Let's Play BLOOD BOWL! WAAAAAGH!

[kingcomrade]

You don't need to know a thing about American football to play this game, it has little to nothing to do with it.

This is just one of those THE DICE HATE YOU games.

I'm just getting frustrated because I can't win my first game every time I try a campaign. The first people I play against are always Dwarfs, so I always lose. In single game mode I have beaten Humans and Ratlings. But Dwarves are just impossible. Their only drawback (lower movement speed) is not actually a drawback at all, the way the game plays, and also their lower movement speed is like just 1 less than what Orcs have.

I also get angry when AGI 2 dwarves can dance through my lines like elves but my AGI 3 Orcs get smacked down the moment they try it.

 

[SimpleComplexity]

I will play this game online in real time against nubs to show off ma mad "micro" skillz.

-Okay not really, how is the multiplayer?

 

[bgillisp]

After playing quite a few games of this (current record 4 - 8 - 2) I do suspect the die are jiggered in favor of the AI on medium or harder difficutly. I've seen way too many cases of AGI 2 players pulling off perfect moves/passes and AGI 4 players failing when I control them. Also I've rolled way too many fumbled pickups (2 or more straight) with only needing a 2 or higher to pick the ball up, and only seen the AI fail once in 14 games to pick up the ball.

Oh, yeah, and I did I yet mention I've gone 5 for 5 on failure to successfully re-roll a bone-head (human) or take root (elf) roll? Sheesh. That has a ridiculously low chance of happening by chance (1/6 to the 5th power to be precise). Any odds they forgot to put in the code to really re-roll those, as I've never pulled off a re-roll on those two skills when I fail my checks. I've started just taking the initial result and save my re-rolls for other cases.

I dropped the difficutly down to easy until the die rolls are fixed to be fair. At least at easy I haven't seen the computer cheat that badly on die rolls (yet). Hopefully they will put out a patch and at least make the die rolls more fair for both AI and human players!

 

[kingcomrade]

ASIOUDHO{DAIGHODAGNOADGHNADHJNAODHNDA

 

[Anthony Davis]

God I regret buying this game, just like I always do when I buy games.

Stick with it. I hated it at first, but I kept experimenting with it and I think I understand it now.

Some pointers, which you probably already know...

Re-Rolls are teh win, but you can't rely to heavy on them.
2 die blocks are a minimum when doing offensive blocks.
Keep your players near each other so that they can lend support in defensive blocks.

I will sometimes move guys into other tackle zones just to support the player already in the tackle zone. The goal is to put as many of the opposing players on the pitch as possible OR to move them out of the tackle zone AWAY from the ball. Another technique is if you are rolling bad is to push them out of support of their own players, push or stumble that is.

I don't know if that helps.

 

[Anthony Davis]

ASIOUDHO{DAIGHODAGNOADGHNADHJNAODHNDA

Yeah, I've had that happen a few times.

The dorfs are tough man... but you are doing well in the game it seems.

Breathe, don't let the nerd rage overcome you.

 

[kingcomrade]

No I understand how to play and that's pretty much how I've being doing it, but jesus look at that picture above.

Their first score, by the way, was a pass from 3 squares in front of their in zone all the way across the map to 5 squares in front of my in zone.

I only got that one score I have because I got some weird kickoff thing that knocked half the dwarf team out, so just beat a couple dwarfs down in the corridor and then ran for it.

 

[Anthony Davis]

Spell my name right you hobo of a developer. :evil:

Bah.

I do what I want.













sorry bout that.

 

[Anthony Davis]

No I understand how to play and that's pretty much how I've being doing it, but jesus look at that picture above.

Their first score, by the way, was a pass from 3 squares in front of their in zone all the way across the map to 5 squares in front of my in zone.

I only got that one score I have because I got some weird kickoff thing that knocked half the dwarf team out, so just beat a couple dwarfs down in the corridor and then ran for it.

I figured you did understand, but I was just covering the basics.

I have had the exact same thing your screengrab decribed...used a re-roll, and GOT THE SAME THING!

It just happens. Just keep at it, it will start to balance out. I've had the computer AI have a turn over on their very first turn by moving through a tackle...so it CAN happen.

Wait...are you playing Blitz turn based, or Traditional turn based?

I am playing Blitz Turnbased on Medium...if that makes a difference.

 

[MetalCraze]

More akshun plz

 

[Anthony Davis]

More akshun plz

There won't be an update till tonight...the work week has begun!

edit @ kingcomrade:
Your Black Ork has a base FIVE strength now...disgusting. I can hardly wait to see how the humies handle what is essentially an Ogre without the bonehead penalty.

 

[bgillisp]

ASIOUDHO{DAIGHODAGNOADGHNADHJNAODHNDA

Yeah, I've had that happen a few times.

The dorfs are tough man... but you are doing well in the game it seems.

Breathe, don't let the nerd rage overcome you.

I think his point is is that if that was the AI that did that, it would be 3 defenders down or something like that, not the fact that he got 3 attacker/both down rolls.

 

[Anthony Davis]

ASIOUDHO{DAIGHODAGNOADGHNADHJNAODHNDA
*snip image*

Yeah, I've had that happen a few times.

The dorfs are tough man... but you are doing well in the game it seems.

Breathe, don't let the nerd rage overcome you.

I think his point is is that if that was the AI that did that, it would be 3 defenders down or something like that, not the fact that he got 3 attacker/both down rolls.

True, but what I try to do now it to make sure I START with someone with block skill against someone with block skill so if I get a roll like that, I won't even bother with the re-roll, I'll take the both down die which is entirely negated. After that I will try again with anyone.

