CPU Offense

[Mackrel829]

I'm currently on All Star+ pitching, and default hitting sliders. The CPU gets a decent number of hits against me per game but is rarely able to turn those hits into runs. It's rare that the CPU scores more than 2-3 runs against me.

I've tried moving up to Hall of Fame pitching but it felt like the CPU got too many hits then. How else can I help the CPU generate more runs to make games more competitive?

I've considered staying at All Star+ pitching and bumping the CPU power slider up one. Or should I commit to Hall of Fame and just try to get better?

Any advice?

[Lisac]

Re: CPU Offense

I'm currently on All Star+ pitching, and default hitting sliders. The CPU gets a decent number of hits against me per game but is rarely able to turn those hits into runs. It's rare that the CPU scores more than 2-3 runs against me.

I've tried moving up to Hall of Fame pitching but it felt like the CPU got too many hits then. How else can I help the CPU generate more runs to make games more competitive?

I've considered staying at All Star+ pitching and bumping the CPU power slider up one. Or should I commit to Hall of Fame and just try to get better?

Any advice?

Im also using All-Star
Id suggest adjusted sliders
Im using 3 teams in Franchise
Cubs 10-6
Jays 11-5
A's 7-8

Was using Jays last night and Yanks pounded me 11-2
And I lost with A's vs. Dbacks 9-4

[Detroit Tigers]

CPU Offense

What kind of sample size we talking about here? I’ve used similar settings and after a good while of getting good pitching the wheels started to fall off.

Call me crazy but I think there’s some code in there where pitchers are harder to hit earlier in the season because no one’s seen them yet. So like a Casey Mize might start 2-0 with a 0.87 WHIP through his first 27 innings and make you feel like he’s overpowered, but little do you realize he’s about to have a 2.00 WHIP his next three starts. Relievers too, where getting a 65 OVR guy to have a 0.00 ERA through his first 10 appearances isn’t that hard; but does it mean he can go the whole year with a 0.83 ERA and be a total stud? I mean, good luck.

Pitching ebbs and flows almost exactly like hitting. You can be just a smidge off with your reading of a few at-bats and boom your confidence goes down, your control goes crazy, you allow four home runs in two innings and wanna rage quit.

I’m a big proponent of dynamic difficulty with mild tweaks at this point anyway. It’s literally the solution to chasing sliders around if you’ve never tried it. Using Cy’s roster on dynamic and it’s the best this series has ever felt.

[TheWarmWind]

Re: CPU Offense

I'd need to know all of your ratios to give a full answer. You giving up walks at all? Any slider adjustments?

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Operation Sports mobile app

[decga]

Re: CPU Offense

I'd need to know all of your ratios to give a full answer. You giving up walks at all? Any slider adjustments?

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Operation Sports mobile app

The meat & potatoes.. Maybe he should check out your work. You are good. I've been using them for past versions of the Show & using them now.

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[Mackrel829]

Re: CPU Offense

I'd need to know all of your ratios to give a full answer. You giving up walks at all? Any slider adjustments?

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Operation Sports mobile app

By ratios, do you mean like innings pitched, hits, walks, strike outs etc? (I can post these this evening if so)

I give up maybe 2-3 walks per game, and only slider adjustment so far has been raising starter stamina to 6. I've read a couple of threads, including ones that you've contributed to, about using an 8/8/4 set up for pitching so I'll try that for a while too.

[Seancefc]

Re: CPU Offense

I started on HOF hitting/pitching with dynamic difficulty. Was blowing away every offence, my L’s coming from poor hitting myself in low scoring affairs. I reduced my pitchers control and consistency by one...then started getting creamed!

I’ve put the sliders back but I’m still conceding runs (which I’m happy with tbh). So I’d suggest the sliders and going to dynamic difficulty if you haven’t already.

[jcar0725]

Re: CPU Offense

I cant pitch on anything lower than HOF right now, the cpu just isn't effective on anything lower and even on HOF I'm having too much success. This is with classic pitching.

Sent from my thoughts

[TheWarmWind]

Re: CPU Offense

I cant pitch on anything lower than HOF right now, the cpu just isn't effective on anything lower and even on HOF I'm having too much success. This is with classic pitching.

Sent from my thoughts

That's a good point, also forgot to ask, what pitching interface are you using?

2-3 walks a game is good. Knowing 1 to 3 of your pitchers attributes and their results vs expectations would be very helpful too (albeit a lot of work to type out). Stamina and per 9 attributes are most helpful, while WHIP and HR against are probably the most useful to me as far as stats go.

