Shot Selection Bingo!

[ellgieff]

Right, I'm looking for some advice here. I'm getting more and more frustrated by the game of "I wonder which shot he'll select this time!" that came with my cricket game.

Of course, frustration being the enemy of batting well, I'm not batting all that well.

For clarity, I'm playing a pure batsman in career (waiting for patch 2 so I can restart as an all-rounder, with the bowling hopefully being less easy), batting at number 3.

I'm in my fourth year, and my boy still only has one rank on his helmet - because I'm caught in a place where I can't get a whole lot of skills, because I can't get a whole lot of runs.

And, to get back to the original point, it feels like the reason I don't get many runs is because of the shot selection bingo. That is, I'll play what feels like the same stick movements, but get a wide variety of shots in response.

Any hints?

 

[laxsidd]

Totally understand what you are going through. My suggestion is that you take a temporary break from career mode and play a few casual matches at a higher difficulty level (i.e. if career is in Pro then play casual matches in Veteran). Firstly, it takes away the pressure of losing your wicket which allows you to explore the different shots available for any particular delivery & the safest of them. Trust me - this will certainly help you significantly when you come back to playing in career mode. Hope this helps!!! (If you want specific batting tips, there are a couple of very good sub-forums by Cloda & CallyT that you can refer)

 

[Frostyvegi]

That is, I'll play what feels like the same stick movements, but get a wide variety of shots in response.

Any hints?

Testing I did a while ago in the nets proved that if you play the same input (I removed all variables and ensured the shot played was directly straight with a directly straight footwork by breaking the controller mapping to not allow me to put any left/right variance on my controller input) at as exactly as possible the same time to the exact same delivery (speed, bounce, pitch point) that you would get the exact same result.

Due to the varied nature of cricket, the exact speed of the ball, the exact point of release, the exact point of impact on the pitch, the exact timing of the shot selection and the exact point at where the control inputs are pushed, further without seeing videos of example of your shot play, it's hard to offer any suggestion about what you're doing wrong.

I'm playing on legend difficulty with a pure batsman, and If I'm trying to play a shot from Cover all the way around to mid on, I'm 99% sure I'll hit it in the intended direction along the ground, as long as the ball is not a bouncer or completly down the wrong line. Anything that is just wide of the off stump to being on middle stump, no issues.. it's just when the field does not allow me to go to this area and I have to play further on leg that the timing window starts to play a big part.. too late and you'll hit it too fine, too early, you'll probably air it to mid on.. then the line and speed of the delivery start becoming bigger factors.

TL;DR - Timing is less of a factor playing straight, generally more forgiving when trying to play it along the ground, otherwise you're going to have to be pretty exact and judge the ball speed better to play wider.

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it takes away the pressure of losing your wicket which allows you to explore the different shots available for any particular delivery & the safest of them.

That is a true statement.. I did this to play some glances through third man region.. but still do not have the confidence to judge the ball enough to play this shot in my career yet.. maybe when I get to play in England I'll expand on this shot.

 

[surendar]

I have suggested this before, want to bring up again :

• Forget the text book shots on what it is written for playing so & so delivery in so & so length.
• See in your skills on where your area of strength lies( for example, mine is onside & front foot )
• See your fielders around before every delivery. This is what I do in real life as well.
• Do not press aggressive or additional triggers unless your confidence is very high & there is an obvious gap between fielders.
• Play normal shots with just foot work & shot direction & in the gaps. If you think - late cut, upper cut or whatever cut in a predetermined way, you will be dismissed by the time your mind think of those. Just see the ball & play it in natural direction which your hands move on seeing the ball. I would strongly advise here to go by your area of strength. There is no shame/harm in playing in same direction where you are strong. For example, I always start with my front foot & onside shots to start with. When I find AI trying to align more fielders in onside, I just enjoy additional aggressive triggers in big gaps on offside.
• Do not even TOUCH the controller if you are not ready to spend long time with it. We cannot get 100 runs in 10 minutes of timespan even in real life. 30 runs or 40 runs - whatever time allows, I play and save/exit and resume next day when I get the time. During early days, I always observed that I end up falling cheaply whenever I tried to squeeze in my 5 minutes of play with mindset of playing 'yet another match before I sleep!'.

Well, these are the things I try in PRO mode and I don't have any idea on higher difficulty levels as I am very keen that I will not try next level until I master in PRO level. Ah well, PRO CAM if you really don't mind those views in non striker's end. PRO CAM gives me complete control of my own shots & directions and I always find easy to keep scoring runs. But again it depends on individual's view. I am not a perfectionist to expect everything like real life, just a casual gamer to adapt & enjoy the game on 'As-IS' condition. So Yeah!

