MLB06-The Show: Slider discussion

[Leebo33]

I've complainted about fatigue in the other thread. Players don't even get rested after scheduled days off! The game doesn't have separate ratings for fatigue and injuries, so guys like Rolen are really hurt since they have a low durability rating due to past injuries. The good news is that you can increase the durability rating and the problem is resolved. The bad news is that the player would probably not get injured.

[jLp vAkEr0]

Can you use Autosliding in the PS2 version?

I use it on the PSP.

[MizzouRah]

Can you use Autosliding in the PS2 version?

I use it on the PSP.

Yes you can.

[webdanzer]

I think turning off guess pitch helps you to hit better. When I had it on, I was worrying more about only swinging at pitches that I guessed correctly, rather than just reacting to the pitch without knowing what or where it was going ahead of time. Now that I've turned it off, I'm actually hitting too well. I'm rarely swinging at balls out of the strike zone now, and the changing of speeds is really the only thing giving me a hard time at all right now.

I played through 12 games of a season I started with the Pirates on All Star default, going 10-2 with a team batting average of .460, leading the league in every offensive statistic, including averaging 10 runs a game. I started a new season with the Cubs on Hall of Fame default, and through two games Derrek Lee is 9/10 with 5 hrs, a double and 10 rbi. My team is hitting .450 with 9 hrs and 18 runs scored, which I'm hoping is a result of going against lousy Reds pitching rather than just hitting not being much harder for me at this level.

Hey HipE, (And others hitting really well on HOF)

Have you noticed if there is a difference in your hitting when you actually turn guess pitch off compared to when you leave it on and simply don't guess??

I usually play with it on, and only guess sometimes, and I hit like the Yankees. (Good, but not overwhelmingly so)

For the heck of it, I turned guess pitch off and played an exhibition game and smashed the hell out of the ball. Now, I know a one game sample means nothing, but I'm wondering if maybe leaving guess pitch on is more difficult, even when you don't utilize it.

[BasketballJones]

Well I'm at the All-Star break playing between All-Star and HOF. As the fantasyland Pirates (cause the real ones suck), Pujols is hitting 513 with 40Hrs & 109 RBIs. He even hits when I sim the inning he's due up. I have three players tied for 2nd in Hrs with 6 and nobody else has more than 40 RBIS. Coca Crisp is hitting 399 with 15 triples. Everyone else is human. My pitching staff consisting of the young studs is getting rocked as is my Closer Cordero with 8 BS and an ERA over 6 and my new closer Burgos has a 1.95 ERA and 6 straight saves.

Second in the Majors HR & RBI race are Vlady & Arod with 37 HRS and over 100 RBIs. Derek Lee has somewhere in the 80s with 12 HRS but a 230 BA; everyone else is human. No pitching stats stand out as abnormal, and Kevin Stocker is out 2-3 months with a wrist injury (so sad Barry)

I lead the majors in hitting but not in runs scored and am 26th in pitching Though I find hitting easy and rarely guess pitches, I still strike out 8-10 times a game (sad that makes me happy). Yet I am 3 games out of first bottlenecked with the rest of my division behind the Cubs (cough) and in the wildcard hunt.

Glitches thus far:
Only one Freeze
Rodrigo Lopez has appeared twice in my bullpen unannounced to warmup and he's not even on my roster nor could I put him in the game.
Trot Nixon with 6HRs has twice been congratulated by the opposing team after homering. (lord knows why that amuses me so much).

Sliders: I've tweaked them every 5 games (pitching rotation) and haven't seen any significant change as the games vary consistently and are relatively close within the 5 series set. I try the same sliders on both AS & HOF

I have found previous baseball games to be stale after midseason but not this one. I only wish there was an in game save like Madden so you can go back and not have to sim to the end when the wife and kids come a calling.

[wco81]

Those stats are whack and yet the game isn't stale?

