Power Pros Forum

Hey guys, what's the biggest difference you notice when you change the computer's skill level? I played a full season on "expert" level and I won the wild card but lost in the playoffs. I'm trying a new one on "allstar" mode.

What do you think I'll see? Do they hit more homeruns, pitch better, or just do everything a little better?

Thanks

IMO, All-star just tightens you margin for error. The doubles you hit are now just long singles, HRs come by a bit less, Ks are harder to get, but you do pickup more groundball outs, as they make contact a bit better.

It also depends on the level of batting skill (lock-on, normal) you're giving them. If the default (lockon2) is giving you an avg low scoring game with 5-10 strikeouts, then you're doing okay. Otherwise, you may need to up/lower the ante a bit.

They also seem to be very keen at turning those rough double plays and snagging more line drives ("Wow! What a catch!" *replay rolls*)

I'm personally more of a pitcher (game-wise) than a batter, so I have to rely on solid pitching to compensate for my idiotic-retarded base-running gaffes and free-swinging. Yes, I have done the Daffy Dodgers routine and gotten 2 guys out at one base on the same play (gee didn't they do that last year too? ><")

I screw up the baserunning often so don't feel so bad. I'm 0-4 so far with the settings on all star so I'm afraid to see what the next level holds. It's nice to have a baseball game where the computer can actually beat you though, so I'm definitely not complaining!

I'm actually just about ready to kick it up a notch... probably go back DOWN to normal, but remove all assistance cursors entirely (no fly ball marker, pitch marker, etc.) for a more "blindfolded" option. If I can hack that and win one game (it'll be a 1-0 score for sure), I'll be one happy man.

Believe it or not that makes huge difference. I took the "ball landing mark" off and it made fielding an adventure. I've had line drives fly over my CF's head and popups drop next to my catcher. I think it's more realistic this way but it can make you nuts.

I did an experiment on practice with computer skill level. I put fielding on automatic and I noticed it does improve the initial reaction time of the players.

I tried no fielding marker for a couple of games, but couldn't handle it. The ball seems to travel in too much of an arc like the wind is having too much effect or something. I couldn't figure out any sort of rhyme or reason to where the ball was going to land (even trying to take the wind speed/direction into account).

As far as baserunning, I finally gave in a couple of seasons ago and set it to semi-auto where I just control the lead runner. I was having way too many of those Keystone Kops incidents Max is referring to.

On normal I would purposely make a base running blunder because I would always be able to advance a base on the computer. Not so much anymore on all star.

Yup I think I have noticed this exploit also on expert or below.

I haven't even tried powerful yet but I'm sort of interested in what that has to offer.

I've played on powerful before and I think that when the CPU is pitching, it uses the ball icon to deceive you. It will go to one area and the pitch will be in another area more often.

That is what happened when I played the All-Star game in success mode. Bad enough your facing Santana with guys that can only hit singles, ball mark appears in the bottom right, then quickly at the top left and the pitch comes in at either spot (and man Santana has some nasty off-speed pitches). Tough to adjust but challenging at the same time

Yeah, the All-Star Success Mode game uses the Season Mode "Powerful" pitching style. To get competitive games in Season Mode I'm currently playing the CPU on Powerful level with CPU batting lock-on 2, and my own batting lock-on at 1 (semi-auto base running still). I actually lose games now, which is nice for a change. I mean, I don't like losing, but I also got bored when it felt like losing wasn't even a possibility.

The difference between normal/expert/all star pitching is that the cpu throws to and hits the corners more often on the higher levels. On normal the cpu will often throw pitches that are either right down the middle or exactly horizontal, which are of course easy to hit. Pitches on the corners tend to lead to worse results when they are hit even if you make red contact. The frequency of mistake pitches is also higher on lower levels, but this actually makes the game easier as the down the middle mistake pitch is the best breaking ball in the game by far moving 2/3 of the zone in one frame.
On powerful the cpu pitcher will stop the cursor once, move it to another spot, and then it will disappear for a split second at that spot before the pitch is thrown. In general the ball will be thrown between those two spots with the most likely place being exactly in between. I always guess there and if the ball is far away I don't swing unless there are two strikes. There is a power bonus if you don't move the hit cursor as you are swinging so it is best to try not to make any sudden moves. For some pitchers the cpu will throw pitches that are far away from those two spots in a random power. I think this may be related to a special ability.
For hitting, the cpu on the higher difficulties is more likely to get a hit or foul the pitch off even if the AI "guesses" the wrong pitch. Powerful can get downright lame at times although the run scoring rate is usually never that bad if you have good pitchers. The cpu pretty much always centers the ball on powerful so the key is to make them hit pitches on the bottom edge of the zone for groundball outs. I actually get more complete games on powerful because the computer gets out on the first pitch more often, whereas on expert or all-star I often have to strike them out.
Higher difficulty fielding and baserunning just involves +stat boosts. Personally I think powerful on both of these leads to boring/frustrating games as their D is so good that I get almost no singles while their C speed guys are getting infield hits. The stupid AI on the lower levels for fielding is disappointing. One of the key tricks is to take second base every time on an RBI single as the computer will always throw to home plate even with no chance at getting the runner.

Why is that sometimes the pitchers moving the pitching cursor around and sometimes never do in the superstar game for success mode?

My thoughts exactly, but I struggle horribly against powerful pitching...