This is an interesting idea, though I feel like it'd make things a little too complicated. One thing I like about the way me and blockerdave are envisioning the idea of bowling plans is that it is really just building off what is already in the game. In fact, I am half-anticipating it to be in the game in some form. There is already a system where batsmen have set strengths and weaknesses - it makes sense for the AI to be set up so that it sets the field according to these characteristics. There are also categories of fields already (attacking, defensive and i think moderate?) - the next logical step is that these fields correspond to suitable bowling tactics.
One point I forgot to mention is that this approach also offers a way to make the skills of bowlers more meaningful. For example, the 'fullish, outside off' bowling plan has a *perfect* ball - its line is a couple inches outside off, its length is the intersection of the good and full areas. The higher the skill level of the bowler, the smaller the potential landing spot radius around that perfect ball. So, if they have full skill level for outswingers, then when they bowl an outswinger they are more likely to land it closer to that perfect ball spot.
Also, as I said, the plans would have a feature built into them whereby sometimes the bowler will bowl a 'loose delivery'. For example, instead of bowling 'fullish, outside off', they might bowl a short wide one, or a full one that is heading down leg. Naturally, the more skillful the bowler is, the less often they will bowl 'loose deliveries' (i.e. deliveries that don't follow the plan, and are therefore 'bad balls' for the particular field that is set for the plan). This would be a nice way to mimic the reality of skill differences between bowlers, as this is essentially what it comes down to. Really skillful Test bowlers rarely bowl 'bad balls', less skillful ones bowl them a lot, and this lets the pressure off the batsman as they know that whatever the plan, they will be getting plenty of scoring opportunities.
Another point that I may not have made clear in my original post in this thread (I made a more in depth description of the idea elsewhere on the forum, which included more thoughts on what the different tactics and fields would be like)... is that there would essentially be three tiers of decision making for the AI:
1. It decides whether it should be attacking, defensive or moderate. This would be based on the team score, the individual batsman's score, the captain's temperament, the match situation, etc.
2. It decides which bowling plan *within* the category of attack/defense/moderate it should employ. This then determines which subset of fields in the category it chooses. There should be maybe 3 different but similar fields for each plan that are randomly chosen - this mimics the captain's 'gut feeling', e.g. whether they should have a 3rd slip or a cover.
3. It decides how long it should stick with the chosen plan. Again, the initial plan it chooses should be based on the batsman's set strengths and weaknesses. So, if a batsman walks in and his strength is offside and his weakness is legside, then the AI would *always* choose the 'bowl at the stumps' plan. However, if the batsman doesn't get out, then after some period of time (which is determined by the captain's temperament) the AI would change to a randomly determined new plan, within the category of attack/defense/moderate already determined by the factors in the first tier thinking.
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