Post by Sin-N-Terrors on Mar 1, 2014 16:05:11 GMT -5
Contributed by Sin
written by: Rife
Original Rife Files
Introduction
Welcome to the updated version of The Rife Files. The original version was written in
the early days of WeBL and was as a result much more focused on the old EKO style of
managing than the aspects unique to WeBL (note, if you have no bleepin idea what I am
talking about here, don't worry
. Also, they were intended as part of a greater whole
that never came into being. So, after about four years, here is the once promised addition
to the Rife Files.
Note: Special thanks to Simon and Peekaboo for their help in the development of the
original version of these pages. These were developed with permission from Simon's
help page WeBL Relativity that these replaced.
Disclaimer: These pages are my own creation and are not intended to replace the official
rules and instructions posted by Bruce Cota or WeBL. Any contradictions are
unintentional, and the official instructions take precedence. What is contained within is
my own opinion on how to best approach WeBL based on experience and data collected
over the years.
These pages are written with the assumption that your goal is to win a World Title. I
hope you enjoy the expanded Rife Files.
Gym Basics
We need to start at the beginning. You just signed up and came here lost and
overwhelmed. You are a veteran manager that has never gotten things straightened out.
This section is for you then. How do you dear reader organize and run a gym of virtual
fighters?
Specifics will be discussed later, and this section is a general overview of how to properly
organize a gym.
Fighter Types Choose 1-3 basic fighter types to start out with and stick to those. You
only need one viable fighter to win a title with and mastering one style is better than half knowing many.
Number of Fighters A small gym may seem logical, but this is not always the case. You
don't want so many that you have no time to run practice simulations, but you always want multiple versions of the same fighter. Preferably spread out over many weight classes. In general, make as many as you can comfortably handle.
Why? The first reason is randomness. Many things can happen on the way to a
world title that are outside of your control and it takes a long time to start over with a new fighter. Also, each one is a new opportunity to learn.
Fight Plan Organization While realizing that you don't actually have any fighters or
fight plans yet, there are some things you should keep in mind before you plunge into creating things. You want a set of fight plans that can be easily found. I find it best to name them by the type of plan and type of fighter they are designed to be used with.
Example Ring Slugging Score
This tells me that the style the plan uses, that it involves some slugging (more on slugging later), and that at least some part of it is concerned with the score of the fight (more on score later).
What is important here is that you understand what it means, and that you can pick it up
later. You don't want to write a new plan for every fight, but you want to change the
plans you already have. Some of this is adapting the plans to improve them, some of
these are random variations to be less predictable, and then you will write different plans
for using different styles (more on styles later), but in all of these cases you can re-use a
lot of the existing plan.
The key to long-term success is not a brilliant insight, but a gradual evolution. I won my
first world title with a fight plan that had seven lines. Simon saw my fight plans and
literally started laughing. The point is we all grow, so, don't worry if your fight plans
are simple at the moment. That seven line plan worked properly and eventually it
evolved into something better.
The Practice Simulator
"Practice. We are talking about practice..." - Allen Iverson
Ok ok, I hear you groaning. What is Rife going to blather on about now after getting all
philosophical in the last segment...Well, you are not really ready
to jump right in and start creating you future world champ just yet.
Now you have...well, nothing actually, but fear not! Something soon have shall you
(Pretend that actually sounded like Yoda...)
The good news is you are about to beat someone up in virtuality (and yes, that is a word I
just typed it didn't I?). But Rife, how do I do that when I don't even have a fighter yet!
Well, the fighter you were about to create may suck it big time you never know. Free
your mind young one (or old guy if you happen to be 35+). Forget what is right and
wrong, ideal or not ideal. Toddle off to the simulator and mess around. At first do
whatever your imagination can dream up. No rules no laws...are we having fun yet?
Good. Next you are going to knock someone out. Who? Open up the advanced
simulator if you haven't already. Now, put in any fighter you like on one side and any
other fighter on the other. Read up on the official WeBL page "Complete Rules" on
styles. Now you are ready to knock someone out.
Sleepy Time: Knock out one of the fighters. We are only using round one for now. Was
it easy? Now, change the knocked out fighter so that he now stays up. Then adjust the
fight plans so he is knocked out again. Do this until you can no longer KO him just by
adjusting the line you put in the simulator.
Explanation: For now you are just using one line on the top and one line on the bottom.
Next, adjust the fighter's stats so that the Koed fighter is now more difficult to KO or
alternatively, adjust the Koer until he is better at Koing. Spend time messing around with
this until you have mastered stun damage and defense. Inflicting and avoiding damage
should be the first thing you master. Keep in mind that sometimes the best defense is
punching back to the head.
Now, you probably figured out that very high chin, KP, str, agility and to a lesser extent
speed contribute to this. It is ok if you spend a long time just on this step. Remember,
WeBL is an evolution and not a sprint. Note how easy or difficult this is to do with
different fighter builds and styles.
Again let me emphasize, for now, forget that you know anything. Be creative and open
your mind. Have fun as learning what does not work here saves you trouble later, but
you must intentionally be able to produce whatever result you desire.
If you can successfully adjust these to produce the desired results, then you are ready to
move on.
The "OOF!" Factor: Next, you are going to wear the fighter down. Go back to the
official rules for hints if you need them. What you are trying to do is maximize one
fighter's endurance damage inflicted while minimizing the damage he takes.
Explanation: Concentrate on the damage ratio rather than total damage dealt. Meaning,
if you are taking one point of damage for every two you are inflicting then you are
damage efficient by a ratio of 2 to 1.
Work both sides again only using one static line. Learn how to intentionally raise or
lower endurance damage and what combinations and styles produce certain results.
Consideration: Unlike knockouts (stun damage) conditioning is a factor here. Make note
of how much fatigue each fighter is taking. This effects your fighter the same as
endurance damage for the purposes of winning the fight.
Play around with this trying to get more damage efficient with fighter #1 and then repeat
the process with fighter #2 until you can intentionally produce the effects you want and
you are confident you are producing the maximum ratio for the particular match up. Do
this for as many crazy combinations as you can dream up.
Putting it Together: Lastly, take what you learned about endurance damage and stun
damage and then add in the consideration of who is winning or losing the round.
Simulate a single round using different fighters and figure out what fighter #1 has to do to
win a round vs. fighter #2. Try to do this while keeping him as damage efficient as you
can.
Consideration: "Damage efficiency" normally refers to endurance damage, but in order
for fighter #1 to score the round win he must avoid being stunned. When fighter #1 wins
and does this with as good a damage ratio as possible then run it again with the other
fighter.
Again, do this with as many crazy combinations as you can dream up. Be creative and
have fun. Can you make the jabber pay for his low power? Does the slugger have to
lower his defense to win a round? How much? Keep these things in mind while running
the single round simulations.
Note: I still run these types of tests and would be shocked if most top managers don't do
this also. Also, I refer to "single round" and mean only pay attention to round one for
now. The fight simulator will still run all the way through to the end.
Fight Plan Creation
By now you have a solid start. You can simulate one round and produce whatever effect
you want. You should have a good idea of the basics of inflicting stun and endurance
damage, and what it takes to put these considerations into play while trying to win a
single round.
Of course, fights are twelve rounds, and you can't control both sides. So, you need a way
of using the knowledge you gained and making it dynamic (meaning, it can adjust to the
conditions of the fight).
You are going to go back to the practice simulator, but this time you can produce
something useful. Again, for now do not worry about what type of fighter you are going
to be running as the intent is for you to NOT know that yet. First just have fun messing
around in practice and you will learn what you like and don't and what is effective and
what is not. THEN you make your future world champ.
Note: Note, I am not suggesting that you cannot run any fighter you want in your gym
just for fun while you follow this lesson guide, but forget them for now.
Basic Fight Plan Structure
How you actually type in and organize the plan is up to individual preference. However,
there are certain fundamentals you must be aware of to write a fight plan that will
function properly and have the most flexibility.
How to start-Static lines vs. Conditionals.
As a rule you want no more than 2 static lines in any fight plan. One as your very first
line and possibly one around round 8-11 to change tactics later as stun damage and
winning rounds take precedence over endurance damage.
