I've played a bit of Speedball 2 lately, using WinUAE, and while my
favourite focus is on Speed, Intelligence and Agression, I've found that
another selection, which I like to call "gold mining", seems to help me
get farther in the Knockout (and, as the name implies, earn me a lot of
money).
It's Speed, Defence and Aggression, with Attack as secondary and
Intelligence as tertiary. Speed lets my players run around faster,
Defence lets them resist the enemy team's attempts to steal the ball
from me, and Aggression makes sure that the players I am not controlling
contribute to the fight against the enemy team.
Since I have passable playing skills (although I hope to improve them
during the coming weeks by playing daily), I can spend the first 60
seconds or so getting ahead by scores of points, and then I can use the
remaining 2 minutes on collecting coins, earning a tidy sum while
staying ahead in terms of points. I kid you not, I have earned slightly
more than 1000 credits per match, for something like 4 or 5 matches
(after which I quit, because I had to leave the computer to do other
things), in the latest game.
"Gold Mining" stats aren't as fun as my favourite stats (INT, SPD, AGR),
though, but if they help me get longer I'll use them.
Another obseration of mine is that my Left Mid player is responsible for
around 90% of all my kills - i.e. when he slays the Right Mid player on
the enemy team. This suggests to me that I specifically need to increase
my Left Mid's Attack and Power, so that he becomes better able to attack
the enemy team's Right Mid and so that he can inflict more damage, thus
getting even more kills. My Left Mid himself also gets worn down quite a
bit from these fights (I tend to get into long-lasting fights at the
score-increasing carousel), although he rarely dies, so I should also
increase his Stamina (if nothing else, doing this reduces the risk that
he will die later on in the Knockout when I'm up against really tough
teams).
An old piece of advice, which I read in a Danish computer magazine, is
to not boost the entire team (or even the entire team except the
substitute players), but instead focus only on four players: The Goalie,
the Left Mid, the Centre Mid and the Centre Forward. However, it seems
to me that I might be able to get away with focusing only on the Left
Mid, in addition to (of course) giving all my 9 active players a good
Speed, Defence and Aggression (and eventually also Attack and
Intelligence).
Throw distance seems to me to be the least im****tant stat. I do usually
have a "passing" style, where I throw the ball from player to player,
but for some reason I always give Throwing the lowest priority.
One thing I've tried, a bit, is to play in the Knockout without
upgrading my players at all. I can defeat the first three teams this
way, but then the going gets too tough. It seems to me that by playing
some of my games this way, I sharpen my own playing skills.
Anyone else wish to make some comments about what stats they prefer to
focus on improving, and why? Or other comments on play style? Or chide
me about my carousel-obsession?
--
Peter Knutsen
sagatafl.org
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