Creating **The 'PERFECT' Slider Set**

[BigMak]

Re: Creating **The 'PERFECT' Slider Set**

Are you throwing every pitch full strength? If you are, don't hold the button for full power all the time. Take some heat off some pitches.

I change speedss also. But the AI hits a ton of homeruns.

[roonoc]

Re: Creating **The 'PERFECT' Slider Set**

an update on my cleveland chise. i am still using nnng's first page sliders and i am 11-12. peralta nixon mastny and sowers all went down and nixon just returned. only move so far is dropping the struggling jason michaels. carmona gets his first start in plae of sowers next against bal. going great still. batting 301 and i cant tell you an acurate era because of the walks counting error in the game but id say about 4.00. pretty realistic only 26 jacks and 14 sb's total. defense has been awful though but hey its the tribe what do you expect. anyways still satisfied with these sliders so no changes to the tougher set yet. thanks for all your work nnng. oh and on a side note in real life papelbon is a beast has flashes of greatness in him and is now my fav player. 98 mph fastball followed by a 94mph splitter and an 85 mph slider lights out baby. go redsox! and mariners my real team but they suck *** so i am slowly becoming a redsox fan lol. what a night tonight!

[nnng07]

Re: Creating **The 'PERFECT' Slider Set**

I change speedss also. But the AI hits a ton of homeruns.

I suggest you try the slider set on the first page of this thread.

[shaq]

Re: Creating **The 'PERFECT' Slider Set**

I'm an avid MLB and videogame baseball fan and have been lurking around these forums since this game came out, having followed the sliders section of this forum with much interest as we collectively try to implement a set of sliders that make the game come as close to our perception of reality as possible.

Since people started posting their sliders on this forum (on release day) I've extensively tried out every serious set posted, and have found several of them to give very nice results. Many of you guys making the sliders have gotten certain portions of the game 'right on'. The only issue that I have found in trying to implement the sliders on here are that while each individual set has great strengths, there are loose ends that cause problems (like too many balls dropping in the outfield, A.I. outfielders making Torii-Hunter-catches all day, opponents not striking out enough, etc..)

In trying to create a "perfect" slider set, I did not start from scratch. Instead, I build upon a foundation from those sliders created by Heelfan, BigfnJoe, smsuduck, Dauds, JT30, DanSF, TheProfessional, and several others on this board. I tested each aspect of those sliders again and again. I tried to use the 'best' aspect of each set, and then tweak and tweak and tweak until I got results I was 100% happy with. I must say that some of your guys' sliders have certain apects down completely perfect. I will note those sliders at which I think we have achieved a 'perfect' medium at. Additionally I have posted explanations for each of my slider decisions, and which ones I think are still more or less up in the air.

I want you guys to understand that for us as a community to arrive at a 'perfect' set, feedback is absolutely neccessary. As I mentioned, this set is no more 'my creation' than that of all of those posting sliders and those replying in those slider threads on this board. I ask that you guys try this set for 5-7 games minimum before trying to analyze results, and MOST IMPORTANTLY vary the strength of the SP that you use and you face, and vary the team strength you use/face, in order for analysis of games played to be relevant (for example, if you use the Yankees and play against the D-Rays/Royals for 10 straight games and are upset that you averaged 7.8 runs a game, it is not neccessarily indicative of a weakness in the slider set, since you haven't tried out the set in more normalized conditions).

Without further introduction, here is the set, with explanations:


Player Options - (Batter Contact/Power settings apply to SWING STICK users only)

Batter Contact: 35
Batter Power: 20
-Since I only use the swing stick, I can only recommend these two for those using this hitting option. I assure those using the classic hitting that if you check almost any of the other slider threads in this forum you will find Classic Hitting sliders that you will be happy with.
Now, my 35/20 Contact/Power settings come after much testing with the swing stick and other settings posted on here. I will stick with these two probably for a while, as -combined with the AI pitching sliders- these have given me great results and have finally toned down the HR's while keeping doubles as part of the game.

Batter Influence: 35
Power Swing: 35
-These two I have finally settled on @ 35 each after originally having them in the 25-30 range. Some have batter influence higher, but I believe that with it at 35, you get a good balance between your effort-level going into the swing and your batter's actual ratings. This keeps guys like David Eckstein limited to singles/doubles even when hitting the ball squarely, with guys like Pujols launching monsters in the same situation.
The setting I have for power swing is higher than others at 35 both because I like that aspect of the swing stick and because it DOES NOT prevent HR's from being hit by doing a line-drive swing. I have found a happy medium at 35 for power swing, but for those of you who feel there are too many HR's *when using the UP-SWING*, I suggest turning this setting down instead of the POWER setting to find the proper balance for you.

