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The purpose of this guide is to provide a very basic understanding of how to select your offense/defense tactics. It assumes you have basic knowledge of how to read team ratings from the game box scores and your players' skill levels. The guide is broken up into Offense and Defense sections. In its simplest form, you should choose an offensive tactic that plays to your team's strengths, and a defensive tactic that counters your opponent's strength.

Offense

Base Offense
As its name implies, this is the standard or "base" offense. It does not favor any one type of scoring. Your players simply look for the best match-up.

When to use the Base Offense
While there is no inherent risk to using this offense, there is also no benefit gained from using it. Newer teams that show no obvious strengths may find this tactic to be effective until they can improve the skill level of their players.

Push the Ball
This tactic is the uptempo cousin of the Base Offense. As with the Base Offense, this tactic does not favor any one type of scoring. Your players look to push the ball up-court and tend to take quick shots.

When to use Push the Ball
When your Inside/Outside scoring are similar in rating, and you want a fast-paced, high-scoring game, Push the Ball can be an effective tactic to use.

Patient
Everything Push the Ball is not, Patient is. As with the previous two tactics discussed, Patient favors neither inside nor outside scoring. Your players patiently wait for a good shot before they take it.

When to use Patient
The slower pace of this tactic can be an effective way for outmatched teams to keep the score low. Additionally, your players will generally take higher quality shots.

Look Inside
The focus of this tactic is on inside scoring with a slightly increased pace.

When to use Look Inside
If your players have relatively good Inside Shot skill or your Inside Scoring team rating is better than your Outside Scoring, Look Inside can be an effective tactic. Driving skill on your guards and small forward can also improve the effectiveness of this tactic.

Low Post
This tactic is very similar to Look Inside but it is run at a slower pace.

When to use Low Post
As with Look Inside, your main reason for using Low Post should be if your Inside Scoring is better than your Outside Scoring. Inside Shot and Driving are the predominant skills in this tactic.

Motion
This tactic favors mid and long range shots. Your players look to pull up for jump shots on the perimeter or outside the paint.

When to use Motion
If your players have relatively good Jump Shot skill or your Outside Scoring rating is higher than your Inside Scoring, Motion can be an effective tactic to use.

Run and Gun
This tactic plays at a frenetic pace, with a focus on Outside Shooting. Your players look to take quick shots.

When to use Run and Gun
Your Outside Scoring rating will be a determining factor in choosing this tactic, but to be most effective, you will need to have good distance shooters. Jump Shot and Jump Range are the main skills to look for. Additionally, high Stamina is required due to the fast pace of this tactic.


Last edited by ShootingStars at 6/3/2010 11:05:00 PM

Princeton
This is probably the most technical offensive tactic in BuzzerBeater. Your players will keep the ball in motion until they can set up a cutting player or they can take an open shot from the perimeter.

When to use Princeton
This tactic tends to favor Outside Shooting, and the constant motion also means high Offensive Flow team rating and Passing player skill are essential. It is not advised to use this tactic unless you have highly developed players.

Defense

Man-to-Man
This is standard man coverage. The lineup form allows you to change individual assignments, but in general: PG guards PG, SG guards SG, and so on.

When to use Man-to-Man
If your opponent does not excel at either Inside or Outside Scoring, then Man-to-Man will generally be your best option. This is also an effective tactic to use for newer teams that are outmatched and likewise for teams that are far superior, as there are no penalties like with the other focused tactics.

2-3 Zone
This is zone coverage with an extra defender inside. Inside Defense benefits at the expense of Outside Defense. Rebounding is also aided by the extra inside defender.

When to use 2-3 Zone
If your opponent shows a clear strength in his Inside Scoring, 2-3 Zone can be an effective tactic. Before choosing this tactic, you should make sure that your Outside Defense can withstand the rating reduction from playing 2-3 Zone. If your Outside Defense becomes a weakness, look to play Man-to-Man instead.

3-2 Zone
This is zone coverage with three defenders on the perimeter and two inside. Outside Defense benefits at the expense of Inside Defense and Rebounding.

When to use 3-2 Zone
If your opponent shows a clear strength in his Outside Scoring, 3-2 Zone can be an effective tactic. As with 2-3 Zone, be sure that by choosing this tactic you are not opening up a weakness for yourself. If it does, you should probably play Man-to-Man.

1-3-1 Zone
This is a pressing tactic with one defender up top on the ball carrier and three defenders in the perimeter. With only one defender inside, the penalty to Inside Defense and Rebounding is even more drastic with this tactic. Although, the benefit to Outside Defense is also greater.

