MLB06-The Show: Slider discussion

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 2:19 pm

Please forgive me (Db) for starting a new thread, but I feel a separate slider thread is warranted

Can you guys that have played this game for a while give me some basic tweaks that you found makes the game more realistic? I think the things I have read about in the other thread were pitch count, of arms and of speed, etc. Give me a good starting base. thanks.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 2:27 pm

Actually sliders are talked about in the other thread and that's all you need:

Pg. 20 is where it starts. Everyone pretty much agrees on them...at least I do and a couple others. Here, let me help:

http://www.digitalsportspage.com/module ... &start=475

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 3:50 pm

I'll check it out, but I didnt really want to sift thru +25 pages for slider stuff. Forums like at OS always have separate threads for Impressions and for Slider talk. I think its a good idea to separate those two out, but thanks for the link.

dbdynsty25 wrote:Actually sliders are talked about in the other thread and that's all you need:

Pg. 20 is where it starts. Everyone pretty much agrees on them...at least I do and a couple others. Here, let me help:

http://www.digitalsportspage.com/module ... &start=475

Boom · Post by **Boom** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 4:33 pm

**n/m, pointless**

Bill_Abner · Post by **Bill_Abner** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 5:01 pm

Jack I agree that individual game slider threads are fine. You don't need db's permission.

I'm nowhere near ready to play on HOF lvl. I'm still playing on Veteran which is giving me very good games.

I'm using a tight umpire strike zone, lowering arm strength and arm acc a few clicks, bumping up CPU Pitch Count to get more walks. I also bump up human contact because I'm still not they best hitter. The strikezone is tricky to figure out in this game.

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 6:57 pm

Do u think a "tight" strike zone gives you more walks? It would sound like it should, but this has been debated over at the OS boards and nobody seems to know how it works. I believe that "tight" means that the ump calls balls and strikes "by the book" and wide means the strike zone is more loosely interpreted, which is how it is in real life. Have you noticed getting more walks on "tight"?

Did you max out "pitch count" like most are doing? It's weird that they don't have a "CPU Pitcher's accuracy" slider.

I am really enjoying this game though. It does have a few "quirks", but on the whole is very enjoyable. I love that I am striking out a lot after just a few games. Gives me room to grow into the game. First game with 2K6, I struck out maybe 3,4 times.

Bill_Abner wrote:Jack I agree that individual game slider threads are fine. You don't need db's permission.

I'm nowhere near ready to play on HOF lvl. I'm still playing on Veteran which is giving me very good games.

I'm using a tight umpire strike zone, lowering arm strength and arm acc a few clicks, bumping up CPU Pitch Count to get more walks. I also bump up human contact because I'm still not they best hitter. The strikezone is tricky to figure out in this game.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 8:42 pm

JackB1 wrote:I'll check it out, but I didnt really want to sift thru +25 pages for slider stuff. Forums like at OS always have separate threads for Impressions and for Slider talk. I think its a good idea to separate those two out, but thanks for the link.

Feel free to visit their forums. There is a hellova lot more traffic there anyway.

Bill_Abner · Post by **Bill_Abner** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 8:53 pm

JackB1 wrote:Do u think a "tight" strike zone gives you more walks? It would sound like it should, but this has been debated over at the OS boards and nobody seems to know how it works. I believe that "tight" means that the ump calls balls and strikes "by the book" and wide means the strike zone is more loosely interpreted, which is how it is in real life. Have you noticed getting more walks on "tight"?

Did you max out "pitch count" like most are doing? It's weird that they don't have a "CPU Pitcher's accuracy" slider.

I am really enjoying this game though. It does have a few "quirks", but on the whole is very enjoyable. I love that I am striking out a lot after just a few games. Gives me room to grow into the game. First game with 2K6, I struck out maybe 3,4 times.

Yes I think the tight zone combined with the pitch count maxed gives you more walks. Why there isn't a pitch accuracy slider..I have no idea.

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 9:34 pm

Bill_Abner wrote:
JackB1 wrote:Do u think a "tight" strike zone gives you more walks? It would sound like it should, but this has been debated over at the OS boards and nobody seems to know how it works. I believe that "tight" means that the ump calls balls and strikes "by the book" and wide means the strike zone is more loosely interpreted, which is how it is in real life. Have you noticed getting more walks on "tight"?

Did you max out "pitch count" like most are doing? It's weird that they don't have a "CPU Pitcher's accuracy" slider.

I am really enjoying this game though. It does have a few "quirks", but on the whole is very enjoyable. I love that I am striking out a lot after just a few games. Gives me room to grow into the game. First game with 2K6, I struck out maybe 3,4 times.
Yes I think the tight zone combined with the pitch count maxed gives you more walks. Why there isn't a pitch accuracy slider..I have no idea.

I agree. I have pitch count and baserunning aggressiveness all the way to the right. Pitch speed is your own preference. Throw accuracy and speed at 2 below default. Errors at 3 above default. BTW, did I say how much I absolutely love the game?

