Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

[RogueHominid]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

I might give veteran a whirl. I have ben getting my arse handed to me in ST so far on all star. I don't find it unfair or anything, I am just playing like crap and make some mistakes on the mound that I pay for.

I like what you have to say about veteran.

Honestly, difficulty levels on this game are different than on any game I've played. Usually a level like Veteran translates to "abuse the CPU at will" and a level like HOF translates to "get cheated regularly by an omniscient CPU."

That couldn't be further from the case. I've hit 4 HR in one game with the A's on HOF and had 6 hit against me on Veteran. The CPU offense will be there--sometimes you'll pitch well and sometimes you'll get pounded. And your offense will be there with some good variety too. The best way I can put it is to say that it's legit and sim as a gameplay level. It just is slightly easier to read and adjust to pitches, and the CPU pitches with better balance imo.

Lemme know what you think if you try it.

[The Chef]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

OK well I have to vent a little as there are two things that are driving me nuts and I cant fix them with sliders apparently...

1. Pitches right down the middle, I swing and make perfect contact and yet they are weak *** ground balls, this has to be the most irritating part of this game. At first I thought it was the games way of showing a slump but since when does an entire team go into a damn slump at the same time? Now Im thinking its SCEA's way of trying to make the game more difficult, dont get me wrong they did a great job with the game this year, but Im starting to wonder if the way they increased the difficulty of the game was to increase **** like this. I could probably remedy this with the solid hits slider I would presume but Im afraid to see what else shifting that slider might screw up as that seems to be the theme with half the sliders Ive tweaked previously.

2. Double Plays. End of story, I hit into more double plays then any ****ing team in the history of baseball. I understand that with a runner on first its the pitchers job to keep the ball down but it sure would be nice that when they screw up and groove one that I dont run into problem #1, mentioned above, and beat the damn ball into the ground again. If I cant take a pitch belt high and get it in the air, anything higher and I pop it up and anything lower and its a guaranteed ground ball for a double play then how in the holy hell do I avoid this? Put a slider in for this as Im sick and damn tired of grounding into 3-6 double plays per game, every game.

If anyone here has any remedies for this then by all means share as Im about to lose it watching guys just constantly hit into double plays with guys on. Hell, one more time watching Russell Martin fail to even get the ball in the air when the pitch is belt high and I might snap the damn disc in half anyways, but until that happens, any help would be appreciated.

[pbz06]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

Deep breaths my friend

First, the CPU absolutely LOVES pitching low. It seems that this increases even more with runners on base. I used to hit a ton of double plays, but I haven't hit one in the last 3 or 4 games. Just now I won as TB hosting KC 6-1. I hit 2 solo shots and 2 doubles, and 9 total hits. Not one double play.

The thing I noticed is that the depth perception of the pitches are hard to pick up.....a lot of pitches that look down the middle are in fact "low", and hence produce a lot of grounders.

I noticed that with a runner on base, I ALWAYS hit into double plays if I swing at the first or second pitch.

So my remedy is to never swing at the first pitch right after I get a runner on. Usually I hold off on the 2nd pitch too. The CPU loves throwing low pitches that look so tempting. Even if they get called for a strike, it's OK. If you don't bite, they usually come up a bit higher.

Sorry that's not the greatest of advice, but try it out. It goes back to being patient, ESPECIALLY once you get runners on.

Like I said, I managed to reduce my DP's by simply taking 2 pitches after a base hit.

Edit - Even if the first two pitches are wild balls for like a 2-0, still DO NOT bite at the next one that looks down the middle. That will probably still be a low pitch. 2-1 is still good count. Just be ready for the next one. Set an imaginary line and tell yourself to not swing, even if it means strike 2.

[The Chef]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

I hear ya pbz06 but Im not swinging at pitches low, I cant count the amount of times that a hanging curve has somehow ended in a weak grounder, its just enough to drive me nuts anymore. There are two guys that just cant hit a hanger no matter what I do, Russell Martin and Rafael Furcal, both of these guys just cant turn on it at all. I wont give up as the game is fun to play when your not hitting into double plays right and left, and even in my last game I won 11-2 over Arizona, so Im scoring but its in spite of the double plays at times. The funny part is I scored 11 runs but all were in 2 different innings, otherwise my offense was terrible. I love playing Arizona, they chase anything and everything it seems to my strikeout totals have been at their best when playing them.

