Do you know how the AI calculates...

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  • wudl83
    Pro
    • Jun 2011
    • 627

    #1

    Do you know how the AI calculates...

    ...the setup of the bullpen?
    ...the position alignment of the fielders?
    ...the lineup of the batters?

    It was discussed last year and this year we have obvious the same problem.
    The AI/CPU makes hilarious setups of the bullpens regarding who the closer/setup men/middle and long relievers are.
    The AI/CPU makes ridiculous choices regarding who they let field the positions.
    The AI/CPU makes unrealistic lineups.
    This creates headache especially in franchise when you see right fielders playing center field and center fielders playing right field and nobody knows why. Or the leadoff hitter in reality is the fourth batter in the lineup ingame. Or the closer in reality is a middle reliever ingame. And so on and so on.

    But did/do you know what comes into account for the AI to calculate those things?

    I made some testings and this is what I found out:
    1) Starting pitching/bullpen:
    This is the easiest section. The starting pitchers are put in 1-5 simply based on their overall ratings. I think they at least must have a 70 something stamina rating also.
    The bullpen is somehow similar created. At first here the overall rating comes into count. The highest rated pitchers of the foundation that are not in the starting slots 1-5 of the MLB team of the organization are the 7 pitchers that will be in the bullpen. After that the slots are based on the composure rating of the players. That means that the pitcher with the highest composure will be the closer, the 2nd one setup up man, and so on until the two pitchers with the lowest composure rating will be the long relievers. The only way a pitcher with a lower comp. rating can have a higher spot than another pitcher with a higher rating is when the lower comp. guy has a only slightly lower comp. rating but also another category (control) in which he is way ahead of the higher comp. guy.

    2) Position alignment for fielding:
    This is the first really ridiculous part. I didn't finally find out how it works. I only found out that the CPU makes sometimes really questionable decisions. E.g. Carlos Gonzalez is at first hand a LF, but he has a high RF and LF rating, too. He is the best outfielder in the Rockies organization. He will always play CF. The AI doesn't care what goes on in RF or LF, it simply puts Gonzalez into CF. Dexter Fowler is a mediocre CF and has a lower LF and RF rating. Cuddyer is a RF and has a lower LF rating a very low CF rating. The CPU puts it always like this:
    LF Cuddyer
    CF Gonzalez
    RF Fowler
    Normally it should be:
    LF Gonzalez
    CF Fowler
    RF Cuddyer
    When you look into the position alignment of the management section ingame the 2nd option is the option in which the highest overall fielding rating (when you sum up the ratings of the 3 players) is the highest. The first option has a lower overall rating (when you sum up), but it has Gonzalez in CF which means that it seems that the CPU at first looks at the best CF available. But that is not the case, since in other teams the AI screws that over also.
    So we must deeper look into that. Here comes into account what range a fielder has and how good his arm and glove is. Sometimes the CPU doesn't put the outfielder with the best arm and range into the CF slot, also his CF fielding ability is not the highest, that means he would be better at another position. To come over this you have to set the fielding abilities of the players secondary positions very, very low. For some players this is very very unrealistic when you compare that to reality, but there is no other way to fool the AI.
    For example a problem was that the AI often switches around the Dbacks outfield.
    In reality it looks like this:
    LF - Kubel (Parra)
    CF - Young
    RF - Upton
    The AI set it up like this:
    LF - Kubel (Parra)
    CF - Upton
    RF - Young
    Now I lowered Uptons fielding ability at CF to 60, but the AI still set him up in the CF and Young in RF. After that I trimmed his CF ability down to 50 and NOW the CPU sets it up the correct way of LF Kubel, CF Young and RF Upton.
    It always depends on the best outfielder. Here we come to Gonzalez again. I tried to lower the ability of Fowler for LF and RF so low that the CPU doesn't set him up at LF or RF, so to say I expected the CPU to put him into CF since there would be no other option available for him. But the CPU didn't, they finally benched him (with a 80 overall rating) and called up a AAA-LF (Blackmon) which was set up in RF. The only option here would be to lower the fielding ratings of Gonzalez significant, at least for CF.
    Another problem is e.g. the Giants outfield, here the CPU always puts Cabrera into CF and Pagan into LF, although Pagan is the better fielder.
    Somehow I think the arm rating is also very importan.
    It is all so difficult to see through...
    So finally we have two choices:
    - when we want to have a chance of realistic fielding position alignment we have to cut down some fielding abilities of players ingame, which would be unrealistic when compared to their real life abilities
    - when we want to have real life abilities of the players also ingame, then we must accept that the CPU will screw up the positioning.