Step Influence: 10
-I really don't like this aspect of the SWING STICK, so I try to eliminate its impact accordingly. Since nowhere do we have a clear definition of *exactly* when we should start our step, I like minimizing its impact. Its clear that I am more of a fan of the power part of the swing stick rather than the step influence part, so if you preferences differ, change these two settings accordingly.

Pitcher Difficulty: 80
-This one has taken quite a lot of tweaking. I feel like at this setting, you are accurately challenged by the stars of today's game. Some of you have this at 100, but I feel like that makes the dominating pitchers in this game too "shut-down". What I mean by this is that if you face a good pitcher in this game (like Rich Harden) you will ALWAYS get shut down. 8 IP, 1 ER, 13 K's. Or thereabouts. Yes, we want the pitching stars to dominate, but we can't have every top-level pitcher put up better-than-Yohan 1.60 ERA's against us every time out.

Bunt Assistance: 25
Bunt for Hit: 15
-These are more of personal preferences, but I find that the 25/15 split works quite nicely for me.

Baserunner Speed: 100
Runner Steal Success: 55
-These two are set here, and I think they are FINAL. I've tweaked between 55-60 with steal success, and have settled on 55. I find this the most realistic. In the case of baserunner speed, 100 is a must and probably still does not correctly compensate for the slow baserunning in this game. Stick with the 100/55 settings here.

Infielder Errors: 70
Outfielder Errors: 75
-These I am willing to work with, though I do find a good balance here. I was seeing a tad too much fumbling of the ball by infielders (some are errors, others are just slightly-tough plays being fumbled & not made) with IF Errors @ 75-80, so I toned it down just a notch.

Infielder Speed: 25
Outfielder Speed: 45
-I do not use Speed Burst, and these setting are for those who are in the same boat. The OF Speed is pretty much perfect. This has been tested by me and those in Heelfan's thread extensively, and 45 I think needs not be touched. The 25 for IF Speed I believe is correct, as it accurately balances the speed, though I am open to suggestions on it.

Catcher Throw Speed: 0
Infielder Throw Speed: 0
Outfielder Throw Speed: 0
-These have been explained in other threads extensively, and helps compensate for the game's default slow-baserunning-in-comparison-to-fielding-arm-strength problem.

Infielder Reaction Speed: 10
Outfielder Reaction Speed: 45
-I feel like these are more up to personal preference (especially the OF Reaction Speed), but I feel like the IF Reaction needs to be low in order to prevent some of the Ozzie Smith-like motions & animations by the left infielders (SS&3B) that are frequent at default settings.

Speed Burst Length: 0
Speed Burst Power: 0
-I prefer my fielders running at full strength the whole time, given that they cover less the 100 feet per play, and that they have to make maybe a total of a dozen ball-chasing runs a game.

Fielder Aggression: 0
-This has been changed to 0 in order to cut back on the acrobatic plays made by fielders, increase the number of animations, and make fielding more commandable.

Pitcher Fatigue: 35
-Given the A.I. pitcher settings that I have, you should work the pitch count. Given that, the Pitcher Fatigue needs to be right here at 35.

Pitcher Interface Speed: 100
-This has to be 100 since I use Payoff Pitching. At first, you can locate, but after your pitcher tires, you need to have speed at 100 in order for locating to actually become a challenge.

Injuries: 65
-At default, I feel like injuries are lacking. I may consider moving this up higher, though 65 does seem to create a realistic number of injuries.

Pitch Speed: 65
-Some of the sliders around here have this at 100, and I can't even fathom that. I think that 65 is most realistic in terms of actual real-life speed, and you will still have trouble catching up with mid-90's heat from bonafide talents.



A.I. General Options

Infielder Errors: 70
Outfielder Errors: 75
-The reasoning behind the 70/75 split is the same as for the user sliders. Again, I am willing to tweak these as neccessary.

Infielder Speed: 25
Outfielder Speed: 45
-Same reasoning as for human settings

Catcher Throw Speed: 0
Infielder Throw Speed: 0
Outfielder Throw Speed: 0
-These have to be @ 0 in order to compensate for the super-strong arms the fielders have in this game. Trust me, keep these at 0.