For example:
1) 4B/8/8
10) 4H/8/8
Alternative: Often I find it easier to write:
If round > 9 then 4H/8/8
If round = 1 then 4B/8/8
Do whichever you like but note in the second case it ONLY works for that one line (the
reason why sometimes it is easier) and in the first case the round stays in effect until you
add another such as 3)
This shows the very foundation of your fight plan. Ideally these would be the only two
lines you would need. What it says is you will pound to the body early and later in the
fight when endurance damage becomes less important we switch to stun damage to win
the fight or prevent desperation KO attempt. The rest of the fight plan will be based
around these two lines and are the conditionals.
Conditionals are the part of the plan that makes it dynamic. How you will change tactics
based on how the fight is going. This consists of asking yourself questions.
What will happen if I am losing the fight?
This is the basic one everyone considers. The idea here though is to only do as much as
you have to win a round. Fighting opportunistic and raising aggression a little is normally
e nough.
We then add to our foundation.
1) 4B/8/8
Consideration: This should be old hat after the above exercises. Put what you learned
into use here when deciding how to start the fight. Ask questions such as will he try a
flash KO? (First round KO attempt) Do you want to win the first round or are you content
to wear him down? (As above).
Note: In general, you want to start out fairly conservative. You can adjust later to how
the first round went.
Next we are adding a line that takes effect from the start (noting score cannot be less than
zero IN round 1), and this checks the situation of the fight after round one adjusting
accordingly.
if score < 0 then 5/7/8
Note: We still are using good power but we have sacrificed only a little to increase our
chance to win a round. If we then even the score we are body punching again. Keep the
score close and do more endurance damage. 10) 4H/8/8
Later in the fight winning rounds takes precedence over doing endurance damage. So we
are using much more agg than power. Our defense is constant throughout the fight. if score < 0 then 8/4/8
In this way you continually add to your fight plan for each new situation that may happen
throughout the fight. The more questions you ask yourself the more situations your fight
plan can adjust be ready for.
The order of lines in your fight plan is critical. Knowing which lines will kick in when
will ensure your fight plans work exactly as you intend. The only rule to remember is that
lines written last take precedence over previous lines.
For example, we, now add this line to our plan:
1) 4B/8/8
if score < 0 then 5/7/8
10) 4H/8/8
if score < 0 then 8/4/8
1) if score > 15 - round then 3H/7/10
This line since it is written last in our plan will be the last one checked every time
the sim reads our plan. Since it has a 1 next to it will apply at any point throughout the fight
that it is true. This is a simple way to add in "universal" lines.
The important thing to always ensure you know which lines will actually kick in when a
given situation is true.
Level of Effort fighting.
So far, our fight plan has only used defense 8. This is our "level of effort" as it determines
how many points we have left for agg/pow. You will always try to minimize fatigue
points throughout the early to mid rounds so the main variable will be the endurance
damage you are taking.
1) First you must decide on which level of defense to start the fight with. Generally
speaking about 5-6 endurance damage points per round is what you want. Also, consider
potential stun damage. It is ok to get stunned in round one but you don't want to take the
chance of a first round KO. Again, you should be familiar with this from the exercise
you ran earlier.
Why? Well, if you try to take less you will not be aggressive enough as you will have too
many points in defense to do enough damage. This will cost you rounds as well as lessen
the damage you do to your opponent. Also, if you allow for too much you will be taking
too much damage and that will cost you Ips as well as minimize your endurance
advantage by allowing your opponent to hurt you too much (that is never good)
Note: If you believe you will cause more endurance damage
than you receive (the positive ratio you experimented with above) then winning round one is not important.
Avoid the KO, and you will become more effective the greater the ratio grows.
2) In the early to mid rounds you must consider how much you are fatiguing in the fight.
You want to gradually step down your defense as you gain an endurance advantage while
keeping in mind to avoid a potential flash KO attempt vs a Kper. You also want to
consider what to do if you started out too aggressive and are tiring much faster than you
want.
Note: One advantage of the single round simulations is that as long as you are dealing
more damage than you receive, the opponent will be most effective in round one. Use
this as a good baseline for how low your defense can get without getting flash Koed. As
your opponent tires you can get bolder, but don't get too carried away.
Two lines taken straight out of the easy fight plan maker are ideal for this with a bit of
modification.
We add to our plan:
1) 4B/8/8
if score < 0 then 5/7/8
4)if endurance_percent > 100 - ((round - 1) * 3) then 5B/9/6
if endurance_percent > 100 - ((round - 1) * 3) and score < 0 then 6/8/6
if endurance_percent < 100 - ((round - 1) * 5) then 4/6/10
10) 4H/8/8
if score < 0 then 8/4/8
if score < 0 and endurance_percent > 67 then 10/4/6
1) if score > 15 - round then 3H/7/10
Note: Peekaboo wrote an excellent essay on resting that everyone should read, so, the
information will not be reproduced here, but often resting is more efficient for fatigue
than continuing to inflict damage.
Ok, now we have added in some basic endurance lines to ensure that we are fighting with
the proper level of effort. Note here I am tracking by percent loss per round. You can also
track by actual endurance points lost per round. Here the ideal level of effort I have set is
to lose 3-5 percent of my endurance every round. If I am losing less, then we are
lowering our defense. If we are losing more then we raise defense to recover some of
what we lost and ensure we have enough gas in the tank to fight for 12 rounds.
Let's add some style.
Ok, so far what we have is a good basic plan that will function properly. It will do a
decent job of keeping us in the fight as it changes by checking score and variables and is
a good basic plan. However, styles can be used in differing ways at different points in the
fight to further help spur us to victory.
For our purposes we will use the example of a stronger fighter. Note all styles have a
defensive and an offensive style. Knowing how and when to use which is important.
1) 4B/8/8 (clinch)
if score < 0 then 5/7/8 (clinch)
Early on we are primarily concerned with gaining an endurance advantage. The
advantage you gain early in the fight will give you a huge edge as the fight wears on. So,
we have chosen to use clinch, as it is ideal for endurance damage efficiency even though
it is harder to win rounds with. 4)if endurance_percent > 100 - ((round - 1) * 3) then 4B/8/8 (inside)
if endurance_percent > 100 - ((round - 1) * 3) and score < 0 then 5/7/8
(inside)
if endurance_percent < 100 - ((round - 1) * 5) then 4B/6/10 (clinch)
Now, here we are adding a more offensive style instead of just dropping our defense.
This has the same effect as dropping defense in this case. Consider how changing styles
effects the damage you take/inflict. If you think you may have a speed advantage
consider using feint if you are losing at this point. 10) 4H/8/8 (clinch)
if score < 0 then 8/4/8 (feint)
if score < 0 and endurance_percent > 67 then 10/4/6 (feint)
Ok, here our default has again switched to clinch the more conservative choice. If we are
losing we are now going to use feint to give us the extra speed point and we are not as
worried about the endurance point loss.
Body Punching, Opportunistic and Head Punching.
I made this a separate section because this really should be considered a fundamental
choice in how you approach your plan. Everyone knows that body punching is better to
wear out your opponent and opp is better for winning rounds. However, consider cuts and
stuns also. Don't worry about winning the early rounds at all. Head punching has the
greatest chance of causing an injury, and for a KP fighter who is much more efficient at
stun damage than endurance damage, this can be used often to keep your opponents
guard up or win rounds by stun. Note however the effect it has on endurance damage as
stun damage does not carry forward into the next round and endurance damage does.
Body Punching- the most basic approach to a fight plan. Wear 'em down early and then
win late.
Advantages: Very IP friendly. When it works it dominates the fight.
Disadvantages: You often give up the early rounds. If you do not gain a big endurance
advantage you are at a big disadvantage late. Nearly impossible to stun or cause cuts.
Opportunistic: Used when you want to try to gain an early advantage in a fight. Fighters with KP
should use this style as a base.
Advantages: No endurance, cuts or stun damage penalties. Chance to cause a cut is about
4x that of body punching. Optimal chance to win rounds.
Disadvantages: Only one but it is a big one. You will do less damage than someone body
punching. If you lost the round and did not cause a cut or stun, then that is lost damage.
