Domination - Roadblocks (Teams to look out for and how to beat them))

[harryl]

Finally finished off everything with a win and enough MT over the Historic All Stars. It took three attempts.

Most of Historic Dom was quite easy. Even had no issue with Historic East and Historic West All-Stars. Might have been able to deal with the Historic AS more quickly but was lazy and played first two games with default Defensive settings. But I also had to make some adjustments on offense in settings-unrelated ways, so who knows.

As I've said before, the most effective way I've found of cheesing on the CPU for easy Domination MT and wins is to get a size mismatch posted up on an opposing guard. I've mostly been using Current Emerald Harden, but Rookie Penny works pretty well, Current LeBron works pretty well, and I would imagine Raptors T-Mac can do well. You just go with 5-Out Freelance offense and call an ISO for your guy, post up in the high post area, and post-spin to a dunk or layup.

The reason why Harden is especially good for this is that he's not only scoring, but has really high Draw Foul, which helps get you those 10 FTA's...and get those shots for a guy with a really high Free Throw rating.

Versus the last two All Star teams, this doesn't work against the PG for much of the game, because that PG is Magic Johnson and he's bigger and stronger than all of the above. He'll stifle most attempts. So you need to go to a craftier game when he's in and try to exploit every second that John Stockton is playing PG. (But I found even Stockton is quite capable at defending larger guys and the CPU seems more hip to the cheesefest in the last game, so Stockton will go for, and get, strips.) When Oscar is in at PG, he's stiff as well, so every moment that Stockton is in is precious time to get some high % guard post-ups.

When Magic was in, I went more to a Pick&Roll game (though that's not so easy against him either), threw in some cheesy Give&Go actions off the Horns Set here and there, but mainly used posting up James Edwards on Kareem as my bread and butter. Kareem will get some really frustrating blocks and contests on you, but I've found that Edwards can, overall, work Kareem pretty hard in the paint, because he can back Kareem down to under the rim, and if you work it correctly so that Edwards's Drop-Step puts him in ideal position, he's pretty OP.

Shaq was a big problem in defending Edwards and my bench Center, Boogie. But a lot of the time that Shaq is in, Stockton is in, so I'm working on Stockton instead of Shaq.

You can also look to work on the opposing SG as well. I actually had a few nice successes posting up Kawhi on Jordan.

Defensively, I didn't do anything special. Used pretty widely used settings. Just made sure to Smother/Deny Larry Bird, with Dennis Rodman, because Bird was torching me in my first couple attempts. Everyone on the team does, really. To a large extent, a lot of those guys are going to hit very tough/contested shots, particularly if you let them get hot, and in the 4th quarter. Aside from paying particular attention to Bird, I just set my defense to double Shaq on Dig but otherwise everything else was run-of-the mill Auto or Tight and generally Switching on screens, but using individual settings that made sense, such as going Under on Magic.

My general feeling on the last couple AS teams is that it's futile to expect to play good defense on them, compared to other Domination games. You just have to contain them, try to make sure you get as many +3 Good Shot Defense bonuses, and execute very well on offense. The main thing is perhaps to try and get them to shoot earlier in the clock, instead of milking it down.

So, to that end, for big stretches of the game, I ran Zone defenses to let them have open shots, trying to manually focus on their absolute best shooters so that the open perimeter shot would go to Magic or Jordan, for example, and not Bird. But even if they made shots, it was a relative win if they shot quickly, because they're going to shoot a high FG% anyway. Might as well let them shoot a high FG% but not eat up so much clock.

In the end, I got 933 MT points. For context, I was getting used to getting between 1050 and 1150 against non-All-Star Domination teams. Usually getting over 300 in Defense. Against the Historic All Stars, I only got 209 on Defense, but got 408 on Offense. I shot, I think, near 80% in FG% for 90MT. Think I went 3-5 from outside for 76MT. And something like 9-11 in FTA, for 101MT. Beating them by, I think, 19 points, gave me 42MT in Point Differential.

My Lineup, in case anyone's curious:

PG: LeBron / Wall / Harden
SG: Rip / Kawhi / Richmond
SF: Marion / Walker / Kawhi
PF: Josh Smith / Rodman / Horry
C: Edwards / Boogie

And for my reward, I chose Ben Wallace.

[NoLeafClover]