EDIT- I lowered the CPU's contact to 3, which is where Psycho has it, as the CPU's garbage hitters were getting hits like they were clones of Ted Williams. I played San Diego and gave up something like 18 hits and guys like Jody Gerut were just stroking the ball all over the place against me, not anymore since lowering it as now the guys that should be good (ie. Adrian Gonzalez, Kouz, Giles) are and the guys that arent, arent. I thought about increasing power but that doesnt seem to make any difference and the CPU can still go yard as Scott Hairston did against me just the other day, along with Adrian Gonzalez so Im leaving that alone. Currently Im using the same sliders I posted earlier except CPU Contact down to 3.

Forgot about one other slider change I made as I lowered the CPU's Pickoff slider down to 2 or 3, whatever Psycho has it at, as the CPU was just getting ridiculous picking me off constantly and my guy would never get back. Now they throw over still but its not way over the top anymore.

[pbz06]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

I hear ya pbz06 but Im not swinging at pitches low, I cant count the amount of times that a hanging curve has somehow ended in a weak grounder, its just enough to drive me nuts anymore. There are two guys that just cant hit a hanger no matter what I do, Russell Martin and Rafael Furcal, both of these guys just cant turn on it at all. I wont give up as the game is fun to play when your not hitting into double plays right and left, and even in my last game I won 11-2 over Arizona, so Im scoring but its in spite of the double plays at times. The funny part is I scored 11 runs but all were in 2 different innings, otherwise my offense was terrible. I love playing Arizona, they chase anything and everything it seems to my strikeout totals have been at their best when playing them.

EDIT- I lowered the CPU's contact to 3, which is where Psycho has it, as the CPU's garbage hitters were getting hits like they were clones of Ted Williams. I played San Diego and gave up something like 18 hits and guys like Jody Gerut were just stroking the ball all over the place against me, not anymore since lowering it as now the guys that should be good (ie. Adrian Gonzalez, Kouz, Giles) are and the guys that arent, arent. I thought about increasing power but that doesnt seem to make any difference and the CPU can still go yard as Scott Hairston did against me just the other day, along with Adrian Gonzalez so Im leaving that alone. Currently Im using the same sliders I posted earlier except CPU Contact down to 3.

Forgot about one other slider change I made as I lowered the CPU's Pickoff slider down to 2 or 3, whatever Psycho has it at, as the CPU was just getting ridiculous picking me off constantly and my guy would never get back. Now they throw over still but its not way over the top anymore.

Heh, I actually ended up tuning down the CPU sliders too (I also have CPU Contact at 3). They were just stroking too much for my tastes. I'm using Psycho's hitting sliders for Contact/Power/timing/solid hits for the CPU.

[The Chef]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

Heh, I actually ended up tuning down the CPU sliders too (I also have CPU Contact at 3). They were just stroking too much for my tastes. I'm using Psycho's hitting sliders for Contact/Power/timing/solid hits for the CPU.

I have all their hitting at default except the Contact and I changed them for the same reasons you did. Im enjoying it so far. With the CPU's Power at 6 are you seeing a major difference from when you had it at default? The CPU is still able to connect for homeruns against me so Im not sure what benefit raising the power slider would be? Do groundballs get through the hole quicker resulting in more hits then? Curious to hear your feedback on this slider.

[pbz06]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

I have all their hitting at default except the Contact and I changed them for the same reasons you did. Im enjoying it so far. With the CPU's Power at 6 are you seeing a major difference from when you had it at default? The CPU is still able to connect for homeruns against me so Im not sure what benefit raising the power slider would be? Do groundballs get through the hole quicker resulting in more hits then? Curious to hear your feedback on this slider.

From the handful of games I have played with the power at 6, I didn't notice any difference (or more) from the CPU. I noticed it for myself, as I was finally able to hit homeruns on All-Star. I hit two grand slams with Aramis Ramirez in one game and just my last game I hit a homerun with Ethier and Loney.

I think lowering Contact and Timing (like to what Psycho has them) is the key to toning down the uber aggressive super AI. I gave up a bomb to Carlos Lee, but so far the little guys haven't been shelling me with hard drives. Ground balls seem the same....I was rolling with Billinsgley and got some choppers and weak grounders (except for the Lee homerun, and a couple doubles from Berkman and Tejada).

So far I like the results better. I don't feel like every pitch is in a game 7 bottom of the 9th tie game situation anymore, lol. I also have my User Consistency and Control at 6 which has helped a bit.

But I'm still getting variety of games. I have a 10-4 win, a 4-3 win, a 9-6 loss, and a 3-1 win so far with these changes.

