Confused over timeouts

[Nukester]

Ive read a few posts on the boards about people clicking the timeout button right after a play is done, or trying to "time" the clicking of the button. Isnt this pretty much a turn based game so it wouldnt matter when you press the button ?

If my opponent calls a play and I decide to go and take a nap, then come back an hour later and call a play, its the same as if I called a play immediately. Why would time outs be any different ?

I may be wrong but the way I understand it is, when you call a timeout, it makes the next play shorter. So if I ran a play that would normally take off, hypothetically, 20 seconds, if I had called a timeout prior to the play, only around 10 seconds would tick off.

When you push the button doesnt matter at all..........Am I wrong about this ?

[Tim Plum]

Exactly. Hit the nail on the head. We have a winner.

[Nukester]

Thanks Tim. I figured that had to be the way it worked

[Miral]

This logic of timeouts still doesn't make sense to me.

This just happened to me. I throw an incomplete pass nearing halftime. When that play is over I have 20 seconds left. It was an incomplete so I don't call a timeout.

With 20 seconds left, I throw a completion for a first down... and time runs out, without my even being able to call a timeout. Now its possible that pass play took 20 seconds, but I seriously doubt it.


Should I have called the timeout before this play, even thought the prior play was an incomplete pass?

[jbergey_2005]

Do you have the update 1.02? It seems like it is working a lot better for me. On incomplete passes inside of 2 min, it seems 6-8 seconds go off the clock, on completions in which I call TO's about 8-10 seconds. And on plays when I complete inside of 2 min without a TO, it seems about 15-20 seconds. From the way the update has played on my computer, I cant figure out why there would have been 20 seconds left, an incomplete pass, then 20 seconds run off. Did you call a TO, after the play preious to the incompletion. The way I have figured, is --- The clock will show a certain time before your play, however if you didnt stop the clock after the play, seconds still need to click off. So think of it this way complete pass 44 seconds left, u dont call TO, u send in the play call like a coach with 44 seconds on the clock, with the clock still running, the QB has to get the play to the other players. By the time u complete the pass, there will probably be about 25-30 seconds left. You then call another TO, the clock shows 25-30 seconds. Now if you complete another pass, there will be around 19 seconds left, at that point you decide to stop the clock with 19 seconds or let the clock keep running.

[Old Boiler]

Originally Posted by Nukester

When you call a timeout, it makes the next play shorter.

Wait a minute; now i'm even more confused. You're not saying i have to commit to calling TO before i know the result of the play?

[Nukester]

Originally Posted by Old Boiler

Wait a minute; now i'm even more confused. You're not saying i have to commit to calling TO before i know the result of the play?

Yup, thats the deal. The problem I see with that is, you have to commit to a timeout without knowing if the next play will be an incomplete pass or not (automatically stop the clock). Im not sure if the game takes that scenario into account, but I dont think it does. You would still get the timeout taken from you. The best thing here would be for teh CPU to ignore the timeout request if an incomplete pass is thrown (it may do that, Im not sure, but I dont think it does)

A timeout shortens the amount of time the game would take off for the playcall portion (in the huddle) of the next play, so instead of the next play taking a total time elapsed of 40 seconds (huddle + actual play), calling a timeout prior to the play would eliminate the huddle part, so the time taken off would only be 5 seconds (actual play). I dont really know the actual seconds used per play so Im just saying these numbers hypothetically.

[Arlie Rahn]

The way timeouts work is they will eliminate the time between plays. So, if you have a long run, then call a TO, you will always lose the time the play took but there will not be any additional timeout after the play. If you call timeout before the next play, the time difference will be less than it coud have been.

Here's an example:

A long passing play would actually take 20 seconds + 15 seconds to huddle/get to the LOS and run the next play if you didn't call timeout.

If you did call timeout before you called your next play, it would instead take only 20 seconds. So, for timeouts, you just need to call them before you call your next play to ensure they happen.

[Old Boiler]

Thanks for the explanation. As an aside, that's the sort of thing i believe belongs in a game manual, quite aside from any "strategy manual."