Making bowling more enjoyable, seeing weather/pitch effects etc. - invitation to playtest

[Langeveldt]

I have and I did notice an improvement all around the board (although not as low as you achieved, you are obviously better at this!) I really appreciate you trying to find improvements in our bowling experience here.

I like my games to imitate real life, which is why I have no interest in batting myself, or playing online, and I just can't oversee the identical player styles either.

The DBC Academy is absolutely superb. I have never seen such customization in a sports game outside of the big American franchise games. I just wish it had more of an effect and I hope someone from up high is reading this. I in no way want to attack the game at all, but it could be insanely good with say difficulty sliders as seen in some games, or the academy attributes having more of an effect on AI behavior.

 

[Biggs]

The one thing that they don't address, and which you're right is poor for 2015, is each batsman feeling the same in terms of style etc

That's the main gripe I've had with the batting for a while, you select a base "playing style" for your batsman and it doesn't seem to have any noticeable difference. Like there's not a bunch of "unlockable" or "hidden" shots that only a certain style of batsman can play. Which, IMO, would make sense to me. The one thing I will say is when playing online against Matt my "Bradman Biggs" (who is essentially a clone of Bradman, just with a Biggs-Head) can't play lofted shots very well. He's great with ground-based boundaries and seems to have more accuracy splitting the field, rather than my McCullum-clone Biggs who seems to be able to bash the ball around easily but is more prone to getting out playing defensive...

...that all of course could simply be Placebo effect of having created those players.

 

[cooks1st100]

The bowling experience in DBC is far superior to even the best EA07 patch in my opinion due to LBW's being pretty much non existent in tests in EA07 that and the fact that if the AI batted in the fourth innings it would go into slog mode.

The batting types are definitely too similar but there are subtle differences. The best way to notice this is too make all but 2 of the top order conservative ( personally I think this is the best style), this way when a different type comes in you will notice a difference, generally in the shots that they play.

...that all of course could simply be Placebo effect of having created those players.

I think you are correct in this case Biggs due to the fact if you read what it says when you change the batsman type in the academy it states that this effects the AI only. However, differences in strength, offside, onside, flat and straight will make a difference to the human controlled players.

 

[cooks1st100]

@Langeveldt
The one thing that they don't address, and which you're right is poor for 2015, is each batsman feeling the same in terms of style etc

The solution for me, which would have to be in the next iteration is a shot editor that would be assigned individually, as well as being able to edit how shots come off the bat, I'd like to be able to choose the shots an individual would play( for the AI). This added to a choice of 2/3 different animations for each shot would be a massive step in individuality and give you different challenges as a bowler.

 

[Alberts]

@Langeveldt have you played with these teams/settings? I haven't been able to play for a couple of weeks but my last game I played I got the tail out relatively easy - bottom 4 had 2 single figure score, 2 scores in low teens.

I think these stay adjustments have made a huge difference.

The one thing that they don't address, and which you're right is poor for 2015, is each batsman feeling the same in terms of style etc

These settings seem closer to what should actually be expected, but there are still issues with how the game behaves. The "dressing room shot"* doesn't suddenly disappear, they just play it, the only thing these changes have made is that when that ridiculous shot comes out for whatever reason, they tend to get out.

*A late cut either angled over, or in line with the slips, where the ball was heading for the top of off

There's plenty of good with the game, but the problem still stands that there are some quite significant balance issues that need to be worked. At this point though it doesn't look like balance is their main priority, so we'll see what comes in the future.

 

[Valaskjalf]

I decided to start a new career mode after spending a good few hours editing all the English Domestic players to reflect blockerdave's stats..with some variety of course. So far Ive only bowled in a single innings of my new career (Fast Bowler on Veteran) and atm Im on 3/34 after 16 over - nothing out of the ordinary so far...still random slogs, but actually managed to get a batsman caught at cover - which may not sound strange, but they generally only got caught at mid-off / 3rd man...so mosly very straight or behind square.

Will put in a bunch more hours and hopefully there will be a few edges.

 

[Dutch]

I decided to start a new career mode after spending a good few hours editing all the English Domestic players to reflect blockerdave's stats..with some variety of course. So far Ive only bowled in a single innings of my new career (Fast Bowler on Veteran) and atm Im on 3/34 after 16 over - nothing out of the ordinary so far...still random slogs, but actually managed to get a batsman caught at cover - which may not sound strange, but they generally only got caught at mid-off / 3rd man...so mosly very straight or behind square.

Will put in a bunch more hours and hopefully there will be a few edges.

would you be willing to put up your edited teams to the server to save others having to do the same??