Head Punching: Other than just going for the knockout head punching can be used to
inflict enough stun damage to keep your opponents guard up or alternatively to tell you
when he may have his guard down by use of stun conditionals.
Note: Even body punchers will occasionally have to fight opp to win rounds. As the fight
goes on the advantage of extra endurance damage becomes less compared to the score
loss.
Winning the Fight
Ok, all this is useless if you lose the fight. Here I will discuss the two basic ways of
winning the fight and how to account for them in your plan.
So far our plan looks like this: 1) 4B/8/8 (clinch)
if score < 0 then 5/7/8 (clinch)
4)if endurance_percent > 100 - ((round - 1) * 3) then 4B/8/8 (inside)
if endurance_percent > 100 - ((round - 1) * 3) and score < 0 then 5/7/8
(inside)
if endurance_percent < 100 - ((round - 1) * 5) then 4/6/10 (clinch)
10) 4H/8/8 (clinch)
if score < 0 then 8/4/8 (feint)
if score < 0 and endurance_percent > 67 then 10/4/6 (feint)
1) if score > 15 - round then 3H/7/10
Now, what we need to again ask ourselves some questions. First let's look at score. What
happens if after we lose round one, switch to 5/7/8 (clinch) and we still are losing?
You can add something to further check score is the answer. A very simple way to do this
is just add another step.
1) 4B/8/8 (clinch)
if score < 0 then 5/7/8 (clinch)
if score < -1 then 5/7/8 <-- Here we just dropped clinch to gain the extra
agg.
If score < -2 then 4B/8/8 (clinch) <-- Here we are going back to the body
if we continue to lose rounds to go for KO instead.
This is a simplified example, but the point is to try to do what you can to keep the score
close however, if we are too far behind early then don't continually raise aggression and
lose the endurance advantage. Now, if you are relying on a win by decision you will not
have this luxury. Here we are assuming you can do both KO or decision. Also note if you
are relying only on a KO win you may not want to give up damage to try to win a round.
Throughout the middle rounds continue with this same basic idea. Again feint becomes
more attractive as the deeper into the fight you get.
As the fight nears an end you must decide whether to try to win by decision or go for the
KO. In some cases you may even just have to pack it in if you cannot do either.
10) 4H/8/8 (clinch)
if score < 14 - round and score > round - 14 then 8/4/8 (feint)
if score < 14 - round and score > round - 14 and endurance_percent >
67 then 10/4/6 (feint)
Ok, here we have decided that if the score is on pace to be decided by one point or less
then we will try to win the rounds. We do this by using 14- round and round - 14. For
example, in round 10 that would read if score < 4 and score > -4. If the score were = 3
then we would try to win one round and lock up the decision. If the score were -3 then we
would try to win all three rounds and gain a draw. Note that in the second case if we lost
another round we would no longer try to win by decision by out boxing the opponent.
Now, everyone loves Kos. However, trying to score a KO is a very risky thing to do and
you should use caution when adding these lines to your fight plan. First thing you can do
is add a universal line to your plan to check for a KO opportunity at any point in the fight.
In this way you ensure to end the fight as early as you can.
1) if opponent = weak and endurance_percent > 67 then 5H/10/5 (allout)
To add the finishing touches you need to fill in the last hole. What to do if you cannot
win by decision? Note, you should as a rule always take the decision if you can.
10) 4H/8/8 (clinch)
if score < 14 - round and score > round - 14 then 8/4/8 (feint)
if score < 14 - round and score > round - 14 and endurance_percent >
67 then 10/4/6 (feint)
if score < round - 13 and endurance_percent > 67 and opponent = tired
then 5H/10/5 (inside)
if score < round - 13 and opponent = tired and endurance_percent > 50
then 5H/9/6 (inside)
These are just two examples of things you could do. There are way to many possible
ways to check for KO chances to list here, but the fundamentals are the same in them all.
Essentially, consider your endurance always as that is the most accurate. Then often you
want to check his fatigue.
So our final plan looks like this:
1) 4B/8/8 (clinch)
if score < 0 then 5/7/8 (clinch)
if score < -1 then 5/7/8
If score < -2 then 4B/8/8 (clinch)
4) if endurance_percent > 100 - ((round - 1) * 3) then 4B/8/8 (inside)
if endurance_percent > 100 - ((round - 1) * 3) and score < 0 then 5/7/8 (inside)
if endurance_percent < 100 - ((round - 1) * 5) then 4/6/10 (clinch)
10) 4H/8/8 (clinch)
if score < 14 - round and score > round - 14 then 8/4/8 (feint)
if score < 14 - round and score > round - 14 and endurance_percent >
67 then 10/4/6 (feint)
if score < round - 13 and endurance_percent > 67 and opponent = tired
then 5H/10/5 (inside)
if score < round - 13 and opponent = tired and endurance_percent > 50
then 5H/9/6 (inside)
1) if opponent = weak and endurance_percent > 67 then 5H/10/5 (allout)
if score > 15 - round then 3H/7/10
if round < 9 and endurance_percent < 67 then 1/1/8 (clinch)
Now you have a good basic fight plan that will function well regardless of how the fight
may go.
Practice: The Final Chapter
"Do not copy your opponent, but instead learn how you can beat him" - Lawrence "the Puck-Law" Man
Earlier you may have asked yourself how do you learn to deal with different styles if you
are using only a few fighter types. That is a good question and will be addressed here.
Now that you have some idea how a fight plan is put together, you are going to put that
into use. We are going back to the practice sim, cause if you can't learn to beat yourself
after all then whom can you beat?
Go back to the one round simulations you ran earlier and put in something similar, only
this time look at what happens as the fight progresses to round 2+. Who is winning?
Who has the endurance advantage? Is one guy in danger of being knocked out?
Start with the basic two static lines for now. Then to the loser add just one more line. It
doesn't matter for now which fighter. Again, try to solve his biggest problem.
Step one: Finish the fight. Everyone gets Koed now and then, but you can't win this way
. Make use of rest, higher defense, more offense (higher endurance or stun damage
dealt may work if the other side is over aggressive.
Step two: Add in one conditional line that will allow him to win the fight. Since the other
side has only two lines in his plan this should be easy to do. If not then you may need to
revisit the fighter design again in the single round simulation.
Step Three: Now go join the other side. Try to add in one conditional that gives him back
the win. If this is too hard then again just try to solve his single biggest problem first.
Then move to his next problem adding one conditional at a time until he is now winning.
Step Four: Keep repeating step two and three over and over until you find it very hard for
either fighter to get much of an edge.
Step Five: Hopefully this was not too difficult, because you know the other sides fight
plan and fighter. What you want to do now is simulate error. If your fight plan works
great when his fighter has 9 chin then raise his chin a point and see what effect this has.
Give him a couple of points of KP or a bit more speed. Anything that does not drastically
change the fighter (i.e. height, weight, basic styles) is open for examination.
This is the hardest part, but also the last step to consistent success. You won't know what
your opponent will do, so, you want your fight plan to be flexible enough to adapt when
you are wrong.
Step Six: Now, instead of just changing a few stats, change some key lines in the
"opponent" side (for now this can be whatever choice you used in one). If the first plan
had him going for a knockout late, what happens if he jabs for a decision. DO NOT alter
the other plan at this point, but simply see how it reacts to differing situations. In this
step you are gathering information about how your fight plan works to varying fight
conditions. If you are not satisfied with the final product then go back to an earlier step
and work forward again.
Repeat these steps for different opponents while keeping one side the same. In this way
you can start to build up your stable of fight plans. Remember to save them before
moving on. You don't want to be starting from scratch every time.
Note: You can't cover every possible contingency for every fighter. Try not to assume
you can guess what your opponent will do when you make your plan (as was learned in
step five and six), but at some point you will have to take a chance. The point is to do it
with the full knowledge of the consequences either way. Then pick the one that you feel
is most likely to work. Often you are just playing the odds and the correct decision can
still lead to a lost fight. Do not worry too much if you lose this way.
Also by now you should realize why predictability is bad. When you know what your
opponent will do it becomes much easier to write an effective fight plan.
