This represents a new slider set with a new mentality. I've leaned much further into simulation, as I now believe that balancing user input with simulation is an impossible task. I have not however, lost my roots, and anywhere where user input can help increase simulation, I have pursued with abandon. This is now a HoF/HoF set, as issues with Human/CPU parity could not be solved using sliders on Legend.
Some General notes:
- Fear the zone. Don't be afraid of walks.
- expect much higher pitch counts for the same amount of innings. 100 pitches for 6 innings is still rare but not unusual.
- Shifting is your friend.
- K/9 is no longer the be all, end all pitching attribute. Still very good (might be impossible to nerf it to not be good in this game), but it's lost a lot of ground to the other per 9 attributes.
Anything unlisted is user choice
Hitting Difficulty: Hall of Fame
Hitting View: Catcher High
In-play View Offense: Medium
Hitting Interface: Directional (Note: Match Human hitting settings to CPU for zone hitting)
- Input Type: Buttons (Note: other input types change timing and solid hits)
- Camera Shift: Off
Guess Pitch: No Feedback or Off. Note: Even though I personally play with Off, I have tested No Feedback extensively and recommend it. The only reason I don't use it is because I had a hard time adjusting my muscle memory and eventually got frustrated. No Feedback allows for far more strategy at the plate. The CPU will adjust to your habits, and Guess Pitch helps immensely with this. For example: I influence up in order to avoid the double play, and the CPU knows this. I get a lot of high pitches when a runner is on first, because an up influence is weak against that. With the No Feedback Guess pitch, I can cover the top of the zone while still working to avoid the double play. The best part: you don't have to use it every pitch. It'll act just like it does off in those cases.
Sliding Decisions: On
Runner Window: On
Pitching Difficulty: Hall of Fame
Pitching Interface: Pulse (Note: no testing for other pitching interfaces done)
- Pulse Meter Display: Classic
Pitching View: Fish Eye
Pitching Ball Marker: Classic On
API: Off
Throwing Interface: Button Accuracy
Throwing Meter: On
Fielding Decision: Assist
Throwing Decision: Off
In-play view defense: Medium
Throw Cancelling: On
One Button Jump/Dive: Off
Auto Infielder Jump Reaction: On
Auto Infielder Dive Reaction: On
Catch Position Indicator: On
Defensive Shift: User's choice, but it is very important that you utilize the shift with these settings. So whatever setting your more comfortable with, just make sure you're using the shift most ABs.
Off the wall Ribbon: On
Warm Up Relievers: On
Human Contact: 3 - Human contact will effect a few things, like the size of the invisible PCI, the width of the timing window, check swing ability, foul frequency, and the bat exit velocity floors. Needed to be lowered in order to lower average bat exit velocity speeds without lowering bat exit velocity ceilings. Also H/9 needed to be buffed.
Human Power: 4 - Power effects bat exit velocity ceilings and therefor also averages. Needed to be lowered to account for the wind change (see wind for more details)
Human Timing: 10 - affects the odds of good contact on hits near but not in the "good" timing window. Needed to be buffed to compensate for issues with lowering the contact slider. Note that good contact in this context can still mean a lazy popout.
Human Foul Frequency: 1 - affects the odds of weak contact outside of the "good" timing window. Note that in this context weak contact can still be a seeing eye ball up the middle.
Human Solid Hits: 7 - affects ball trajectories independent of pitchers. Modifies batters to be better or worse.
Human Starter Stamina: 10 - needed to hit realistic pitch counts. Pitchers will lose effectiveness on their primary pitch around the time that their pitch count equals their stamina.
Human Reliever Stamina: 10
Human Pitcher Control: 0 - Makes BB/9 and Control truly impactful attributes. High control pitchers will not seem that much different.
Human Pitcher Consistency: 7 - has several properties according to my testing. Impacts individual pitch control and movement, and impacts ball trajectory independent of batters. Modifies Pitchers to be better or worse. Note: This setting will likely have to be adjusted based on roster.
CPU Contact: 3
CPU Power: 4
CPU Timing: 9
CPU Foul Frequency: 1
CPU Solid Hits: 7
CPU Starter Stamina: 10
CPU Reliever Stamina: 10
CPU Pitcher Control: 0
CPU Pitcher Consistency: 4 - my testing showed this to be the point of parity. Note: This setting will likely have to be adjusted based on roster.
CPU Strike Frequency: 2
CPU Manager Hook: 4 - The CPU is far more willing to dip into their bullpen when Stamina's are higher (I know that doesn't make intuitive sense but trust me). However, if you are ok with changing the setting mid-game, a setting of 6 to 10 might give you that bullpen management you're looking for. But I'm a set it and forget it guy and I see half-decent results keeping it on 4.
