rspencer86's HOF Sliders (PS3)

[rspencer86]

Hey all,

A couple people have asked me to share the sliders I am currently using, so I've gone ahead and created this thread to do just that.

First of all, I can't really take much credit for these sliders. I've drawn from the ideas of many, many guys from these boards. It has been very helpful and interesting being involved in the discussions about how certain sliders work, and I can't thank everyone enough for their ideas and willingness to test things out.

Secondly, I don't post sliders for fame, glory, praise, etc. My thinking is, if they work for me, perhaps they'll work for others! I'd be pretty crazy to think that these settings are going to work for everyone. That's just not how sliders work... we all have different skill levels, we're playing with different teams (I run with the Royals), and have different ideas of how the game should play. Point is, these may work great for you, or they may not. Either way, I'd love to hear feedback from everyone who gives them a shot and am willing to help you make adjustments to get things where they need to be.

Alright, enough of the jibjab, here are the sliders and settings I'm working with:

Player Settings
Difficulty: Hall of Fame
API: Off
Plate Coverage Indicator: Off
Pitching Interface: Classic
Guess Pitch: Classic 1/6
Baserunning Controls: Classic
Auto Baserunning: Assist
Batting View: Offset
Pitching View: Outfield
Fielding View: Medium
Swing Influence: On
Pitcher Confidence: On
Fielding Assist: Manual
Auto Throwing: Off
Auto Sliding: On
Sixaxis Sliding Control: Off
Sixaxis Fielding Control: Off
Vibration: On
HR Celebration Camera: Off

Global Settings
Fast Play: Off
Umpire Personalities: On
Check Swings: On
Ejections: On

Gameplay Sliders (10 = default, 0 = min, 20 = max)
Player 1

Starting Pitcher Stamina: 10
Relief Pitcher Stamina: 7
Pitch Movement: 0
Pitch Command: 0
Wild Pitch Frequency: 5
Hit Quality: 0
Power: 11
Plate Vision: 20
Throwing Strength: 15
Throwing Accuracy: 8
Fielder Speed: 0
Passed Ball Frequency: 5
Injury Frequency: 12
Sixaxis Sliding: 10
Sixaxis Fielding: 10
Timing Window: 0
Foul Tip Percentage: 20
IF Throw Speed: 10
OF Throw Speed: 10
IF Run Speed: 0
OF Run Speed: 0
Baserunner Speed: 10
Ground Ball Error Freq: 20
Fly Ball Error Freq: 20
Throwing Error Freq: 12

CPU

Pitcher Aggressiveness: 0
Pickoff Attempt Frequency: 10
Hit Quality: 6
Power: 14
Batter Plate Discipline: 0
Fielding Reaction Time: 0
Throwing Strength: 15
Throwing Accuracy: 8
Base Running Aggr: 20
Base Stealing Aggr: 0
Stolen Base Frequency: 20
Injury Frequency: 12
Manager Hook: 13
Pitch Control: 20
Pitch Movement: 0
Strike Percentage: 0
Timing Window: 0
Foul Tip Percentage: 0
IF Throw Speed: 10
OF Throw Speed: 10
IF Run Speed: 0
OF Run Speed: 0
Baserunner Speed: 10
Ground Ball Error Freq: 20
Fly Ball Error Freq: 20
Throwing Error Freq: 12

Global Sliders
Pitch Speed: 0
Pitch Count: 20
Umpire Consistency: 20
Wind: 13

Game Displays
Pitching Ball Marker: Off
Plater Coverage Indicator: Off
Throwing Meter: Off
Swing Analysis: On
Pitch Callout: Full
Runner Windows: On
Strike Zone: Off
Hot Zones: Off
Tag Up Indicator: Off
Catch Region Indicator: Off
Catch Position Indicator: Off
Rob Home Run Indicator: Off

The following are some important notes on my playing style. Some of them, such as using power swing exclusively, play critical roles in making these settings work. Others, such as fielding without the aid of the catch position indicator, are purely personal preference.

Power Swing: One of the main issues I was having with the game before settling with these settings was I was getting too many hits. I would always end up with 10-14 hits per game, and most were singles up the middle. After experimenting with a LOT of different solutions (messing with sliders, batting with the outfield cam, playing on different skill levels, etc.) I found that using the power swing exclusively cut down on my hits but allowed me to hit a realistic amount of extra-base hits. Now I'm consistently earning 6-10 hits per game, but getting many more doubles, triples, and homers (though not many homers with my puny Royals). There are some tradeoffs in using the power swing exclusively. One major negative is that it is impossible to check your swing on a power swing. Sucks, but after playing several games with it you should get quite comfortable with it, as I did. The lower pitch speed and using the guess pitch mechanism as an aid really lessens the impact of losing the ability to check your swing, though.