The more information you share, the more accurate my help can be, but I understand that sharing said information is a lot of work.

If you want to forgo typing out all of that, I can make a stab at providing a solution with the info you've already given, just keep in mind it's going to be a slider solution since that's what I know.

I'm not going to recommend you use my sliders based on what I already know, but I do recommend you check out my slider thread, where I do a breakdown of each slider's effect.

Also another thing to add to this information dump is that, based on my extensive testing, changing the difficulty level amounts to nothing more than changes to certain sliders. In the case of pitching difficulty, it would be CPU contact, CPU solid hits, Human Control and Human Consistency that change. I just don't know which ones change by how much for each individual difficulty level, as finding out would require a rediculous amount of testing. Hence why I'm asking for more info.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Operation Sports mobile app

[jcar0725]

Re: CPU Offense

That's a good point, also forgot to ask, what pitching interface are you using?

2-3 walks a game is good. Knowing 1 to 3 of your pitchers attributes and their results vs expectations would be very helpful too (albeit a lot of work to type out). Stamina and per 9 attributes are most helpful, while WHIP and HR against are probably the most useful to me as far as stats go.

The more information you share, the more accurate my help can be, but I understand that sharing said information is a lot of work.

If you want to forgo typing out all of that, I can make a stab at providing a solution with the info you've already given, just keep in mind it's going to be a slider solution since that's what I know.

I'm not going to recommend you use my sliders based on what I already know, but I do recommend you check out my slider thread, where I do a breakdown of each slider's effect.

Also another thing to add to this information dump is that, based on my extensive testing, changing the difficulty level amounts to nothing more than changes to certain sliders. In the case of pitching difficulty, it would be CPU contact, CPU solid hits, Human Control and Human Consistency that change. I just don't know which ones change by how much for each individual difficulty level, as finding out would require a rediculous amount of testing. Hence why I'm asking for more info.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Operation Sports mobile app

I'm not the original poster, but for me personally, my starter often pitches without fear of putting balls in the zone even against great hitters, and they often have zero walks in 6 or 7 innings. Which slider thread is yours?

[TheWarmWind]

Re: CPU Offense

I'm not the original poster, but for me personally, my starter often pitches without fear of putting balls in the zone even against great hitters, and they often have zero walks in 6 or 7 innings. Which slider thread is yours?

https://forums.operationsports.com/forums/mlb-show-sliders/966359-thewarmwinds-impact-sliders-2020-a.html

It's a 20 thread (I don't have 21) and yet I still wouldn't call the sliders final. Sometimes changing sliders can be like pulling on the thread of an old sweater. Solving one problem can cause 3 more. It takes very large sample sizes sometimes to figure out what the problem is and if your solutions solved it without creating new ones (or bringing back old ones). I've been a victim of too small a sample size too many times. But I am determined to create my own personal perfect slider set so the work continues. And yes, I know for certain that there will be a V9. Currently in the long term testing phase of V9.

For your personal problem, there are only two solutions: either you need to loosen up the control your pitchers have, or you need to make the zone a scarier place to be. I've attacked it from both angles, as I found it far too easy to pound the corners in this game otherwise, but I'm using pulse pitching, so my solutions might not work for you.

I'd recommend trying my sliders, except at this point I'd wait for V9. It's only a few minor changes but I'm pretty deep into the long term testing phase. I'm probably only 7 to 10 games away from posting, though I'd be willing to post them earlier if you want, just not in the OP yet.

[Mackrel829]

Re: CPU Offense

That's a good point, also forgot to ask, what pitching interface are you using?

2-3 walks a game is good. Knowing 1 to 3 of your pitchers attributes and their results vs expectations would be very helpful too (albeit a lot of work to type out). Stamina and per 9 attributes are most helpful, while WHIP and HR against are probably the most useful to me as far as stats go.

The more information you share, the more accurate my help can be, but I understand that sharing said information is a lot of work.

If you want to forgo typing out all of that, I can make a stab at providing a solution with the info you've already given, just keep in mind it's going to be a slider solution since that's what I know.

I'm not going to recommend you use my sliders based on what I already know, but I do recommend you check out my slider thread, where I do a breakdown of each slider's effect.