CPU Pickoffs: 5
Fastball pitch speed: Set to user's skill (tested at 5)
Offspeed Pitch speed: Set to user's skill (tested at 5)
Fielding Errors Infield: 10
Fielding Errors Outfield: 10
Throwing Errors Infield: 7 - unsure about this under the new settings. Might need to go up. Throwing errors hasn't been a focus in testing of late.
Throwing Errors Outfield: 7 - see above.
Fielder Run Speed: 0 - having discovered the time dilation effect and using bat exit velocities as the standard for judging speed, along with a metric ton of testing and comparing to real life MLB, I've concluded that this is the only speed fielders can be at. It actually feels pretty good to boot. Takes a little while to get used to the slower game. After playing at such a fast pace for so long, it'll feel wrong at first, but give it a game or two and you'll never be able to got back.
Fielder Reaction: 0
Fielder Arm Strength Infield: 0
Fielder Arm Strength Outfield: 2
Baserunner Speed: 6
Baserunner Steal Ability: 1 - That steal attribute is now really important, probably even more so than speed.
Baserunner Steal Frequency: 5
Wind: 4 - I initially tested this setting because I had heard it impacts game time temperatures, which was a huge problem with my old settings. While results for that were inconclusive, I found out something else. Wind has a heavy impact on exit velocity averages and launch angles, along with having some impact on pitch movement (more wind was equaling better movement). This is why I had my power at 5 before and had no issues with home runs. With wind at 9, it could increase homeruns in an individual game due to a heavy tailwind, but it drastically dropped power and launch angles over a large sample size. Suddenly, thinking that it would amount to little more than a temperature change and more consistent but similar results overall (with maybe a slight boost to power with warmer weather), I was faced with record breaking paces in power leaguewide, all while suffering through a typical comedically cold summer that SDS thinks everyone north of them experiences every year. I've testing and retested it (over 80 games total), and the results are undeniable. Wind affects power and launch angles, particularly on hits outside of the "good" timing window. Those hits needed a buff, because of how much I needed to nerf contact to get the bat exit velocity floor down. Also needed to further nerf K/9 which is insanely overpowered in this game. Now I've finally got a decent timing window without overly high bat exit velocity averages. I'm not happy about the wind situation, but apparently wind impacts more than wind so I gotta roll with the punches here. Sure you could argue that wind should impact those things, but not to the degree I was seeing.
Injury Frequency: 5 - I've seen lots of evidence to suggest that less injuries occur during the first season of a franchise, but once you get into the second season and beyond like I have, 5 is plenty. Oh god is it plenty.
Trade Frequency: 5 (but really user's choice/use other slider maker's suggestions)
Legacy Post
Some General notes:
- Fear the zone. Don't be afraid of walks.
- expect much higher pitch counts for the same amount of innings. 100 pitches for 6 innings is still rare but not unusual.
- Shifting is your friend.
- K/9 is no longer the be all, end all pitching attribute. Still very good (might be impossible to nerf it to not be good in this game), but it's lost a lot of ground to the other per 9 attributes.
Recommended and Required Settings
Anything unlisted is user choice
Hitting Difficulty: Hall of Fame
Hitting View: Catcher High
In-play View Offense: Medium
Hitting Interface: Directional (Note: Match Human hitting settings to CPU for zone hitting)
- Input Type: Buttons (Note: other input types change timing and solid hits)
- Camera Shift: Off
Guess Pitch: No Feedback or Off. Note: Even though I personally play with Off, I have tested No Feedback extensively and recommend it. The only reason I don't use it is because I had a hard time adjusting my muscle memory and eventually got frustrated. No Feedback allows for far more strategy at the plate. The CPU will adjust to your habits, and Guess Pitch helps immensely with this. For example: I influence up in order to avoid the double play, and the CPU knows this. I get a lot of high pitches when a runner is on first, because an up influence is weak against that. With the No Feedback Guess pitch, I can cover the top of the zone while still working to avoid the double play. The best part: you don't have to use it every pitch. It'll act just like it does off in those cases.
Sliding Decisions: On
Runner Window: On
Pitching Difficulty: Hall of Fame
Pitching Interface: Pulse (Note: no testing for other pitching interfaces done)
- Pulse Meter Display: Classic
Pitching View: Fish Eye
Pitching Ball Marker: Classic On
API: Off
Throwing Interface: Button Accuracy
Throwing Meter: On
Fielding Decision: Assist
Throwing Decision: Off
In-play view defense: Medium
Throw Cancelling: On
One Button Jump/Dive: Off
Auto Infielder Jump Reaction: On
Auto Infielder Dive Reaction: On
Catch Position Indicator: On
Defensive Shift: User's choice, but it is very important that you utilize the shift with these settings. So whatever setting your more comfortable with, just make sure you're using the shift most ABs.