    3) Lineups:
    Well, this is the most difficult part. Here I don't understand nearly anything. Sometimes it looks like the lead off hitter is always the fastest guy available in the lineup, in other lineups it looks like it is a mishmash of the combined highest sum of speed and contact. Sometimes it seems to be depending on who has the highest power rating, because this guy is always number 3 or 4, again depending what contact he has, and so on and so on.
    I think we have a chance of getting the Bullpen and Positions of the fielders right if we want to. But I think we NEVER will have a real chance of getting realistic lineups when playing a franchise.

    If somebody wants to post any comments here you go. A discussion would be very appreciated, perhaps somebody knows something which I didn't find out.
    Last edited by wudl83; 04-09-2012, 10:58 AM.
  • Yeats
    MVP
    • Mar 2012
    • 1581

    #2
    Re: Do you know how the AI calculates...

    Originally posted by wudl83
    3) Lineups:
    Well, this is the most difficult part. Here I don't understand nearly anything. Sometimes it looks like the lead off hitter is always the fastest guy available in the lineup, in other lineups it looks like it is a mishmash of the combined highest sum of speed and contact.
    Heh, that's for sure. Although the CPU usually places the 3-4 hitters fairly accurately. Yeah, it's a mess in general, and really the only way to really ensure position players for example play in their correct fielding positions is to heavily edit fielding ratings. Much easier to do on the PC with Ty Wiggin's roster editor. I just have never bothered as I use a generic player roster. Which basically solves all those issues for me -- I don't know the players, so I don't care where they play and bat, lol.

    Comment

    • wudl83
      Pro
      • Jun 2011
      • 627

      #3
      Re: Do you know how the AI calculates...

      Originally posted by Yeats
      Heh, that's for sure. Although the CPU usually places the 3-4 hitters fairly accurately. Yeah, it's a mess in general, and really the only way to really ensure position players for example play in their correct fielding positions is to heavily edit fielding ratings. Much easier to do on the PC with Ty Wiggin's roster editor. I just have never bothered as I use a generic player roster. Which basically solves all those issues for me -- I don't know the players, so I don't care where they play and bat, lol.
      Hm the 3-4 hitters fairly accurately?
      Here is everything wrong what could be wrong...

      Comment

      • BlingBling19
        Pro
        • May 2010
        • 658

        #4
        Re: Do you know how the AI calculates...

        This is why 30 team control eliminates this issue. Line-ups are how they should be.

        Comment

        • aykyle
          Rookie
          • Nov 2010
          • 201

          #5
          Re: Do you know how the AI calculates...

          Originally posted by BlingBling19
          This is why 30 team control eliminates this issue. Line-ups are how they should be.
          Yes but you spend more time editing line-ups and rotations than you do actually playing. It takes too much time and effort. I just let the cpu be, and worry about my franchise with editing the A/AA/AAA/MLB teams.

          Comment

          • wudl83
            Pro
            • Jun 2011
            • 627

            #6
            Re: Do you know how the AI calculates...

            Originally posted by BlingBling19
            This is why 30 team control eliminates this issue. Line-ups are how they should be.
            This should simply make their code right.
            It cannot be expected that for realism one has to control 30 teams. I want to play a realistic game and not to edit lineups...

            Comment

            • Yeats
              MVP
              • Mar 2012
              • 1581

              #7
              Re: Do you know how the AI calculates...

              Originally posted by wudl83
              This should simply make their code right.
              It cannot be expected that for realism one has to control 30 teams. I want to play a realistic game and not to edit lineups...
              I'd say it's unrealistic to expect the game coding to properly manage CPU lineups as per their real-life MLB counterparts. And if you're wanting that, then I don't think it's unreasonable to have to take control of all teams. They give us that option, and the way I see it, it's great that they do and that we then have the ability to set lineups ourselves if we wish.

              Comment

              • Yeats
                MVP
                • Mar 2012
                • 1581

                #8
                Re: Do you know how the AI calculates...

                Originally posted by wudl83
                Hm the 3-4 hitters fairly accurately?
                Here is everything wrong what could be wrong...
                Well I did say it's a mess in general, lol. IMO the real issue is the player ratings are all way too high, which has been an issue with this series since forever. There should be a much greater rating discrepancy between power hitters versus contact hitters, for example. And a much greater spread when it comes to overall ratings in general. I always have to spend the first 3 months editing ratings. The game doesn't really play like baseball until the ratings are all given a serious overhaul.

                Comment

                • elimack
                  Rookie
                  • Nov 2010
                  • 95

                  #9
                  Re: Do you know how the AI calculates...

                  Try going to the very bottom of the player attributes list in edit player and adjust the fielding abilities. This should remedy players playing position over players they shouldn't, or playing positions they don't.

                  I use UZR, UZR/10, and DRS to determine number ratings

                  Also many of the batter ratings/tendencies are inaccurate (not necessarily too high, but inconsistent), which also effects lineup decisions.
                  Last edited by elimack; 04-09-2012, 01:24 PM.