Also another thing to add to this information dump is that, based on my extensive testing, changing the difficulty level amounts to nothing more than changes to certain sliders. In the case of pitching difficulty, it would be CPU contact, CPU solid hits, Human Control and Human Consistency that change. I just don't know which ones change by how much for each individual difficulty level, as finding out would require a rediculous amount of testing. Hence why I'm asking for more info.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Operation Sports mobile app

So here's what I'm currently working with:

Pinpoint Pitching
Hall of Fame difficulty (though I've also used All Star+)
Default Sliders (except starter stamina at 6)

Luis Castillo - 92 OVR
/9s: H - 83, K - 78, BB - 68, HR - 73
Stamina - 86
Stats: IP - 34.2, H - 24, HR - 0, SO - 46, BB - 9, ERA - 0.26, WHIP - 0.95

Tyler Mahle - 80 OVR
/9s: H - 67, K - 71, BB - 61, HR - 62
Stamina - 74
Stats: IP - 22.2, H - 17, HR - 0, SO - 22, BB - 10, ERA - 1.19, WHIP - 1.19

Hunter Greene - 72 OVR
/9s: H - 56, K - 71, BB - 48, HR - 51
Stamina - 78
Stats: IP - 16.2, H - 15, HR - 1, SO - 16, BB - 4, ERA - 3.78, WHIP - 1.14

It's worth noting as well that I play roughly half of my games and sim half. I played 10 out the 21 games that those stats are based on.

I played another game on Hall of Fame last night, and that might be where I need to keep it. I pitched 4 shut out innings, and needed one more strike to make it 5. I hung a change up over the plate at 3-2 and got punished with a two run homer. I feel like that wouldn't have happened on All Star or even All Star+.

Whenever pitching is on Hall of Fame, however, my run production immediately goes down and I struggle to hit. Not sure if that has something to do with me knowing that the CPU isn't going to let me win so I get more aggressive.

Any other info you need, let me know

Oh and I also have the pitch trail and vibration off so I'm locating my pitches just based on analog feel.

[TheWarmWind]

Re: CPU Offense

So here's what I'm currently working with:

Pinpoint Pitching
Hall of Fame difficulty (though I've also used All Star+)
Default Sliders (except starter stamina at 6)

Luis Castillo - 92 OVR
/9s: H - 83, K - 78, BB - 68, HR - 73
Stamina - 86
Stats: IP - 34.2, H - 24, HR - 0, SO - 46, BB - 9, ERA - 0.26, WHIP - 0.95

Tyler Mahle - 80 OVR
/9s: H - 67, K - 71, BB - 61, HR - 62
Stamina - 74
Stats: IP - 22.2, H - 17, HR - 0, SO - 22, BB - 10, ERA - 1.19, WHIP - 1.19

Hunter Greene - 72 OVR
/9s: H - 56, K - 71, BB - 48, HR - 51
Stamina - 78
Stats: IP - 16.2, H - 15, HR - 1, SO - 16, BB - 4, ERA - 3.78, WHIP - 1.14

It's worth noting as well that I play roughly half of my games and sim half. I played 10 out the 21 games that those stats are based on.

I played another game on Hall of Fame last night, and that might be where I need to keep it. I pitched 4 shut out innings, and needed one more strike to make it 5. I hung a change up over the plate at 3-2 and got punished with a two run homer. I feel like that wouldn't have happened on All Star or even All Star+.

Whenever pitching is on Hall of Fame, however, my run production immediately goes down and I struggle to hit. Not sure if that has something to do with me knowing that the CPU isn't going to let me win so I get more aggressive.

Any other info you need, let me know

Oh and I also have the pitch trail and vibration off so I'm locating my pitches just based on analog feel.

Removing UI should in theory raise your walks, but I'd still say your BB are a little too low for your team BB/9 attributes. Your team has below average control. Your WHIP is also just a hair too good so far. Of course it's a small sample size, and you always have to account for those players who have a season where they play way above their rating, but all 5 pitchers being below where they should be? Pretty good sign that sliders need to be adjusted.

I'd recommend lowering human control a notch. I'd actually recommend two of you were playing pulse, especially if you're going to stay on all-star+, but you want to take these things slowly if you want accuracy and I'm unfamiliar with pinpoint.

If you feel CPU bat exit velocity averages are too high on HoF, turn Human Consistency up one notch (6 is my recommended setting for HoF anyways). Note this will not impact the ceiling or floor, only the bell curve.

I'll leave you with that for now, don't want to overcomplicate things. 1 or 2 notches down on control, 1 notch up on consistency, see how it feels. Note that you'll need to fear the zone a little more, as pitches will have a slightly higher chance of drifting, but this can be used to you advantage as well, as pitches to set up to miss can drift back into the zone more deceptively, especially with that consistency buff. It'll take you a game or two to get used to, but once you've relearned pitching you should see a few more key hits from opponents without too much of a drastic shift in stats.