When to use 1-3-1 Zone
Due to the extreme nature of this tactic, it is generally not recommended unless there is such an extreme disparity between the opponent's Outside/Inside Scoring that you can justify using it.

Full Court Press
This tactic presses the ball carrier. It has a benefit of potentially creating more turnovers, but at the expense of overall defense and rebounding. Additionally, due to the high intensity of this tactic, it is a drain on player stamina.

When to use Full Court Press
As the aim of this tactic is to create turnovers, it is naturally best used against a team with poor Offensive Flow. As with all the other tactics discussed above, make sure you do not open up new weaknesses for yourself before choosing to run Full Court Press. Additionally, it is not recommended to use this tactic unless your players have high stamina.

Last edited by ShootingStars at 6/3/2010 10:52:26 PM

I've been playing BuzzerBeater for about 2 weeks now, and in that time, I've done a lot of reading and a lot of chatting. I'm at a point now that I feel I understand at least some of the basic things about the game. I've received a lot of help from some generous people in the community, and I thought I should pay it forward by trying to help out some future BB'ers with this very basic, rudimentary guide.

What I would like to ask is for the veterans to look it over at their leisure and correct any errors they see or add to it anything I may have missed. I understand there's already a section on Tactics in the Game Manual and in the FAQ sticky, but while I thought they both do a pretty good job explaining the tactics themselves, what was lacking was some situational usage, which I hoped to accomplish with this guide.

Thanks in advance!

Last edited by ShootingStars at 6/1/2010 6:44:22 PM

When to use the Base Offense

I like to use Base Offense against inferior teams. If they try to play a focused defense, Base Offense ensures the ball will be spread around, rather than constantly fed into one area of the court they're defending. And if they're playing Man To Man, even better; in an even matchup for offense vs defense, my superior talent should win the day.

Last edited by Jerry Midwest at 6/1/2010 7:22:39 PM

True, but if you play PTB you can do more of the same. Perhaps I didn't explain myself well in the guide. I didn't mean to say Base Offense was completely useless, just that for what it accomplishes, there are other tactics that do a better job at it. Sure you could argue that PTB could lead to turnovers if the other team pressed, but using your example, if they're truly inferior then I doubt they'd have the stamina to press for long and/or your ball handling would be more than enough to counter the press.

I disagree that base offense should never be used. I think it should be used until you have a decent team with some focus. Most starting teams don't. Most teams will shoot a higher percentage using base offense than they will with PTB. I think Base Offense is a great tactic when you have A) a very balanced team, or no clear advantage. PTB doesn't mean that the team hurries to get the ball across midcourt. It means that the team is more likely to take less high quality shots than in slower paced tactics.

Also, I think that patient is the tactic of choice if you are confident that your offense is better than the defense you are playing.

Last edited by somdetsfinest at 6/2/2010 9:51:53 AM

If you are clearly better than the other team, you should hold the ball until you get the best quality shot you can. This is true in real basketball and in this game. Your shooting percentage will be much higher. Look at any of my recent games. PTB means you take more shots, but they are of a lower quality. It does not increase your scoring average, only increases the number of (lower quality) shots your team will be taking. I am better than the majority of teams in my league and play patient most games. I am currently 19-0, and usually use patient and full court press against teams I feel stronger than on offense and defense.

Last edited by somdetsfinest at 6/2/2010 10:19:22 AM

If you are clearly better than the other team, you should hold the ball until you get the best quality shot you can. This is true in real basketball and in this game. Your shooting percentage will be much higher. Look at any of my recent games. PTB means you take more shots, but they are of a lower quality. It does not increase your scoring average, only increases the number of (lower quality) shots your team will be taking. I am better than the majority of teams in my league and play patient most games. I am currently 19-0, and usually use patient and full court press against teams I feel stronger than on offense and defense.

As per the Game Manual:
A slower pace will often result in higher-quality shots, but occasionally will result in bad shots at the end of the shot clock.

Two things here. If a slower pace will often result in higher quality shots, but occasionally will result in bad shots, then you can infer that the opposite is true of a faster pace, so not all the shots are of bad quality. It should also be noted that the quality of a shot is not the same thing as the accuracy of the shot, e.g. spotting up and taking an open three is certainly of higher quality than a fade away jumper with a guy in your face, but they both could go in. If your scoring is dramatically better than your opponent's defense, even a lesser quality shot has a good chance to go in. Additionally, the uptempo will create more possessions to allow you to pull away from an inferior opponent.