Changing tactics and lines by AI

[jalabar]

When I set my tactics, lines, minute targets, etc and then play a game, why does the AI reset my lines to what it deems best, reset my minute targets to what it deems each line should play, reset my tactics, etc? I find I have to keep going into my lines and tactics and resetting them to the way I want them repeatedly during games, or the game resets them itself to what it deems best, regardless of how I have set them. The stats, especially for minutes, bears this out. I have my top line set at 18 minutes, second at 17, third at 15, fourth at 10. My fourth plays on my first PK unit as well. I find them often with 6-7 minutes while my top line has 22. When I go into tactics during games, I find them reset to 22, 18, 13, 7. My defense is balanced, I have it set for 22, 20, 18. In games the game changes it to 25, 20, 15.

I really, really, really want the lines that I set in the team screens, the tactics I set in the team screens, the minute targets I set in the team screens to stay the same, barring injury, in the games.

An example of the lines: The Washington Capitals this season are running Kuznetsov as 1st line center and Backstrom on the second. I want to do this as well, and have my lines set as such. As soon as a game starts, the AI moves Backstrom back to 1st line and Kuz to second, and keeps doing it at the beginning of each period.

In my manager settings, I have myself, not assistant, set to do all these things, yet the game insists on taking it over once a game starts and changing all my stuff. It is getting really annoying. I find playing coach mode is useless if the AI is going to change all my strategies, so right now until this is fixed I am only playing as a GM. Not the way I want to play, but if all my strategies and lines etc are going to be constantly changed by the AI in games, being a coach is useless.

[JeffR]

Is it actually changing the line setup, e.g. Backstrom is on the first line in the line setup screen when you look at it during a game? The AI will make some minor adjustments when changing lines depending on things like player fatigue levels, but it shouldn't be touching the overall plan if you don't have the assistant turned on.

[jalabar]

Yes, it will change them in the in-game lineups and I change them back, and it will run them for a while. At the beginning of the next period, it will be changed back. It seems to be basically resetting them to where the assistant would have put them had I let him set my lines to begin. But it also resets my tactics. For example, I have my top line set to shoot. If you go into my tactics screen outside a game, my top line is set to shoot, to play physical, to skate entry into zone, to active check, to play normal risk, and to be high tempo at 18 minutes and 22 minutes for my top D pair. Once a game starts, I go into tactics and it invariably has them set for neutral instead of shoot, normal instead of physical, skate, active, very high risk instead of high risk, high tempo, and 22 minutes, 25 for my top pair. Even if I set all my lines for 15 minutes, my top line will end up with 20+ and my bottom line usually 6-9. My 4th line is lower skill so I have them set for low risk, then I look and the game set them for high risk and I was wondering why they are struggling with giving up goals. It's because the AI told them to act like Gretzky when they have the skill of Tie Domi.

It usually resets all my penalty killers. I do not want my top line on the PK. They play the top line, and the top PP line, so I keep them off the PK. The game ALWAYS puts Ovechkin and Backstrom and Kuznetsov back on the PK.

When I run the game, I run it in play mode, with only show shots as the view mode.

Now that I think of it... it resets my tactics right away, as soon as the game starts, and even if I go in and reset them (and the line target minutes), it resets them again as soon as I go back into the game. But the lines it does not seem to reset until after someone from my team has been in the penalty box. Once it has to rethink the lines because someone isn't eligible for whatever reason (maybe a PKer is in the box), it then resets the lines optimized. I think that is it because if I look back at my lines right away, they are still the way I had them, but then later they have changed (before the end of the period).

[jalabar]

Also, I have no mods at all, haven't even looked at any. The game is running just as it was DLed and updated by Steam.

[jalabar]

So I just played a game. As I mentioned, it is impossible to set tactics or shot location or minute targets because as soon as I go back to the game screen, it resets them for what it wants them to be, without fail. However, that time none of my penalty killers went to the box, so my lines lasted the entire first period. They reset at the puck drop start of the second, however, to the assistant's preferences.

[jalabar]

Oddly enough, it does NOT put my regular starting goalie back in if I start a backup. It just realigns everyone else.

[jalabar]

One other minor quibble, totally unrelated to this one. When the game starts, it has Nicklas Backstrom as the Capitals' captain, with Brooks Laich and Brooks Orpik as the As and Ovechkin with nothing. This is WRONG. Ovechkin IS the Capitals' captain, Backstrom is A1 and Orpik is A2. When the game starts, I have to piss off Laich and Backstrom right away to set the Captains the way they are in reality (and have been... it is ridiculous that Ovi isn't C or even A). Would be nice if the captains for the team in the game reflected reality. backstrom has NEVER been the Caps' C.

[jalabar]

Would also be nice if the game started on July 1st, so that if you wanted to change the rules you could do it before having to play a whole season. As is, the game starts on Aug 15th with the stip that you can not change the League rules until July 1st.

[jalabar]

I started a new game as the head of Hershey, the Capitals AHL team. The same thing happens there as well, after the game started it changed all my lines and tactics. I can not coach right now. I am not sure what triggers the change, save that I had given up a goal when I went to check the lines and they had been changed.

[JeffR]

I've been trying to replicate this with no luck so far; every change I make seems to stick just fine. Could you upload your savegame file to a filesharing site (filedropper.com works well, as does dropbox) and email me the link at [e-mail]? I think we're going to need to have a look at it to see exactly what's going on here.

[jalabar]

Sure... the way it seems is that, even when I have the game set to me choosing things, once the game starts the assistant takes over.

[jalabar]

Gonna have to start a new game, as the game I am currently in is GM only since coaching isn't working for me.

[jalabar]

So I started a new game. When the game ends I will send you the game save. As soon as the game action started (first faceoff) I opened tactics and those are changed immediately. However, it seemed to keep my lines completely intact through the first pre-season game. However, in the second pre-season game, it scrambled my D pairings and my lines along with again immediately changing my tactics, minutes, even my option for whether to pull the goalie normal, slow , fast. The tactics changes, minutes changes etc happen right away as soon as the puck is dropped. The line changes, I have no idea why or when they happen but they do. My top pairing was Orpik-Carlson, by the start of the third it was Orlov-Carlson. So, that's where I am. Right after the second pre-season game. I will send you the gamesave.

[jalabar]

Which file am I sending? The saved_games.dat file? Otherwise I have a folder named Test.lg but it won't let me upload a whole folder.

[JeffR]

OK, got the file and I had a look. The problem is in the Gameplan screen. You have all the gameplan settings set to default templates, which means the tactics will be switched to the template specified in the gameplan as soon as the appropriate situation occurs - e.g., the First Period/Even Score setting is on Offensive Physical, so the default Offensive Physical template is re-loading as soon as the game begins (since it's in the first period and the score is 0-0.)

To avoid that happening, you need to do one of two things: leave some of the gameplan settings unset (i.e., on the "-" setting) so in those situations, the base tactics you've set in the tactics screen will be used. Or, use the template screen to create a new template with the exact settings you want, and in the Gameplan screen place it in all of the situations where you're using Offensive Physical now.

[jalabar]

So... would that also make the game substitute players? The game I had just finished when I made that save, I had set Orpik as part of my first pair, and by the end of that game he was on my third pair. I had set Sean Collins on the 4th line LW and by game's end the game moved him to 2nd LW.