                  Comment

                  • elimack
                    Rookie
                    • Nov 2010
                    • 95

                    #10
                    Re: Do you know how the AI calculates...

                    Try going to the very bottom of the player attributes list in edit player and adjust the fielding abilities. This should remedy players playing position over players they shouldn't, or playing positions they don't.

                    I use UZR, UZR/10, and DRS to determine number ratings

                    Also many of the batter ratings are inaccurate which also effects lineup decisions.

                    Comment

                    • BlingBling19
                      Pro
                      • May 2010
                      • 658

                      #11
                      Re: Do you know how the AI calculates...

                      Originally posted by Yeats
                      I'd say it's unrealistic to expect the game coding to properly manage CPU lineups as per their real-life MLB counterparts. And if you're wanting that, then I don't think it's unreasonable to have to take control of all teams. They give us that option, and the way I see it, it's great that they do and that we then have the ability to set lineups ourselves if we wish.
                      Originally posted by wudl83
                      This should simply make their code right.
                      It cannot be expected that for realism one has to control 30 teams. I want to play a realistic game and not to edit lineups...
                      I think it's extremely hard for that to be put into a video game. The game sets line-ups based on criteria. According to the games criteria for making line-ups it changes them as that criteria dictates. Most people don't like criteria but it is how it goes.

                      Managing all 30 teams is quite simple. You don't even have to ever look at another team if you don't want to. I just like knowing the CPU won't touch the line-ups lol.

                      Comment

                      • elimack
                        Rookie
                        • Nov 2010
                        • 95

                        #12
                        Re: Do you know how the AI calculates...

                        Many of the batter ratings are inaccurate which also effects lineup decisions.

                        In addition to adjusting fielding abilities, which should remedy most if not all fielding issues when accurate. I edited MLB 2K11 players based on in-game position averages and their real life +\- numbers.

                        This is time consuming, but worth it in the end. Yes, this is the insiders' job not ours, but hey...

                        Comment

                        • wudl83
                          Pro
                          • Jun 2011
                          • 627

                          #13
                          Re: Do you know how the AI calculates...

                          Originally posted by BlingBling19
                          I think it's extremely hard for that to be put into a video game. The game sets line-ups based on criteria. According to the games criteria for making line-ups it changes them as that criteria dictates. Most people don't like criteria but it is how it goes.

                          Managing all 30 teams is quite simple. You don't even have to ever look at another team if you don't want to. I just like knowing the CPU won't touch the line-ups lol.
                          Code = Criteria. If you set the criterias right then you won't have such big flaws.

                          I do not expect a 100% accurate game. But the status quo is nearly unacceptable to me.

                          And controlling 30 teams isn't simple. You have to look for injuries and cold and hot streaks when you want realism.

                          Sometimes I get the feeling that many people simply don't care.

                          There are so big problems. When a CF and RF are available to play their positions, I don't see any reason in reality why they should switch positions.

                          Regardless of what the criterias look like. These criterias must be big crap.

                          Originally posted by elimack
                          Try going to the very bottom of the player attributes list in edit player and adjust the fielding abilities. This should remedy players playing position over players they shouldn't, or playing positions they don't.

                          I use UZR, UZR/10, and DRS to determine number ratings

                          Also many of the batter ratings/tendencies are inaccurate (not necessarily too high, but inconsistent), which also effects lineup decisions.
                          I do that too but that does not help for problems like the Gonzalez/Fowler or Cabrera/Pagan one.

                          Cuddyer in reality can play 4-5 positions. In Colorado they have a hole at RF so they play them there. Open the game, make a franchise and they play him at third base.

                          I DID edit a bunch of ratings and it didn't help really. For some problems it helped, but for the majority it did not help.

                          Comment

                          • Yeats
                            MVP
                            • Mar 2012
                            • 1581

                            #14
                            Re: Do you know how the AI calculates...

                            Originally posted by wudl83
                            And controlling 30 teams isn't simple. You have to look for injuries and cold and hot streaks when you want realism.

                            Sometimes I get the feeling that many people simply don't care.
                            The people who care, control all teams. Good that we have that option is how I see it.

                            So you want the CPU to not only keep MLB-accurate lineups, you also want it to switch around hot and cold guys? You are asking for the moon IMO.

                            Comment

                            • aykyle
                              Rookie
                              • Nov 2010
                              • 201

                              #15
                              Re: Do you know how the AI calculates...

                              You people don't understand the game making business at all, do you? Coding isn't as simple as conjuring up an idea and then take 5 minutes to write one line of code and viola, your perfect managing system. It takes a while to get it right and to make. After they make it, they have to test it. They test it very vigorously. Making sure there is no fatal error.
                              If you REALLY think it is that easy to code and to make a video game. Go make one and you will quit in a day. You wouldn't even know where to start or how to even make the start-up screen.

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