Stats-based sliders for CPU

[jripper09]

Re: Stats-based sliders for CPU

Nomo one more thing you are saying the stolen base slider is at 8 for ability? wouldn't it be harder to steal? it's already to easy at five don't go to 4? i think at frequency 8 is right on though your'e thoughts?

[nomo17k]

Re: Stats-based sliders for CPU

Nomo i'm impressed beyond belief and who cares about the typos i'm sure i'll have a few. finding the right pitcher sliders for cpu is very difficult tried youre sliders last night me (cards) cpu rsox) becket was tough as usual couldnt draw a walk but due to his high confidence with alot of strikeouts early. but even then he was still missing alot not robo pitcher! i havent tried adjusting the fouls and solid hits slider at 5 however will do this later this evening. also have not tried lowering the pitcher hook will do so as well. hopefully these will work for user vs cpu i'm encouraged though.

The slider posted here is basically for CPU vs CPU games, so you most likely want to adjust things if you are actually playing. I'm using this slider set for my RTTS games, and I actually like how things are playing (I'm not that picky in gameplay myself). So you could use this set alone of course. But where you feel isn't playing right, you should see what other slider people are doing to correct it.

what sliders do you think i should use for user at hof level pitcher to make it similar to your'e cpu adjustments? i have mine human control 4, consistancy 3. thanks

There are several gameplay sliders out there already, so what I would do is to pick the one that fits your play style most closely (i.e., difficulty level, pitching/hitting interface, etc.), and compare that to my slider. And just cherry pick here and there to make adjustment till you find the set that makes you feel "right."

if in franchise mode which pregame setting do i use to get cpu vs cpu where i can manage the game? i think there were 2 modes can't remember which ones though. like i said earlier i'm very impressed with all the stats and slider adjustments you have made and thank you for sharing these.

When you go to schedule and click on a date, it will give you an option to view the games on that date, either games only for your franchise team or all the games for that date. On the screen showing the list of the games, you can click on any scheduled game. There you have option of either playing the game or manage the game.

Good to know what I posted can be helpful.

[nomo17k]

Re: Stats-based sliders for CPU

Nomo one more thing you are saying the stolen base slider is at 8 for ability? wouldn't it be harder to steal? it's already to easy at five don't go to 4? i think at frequency 8 is right on though your'e thoughts?

The BR Steal Ability slider seems to work backward. So you need to increase it to make it harder to steal.

I use either 7 or 8 for BR Steal Ability (I'd pick 7.5 if possible haha) because that has yield the SB success % that is closest to the real life stats I'm comparing to.

That might actually end up making it harder for you to steal in gameplay. If you are having difficulty stealing yourself, then I'd just make a compromise and lower that slider.

Most people end up simming most games and not playing, so that kind of adjustment won't kill the realism I think. When you are actually playing, it's more important for you to play realistically, not CPU...

[jripper09]

Re: Stats-based sliders for CPU

nomo thanks again for all youre help and responses to my many posts LOL! yea im using gainsley/HV sliders but i like youre pitching sliders much better. more realistic ill experiment with the basestealing slider not sure on that one. lowering the fouls to 4 for cpu and human is making a big difference for me thanks again for youre time!

[nomo17k]

Re: Stats-based sliders for CPU

nomo thanks again for all youre help and responses to my many posts LOL! yea im using gainsley/HV sliders but i like youre pitching sliders much better. more realistic ill experiment with the basestealing slider not sure on that one. lowering the fouls to 4 for cpu and human is making a big difference for me thanks again for youre time!

No worries. Sharing info is what forums are all about...

[nomo17k]

Re: Stats-based sliders for CPU

Yes I'm still nerding out on Friday evening. I have no life. Please help me.

This time, my obsession is on the Pitch Speed slider.

The online description says this slider has no effect in game physics (therefore any aspects of the game really). It only changes the pitch speed so that we have more or less time to judge the pitch. So this really comes down to personal preference.

