Batting in career mode is a serious issue

[Deleted member 9102]

I've started playing my pull shots much earlier than usual which aims them more towards midwicket where the AI seems to rarely place a fielder.

In career mode, I'm finding that playing in the V is very unproductive - most of my recent dismissals have come from trying to play a cover drive and just popping it straight back up to the bowler with a thick edge... If I stick to playing mostly leg glances I can rack up far more runs with less risk than playing a more lifelike variety of shots.

If it's on the stumps or just outside off, you can get it away to the leg side using the leg glance. If it's wider outside off then you'll just miss the ball which is a risk-free dot ball. If it's short then it will automatically turn into a pull shot and if you play it early enough, you're likely to be safe. If you get an edge then it's likely to only crash into your pads, the only issues really are if you miss a straight one.

I also don't like how the only shot available to get the ball away anywhere between third man and cover point is a type of cut or late cut shot. The late cut seems very lenient in terms of the ease of striking the ball, even yorkers can be struck with them (you can even middle it onto your own stumps, as the AI likes to do also), but the normal cut shot towards point is extremely risky if the ball is quite full and on off stump as you rarely connect with it. There is no way to open the face of the bat on a drive/block to guide it into gaps, you either cover drive or you cut.

There's room for improvement here in future iterations, although it's a tough ask to accomodate so many subtleties and variations into shot selection on the controller, you can't have modifiers for everything.

I have one idea though - flicking the right stick in a direction chooses the shot, and then rotating the stick around afterwards opens the face of the bat to guide the ball to a certain direction. For example, to aim the ball towards point/backward point with a drive, you can play a straight drive or cover drive by flicking the right stick to 12 or 2 o'clock, but then rotate it towards 3/4 o'clock to determine the intended direction. This would allow you to keep the cut shot at the 3 o'clock flick, but give you other options to maneuver the ball there as well.

 

[T.J.Hooker]

My pull shots usually miss square leg so I don't have that bad a percentage on it. I get out sometimes but I get caught behind on drives more often.

 

[Ho3n3r]

My latest issue I've picked up, is that I attempt 1 shot, and the game tries to play a totally different shot, which results in a wicket. I've tried to play a cover drive where the ball ends up in the hands of short mid on, and on race occasions, mid wicket.

Other times, I've tried to play a straight forward defense shot, only for the computer to decide on my behalf that I've tried to play a square on drive, resulting in the player playing across the line, and inside the line of the ball, and getting bowled or out LBW.

And I know my controller is not faulty, for numerous reasons, one being that it works flawlessly under bowling. This is my biggest downfall at the moment.

This always results in me getting out before my confidence can get up enough, so it's really frustrating. I have made numerous scores of between 10 and 15.

Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[Deleted member 9102]

Never had my player attempt a drive when I've tried to play a defensive shot. Only cases I've had of playing the 'wrong shot' are when I have a shot in mind that isn't in the game, like a square drive and all other non-cut shots on the off side.

 

[Ho3n3r]

Never had my player attempt a drive when I've tried to play a defensive shot. Only cases I've had of playing the 'wrong shot' are when I have a shot in mind that isn't in the game, like a square drive and all other non-cut shots on the off side.

I did not mean that. What I meant was, the direction is all wrong sometimes.

 

[Deleted member 9102]

I know, that's never happened to me, sounds like a controller/input issue.

 

[wildclaws]

In career mode, I'm finding that playing in the V is very unproductive - most of my recent dismissals have come from trying to play a cover drive and just popping it straight back up to the bowler with a thick edge... If I stick to playing mostly leg glances I can rack up far more runs with less risk than playing a more lifelike variety of shots.

That definitely seems to be true for me too - the only time I play in the V is left trigger, over the batman's head. Does anyone have any success with regular cover drives? Does playing it on the ground help here?

 

[balkeet]

yup I had quite success with cover drives in spite of 5-6 dismissals in slip corden , just need to time it early to perfect instead of late in which case it leads to an edge. No need to use triggers to keep it on ground, I use grounded shot for only pull stroke.

 

[Ho3n3r]

I know, that's never happened to me, sounds like a controller/input issue.

Works perfectly for other games, so I would say something is up in the game.

 

[ankurmay1988]

After playing for a Month. Started Career, im a 1 star career player, Highest Score 91, can tell you that these "uppish drives, Hooks" is a career mode problem. Maybe because the starting career player has such low skills that DBC14 internal calculations result in shots like that. However i have hit some beautiful cover drives on the ground to the boundary. So there must be some technique to it.

 

[ankurmay1988]

yup I had quite success with cover drives in spite of 5-6 dismissals in slip corden , just need to time it early to perfect instead of late in which case it leads to an edge. No need to use triggers to keep it on ground, I use grounded shot for only pull stroke.

Yes, in my case this is very true, i am afraid of hitting/timing the ball late to keep it on the ground. Most of the time i hit the ball asap, with triggers to keep the ball down.

 

[Deleted member 9102]

Works perfectly for other games, so I would say something is up in the game.

Well I haven't experienced it and I haven't seen anyone else bring it up, and I'm sure if it were a problem with the game then it would be reported on here quite often.

 

[Gabe]

I do wonder if the air shots are, in part, to help out the AI? What I mean is that if perfectly timed drives/pulls/cuts worked like the AI batsmen and went into the ground quickly, it'd be very easy to score a lot of runs with those shots whether there was a fielder in the general area or not. But, by making them air shots, it means you have to either eliminate those scoring areas until there are gaps, accept the risk of playing and being caught or go for an aggressive ground shot which, due to different timing, brings its own risks and this all helps keep the run-rates down a bit (and gives the AI the chance to get you caught).

Perhaps that's why we haven't really heard much about it from BigAnt?

I can live with that as a solution - after all, even with the pull shots being a risk it's still one of my most productive shots for boundaries and I'll play it and not be too annoyed if I get out - but with drives I don't tend to play unless there's a gap as it is much riskier, which means I have to look for over areas to hit or play defensively and wait for my opportunity. And it means I don't score silly amounts of runs an over, and I like it kept to a more realistic level.

What I don't like is the dab to third man having to be a triggered shot, though. I think balls good enough to hit to that area aren't too frequent and when there's no 3rd/4th slip and/or gully then it should be pretty risk-free, which isn't the case currently.

 

[T.J.Hooker]

It wouldn't be for score restricting purposes because they'd still be restricting the score if the ball was fielded rather than caught.

 

[Gabe]

I have one idea though - flicking the right stick in a direction chooses the shot, and then rotating the stick around afterwards opens the face of the bat to guide the ball to a certain direction. For example, to aim the ball towards point/backward point with a drive, you can play a straight drive or cover drive by flicking the right stick to 12 or 2 o'clock, but then rotate it towards 3/4 o'clock to determine the intended direction. This would allow you to keep the cut shot at the 3 o'clock flick, but give you other options to maneuver the ball there as well.

How would that work without premeditating every shot? You would have perhaps a second to sort footwork, shot and then rotate the bat which isn't enough time for something that would require some finesse. Plus you'd have to represent how much you'd opened the face on-screen, too, lest you open it too much, so that would give even less time to consider the delivery of the ball.

I know it's a completely different system and dynamic - which puts more emphasis on the actual timing than the shot selection - but IC10 (which I do tend to go on about a fair bit) worked well in giving you the freedom to play into the gaps and worked off the same 8 basic shots, it's just that it let the AI pick the shot for (whether front or back foot and with/without modifiers.) So it was a simpler system but did let you (arguably) spray the ball around the field a bit more than in DB14.