Off the wall Ribbon: On
Warm Up Relievers: On
Sliders
Human Contact: 3 - Human contact will effect a few things, like the size of the invisible PCI, the width of the timing window, check swing ability, foul frequency, and the bat exit velocity floors. Needed to be lowered in order to lower average bat exit velocity speeds without lowering bat exit velocity ceilings. Also H/9 needed to be buffed.
Human Power: 4 - Power effects bat exit velocity ceilings and therefor also averages. Needed to be lowered to account for the wind change (see wind for more details)
Human Timing: 10 - affects the odds of good contact on hits near but not in the "good" timing window. Needed to be buffed to compensate for issues with lowering the contact slider. Note that good contact in this context can still mean a lazy popout.
Human Foul Frequency: 1 - affects the odds of weak contact outside of the "good" timing window. Note that in this context weak contact can still be a seeing eye ball up the middle.
Human Solid Hits: 7 - affects ball trajectories independent of pitchers. Modifies batters to be better or worse.
Human Starter Stamina: 10 - needed to hit realistic pitch counts. Pitchers will lose effectiveness on their primary pitch around the time that their pitch count equals their stamina.
Human Reliever Stamina: 10
Human Pitcher Control: 0 - Makes BB/9 and Control truly impactful attributes. High control pitchers will not seem that much different.
Human Pitcher Consistency: 7 - has several properties according to my testing. Impacts individual pitch control and movement, and impacts ball trajectory independent of batters. Modifies Pitchers to be better or worse. Note: This setting will likely have to be adjusted based on roster.
CPU Contact: 3
CPU Power: 4
CPU Timing: 9
CPU Foul Frequency: 1
CPU Solid Hits: 7
CPU Starter Stamina: 10
CPU Reliever Stamina: 10
CPU Pitcher Control: 0
CPU Pitcher Consistency: 4 - my testing showed this to be the point of parity. Note: This setting will likely have to be adjusted based on roster.
CPU Strike Frequency: 2
CPU Manager Hook: 4 - The CPU is far more willing to dip into their bullpen when Stamina's are higher (I know that doesn't make intuitive sense but trust me). However, if you are ok with changing the setting mid-game, a setting of 6 to 10 might give you that bullpen management you're looking for. But I'm a set it and forget it guy and I see half-decent results keeping it on 4.
CPU Pickoffs: 5
Fastball pitch speed: Set to user's skill (tested at 5)
Offspeed Pitch speed: Set to user's skill (tested at 5)
Fielding Errors Infield: 10
Fielding Errors Outfield: 10
Throwing Errors Infield: 7 - unsure about this under the new settings. Might need to go up. Throwing errors hasn't been a focus in testing of late.
Throwing Errors Outfield: 7 - see above.
Fielder Run Speed: 0 - having discovered the time dilation effect and using bat exit velocities as the standard for judging speed, along with a metric ton of testing and comparing to real life MLB, I've concluded that this is the only speed fielders can be at. It actually feels pretty good to boot. Takes a little while to get used to the slower game. After playing at such a fast pace for so long, it'll feel wrong at first, but give it a game or two and you'll never be able to got back.
Fielder Reaction: 0
Fielder Arm Strength Infield: 0
Fielder Arm Strength Outfield: 2
Baserunner Speed: 6
Baserunner Steal Ability: 1 - That steal attribute is now really important, probably even more so than speed.
Baserunner Steal Frequency: 5
Wind: 4 - I initially tested this setting because I had heard it impacts game time temperatures, which was a huge problem with my old settings. While results for that were inconclusive, I found out something else. Wind has a heavy impact on exit velocity averages and launch angles, along with having some impact on pitch movement (more wind was equaling better movement). This is why I had my power at 5 before and had no issues with home runs. With wind at 9, it could increase homeruns in an individual game due to a heavy tailwind, but it drastically dropped power and launch angles over a large sample size. Suddenly, thinking that it would amount to little more than a temperature change and more consistent but similar results overall (with maybe a slight boost to power with warmer weather), I was faced with record breaking paces in power leaguewide, all while suffering through a typical comedically cold summer that SDS thinks everyone north of them experiences every year. I've testing and retested it (over 80 games total), and the results are undeniable. Wind affects power and launch angles, particularly on hits outside of the "good" timing window. Those hits needed a buff, because of how much I needed to nerf contact to get the bat exit velocity floor down. Also needed to further nerf K/9 which is insanely overpowered in this game. Now I've finally got a decent timing window without overly high bat exit velocity averages. I'm not happy about the wind situation, but apparently wind impacts more than wind so I gotta roll with the punches here. Sure you could argue that wind should impact those things, but not to the degree I was seeing.
Injury Frequency: 5 - I've seen lots of evidence to suggest that less injuries occur during the first season of a franchise, but once you get into the second season and beyond like I have, 5 is plenty. Oh god is it plenty.
Trade Frequency: 5 (but really user's choice/use other slider maker's suggestions)
Legacy Post
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