Quote: Originally Posted by harryl

Finally finished off everything with a win and enough MT over the Historic All Stars. It took three attempts. Most of Historic Dom was quite easy. Even had no issue with Historic East and Historic West All-Stars. Might have been able to deal with the Historic AS more quickly but was lazy and played first two games with default Defensive settings. But I also had to make some adjustments on offense in settings-unrelated ways, so who knows. As I've said before, the most effective way I've found of cheesing on the CPU for easy Domination MT and wins is to get a size mismatch posted up on an opposing guard. I've mostly been using Current Emerald Harden, but Rookie Penny works pretty well, Current LeBron works pretty well, and I would imagine Raptors T-Mac can do well. You just go with 5-Out Freelance offense and call an ISO for your guy, post up in the high post area, and post-spin to a dunk or layup. The reason why Harden is especially good for this is that he's not only scoring, but has really high Draw Foul, which helps get you those 10 FTA's...and get those shots for a guy with a really high Free Throw rating. Versus the last two All Star teams, this doesn't work against the PG for much of the game, because that PG is Magic Johnson and he's bigger and stronger than all of the above. He'll stifle most attempts. So you need to go to a craftier game when he's in and try to exploit every second that John Stockton is playing PG. (But I found even Stockton is quite capable at defending larger guys and the CPU seems more hip to the cheesefest in the last game, so Stockton will go for, and get, strips.) When Oscar is in at PG, he's stiff as well, so every moment that Stockton is in is precious time to get some high % guard post-ups. When Magic was in, I went more to a Pick&Roll game (though that's not so easy against him either), threw in some cheesy Give&Go actions off the Horns Set here and there, but mainly used posting up James Edwards on Kareem as my bread and butter. Kareem will get some really frustrating blocks and contests on you, but I've found that Edwards can, overall, work Kareem pretty hard in the paint, because he can back Kareem down to under the rim, and if you work it correctly so that Edwards's Drop-Step puts him in ideal position, he's pretty OP. Shaq was a big problem in defending Edwards and my bench Center, Boogie. But a lot of the time that Shaq is in, Stockton is in, so I'm working on Stockton instead of Shaq. You can also look to work on the opposing SG as well. I actually had a few nice successes posting up Kawhi on Jordan. Defensively, I didn't do anything special. Used pretty widely used settings. Just made sure to Smother/Deny Larry Bird, with Dennis Rodman, because Bird was torching me in my first couple attempts. Everyone on the team does, really. To a large extent, a lot of those guys are going to hit very tough/contested shots, particularly if you let them get hot, and in the 4th quarter. Aside from paying particular attention to Bird, I just set my defense to double Shaq on Dig but otherwise everything else was run-of-the mill Auto or Tight and generally Switching on screens, but using individual settings that made sense, such as going Under on Magic. My general feeling on the last couple AS teams is that it's futile to expect to play good defense on them, compared to other Domination games. You just have to contain them, try to make sure you get as many +3 Good Shot Defense bonuses, and execute very well on offense. The main thing is perhaps to try and get them to shoot earlier in the clock, instead of milking it down. So, to that end, for big stretches of the game, I ran Zone defenses to let them have open shots, trying to manually focus on their absolute best shooters so that the open perimeter shot would go to Magic or Jordan, for example, and not Bird. But even if they made shots, it was a relative win if they shot quickly, because they're going to shoot a high FG% anyway. Might as well let them shoot a high FG% but not eat up so much clock. In the end, I got 933 MT points. For context, I was getting used to getting between 1050 and 1150 against non-All-Star Domination teams. Usually getting over 300 in Defense. Against the Historic All Stars, I only got 209 on Defense, but got 408 on Offense. I shot, I think, near 80% in FG% for 90MT. Think I went 3-5 from outside for 76MT. And something like 9-11 in FTA, for 101MT. Beating them by, I think, 19 points, gave me 42MT in Point Differential. My Lineup, in case anyone's curious: PG: LeBron / Wall / Harden SG: Rip / Kawhi / Richmond SF: Marion / Walker / Kawhi PF: Josh Smith / Rodman / Horry C: Edwards / Boogie And for my reward, I chose Ben Wallace.

I'm having a hell of a time getting the MT requirements on the final Historic Domination game, it seems I can either choose between beating them easily and not getting the MT (just won by 16 and got 875MT - just enough for the first pack, argh) or playing fast and cheesy and getting high MT but losing.

Very frustrating considering all the teleporting etc they do and the fact that Shaq hits all his free throws, Bird hits basically everything even when contested, etc.

It's just tiring and draining, I want to get my Diamond player and be done with this stupid grind...

[allmustfall16]

Quote: Originally Posted by NoLeafClover

I'm having a hell of a time getting the MT requirements on the final Historic Domination game, it seems I can either choose between beating them easily and not getting the MT (just won by 16 and got 875MT - just enough for the first pack, argh) or playing fast and cheesy and getting high MT but losing. Very frustrating considering all the teleporting etc they do and the fact that Shaq hits all his free throws, Bird hits basically everything even when contested, etc. It's just tiring and draining, I want to get my Diamond player and be done with this stupid grind...

x2 my man.. Very frusutrating, I'm actually stuck at the West Historic all stars

[tripleh1142]

I had the same experience with the final historic domination game. Finally beat it after like 8 tries. I don't mind difficult games but this felt like it was flat out cheating. I get that these are the best players but I couldn't make open shots and obvious fouls were not called. It was extremely frustrating. On the plus side Ben Wallace has been really fun to use so far.

[didak7]

so after telling myself that I wouldn't bother with completing Domination this season due to glitchy play and absolute unrealistic CPU cheese I thought I'd have a game in my Historic Domination against Shaq and his Heat (About the 7th game in?)

Anyhow cut a long story short, I lead by 8 at the end of the third and lose by 8 managing to hit 2 FIELD GOALS for the period... 94 moments Harden completely blowing a layup... Whilst Antione Walker goes 3/3 from downtown in the last period ...