Millennium · Post by **Millennium** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 3:19 am

HOF default, then (all numbr from default):

Arm Accuracy -4 for both
Error Frequency +3
Pitch Count Max
Injuries Max (for Franchise/Season modes)

That's what I finally settled on after trying abot 7 slider sets, and I am loving life.

Pared said something at OS that rings very true - Every time you tweak a slider too much, you end up affecting other aspects of the game. Lowering arm strength is one of those sliders that doesn't need tweaking. The ball's speed when thrown is fine. It was just always on line. Lowering Arm accuracy helps with that AND (get this) if you fire the ball at top speed everytime, there is a much higher chance you will throw the ball away, forcing you to not throw as hard some of the time. Guys like Tejada should be able to go in the hole and throw an average-speed guy out, and lowering arm strength makes it so he can't anymore.

drbaseball · Post by **drbaseball** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 9:33 am

I've played nearly a hundred games on the PSP, maybe more, trying to find the right level/sliders. For sure, a tight strike zone is the way you want to go.

Is anyone else getting lockups on the PSP? I am starting to get freezes, particularly late in games (8th inning on) when I try to bring in a pitcher or pinch runner. It doesn't happen every time, but it is starting to happen enough to make me nervous. Last night I brought in a pitcher in the 8th inning of a tight 5-5 game, and the game froze in the transition.

Is this just me, or are others experiencing the same thing?

Bill_Abner · Post by **Bill_Abner** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 9:47 am

Man you guys playing on HOF -- I bow down to your baseball gaming prowess! I can't make contact on that lvl to save my life.

I dunno what I think about the arm strength thing. I do think that the outfielders can get it in a bit too quick on default. But if you lower it too much I think it messes with infielder strength.

What's the secret to hitting on HOF? (Don't say be patient or I'll virtually flog you Millennium, heh)

Diablo: Base running aggro maxed? Does that lead to too many CPU runners getting thrown at trying for doubles, etc? I haven't messed with that slider but I do wish the runners would take a few more chances.

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 9:59 am

Bill_Abner wrote: Diablo: Base running aggro maxed? Does that lead to too many CPU runners getting thrown at trying for doubles, etc? I haven't messed with that slider but I do wish the runners would take a few more chances.

I haven't had a problem with it. I just felt the CPU was too conservative on default. It actually doesn't make a huge difference.

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 11:17 am

Yeah, I've tried HOF and I just can't seem to hit the ball unless I guess the right pitch and location.

Tips?

Like Bill, veteran has been about where my hitting skills are right now... albeit a few too many hits. Maybe turning guess pitch off on veteran will help lower my hit totals.

HipE · Post by **HipE** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 12:44 pm

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.

pigpen81 · Post by **pigpen81** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 1:45 pm

I am 38-32 on HOF with the Tigers.

I recently bumped up pitch speed all the way and put contact and power at default to make it more dificult as I was avergaing 12-14 hits a game. Even with contact at 0 I had 8 hitters over .300

I have a lack of power thoug with 10 as my leader only half way thorugh the year.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 1:51 pm

OK showoffs, some one post some All Stars sliders plz.

I can't remember when I hit a HR, lots of singles though.

BasketballJones · Post by **BasketballJones** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 1:53 pm

Bill_Abner wrote:Man you guys playing on HOF -- I bow down to your baseball gaming prowess! I can't make contact on that lvl to save my life.

What's the secret to hitting on HOF? (Don't say be patient or I'll virtually flog you Millennium, heh)

.

OK I won't say it. I don't find hitting this year as difficult as last year.
My unscientific conclusion between game levels is the number of breaking pitches and location. On HOF they will alternate between heat and offspeed stuff. Also on HOF the same fastball will vary by a couple of MPHs. This is where gameplay imitates real life as the Ray Miller and Leo Mazzone school of pitching. The handeye coordination is effected most by constant speed change.

The Ray Miller school of pitching is that if you establish the offspead pitch you own the hitter. Miller's pitchers frequently threw a first pitch changeup. We just preached this in practice the other day. These kids want to throw the heat and play with the curveball and they have no clue how to throw a changeup. When they do throw it, you know its coming because they slow there motion down it looks like they were shot.

The handeye coordination is the same in gameplay. The funny thing is if my conclusion is correct I'm thinking of using this game (since most of the kids are playing it) as an illustration to get my point across.

btmmayor · Post by **btmmayor** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 8:20 pm

HipE wrote: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.

Good grief!! I can't score runs to save my life on All-Star or above. I went 1-9 through the first 10 games of my Pirates franchise scoring about 1-2 runs a game max. I thought maybe it was just the weak Pirates lineup, but I guess not.

For you guys that are smashing the ball, what batting cameras are you using? I remember reading in the other thread that some of you were using the offset camera, but I have a horrible time seeing the inside pitch with that camera. I've been using wide for the most part.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 9:02 pm

Can you use sliders online or is this offline-only like EA games?

Yeah I could never get into the guess-pitch aspect of hitting in MLB games.

