What We Would Like In ICC2011

[Sureshot]

You can still load the team you selected for the last match for each format.

[Phylos Fett]

You can still load the team you selected for the last match for each format.

You can? My bad then...

[ab5ides1]

You can still load the team you selected for the last match for each format.

It would be useful if you could save test squads though. So you can remember who you picked etc.

[Phylos Fett]

It would be useful if you could save test squads though. So you can remember who you picked etc.

Yeah. My memory is a bit wonky when it comes to such things, especially once my playing of the game gets sporadic...

[enigma]

Too often attacks with bowling averages of ~35 & above run through the opposition in batting-friendly conditions, it is extremely annoying.

In the current save I'm playing, a couple of FCs ago, a University spinner ran through my line-up, taking 5 wickets in a session & a bit on Day 1 with no pitch-deterioration, no help at all for spin; just out of curiosity, I looked at his rating & I was astonished that he was about 990 & yet he ran through my line-up in conditions which were not in any way helpful to spin. And it wasn't like I was trying to smash him to every corner, in fact, all the batsmen who'd perished were either on 1 or 2 aggression bars.

My last FC, conditions were going to be "very sunny" on Day 1 & "very cloudy" for the next 3 days; I managed to win the toss & batted hoping to put up 450-500 in the first couple of days but guess what, I was 40-4 in conditions as batting-friendly as they ever can be with no deterioration, no spin & weather "very sunny"; they didn't have a great attack either.

My current FC, mostly batting-friendly weather & pitch, I bowled defensively so they could only muster 380-3 in 2 days, on 3rd day, they came out & batted just a single over scoring only a single & declared; as it was going to be a draw anyways, I started defensively & guess what, another collapse in batting-friendly conditions & again, not a world-beating attack either.

This issue really needs to be addressed, it's alright if it happens once in a while that an ordinary attack runs through a side in batting-friendly conditions, I usually face up to whatever situations the game throws at me as I like a challenge as well but sometimes this sort of stuff gets really really annoying when it happens very frequently so this definitely needs to be fixed in ICC2011.

[El_Zigi]

There is no doubt that this is an issue. The only thing I can say is, conditions are either, completely misleading, or, there's some kind of bug in the game that doesn't recognise the conditions or something.

A better example of this than being bowled out cheaply in, apparently, top batting conditions, is not being bowled out cheaply in, apparently, awful batting conditions. For example: often, and I mean often, an oppo spinner will take 5 or 6 or more wickets early in a test match on a pitch offering, apparently, no turn for spin. And then come the 4th or 5th day, when the pitch is, apparently, offering sharp turn, the same spinner cant get a wicket to save his life. This simply doesn't make any sense. The same applies to pacemen, but to a lesser extent.

Cricket can be very unpredictable. There's no question that in bat-friendly conditions top test teams sometimes crumble all out for a low total and vice versa in conditions offering plenty to the bowlers top test teams bat well and amass a fair few runs. Its a fact tho that in ICC what happens is very often completely contradictory to what the conditions would lead you to believe should happen.

Often times I think it's best to just ignore what the conditions are saying due to their vague and seemingly misleading nature. I sometimes wonder are there hidden conditions taking effect, like seam-movement or extra-bounce for pace and spin. But I doubt it and Sureshot sure as hell isn't going to clarify.

So yes, there's an issue here that definitely needs addressing.

[enigma]

I'd like to clarify that I always start my batsmen on 1 aggression-bar in FC/Tests so it's not like I'm having collapses because of having my batsmen start on too high an aggression. Previously, I've even tried starting my batsmen on 2 and 0 aggression as well & these collapses just seem to happen no matter what, & to an extent where, as some others have said before, it makes the gamer feel like he is irrelevant & there will be times when no matter what he does, the game will always have its own way no matter what & that's exactly not how a gamer should feel when playing a management-sim.

And although I do not think that there are any "hidden conditions", I do concur with El_Zigi's observation, and as I've myself mentioned before many a times, that often conditions do not seem to have the effect that they should have.

It's possible that these things have already been noted by the developers but I just couldn't help myself from ranting about it here as it is really really annoying. I guess it'd act as another reminder at the least.

[Phylos Fett]

I've had batsmen on 0 bars of aggression in 4 day games score runs like they are playing a T20 game. Once I had a guy smash a 6 off the first ball he faced on 0 bars of aggression, and often I have batsmen knock up a quick fire 20 or 30 off as many balls, and I stare at the screen thinking "are the bowlers really bowling that badly?". Naturally, I can't see how aggressively the bowlers are bowling at me, and I'd expect a batsman to put away the bad balls, no matter what the aggression rating he has, but I do come across a few shockers. Like the ever popular getting caught on the boundary playing some lofted shot when you're supposed to be batting for a draw...

[El_Zigi]

Yeah that always amuses me. Your defensive style bat comes in on 0 or 1 bar and promptly wallops a 6 off his 1st ball. The game really does seem so random in these moments. I've had collapses on several occassions, in tests and ODIs, my top/middle order fail to do anything, then my no.8 or 9 comes in on 0 bars and scores 30 off as many balls with no chances against him. Huh?