Fighter Creation (Yay! I get a fighter at last!)
There was a time when Peekaboo created an amazing champion that went undefeated for
a long time. After eventually losing a fight and being retired, Peekaboo revealed the
creation to an eager WeBL public dying to learn the secret of his success. The fighter
was a normal balanced fighter.
At one time Jayhawk had an undefeated heavyweight Champion called Who. He
was an amazingly popular fighter that spawned tons of clones. Some said he was the perfect
heavyweight, and in chat one night when someone asked him why he didn't create a
bunch of Who type fighters and dominate the heavies he replied "I did, the others just
didn't get anywhere"
Ok, of course, in reality you probably already have a fighter in your gym somewhere. If
you are happy with them then stay with them. Any reasonable fighter should work as
good as any other, but here are some guidelines to keep in mind:
Cut Resistance, Chin and Conditioning.
These are three stats that form the basis of all your fighters. Small changes here can have
a big effect on your fighter, but the same settings can apply universally to all fighter types
with only a few exceptions.
Cut resistance: Use only Low or Normal. Cuts are always randomly determined based on
damage inflicted and target area. Body punching greatly reduces the chance for a cut. In
general the more damage your fighter will be inflicting the less you will be taking and
you can get away with low. As a rule low is better earlier and normal becomes better as
status increases (and the cost becomes less and damage inflicted increases). There is no
correct answer here though.
Chin: Keep chin from 9-11. You can start your fighter out with 9 to save the point and
then float a point later on as needed. Again this is a personal preference. 9 chin means
you are more efficient damage wise as you have more points to use on agl/str/spd. At 11
you are simply much harder to KO. A KP fighter can use more chin to make himself
more stun damage efficient and try for more flash Kos but he pays for the KP and chin
with fewer points in the abilities that make use of style.
Conditioning: Start out with 14. This will be enough for your initial fights. However,
train this up to 16 by contenders. I don't recommend training past 16 as then if you get
random points to conditioning it will get way to high.
Note: clinchers can get by with a bit less as they rest while clinching.
Consideration: In general, lower conditioning makes it harder to win fights because you
tire out easier and take more fatigue points. However, you have more points in agl/str so
you will take less endurance damage. This is assuming you rest more often though and
does make it much harder to win fights. Higher conditioning makes it easier to win a
fight by eliminating fatigue (from agg/pow) and allowing you to take more damage
without tiring. However, the points to conditioning come out of str/agl/spd so you will
often take more endurance damage and get less stat gain from styles.
Range to aim for 14-18.
Fighter Build
Very heavy: Used for anyone who does not want to use outside/counter to maximize the
Aps you have available to ring,feint,inside, and clinch. Unless you are making a
counterpuncher most of your fighters will be this build
Normal: Best used to throw off people's scouting. Normal build is not extreme enough
that it is obvious what your build is and most people will assume very heavy. Note here
your fighter will be stronger at the same height than a fighter with the same height, but at
the same status you will have less Aps in agl/spd/str.
Very Light: Use this only if you plan on your fighter having counterpunch has an option
for a fight style. Otherwise you waste way to many points to height.
Str-Agl Ratio
Ok, the next main consideration is what type of fighter is he. Str-agl ratio determines if he
will be stronger at avoiding damage, inflicting damage or a balance of the two. For all
fighters but counterpunchers and pure sluggers (clinchers) keep your Str- agl ratio within
about 4-8 to start and up to 5-15 by contenders. Most fighters you can start even more
balanced then widen the gap as you gain status. One effect this has is to make it harder to
scout your fighter since he won't have any major weight jumps. Note that with lower
strength KP becomes more attractive because the % jump in effective stun strength is
greater.
Fighter Speed:
A good rule is take (str + agl)/3 at the lower end to spd = agl or str at the higher end.
High speed allows you to win rounds much easier. The main advantage of this is you can
win rounds while still maintaining good power and low aggression. This will give you a
big edge and force the opponent to stray from his intended fight plan in order to not give
up too big of a lead. The disadvantage of speed is in terms of style. Since you have less
points in str/agl, you are going to give up even more points to an opponent who can use
inside, clinch or ring to deal more damage while taking less. Therefore, a fighter with
more speed is able to be more efficient in his fight plans (the 4/8/8 stuff) but is giving up
more str and agl to his opponent as a result and so will often take more damage even
while winning rounds.
Example: Take 45 points in str/agl/spd and assume balanced str/agl to make it easy.
Then you would have a range of 17 11 17 at the very low end and 15 15 15 at the high
end. I do not recommend speed as the high stat over str and agility.
Note, if these two fighters fought the slow fighter would have a much harder time
outscoring the balanced fighter, but would further add to his str or agility advantage by
virtue of both higher str and agility. However, he is giving up 4 points of speed and will
have a very hard time concentrating on dealing damage without giving up easy rounds to
the faster balanced fighter.
Knockout Punch: If your fighter is not very endurance damage efficient then consider
using KP to keep the opponent from lowering his defense. A fighter that is efficient in
stun damage can afford to fatigue a bit more than his opponent and still win the fight as
the opponent cannot be overly aggressive.
Scouting
Height/Weight and Fighter Build
This is the place where everyone naturally starts. The fight is scheduled and you look at
the height and weight of the opponent. Now, this often tells you what type of opponent
you are facing by itself and may in fact be where you stop in extreme cases. However,
what do you do if you are fighting an opponent very close to you in height/weight?
Well, this is where fighter build comes into play. If you take two fighters:
Fighter A: 16 13 16 10 15 low 5'6" Welter (order is always str spd agl chin cond)
Fighter B: 20 16 11 10 15 low 5'6" Welter
Now, just by looking at the height and weight you would think these fighters are the same
or very similar. In fact, one is a nice balanced slugger while the other is a fast slugger.
The difference is only the build. Keep this in mind when scouting. The next sections will
tell you how to better determine the opponent you are facing.
Opponent Fight Style
The very next place you go is look at his fights. Look back at least 4-5 fights and see
what styles he uses and note the type of opponent he is facing. Ideally you want to find an
opponent as close you yours as you can get but don't go too far back. He may have
changed over time.
Take our example. You as a nice balanced slugger will be using a mix of clinch/inside
and ring. Your opponent will rarely use ring and will use clinch much more often and
may even counterpunch against shorter opponents and may even feint somewhat early in
fights. Use of counter is a nice giveaway to a very light build. For now, the main thing to
note is he will rarely use the ring. This tips you off that he is likely less agile than you
and this is all you really need for now. You have determined at this point that you will be
using the ring.
Speed
Ok, now you have a good idea that you are facing a stronger opponent with less agility.
The next vital piece of information is to guess his speed. For now an estimate will suffice.
Does he land a high percentage of punches and win rounds easily or does he get
outscored easily?
Again look over the course of a few fights and see how many punches
he lands early on. You will be able to tell that he is at least as fast and maybe faster than
you. Again this is enough for now.
Slugging, Dancing, and Knockout Artists
Now, the last piece of the puzzle to determine what type of fight plan you are going to
use is does he like to slug or dance? Meaning does he prefer to pound on his opponents
and gain a big endurance advantage then KO them, does he make sure to always stay up
on the score and win that on points or does he prefer to wait for a the chance and then
flash KO his opponent? Now, here we are not talking about the fighter's style or stats.
Here we are determining just how the fight is likely to go.
If you know your opponent is going to try to outpoint you then you can take advantage of
his greater fatigue by slugging more and trying to wear him out. If he is going to ignore
the score and slug you may be better off trying to win the early rounds and such. Don't be
fooled by KO rate. Many managers like to slug away early then take the fight by decision
rather than trying for a KO. Peekaboo did this a lot and his KO rate was never reliable.