[jLp vAkEr0]

Well I'm at the All-Star break playing between All-Star and HOF. As the fantasyland Pirates (cause the real ones suck), Pujols is hitting 513 with 40Hrs & 109 RBIs. He even hits when I sim the inning he's due up. I have three players tied for 2nd in Hrs with 6 and nobody else has more than 40 RBIS. Coca Crisp is hitting 399 with 15 triples. Everyone else is human. My pitching staff consisting of the young studs is getting rocked as is my Closer Cordero with 8 BS and an ERA over 6 and my new closer Burgos has a 1.95 ERA and 6 straight saves.

Second in the Majors HR & RBI race are Vlady & Arod with 37 HRS and over 100 RBIs. Derek Lee has somewhere in the 80s with 12 HRS but a 230 BA; everyone else is human. No pitching stats stand out as abnormal, and Kevin Stocker is out 2-3 months with a wrist injury (so sad Barry)

I lead the majors in hitting but not in runs scored and am 26th in pitching Though I find hitting easy and rarely guess pitches, I still strike out 8-10 times a game (sad that makes me happy). Yet I am 3 games out of first bottlenecked with the rest of my division behind the Cubs (cough) and in the wildcard hunt.

Glitches thus far:
Only one Freeze
Rodrigo Lopez has appeared twice in my bullpen unannounced to warmup and he's not even on my roster nor could I put him in the game.
Trot Nixon with 6HRs has twice been congratulated by the opposing team after homering. (lord knows why that amuses me so much).

Sliders: I've tweaked them every 5 games (pitching rotation) and haven't seen any significant change as the games vary consistently and are relatively close within the 5 series set. I try the same sliders on both AS & HOF

I have found previous baseball games to be stale after midseason but not this one. I only wish there was an in game save like Madden so you can go back and not have to sim to the end when the wife and kids come a calling.

You really need to stay on HOF if Pujols is hitting over .500. Geez.

[HipE]

I think turning off guess pitch helps you to hit better. When I had it on, I was worrying more about only swinging at pitches that I guessed correctly, rather than just reacting to the pitch without knowing what or where it was going ahead of time. Now that I've turned it off, I'm actually hitting too well. I'm rarely swinging at balls out of the strike zone now, and the changing of speeds is really the only thing giving me a hard time at all right now.

I played through 12 games of a season I started with the Pirates on All Star default, going 10-2 with a team batting average of .460, leading the league in every offensive statistic, including averaging 10 runs a game. I started a new season with the Cubs on Hall of Fame default, and through two games Derrek Lee is 9/10 with 5 hrs, a double and 10 rbi. My team is hitting .450 with 9 hrs and 18 runs scored, which I'm hoping is a result of going against lousy Reds pitching rather than just hitting not being much harder for me at this level.

Hey HipE, (And others hitting really well on HOF)

Have you noticed if there is a difference in your hitting when you actually turn guess pitch off compared to when you leave it on and simply don't guess??

I usually play with it on, and only guess sometimes, and I hit like the Yankees. (Good, but not overwhelmingly so)

For the heck of it, I turned guess pitch off and played an exhibition game and smashed the hell out of the ball. Now, I know a one game sample means nothing, but I'm wondering if maybe leaving guess pitch on is more difficult, even when you don't utilize it.

I haven't tried playing with guess pitch on, but just not guessing the pitch. I've only been playing with the option disabled. I'm thinking my early success in hitting on HOF level has had a lot to do with playing the Reds in 5 of my first 7 games. I'm 5-0 against them with a lot of runs scored in every win, but I only went 1-2 against the Cards and averaged 2 runs a game. I'm only averaging a little over 5 runs a game after 8 games, while my runs allowed are a little under 4, meaning most of my games have been very competitive. My team batting average is still pretty high at .363, and I lead the league in hrs, but I'm only averaging about one double a game. After Lee's 5 homers in the first two games, he actually went through the next 5 without hitting any, before jacking two more in my last game. He's now hitting .470 with 7 hrs and 17 rbi after 8 games, but he's second to Pujols in all star voting (8 hrs and 19 rbi already).

