How to communicate in Bobble League
The time to make a turn is minimal, so effective communication is the key. The proposed communication system, which is a set of naming conventions and strategies, is not just a starting point for your team to develop your system, but a crucial tool that can significantly enhance your gameplay. It can inspire you to communicate more effectively and strategically.
The naming of players and locations
Every team player shares the same perspective on the field, which gives us a unique advantage. This shared perspective allows us to use declarative player naming based on positioning on the field, fostering a sense of unity and cooperation.
Top - Bottom - Left - Right, or simply TBLR. (sometimes you may need to add Middle-M if there are three players in a row)
If all players are located in the same place, this system of coordination will still work, but now it will work based on their positioning. For example, if my player is the most right and more down than the other most right player, I am the BR. In this scenario, my teammate can tell me that BR attacks TR, meaning I have to throw a ball to the top right corner of the field. This is just one example of how the communication system can be used in different game situations.
My teammate can communicate with me in a clear and precise manner using the naming system. For instance, they can say 'BR attacks TR ', meaning I have to throw a ball to the top right corner of the field. This level of clarity and precision keeps us informed and prepared.
“BR attack TR goal” means That we should try to score in the TOP part of the goal.
“TL block BL” - means the top-left player blocks the Bottom-Left opposite team player.
Generally, I believe there are only 9 actions in Bubble League:
- Place - place a ball in the appropriate location
- Move - place a player in the appropriate location
- Score - score in the goal
- Block - block the opponent from scoring or moving
- Box - context or take the box
- Defend - defend the goal from scoring
- Pass - make a pass to another player
- AFK - do nothing
- Power - use power
In addition, you can add modifications to your communication if you wanna explain more complex moves:
- Border <something> - try to do <something> using border
- Jumper <something> - try to do <something> using jumper
Team code
You can play Bubble League only from the same voice channel in Discord which makes all communication public to the opponent team. Which sometimes may ruin the strategy. Coding is a super advance technique, even I can’t imagine using it right now, first, play a dozen of games with predefined efficient team communication and then move to code.
Coding allows your team to have a secret which allows you to communicate publicly but only your teammates will understand the actual meaning of words. There are an enormous amount of ways to organize coding but here are some examples.
Number based encryption
As we defined, Bubble League has a limited amount of moves and positions, so instead of naming them, you can assign them numbers and rotate those numbers after every game/round.
Caesar cipher
Place all your key phrases in some specific order and then on every game/round define a shift. Assuming the system of coordinates I have described with a shift of 2 I will name it “BR Score” which will actually mean “BR Box”.
How to position your players on a field
There are a couple of basic rules for players positioning.
2 player has to context the box
Boxes spawn on every second round so you have to plan your game from it. Every time box spawns you have to put your players in the appropriate spawn position. So you context boxes, then you try to attack, or protect, then you again got to context boxes, then you again try to attack or protect, that is a constant loop in which 2 of your players out of 4 have to be rolling.
1 player has to stay on defense
Bubble League has a very small field and the ball can move from 1 part of the field to another during 1 turn. Things like Huge Bumpers are making it even more dangerous. 1 player always has to be on goal. If the game is chill and the ball is always on the opponent's side, the same player can do the context of one of the boxes so that 2 players can do offense.
Hot to make a first ball move
I have seen tons of first-more scores and there is a way to get those often.
Box Catch
If you see that the opponent team is trying to get a box - use 1 player to throw the ball in the direction of the player who is getting a box. It will make the ball jump from the wall and go directly into the goal.
Direct attack
A direct attack on a ball is usually the safest way to get the first move. In most of the cases ball will be somewhere in the central area and there is no way you receive a first more score.
All back
All back is a strategy when all players are going back to the gates with the biggest power. I suggest using it only when there is a risk of getting a volleyball ball or trampoline from your opponents. Such a first move is super risky for common attacks because if I make a wall attack, the ball will squeeze through right in the goal.