What you are looking at is how the fights go. If you think he may try to flash KO you
then consider that before dropping defense or body punching (use what you learned in the
KO simulation)
Note: This is what makes a manager be termed "predictable" if he always tries to wear
you down then win late or always tries to take the early rounds then you know with some
reliability what his fight plan will be and can plan accordingly. A good manager will mix
up his fight plans and try different strategies so as to make scouting fight plan style much
harder. Peekaboo was a master at this. He would come at you in 100 different ways.
written by: Rife
Original Rife Files
Introduction
Welcome to the updated version of The Rife Files. The original version was written in
the early days of WeBL and was as a result much more focused on the old EKO style of
managing than the aspects unique to WeBL (note, if you have no bleepin idea what I am
talking about here, don't worry
. Also, they were intended as part of a greater whole that never came into being. So, after about four years, here is the once promised addition
to the Rife Files.
Note: Special thanks to Simon and Peekaboo for their help in the development of the
original version of these pages. These were developed with permission from Simon's
help page WeBL Relativity that these replaced.
Disclaimer: These pages are my own creation and are not intended to replace the official
rules and instructions posted by Bruce Cota or WeBL. Any contradictions are
unintentional, and the official instructions take precedence. What is contained within is
my own opinion on how to best approach WeBL based on experience and data collected
over the years.
These pages are written with the assumption that your goal is to win a World Title. I
hope you enjoy the expanded Rife Files.
Gym Basics
We need to start at the beginning. You just signed up and came here lost and
overwhelmed. You are a veteran manager that has never gotten things straightened out.
This section is for you then. How do you dear reader organize and run a gym of virtual
fighters?
Specifics will be discussed later, and this section is a general overview of how to properly
organize a gym.
Fighter Types Choose 1-3 basic fighter types to start out with and stick to those. You
only need one viable fighter to win a title with and mastering one style is better than half knowing many.
Number of Fighters A small gym may seem logical, but this is not always the case. You
don't want so many that you have no time to run practice simulations, but you always want multiple versions of the same fighter. Preferably spread out over many weight classes. In general, make as many as you can comfortably handle.
Why? The first reason is randomness. Many things can happen on the way to a
world title that are outside of your control and it takes a long time to start over with a new fighter. Also, each one is a new opportunity to learn.
Fight Plan Organization While realizing that you don't actually have any fighters or
fight plans yet, there are some things you should keep in mind before you plunge into creating things. You want a set of fight plans that can be easily found. I find it best to name them by the type of plan and type of fighter they are designed to be used with.
Example Ring Slugging Score
This tells me that the style the plan uses, that it involves some slugging (more on slugging later), and that at least some part of it is concerned with the score of the fight (more on score later).
What is important here is that you understand what it means, and that you can pick it up
later. You don't want to write a new plan for every fight, but you want to change the
plans you already have. Some of this is adapting the plans to improve them, some of
these are random variations to be less predictable, and then you will write different plans
for using different styles (more on styles later), but in all of these cases you can re-use a
lot of the existing plan.
The key to long-term success is not a brilliant insight, but a gradual evolution. I won my
first world title with a fight plan that had seven lines. Simon saw my fight plans and
literally started laughing
. The point is we all grow, so, don't worry if your fight plans are simple at the moment. That seven line plan worked properly and eventually it
evolved into something better.
The Practice Simulator
"Practice. We are talking about practice..." - Allen Iverson
Ok ok, I hear you groaning. What is Rife going to blather on about now after getting all
philosophical in the last segment...Well, you are not really ready
to jump right in and start creating you future world champ just yet.
Now you have...well, nothing actually, but fear not! Something soon have shall you
(Pretend that actually sounded like Yoda...)
The good news is you are about to beat someone up in virtuality (and yes, that is a word I
just typed it didn't I?). But Rife, how do I do that when I don't even have a fighter yet!
Well, the fighter you were about to create may suck it big time you never know. Free
your mind young one (or old guy if you happen to be 35+). Forget what is right and
wrong, ideal or not ideal. Toddle off to the simulator and mess around. At first do
whatever your imagination can dream up. No rules no laws...are we having fun yet?
Good. Next you are going to knock someone out. Who? Open up the advanced
simulator if you haven't already. Now, put in any fighter you like on one side and any
other fighter on the other. Read up on the official WeBL page "Complete Rules" on
styles. Now you are ready to knock someone out.
Sleepy Time: Knock out one of the fighters. We are only using round one for now. Was
it easy? Now, change the knocked out fighter so that he now stays up. Then adjust the
fight plans so he is knocked out again. Do this until you can no longer KO him just by
adjusting the line you put in the simulator.
Explanation: For now you are just using one line on the top and one line on the bottom.
Next, adjust the fighter's stats so that the Koed fighter is now more difficult to KO or
alternatively, adjust the Koer until he is better at Koing. Spend time messing around with
this until you have mastered stun damage and defense. Inflicting and avoiding damage
should be the first thing you master. Keep in mind that sometimes the best defense is
punching back to the head.
Now, you probably figured out that very high chin, KP, str, agility and to a lesser extent
speed contribute to this. It is ok if you spend a long time just on this step. Remember,
WeBL is an evolution and not a sprint. Note how easy or difficult this is to do with
different fighter builds and styles.
Again let me emphasize, for now, forget that you know anything. Be creative and open
your mind. Have fun as learning what does not work here saves you trouble later, but
you must intentionally be able to produce whatever result you desire.
If you can successfully adjust these to produce the desired results, then you are ready to
move on.
The "OOF!" Factor: Next, you are going to wear the fighter down. Go back to the
official rules for hints if you need them. What you are trying to do is maximize one
fighter's endurance damage inflicted while minimizing the damage he takes.
Explanation: Concentrate on the damage ratio rather than total damage dealt. Meaning,
if you are taking one point of damage for every two you are inflicting then you are
damage efficient by a ratio of 2 to 1.
Work both sides again only using one static line. Learn how to intentionally raise or
lower endurance damage and what combinations and styles produce certain results.
Consideration: Unlike knockouts (stun damage) conditioning is a factor here. Make note
of how much fatigue each fighter is taking. This effects your fighter the same as
endurance damage for the purposes of winning the fight.
Play around with this trying to get more damage efficient with fighter #1 and then repeat
the process with fighter #2 until you can intentionally produce the effects you want and
you are confident you are producing the maximum ratio for the particular match up. Do
this for as many crazy combinations as you can dream up.
Putting it Together: Lastly, take what you learned about endurance damage and stun
damage and then add in the consideration of who is winning or losing the round.
Simulate a single round using different fighters and figure out what fighter #1 has to do to
win a round vs. fighter #2. Try to do this while keeping him as damage efficient as you
can.
Consideration: "Damage efficiency" normally refers to endurance damage, but in order
for fighter #1 to score the round win he must avoid being stunned. When fighter #1 wins
and does this with as good a damage ratio as possible then run it again with the other
fighter.
Again, do this with as many crazy combinations as you can dream up. Be creative and
have fun. Can you make the jabber pay for his low power? Does the slugger have to
lower his defense to win a round? How much? Keep these things in mind while running
the single round simulations.
Note: I still run these types of tests and would be shocked if most top managers don't do
this also. Also, I refer to "single round" and mean only pay attention to round one for
now. The fight simulator will still run all the way through to the end.
Fight Plan Creation
By now you have a solid start. You can simulate one round and produce whatever effect
you want. You should have a good idea of the basics of inflicting stun and endurance
damage, and what it takes to put these considerations into play while trying to win a
single round.
Of course, fights are twelve rounds, and you can't control both sides. So, you need a way
of using the knowledge you gained and making it dynamic (meaning, it can adjust to the
conditions of the fight).
You are going to go back to the practice simulator, but this time you can produce
something useful. Again, for now do not worry about what type of fighter you are going
to be running as the intent is for you to NOT know that yet. First just have fun messing
around in practice and you will learn what you like and don't and what is effective and
what is not. THEN you make your future world champ.
Note: Note, I am not suggesting that you cannot run any fighter you want in your gym
just for fun while you follow this lesson guide, but forget them for now.
Basic Fight Plan Structure
How you actually type in and organize the plan is up to individual preference. However,
there are certain fundamentals you must be aware of to write a fight plan that will
function properly and have the most flexibility.
How to start-Static lines vs. Conditionals.
As a rule you want no more than 2 static lines in any fight plan. One as your very first
line and possibly one around round 8-11 to change tactics later as stun damage and
winning rounds take precedence over endurance damage.
