Mana Games

[John Hackenroe]

I’m getting better but still a novice at best. If all the AI players would ALWAYS attack the net and never get behind the service line, I’d never win anything. That’s my biggest weak spot at this point.

How do I defend & attack this? I dunno how to do a high lob over the player’s head. I usually attempt a hard 1+2 shot at one of the sidelines hoping it will get past the AI. Sometimes it works but not often.

How can I improve in this area?

Thanks in advance.

[Bus]

There isn't one magic solution (because it's a good game ), but like in real tennis, one of the keys is to not let your opponent settle well when he's going net. If he's settled, things will get harder. I would have two advices to start:
- if you can't try the big passing shot (1+2) in good conditions, at least try to strike short and low balls with a regular shot, by using directions.
- if your opponent is doing service volley, you have to be more agressive on returns, not necessarily 1+2 big shot, but trying an angle or along the sideline, so the player won't have an easy first volley. If you can, try also to settle nearer the baseline. You're return will come back faster and your opponent will have less time to go to the net.

[manutoo]

John Hackenroe,
the short strike & the short accelerations are meant to do passing shots, which is the 1st way to pass a player at the net ; the lob rarely works in-game and in real life.

[Bus]

Lob can be usefull when you're late, it gives more time to move in a better defensive position on the court. The issue is the opponent can smash, which can be a bad news if he's a good net player.

[topspinbackhand]

John Hackenroe,
the short strike & the short accelerations are meant to do passing shots, which is the 1st way to pass a player at the net ; the lob rarely works in-game and in real life.

Not sure whether the OP is talking about TE2013 or TE4, but my experience with TE4 is that its far easier to perform offensive lobs (acceleration + down) on AI players at the net than short accelerations. The AI covers the net really well (too well IMO), so the offensive lob is the best way to beat them, considering they always land deep and are quite accurate. Defensive lobs are not very useful though, the AI smashes the vast majority of them. This may be because I play on Master-10 difficulty, so the AI has a better read on your shots. The easiest time to pass a player is when they are first coming into the net, such as running in after a serve. It's actually a little too easy to do this, especially once you start to return well.

In TE2013, passing shots are much easier to pull off with short accelerations. Just make sure you aren't too close to the baseline, as the CPUs always hit deep volleys for some reason unless they are using the drop volley. I still think the offensive lob is better for the most part though.

[John Hackenroe]

Thanks for all the replies!

@topspinbackhand, I'm referring to TE4. I've not played previous versions.

[manutoo]

topspinbackhand is right : right now it's too easy to do a winning attacking lob because the CPU goes back a bit slower than in TE2013. It's something that I'll fix eventually, though...

[noys390]

topspinbackhand is right : right now it's too easy to do a winning attacking lob because the CPU goes back a bit slower than in TE2013. It's something that I'll fix eventually, though...

Manutoo, you have fixed this a bit too well , now cpu goes back, takes position quickly and smashes ferociously .

[manutoo]

noys390,
it's possible the little AI enhancements I did back in August helped the CPU to be more efficient on the smash...
I guess I'll have to recheck that when I'll work on the gameplay.

[Guest]

I've been enjoying the game a lot, but I'm getting tired of how impossible it is to hit passing shots when someone is at the net. I've lost track of how many times I've hit a perfect shot down the line, only to have them teleport across and drop a perfect cross court volley on the line while the ball doesn't even make contact with the racket in the animation. It's starting to affect my enjoyment of the game at this point.

[manutoo]

Guest,
do you use the short strike & the short acceleration to do your passing shots ?

[noys390]

The things that have improved over TE13:
1) The cpu reacts quicker at the net.
2) The cpu reach ability due to new volley strech animation.
3) The cpu's realistic placement of volleys at a much sharper angles.

The best chance you have to beat cpu, is while it is approaching the net. Once cpu takes its position at the net, it will make life difficult. This is my views only.

[Guest]

Guest,
do you use the short strike & the short acceleration to do your passing shots ?

I've tried every possible tactic

[manutoo]

Guest,
against what difficulty level do you play ?
I just did a quick test against a CPU at Pro-10 level, and it was tough but possible to pass him.

An efficient pattern is to do a short strike that pushes him on a side and then acceleration to the other one ; it's especially effective if he jumps because the ball is a bit too far : in such a case, he needs more time to recover and reposition to the center. On medium-speed surfaces, you have to stand on the baseline, or a bit after or before, to have a good chance to catch the volleys.

It won't work all the time, so your aim should be to win around 30~40% of these points.

As stated noys390, the best time to pass the volleyers is when they rush the net, so once they are at the net, you can consider they have a good advantage.

[Guest]

I'm still playing at club level. When I next get a chance to play again, I'll spend some time practicing against an aggressive net player to see if I have any more luck.