Skipper not utilizing all bowling options?

[Axelad15]

I'll try make a long story short :P

At the moment I'm undergoing a project (PS3) where I'll be making custom teams for all the competitions in career mode and putting in the best players in all respective formats, love the domestic options but since you can't modify teams during your career I find I'm finding things a bit dull on that field hence I decided I'll add the best players from their respective formats and focus on my new domestic career been like some All Star career where I can play against the biggest names in modified competitions. Probably won't even make it to international selection since they'll just be too good for me

Anywayyyy I'm testing two of my teams out in a spectated mode and I'm a bit shocked to realize one of my prominent pacemen in one of the teams didn't bowl a single ball. Who you ask? Only Sir Richard Hadlee lol.

J Kallis - 10 Overs
W White - 10 Overs (Where I intend to put my career player)
M Muralitharan - 10 Overs
C Walsh - 10 Overs
G McGrath - 10 Overs

So I see the Skip only used up five options instead of using Hadlee and just not giving some bowlers the full ten overs. Is the AI set to only give the five best bowlers the ball in a one day game? Will this change in career mode or not? Also will this be a relevant issue in FC matches? Like will the skip only bowl five people again?

If this is the case I suppose I'll have to modify my teams to respect that. Hope you guys can get back to me with some answers. Love the game, you guys should be proud of yourselves for bringing an amazing product to the shelves for the fans and not just for your wallets. Absolutely respect you guys as developers for your approach producing this game.

Anyway I'll get off my knees and hope you guys can answer my questions :P

 

[Biggs]

The AI picks players based on their rating in the academy, so the Hadlee you've made isn't rated high enough against all your other created players who are possibly overweighted against him. Given the AI has bowled Kallis I'm guessing you've hugely overrated him as an all-rounder so you'd need to pull that back considerably, weighting his "all round" ability so as not to be higher than any outright bowlers. I use the "Helmet Icon" as a guide for this.

In my custom teams the only "5" rated players are pure batsman or pure bowlers and I work back from that point.

Since I've spent quite a bit of time (too much time) massaging my Biggton Gamecocks team so I get bowlers in the right order when the AI takes over, it's best to start creating those stats from the bottom up. Create your bowlers first, then your all rounders, then finally your batsman making sure that your all-rounders sit nicely in the middle there between the two.

It's not ideal, because you should really be able to have all rounder players like Kallis as "5" players but the way the AI operates they will often favour them over "4" rated pure bowlers. So make sure any part-timer bowlers or all rounders fit nicely in the middle somewhere.


EDIT:

I should however point out the AI seems to be aware of what's happening in the match, because it will often juggle around bowlers in the second innings who have performed better in the first so they get a crack before your regular opening bowler. Which is cool when you're playing online because in the second innings the game will automatically open with your bowler who's either not as fatigued or has taken more wickets. Ie; if a first change bowler takes a 5for then the AI will often select them to open in the second innings which is kinda cool in the Six4Six and SuperTest created formats, when you're playing the AI or online. Haven't seen it happen in pure test matches, though, the AI will do some wacky things if you use a team straight outta the academy downloads. Another reason to avoid get best.

 

[Axelad15]

Thanks a heap for your spirited reply mate!

I sim'd a test game and Hadlee and everyone else got a bowl so it shouldn't be to much of a concern in the longer form of the game. Guess for the shorter form teams I'll have to make up my mind between messing with Kallis skills or replacing Kallis or Hadlee with a more focused batsmen. I don't know what Kallis bowling number is but I saw Hadlee's as a 3, is that too low for him or just about right? And what would you say Kallis is?

Also I hate to be a pain in your ass but when I start a career will my list A team be the same as my FC team even if I set a List A Line up? Want to make sure since that's the case with shield teams I think, not sure whether that's just cause the team doesn't have a seperate FC/List A roster or it's a game issue.

 

[Biggs]

Dunno man, I'm anal retentive with the teams I've tweaked from the academy and it literally takes days to get it right, sometimes longer, depending on the format, match situation, pitches etc... Simming whole games doesn't do it either because you want it to work when you're actually playing and you'll find the AI will do different things when you're playing vs. just playing against itself. Best way to do it is start with two teams first, get their balance right, then replicate that as you do other teams according to player types. Start with bowlers and work your way up is my advice, I'd have any bowlers you want bowling in the first 15 overs of an ODI to be rated like this:

5 - Opening Bowler
4 - Other end opening bowler
4 - First change but rated slightly less than your other 4 player
3 - Spin/All-Rounder

I don't rate any spinners higher than 3 otherwise the AI will open with them quite a bit in T20 matches. Same with my all-round players, none of them are higher than 3 so the computer is selecting them at best as first-change bowlers.

Whatever you do, remember you can't change any of the teams as your career progresses so you'll get frustrated no matter what. Ideally, get the team/s you'll end up playing against the most right (the domestic ones) and that should be the least frustrating version of your career. I'd also check out @blockerdave's attributes thread because they've done a tonne of work with that stuff that I've implemented as well. But once you have a formula, whatever you go with, you'll be able to tweak that as time goes on, but your career that you start with will, unfortunately, never be right because you're constantly changing teams to get balances right.

 

[Axelad15]

Used the get best option on Kallis and his bowling got downgraded from a 4 to a 3 and from tests it looks like its done the job. I'll take your advice when making the other odd 25 teams ;P

Thanks a ton again mate! Read that thread you linked and I've got an absolute ton of double linked players haha, two or three tendulkars and so on, foresights a bitch :P

 

[cricket_online]

Used the get best option on Kallis and his bowling got downgraded from a 4 to a 3 and from tests it looks like its done the job. I'll take your advice when making the other odd 25 teams ;P

Thanks a ton again mate! Read that thread you linked and I've got an absolute ton of double linked players haha, two or three tendulkars and so on, foresights a bitch :P

You can never have too many Tendulkars...

 

[Axelad15]

Haha I was mucking around with the team having a play in a T20 and he got 52 off 26 and 3 - 42 or something so you're right, 11 players each peforming like that would do the job haha.