[Armor and Sword]

3/29/16 - Fresh cut grass, the sounds of wood cracking balls out of outdoor cathedrals, the smell of leather, the intense faces hanging on every pitch in a 1-0 game. Dreams are born in spring and go to die in the dog days of August. MLB The Show 16 brings us closer to the feeling of chasing a pennant, or building a future power house more than ever before. The game has so many visual and functional improvements this year. Hitting and pitching have a more organic feel with precision input. Fielding looks far more organic and life like this season with dozens upon dozens of new animations. Player ratings in terms of defense, reaction, paths to the ball and base running speed matter more than ever before. The ever continuing evolution of Ball Physics 5.0 is so evident in hit variety, ball spins and how the ball comes off the bat. Even the way it rolls is more life like than ever before. It's the little things that seem to improve with each iteration of this marvelous console sports game.

We also have several enhancements in regards to sounds of the game and the return of SOTS (Sounds Of The Show) for those that want to customize the game to have the ultimate ball park atmosphere. The ball off the bat sounds this year are the most realistic and life like ever in this series history. Solid contact sounds majestic, bad contact sounds like the duds they are. The commentary has also gotten subtle but important enhancements.

HR calls are far more exciting, the timing of the color and conversations is more dynamic than it ever has been. A perfect of example of this subtleness of the commentary on 16 came in a game I played as the Reds (home vs the Pirates) and Homer Bailey (starting pitcher for the Reds) was at the plate and had an 8 pitch AB. He fought off several 2 strike pitches and made some solid contact to move a base runner on a fielders choice. In his next AB Mike Karros talked about his last AB and how good it was!!! That was impressive and it was noticed. It is those little things that occur over the course of your season that you too will notice and smile about.

So what do Marino and I look to do with sliders? It's a simple philosophy. Create settings that will give you that "old school" feeling to the game we love so dearly. Where ratings are the primary (not only) factor in the dice roll algorithm outcome of hitting, pitching, fielding and base running. We approach the game and play it a particular way so these sliders have a type of cult following for those who have a similar approach and love for baseball. Those of us who played Stratomatic or Statis-Pro and then moved on to Hardball and World Series on the Sega Genesis, Triple Play, and Tony LaRussa, to MVP 2005 and onto The Show! We want a clean screen, a lifelike broadcast quality experience, with no visual aides, meters, or crutches for hitting. It's just you and pitcher or batter in a showdown each and every AB.

We use Classic Pitching which is an entire thread of it's own and I highly recommend reading if your trying this approach for the first time or even a savvy veteran of the art of this pitching method.

http://www.operationsports.com/forum...ad-2015-a.html

We use Timed/Directional hitting

We employ auto fielding with manual throwing (button and no meter).

Camera's (for offense, defense and pitching) are entirely up to you but below are my personal settings of exactly how I play this amazing game and once again is blowing me away. I love a Broadcast approach and this year is no different. My batting camera this season is the "Zoom Offset" which is the closet one to the Catcher Zoom camera's that were removed. I actually like it even better than last seasons Catcher Zoom 3.

Most importantly, have fun. This game is meant to be played and 162 games is a long season and tweaking your settings as you play a long marathon will not spoil your stat's and franchise. Plug them in and start playing. Use them as a base, and tweak from there as you "PLAY". Enjoy the game!

Below is our slider set as well as my approach to Classic Pitching to give you that simulation feeling while you play.











Version 3.0 5/20/16 (+/-) means changes from previous version

Settings:


Batting and Baserunning:
Hitting Difficulty: All-Star
Hitting Interface Directional (Timed)
Input Type - Buttons
Plate Coverage Indicator - Off
Camera Shift - Off
In-Play View Offense - Broadcast or Dynamic (user choice both are very cool)
Hitting View: Catcher Zoom Offset
Ball Trail - Off
Button Interface: Classic
Guess Pitch: Off
Baserunner Interface: Default
Bassrunning Decisions: Assist
Sliding Decisions: Assist
Runner Window: On


Pitching:
Pitching Difficulty: All-Star (HOF works too just turn down CPU contact to 5)
Pitching Interface: Classic
Pitching View: Broadcast
Pitching Ball Marker: Off or Classic On
Pitch Callout: Off (cleaner screen but turn it on if you like)
Pitch Confidence: On
Pitch Delay: Normal
API: Default

Fielding:
Throwing Interface: Buttons
Throwing Meter: Off
Throwing Difficulty: NA
Throwing Decision: Off
Throw Canceling: On
Fielding Decision: Auto
Defensive Shift: Auto (I do make in game adjustments on the fly pressing down on the D-Pad)
All Indicators off
Fielding View Offense: Broadcast
Fielding View Defense: Broadcast