Fielder Aggression: 0
Throwing Aggression: 60
-Okay, these required a lot of thought and tweaking. The reason that I have the throwing aggression relatively high is because I have noticed instances of the CPU not going for the lead runner on grounders despite easily obtainable forceouts with the setting in the 40-50 range. I think 60 should finally do it, so give me good feedback on this one please. The fielder aggression has been toned down for two main reasons. The first is the ridiculous number of CPU-robbed HR's. With the aggression down and the OF speed at what it is, this problem has mostly been resolved. The second is the diving catches the IF's & OF's pull off.

Hit and Run: 100
Sacrifice Bunt: 55
Squeeze Bunt: 35
-The Hit-&-Run's are quite unfrequent, and the high setting is aimed at alieviating the problem. The bunt ratings are up to you, but they will play well at 55/35.

Runner Aggression: 65
-This was tweaked a lot. Many people have it at 85, but I get too many cheap outs by gunning down kamikaze CPU runners who are driven by flashbacks of Rickey Henderson. EDIT: I toned this down even further to 65, after throwing out 3 CPU batters trying to turn singles-into-doubles in a 3-inning period. I know that this was an extreme sample, but I have seen over-aggressiveness often enough to be convinced that this needs to be tuned down a notch or two.

Steal Success: 60
Steal Second: 60
Steal Third: 35
Steal Home: 15
-The Steal Success & Steal Second sliders I have finally found a good balance at. I really think that 60/60 between the two is right where it needs to be. The low settings for the other two are meant to ensure that the CPU doesn't go Vince Coleman-1980's on us.

Diveback: 55
-This was at 50, but I moved it up one notch since some people have mentioned picking off multiple batters per game if they throw over enough. I think at 55 we should be fine, but let me know how it works.




A.I. Batting Options

AI Batters use Inside Edge:ON

Take Strike Overall: 60
Take Strike Ahead: 65
Take Strike Behind: 45
Take Ball Overall: 65
Take Ball Ahead: 70
Take Ball Behind: 60
-I must say guys, please try these six as they are. I have worked a LOT with them, and tried to address all the issues voiced in this forum. Hopefully you will get K's now. Obviously, go for the corners. They will chase some balls. They will take walks. They will swing at your great pitches, even if off the plate. Give these six a chance, I really think they have taken care of A.I. plate discipline.

Skill: 100
Contact: 45
Power: 50
-These I honestly think are up to the individualy user. It all depends on how the CPU is hitting you. [The first changes in the slider set are here. To create a more realisting number of strikeouts, CPU Contact & Power have been adjusted to 45/50]

Bunt for Hit: 40
-Set it at what you need.

Pitcher Difficulty: 20
-Okay. This is one of the most important sliders, and I don't feel like it gets proper attention. If this is too high, the CPU just can't hit your stars. Chris Carpenter DID NOT give up more than 2 runs in any start that I made with him, a sample size of nearly a dozen outings, with this setting at 65. So I toned it down. And down. And down. At 20, I found a good balance, and I think I am happy with it now. You get a bit of extra bonus for having the curveball come from Zito not Lima, but it is still up to you to correctly use the enhanced reptoire that stars offer, not up to the X-Box to prevent the CPU from getting legitimate hits.

Pitcher Effectiveness Mod: 80
-[[EDIT: I moved this up one increment from 75 to 80. I feel like for those using Payoff Pitching like me, the marginal difference in CPU power on your bad pitches helps make pitching a tad tougher. I was noticing that with a tired Danny Haren, even the pitches with little effort would end up as popups/weak flyballs. I think we need a bit more punishment on our weaker pitches to balance things out. I suggest for those that want more of a challenge with Payoff Pitching, turn this up to 100. I am going to try it for a while and see if I can still keep my ERA respectable.]]



AI Pitching Options

Pitchers use Inside Edge: ON

Corner: 55
-This one's tricky. I think naturally we all had the tendency to turn this up very high since we want the computer mimmicking actual MLB pitching and trying to nibble at the corners. The problem is, when we turn this up to 65-80 like many of the sets on here suggest, we end up with CPU pitchers that are too predictable. They always go for the edges, and you never have to set your batter's eye anywhere but on one of the four corners. With this setting at 55, I think I have captured a more realistic portrayal of MLB pitch variablity.

