T
- Make Tail-enders feel like tail-enders - Too many times when I am bowling to tail-enders does it feel like I'm bowling to an opening batsman, they will hit perfectly timed shots to all parts of the ground off balls bowled on a good line and length, they rarely seem to edge the ball and seem to find the middle of the bat too often, also in career mode at least once a match will a tail-ender make at least 40 (mainly when simming to career player) It seems the game does this to inflate the CPU score to an acceptable level if you clean up their top order cheaply.
-Fix the CPU run aggressiveness - Their batsmen are way too tame when it comes to running between wickets, they will pass up many opportunities for an easy single or will call for one and turn back immediately. They will stroll through for a single on easy 2's and 2's on 3's which means there are practically never any run out chances.
-Fix Innings pacing issues - Neither team are aggressive enough during run chases in one-dayers or T20, I was able to win a game where they needed 6 off the final over because the batsman on strike had no interest in attempting to score any runs and was content blocking or casually pushing the ball to the fielders in the infield - not once did he even attempt a slightly aggressive shot and I bowled a maiden off the last over!!!! and in 4dayers or test matches too many times am I getting wickets by batsmen trying to blast the ball out of the ground on balls they had no chance of doing so.
-add the element of surprise to bowling - very, very rarely am I able to make a batsman look stupid while taking his wicket as he already seems to know exactly what I am going to bowl as soon as the ball leaves the hand (maybe even before it does), Would be cool to see a batsman attempt a big cover drive and see a wrong un or an in swinger send his stumps flying because he has completely misread what was being bowled.
This.
I am pretty sure
@Ross has said previously that the AI
do know exactly what's coming before it's coming. This of itself isn't a problem - i imagine it's the same in all cricket games – but the implementation in DBC causes the major problems of few AI edges, middle or miss, and tailender batting. Because the AI knows the exact path of the ball, you get issues where you bowl a great ball in the corridor and end up with the AI leaving the ball by backing away outside leg before the ball has even pitched…
I posted this video before but I’ll repost it now…
This is something that happens to me a lot and it is completely dispiriting. You’re forced to bowl in an unrealistic manner because good balls like this go unrewarded.
I don’t know if the AI batter code has any “uncertainty” factor built in but it doesn’t seem like it… there should be something like the path is only 90% certain for 5 helmet batter, 80% certain for 4 helmet etc. to help us get more edges, more close play and misses, hits that aren’t perfectly middle etc…
Bowling generally feels like you’re always bowling to the same batter, in the same conditions, and you get wickets that are essentially pre-determined (why does a batter who has played everything along the ground decide to hole out to mid-on out of the blue, why does a guy on 97 warp to outside off and play a completely inappropriate shot so he is bowled off his legs?). it is extremely rare in the game to feel you have earned a wicket.
The pacing issue is also very frustrating. I’ve been writing up some matches in the Match experience thread, and I’m playing a custom format where the first 3 innings of the match is closed at 90 overs (no closure in 4th innings to allow draws). I’ve bowled 3 innings to the AI and every time they’ve lasted the full 90 overs, and every time they played the last 10-20 overs as if they had 1000 overs left. Even when they were following on and needing to set some sort of target, they blocked out a lot and ended up only 29 in front. Then I’ve just had a side scoring 30 off the last 10 even though they had 3 wickets in hand… The games are enjoyable to a point, but equally I know I can win the game without bowling them out in either innings as long as I bat last – provided I don’t bat like a complete mug they will never score quickly enough to set a challenging total. This is exacerbated by the running issue as the chances are the AI have turned down anything from 30-50 runs over the course of the 90 overs not taking clear singles.
At the moment, bowling is considerably less satisfying than batting; batting suffers considerably from the AI field settings but is generally a much more complete experience that you feel you have control over. Bowling is a slot machine – you pull the lever until the game decides you can have 3 cherries.
