Steam update for DBC17 released

[Langeveldt]

Has anyone had any clean bowleds in a test? Off a defensive prod even? I havent had the time to bowl, and won't have any time tomorrow

 

[Spoobir]

Has anyone had any clean bowleds in a test? Off a defensive prod even? I havent had the time to bowl, and won't have any time tomorrow

I've had some defensive play-and-misses that graze the stumps but no actual wickets.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Liking the way the patches are coming along (PS4 owner only ) loved the live twitch of the game today .
Can anyone else do a live twitch of the latest patched game please ..

I might have a go if I can get it working. I've not streamed on my pc before. Any format anyone would like to see? Batting or bowling?

 

[Langeveldt]

I might have a go if I can get it working. I've not streamed on my pc before. Any format anyone would like to see? Batting or bowling?

Download OBS, get a twitch account, get your twitch key (from Dashboard) and off you go.

Bowling on Veteran, hardest bowling please.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Download OBS, get a twitch account, get your twitch key (from Dashboard) and off you go.

Bowling on Veteran, hardest bowling please.

Was struggling to figure out the where to find the twitch key. Cheers. I'll post a link in the streaming thread when I'm up and running.

 

[Plotinus]

@Spoobir @cricket_online it's not a question of removing this shot, it was always played frequently by the AI, but the pad physics were nerfed so it never created a chance. the defensive prod edge on to pad (the real source of most bat pads in real life) doesn't seem to exist, so this was the solution to give bat pads and try to give an element of captaincy and thinking of where to place fielders and how much to attack.

BUT, I have to admit it's unbalanced the game, to the point where there's no captaincy again because you of course put in a short-leg and/or silly mid-on whatever the circumstances...

I don't believe the solution is just removing the shot, i think it's to do some or all of the following:

• if possible, randomise the pad physics / spring so more fall short or even fly too quickly. at the moment every one is a "chance", and that shouldn't be so.
• significantly reduce the frequency with which the AI plays the shot, especially against pace bowlers.
• significantly reduce the circle within which a close fielder can take a catch
• EVERY bat pad in manual and semi-auto fielding should be a reaction (mini-game slow mo) catch, and the timing window should be short. in auto fielding, the chances of a drop should be high. currently every "chance" is a wicket, and that shouldn't be so

this will hopefully give us the balance we seek.

I like this suggestion. I am really enjoying having close fielders round the bat (in fact the automatic field settings are working well now that I tend to bowl to what is set for me..which I never did before). I just want to feel pat-pads are earned rather than gifted and that a fair percentage of these are going to need skill to hang on to (occasionally one might loop up nicely...it does happen). On the plus side, I've just seen the keeper drop a catch for the first time...diving down the leg side he fluffed it and sent the ball running down to fine leg. Strange to feel excited about seeing a dropped catch off my bowling...but it looked like a sharp chance (50-50 at best), so I didn't feel disappointed.

 

[cricket_online]

i agree. i think it's not far off, the AI is playing much better. as far as i can see, addressing the batpad overkill (without removing them) and removing the front-foot cut to cover will have a big impact on the AI. additionally some sort of increased confidence boost in shorter formats might also be looked at.

It would be great where we are able to get games where AI can go to lunch at say 82/0 on a flat pitch or recover from 38/2 to 319/3 as the pitch flattens out and you go wicketless for a session and more with likes of Smith flogging you all over the park. IMO that's what's missing as we are able to dismiss AI cheaply. Now if AI could also put up big totals on flattish pitches it would be perfect, i.e. the sort of matches we see in Australia where teams regularly put 400-500 on board.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

So the game I'm streaming. The AI collapsed after lunch (as they did in the first game) and I had five bat pads. Without wanting to sound like a dick they were a bit painful to watch.

 

[cricket_online]

Ok folks I watched a Test played live on twitch by @wasteyouryouth. It was a Test match between two World XI teams on a flattish surface. I watched till the 40th over on Day 1 and World XI were 119/7. The user had a pretty liberal field set for the AI with no mid on for the pacer and generally no fielder in the Covers region and yet AI batsmen made way too many mistakes. Some of my observations which I had made while following threads and feedback from Steam/PC community was confirmed...

