BB1 is simply just more fun to me is all.

The first rule of blood bowl is to minimize risks, and why xcom is in the same vein in that regard.

@Planewalker: Thank you for your concise reply and for the advice.

BB CE I feel has a more aggressive AI, compared to the AI of BB2 I feel like the BB1 AI can actually get a touchdown.

@Caulder: That's a very useful piece of information. Thank you for sharing.
I think that by playing BB: CE I will develop better habits and it will be more beneficial for me on the long run even if I'll struggle a bit more in the beginning.

BB2's AI is better at the fundamentals, however its really bad at executing on them, like you will see the AI cage constantly but never really push the ball forward, BB CE AI is worse at protecting their ball carrier but they will attempted to push a ball carrier deep if they get a hole.

@Caulder: I see what you mean. Thanks for the example.
I also noticed that AI behaviour with caging in BB2 but I thought it was as a sign of "correct or preferred" BB tactics. I thought that's how the game was expected to be played after reading some guides regarding the more bashing oriented teams. Especially in light of the famous and oft cited rule that "minimizing risks is what wins matches in BB".

Caging is a fundamental, defensive maneuver but its not some play you must do at every point of the field regardless of enemy team comp, often times its a good idea to break your own cage at mid field if you found a hole, and have the ball carrier run in while the cage turns into a screen to stop the enemy from contesting it. BB2's AI's Cage Cage Cage mentality, cripples its scoring ability since it has a giant fear of ever breaking the cage.

@Caulder: Interesting thoughts again. And I totally got your point now, I just want to add something that I totally forgot to include in my previous comment.
What I truly wanted to say about the AI caging strategy was the advice I read many times regarding caging and bashing teams. That in case that the bashing team has the score advantage it is much preferred to play things ultra safe and after forming a solid cage stall the game or move forward very slowly. And if you can score extra, that's good but if not it's not going to lose you the game or make you end up in a draw. And even in case that none of the teams has a score advantage over the other it is advised to stall things till the second half and start taking slight risks to score only once even then. Which I find pretty boring.

Originally posted by Caulder:

often times its a good idea to break your own cage at mid field if you found a hole

Indeed, and can you break a center corridor, your runners etc will have almost free reign to reach the opponent endzone.

The most important thing after the first rule is to find a playstyle where you need no more than one or two touch-downs per half. 2-0 is still a win.
-there is a reason that team re-rolls are as expensive as they are.

The way to break an AI cage is by smashing the weakest links first, all the while keeping your throwers/high-AG players at the ready.

@Planewalker: Thanks for chiming in. Very useful advice, I appreciate it.

A bit necromantic, but since not much is happening...
BB1 has vastly superior interface and is generally less messy. It's also got a superior campaign system for single player games.
BB2 is pretty, and I expect BB3 is prettier still, but that's not enough.

@Scipio: Thank you for your thoughts and insights and for keeping the topic alive. I can easily agree with your opinion. Especially with "being prettier is not enough to be better or to deserve more attention, time and investment".

Originally posted by Merioch:

@Scipio: Thank you for your thoughts and insights and for keeping the topic alive. I can easily agree with your opinion. Especially with "being prettier is not enough to be better or to deserve more attention, time and investment".

Yeah, it seems to me that the BB series decided that visuals was the most important thing in the sequels. Which I thought they'd stopped believing, but hey.

Also, BB2 and BB3 were designed for consoles. I don't mind sharing, but when they can't be bothered to build a decent UI for those of us not limited by the controller I can't be bothered to buy.

IF you're up for it, there is a community mod pack & expanded campaign on moddb; fer sure my preferred way to play the game.

@Planewalker: Thanks for the recommendation. I'll check it out for sure.