However, what if I want to see what's really like to face a MLB pitcher? Can I do this by maxing out this slider?

The answer seems "almost."

I plotted up the MPH numbers (all fastballs from two pitchers) in the Show, and the MPH I estimated from videos captured via in-game Movie Maker. I know the FPS (roughly 30 frames per sec) and the distance between the pitcher and catcher, so it's a matter of counting the number of frames between the pitch release and reaching the catcher. With a low FPS and the distance being a rough estimate, the measurements are not perfect but perhaps good enough for this purpose.

In the plot, the solid line shows where they should line up if the Show MPH and the "real" MPH are the same. When the Pitch Speed is at 10, the data points come closer to that solid line, but measured MPHs are slightly slower. At PS 0, the 92 - 93 MPH fastball in the Show are actually traveling at 70 - 80 MPH range. This is probably about typical fastballs from decent high school pitchers.

So even at max, we might not be able to quite bring the pitch speed up to the real MLB level in the Show... On the other hand, my measurements are "average" speed, whereas the MPH number on TV or probably in the Show is probably the "initial" speed read from a radar gun, which is typically 3 MPH faster than the average speed. After all, fans lover 100 MPH heaters even if the measurements are juiced!

What if I take off about 3 MPH off from the Show speeds and compare them to my measurements? They actually are roughly similar (see the green dash-dot line)! By maxing out the pitch speed slider, we can probably feel how fast MLB fastballs really feel.

I used to think Bill Pecota sucked when he joined the Mets back in early 90s. Now, I have to respect him for being able to hit those pitches.

[rdklein]

Re: Stats-based sliders for CPU

Considering all the data gathered so far in the thread, the first "official" release of the slider set is this

This is the April 16 version.

Everything at default (5) except:

Power: 4
Foul Frequency: 4
Pitcher Consistency: 2
Strike Frequency: 4
Pitcher Hook: 2
Fielding Error: 10
BR Steal Ability: 8
BR Steal Frequency: 8
Wind: 3

Comments: The game is a bit HR friendly, so Power needed to be lowered. Foul Frequency was lowered to make batters swing through more (seen in swing & miss %). Pitcher Consistency was lowered to make pitchers a bit wider to make them issue more walks. Strike Frequency was lowered to slightly lower the overall and early count strike %. Pitcher Hook was lowered to make CPU use slightly less number of relievers and also to let starters pitch slightly longer. Fielding Error is maxed out in an attempt to match the fielding error number IRL but still not quite enough. BR Steal Ability is at 8 to reduce the SB success % which is a bit high at default. BR Steal Frequency at 8 makes steals happen at realistic rate. Wind is set at 3 to roughly match the overall distribution of windy days in games to real life number (game data taken just for early April), slightly less windy days because the wind effect appears a bit exaggerated.

All these are done to match the MLB ave during 2007 - 2010.

A few posts earlier, you had solid hit at 10.

Did you forget to include this in the official release... or was this intentional and the sliders are now 5?

Thanks!

[nomo17k]

Re: Stats-based sliders for CPU

A few posts earlier, you had solid hit at 10.

Did you forget to include this in the official release... or was this intentional and the sliders are now 5?

Thanks!

Most of the time when I set a slider to an extreme end, I'm trying to see how much that particular slider changes thing. I ran a couple dozen games at SH at 0 and 10 for that reason.

I was hoping the SH slider has some effect on the ground ball to fly ball ratio (which is slightly off at default and causes GIDP to become a bit higher), and increasing it converted some ground balls to line drives. However, those line drives often became singles (and other solid hits to lesser extents), so the batting average went up.

Since SH at default generated fairly good stats already, I left it there for that release. I might increase it to produce less ground balls later if I find ways to balance everything else out.