Part of it is to control the blood lust and just control the field...the delicious injuries will come in time.

...I know Kingcomrade knows all this, I'm just making conversation.

 

[HanoverF]

That's why you gotta grind out a few games till you get your big guys block and prehensile tails and shit. If you play dorfs in real time you can kick the ball deep in their zone, run in pick it up and score before they get there.

 

[bgillisp]

ASIOUDHO{DAIGHODAGNOADGHNADHJNAODHNDA
*snip image*

Yeah, I've had that happen a few times.

The dorfs are tough man... but you are doing well in the game it seems.

Breathe, don't let the nerd rage overcome you.

I think his point is is that if that was the AI that did that, it would be 3 defenders down or something like that, not the fact that he got 3 attacker/both down rolls.

True, but what I try to do now it to make sure I START with someone with block skill against someone with block skill so if I get a roll like that, I won't even bother with the re-roll, I'll take the both down die which is entirely negated. After that I will try again with anyone.

Part of it is to control the blood lust and just control the field...the delicious injuries will come in time.

...I know Kingcomrade knows all this, I'm just making conversation.

Its a good approach, but the point is is it shouldn't be needed all the time, especially as few people have block when your team is starting out. The AI should have the same chances as the human player, and after playing 14 games I've seen no indication that it fairly balances out, especially when it comes to moving/doding and passing/ball pickups. From what I understand I'm not the only one too, I've heard word that this is being complained about on the official forums too (in fact, I think I'm off to see what the story is on that...back soon)

 

[bgillisp]

ok, I went to the official forum and looked at the reported bugs. There is a known bug of re-roll not always really re-rolling the die, that may be some of our problems. Here is the link for the known bug list for anyone playing this game:
http://www.cyanide-studio.com/forumBB/v ... =25&t=2071

 

[Demnogonis Saastuttaja]

A few basic things you learn fast :
-Do your non-die roll requiring actions first if possible, then the other not so risky actions (Three die blocks with block skill etc.). Don't do one die blocks at any point unless you have the block skill and the opponent doesn't and it doesn't matter if your guy is up or not on the opponent's turn (likely it matters, though).
-Get the block skill for pretty much everyone (or wrestle).
-Protect your ball carrier, or the ball at least. A good formation is X, where the ball carrier is in the middle. If you are a bashy team, there's not much reason to use less than eight turns to score. Leaving something like the Skaven two turns to score is just dumb.
-Have those re-rolls if you want to actually play your turns, and don't waste them on dumb things that are not likely to succeed.

Dwarves are pretty good right from the start, but most of their team can't really handle the ball, they can't really dodge and they are slow. They are extremely good at bashing but that doesn't always work and they can't really do anything else.

Players without block will cause turnovers and are easy to beat down. Doesn't matter how many die you are rolling. And often you will roll double skulls and then another double skulls, or triples and then triples. It just happens, but that doesn't usually mean that you lose the game. Non-block actions are even easier to botch, because you always roll only one die, perhaps with a re-roll.

Blood Bowl makes both of the players feel that they have bad luck. That's the way it works.

 

[HanoverF]

Number of matches against the dwarfs: 3

Number of Go For It by Dwarfs: 38
Number of fails on Go For It: 0
Number of times I tried Go For it: 3
Number of Fails on Go For it: 2
Number of rerolls: 1
Number of rerolls resulting in a second fail and a player with a broken neck: 1

 

[Seboss]

I have the nagging impression the QA effort went to the real-time mode.

 

[Bluebottle]

I think my main problem is switching from a defensive position around my player with the ball, to going on the offensive. All I can think to do at the moment, is to let the opponents throw themselves at me until they're all KO'd or a gap of some order appears. So far this has never worked, and either results in my team losing the ball or, at best, the end of the half/game with me having progressed nowhere. It's at least a stalemate though, which is progress from my earlier trouncings.

A good formation is X, where the ball carrier is in the middle.

I shall try that out. Might give me a few more free players to play with than just a simple box.

 

[Silellak]

I have the nagging impression the QA effort went to the real-time mode.

Not sure it's a QA failing, so much as they compensated for their inability to program turn-based AI by heavily biasing the rolls in their favor for certain difficulty settings.

I've yet to win a single Quick Game so far, and I haven't even TRIED playing the Dwarves yet. I might try it on Easy and see if it makes any reasonable difference. It's fun, but it's frustrating to suck this bad. I'm also tempted to switch it to RT mode (omg no heresy!!!) just to help compensate for the ridiculous rolls made by the AI.

 

[kingcomrade]

they can't really dodge

I wish this were true

 

[Anthony Davis]

The only thing I can say is that when I started the LP originally with the Ork team with goblins and a troll...I got rolled.

I started over, everything the same, except 4 Black Orks, 4 Blitzers, 2 Throwers, and 1 Linemen.

The Blitzers all have Block so I usually lead with them. Any poor sap without block on the opposing team gets to duke it out with my Black Orks.

The Ork Throwers are practically line men too, except the have sure hands and pass.

Yeah, the dorfs seem to dodge pretty well, but then I will have times where they miss two dodges in a row.

Again, on real-time, I can beat any computer opponent 15 to 0...sometimes they get 1. On turn based...well, you've seen the scores. I've never scored more than twice in a game.

 

[Jasede]

I think this only leads to one conclusion: make Alpha Protocol turn-based.

 

[Kaiserin]

Couldn't we just avoid all this butthurt about the computer sweetening rolls by playing each other?