Change Speed: 75
-This is a very good setting. The difficulty in guessing whether the same pitch is coming on back-to-back throws or whether the pitcher is about to change the speed up makes this very realistic. Try it out as is.

Throw Strike Overall: 40
Throw Strike Ahead: 35
Throw Strike Behind: 50
-I think these three at 40/35/50 have finally given me the results I have been trying to achieve. This creates a great balance between strikes & balls, strikeouts & walks. I am as satisfied with this integral combination of three setting as I am with almost any other settings in this game. I still strike out quite a lot, but with increased plate discipline I think these are the sort of sliders that we can draw a realistic 3.something walks a game against the CPU.

Pitcher Fatigue: 60
-At 60, and with the throw strike settings as I have them above, I think that fitcher fatigue is pretty close to where it needs to be. Starting pitchers for the CPU make it through 5-8 innings, and depending on how much they've been throwing their effectiveness drops accordingly.

Pickoff: 50
Pitchout: 50
-I have not found leaving these two at 50 to create any problems, and I think that on the whole neither have the other slider-makers on this board.

Meat Pitch: 20
-Some have this higher, but I tried to create a difficult set of sliders (between the high CPU skill, tough pitcher difficulty sliders, etc..) and this needs to be low to keep the game challenging. At 20 I find that meatballs are rare, though some still are heaved over the plate once in a while.




That's it. There we have it. A couple things to keep in mind:

-The batter contact/power settings are aimed at SWING STICK users
-Turn off Vibration and use Breakpoint pitching to make hurling more challenging
-The fielder speed settings are recommended for those that DON'T use speed burst
-Give these sliders at least a 5-7 game trial period to get a good grasp on them before trying to analyze the sample

Enjoy!


[[For those that started off with the original set in this post, here are the changes made so far:]]
1. Change AI Contact to 45 & AI Power to 50
2. Change Pitcher Effectiveness Mod to 80
3. Change AI Runner Aggression to 65
4. Change both HUMAN & AI Fielder Aggression to 0
5. Change AI Hit-&-Run to 100

i have been torn on which slider setting to use, i have been using heelfans but how is yours playing out.....is it realistic

[The Chef]

Re: Creating **The 'PERFECT' Slider Set**

Well after getting tired of not giving up many runs I decided to give these a try and after one game they looked pretty good. Everything is the same as your most recent slider posting minus the following, left User Pitch Fatigue at 30, Pitcher Interface Speed at 95, AI Power at 55 and User Contact at 40. The only thing I will need to lower is the contact, I went 18/39 in a game against SD scoring 7 runs, the runs arent the alarming part, its the hits considering 9 of them came off of Peavy in 4.2 innings pitched and I would figure it would have been much tougher against him.

Felix Hernandez started for me and pitched a solid 6 innings while striking out 7 and walking 3, giving up 3 earned runs in the process. Bullpen, consisting of Lance Carter, Jonathan Broxton and Scot Shields came in and pitched 3 scoreless innings giving up only 1 hit and striking out 3. Overall the games experience was tremendous, cut back on hits and everything will be right where it should be.

EDIT- Just finished another game, this one in a brand new GM mode and King Felix got shelled by Oakland, only lasting 5.2 while giving up 6 runs, striking out 7 and walking 3. So in back to back experiences, Felix pitched lights out against SD and got torched by Oakland so the variety is there at this point. I have to admit, I was skeptical about a few things in regards to these sliders, mainly the AI Skill slider and the AI Pitcher Difficulty Slider but using exactly what you put Im still getting a fair amount of strikeouts while giving up hits and runs at the same time, so excellent job, thanks again.

[JuKayes]

Re: Creating **The 'PERFECT' Slider Set**

I'm a skeptic no more, I have been using NJ's sliders since picking up 2K7 but I happened to check these out and finally decided to give this set a test drive during a recent three game set (Pirates vs. 'Stros)... Here's stats from the rubber game.. (BTW - All three games of the series pretty much went along with what you see below 'Stros swept the Buc's in this series but it could have easily been 2-1)

Pirates 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 3 7 0
Astros 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 X 4 6 0

Oswalt started went 3 1/3 before leaving the game with a strained ACL (out 4-days) faced 14 batters his line was:

3 1/3 4-hits 1-run 1-ER 0-walks 6-K's 2.70 ERA
52 pitches thrown, 15 for balls, 37 for strikes


Zach Duke's line was as follows:

4 1/3 4-hits 2-runs 2-ER 2-walks 4-K's 4.15 ERA
60 pitches thrown, 26 for balls, 34 for strikes

Carlos Lee went deep in the bottom of the 6th after the Pirates had tied the game in the top half of the inning.. Lee put a 2-2 slider into the Astros bullpen with Berkman already on 1st after having drawn a walk to start the inning. That would be all the Astro's needed the rest of the way.. Lidge came in to shut the door striking out the side and slamming the door on the pesky Pirates who'd drawn to within 1-run in the 8th after a solo-shot by Paulino just cleared the Crawford box seats...

