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Bugs, bugs, bugs > Coach almost never asks for time-outs

Coach almost never asks for time-outs

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From: beks_ns
This Post:
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105503.1
Date: 8/18/2009 1:42:34 PM
Overall Posts Rated:
112112
This is my third post I think about this issue – my coach is so damn poor on time*outs – he waits for the game to be completely lost, and than starts with time-outs…

and the opposite trainer, waits for me to ketch up, and asks for time-out after series 5-0. 7-0 or so – what to do on this matter?

at the last game - (13309473), he asked for third on 00:02 till the end (!!!!!!) when was so pointless, and left with 3 more – and I lost 4th quarter 41-21, and at the end of the third I was 4 points behind.

I do not know what would be the score at the end, he has better team, but with coach like this it impossible to even think about surprising any team – at least once in the while.

Last edited by beks_ns at 8/18/2009 1:45:37 PM

This Post:
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105503.2 in reply to 105503.1
Date: 8/18/2009 1:49:43 PM
Overall Posts Rated:
506506
This is not a bug, it's designed this way.

See BB-Charles his post here (104263.17);

The brief version is that it's surprisingly hard to write an AI that will determine the best way to use a timeout. Timeouts currently are called in order to do at least one of the following:

- Blunt the other team's momentum
- Rest tired players while keeping them in the game
- Advance the ball without the clock moving (late in the game)
- Draw up a play (late in the game)

Despite quite a number of tries at the problem, we have never managed to write an AI that does a good job of balancing all of these; typically the most "advanced" tries we've had at the problem result in the team running out of timeouts. As much as I'm a Vinny Del Negro fan, we've ended up writing an AI that leans heavily towards conserving timeouts to have as many as possible available at the end of the game, when star players get the most advantage out of getting rest during timeouts and when advancing the ball is at a premium. This also means that the team who is ahead very often will end up conserving all or nearly all of their timeouts until the end, then not using them.