[JackB1]

I dont know if this has been discussed before, but with the umpiring set to "wide", it seems like everything remotely borderline is a strike. Also anything at the knees is a strike. I will try setting it to "tight" and see if that fixes it. My main gripe though is the extremely low strikes that get called all the time.

[jLp vAkEr0]

I dont know if this has been discussed before, but with the umpiring set to "wide", it seems like everything remotely borderline is a strike. Also anything at the knees is a strike. I will try setting it to "tight" and see if that fixes it. My main gripe though is the extremely low strikes that get called all the time.

I like the umpire setting at "wide".

Just like in real life, the ump misses strikes up and down the zone, sometimes obvious ones, and vice versa.

[kicko]

i agree on WIDE zone but i think it calls too many bad strikes and not enough bad balls. I used to be Mr. Always swing that bat, but after learn to wait for my pitch i get called out looking a little more then i would like. Overall fantastic experiences. I might try the tight zone to see if it might induce a few more walks, at least were getting walks in a game.

[BasketballJones]

In my opinion with umpire set to wide it most often benefits the pitcher with the higher rating.

For kicks I turned the sliders for power & contact to max (both teams). I figure I'd do it for a few innings knock out the starting pitcher Tim Stauffer and adjust it back to default when a never seen middle reliever comes in. I ended up playing a 14 inning 3-2 game and lost surrendering 6 hits and getting 8. Four of the 5 runs were homers (1 for each team).

What I discovered with only one game played is the CPU batters swung at everything; I hit towering flyballs many in the infield and several hard double plays. The CPU pitcher threw constantly to the blue zone (I play with it off) and when I did get challenged it was high heat. So I ended up playing the entire 14 innings like that. Fluke? maybe. I'll try later on in the week when I get the chance to play again.

[JackB1]

sounds good in theory, but there are just too many low strikes and
you dont get enough balls overall. Tight is the way to go for me.

p.s. I also turned off the strike zone and hot/cold zones and I like it much better that way. less stuff cluttering up the screen......looks more like a real game.

I like the umpire setting at "wide".

Just like in real life, the ump misses strikes up and down the zone, sometimes obvious ones, and vice versa.

[webdanzer]

sounds good in theory, but there are just too many low strikes and
you dont get enough balls overall. Tight is the way to go for me.

I disagree. I get plenty of balls this way, and have seen plenty of strikes called balls.

Are you swinging at every strike? Perhaps that's why you don't notice it as much.

[jLp vAkEr0]

sounds good in theory, but there are just too many low strikes and
you dont get enough balls overall. Tight is the way to go for me.

I disagree. I get plenty of balls this way, and have seen plenty of strikes called balls.

Same here.

I see myself constantly shouting at my PSP: Ball!!???? WTF?!!

[JackB1]

Maybe I need to play more, but the strike zone is too low IMO and
setting it to "wide" just compounds the problem. I love having random
calls go either way, but ir just seems like there ware way more strikes
called on close pitches than balls. I also seem to walk more often with the
'tight" strike zone.

sounds good in theory, but there are just too many low strikes and
you dont get enough balls overall. Tight is the way to go for me.

I disagree. I get plenty of balls this way, and have seen plenty of strikes called balls.

Are you swinging at every strike? Perhaps that's why you don't notice it as much.

[webdanzer]

Okay, I know the 'too many hits on HOF' thing only applies to a few of you guys, but it's starting to creep into my games too.

Has anyone here tried *lowering* pitch speed? Posters on OS have claimed this does a good job of reducing hits, even more so than playing with the power and contact sliders.

Haven't tried it myself, yet, as I worry this will lead to an acute attack of slideritis. (Okay, yeah, I'm getting less hits, but now I have no power..better bump that, etc...) I've been very much trying to avoid that condition this year with my baseball games.

