How often do you change tactics?

[jesterx7769]

This is my second season coaching all games myself for the challenge and I do not do any coaching I just put the simulator on fast.

-How often to people change tactics during an actual game? I read on a recent thread about watching their condition to subbing people as a way not to give up late goals.

- How often people change tactics throughout the season? Does the AI actually "watch tape" and adjust? I have noticed my scoring has gone done a lot in the second part of the season and not sure if just coincidence or if I really need to overhaul my tactics.

[batdad]

Depends. If I am coaching...which is rare now, I will change tactics only if losing, or winning by one goal. Only in between periods. But I am more likely to mix up my lines than change the tactics.

Changing them too much can lead to total confusion among your players...and underperformance. I Have a base set of tactics that I use, and will switch it up every 3-4 games, but just for 1 or 2 games. In back to back games against the same team I switch a bit..usually the breakout. But then I immediately go back to core tactics.

And of course...tactics completely depend on the type of player I have...so individual tactics are extremely important to me.

And yeah...the AI adjusts. if you leave the same tactics in the playoffs...you may still win if your team is way beter than the other one....but it will be hard. In playoffs I switch at least breakout from game to game. Sometimes I will change the forecheck and dzone system as well. PP I change breakout after each game, and system and forecheck I change for game 3. Then back to original game 1 pp stuff in game 4...then just breakout changes the rest of the way.

Again though.....I will mostly change a line or 2...move my 1st line to 2nd line and vice versa here and there. Especially if the other team coach has "LINE MATCHING" as part of his game.

[jesterx7769]

Kind of related so I will post here, the last two seasons my teams scoring has plummeted towards the end of the season. I have changed lines and tactics but it doesnt seem to work. First half of year I would blow out bad teams with bad goalies getting several 9/10 goal games. Now the last half or 3/4 of the season I am only scoring 3 goals TOPS against awful goalies. Now I understand the AI adjusts thing, but to get completely shut down? Should I just attribute it to my guys getting someone worn down throughout the season even if they're condition is 100%?

[batdad]

I go through slumps every season I play. Usually my scoring slumps are between game 40-60....so I do a little something at trade deadline (if in contention and not in a challenge) or I shift things up and do some line matching, or I completely change my individual tactics for a few weeks...or I put my 1st line as my 3rd line and 2nd as 4th.

And you know what...eventually I go back to my regular things and I only then get back to going well. Alot of times...the guys just go through tough times.

[ccmequip]

I watch all of my games (at "Very Fast"), so I make line adjustments every game as players get fatigued, penalized, or injured.

I only tend to adjust other other tactical elements (e.g. breakouts, neutral zone, forecheck, etc.) if I can see that my team is struggling with something. For instance, if my team clearly isn't getting enough shots on goal because they have trouble gaining the zone, then I'll adjust neutral zone play. If my team isn't able to get out of our own zone, I'll adjust breakouts.

Also, if I'm behind by a couple of goals, I will change my tactics to super offensive.

If things are not broken, I won't try hard to fix it, but when somethings are not working I change things up. Small adjustments are made every game, but larger tactical changes are needed maybe twice a season.