[The Chef]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

From the handful of games I have played with the power at 6, I didn't notice any difference (or more) from the CPU. I noticed it for myself, as I was finally able to hit homeruns on All-Star. I hit two grand slams with Aramis Ramirez in one game and just my last game I hit a homerun with Ethier and Loney.

I think lowering Contact and Timing (like to what Psycho has them) is the key to toning down the uber aggressive super AI. I gave up a bomb to Carlos Lee, but so far the little guys haven't been shelling me with hard drives. Ground balls seem the same....I was rolling with Billinsgley and got some choppers and weak grounders (except for the Lee homerun, and a couple doubles from Berkman and Tejada).

So far I like the results better. I don't feel like every pitch is in a game 7 bottom of the 9th tie game situation anymore, lol. I also have my User Consistency and Control at 6 which has helped a bit.

But I'm still getting variety of games. I have a 10-4 win, a 4-3 win, a 9-6 loss, and a 3-1 win so far with these changes.

Yeah my hitting is fine as Im 6th in batting average in the league but my pitching staff is terrible and Im not sure if its the ratings of my staff or the sliders that are causing the problems. Kershaw, Kuroda, Schmidt, Broxton, Wade and Kuo have all pitched well while everyone else has been terrible. Randy Wolf is just a waste of space on the roster at this point as he hasnt given up less then 5 runs in his last 3-4 starts, my long relievers are terrible for the most part with the occasional strong outing. I just lost my last game 10-4 while Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham went yard on me. Im sitting in second place at 16-12 but there are so many times where I just cant do **** pitching wise. So, with Psycho's hitting sliders for the CPU you arent seeing a lack of offense? Listen to this stat, in the 28 games Ive played 15 of those the CPU hit over 0.300 for the game against me, thats over 50% of the time the CPU hits like a mad man, twice they hit over 0.400 against me (SF at 0.417 and Colorado at 0.476). In the 9 series' that Ive played the CPU has finished that series hitting above 0.300 three times (Arizona 0.324, Houston 0.327 and Colorado 0.369), twice they finished between 0.290-0.300 (Colorado 0.294 and SF 0.292). As you can see, the CPU is belting hits at an alarming rate but when a good pitcher pitches then the hits come down so, I ask again, you think its the sliders or the pitchers ratings themselves?

[pbz06]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

Yeah my hitting is fine as Im 6th in batting average in the league but my pitching staff is terrible and Im not sure if its the ratings of my staff or the sliders that are causing the problems. Kershaw, Kuroda, Schmidt, Broxton, Wade and Kuo have all pitched well while everyone else has been terrible. Randy Wolf is just a waste of space on the roster at this point as he hasnt given up less then 5 runs in his last 3-4 starts, my long relievers are terrible for the most part with the occasional strong outing. I just lost my last game 10-4 while Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham went yard on me. Im sitting in second place at 16-12 but there are so many times where I just cant do **** pitching wise. So, with Psycho's hitting sliders for the CPU you arent seeing a lack of offense? Listen to this stat, in the 28 games Ive played 15 of those the CPU hit over 0.300 for the game against me, thats over 50% of the time the CPU hits like a mad man, twice they hit over 0.400 against me (SF at 0.417 and Colorado at 0.476). In the 9 series' that Ive played the CPU has finished that series hitting above 0.300 three times (Arizona 0.324, Houston 0.327 and Colorado 0.369), twice they finished between 0.290-0.300 (Colorado 0.294 and SF 0.292). As you can see, the CPU is belting hits at an alarming rate but when a good pitcher pitches then the hits come down so, I ask again, you think its the sliders or the pitchers ratings themselves?

The sliders. The CPU is just brutal and seems to have an unfair advantage even if you are Peavy or Halladay going against a rookie #9 hitter....tone down their Contact and Timing to Psycho's. I held off changing the core sliders for a long time, but I had to do something. I was getting frustrated with the sudden rallies.

I played about 5 games with Psycho's sliders, and the most hits I gave up so far was about 13 (when I lost 9-6 to Toronto, I was Boston). The fewest I gave up was 5 hits (when I won 10-4, they basically did all their damage in one inning). I think I give up around 7-9 hits per game so far...which I think it's close to .300 but it feels more natural.

I'll keep you updated as I play more....5 is not nearly enough. It also adds a lot of variance since I use two random teams each time and different quality of starting pitchers.

[pbz06]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

Also, just a random question.

What kind of damage does the CPU do? I notice that I still usually give up a 3-spot all too often. The CPU rarely manufactures anything....like single, sacrifice, and 2 groundouts. I don't remember the last time I ever gave up a single run that felt like the CPU really had to work for it.