[NAFBUC]

Re: Stats-based sliders for CPU

Nomo i'm impressed beyond belief and who cares about the typos i'm sure i'll have a few. finding the right pitcher sliders for cpu is very difficult tried youre sliders last night me (cards) cpu rsox) becket was tough as usual couldnt draw a walk but due to his high confidence with alot of strikeouts early. but even then he was still missing alot not robo pitcher! i havent tried adjusting the fouls and solid hits slider at 5 however will do this later this evening. also have not tried lowering the pitcher hook will do so as well. hopefully these will work for user vs cpu i'm encouraged though.

what sliders do you think i should use for user at hof level pitcher to make it similar to your'e cpu adjustments? i have mine human control 4, consistancy 3. thanks

if in franchise mode which pregame setting do i use to get cpu vs cpu where i can manage the game? i think there were 2 modes can't remember which ones though. like i said earlier i'm very impressed with all the stats and slider adjustments you have made and thank you for sharing these.

Thanks Nomo! I really enjoy following your Stats-based sliders for CPU thread. The testing and info is very informative and gives us different viewpoints to tinker, modify etc. Great work!

[nomo17k]

Re: Stats-based sliders for CPU

Thanks Nomo! I really enjoy following your Stats-based sliders for CPU thread. The testing and info is very informative and gives us different viewpoints to tinker, modify etc. Great work!

Just sharing info. Glad you enjoy what's coming out of this.

[bubs3141]

Re: Stats-based sliders for CPU

have you played mom games using these sliders or are the stats just simmed results? Just curious if there is a difference between played manage only or simmed

[nomo17k]

Re: Stats-based sliders for CPU

have you played mom games using these sliders or are the stats just simmed results? Just curious if there is a difference between played manage only or simmed

Those are stats that come out of gameplay. Nothing was simmed. It wasn't MOM but they are scheduled games in a season I'm running just for this thread. I just go to schedule, view all games on the date, click choose one game at a time, and "play" CPU vs CPU games.

If you "sim" and not watch CPU vs CPU games via gameplay, the game goes through a different engine and most sliders (except manager hook, stamina, injury related ones) don't matter.

So basically these sliders are for making CPU play *in gameplay* as realistically as possible to produce the stats I'm comparing to.

[bubs3141]

Re: Stats-based sliders for CPU

thanks for the reply, I will give them a shot in my mom franchise

[nomo17k]

Re: Stats-based sliders for CPU

So, it's the time of the week again. Another Friday evening. While the girls enjoy their night out, the geeks enjoy their nerd out.

My obsession this week is the BR speed slider. Are the base runners running at a realistic speed?

I used five players (all batting right handed) with various speed ratings and have them bunt for base hit. I made movies using Movie Maker, and measured how fast they are running to the first base. The time was recorded between the bunt contact and when the runner just touched the base. The results are plotted for three slider setting, 0, 5, and 10.

What does this mean? Well, the median of speed ratings for all players at the MLB level (40 man roster) is about 38. So that would be the average runner. From a reference (attached PDF file), the average MLB runner reaches first after about 4.3 seconds it appears.

So based on this data set, the default BR speed slider sets the runner speed slightly slower compared to real life. Only after raising it we appear to have a realistic speed.

I'm actually surprised. I was actually thinking about lowering this slider to compensate for the lower fielder speed which I feel plays visually more authentic game. But then again, visual aspect isn't as important if it throws off the overall game balance too much. It's not entirely physics-based game we are playing here...

[Bobhead]

Re: Stats-based sliders for CPU

That is really interesting. I was always under the impression that baserunners run faster than they do in real life.

Some things to consider:

That attached file dictates a test using only 10 fielders on a single team. It is highly possible this team selected was a particularly slow team (ie last in team SB's), or that they just chose a "poor" set of fielders.

That test also states the timer was started on contact, not at bat drop. The in-game animation sequence between when a batter makes contact, and when they start running - ideally we would have to be certain that this animation is accurate, time-wise, and I highly doubt this to be the case.

Your use of a median speed as a reference point also relies on the assumption that in-game, every single player has an accurate speed rating.

I saw this thread a while ago and meant to post in here then but honestly I forgot . Nonetheless, I think this is an amazing topic, and look forward to following your research.