I've just beaten Zim 2-1 in a OD series. I batted 1st in every match, posting totals of 230, 195 and 217. Not great. Thankfully Zim can't bat. I like batting in OD games, it's (it seems) a bit of a challenge, but I'm still struggling with batsmen failing to get going and facing dot after dot regardless of what aggr there on. Frustrates the hell outta of me when you see someone like Umar Akmal or Fawad Alam face 20 consecutive dot balls (possibly a slight exaggeration), you can't take it any more so you up their aggression at which point they're promptly dismissed.

[siddle]

what i would like to see is different variations in how players improve
it seems like every new game, the same players always end up being the best, after 5 years or so the line ups are always the same for other international countries
it would be good if players improved rapidly or didnt improve much at all or went backwards, so we didn't end up with the same players being the best in every game, would also make more of a challenge because you wouldnt know what your best side is like now where it always ends up the same players

[Phylos Fett]

what i would like to see is different variations in how players improve
it seems like every new game, the same players always end up being the best, after 5 years or so the line ups are always the same for other international countries
it would be good if players improved rapidly or didnt improve much at all or went backwards, so we didn't end up with the same players being the best in every game, would also make more of a challenge because you wouldnt know what your best side is like now where it always ends up the same players

I think part of the problem is that the AI selects the players based on the ratings that each player is assigned, so it'll always pick these "best" players, when they are available. Unerringly, one might say. But, I am not sure how you'd get an AI to pick dodgy players, or stick with has beens...

[enigma]

I just had a game earlier which was pretty similar to one described by El_Zigi in another thread where computer unexpectedly chooses to bowl first even though conditions are not bowling-friendly & then the batting-side collapses.

Ok, so I'd made a spinners pitch which was offering "some help for spin", weather was unsettled & later in the day it was going to be cloudy, obviously a win-the-toss-and-bat-first scenario but computer chose to put me in instead & as was the case with El_ZIgi, my line-up collapsed, lost 4 wickets for not much with seamers bowling; is this thing specifically coded into the game to make it challenging or something, or is it just aberrent behaviour by the game on its own? Another thing I've encountered a number of times is that often it starts raining when the computer is looking down the barrel on the last of an FC & then rain eats up fair amount of time, only for the computer to secure a draw, I wonder if this was coded in too!

Anyways, carrying on with the said game, I re-started that OD (I hate doing this) & this time no collapse, I made 213-4 in 40 overs, computer won which is fine but only by the skin of its teeth with 9 wickets down & the most ridiculous thing I saw was that Pedro Collins (WI) came in to bat at no.11 with score on 202-9 & the 4 balls that he faced went for - 2,4,4,4 & won the match for them. I mean, in real life, he's an absolute bunny, fine, it was Owais Shah bowling but he'd already taken 2 wickets (& a near miss) in his very first over & out comes Collins & smashes him for 14 off 4 balls to win a tight match Rememer the pitch had "some spin" & earlier their part-time spinner (the only spinner they had) had been impossible to get away for my well-set batsmen batting on 5,6,7 aggression-bars, he was so good for them that he bowled 4 overs in the death-overs.

Another ridiculous that happened during the match was when Morgan tried to sweep & "edged it" & off the back of the bat it went for six over extra-cover. This is ridiculous.

[Sureshot]

There is no catch-up code (which is what I think you're inferring) nor is there any kind of code which sees to results being fixed. You'll get odd results and there will be odd behaviour, we'll do what we can to remove this element.

[enigma]

Well, I'm not necessarily talking about the "catch-up code" as some others have in other threads before but I meant to say that why is it that the computer makes these "wrong" decisions at the toss sometimes, like in the example above, weather was "unsettled" for the first half & cloudy later on & pitch was pretty flat & had "some spin", obviously a bat-first scenario but computer chose to put me in, & what's scary is that when the computer makes such seemingly "wrong" decisions, even its ordinary attack ends up running through our line-up; this is a little more than what one would term as "odd results", I'm not necessarily saying there's a "catch-up code" but just saying that there's something very wrong here & it is so annoying that it really puts the gamers off at times because of the sheer frustration that it causes.

The other point was about tail-enders batting too authoritatively, especially when the top & middle order has collapsed. I think it happens because of bowling-side trying to wrap up the tail & thus bowling aggressively & thereby presenting lots of scoring opportunities but even then, realistically, tail shouldn't be so authoritative in their approach & they should try & bat more conservatively in pressure situations.

[Chasjs]

There is no catch-up code (which is what I think you're inferring) nor is there any kind of code which sees to results being fixed. You'll get odd results and there will be odd behaviour, we'll do what we can to remove this element.

The thing is is that sometimes odd things do happen in cricket, strange things so happen and thats one of the main attractions of the game.

EDIT: And with regards to strange AI decisions at the toss. Sometimes, when all looks good, decent pitch, good overhead conditions and the AI will put you in to bat. You think, strange, I was looking forward to batting on this... Then 10 minutes after the start there is heavy cloud... how did the AI seem to know this was going to happen when I had no idea?