Seems like the typical damage I give up is scatter a couple hits here and there, but then it's like HARD SINGLE, DOUBLE, HOMERUN....or HARD SINGLE, DOUBLE, DOUBLE, DOUBLE, SINGLE....or HOMERUN, SINGLE, HOMERUN

The CPU seems to like scoring in bunches.

Even if that's all I give up, and win like 4-3...all 3 of their runs would be in one frame. Or for example if I won 12-6, their box score would look like 000033000.

Know what I mean? Am I the only one?

[The Chef]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

7-9 hits wont normally be anywhere close to them hitting 0.300, there are 27 outs in a game, throw in 2-3 walks and maybe 1-2 double plays and 7-9 hits would probably end somewhere around 0.270 or so taking all variables into account.

In terms of the CPU scoring, I too am seeing a ton of bursts with very little consistent scoring. I have however seen times where the CPU gets their #8 hitter on, the pitcher bunts him over and then they knock him in on a single or something but its rare.

Im very hesitant to mess with the sliders much but I may have to for the same reasons you mention above. I dont want the CPU to become a joke at the plate, and while it seemed to fix things when I lowered the CPU's contact to 3 temporarily it hasnt lasted as Im back to getting drilled again. I think my biggest problem is I like a challenge and changing things makes me feel like Im giving up but at the same time its just tough pitching and watching the CPU just constantly destroy the ball at times.

[The Chef]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

Ok Im adopting what you mentioned pbz, Im going to run with Psychos sliders for the CPU's hitting as my last game Washington went 19/44 and beat me 11-6 and it was just completely ridiculous. Im all for guys hitting me but the Nationals dont have the offense to come in and just shell me for 19 hits. That last game was really weird as at one point I had a ball go right through my RF's body, another time where Ethier was standing under the ball to catch it and it bounced off his glove and to the wall, and they didnt even score the damn thing an error either, this was the type of game where if you have anger issues you wouldnt have a PS3 anymore, lol. ****, thinking about it I still cant believe Washington had 19 hits and 11 runs off me, just blows my mind, and here is the kicker, it could have been far worse since there were atleast 4-5 times where they drilled it but right at someone for the out anyways. This was the first time where the CPU just pounded everything they got the bat on, I mean POUNDED yet I could strike them out at a good rate so it was basically all or nothing for them.

Here is an amazing stat, coming into my 2 game series against Washington they were ranked 23rd or so in batting average but after these last two games they have somehow moved from 23rd all the way to 9th, on the back of 2 games?!?!?!? Or in other words, they just destroyed my pitching, Anderson Hernandez driving low pitches off the wall, Guzman driving everything down the line for extra base hits, Elijah Dukes bats damn near 0.500 for the series even though coming in he was batting below 0.200?!?!?!? I pray that using Psycho's sliders for the CPU's hitting cures my problems because right now Im about to lose it.

[DrUrsus]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

Also, just a random question.

What kind of damage does the CPU do? I notice that I still usually give up a 3-spot all too often. The CPU rarely manufactures anything....like single, sacrifice, and 2 groundouts. I don't remember the last time I ever gave up a single run that felt like the CPU really had to work for it.

Seems like the typical damage I give up is scatter a couple hits here and there, but then it's like HARD SINGLE, DOUBLE, HOMERUN....or HARD SINGLE, DOUBLE, DOUBLE, DOUBLE, SINGLE....or HOMERUN, SINGLE, HOMERUN

The CPU seems to like scoring in bunches.

Even if that's all I give up, and win like 4-3...all 3 of their runs would be in one frame. Or for example if I won 12-6, their box score would look like 000033000.

Know what I mean? Am I the only one?

Just started playing seriously, and tweaking sliders. From my limited experience so far I am seeing the same thing with the CPU.

So are what sliders are you using for CPU pitching now? Same as before? Human pitching still default?

Tried Psycobulks sliders tonight, and liked a few things except drawing walks. Psycho has pitcher control 5 (default) pitcher consistency 4 (-1), and strike frequency 2 (-3).

You used to use PCon 5, Pitch cons 3, and strike freq 0, right? Still using that? I think that may work better for me because I need to have some balls not so close to the zone.

Also, why does everyone have CPU and Hum reliever at 0? Seems like a consensus. Can they pitch too many innings in a game, or does it have more to do with whether they can come back the next day or not?

Still using Blzers global settings (except Pitch speed)?

Thanks, brotha.