[AJColossal]

Haven't tried it myself, yet, as I worry this will lead to an acute attack of slideritis. (Okay, yeah, I'm getting less hits, but now I have no power..better bump that, etc...) I've been very much trying to avoid that condition this year with my baseball games.

I would think you'd be all about the sliders according to your sig!

I had the same problem. My Cubs were hitting in the .300s most of the year, but now we're down to the .280s which works for me. I think this can be attributed to:

* lowering contact to zero
* using the power button more often, resulting in more doubles and homers (good, because I tend to be on the low side), and less cheap singles.

Also I think the game replicates the streaks teams will go on during the course of a season. What appears to be an area that needs slider adjustment could just be a hot or cold streak your team is on.

Overall, I don't think you should screw around with a lot of sliders. I might even change my contact back to where it was, becuase now my offense is almost too low.

[webdanzer]

I would think you'd be all about the sliders according to your sig!

Actually, AJ, that's where the quote came from. I went through games and games of MVP 05 where I was able to win vs the CPU by simply throwing every pitch low and away. I thought it was a huge flaw in the game, and argued such here on this board. Turned out that when I reset sliders to default levels, the problem went away. I still don't know which slider did that or why, or even if it was just a huge, huge, HUGE fluke that I encountered, but yeah...that's what the sig is about. And why I want to avoid slideritis.

[icvu42]

Has anyone here tried *lowering* pitch speed? Posters on OS have claimed this does a good job of reducing hits, even more so than playing with the power and contact sliders.

I play on All-Star level. After about 20 games, I was regularly getting 15-20 hits per game (with contact at 0) I tried HOF level, but the CPU pounded me.

I went back to All-Star level, kept contact at 0 but increased CPU pitch speed to 18. The last 10 games have been perfect. Ive been getting anywhere between 6-10 hits per game.

Rick

[BasketballJones]

I tried lowering the pitch speed and noticed some deception for the offspeed pitches but I was able to quickly recognize the fastball.

I too fear slideritis as it takes a few games to notice the changes. My scores are still random and Pujols is the only guy throwing off the curve in the stats, as when I sim he goes 4 for 5. But with the April he's having that just may be the season he will have. My thoughts are to lower his ratings as he is maxed out. However, Coca Crisp was hitting over 400 and his avg has dived as every ball he puts into play is caught.

My son and I totally disagree on the sliders and style of play. I can jump on the fast ball and miss-time the offspeed pitches, where he has the curve timed and whiffs on the heat. This appears to be a matter of individual perception and possibly preference of camera angle as well.

My question is when do the individual player sliders move? I notice a change in thumps up/down and hot/cold streaks but not in the player's sliders. Let's say I would adjust Albert Pujols sliders down a few clicks would that turn him into Luis Pujols? And would I be defeating the purpose of player progression? I just don't want to destroy the momentum flow if that's the core of franchise mode. I haven't played this many baseball games straight through without simming ahead. It's great entertainment.

[JackB1]

has anyone solved the problem where the ball goes right past your outfielders when it shouldn't? I had a triple against me last night that should have been a single and it cost me the game. It doesnt happen that often but when it does, it really screws me! thanks.

[AJColossal]

Yeah Jack, we've talked about it a lot in the impressions thread.

Sometimes it happens, and sometimes it doesn't. It's weird.

[icvu42]

has anyone solved the problem where the ball goes right past your outfielders when it shouldn't? I had a triple against me last night that should have been a single and it cost me the game. It doesnt happen that often but when it does, it really screws me! thanks.

One thing I noticed in this game (which I like) is that your outfielders have to be looking at the ball in order to catch it. If you are running back for a ball, or coming up to field a ball, your you need to make sure he is turned and in a position to catch it. Unlike most other games where as long as your guy is there, he will catch it, even if facing backwards.

Rick

[JackB1]

so basically there isn't much you can do about it?
that's too bad, because that is the one major flaw in
an otherwise flawless game.

Yeah Jack, we've talked about it a lot in the impressions thread.

Sometimes it happens, and sometimes it doesn't. It's weird.