Awesome game, felt very realistic... You aren't gonna get but one, maybe two pitches to look at from the CPU's starter... You will have to really work the count and be a patient hitter to find your pitch...

And when pitching just play with the corners of the plate, change speeds and give the opposition a different look you can be very effective, even with releivers by working the count to your favor and then going for the K after you've set the CPU up...

Great slider set, plan on sticking with these for awhile... Excellent work!!

[nnng07]

Re: Creating **The 'PERFECT' Slider Set**

Thanks Pimpin & JuKayes. I've been playing with a very slight variation of my most recent sliders and have had an awesome experience. With 13 games left in my Cardinals' season, I am 78-71, 3.5 back of the Reds for the NL Central title, and with Pujols putting up serious MVP numbers: .343/.392/.631
[This is with me playing every game.. no simming stuff]

My main issue has been the bullpen, where almost everyone sucks other than Izzy. In the offseason I will have to take care of this, since I play with all trades off due to the 'wacky' trading system in the game.

[The Chef]

Re: Creating **The 'PERFECT' Slider Set**

Well, I raised the Batter Contact Slider to 30 because it seemed like at 20 I couldnt generate any offense at all. Does the Batter Contact slider play a huge role in the game or is it so slight that raising it from 20 to 30 wont make a huge difference? You may remember that I had this at 40 before lowering it, due to having something like 18 hits in one game, when I went down to 20 my first game I still had 12 hits but every game since then has been horrible. Just looking for any advice at this point.

[jake44np]

Re: Creating **The 'PERFECT' Slider Set**

Correct me if I am wrong but these sliders are for Swing stick and payoff pitching right?

[dflo224]

Re: Creating **The 'PERFECT' Slider Set**

I am using these sliders and i have a problem.....I cant get the opposing team to score any runs, i have thrown 3 shut outs in a row with the RANGERS lol

the opposing team hardly even swings the bat and when they do they either miss or hit something very weak...I have even thrown it right down the pipe just to see if they will swing and they let it go right by

any ideas on what i should do?

[nnng07]

Re: Creating **The 'PERFECT' Slider Set**

Are you using the front page sliders or the most recent ones?

And yes jake these are for Swing Stick & Payoff

[dflo224]

Re: Creating **The 'PERFECT' Slider Set**

im using the most recent ones right now....i was playing the blue jays in those games so maybe that had something to do with it

i will be playing a game against the yankees here soon

[DiceMan]

Re: Creating **The 'PERFECT' Slider Set**

im using the most recent ones right now....i was playing the blue jays in those games so maybe that had something to do with it

i will be playing a game against the yankees here soon

dude you must be really good cuz i the cpu has no prob scoring on me if im not careful. the drays put up 10 runs on me once.

[Helios12787]

Re: Creating **The 'PERFECT' Slider Set**

I'm 15 games into my Braves Franchise and right now I'm 10-5. Was 10-2 but got swept by the Cubs because I play with Hot/Cold teams on and they were hot.

I messed around with some of the sliders a lil bit though.

I knocked down the player contact to 15 (I've become really good with the swing stick)

I increased the CPU contact rating by 1 notch and lowered the power rating by 1 notch. This gave me more doubles / line drives and knocked down on the long drives into the gap every other hit.

I also decreased the Pitcher Difficulty because I found John Smoltz and Tim Hudson dominating while Redman and Davies were getting smashed their first 2 outings.

Other than that and a few other minor changes I am having a blast. I am also getting a LOT more variety in homeruns. Right now Andruw only has 1 homerun and Chipper has 2. However, Craig Wilson has a whopping 6 homeruns (and I HATED Wilson in my first Braves chise.)

Thanks for the quality sliders man

[pdawg17]

Re: Creating **The 'PERFECT' Slider Set**

Are the most recent sliders still on the front page from March 15th or are there newer ones?