General
Strike Zone: Off
Hot Zones: Off
Warm Up Relievers - On
Balks: Off
Tutorial Tips - Off
Post Game Auto Save - Off
Umpire Balls and Strikes: Personalized
Umpire Close Plays: On
Check Swing Appeals: On
Injuries: On
Ejections: On
Scorebar Display - On
Pitch Select Display - Off
Swing/Pitch Info - Off
Balks - Off
Vibration - On
Game Log Order - Default

Presentation Options

Presentation Mode - Broadcast
Batter Walkup - On
In-game Ticker - On
- Closed Captioning - Off
- Mode Updates - Occasional
- MLB.com Updates - On


Game Sliders

Dynamic Difficulty Sensitivity - 5
Human Contact - 5
Human Power - 5
Human Timing - 5
Stride Difficulty - 5
Human Foul Frequency - 3
Human Solid Hits - 5 (+1)
Human Starter Stamina - 7 (dial back to default 5 for any simmed games)
Human Reliever Stamina - 3 (-1)
Human Pitcher Control - 3 (-1)
Human Pitcher Consistency - 4

CPU Contact - 6 (+1)
CPU Power - 5
CPU Timing - 5
CPU Foul Frequency - 3
CPU Solid Hits - 5 (+1)
CPU Starter Stamina - 6 (dial back to default 5 for any simmed games)
CPU Reliever Stamina - 3 (-1)
CPU Pitcher Control - 4
CPU Pitcher Consistency - 3
CPU Strike Frequency - 2
CPU Manager Hook - 5
CPU Pickoffs - 5

Fastball Pitch Speed - 3 (users choice)
Off speed Pitch Speed - 5 (users choice)
Fielding Errors Infield - 5 (+1)
Fielding Errors Outfield - 5 (+1)
Throwing Errors Infield - 4
Throwing Errors Outfield - 4
Fielder Run Speed - 2 (great players will stand out even more) (-1)
Fielder Reaction - 2 (-1) (great players will stand out even more)
Fielder Arm Strength Infield - 6 (+1)
Fielder Arm Strength Outfield - 4
Baserunner Speed - 3 (this really makes ratings matter)
Baserunner Steal Ability - 6 (+1)
Baserunner Steal Frequency - 5 (-1)
Wind - 8
Injuries - 7 (for playing games) 5 (for simulating games)
Trade Slider - 10 (+2)

A disclaimer on injuries. I play every pitch and inning of my franchise. If your going to simulate any games I suggest you turn injuries down to 5.

"Armor's "True Clean Screen Classic Pitching Approach"

For the ultimate in simulation and challenge here is the way I play The Show with classic pitching vs the CPU.

OK so here is the deal on turning off the R2/pitch types button showing on screen.

All you need to do is see your pitchers repertoire. Let's say for example he has 4 pitches and they are the following, listed in this order in the pause screen where you can access their "stuff"

1.4FB
2.SL
3.SPL
4.CHG

That means:

4FB = X = 1 finger
SL = O = 2 fingers
SPL = Triangle = 3 fingers
CHG = Square = 4 fingers

4 Fingers and wiggle means his 5th pitch (R1)

Now you know his best to weakest.

Watch the catcher....if he has 2 fingers showing he wants you to throw a Slider. If he shows 4 fingers he wants a Change up.

I typically allow my catcher to call a lot of my pitches for a sim feel. But I will overrule him when I want (shake him off). If you want to see where he wants it pull back R2 and the location icon will flash. The catcher also will sometimes just pat his mitt and/or point inside or outside and I will just aim to that area of the zone (or out of it). Or again I will shake him off. Remember if your controller rumbles while your picking your location the marker (which you can't see) is out of the strike zone. A slight rumble is barely out of the zone..and strong rumble is way out of the zone. I do start pitches out of the zone like sliders, cutters splitters etc and they come back in based on the break and spin. It takes practice....but it is well worth the reward.

Now if your pitcher has 5 pitches 4 fingers and a wiggle will mean the pitch assigned to the R1 button.

Another cool thing is you no longer see a pitchers confidence in any particular pitch. When you have played the game as long as I have....you know if your throwing a certain pitch for strikes a lot...they will have a lot more confidence in it. I am at a stage with this game where I don't need many visual aides. But if your not there yet turn the pitch type screen back.....play the game the way your comfortable playing it.

I will tell you though the layers of simulation by pitching this way is amazing and fun. Turning the ball marker off also truly makes it challenging and realistic. Sometimes your pitches will not go where you want them.

Just like IRL.

Give this a shot. I have a feeling you will love it. It will take some getting used to...but after a half dozen to a dozen games you will be in the groove.


Hybrid Veteran Hitting Sliders (Set hitting to Veteran Level) Make the following changes to Slider above:

HUM Contact - 4
HUM Power - 4
HUM Timing - 4
HUM Solid Hits - 4
CPU Pitching Control - 3
CPU Strike Frequency - 1