The Problem

BB players get individual skills; knowing them changes our decisions; forgetting a skill can be unforgiving.

Many important skills start with the same letter. The Alt-Car key closes the edit window. Small symbols cannot be seen well with our actual GUI, e.g. Khemri players.

More than four letters can become unreadable. Either the convention is counter intuitive or it's ambiguous. We'll go for intuitiveness.

The solution involves numbers, upper and lower case letters, and a small set of symbols, either for special skills or popular combinations of skills.

Numbers for Stats

MA and ST as prefix, AG and AV as suffix.

NB - The only exception is "2" for Two Heads. "0" could designate 10MA. "5" as prefix can mean both MA5 or ST5; "6" as suffix can mean both AV6 or AG6.

Upper Case Letters for Major Skills

Here are the 11 skills I think deserve to be capitalized. Most of these skills modify blocks and actions.

B - Block
D - Dodge
F - Fend
G - Guard
H - Horns
J - Juggernaut
L - Leap
S - Sidestep or Stand Firm
T - Tackle
W - Wrestle
Y - Dirty Player
Z - Frenzy

Skills can be abbreviated. I would never abbreviate Guard, but I do for Tackle or Wrestle. See below.

Lower Case for Minor Skills

b - Strip Ball
d - Dauntless
e - Extra Arms
g - Grab
h - Sure Hands
k - Kick
n - Nerves of Steel
o - Dump-Off
r - Kick-Off Return
p - Pass Block
u - Jump Up

This list can be expanded at will. It now contains 11, like the first list. Is this a sign?

Signs for Special Skills and Other Things

Some skills deserve special symbols for two different reasons. The first is to make sure never to forget them. The second is that they look more complementary.

2 - Two Heads
/ - Break Tackle
! - DT, PT, Tents or even Shadowing (!! for multi)
= - Claw
+ - Mighty Blow (good when small)
? - Pro, Loner, Pass Block
^ - niggling
* - ambiguity warning

The two last symbols mark important non-skill information.

Symbols for Main Combos

Compacting combos can be useful. Some might wish to always put Tackle and Frenzy explicit. A matter of taste or cognitive style.

% - blodger (BD)
$ - blodgestep or blodgefirm (BDS)
# - killer (T+, CT+, ZT, JZT, ZuT+, etc.)
& - baller (Sure Feet, Sprint, etc.)
@ - sacker (WT, Wsb, WTsb, etc.)

There are thus four types of players.

NB. "#" is the checkmate sign.

Examples with NBFL Legends

Des Troy Hill is 6*4BDTMg3*, so there's little choice but to call him "Des."

Toady Nelson is 4$T4.

Rhys Lloyd is short and sweet: 9$&.

Joss Tillard was a sleazy 0$&h one-turner.

Wilma Wumpus is 4Gu#.

Ndamukong Suh is a mere 4BJ6.

J. Anderson lives the simple life of a J#u? or even a #?.

M.D. Punisher is an interesting case - BGS#/. Sometimes the best we can have is a five-symbol code that is less wide than five letters in the GUI.

Charles Woodson, the best frog of all leagues, was a meager 9$45 before his death.

Karst Hadl, my favorite player, is 5G#u?2, or 5G#2, or just Karst.

How to Use in Game

Abbreviating works implicitly. It cannot replace memory. Take the time to study the team you face before the game if you can.

Do not trust your markings at first. You can mismark. You can omit players. The GUI isn’t perfect. Beware that marking during pregame sequence can make you accept to receive.

You will eventually meet special players. If they cannot be abbreviated, use their names. If they can but you fear confusing their skills, use a special warning like * or ** or adapt your notation.

If you do not like the S ambiguity, you could do as Grue and use F for Stand Firm and f for Fend. I still prefer $ (or $* if ambiguity can cost me the game) to %F.

This is a proof of concept, not a normative document. The notation works for me. Do as you please. I know you will.

Thanks

To Jeffro, whose Khrowns compelled me to shorten my skill notation.

To antithesisoftime for having tried to break my notation with her many strange legends.

To Happygrue for his legends and his alternative notation.

To JackassRampant for his many killers, and mrt1212 for his many ballers.

To Klaz for liking the project.

To bgandras for the memorization tip.

To ArrestedDevelopment for his blog post and his criticisms.