 

[sohail]

I have replaced all the international teams skills as per this thread and have uploaded them on the academy. My username is rnsmusic

I have edited these to my liking and I can tell you the gameplay has improved ten fold. Do note that some shots the AI plays is retarded like yokers being late cut for 6 there's nothing you can do about that.

Feel free to use my stats as a base and if you want to change them around or how to make it better be my guest.

 

[cricket_online]

I decided to start a new career mode after spending a good few hours editing all the English Domestic players to reflect blockerdave's stats..with some variety of course. So far Ive only bowled in a single innings of my new career (Fast Bowler on Veteran) and atm Im on 3/34 after 16 over - nothing out of the ordinary so far...still random slogs, but actually managed to get a batsman caught at cover - which may not sound strange, but they generally only got caught at mid-off / 3rd man...so mosly very straight or behind square.

Will put in a bunch more hours and hopefully there will be a few edges.

I don't think you will see any major changes in career mode as career mode uses default team configurations irrespective of the way you've set them up. I believe it's a safeguard put in place by Big Ant against cheats who would create "weak" career teams and rack up easy points.

By the way I'm of the opinion that this safeguard is not really needed as it comes in the way of your individual experience. If someone wants to rack up cheap XP career points, so be it. I don't think too many people really care about points and the safeguard comes in the way of tailoring your career experience as per your requirements.

 

[Valaskjalf]

would you be willing to put up your edited teams to the server to save others having to do the same??

Yeah no probl

I don't think you will see any major changes in career mode as career mode uses default team configurations irrespective of the way you've set them up. I believe it's a safeguard put in place by Big Ant against cheats who would create "weak" career teams and rack up easy points.

By the way I'm of the opinion that this safeguard is not really needed as it comes in the way of your individual experience. If someone wants to rack up cheap XP career points, so be it. I don't think too many people really care about points and the safeguard comes in the way of tailoring your career experience as per your requirements.

Hmm that's interesting, because I added the "Weaklings" to the English Domestic League and simply by simulating past events/results I noticed they are quite a bit weaker compared to other teams and get rolled for below 200 while the opposition rack up scores in the region of 430/3. What do you mean with "default team configurations"? You mean in relation to stats or team make-up? As Ive done some random substitutions to teams as well, added benched players into the Starting XI of many teams and the changes have been made. Or do you mean no matter what Im changing anything to, in career-mode all the stats are only cosmetic? Because then...what's the point of them in the first place? Unless BA assume someone may want to play a one-off game with i.e Sussex or something.

 

[cooks1st100]

I don't think you will see any major changes in career mode as career mode uses default team configurations irrespective of the way you've set them up. I believe it's a safeguard put in place by Big Ant against cheats who would create "weak" career teams and rack up easy points.

You are completely wrong I'm afraid. If teams are replaced with different attributes then they will also come into effect in career mode.

 

[Cricket_god]

Guys just reduce the straight bat and flat bat skills to zero for each and every Batsman.This will make the Ai look to play more offside and increase edges.It also reduces the catches at mid off and those stupid shots to yorkers over slips.Rest stats as cooky said.

Anticipation and consistency everything 2-3 clicks from middle.

 

[Valaskjalf]

You are completely wrong I'm afraid. If teams are replaced with different attributes then they will also come into effect in career mode.

Yup...that's why I also questioned cricket_online's post, as I got so tired of facing the same lineups and same players over and over through my previous career I decided to change it up, slotting in batsmen for batsmen and all-rounders for all-rounders irrespective of what their real-life batting positions are. The changes in CA absolutely reflect in career-mode.

I would be willing to upload the changes to CA, so that others don't have to deal with the shlep of sitting through hours of editing - however I must admit I made a ton of team swaps as well, just to keep it interesting for myself. So I added the Weaklings, some Aussie Domestic sides as well as Nasua Cape Cobras to the English Domestic league - I also only made the batting changes as per blockerdave's suggestions as I felt that making bowling less effective as well would just bring me back to square one - with poor batsmen facing poorer bowling.

So @Dutch, uploading my changes may just open a whole can of other worms for players especially since I flat out deleted some English Domestic teams to slot in the new ones. What can I say, I'm South African...I feel very little for County teams :P

 

[cricket_online]

You are completely wrong I'm afraid. If teams are replaced with different attributes then they will also come into effect in career mode.

I recall Big Ant folks mentioning that you can't make career teams weak as that would enable folks to "game" the rankings by creating weak career teams and get points easily.

 

[blockerdave]

I recall Big Ant folks mentioning that you can't make career teams weak as that would enable folks to "game" the rankings by creating weak career teams and get points easily.

You're right there was definitely talk of some sort of balancing, because that was the justification for the original ridiculous situation where any player you put in took the skills/ attributes from the player in that position on the roster regardless of role, maybe they changed it completely because of the backlash?