For example:
1) 4B/8/8
10) 4H/8/8
Alternative: Often I find it easier to write:
If round > 9 then 4H/8/8
If round = 1 then 4B/8/8
Do whichever you like but note in the second case it ONLY works for that one line (the
reason why sometimes it is easier) and in the first case the round stays in effect until you
add another such as 3)
This shows the very foundation of your fight plan. Ideally these would be the only two
lines you would need. What it says is you will pound to the body early and later in the
fight when endurance damage becomes less important we switch to stun damage to win
the fight or prevent desperation KO attempt. The rest of the fight plan will be based
around these two lines and are the conditionals.
Conditionals are the part of the plan that makes it dynamic. How you will change tactics
based on how the fight is going. This consists of asking yourself questions.
What will happen if I am losing the fight?
This is the basic one everyone considers. The idea here though is to only do as much as
you have to win a round. Fighting opportunistic and raising aggression a little is normally
e nough.
We then add to our foundation.
1) 4B/8/8
Consideration: This should be old hat after the above exercises. Put what you learned
into use here when deciding how to start the fight. Ask questions such as will he try a
flash KO? (First round KO attempt) Do you want to win the first round or are you content
to wear him down? (As above).
Note: In general, you want to start out fairly conservative. You can adjust later to how
the first round went.
Next we are adding a line that takes effect from the start (noting score cannot be less than
zero IN round 1), and this checks the situation of the fight after round one adjusting
accordingly.
if score < 0 then 5/7/8
Note: We still are using good power but we have sacrificed only a little to increase our
chance to win a round. If we then even the score we are body punching again. Keep the
score close and do more endurance damage. 10) 4H/8/8
Later in the fight winning rounds takes precedence over doing endurance damage. So we
are using much more agg than power. Our defense is constant throughout the fight. if score < 0 then 8/4/8
In this way you continually add to your fight plan for each new situation that may happen
throughout the fight. The more questions you ask yourself the more situations your fight
plan can adjust be ready for.
The order of lines in your fight plan is critical. Knowing which lines will kick in when
will ensure your fight plans work exactly as you intend. The only rule to remember is that
lines written last take precedence over previous lines.
For example, we, now add this line to our plan:
1) 4B/8/8
if score < 0 then 5/7/8
10) 4H/8/8
if score < 0 then 8/4/8
1) if score > 15 - round then 3H/7/10
This line since it is written last in our plan will be the last one checked every time
the sim reads our plan. Since it has a 1 next to it will apply at any point throughout the fight
that it is true. This is a simple way to add in "universal" lines.
The important thing to always ensure you know which lines will actually kick in when a
given situation is true.
Level of Effort fighting.
So far, our fight plan has only used defense 8. This is our "level of effort" as it determines
how many points we have left for agg/pow. You will always try to minimize fatigue
points throughout the early to mid rounds so the main variable will be the endurance
damage you are taking.
1) First you must decide on which level of defense to start the fight with. Generally
speaking about 5-6 endurance damage points per round is what you want. Also, consider
potential stun damage. It is ok to get stunned in round one but you don't want to take the
chance of a first round KO. Again, you should be familiar with this from the exercise
you ran earlier.
Why? Well, if you try to take less you will not be aggressive enough as you will have too
many points in defense to do enough damage. This will cost you rounds as well as lessen
the damage you do to your opponent. Also, if you allow for too much you will be taking
too much damage and that will cost you Ips as well as minimize your endurance
advantage by allowing your opponent to hurt you too much (that is never good)
Note: If you believe you will cause more endurance damage
than you receive (the positive ratio you experimented with above) then winning round one is not important.
Avoid the KO, and you will become more effective the greater the ratio grows.
2) In the early to mid rounds you must consider how much you are fatiguing in the fight.
You want to gradually step down your defense as you gain an endurance advantage while
keeping in mind to avoid a potential flash KO attempt vs a Kper. You also want to
consider what to do if you started out too aggressive and are tiring much faster than you
want.
Note: One advantage of the single round simulations is that as long as you are dealing
more damage than you receive, the opponent will be most effective in round one. Use
this as a good baseline for how low your defense can get without getting flash Koed. As
your opponent tires you can get bolder, but don't get too carried away.
Two lines taken straight out of the easy fight plan maker are ideal for this with a bit of
modification.
We add to our plan:
1) 4B/8/8
if score < 0 then 5/7/8
4)if endurance_percent > 100 - ((round - 1) * 3) then 5B/9/6
if endurance_percent > 100 - ((round - 1) * 3) and score < 0 then 6/8/6
if endurance_percent < 100 - ((round - 1) * 5) then 4/6/10
10) 4H/8/8
if score < 0 then 8/4/8
if score < 0 and endurance_percent > 67 then 10/4/6
1) if score > 15 - round then 3H/7/10
Note: Peekaboo wrote an excellent essay on resting that everyone should read, so, the
information will not be reproduced here, but often resting is more efficient for fatigue
than continuing to inflict damage.
Ok, now we have added in some basic endurance lines to ensure that we are fighting with
the proper level of effort. Note here I am tracking by percent loss per round. You can also
track by actual endurance points lost per round. Here the ideal level of effort I have set is
to lose 3-5 percent of my endurance every round. If I am losing less, then we are
lowering our defense. If we are losing more then we raise defense to recover some of
what we lost and ensure we have enough gas in the tank to fight for 12 rounds.
Let's add some style.
Ok, so far what we have is a good basic plan that will function properly. It will do a
decent job of keeping us in the fight as it changes by checking score and variables and is
a good basic plan. However, styles can be used in differing ways at different points in the
fight to further help spur us to victory.
For our purposes we will use the example of a stronger fighter. Note all styles have a
defensive and an offensive style. Knowing how and when to use which is important.
1) 4B/8/8 (clinch)
if score < 0 then 5/7/8 (clinch)
Early on we are primarily concerned with gaining an endurance advantage. The
advantage you gain early in the fight will give you a huge edge as the fight wears on. So,
we have chosen to use clinch, as it is ideal for endurance damage efficiency even though
it is harder to win rounds with. 4)if endurance_percent > 100 - ((round - 1) * 3) then 4B/8/8 (inside)
if endurance_percent > 100 - ((round - 1) * 3) and score < 0 then 5/7/8
(inside)
if endurance_percent < 100 - ((round - 1) * 5) then 4B/6/10 (clinch)
Now, here we are adding a more offensive style instead of just dropping our defense.
This has the same effect as dropping defense in this case. Consider how changing styles
effects the damage you take/inflict. If you think you may have a speed advantage
consider using feint if you are losing at this point. 10) 4H/8/8 (clinch)
if score < 0 then 8/4/8 (feint)
if score < 0 and endurance_percent > 67 then 10/4/6 (feint)
Ok, here our default has again switched to clinch the more conservative choice. If we are
losing we are now going to use feint to give us the extra speed point and we are not as
worried about the endurance point loss.
Body Punching, Opportunistic and Head Punching.
I made this a separate section because this really should be considered a fundamental
choice in how you approach your plan. Everyone knows that body punching is better to
wear out your opponent and opp is better for winning rounds. However, consider cuts and
stuns also. Don't worry about winning the early rounds at all. Head punching has the
greatest chance of causing an injury, and for a KP fighter who is much more efficient at
stun damage than endurance damage, this can be used often to keep your opponents
guard up or win rounds by stun. Note however the effect it has on endurance damage as
stun damage does not carry forward into the next round and endurance damage does.
Body Punching- the most basic approach to a fight plan. Wear 'em down early and then
win late.
Advantages: Very IP friendly. When it works it dominates the fight.
Disadvantages: You often give up the early rounds. If you do not gain a big endurance
advantage you are at a big disadvantage late. Nearly impossible to stun or cause cuts.
Opportunistic: Used when you want to try to gain an early advantage in a fight. Fighters with KP
should use this style as a base.
Advantages: No endurance, cuts or stun damage penalties. Chance to cause a cut is about
4x that of body punching. Optimal chance to win rounds.
Disadvantages: Only one but it is a big one. You will do less damage than someone body
punching. If you lost the round and did not cause a cut or stun, then that is lost damage.
