T20 Finals Day and Immersion Issues

[Scritty]

Really enjoying the game by the way, but a few issues.

I reached T20 finals day and it tends to coincide with a test match. The semi-final and the final are on the same day, the engine lets you play the semi-final but then transfers me over to the test matches when the final is due. Which my side invariably lose, or should I say the CPU invariably lose it for me.

If I'm there to the semi-final and the final is on the same day, why can't I stay to control my team through that?

As the game progresses some of the quirky issues are missing that make cricket what it is.

Now 20 years on there are no Kolpak players and I've yet to find any Regens that decide for themselves to have a partial international retirement. They are all available for all formats ongoing.

I think you might be missing a trick here. These elements (that are already included in the game it seems - but fade out as years go by) are excellent at adding personality to the players and choices for captain For me these little touches really make the game world come alive that much more realistically.
Without these little quirks each individual team member becomes little more than a set of statistics.

Having more personality would be something that really appealed to me and draw me into the game more fully. I'm not saying I want a team full of Kevin Pietersen's who change their mind about what form of the game they want to play every five minutes, but having to make some challenging choices with players who I connect with on a personal level adds to the immersion in many of the other textbased sport since I play.

Finally an old gripe of mine. But still on the topic of immersion, I really would like the ability to add my own bitmap files into the game. 20 years on from 2012 I rename all my players as stars of yesteryear depending on their skill set and ability. It would be lovely to have the photos there, I have them all and don't expect you to provide any of them as I understand you have copyright issues, but up until ICC3 the ability to add photos has always been part of the game it would be great to see it back.

Scritty

[Graham_5000]

I thought the Kolpak thing was winding down... From Wikipedia:

"In an effort to combat the influx of Kolpak players, the ECB linked the central payments made to counties, to the number of English qualified players who play for that county. This in effect means that every game a Kolpak player plays instead of an English qualified player, a county gets £1,100 less from the ECB.[2] As this was classed as a way of encouraging counties to develop young players who could go on to play for England, rather than a restrictive quota system, it was legal under the EU rules.[3] However, the system did not result in a significant drop in the number of Kolpak players, as counties chose to continue to sign foreign players, rather than maximize their handout from the ECB.[4] The influx reached a peak in 2008, when during a match between Northants and Leicester, half the players on the field were from non-EU countries.[5]
In 2008, the EU changed its reading of the Cotonou Agreement (the Association Agreement between the EU and the ACP countries).[6] It now stated that the Cotonou agreement should not be interpreted as mandating free movement of labour, but rather the free trade of goods and services. The Home Office were subsequently able to introduce new rules placing restrictions on Kolpak players, stating that only those who had held a valid work permit for four years had the right to be treated the same as EU citizens.[5]"

As a result of the last bit, there won't be any new Kolpak players - only people like Kirk Wernars who hold EU passports as dual citizens (like the dual national, South African, Dutch player Kirk Wernars)..

[Scritty]

I thought the Kolpak thing was winding down... From Wikipedia:

Ok - so there will be less (but still some). I don't think the game generates any.
But the other point;.

• No partial retirements from regens
• Catches at second slip being labelled as "caught and bowled" not sure what is going on there.
• Not being able to control T20 final even though you play semi final - and it's on the same day
• User photos (please)

Just stuff for immersion

[Graham_5000]

I take your other points, but on the Kolpak issue, they won't be called Kolpak anymore as the ones who are qualifying do so by having two passports unlike before where you had Saffers like Willoughby coming over and gaining EU citizenship after a few years (previous Cotonou agreement). There need be no more Ks put after regens names in the game.

The game does not simulate dual nationality (which is now the only way for a Saffer, Kiwi, or Aussie to qualify as non-overseas for an English county.

The Cotonou agreement has ended the Kolpak thing - it will be almost impossible for a South African/Aus/NZ national to go to the UK and play apart from as an overseas player or a dual national (and there are not many of these).

Are you saying that you would like the game to occasionally generate regens with South African names in order to simulate a dual nationality scenario?

The Bosman ruling which allows any number of EU citizens to play for a county is the only existing law that allows foreign players in, in addition to the overseas player.

Partial retirement for regens is a great idea.

[Sureshot]

You raise some good points. The catches issue sounds like an odd bug, do you repeat this often? Do you have a saved game that we can look at which shows this? We'd probably need the offending highlight, but if you don't have that, a copy of the teams scorecards may be useful, but I'm not sure.

I can imagine the balance of partial retirements will be very hard, but it's a good idea.

[cricfan1]

Ok - so there will be less (but still some). I don't think the game generates any.
But the other point;.

• No partial retirements from regens
• Catches at second slip being labelled as "caught and bowled" not sure what is going on there.
• Not being able to control T20 final even though you play semi final - and it's on the same day
• User photos (please)

Just stuff for immersion

Very good and sensible points

[Scritty]

You raise some good points. The catches issue sounds like an odd bug, do you repeat this often? Do you have a saved game that we can look at which shows this? We'd probably need the offending highlight, but if you don't have that, a copy of the teams scorecards may be useful, but I'm not sure.

I can imagine the balance of partial retirements will be very hard, but it's a good idea.

No, it's only one bowler that is seems to happen to. If it happens again I'll try and capture it. Catch seems to always go to slip

Though overall the number of caught and bowled seems a little high ( 3 per FC match almost when the average is under 2 a match looking at this years FC games on statsguru). Not a big issue though

Immersion stuff in general. User photo's being a big one. You used to have them (60x70 BMP's and you renamed the player with a space after the initials) Be nice to have those back.

Scritty