Do we really know what con/pow sliders do?

[pberardi]

Appreciation to guys like Dowie and Carew for playing the heck out of this game and developing sliders for all of us enthusiasts. I'm trying to gain knowledge I don't have with this question. Here are some bullets to make this post easy on the eyes.

1. When using the swing review meter, the green, yellow zones do not, I repeat, do not change when sliders are increased or decreased. They do not change from batter to batter. They change based on where the pitch is thrown, inside vs. outside. But it's always the same zone. Thus the hitter"s con/pow and the users timing and aim (L stick) determine how well the pitch is hit. Raising contact slider does not enhance the "green" and yellow zones making it easier to time the pitch. I doubt there is any hidden change we can't see.
2. I do not visuallly see hitter's con ratings go up when the con slider is increased unless there is a hidden program that says, you've raised con slider from 0-30 so now every hitter has 3 more points added to their contact rating but we can't see it.
3. As far as what I can determine, the power slider determines how far the ball will travel and does not aid in hitting for more power. However, the CPU will hit an inordinate amount of homers once this slider is increased. At zero. the homers have virtually disappeared to the other extreme.
4. Many people have tried so many sliders to simulate a the true baseball experience. Shouldn't eliminating aids such as pitching and hitting be enough?
5. If you're like me, you've played with a dozen or so slider sets each one claiming to be the best. However, I get the same # of hits and strikeouts the same # of times after a dozen or so games. I've hit homers with 0/0 con/pow and struckout 12 times with con on 30!

This leads me to make the following statements in conclusion.

- Once you learn to pitch, the CPU can't hit well enough to beat you on a consistant basis. That said, go ahead and max cpu contact as high as you want. The difference is losing a dozen or so games.
- The power slider needs to be lowered but not zero for the cpu to hit homers consistantly. This is the only way the cpu really beats you, with HR"s so don't discourage homers or you will totally dominate the cpu.
- Why do some slider sets have very high con/pow settings for user and cpu and claim to say the game won't deliver loads of 12-10 scores? Are we so bad at this game that we need 30 con and 30 power to hit?
- This leads to another statement, sliders are more for tweaking ones skill level rather than the creating a true sim. Granted the speed, field and throw sliders with pitching really make a difference in the game play.
- I think wether you have con/pow at zero or 40/40 you will see the same variety of scores and boxscores throughout.

For the enthusiasts, wouldn't a set that demands the best timing from the user be the way to go?

Until someone can explain to me what the con/pow sliders really do, I think we are all spinning our wheels.

Thanks for reading this long thread.

[dowie]

Agreed, although I never claimed to have the best. I just said that they worked for me well. I like 0/0 or 5/0 for user and 30/0 to 50/ 0 for cpu.

[pberardi]

Quote: Originally Posted by dowie

Agreed, although I never claimed to have the best. I just said that they worked for me well. I like 0/0 or 5/0 for user and 30/0 to 50/ 0 for cpu.

That's the way I'm heading. Can't wait for your new sliders! Dowie, the 6-4 learning curve is over for me. I'm back to shutting the cpu down after 5 games. I still like it though.

[dowie]

Yeah, it gets easy, but is still more of a challenge than the 4 center view, it makes you feel like you are actually pitching though. I'll have a rough draft of the sliders tonight around 11:00 e.t. Remember it is a work in progress, BUT it will give you a idea of where I am headed. You are so right about sliders though. Most sets are good and it depends totally on your talent level and what team you are running with. I don't think you can test hitting sliders using the Yankees because they hit so good I.E. say yuo use 15/0 for user that may work with the Devil Rays, but the Yankees would be more like 5/0. I'll be in touch tonight. Dowie

[draven085]

Quote: Originally Posted by pberardi

Until someone can explain to me what the con/pow sliders really do, I think we are all spinning our wheels.

From my experience I feel pretty comfortable saying that contact sliders adjust how frequently hitter make contact with the ball when they swing, but no not effect the contact of the quality. I've been playing with CPU contact at -50 on MVP and the CPU still manages to routinely pound out 12-15 hits a game against me. Now maybe I just suck at pitching (a distinct possibility, though I have meter difficulty maxed and fatigure at 25 in an effort to drain more stamina from pitchers so you can't use the same relievers every day) but I don't think so. I see far more swings and misses from the CPU when I lower their contact and I seem to make more contact when my contact slider is raised.

Power seems to work just like you think it should. The lower the slider the less far the ball travels on impact. I have the CPU currently on -45 and myself on -30 (MVP level) and the dispersal of homeruns is roughly even, averaging probably 1.5 per team per game. If anything I should probably lower this a little bit for both of us. With the sliders I am currently using I am seeing the CPU put up really good offensive numbers and scoring frequently without the use of the home run.

[bsb13]

Quote: Originally Posted by draven085

From my experience I feel pretty comfortable saying that contact sliders adjust how frequently hitter make contact with the ball when they swing, but no not effect the contact of the quality. I've been playing with CPU contact at -50 on MVP and the CPU still manages to routinely pound out 12-15 hits a game against me. Now maybe I just suck at pitching (a distinct possibility, though I have meter difficulty maxed and fatigure at 25 in an effort to drain more stamina from pitchers so you can't use the same relievers every day) but I don't think so. I see far more swings and misses from the CPU when I lower their contact and I seem to make more contact when my contact slider is raised. Power seems to work just like you think it should. The lower the slider the less far the ball travels on impact. I have the CPU currently on -45 and myself on -30 (MVP level) and the dispersal of homeruns is roughly even, averaging probably 1.5 per team per game. If anything I should probably lower this a little bit for both of us. With the sliders I am currently using I am seeing the CPU put up really good offensive numbers and scoring frequently without the use of the home run.

Could you list the set of sliders your using on the mvp level, thanks.

[pberardi]

Quote: Originally Posted by draven085

From my experience I feel pretty comfortable saying that contact sliders adjust how frequently hitter make contact with the ball when they swing, but no not effect the contact of the quality. I've been playing with CPU contact at -50 on MVP and the CPU still manages to routinely pound out 12-15 hits a game against me. Now maybe I just suck at pitching (a distinct possibility, though I have meter difficulty maxed and fatigure at 25 in an effort to drain more stamina from pitchers so you can't use the same relievers every day) but I don't think so. I see far more swings and misses from the CPU when I lower their contact and I seem to make more contact when my contact slider is raised. Power seems to work just like you think it should. The lower the slider the less far the ball travels on impact. I have the CPU currently on -45 and myself on -30 (MVP level) and the dispersal of homeruns is roughly even, averaging probably 1.5 per team per game. If anything I should probably lower this a little bit for both of us. With the sliders I am currently using I am seeing the CPU put up really good offensive numbers and scoring frequently without the use of the home run.

Excellent post. When I saw that you have cpu contact at -50, I thought you were handicapping the cpu. But if you're finding the cpu is making enough contact to generate that many hits and variety (not just homers) I feel my instincts are correct. That is, contact and power sliders do not make the user or cpu actually hit better. I do notice when I raise contact for user I see more of those 9 or 10 pitch at bats with more foul balls that I enjoy. But I don't cut down on strikeouts and start hitting doubles with singles hitters and homers with contact hitters. That's the way it should be.