hitting sliders in dynasty mode on all star level

[dowie]

The title is self explanatory. What hitting sliders are people successful with in a dynasty mode on all star. I've tried a bunch but still can't come up with a solution that keeps the human and the cpu's offenses equal. My biggest problem is the cpu doesn't manufacture runs at all. Either they hit a home run with a mistake pitch by me or not much offense at all. My pitching sliders that I am definitely set on and not changing are meter -50......user fatigue +10............cpu fatigue +20...........................user pitch control -50..............cpu pitch control -21....oh yeah pitch speed at 0.
Here is what I have played with and like user 15/30 cpu 30/15
user 15/27 cpu 27/15
user 15/25 cpu 35/15
user and cpu 14/7
user and cpu 21/7
user and cpu 21/7
user and cpu 21/14
I would love to here peoples thoughts on this.

[pberardi]

Dowie, I've played this game for a year now and recently got back to it after playing MLB06. As you know, I'm using your sliders and I'm 7-3 with the Tribe. I've played with sliders as ridiculous as hum con/pow -50/0 and cpu con/pow +50/+50! I did this because after 4 or 5 seasons my stacked farm system produced 80+ rated players and I totally dominated. Nevertheless, I still experienced the same results. The CPU can't score unless it hits homeruns. The other day, CHW hit 4 homers off me and still lost 6-5. Every homer was a solo shot. Here's my take:

Perhaps we are asking the hitting sliders to do things they can't do which is change a programmed part of the game. I see little difference in boxscore results between sliders. The difference is the pitching sliders. Yours focuses on realistic stats over innings pitched. My pitchers tire faster and give up more hits and offense due to your sliders . Still, my Tribe will win 95-100 games because I know how to pitch.

I study my swings frequently and know the "green" balls are where the best contact is made. We all know this but when I hit homeruns, it's because I hit the first green ball in the zone and not the 2nd or 3rd. The CPU does the same. So if your pitching is getting predictable over a period the CPU will time the green zone perfectly. When this happens, the ball goes yard. I hit a homer with a guy whose power rating was 50 because I hit the perfect green spot. Yet I can't hit homers with Hafner because his green zone is larger (higher power rating) and therefore I'm hitting more of the 2nd and 3rd spots for doubles. (timing)

The point is contact and power might not do what we think they do. I thought I'd be hitting tons of homers with your sliders, instead I'm hitting singles and doubles. Hitting homers may be more a function of contact than power. Why did a 50 power rated guy hit a homer before Hafner? Because my timing was perfect. In this game, if you or the CPU time the first "green" ball in the zone and your aim is just right, you will hit homers all the time. That's the program. Timing and aim. Power may simply mean how far the ball will travel. Contact may mean if I hit the 2nd "green" ball in the zone instead of the first and my contact is high, depending on my aim, I might get a double instead of a single. If contact is low, than I most likely will get a single. That is why I think we should consider playing both hum and cpu with zero contact and power. Let the natural contact and power ratings of the players come into play and not boost anything. You may discover, that you experience the same boxscores regardless of hitting sliders. Nevertheless, I'm sticking with your sliders for now.

Last, perhaps lowering pitch speed may actually result in less line drives and less Homers? Just a thought. It worked on MLB.

[bsb13]

This is my main gripe with this game no matter what slider combination the cpu just cant seem to hit. I have tried +50 con and +50 pow on the mvp level and as long as you constantly nip the corner down and away the cpu just is not much of a threat on offence.

[dowie]

