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1) I don't know how the game engine works. Let's say that a PF shoots. what is important to know if he is going to fail, team ratings like inside defence and inside attack or the individual ratings like the inside shooting of the PF and inside defence of the defending PF?

No one but the BBs know for certain any of this. Some of the game engine takes place before the shot is even taken. For example, DRIVING plays a role in determining whether or not your player is open for the shot, and how open he is. But shooting and defense play major roles in the outcome of the shot once its taken.

2) another one: when is a shoot considered as jump shoot or when is it considered as inside shoot?

You can only tell by reading the game log in progress. Even then, it is often not clear.

) Is there a way to communicate with the BB if we have the sensation something is missing... for example, let's say... in the rules? (which are clearly incomplete and therefore people find really hard to find their way into the game)

There is a lot missing in the rules and a lot that is outdated, too. When it will be corrected and made more clear is only known to the BBs. I've learned by playing the game, with not much attention to the rules. Learn by doing works.

Best of luck.

1) I don't know how the game engine works. Let's say that a PF shoots. what is important to know if he is going to fail, team ratings like inside defence and inside attack or the individual ratings like the inside shooting of the PF and inside defence of the defending PF?

The game engine is very complex and takes into account a number of variables (I think only BB-Forrest really knows what it does) :)
The individual skills are probably the most important parameters (inside/outside shot/defense). But besides these there are so many others, i.e. experience, stamina, team offensive flow, passing skill of the assist-man, driving in some cases, team attitude and so forth.
Moreover, if the defending team is playing a zone defense, the defending skills of the other players in the zone also have an influence.

yep, obviously I don't wanna know all the details, but there should be at least very good hints on how the engine works. If you don't have any idea of how it works what can you do? just put the player it seems to work best, there's no tactic (because you have no idea how and on what choosing another player will change the match).

An example: this week I played with a team with very good center. I decided to put my best defending center to defend him but I took another very good center to the position of PF. I really don't know if this is simply stupid and useless or a good tactic. And the dramatic thing is that noone can know (only try to guess)

this game would hugely improve with some input from the BB's on how it works (details apart, of course)

yep, obviously I don't wanna know all the details, but there should be at least very good hints on how the engine works. If you don't have any idea of how it works what can you do? just put the player it seems to work best, there's no tactic (because you have no idea how and on what choosing another player will change the match).
An example: this week I played with a team with very good center. I decided to put my best defending center to defend him but I took another very good center to the position of PF. I really don't know if this is simply stupid and useless or a good tactic. And the dramatic thing is that noone can know (only try to guess)

You seem to overreact a bit. Have you read the "game engine" section in the Rules? It seems a good starting point to me.
Many thinks are quite intuitive, while many others you will have to learn with experience.
To answer your question. If you play man-to-man defense it is always 1vs1 play from players in the same position (C vs C, PF vs PF...). If you chose a zone defense, there will be a contribution from players in the same zone, like in reality.
But be careful. if you played 2-3 defense and your C is your best defender... you get a boost for defending the painted area with 3 players, but your C will help PF and SF more than they help him. So I guess that zone defense is better suited to help your weak spot than to reinforce your best position.

If you could help us out a bit by suggesting where we could improve them

I'll review all the sections for outdated and incorrect items, including why I think they are outdated and incorrect. I won't get into the game engine mechanics at all because they obviously need not be revealed.

I'd say 'Help" forum is full of hints ;)

I'm in this for two days, but I've already had trouble finding in the rules:
1/ how enthusiasm influences play (it's in the news section)
2/ where I can find my team's current enthusiasm level (you hid it pretty deep - at setting orders, I found it by accident when I'd already quit looking)
3/ if injuries lasting only till the end of the game can happen (got help in the forum)

There's probably much more. Check out the popular newbie questions and decide which can be answered in the rules.

PS Another importang miss: how the staff hiring works. I assume you get a new random set of 3 every week (starting which day?) but that's just my impresion after following some discussions.

Last edited by NormalnieJaś at 3/31/2008 12:40:56 PM

If you are interested, I redid the 'Games' section of the rules. However, it is too long to put in a BB-mail. How would I get it to you?

If you accept the input from a newie I'll try to do so. I am biased though, since I come from HT and the dinamics are pretty the same in many aspects (a BB player not coming from the same background might find other things difficult as well).

As a previous summary, the most important thing in these kind of games (I'm convinced about that) is to have clear elements to infer over them. i.e., it is really necessary to know exactly what each skill contributes at, of course no the exact ammount.

One example is jump shot and inside shot (I hope these are the proper names since I have it in spanish). Another important fact is when individual hab. (1 vs 1) are taken into account and when the global hab. plays the key role. Making a paralelism with HT, there I know that the important thing is global team hab. (midfield, attack, defence) and the one who scores is simply chosen random. On the other side you've got special events where only 1 vs 1 hab. and you gotta find the balance between those two. But each time a player scores, you KNOW he did because of the attack ratings (contribution of a set of players that you know as well). How much each player does contribute is another thing, something we should research and find. Of course it is also quite nice to know that a stricker contributes more than a midfielder to this rattings.

Here in BB is very difficult to know that, and the prove is that anyone answered me that basic doubt properly.

In terms of newies, people is completely lost because they don't have a clear explanation of what matters at each point of the match, you gotta base everything in your intuiution on how the match engine works (and this is not nice)

I'll ask in my group how they see that topic and how do they feel about the ammount of info a newie get

by the way, do you play/know how ht works? because I'm talking in here about ht as if it was familiar to everyone in the world :p


Thanks for answering in this thread, it is very useful to get users input and I'm glad you do

Hi, I also came here from HT, but after some months playing, in my opinion BB only apparently resembles HT. I mean that the surface is very similar but the game engine has nothing to do, and this is why people are often claiming about losing a game with better ratings.
I think we all know more or less what is affecting a shot: the individual defense/attack comparison, also the team defense/attack, the quality of the shot (as one assisted shot is taken with no defense or lower defense), experience and stamina should have an effect, the distance to the basket and of course a % of luck.
And I disagree with you, I don´t prefer to know everything and I prefer to use my intuition. You will see that after some time most things will be clearer. I play hattrick, but at this moment it is all so clear and predictable that I spend 5 minute in setting my line-up, hours in the market to buy better players, and of course a comparison with real soccer will lead you to disaster. In BB, anyone with some knowledge of real basketball has a lot of advantage.
Regards.