Head Punching: Other than just going for the knockout head punching can be used to
inflict enough stun damage to keep your opponents guard up or alternatively to tell you
when he may have his guard down by use of stun conditionals.
Note: Even body punchers will occasionally have to fight opp to win rounds. As the fight
goes on the advantage of extra endurance damage becomes less compared to the score
loss.
Winning the Fight
Ok, all this is useless if you lose the fight. Here I will discuss the two basic ways of
winning the fight and how to account for them in your plan.
So far our plan looks like this: 1) 4B/8/8 (clinch)
if score < 0 then 5/7/8 (clinch)
4)if endurance_percent > 100 - ((round - 1) * 3) then 4B/8/8 (inside)
if endurance_percent > 100 - ((round - 1) * 3) and score < 0 then 5/7/8
(inside)
if endurance_percent < 100 - ((round - 1) * 5) then 4/6/10 (clinch)
10) 4H/8/8 (clinch)
if score < 0 then 8/4/8 (feint)
if score < 0 and endurance_percent > 67 then 10/4/6 (feint)
1) if score > 15 - round then 3H/7/10
Now, what we need to again ask ourselves some questions. First let's look at score. What
happens if after we lose round one, switch to 5/7/8 (clinch) and we still are losing?
You can add something to further check score is the answer. A very simple way to do this
is just add another step.
1) 4B/8/8 (clinch)
if score < 0 then 5/7/8 (clinch)
if score < -1 then 5/7/8 <-- Here we just dropped clinch to gain the extra
agg.
If score < -2 then 4B/8/8 (clinch) <-- Here we are going back to the body
if we continue to lose rounds to go for KO instead.
This is a simplified example, but the point is to try to do what you can to keep the score
close however, if we are too far behind early then don't continually raise aggression and
lose the endurance advantage. Now, if you are relying on a win by decision you will not
have this luxury. Here we are assuming you can do both KO or decision. Also note if you
are relying only on a KO win you may not want to give up damage to try to win a round.
Throughout the middle rounds continue with this same basic idea. Again feint becomes
more attractive as the deeper into the fight you get.
As the fight nears an end you must decide whether to try to win by decision or go for the
KO. In some cases you may even just have to pack it in if you cannot do either.
10) 4H/8/8 (clinch)
if score < 14 - round and score > round - 14 then 8/4/8 (feint)
if score < 14 - round and score > round - 14 and endurance_percent >
67 then 10/4/6 (feint)
Ok, here we have decided that if the score is on pace to be decided by one point or less
then we will try to win the rounds. We do this by using 14- round and round - 14. For
example, in round 10 that would read if score < 4 and score > -4. If the score were = 3
then we would try to win one round and lock up the decision. If the score were -3 then we
would try to win all three rounds and gain a draw. Note that in the second case if we lost
another round we would no longer try to win by decision by out boxing the opponent.
Now, everyone loves Kos. However, trying to score a KO is a very risky thing to do and
you should use caution when adding these lines to your fight plan. First thing you can do
is add a universal line to your plan to check for a KO opportunity at any point in the fight.
In this way you ensure to end the fight as early as you can.
1) if opponent = weak and endurance_percent > 67 then 5H/10/5 (allout)
To add the finishing touches you need to fill in the last hole. What to do if you cannot
win by decision? Note, you should as a rule always take the decision if you can.
10) 4H/8/8 (clinch)
if score < 14 - round and score > round - 14 then 8/4/8 (feint)
if score < 14 - round and score > round - 14 and endurance_percent >
67 then 10/4/6 (feint)
if score < round - 13 and endurance_percent > 67 and opponent = tired
then 5H/10/5 (inside)
if score < round - 13 and opponent = tired and endurance_percent > 50
then 5H/9/6 (inside)
These are just two examples of things you could do. There are way to many possible
ways to check for KO chances to list here, but the fundamentals are the same in them all.
Essentially, consider your endurance always as that is the most accurate. Then often you
want to check his fatigue.
So our final plan looks like this:
1) 4B/8/8 (clinch)
if score < 0 then 5/7/8 (clinch)
if score < -1 then 5/7/8
If score < -2 then 4B/8/8 (clinch)
4) if endurance_percent > 100 - ((round - 1) * 3) then 4B/8/8 (inside)
if endurance_percent > 100 - ((round - 1) * 3) and score < 0 then 5/7/8 (inside)
if endurance_percent < 100 - ((round - 1) * 5) then 4/6/10 (clinch)
10) 4H/8/8 (clinch)
if score < 14 - round and score > round - 14 then 8/4/8 (feint)
if score < 14 - round and score > round - 14 and endurance_percent >
67 then 10/4/6 (feint)
if score < round - 13 and endurance_percent > 67 and opponent = tired
then 5H/10/5 (inside)
if score < round - 13 and opponent = tired and endurance_percent > 50
then 5H/9/6 (inside)
1) if opponent = weak and endurance_percent > 67 then 5H/10/5 (allout)
if score > 15 - round then 3H/7/10
if round < 9 and endurance_percent < 67 then 1/1/8 (clinch)
Now you have a good basic fight plan that will function well regardless of how the fight
may go.
Practice: The Final Chapter
"Do not copy your opponent, but instead learn how you can beat him" - Lawrence "the Puck-Law" Man
Earlier you may have asked yourself how do you learn to deal with different styles if you
are using only a few fighter types. That is a good question and will be addressed here.
Now that you have some idea how a fight plan is put together, you are going to put that
into use. We are going back to the practice sim, cause if you can't learn to beat yourself
after all then whom can you beat?
Go back to the one round simulations you ran earlier and put in something similar, only
this time look at what happens as the fight progresses to round 2+. Who is winning?
Who has the endurance advantage? Is one guy in danger of being knocked out?
Start with the basic two static lines for now. Then to the loser add just one more line. It
doesn't matter for now which fighter. Again, try to solve his biggest problem.
Step one: Finish the fight. Everyone gets Koed now and then, but you can't win this way
. Make use of rest, higher defense, more offense (higher endurance or stun damage dealt may work if the other side is over aggressive.
Step two: Add in one conditional line that will allow him to win the fight. Since the other
side has only two lines in his plan this should be easy to do. If not then you may need to
revisit the fighter design again in the single round simulation.
Step Three: Now go join the other side. Try to add in one conditional that gives him back
the win. If this is too hard then again just try to solve his single biggest problem first.
Then move to his next problem adding one conditional at a time until he is now winning.
Step Four: Keep repeating step two and three over and over until you find it very hard for
either fighter to get much of an edge.
Step Five: Hopefully this was not too difficult, because you know the other sides fight
plan and fighter. What you want to do now is simulate error. If your fight plan works
great when his fighter has 9 chin then raise his chin a point and see what effect this has.
Give him a couple of points of KP or a bit more speed. Anything that does not drastically
change the fighter (i.e. height, weight, basic styles) is open for examination.
This is the hardest part, but also the last step to consistent success. You won't know what
your opponent will do, so, you want your fight plan to be flexible enough to adapt when
you are wrong.
Step Six: Now, instead of just changing a few stats, change some key lines in the
"opponent" side (for now this can be whatever choice you used in one). If the first plan
had him going for a knockout late, what happens if he jabs for a decision. DO NOT alter
the other plan at this point, but simply see how it reacts to differing situations. In this
step you are gathering information about how your fight plan works to varying fight
conditions. If you are not satisfied with the final product then go back to an earlier step
and work forward again.
Repeat these steps for different opponents while keeping one side the same. In this way
you can start to build up your stable of fight plans. Remember to save them before
moving on. You don't want to be starting from scratch every time.
Note: You can't cover every possible contingency for every fighter. Try not to assume
you can guess what your opponent will do when you make your plan (as was learned in
step five and six), but at some point you will have to take a chance. The point is to do it
with the full knowledge of the consequences either way. Then pick the one that you feel
is most likely to work. Often you are just playing the odds and the correct decision can
still lead to a lost fight. Do not worry too much if you lose this way.
Also by now you should realize why predictability is bad. When you know what your
opponent will do it becomes much easier to write an effective fight plan.
Fighter Creation (Yay! I get a fighter at last!)