Quote: Originally Posted by pberardi

Dowie, I've played this game for a year now and recently got back to it after playing MLB06. As you know, I'm using your sliders and I'm 7-3 with the Tribe. I've played with sliders as ridiculous as hum con/pow -50/0 and cpu con/pow +50/+50! I did this because after 4 or 5 seasons my stacked farm system produced 80+ rated players and I totally dominated. Nevertheless, I still experienced the same results. The CPU can't score unless it hits homeruns. The other day, CHW hit 4 homers off me and still lost 6-5. Every homer was a solo shot. Here's my take: Perhaps we are asking the hitting sliders to do things they can't do which is change a programmed part of the game. I see little difference in boxscore results between sliders. The difference is the pitching sliders. Yours focuses on realistic stats over innings pitched. My pitchers tire faster and give up more hits and offense due to your sliders . Still, my Tribe will win 95-100 games because I know how to pitch. I study my swings frequently and know the "green" balls are where the best contact is made. We all know this but when I hit homeruns, it's because I hit the first green ball in the zone and not the 2nd or 3rd. The CPU does the same. So if your pitching is getting predictable over a period the CPU will time the green zone perfectly. When this happens, the ball goes yard. I hit a homer with a guy whose power rating was 50 because I hit the perfect green spot. Yet I can't hit homers with Hafner because his green zone is larger (higher power rating) and therefore I'm hitting more of the 2nd and 3rd spots for doubles. (timing) The point is contact and power might not do what we think they do. I thought I'd be hitting tons of homers with your sliders, instead I'm hitting singles and doubles. Hitting homers may be more a function of contact than power. Why did a 50 power rated guy hit a homer before Hafner? Because my timing was perfect. In this game, if you or the CPU time the first "green" ball in the zone and your aim is just right, you will hit homers all the time. That's the program. Timing and aim. Power may simply mean how far the ball will travel. Contact may mean if I hit the 2nd "green" ball in the zone instead of the first and my contact is high, depending on my aim, I might get a double instead of a single. If contact is low, than I most likely will get a single. That is why I think we should consider playing both hum and cpu with zero contact and power. Let the natural contact and power ratings of the players come into play and not boost anything. You may discover, that you experience the same boxscores regardless of hitting sliders. Nevertheless, I'm sticking with your sliders for now. Last, perhaps lowering pitch speed may actually result in less line drives and less Homers? Just a thought. It worked on MLB.

so have u played any games on 0 for both. I agree timing is everything.

[pberardi]

Quote: Originally Posted by dowie

so have u played any games on 0 for both. I agree timing is everything.

Yes, and I hit homers as much as any other slider set. However, you may see a reduction in gap type doubles and the occassional off the wall double. I see more grounders and "seeing eye" singles through the infield. I noticed this also on MLB. Higher levels of contact and power resulted in different types of hits not neccesarily base hits but "hard" outs.

Keep in mind, although I'm not great at this game, I've learned how to hit (going opposite field on 95mph fastballs instead of trying to pull, working the count for more hitter counts, walkiing, pulling the ball when the cpu is at 70% instead of 90%...etc) therefore I feel as one gets better at pitching and hitting, sliders are there to make the game more challenging as oppossed to less.

Right now your sliders are providing good results with a good balance of offense. I'm getting games where I get 10 hits and score few runs and games where I get 4 hits but score 6 runs. Same with the CPU. But the cpu only seems to score more than 2 runs if it hit homers no matter what the slider set. Once I start hitting more homers (they will come) the sliders will need to be adjusted. I said we should play with zero sliders but contact of 5 or 8 may be just what people need to get the balance. Also, I believe that more contact does not result in less k's or more contact. I think it's a function of what the ball does once contact is determined. That's only a guess not fact. Anyway, stick with your sliders and enjoy the game. If you start winning 10 games in a row with ease, than it's time to adjust your sliders. That has not occured yet for me.

Note: I did lower your cpu power slider to 5. Low and behold, the CPU hit a two run homer off me last night. I lost to Johan Santana. I don't think any slider set can help me there. I was happy to get 6 walks and only 8 strikeouts against him.

[dowie]

Quote: Originally Posted by pberardi

Yes, and I hit homers as much as any other slider set. However, you may see a reduction in gap type doubles and the occassional off the wall double. I see more grounders and "seeing eye" singles through the infield. I noticed this also on MLB. Higher levels of contact and power resulted in different types of hits not neccesarily base hits but "hard" outs. Keep in mind, although I'm not great at this game, I've learned how to hit (going opposite field on 95mph fastballs instead of trying to pull, working the count for more hitter counts, walkiing, pulling the ball when the cpu is at 70% instead of 90%...etc) therefore I feel as one gets better at pitching and hitting, sliders are there to make the game more challenging as oppossed to less. Right now your sliders are providing good results with a good balance of offense. I'm getting games where I get 10 hits and score few runs and games where I get 4 hits but score 6 runs. Same with the CPU. But the cpu only seems to score more than 2 runs if it hit homers no matter what the slider set. Once I start hitting more homers (they will come) the sliders will need to be adjusted. I said we should play with zero sliders but contact of 5 or 8 may be just what people need to get the balance. Also, I believe that more contact does not result in less k's or more contact. I think it's a function of what the ball does once contact is determined. That's only a guess not fact. Anyway, stick with your sliders and enjoy the game. If you start winning 10 games in a row with ease, than it's time to adjust your sliders. That has not occured yet for me. Note: I did lower your cpu power slider to 5. Low and behold, the CPU hit a two run homer off me last night. I lost to Johan Santana. I don't think any slider set can help me there. I was happy to get 6 walks and only 8 strikeouts against him.