[The Chef]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

Just started playing seriously, and tweaking sliders. From my limited experience so far I am seeing the same thing with the CPU.

So are what sliders are you using for CPU pitching now? Same as before? Human pitching still default?

Tried Psycobulks sliders tonight, and liked a few things except drawing walks. Psycho has pitcher control 5 (default) pitcher consistency 4 (-1), and strike frequency 2 (-3).

You used to use PCon 5, Pitch cons 3, and strike freq 0, right? Still using that? I think that may work better for me because I need to have some balls not so close to the zone.

Also, why does everyone have CPU and Hum reliever at 0? Seems like a consensus. Can they pitch too many innings in a game, or does it have more to do with whether they can come back the next day or not?

Still using Blzers global settings (except Pitch speed)?

Thanks, brotha.

I know you werent asking me but him and I have had quite a bit of conversation about the sliders so we are on the same page for the most part. Im also using the pitching sliders for the CPU that you mentioned and they are working perfectly, Manny is tied for the league lead in walks with 19 through 28 games and pitch counts are spot on in terms of strike/ball ratio.

In terms of RP Stamina, I found it was a mixture of what you mentioned. The bigger culprit of the two for me was the CPU wanting to use the same reliever over and over again with no real effect on stamina from game to game, not to mention having setup guys throw 2 innings and then be back at full strength the next day and pitching again. Here is what Im running with currently, for comparison purposes only...

GLOBAL
Fielder Run Speed (0)

USER
RP Stamina (0)

CPU
Contact (3)
Power (6)
Timing (4)
Solid Hits (4)
RP Stamina (0)
Pitcher Consistency (3)
Strike Frequency (0)
Pickoffs (2)

Anything not listed is default (5). I honestly havent played with the changes to the CPU's hitting as of yet as it was just mentioned to me by pbz tonight and I will be testing this out, although I was already using the CPU's contact at 3 previously. Here are where I stand currently on the key stats...

Batting Average (.280, 4th)
Runs (133, T-8th)
Hits (272, 16th)
Doubles (33, 29th)
Triples (8, 1st)
Homeruns (23, T-23rd)
RBI (124, 14th)
Steals (19, 9th)
Walks (92, T-16th)
Strikeouts (177, 5th)
Slugging % (0.401, 17th)
OBP (0.346, 4th)
Total Bases (390, 22nd)

ERA (4.13, 19th)
Hits Allowed (305, 30th) *Dreadful, this is why Im lowering CPU's hitting sliders*
Runs Allowed (124, 20th)
HR Allowed (22, T-5th)
Walks Allowed (36, 1st)
Strikeouts (197, 14th)

As you can see the CPU gets a ton of hits off of me, Ive now played 29 games and a simple division of the numbers shows that I give up roughly 10.52 hits per game, thats insane. Here are the stats broken down further, the CPU is hitting 305/1030 on the season for a average of 0.296, if I reverse that and had a team hitting 0.296 they would be ranked 1st in batting average which means Im basically the worst pitching team in terms of batting average against. The scary thing is my stats could be worse since there are at minimum 4-5 times per game where the CPU kills a pitch but hits it right at someone, so Im not dominating anyone right now. Over the course of the last 10 games Ive given up 53 runs and my teams ERA has been 5.24 in that time span and this was against SF (2), SD (4), Arizona (2) and Washington (2) so I wasnt facing any extremely tough offensive teams either.

Apologies for being so long winded but I felt like stats would show where certain things are done well and where certain things really need to be saved by slider adjustments. Its weird that I started the season on completely default sliders at All-Star and was pitching so well that I thought I was pitching way better then I should but now for the better part of the last 20 games Ive been getting my *** handed to me on a damn near routine basis.

Like I said, I know you werent asking me but hopefully some of this post has answered some questions and shown you what type of stats Im getting using the sliders I was using, minus timing, power and solid hits for the CPU as I had those at default for all the results you see above.

[The Chef]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

Got a question for you pbz, you said your using Psycho's sliders for the CPU's hitting but failed to mention where you have the CPU's Fouls slider at? He has it at 7 and I figure that if your lowering their timing window that you may need to up the fouls slider otherwise you may not only get too many strikeouts but your pitch counts will be all messed up since the at-bats wont be as long and drawn out as normal thus driving up the pitch counts.

Lastly, do you honestly think that the timing window helps control the CPU's offense? In my mind I keep thinking that the solid hits slider accompanied with the contact slider will effect their offense more then the timing slider would but I figured you had more hands on experience with this and would be able to give more specific feedback in this regard.