/under, inside/outside, tight/deep) would help, as would the logic to jam a receiver at the line.

Aggressiveness levels in pursuit need to be assignable. It's important to have an aggressive, risk taking play for when you are trailing, and a safer, reactionary defense for protecting a lead or 3rd and very long situations.

That may be difficult to program on its own, and David has a finite number man hours available. One should be able to set this up in the gameplan.

Differentiation between DE's and DT's, as well as CB's, safeties is essential; and differentiation between middle and outside backers (even strong and weak side) and SS and FS are not essential, but would be great. DE's and DT's require completely different skill and tool sets, and are not interchangeable. Same with CB and safety. A great DE would get dominated on the inside as a DT, and most DT's don't have the speed and edge skills to play DE.

I would like to see almost all of the positions on the depth chart differentiated. David is working on some depth chart changes, but I not sure how much of a change will be made to position designation. Some things affect a lot of other code.

I know I'm asking for a lot, but as it is I think the defensive side of the PDS is severely lacking. I want to be able to do a lot of things on defense, and right now it just seems like it is not possible. That said, I love the offensive side for the most part. I finally got it figured out and I'm having a blast drawing up plays.

Heh! That's how it usually goes; the defense is always tougher to get a good handle on. There was a lot I wanted to do with defenses that I could not under PDS 1.0. I am not sure what changes will be made or when they will come, but changes are in the works.

[Tbird]

The M2M pass coverage is definitely better on PDS 2.0 that's all I'm gonna say [:)]