Line Up Logic

[CFav]

I know I've posted about this before, but I am getting extremely frustrated w/ this games line up and call up/send down logic. I'm saying this in terms of RTTS as that's the only mode I've played so far. Basically in my 1st year I ended up starting for the Sox in the playoffs (and part of september) b/c Manny was out w/ a dislocated ankle(he has since retired b/c of his injury) and yet they still had a healthy JD Drew, Ellsbury and Coco Crisp, all of whom had a good year and all of whom were rated higher than me. Also they had Tek batting fourth in the playoffs, and he had a pretty bad year at the plate.

Fast forward to yr 2 and they have me starting off in AAA, and batting 3rd. Makes sense. But now we are about 50 or so games into the season, and they have 3 .300+ hitters as the 7th, 8th and 9th batters. They have guys batting .216 and .263 batting 1st and 2nd in the line up respectively. And to top it all off, the guy hitting behind me, the SS(can't think of his name ATM) is hitting .195, w/ 2 HR 23 RBI (not a bad # there, but I'm USUALLY in scoring position, so he has MANY opportunities) and a TON of strike outs...many of which i have witnessed while I was on base.

These kind of line ups would not exist in real life w/o the manager getting a pink slip pretty quickly. I can understand if the line ups were set, and players underperformed, but in this game there seems to be little to no adjustments made. If they are made, they seem to make hardly any sense at all.

I trully enjoy this game, and the hitter/pitcher interface is great IMO. The game has it's gameplay flaws, but they can MOSTLY be overcome w/ some work arounds. But in RTTS mode, you are STUCK when it comes to rotations (not BAD, but the bullpens and the way they are used are not so great), line ups and call ups/send downs. I'm not asking for help b/c I know there is nothing that can be done about this ATM. I'm just venting my frustrations and HOPING that one of the Dev's for this title will improve this particular area of the game in The Show 09 or maybe even do something in a patch...

BTW do they release patches for this game at all? (there's a question for you folks ). I'm new to this series, so I don't know how they have supported this game in the past.

Anyway, apologies for my rant...but it was/is bothering me.

1

[Knight165]

I agree.
Not the worst logic I've ever seen(God knows.....baseball games are notorious for bad lineup logic)...but it could use some improvement.

I've done some experimenting and part of it is poor ratings programming.
I would always see Damian Easley take over SS and bat fourth against lefties if someone got injured and the CPU shuffled lineups. I'm pretty sure I figured out to be the L/R difference in his POWER ratings. It was pretty high and the CPU judges that to be a big deal in making the lineups. I lowered his power ratings(to where they SHOULD have been in the first place...WAY too high from SCEA) and I never saw him there again.
It's not the only part of the poor logic though...so just ratings won't be the sure fire fix...but it goes a long way.
I'm talking regular franchise here..not RTTS...

I've been petitioning SCEA for a couple of things.
First......give us the chance to set 10 lineups for the CPU...5 vs. LHP and 5 vs. RHP and have the CPU choose from them before making any changes. That would give a nice mix for the game.
Second.....give us a depth chart and % of play for the player at each position he has. That would help a little.
Lastly...give us something in the player editor that let's the USER limit the CPU to where he will use that player. Jose Reyes...1 only....he'll only bat leadoff. Carlos Beltran....3-4-5 you will only see him in those spots in the order. Castillo...2-7-8.......Easley.....2-5-6-7-8....never in the leadoff, three or cleanup spot...

M.K.
Knight165

[Jgainsey]

I noticed this too in my RTTS. By the 5th year it was like the manager was just pulling names out of a hat to decide the line up order. Thankfully, I haven't really noticed the same problem in my franchise. It's one of those problems that really lets you know you're playing a video game, and can really put a damper on your experience with the game.

[bostonsportsrule]

Quote: Originally Posted by Knight165

I've been petitioning SCEA for a couple of things. First......give us the chance to set 10 lineups for the CPU...5 vs. LHP and 5 vs. RHP and have the CPU choose from them before making any changes. That would give a nice mix for the game. Second.....give us a depth chart and % of play for the player at each position he has. That would help a little. Lastly...give us something in the player editor that let's the USER limit the CPU to where he will use that player. Jose Reyes...1 only....he'll only bat leadoff. Carlos Beltran....3-4-5 you will only see him in those spots in the order. Castillo...2-7-8.......Easley.....2-5-6-7-8....never in the leadoff, three or cleanup spot... M.K. Knight165

These are excellent ideas.

[CFav]

Knight, those ARE very good ideas. Didn't another base ball game have the depth chart w/ playing time % in it? Maybe it was one of the MLB 2k games. I'm not sure though (obviously).

Anyway, thanks for the replies, and it's good knowing that I'm not alone on this one, and hopefully if we ALL speak up, then SCEA will implement some (or all) of Knight's ideas.

This issue alone causes me not to enjoy what is otherwise a great baseball game (imo).