1. AI batting is too fragile. It's a matter of time and the AI batsman will make a mistake.
2. AI batsmen are still conservative while running between the wkts. I saw plenty of times that the ball went to the vacant mid on area and mid off had to move all the way to field the ball and AI didn't a run. Same with other times when there was chance for an easy 2 and AI barely took a single. IMO this lax running between the wkts also contributes to sub-par AI totals as they leave too many runs on the field.
3. Spinners are way too over-powered. As soon as spin was introduced the AI crumbled from 80 odd for 2 to 110 odd for 6. It looked as if spinner would take a wkt every over even on a decent surface in Sessions 1 and 2 on Day 1!
4. As blocker already mentioned the frequency of bat pads is too high. Nearly every over had a drive edged on to the pad and I shudder to think what would've happened on a spin friendly pitch or a Day 5 pitch if the match ever lasts that long.

@grkrama , @Dutch , @blockerdave do pass on this feedback to the Big Ant folks as the AI batting, spin bowling and bat pad do look in need of tweaking.

And thanks to @wasteyouryouth for streaming the DBC 17 Test live on twitch at a time when I could actually watch it Appreciate it big time!

 

[passarapin]

Ha

Ok folks I watched a Test played live on twitch by @wasteyouryouth. It was a Test match between two World XI teams on a flattish surface. I watched till the 40th over on Day 1 and World XI were 119/7. The user had a pretty liberal field set for the AI with no mid on for the pacer and generally no fielder in the Covers region and yet AI batsmen made way too many mistakes. Some of my observations which I had made while following threads and feedback from Steam/PC community was confirmed...

1. AI batting is too fragile. It's a matter of time and the AI batsman will make a mistake.
2. AI batsmen are still conservative while running between the wkts. I saw plenty of times that the ball went to the vacant mid on area and mid off had to move all the way to field the ball and AI didn't a run. Same with other times when there was chance for an easy 2 and AI barely took a single. IMO this lax running between the wkts also contributes to sub-par AI totals as they leave too many runs on the field.
3. Spinners are way too over-powered. As soon as spin was introduced the AI crumbled from 80 odd for 2 to 110 odd for 6. It looked as if spinner would take a wkt every over even on a decent surface in Sessions 1 and 2 on Day 1!
4. As @blockerdave already mentioned the frequency of bat pads is too high. Nearly every over had a drive edged on to the pad and I shudder to think what would've happened on a spin friendly pitch or a Day 5 pitch if the match ever lasts that long.

@grkrama , @Dutch , @blockerdave do pass on this feedback to the Big Ant folks as the AI batting, spin bowling and bat pad do look in need of tweaking.

And thanks to @wasteyouryouth for streaming the DBC 17 Test live on twitch at a time when I could actually watch it Appreciate it big time!

Haha I must be the only person on these forums that struggles to get wickets with spinners!

 

[cricket_online]

Haha I must be the only person on these forums that struggles to get wickets with spinners!

Really! From what I saw on the twitch stream all you have to do is have close-in fielders, especially the short leg guy, and the batsman is sure to pop one to him. Or AI will slog one up in the air.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

The teams I was using are ones I have thoroughly edited. They're players from the academy and I wanted to play around with skills and mentalities, so I just made the World XI squad with about 25 players in to at least make it interesting. Yesterday I was put all over the park on for 330 in 43 overs in an ODI, so it's not like they are terrible even though I've reduced some skill areas. I'd be happy to share them if anyone wanted them.

Generally I love bowling on the game, the edges are fantastic but it really does feel too easy (it was on Veteran and a custom bowling setting that's somewhere between Hard and Hardest). Both test matches I've played there is a solid start in the first session followed by an almighty collapse inside 20 overs of session 2. I don't know if the spinners are over skilled or that the spin skills are overly effective, but they usually start the collapse.

The only thing I can think is that the players all had a liquid lunch or the fact the bowlers have bowled 1 or 2 spells that the confidence is built up and it makes it easier to get out new batsman.

 

[Mr Snrub]

I want a competitive AI coz rolling out AI for 200 or thereabouts regularly will wear off eventually and you will be left with the option of simulating AI innings to get a competitive game. It should be hard to lodge AI batsmen, which I'm not seeing right now.

