Fumbbl/Cyanide Comparison

[sann0638]

The question comes up occasionally about whether Fumbbl or Cyanide is better - I've tried to write a factual comparison giving the good points of each - what have I missed? http://www.sann0638.co.uk/fumbbl-cyanide-a-comparison/

[dode74]

There are numerous bugs in the Cyanide game, not all the races are there, there are star players missing.

[sann0638]

Cool - will stick those in, might make it more of a +/- account.

[juck101]

on Fumbbl you can also "You can spectate games and chat to other spectators."

I would add Fumbbl is easy to find replays to watch from other players.
I would also add to Cyanide you can code your own art work and even code your own rules with expert code skills

[RoterSternHochdahl]

•And a big one, you can play against the computer!

Probably the one best possibility to get worse at BB while playing

[sann0638]

Ha, that's certainly true. People enjoy that, though

[Aino]

oh technically Fumbbl is not "free" since the terms and condition require you to own a copy of the GW box

[Electric Wizard]

What I really enjoy about FUMBBL, is the art style. Fancy graphics from Cyanide are nice, but the FUMBBL client with it's pixel sprites feels so much "closer" to the board game for me.

Also you have the chance to play against really high skilled coaches, which you might not find in your regional TT league (But I'm pretty sure that's true for both FUMBBL and Cyanide).

[koadah]

I would also add to Cyanide you can code your own art work and even code your own rules with expert code skills

How do you code your own rules?

[rolo]

I play Cyanide and not FumBBL, so I know more about their pros and cons

Cyanide Pros:
The game is a lot prettier.
There's a lot of out-of-game bells and whistles, like cheering getting louder as you get closer to the end zone
Reasonably inexpensive if you wait for a Steam sale (a lot cheaper than buying a Blood Bowl boxed set which all FumBBL users *ahem* have of course done!)
The AI is terrible, but it's there.

Cyanide Cons:
Some bugs (like sometimes fielding a 12th man) which are irritating but can be worked around.
Some bugs (like when a frenzied player moves onto the ball with the second frenzy block) which crash the game.
(more importantly) a very opaque system for reporting and fixing bugs.
No resuming a game that's been interrupted, in a league a commissioner has to reset it and replay from scratch.
Missing some star players, which is a bigger deal for some teams than others.
Lack of useful league controls (Commissioners can't make a schedule, set divisions, seed playoffs, set up a double elimination tournament)
Out of game menus, and the UI in general, is poorly designed and slow.

The biggest Pro of Cyanide is that many of my old leaguemates from "back in the day" play there. That's what brought me out of retirement and into playing Blood Bowl again

The biggest con of FumBBL for me is the reliance on Java. That's what's kept me from trying it out so far.

[Joemanji]

Cyanide Pros:
The game is a lot prettier.

Whilst this is unarguably true, the 'business' of the Cyanide graphics are one of the main reasons I do not play it. The repetitive noises/commentary are also grating. FUMBBL isn't the prettiest, but as a static representation of a physical board game it works a lot better (IMO).

[lunchmoney]

(more importantly) a very opaque system for reporting and fixing bugs.

It's not opaque, the reporting is very clear. It's done on their bug reporting/technical forum.
The fixing is non existent.

[frogboy]

Cyanide Pros:
The game is a lot prettier.

Whilst this is unarguably true, the 'business' of the Cyanide graphics are one of the main reasons I do not play it. The repetitive noises/commentary are also grating. FUMBBL isn't the prettiest, but as a static representation of a physical board game it works a lot better (IMO).

I agree, FUMBBL is the best, here are my reasons why...

I'm not a fan of the Cyanide graphics, the way the armour moves, it looks like it's made out of papier-mâché or helenium. It should be rigid and heavy and not move so much when a player is breathing.

I don't like not being able to see where all the squares are on the field either also that fly past the dugouts when you score, I hate that, I know I can click the button but still. Other things that annoy me about it is not knowing who's on the bench without wasting time trying to move the curser over there and all that junk stuff on the screen, meaningless scrolling of random messages and other bits of writing. Also not having a powerful enough computer so trying to set up the players for a drive and bringing on the correct player is way too hard.

FUMBBL is the best representation of the game without a dought. You can see everything you need to and it's easy to do everything. Plus I don't need an expencive computer to play it. All the rules work, all the teams are present all the star players are done. Just a few inducements or cards missing. I know some people don't like playing side on but if it's a problem then you can always turn your screen sideways

FUMBBL FUMBBL FUMBBL !!!

[rolo]

It's not opaque, the reporting is very clear. It's done on their bug reporting/technical forum.
The fixing is non existent.

Sorry, yes there's a buglist thread in the Cyanide tech support forum. What I consider opaque is that this is a terrible way to report bugs. A lot of the descriptions are vague, and every other page or so someone posts that they rolled a double one and this proves that the random number generator is broken.
A non-opaque way to report bugs is through a webform or ticketing system. You submit a bug, get a response, and if they're really feeling ambitious, you get an overview of known bugs, and a timetable for their release.
And to be fair, while many of the known bugs haven't been fixed for years and probably never will be, they did fix the most major bug which was making the game nearly unplayable for some people (net sync disconnects). Took them a long time and several false tries, but nobody in my league has had a net sync error since they announced the fix.

FUMBBL FUMBBL FUMBBL !!!

Play what you like! I'm not trying to convince you to dump FumBBL and play Cyanide. Sounds like that would be a tall order anyway

But I think the goal of this thread is to take an honest look at the two most popular online clients, compare their strengths and weaknesses, and let players make an informed decision. I play Cyanide because that's what my friends started playing and brought me back to Blood Bowl. The client is "good enough" that I keep playing.
Steam sells Chaos Ed for $30 / 30 Eur (not sure what their price in GBP is). I wouldn't pay that but Steam often has sales. Legendary Edition costs 20 ($/Eur) and is the exact same game, except you can't play as Khorne, Chaos Dwarves, or Underworld (you can still play *against* them). Again, not sure I'd pay full price for it, but I've seen it selling for as little as $5.
So maybe I'm damning the game with faint praise, but it's more than worth the $5

[rolo]

Also, and this is actually relevant to the OP, I'm talking about the Cyanide PC client. The Xbox, Playstation, Tablet, etc versions are (or at least used to be) separate clients, unable to join leagues with PC players and I believe with a more limited choice of races and options.