There was a time when Peekaboo created an amazing champion that went undefeated for
a long time. After eventually losing a fight and being retired, Peekaboo revealed the
creation to an eager WeBL public dying to learn the secret of his success. The fighter
was a normal balanced fighter.
At one time Jayhawk had an undefeated heavyweight Champion called Who. He
was an amazingly popular fighter that spawned tons of clones. Some said he was the perfect
heavyweight, and in chat one night when someone asked him why he didn't create a
bunch of Who type fighters and dominate the heavies he replied "I did, the others just
didn't get anywhere"
Ok, of course, in reality you probably already have a fighter in your gym somewhere. If
you are happy with them then stay with them. Any reasonable fighter should work as
good as any other, but here are some guidelines to keep in mind:
Cut Resistance, Chin and Conditioning.
These are three stats that form the basis of all your fighters. Small changes here can have
a big effect on your fighter, but the same settings can apply universally to all fighter types
with only a few exceptions.
Cut resistance: Use only Low or Normal. Cuts are always randomly determined based on
damage inflicted and target area. Body punching greatly reduces the chance for a cut. In
general the more damage your fighter will be inflicting the less you will be taking and
you can get away with low. As a rule low is better earlier and normal becomes better as
status increases (and the cost becomes less and damage inflicted increases). There is no
correct answer here though.
Chin: Keep chin from 9-11. You can start your fighter out with 9 to save the point and
then float a point later on as needed. Again this is a personal preference. 9 chin means
you are more efficient damage wise as you have more points to use on agl/str/spd. At 11
you are simply much harder to KO. A KP fighter can use more chin to make himself
more stun damage efficient and try for more flash Kos but he pays for the KP and chin
with fewer points in the abilities that make use of style.
Conditioning: Start out with 14. This will be enough for your initial fights. However,
train this up to 16 by contenders. I don't recommend training past 16 as then if you get
random points to conditioning it will get way to high.
Note: clinchers can get by with a bit less as they rest while clinching.
Consideration: In general, lower conditioning makes it harder to win fights because you
tire out easier and take more fatigue points. However, you have more points in agl/str so
you will take less endurance damage. This is assuming you rest more often though and
does make it much harder to win fights. Higher conditioning makes it easier to win a
fight by eliminating fatigue (from agg/pow) and allowing you to take more damage
without tiring. However, the points to conditioning come out of str/agl/spd so you will
often take more endurance damage and get less stat gain from styles.
Range to aim for 14-18.
Fighter Build
Very heavy: Used for anyone who does not want to use outside/counter to maximize the
Aps you have available to ring,feint,inside, and clinch. Unless you are making a
counterpuncher most of your fighters will be this build
Normal: Best used to throw off people's scouting. Normal build is not extreme enough
that it is obvious what your build is and most people will assume very heavy. Note here
your fighter will be stronger at the same height than a fighter with the same height, but at
the same status you will have less Aps in agl/spd/str.
Very Light: Use this only if you plan on your fighter having counterpunch has an option
for a fight style. Otherwise you waste way to many points to height.
Str-Agl Ratio
Ok, the next main consideration is what type of fighter is he. Str-agl ratio determines if he
will be stronger at avoiding damage, inflicting damage or a balance of the two. For all
fighters but counterpunchers and pure sluggers (clinchers) keep your Str- agl ratio within
about 4-8 to start and up to 5-15 by contenders. Most fighters you can start even more
balanced then widen the gap as you gain status. One effect this has is to make it harder to
scout your fighter since he won't have any major weight jumps. Note that with lower
strength KP becomes more attractive because the % jump in effective stun strength is
greater.
Fighter Speed:
A good rule is take (str + agl)/3 at the lower end to spd = agl or str at the higher end.
High speed allows you to win rounds much easier. The main advantage of this is you can
win rounds while still maintaining good power and low aggression. This will give you a
big edge and force the opponent to stray from his intended fight plan in order to not give
up too big of a lead. The disadvantage of speed is in terms of style. Since you have less
points in str/agl, you are going to give up even more points to an opponent who can use
inside, clinch or ring to deal more damage while taking less. Therefore, a fighter with
more speed is able to be more efficient in his fight plans (the 4/8/8 stuff) but is giving up
more str and agl to his opponent as a result and so will often take more damage even
while winning rounds.
Example: Take 45 points in str/agl/spd and assume balanced str/agl to make it easy.
Then you would have a range of 17 11 17 at the very low end and 15 15 15 at the high
end. I do not recommend speed as the high stat over str and agility.
Note, if these two fighters fought the slow fighter would have a much harder time
outscoring the balanced fighter, but would further add to his str or agility advantage by
virtue of both higher str and agility. However, he is giving up 4 points of speed and will
have a very hard time concentrating on dealing damage without giving up easy rounds to
the faster balanced fighter.
Knockout Punch: If your fighter is not very endurance damage efficient then consider
using KP to keep the opponent from lowering his defense. A fighter that is efficient in
stun damage can afford to fatigue a bit more than his opponent and still win the fight as
the opponent cannot be overly aggressive.
Scouting
Height/Weight and Fighter Build
This is the place where everyone naturally starts. The fight is scheduled and you look at
the height and weight of the opponent. Now, this often tells you what type of opponent
you are facing by itself and may in fact be where you stop in extreme cases. However,
what do you do if you are fighting an opponent very close to you in height/weight?
Well, this is where fighter build comes into play. If you take two fighters:
Fighter A: 16 13 16 10 15 low 5'6" Welter (order is always str spd agl chin cond)
Fighter B: 20 16 11 10 15 low 5'6" Welter
Now, just by looking at the height and weight you would think these fighters are the same
or very similar. In fact, one is a nice balanced slugger while the other is a fast slugger.
The difference is only the build. Keep this in mind when scouting. The next sections will
tell you how to better determine the opponent you are facing.
Opponent Fight Style
The very next place you go is look at his fights. Look back at least 4-5 fights and see
what styles he uses and note the type of opponent he is facing. Ideally you want to find an
opponent as close you yours as you can get but don't go too far back. He may have
changed over time.
Take our example. You as a nice balanced slugger will be using a mix of clinch/inside
and ring. Your opponent will rarely use ring and will use clinch much more often and
may even counterpunch against shorter opponents and may even feint somewhat early in
fights. Use of counter is a nice giveaway to a very light build. For now, the main thing to
note is he will rarely use the ring. This tips you off that he is likely less agile than you
and this is all you really need for now. You have determined at this point that you will be
using the ring.
Speed
Ok, now you have a good idea that you are facing a stronger opponent with less agility.
The next vital piece of information is to guess his speed. For now an estimate will suffice.
Does he land a high percentage of punches and win rounds easily or does he get
outscored easily?
Again look over the course of a few fights and see how many punches
he lands early on. You will be able to tell that he is at least as fast and maybe faster than
you. Again this is enough for now.
Slugging, Dancing, and Knockout Artists
Now, the last piece of the puzzle to determine what type of fight plan you are going to
use is does he like to slug or dance? Meaning does he prefer to pound on his opponents
and gain a big endurance advantage then KO them, does he make sure to always stay up
on the score and win that on points or does he prefer to wait for a the chance and then
flash KO his opponent? Now, here we are not talking about the fighter's style or stats.
Here we are determining just how the fight is likely to go.
If you know your opponent is going to try to outpoint you then you can take advantage of
his greater fatigue by slugging more and trying to wear him out. If he is going to ignore
the score and slug you may be better off trying to win the early rounds and such. Don't be
fooled by KO rate. Many managers like to slug away early then take the fight by decision
rather than trying for a KO. Peekaboo did this a lot and his KO rate was never reliable.
What you are looking at is how the fights go. If you think he may try to flash KO you
then consider that before dropping defense or body punching (use what you learned in the
KO simulation)
Note: This is what makes a manager be termed "predictable" if he always tries to wear
you down then win late or always tries to take the early rounds then you know with some
reliability what his fight plan will be and can plan accordingly. A good manager will mix
up his fight plans and try different strategies so as to make scouting fight plan style much
harder. Peekaboo was a master at this. He would come at you in 100 different ways.