An important factor for us all to remember when asking for AI to bat better and produce better totals in tests, is that there are various lengths of games within DBC, all the way down to 5 overs and I do feel for Big Ant quite considerably trying to make the difficulty of removing batsmen appropriate along this very long string of potential game lengths.

If you make the AI in tests, start to produce on average 357, up from these 200's, what effect then on ODI's, or T20's or a custom 15 over someone might make (some people need shorter games for tournaments against friends with the odd AI side)?

Sure AI totals might also be enhanced in those limited over games, but would it then mean that the shorter the game, the fewer wickets extracted? People getting through a T20 and having only got the AI to 158/1, or 164/2. It does need to be possible to bowl sides out in shorter formats as the AI run rate and aggression goes up.

It must be incredibly hard to get right, especially when they have to consider custom game lengths and still make those work too. I'm hoping they can get this hard task right, because it is very important to the game being as good as it could be.

 

[cricket_online]

An important factor for us all to remember when asking for AI to bat better and produce better totals in tests, is that there are various lengths of games within DBC, all the way down to 5 overs and I do feel for Big Ant quite considerably trying to make the difficulty of removing batsmen appropriate along this very long string of potential game lengths.

If you make the AI in tests, start to produce on average 357, up from these 200's, what effect then on ODI's, or T20's or a custom 15 over someone might make (some people need shorter games for tournaments against friends with the odd AI side)?

Sure AI totals might also be enhanced in those limited over games, but would it then mean that the shorter the game, the fewer wickets extracted? People getting through a T20 and having only got the AI to 158/1, or 164/2. It does need to be possible to bowl sides out in shorter formats as the AI run rate and aggression goes up.

It must be incredibly hard to get right, especially when they have to consider custom game lengths and still make those work too. I'm hoping they can get this hard task right, because it is very important to the game being as good as it could be.

No doubt it's not an easy task and there's a lot of knock on effect when you tweak AI in a particular effect. And to complicate matters the AI needs to act differently depending on the situation in Tests as well given the AI batsman need to bat differently when trying to save the match on Day 5 compared to setting a target for the opponent on Day 4 when AI is ahead in the match. But for now the simplest option I can think of is tweak confidence a bit so the new batsmen aren't as easy to dislodge as they are now or let AI batsmen increase their confidence at a much faster rate so they are "settled" earlier.

Or maybe the old if-then-else loop (or switch-case) for Tests, Odis and T20s so essentially you are looking at three distinct sets of AIs suited to each specific format. Don't really know the answer but some tweaking definitely is required for AI batting and spin bowling in general. AI batting seems under-powered whereas spin bowling acts as AI batsman's Kryptonite.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

An important factor for us all to remember when asking for AI to bat better and produce better totals in tests, is that there are various lengths of games within DBC, all the way down to 5 overs and I do feel for Big Ant quite considerably trying to make the difficulty of removing batsmen appropriate along this very long string of potential game lengths.

If you make the AI in tests, start to produce on average 357, up from these 200's, what effect then on ODI's, or T20's or a custom 15 over someone might make (some people need shorter games for tournaments against friends with the odd AI side)?

Sure AI totals might also be enhanced in those limited over games, but would it then mean that the shorter the game, the fewer wickets extracted? People getting through a T20 and having only got the AI to 158/1, or 164/2. It does need to be possible to bowl sides out in shorter formats as the AI run rate and aggression goes up.

It must be incredibly hard to get right, especially when they have to consider custom game lengths and still make those work too. I'm hoping they can get this hard task right, because it is very important to the game being as good as it could be.

I totally agree. The other thing is that each game whether a test or a 5-5 is a full match in itself. It's not like FIFA or PES which is one version of the sport probably best tuned for just 10-15 minute matches.

I'd say more than 50% of the games I've had have been competitive right down to the last few balls, this has mostly been in T20 but the AI scores in ODI have beaten me. With the field settings in T20 improved it has increased the difficulty too (a good thing). The test match I have finished was enjoyable despite being low scoring.

Test match is easily the most difficult to get right because you can get games with two teams scoring 500 first up or games where they scrape 200. Add to that the fact that despite Get Best or the efforts of people on here there's a good chance we might be playing with different skilled players, on different difficulty settings as well as varied conditions.