AI Follow-up Questions...ie The Boys are back in town....

[Pared]

I've mentioned this to Brian and hopefully he'll see my point... it's really not so much the fielders speed or reaction but the hangtime and trajectory of the ball when it comes off the bat down line... as well as ball friction during certain instances.

You still can't have a ball hit down the line go all the way down the line to the corner of the wall... because fielders read this and play the bounce accordingly. The AI defenders don't do this and properly cut off the ball prior to it getting there.

[Craigsca]

These last two posts are interesting. I know it's not really an adequate survey (as I have only played about 20 games), but...

1) I have never seen a line drive hit over an outfielder's head. (lending credence to the ball hanging up as well as the trajectory off the bat)

2) I do see doubles hit into the gap, but they are more the variety of a sharp line drive over the infielder's head that splits the outfielders and rolls to the wall. I guarantee if those were line drives to the wall, they'd be caught (again, the ball hanging in the air issue)

3) Never even thought about upping the baserunner's speed to create more doubles down the line. Like Bill mentioned I only see those when they rattle up against the wall. However, there's usually so much friction on the ball that the ball just kind of stops, or slows down enough that the outfielder can easily cut it off. Again, like Bill said, even with the cut-off, there should be an excellent chance for a double in those scenarios.

[SoxChamp]

Quote: Originally Posted by Craigsca

These last two posts are interesting. I know it's not really an adequate survey (as I have only played about 20 games), but... 1) I have never seen a line drive hit over an outfielder's head. (lending credence to the ball hanging up as well as the trajectory off the bat) 2) I do see doubles hit into the gap, but they are more the variety of a sharp line drive over the infielder's head that splits the outfielders and rolls to the wall. I guarantee if those were line drives to the wall, they'd be caught (again, the ball hanging in the air issue) 3) Never even thought about upping the baserunner's speed to create more doubles down the line. Like Bill mentioned I only see those when they rattle up against the wall. However, there's usually so much friction on the ball that the ball just kind of stops, or slows down enough that the outfielder can easily cut it off. Again, like Bill said, even with the cut-off, there should be an excellent chance for a double in those scenarios.

Excellent post. All three of those issues are exactly what I am seeing too, even in Manage Only mode where the CPU is the one hitting and fielding. It's definitely a problem.

But as for the point of upping baserunner speed, I would think this would break other areas. Stolen bases are already too easy, and by doing this, you would make it impossible to throw someone out. And I think you'd see alot more infield singles as the faster runners could beat out alot of throws.

[bizarro]

Quote: Originally Posted by SoxChamp

And I think you'd see alot more infield singles as the faster runners could beat out alot of throws.

...another thing that I see with perhaps too much frequency as it is.

[Garrett67]

You guys just need to be careful with all of the tweaking. I fell into that rut last year with 2k7 and it almost becomes an obsession (I deny that it actually happens). After months I realized that there will always be something you want to tweak.

Like Brian referred to, you have to have a large sample size before you can make judgements on the stats, otherwise (a reference for you pilots) you end up chasing the needle as you get closer to the airport. In other words, you start reacting to every result you see and never really stay on course.

I am trying not to get into tweaking everything, even though its hard not to. But at what point do you begin to enjoy the game?

My point is (and you know I'm right) that you will never be completely happy. So just enjoy the greatness of The Show and stop being so darn anal !

and please refer me to this post when I haven't stopped tweaking LOL

[Bill_Abner]

Quote: Originally Posted by SoxChamp

Excellent post. All three of those issues are exactly what I am seeing too, even in Manage Only mode where the CPU is the one hitting and fielding. It's definitely a problem. But as for the point of upping baserunner speed, I would think this would break other areas. Stolen bases are already too easy, and by doing this, you would make it impossible to throw someone out. And I think you'd see alot more infield singles as the faster runners could beat out alot of throws.

Well, that's why I want to mess with baserunner speed in relation to IN arm strength. If we bump running speed and also bump all IF arms accordngly (both via sliders), maybe it will balance it out? I totally agree that if you just increase speed it will screw stuff up. Hopefully there is a counter measure.

[Pared]

Quote: Originally Posted by Craigsca

These last two posts are interesting. I know it's not really an adequate survey (as I have only played about 20 games), but... 1) I have never seen a line drive hit over an outfielder's head. (lending credence to the ball hanging up as well as the trajectory off the bat) 2) I do see doubles hit into the gap, but they are more the variety of a sharp line drive over the infielder's head that splits the outfielders and rolls to the wall. I guarantee if those were line drives to the wall, they'd be caught (again, the ball hanging in the air issue)

Again, this is the cause of the lack of variety on balls hit that eventually lead to doubles. Fix this and throw in the CPU misjudging one every once in a blue moon and the games comes alive.

[maverick3176]

I think with all this tweaking you need to be careful. The easy solution could be to tweak the way you play. I initially felt OF were too fast and were getting to balls. What I realized was that I was not hittign the ball well. Balls can get hit over OF heads and down the line. I use CPI and the Rt analog stick to influence direction. i find when i do that the hit variety is ALL there.

Please, i hope for this big roster edit you are doing that you are changing all the OF stats. That would be ashame to me. As far as in game stuff the sliders seem to do a good enough job at making the player play real. Also, it does take a large sample size to get a feel for things. I was initially a bit disappointed because it felt like I could steal bases at will (especially after I got a steal with Giambi). I have been thrown out in some big situations in games and quickly realized that it is streaky. i realized even Giambi gets 1-3 steals a season and I havent been successful with him since.

Same applies with feilding. Also take a look at a real baseball games. There are some well hit balls that get tracked down. Where you hit it is almost as important as how you hit it. I think that you should be VERY careful with any major ratings tweaks

[MissionMaximus]

Quote: Originally Posted by bcruise

This one might be in play, might not... Pitch speed slider - we know it speeds up the percieved speed, and doesn't affect the radar gun. But does it affect the path of a batted ball at all - in other words, do balls get hit harder, or are the hits the same strength? I find that with the pitch speed slider maxed out, a fastball is more of a true-to-life speed, and greatly increases the difficulty. It's making it possible for me to play realistically on All-Star (rather than HOF) because of the decreased reaction time, and not being able to watch the pitch forever - and it's actually quite fun.

I totally agree with your statement. I max out pitch speed to make a 98mph heater realistic. I don't know why everyone's sliders has pitch speed at -10 from default. Why make a 98mph fb more like a 98mph changeup, really allows pitchers to confuse the batter cpu/human by mixing up speeds. Making a guy that might throw a max 90mph 4seamfb seem that much faster with a change of speed at 70-80mph offspeed pitch.

[sask3m]

brian said that reducing "fielding ability" could lead to more balls getting past outfielders or to that affect anyways, maybe this also leads to cpu outfielders taking bad routes etc. as well?