when u say my sliders are getting good results you mean hitting at 30/15 for both or what. I thought you liked them at 0/0?

[pberardi]

Quote: Originally Posted by dowie

when u say my sliders are getting good results you mean hitting at 30/15 for both or what. I thought you liked them at 0/0?

I'm using your version 4.0 sliders all the way except I lowered cpu power to 5. I believe they are 15/25 and 27/15 I changed cpu to 27/5 because of the HR issue with the cpu.

"I thought you liked them at 0/0?" - Your post asked what slider sets are people using to get balance between CPU and Human. I'm saying there is no slider set that will do that. I suggested 0/0 but I'm not using them because I was playing MLB for the past 6 months. My timing was off. However, it's come back and my philosophy is that once one learns how to pitch and hit and master's the meter, the CPU is at a huge disadvantage. It can't compete unless you go up another level like MVP and even then you'll eventually become to good for the CPU. The only choice one has is to make the sliders harder for the human...thus 0/0. Six months ago, I was using -50/0 human and 50/50 cpu plus -50 pitching meter and 0 for cpu control, -50 human control. If sliders did what they say they do that is contact and power I should have been creamed by the cpu. I typically won 140 games no different than if I played with your sliders.

There are two schools of thought at conflict here: Use sliders to simulate realistic baseball, which you try to do or use them to reflect personnal achievement and challenge. If you become too good at hitting then why not work your way to a 0/0 set for human? If you become too good at pitching then why not work towards -50 meter for human? It may not be the perfect simulation but it reflects that you've mastered the game.

If you truly want a great baseball sim then try MLB06. It does sim more like baseball and makes MVP look like an arcade game, which by the way it is. That's why once you become good at it, the human will dominate the CPU.
MLB06 in my opinion is not as fun and takes over and hour to complete a game.

Anyway, your doing exactly the thing I did which caused me to try MLB over MVP and that is spend too much time on sliders and not enough time enjoying the game even if you find winning too predictable, enjoy the game.

Good Luck and stay in touch.

[dowie]

I've played 5 games at both hitting at 10/0 and like them. More 1b's and 2b's not so many hr's. I am going to keep going in icrements of 5 with contact levels, and keep both power at 0. I think once contact is at a good rate then 0 power will be fine. It's the contact that makes a difference with gap shots and hr's not the power slider. I've noticed this with this test. So in closing try keeping power at 0 for both user and cpu and keep upping the contact numbers til your satisfied. Try this and let me know how it goes. I think we are on to something. Dowie

[pberardi]

Quote: Originally Posted by dowie

I've played 5 games at both hitting at 10/0 and like them. More 1b's and 2b's not so many hr's. I am going to keep going in icrements of 5 with contact levels, and keep both power at 0. I think once contact is at a good rate then 0 power will be fine. It's the contact that makes a difference with gap shots and hr's not the power slider. I've noticed this with this test. So in closing try keeping power at 0 for both user and cpu and keep upping the contact numbers til your satisfied. Try this and let me know how it goes. I think we are on to something. Dowie

I will do. I've always felt that contact was more key than power. Same held true for MLB. I had power way down and saw more hit variety and less line drives all game long. To get those nice drives in the game would require more precise contact and skill by the user. Higher contact could help with players whose contact is low. Players like Hafner, Soriano, Ortiz don't need a contact slider. They hit well at zero/zero.

[dowie]

tried 3 more games at 15/0 for both. Liked what I saw, but maybe too much gap power. Right now I think between 10 and 15 with power at zero for both will do the trick. Dowie