Mana Games

[abc010101]

I have noticed that the CPU almost always hits the ball on the rise. It almost never hits it as it is starting to go down, regardless of player type and court surface, and this happens even if the player doesn't have the "hits ball on the rise" talent. Is there a way I can change this and make the CPU hit the ball a bit later more frequently ?

[manutoo]

Hello,

I did a quick check and the CPU was taking the ball around the top of the curve, as expected.

Could you send me a Bug Report showing this issue, with the CPU not being a Counter or a Counter-Puncher ? (HowTo => topic5-31732.php )

[abc010101]

Oh it's not exactly a bug, I was just wondering if there was a way I could get the CPU to stand a bit further back from the baseline so that when they are defending from constant accelerations, they hit the ball after it starts to come down from the top of the curve instead of right at the top. This is very common in defensive players like Rafa IRL

[manutoo]

The Bug Report will send me the recorded match so I could check by myself what's going on.

You can make the player stand farther from his baseline, but not only when defending.

[abc010101]

How can I make him stand farther from the baseline ? I tried changing Surfacespeed but that doesn't seem to change much

[manutoo]

You have to do a custom strategy, and this, for each player you want to behave differently.

[abc010101]

Hi Manu, a bit late but I sent you the bug report, I'm not sure if I did it correctly though, so here is the dmo file. Can you access it?
You can see that my opponent, in this case Djokovic, takes a step ahead instead of waiting a it to be in a better position to hit it, and so ends up doing a safestrike when he could have done an acceleration if he had hit the ball without taking that step. This happens almost every point. I altered the Elite controls to make it more difficult and less precise, so my thinking is that the CPU isn't quite understanding this and keeps wanting to hit the ball really early on the rise and doesn't understand that since the controls are more difficult now, it needs to adjust and stay back a bit more while waiting for the ball to come down. What could I do to improve this ?

[abc010101]

Here is another one. It's in the second point.

[manutoo]

I checked and it's coz you do a safe strike and then run forward : in such a case, the CPU thinks you're doing a cheap net rush and try to give himself more angles to pass you. I tuned a bit the cheap net rush detection for the next update, so it should trigger when you stand far from your baseline, thanks to your report !

[abc010101]

Ok thanks! But wouldn't the problem still be there in that case? Like, if I do the safestrike everytime and I actually go for the net, if the opponent keeps doing this then I'd just win every point because he keeps doing safestrikes instead of waiting for an acceleration

Also when do you plan to release the next update? I noticed you did one yesterday

[abc010101]

Manu, I've been doing some more testing and it seems that you're correct. I stand far behind the baseline to receive a strong serve, so when I try to get closer to the baseline to continue the point after I return the serve, the CPU thinks I'm rushing to the net and so he moves forward. It's too sensitive, all it takes is one step forward from me and the CPU thinks I'm trying to go to the net even though I'm so far behind the baseline. I think it would work better if I cross the baseline after I make a shot and actually approach the net, but it shouldn't trigger just because I move slightly forward after a safestrike.

There are also other instances where the CPU has this issue. Here is another DMO, take a look a the second point. Wide serve that almost gets me off the court, so the CPU wants to finish the point quickly and so moves forward, but ends up doing a safestrike. Again, this connects to what I was saying earlier, I tweaked the Elite controls to be a little bit more difficult and it seems the CPU has trouble understanding that its behavior needs to change appropiately. It tries to hit the ball even before it reaches its peak but at the last moment realizes that it can't, so it does a safestrike. It's like the CPU thinks it's playing on easier controls than it is. Although, I have also noticed this issue even on Arcade controls, just less frequently.

Is there anything I can do ? Can I somehow tell the CPU that since the controls are tweaked to being more difficult now, it needs to wait a bit more for the ball to come down to perform an acceleration, instead of rushing and trying to catch it so high ? Is there something in the custom strategy that affects this ?

[manutoo]

The CPU doesn't do the Safe Strike, but a normal strike.

I already made him look where is the baseline for the next update (which might be coming a while).

I didn't look your new .dmo, but it sounds like it's still the same issue if you did the safe for your return of serve.

[abc010101]

Really? It looks like a safestrike, it's a very soft strike. I also have Devmode activated and it shows the CPU's strike for these as a safestrike.

[manutoo]

Hum, then it was a safe strike, and it desyncs when I replay it.
He does only safe strikes when he steps in ? Coz in the match replay, I think I saw 3 or 4 step-ins and 0 safe strikes, it was the normal strike every time.

[abc010101]

When I do a safestrike returning a serve, I take one step forward, and so he steps forward (because he thinks I'm going for the net) and generally does a safestrike, sometimes a really weak normal strike. My point is if he stayed behind instead of stepping forward, he would be able to do an acceleration, but he doesn't understand this and steps forward every time