If any pitcher could hit any part of the strike zone (or outside of it) on a given pitch, guessing really can't work. IRL pitchers don't have that kind of control.

Millennium · Post by **Millennium** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 9:51 pm

Bill - This is the best set of tips I can give you. I play adult league baseball, and use a lot of this in my at bats:

- Be Patient (sorry...couldn't help myself) - more specifically, until you get two strikes, pick an area of the plate and a specific pitch type (i.e. Fastball inside, low and away breaking pitch, etc.). If it doesn't come, don't swing. You shouldn't be swinging by reflex until you get two strikes. This doesn't mean wait until you have 1 strike, but that helps as well. Pick a pitch and an area, and sit on it.

- It's tough, if you K or get out on a sequence of pitches, try to remember them. This is going a little far, but I actually have a pad next to my gaming chair where, if I strike out, I just scribble the pitch and location for my next at bat. Pitcher's DO have tendencies in this game (and they don't even have to advertise it to make a good game

) and WILL try to get batter's out with the same stuff if you continue to swing. This has helped me immensely interms of getting a batter back on track after a bad at bat.

- Don't be afraid to take pitches. This kind of goes along with the first tip, but a lot of people think if they take a borderline strike it is a failure. A lot of the time it is a good pitch that you couldn't hit anyways. Two strikes is different, you should be fouling off anything close, but before two strikes, borderline pitches should only be swung at if you guess around that area. One big thing about this game is if you have the Umpiring Zone on Wide, there are some borderline strikes that will go your way...people seem to have the idea that all of them go the way of the pitcher, and that simply isn't true.

Hope they help, Bill. Most are pretty much common tips, but they really work in this game. As for the arm strength thing, as I said, with accuracy down, it really does make the game realistic.

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 10:39 pm

Millenium, it sounds like we play the game much the same way. I'll tell you, if you're someone who uses guess pitch, you really get an appreciation for what it's like to go up against someone like Pedro Martinez, who has 5 good pitches to choose from. My strategy with those guys is to wait them out from the beginning..and hope that they throw enough pitches after 6 innings that I can get into the bullpen, where the guys might only have 2-3 different pitches in their arsenal.

I've always gotten the impression that guys like Jim Edmonds do a lot of guess pitching in real life. But then there are guys like Vlad Guerrero who were just born free swingers. See the ball and hit the ball. So I guess we shouldn't be surprised that people play The Show in different ways, as well.

pigpen81 · Post by **pigpen81** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 11:55 pm

One big thing about this game is if you have the Umpiring Zone on Wide, there are some borderline strikes that will go your way...people seem to have the idea that all of them go the way of the pitcher, and that simply isn't true.

This is so true...I've had pitches that were one complete baseball inside the zone called balls and had other pitches that were one whole baseball outside the zone called strikes.....random greatness. You have to go wide.

Millennium · Post by **Millennium** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 8:18 am

BTW, as soon as I posted this, I get perfect gamed as the Reds vs. Chris Carpenter. 14 K's, no BB's, 103 pitches, no hits...lost 4-0. Damn he has some FILTHY stuff.

I love this game.

EDIT: Regarding the Guess Pitch feature - I don't use it due to the 'lock-on' effect if you guess the correct spot. I suppose you could guess the pitch and still get the power boost and keep it realistic, but I just guess location and pitch on my own and if I am right it normally goes a long, long way.

I also only use the power swing in key situations (down by 2 late with a man on, something like that) and in good counts (ony use it if I can get to a 2-0, 3-0, 3-1 count unless I have a top tier hitter up in which I may use it at random times IF I think I have a pitcher figured out).

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 10:45 am

Here's a question, not slider related (or maybe it could be) , but after losing many scoring opportunities by having to babysit each baserunner, I finally had to go to auto baserunning. My question is how do you get the autobaserunners to steal? Since I went to autobaserunning, I've been very happy for the most part as my guys will take the extra base when it's there, advance from 2nd to 3rd on ground balls and deep flies, and just generally do everything that they should do when given a chance...except steal. I have seen 2 guys attempt a stolen base on their own since I went to autobaserunning and it was the wrong 2 guys...Molina and Pujols. Eckstein nor anyone else with speed will attempt to steal, even though I was successful stealing with them on manual baserunning.

So is there a button press to tell them to steal (no, the actual steal order does not work) or is there a slider I should bump up to make them steal more often?

Also, is anyone having any trouble with fatigue? My everyday players are usually exhausted after two games in a row. I'm literally having to play Rolen every other day because his bar is all the way down. I've played 27 games and Rolen has played 15 of them. Even Pujols has only played in 22 games. What's worse is when you sit them out, you can't even pinch hit with them without it looking like they played the entire game. Other games that use a fatigue system allow you to sit a player, use him as a pinch hitter late in a game, and still recover all of his fatigue for that game. In this game, if I sit Pujols and then pinch hit him late, he recovers none of his energy. So, is anyone else seeing this?