Frequently Asked Questions
What is Brutal Ball?
It’s mostly American Football, with some unique rules. 8 vs 8, players play both sides of the ball, 3 downs, no kicking game, rotating QBs, fantasy races and player death.
What do you do in Brutal Ball Manager?
You can control just about every aspect of all teams in the league. Hire and fire coaches, draft players, sign free agents, trade and manage rosters. Although the focus for this game is on management, there is some limited coaching available for those that want more control. You cannot control players directly on the field.
What are the main design goals for Brutal Ball Manager?
To create a sand box for interesting on and off the field player and team stories. Fun to watch games. Balanced and internally consistent stats. Give as much control to players as possible and include a lot of modding options.
Is there MULTIPLAYER?
Yes! Managers can control as many teams in the league as they want, so multiple people can control teams in hot-seat play or by using Steam Remote Play. Also, this game is designed to work well as a streaming league. The host of the game controls all of the action. There is no in game communication, so you would need some form of communication between players.
Can I mod in my own logos?
Yes! Logos can be added to the “\Users\”YOUR USER NAME”\AppData\LocalLow\Stout Kassel Games\FFFL\Mods\Logos” folder. They should be a .png file and it is recommended that you resize the logos to 2048×2048.
What are these strange positions Runner, Gunner, Cover etc.?
On offense, there are 3 Runners, 2 Gunners and 3 Blockers. The Runners rotate at the QB position – handling the ball at the snap. If not the ball handler, the Runner will either block or run pass routes. The Gunners are traditional receivers and the Blockers are traditional offensive linemen.
On defense, there are 3 Defensive Linemen, 3 Linebackers and 2 Covers. Defensive linemen and Linebackers by similar roles as in American Football. The Covers are traditional defensive backs that directly cover the 2 Gunners man-to-man. Linebackers can blitz and run a variety of coverages.
What is meant by “True Simulations”?
Having balanced, interesting and internally consistent stats is one of the most important goals of this game. Most sports games use a simulation engine that just approximates results and spits them out instantaneously. This leads to situations where teams and players perform differently in quick simulations vs watched / played games. In Brutal Ball the simulations are played with the exact same game engine, just sped up as fast as possible. Typical simulation times for games run between 5-10 seconds.
Why rotating QBs? Why no handoffs?
On of the goals of this game was to create detailed and balanced stats with all players on the field having similar statistical value. Rotating QBs gets more players involved in one of the most important positions. This forces teams to have multiple good players at the Runner position. Unlike traditional professional QBs, the QBs in Brutal Ball are just as likely to run as pass – player skills and coaching will determine which they are more likely to do. By preventing direct hand-offs it again keeps teams from constantly using a single great player and forces more players to be involved.
What are these “HIDDEN PERSONALITIES”? What are the personality badges?
Greed, Loyalty, Dedication, Reliability, Acceptance, Morale and Leadership are the hidden personalities. They influence weekly events and free agency. Each race has different strengths and weaknesses. Personality badges are clues into each player’s personality. These badges are “earned” by being involved in multiple events of a certain type. Positive badges range from Blue to Purple. Negative badges Orange to Red.
What impact do COACHES have?
Coaches influence AI controlled drafting, play calling and weekly events. Each coach has DRAFT PREFERENCES that determine which skill sets they tend to value most. The higher the number the more they value players good at those positions. COACHING TENDENCIES influence the play on the field. The higher the number the more likely that tendency will be executed by a player. Player ability and some randomness also influences what players will do, so a coach with 100 in RUN won’t always call run plays.
RUN – how likely to call a run play, PROTECT – how likely runners will block vs run pass routes, DEEP – how far down field receivers tend to run routes.
BLITZ – how likely linebackers will blitz vs cover, CONTAIN – tendency for defenders to protect the outside of the field vs middle, PRESS – how close covers play to the receivers.
Coaches also have hidden personalities like the players. These also impact the weekly events for each team.
How does FREE AGENCY work?
At the beginning of each season there is a chance that players will ask for new contracts. The higher the team SALARY RANK the more likely players will ask for new contracts (SR 1st has highest chance). Teams will be presented with 3 players and the option to keep 1 or 2 of them. How many each team gets to keep is also determined by SALARY RANK. All released players are sent to a free agent pool. Then there is a semi-draft of those players. The order in which each team selects is based on team APPEAL. The higher the appeal the earlier the team picks. Each team will be presented with 3 players that want to sign and they can choose 1. Picking early will increase the chances of getting the best free agents, but there is the possibility that even the best free agent might wait to sign with a team farther down the appeal list.
What is SALARY RANK, APPEAL and PRESTIGE?
SALARY RANK is how high a team’s salary is compared to the rest of the league. Each regular season game your coach and 8 starting player salaries are added to salary spent. The end of the regular season the salary spent will determine the final salary rank. Although influence by league size, SALARY RANK 1 teams have about 96% chance of losing 1 player during free agency and 92% chance of losing 2. The lowest ranked team has about a 4% chance of losing 1 player and a 0.2% chance of losing 2.
APPEAL determines the order in which teams get to select from the free agent pool. APPEAL is determined by weekly events and the team’s reaction to negative events.
PRESTIGE is simply a measurement of how well teams have been doing. PRESTIGE is earned by making the playoffs and winning playoff games. Each year prestige drops if not making the playoffs the previous season.
When does the HALL OF FAME start?
Once 10 players reach eligibility. HOF POINTS are a combination of FANTASY POINTS, team successes and awards won. HOF POINTS needed to reach eligibility cutoff is based on league size and number of games. Typically, the HALL OF FAME should appear after 7-8 seasons. 3 players will be voted in each year once it opens.
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