PS unless you've been facing all low power hitters, your homeruns are too low as well. I've mostly been assuming you'd stick to HoF with this post though and that should solve the problem.

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[Mackrel829]

Re: CPU Offense

Removing UI should in theory raise your walks, but I'd still say your BB are a little too low for your team BB/9 attributes. Your team has below average control. Your WHIP is also just a hair too good so far. Of course it's a small sample size, and you always have to account for those players who have a season where they play way above their rating, but all 5 pitchers being below where they should be? Pretty good sign that sliders need to be adjusted.

I'd recommend lowering human control a notch. I'd actually recommend two of you were playing pulse, especially if you're going to stay on all-star+, but you want to take these things slowly if you want accuracy and I'm unfamiliar with pinpoint.

If you feel CPU bat exit velocity averages are too high on HoF, turn Human Consistency up one notch (6 is my recommended setting for HoF anyways). Note this will not impact the ceiling or floor, only the bell curve.

I'll leave you with that for now, don't want to overcomplicate things. 1 or 2 notches down on control, 1 notch up on consistency, see how it feels. Note that you'll need to fear the zone a little more, as pitches will have a slightly higher chance of drifting, but this can be used to you advantage as well, as pitches to set up to miss can drift back into the zone more deceptively, especially with that consistency buff. It'll take you a game or two to get used to, but once you've relearned pitching you should see a few more key hits from opponents without too much of a drastic shift in stats.

PS unless you've been facing all low power hitters, your homeruns are too low as well. I've mostly been assuming you'd stick to HoF with this post though and that should solve the problem.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Operation Sports mobile app

Really appreciate the advice. Thanks a lot!

To be clear (because I don't think I was initially), only about 6 of the 21 games those stats are based on were on HOF. The rest were either simmed or on AS+. I walk a lot more batters on HOF because I'm far more cautious of throwing in the zone, which I can easily get away with on AS+. Would you still recommend lowering the control?

I've played through one season already, playing roughly half the games, and I was top 3 in basically every pitching category on All Star, hence the attempt to find more of a challenge. I struggle on default HOF though. That's why I tried AS+, hoping it would be a happy medium, but it doesn't feel much harder. You said that you wrote the post assuming that I would stick to HOF, but does that mean HOF offence is now going to get a boost? Because I won't be able to handle that lol.

Basically, AS+ is way too easy, but HOF is too unforgiving. Does your advice still apply?

[TheWarmWind]

Re: CPU Offense

Really appreciate the advice. Thanks a lot!

To be clear (because I don't think I was initially), only about 6 of the 21 games those stats are based on were on HOF. The rest were either simmed or on AS+. I walk a lot more batters on HOF because I'm far more cautious of throwing in the zone, which I can easily get away with on AS+. Would you still recommend lowering the control?

I've played through one season already, playing roughly half the games, and I was top 3 in basically every pitching category on All Star, hence the attempt to find more of a challenge. I struggle on default HOF though. That's why I tried AS+, hoping it would be a happy medium, but it doesn't feel much harder. You said that you wrote the post assuming that I would stick to HOF, but does that mean HOF offence is now going to get a boost? Because I won't be able to handle that lol.

Basically, AS+ is way too easy, but HOF is too unforgiving. Does your advice still apply?

Yes I assumed that you were getting a little too high of bat exit velocity, hence the change to human consistency. Their very likely may be some issues still after you make these changes, thanks to the way bat exit velocities work.

CPU power changes the ceilings
CPU contact changes the floors
Human Consistency impacts the bell curve

I find the floors way too high on default, which causes me to lower contact sliders. Here's the rub though: contact sliders effect a whole swath of things, like ideal timing window and check swing ability. You've already technically tried changing this slider by changing your difficulty level, but you can see how messing with it can cause other problems to emerge, which then need to be compensated with other slider settings, and then you need large sample sizes to ensure THOSE changes are working properly and not creating any new problems and then you end up 1.2 years in and your sliders still aren't solidified yet. I hope you can understand why, in your case (with a pitching interface I'm unfamiliar with) I want to avoid going that route.

If pinpoint is anything like pulse pitching, one tick on the control slider will only amount to a very subtle difference. I play at 2 on legend and recommend 0 for HoF in my slider set, but I can still hit a corner often with a high BB/9 player.