Guess Pitch: The other primary issue I had with this game was the difficulty of drawing walks. Before settling on these settings I would struggle to walk more than twice a game. In combination with the CPU Pitch sliders (all credit goes to brunnoce on those), I've found that using the "guess pitch 1/6" feature helped me identify balls out of the zone, which help increases walk totals. I only guess location only, as I feel the notification system for guessing pitch type is a bit cheap (even if you guess wrong, you know what the pitch is NOT). Now I get a wide variety of walk totals, anywhere from 0-1 all the way up to 7-8 (I've had two 8-walk games in the span of 8 games while testing these settings). When I guess a pitch correctly that I think is out of the zone, I simply take the pitch. When I guess a pitch correctly that is in the zone (other than on most 3-0 counts), I'm hacking. The great thing is that swinging on these pitches does not guarantee a homer, or even a hit: I've popped up, grounded out, fouled off, and even missed completely pitches that I guessed correctly on. On pitches where I do not successfully guess the location, I take the pitch, except when I have two strikes on me.

Left Stick: I don't use the left stick at all when batting. I find I make plenty of contact and get a wide variety of hits without aiming with the left stick at all. Just one less thing to worry about when batting, IMO.

No Catch Region/Position Indicator: This is something I've tried (with pretty good success) in order to make fielding more difficult and rewarding. Without the giant floating ball to help you in the field, defense takes good reactions and some skill. It's actually not as hard as it first may seem: the ball shadow is still there, plus the CPU still gets you going in the direction you need to go before you gain control of your fielder. Add that to the fact that the fielder animations naturally gravitate your players to the ball, and playing defense like this ends up being more rewarding and less frustrating than it might seem. Also, I'm not exactly positive on this, but it seems like the higher the player's defensive ratings, the more forgiving the animations are... meaning you only need to get a fielder with high defensive attributes somewhere close to where the ball is going to land in order for them to make the catch, whereas a lesser defensive player needs to be right under the ball. Adds a little strategy to making sure you are fielding a good defensive team, something I found I never worried about when I was using the catch position indicators. I would really suggest trying this out, but don't feel that you have to play defense like this in order for the sliders to work.

Wow. Definitely the longest post I have ever written. For anyone willing to try them, please give these sliders/settings a shot and let me know what you think! Like I said, some may love them, others may not, but the good news for the latter is that there are a number of other great slider sets out there for you to try.

Thanks, and happy gaming!

Ryan

[Heisman316]

What happened to Vetern difficulty?

[rspencer86]

Quote: Originally Posted by Knight1337

What happened to Vetern difficulty?

Offensively, everything felt good on Veteran, but I just felt that I had a little too much control of my pitches at this level, even with the Pitch Control slider at -10. On HOF, if your confidence is low or you're using a pitcher with low control ratings, it's possible to walk someone even when just trying to get a pitch over the middle for a strike.

I really don't think there are huge differences between skill levels. The only real differences that I have noticed are pitch command and less swinging and missing on lower difficulties.

[RAZRr1275]

I'll give these a try. I use auto baserunning and was wondering how you think the steals will be with that? When I play their usually really low.

[rspencer86]

Quote: Originally Posted by RAZRr1275

I'll give these a try. I use auto baserunning and was wondering how you think the steals will be with that? When I play their usually really low.

I'm not sure how steals will be with auto baserunning. I would assume it would be similar to what I see with the CPU... if so, you should be in good shape. I set CPU Stolen Base Frequency at 20 to get more steal attempts by the CPU, and Base Stealing Aggressiveness at 0 in order to reduce their success rate (I think this slider affects how good of a "jump" they get... higher aggression equals better jump, but easier to pick them off).

Let me know how baserunning is working for you after a couple of games.

[RAZRr1275]

Quote: Originally Posted by rspencer86

I'm not sure how steals will be with auto baserunning. I would assume it would be similar to what I see with the CPU... if so, you should be in good shape. I set CPU Stolen Base Frequency at 20 to get more steal attempts by the CPU, and Base Stealing Aggressiveness at 0 in order to reduce their success rate (I think this slider affects how good of a "jump" they get... higher aggression equals better jump, but easier to pick them off). Let me know how baserunning is working for you after a couple of games.

Okay.I'll start playing in around half an hour.

[brunnoce]

ill definatly give those a try...thanx spencer!

[brunnoce]

@rzar
for baserunning , if ure using your roster, which u certanly are....
ull need a bump in the baserunning sliders(i use auto baserunning too) snce theaub edited players agression to make the sim stats more accurate..

and im settle with:
Base Stealing Aggr: 12
Stolen Base Frequency: 19


BTW guys im working on a roster file, using last razr as base that will have global contact edtis that phillyfan suggested me..
im doing this because i think the ofensive number are a bit high on sim stats and also that will problaby help my too many hit issue, no matter wich slider i use..
the edits i made are -15 for contact L and R ...and -15 for plate vision

if anyone is interested please just let me know, and once im finnished illpost the file.

[blueduke]

Would really like the file. Thanks in advance

[rspencer86]

Quote: Originally Posted by blueduke

Would really like the file. Thanks in advance

Do you mean posting them on SportsConnect? Or attaching the settings file here?