 

[ellgieff]

Thanks guys.
@laxsidd: I might try that. I don't really want to play the whole team, because bowling is still too stupidly easy, but I guess I can simulate that side of it?
@frosty: OK, I see. It looks like I'll need to put in much, much more practise to get precise enough on the controller.

This actually makes me simply want to bin the game and move on. I've been playing pretty solidly since I got it (3 weeks or more ago, and I'm between jobs - so I've been playing a lot) and I still think it's the best cricket game ever, but I'm not certain I have enough fire trucks to give.

See, I'm not talking about the results. I'm not talking about "why did I hit that in the air". I'm talking about trying to play a front foot pull shot (or turning it square off the front foot if it's fuller) and having my guy hit it towards mid-on.

I tried to play the pull because I'd be happy if I missed or edged it, given the delivery actually coming down the pipe. I'm not that happy when he plays a different stroke and hits it down mid-on's throat.
@surendar: I tried pro cam. I got a headache trying to force the bugger to keep his eyes level

Much respect that you are able to cope with that cam.

 

[TripleM]

For what it's worth, I've never experienced what you're describing; the batsman always plays the shot I select. Either you're not pushing the analog stick in the direction you think you are (very easy to think you're going straight in one direction when the angle you're holding the controller actually means you're not), or you have an issue with your controller.

 

[ellgieff]

For what it's worth, I've never experienced what you're describing; the batsman always plays the shot I select. Either you're not pushing the analog stick in the direction you think you are (very easy to think you're going straight in one direction when the angle you're holding the controller actually means you're not), or you have an issue with your controller.

I thought it was the controllers (both of mine had a fairly good thrashing playing the Skate series). I bought a new one, which has helped with accidentally leaving balls I want to play - I still get shot weirdness.

I agree, it's likely that my inputs aren't as precise as they should be. This is made more difficult because there's no dead spot around the centre of the stick, and the footwork/direction triggers as soon as you move it, not at the end of the throw.

The only thing that gives me a pause for this analysis is the examples where I'm trying to hit square, but end up playing through mid on. If I was going to midwicket, I'd understand this better.

One of the things to be clear about, though: You don't select a shot. You select footwork, and a direction to hit the ball - the game then chooses the most appropriate shot.

I'm wondering if there's some corner cases where the shot selected is a bit surprising, or if there's something else (e.g. confidence, and/or batsman ability) that factors into it.

 

[douglas93]

I have to be honest Im with you, I can accept some dismissals are my fault but some I am struggling to understand, particularly when I have played a certain shot several times in an innings and then for some reason it goes flying off behind the bowlers head to be caught out. Just seems as batsman the odds are massively stacked against you although I understand that is being addressed in next patch.

 

[Scrogs]

Blimey....a lot of thought and scientific reasoning has gone into some of the previous posts in this thread. Life is too short gents to torture yourselves with scientific disection of the batting mechanics in this game.....probably better to learn the batting foibles and use them to your advantage.

 

[zombieian]

I must say that, although I'm not brilliant at batting, the ball invariably goes where I intend it to. When I get out it's normally my fault.
As I've already mentioned, I use the LS first, after the ball has been released by the bowler, then I play the shot. i.e. The RS follows the LS.
I know many people use the LS before the bowler bowls the ball, or play the LS simultaneously with the RS, but I like to play the shot as I would play a shot in an actual game. I would imagine that this is how BA intended the game to be played.
If you're not experiencing consistency in your shot direction, I too would say its down to your timing not being quite right. Mind you, no matter how good your timing is, the ball will still go in the air.

 

[inertSpark]

Blimey....a lot of thought and scientific reasoning has gone into some of the previous posts in this thread. Life is too short gents to torture yourselves with scientific disection of the batting mechanics in this game.....probably better to learn the batting foibles and use them to your advantage.

This really.

The way I live with it is by playing scoring shots instead of defending, since its better to score a few whilst taking a risk, than defending and risk being caught having scored nothing. If someone's looking for immersion, its probably not a solution, but for me, it at least keeps me sane!

 

[Scrogs]

Who knows what people are looking for anymore.

 

[Scrogs]

I'm still looking to play a sumptious square cut that leaves the bat like a rocket.....and stays on the ground until it hits the boundary rope. It COULD happen I suppose. Keep trying

 

[danny_Fc]

I'm still looking to play a sumptious square cut that leaves the bat like a rocket.....and stays on the ground until it hits the boundary rope. It COULD happen I suppose. Keep trying

I play this shot quite consistently against fast bowlers after the latest patch. Then again I'm only on Pro so maybe the game is more forgiving.

 

[dippa]

Square cut is still the hardest of the safe/stock shots to play, I find. The later cut through backward point/third man tends to be more reliable.

It's kind of rough because you can't setup the bowling machine in the nets to give you deliveries wide enough to properly practice it, but then I'm not one to start walking away from my stumps just for a simple square cut.