VMoe86,
yup, Rally Length (RL) is higher in TE than in Real Tennis (RT).
There are several reasons for that :
1- there's no totally unforced error (ie: you can do unforced error only by aiming too much for the lines) ; adding real UE to the game would probably lower the RL by 10 or 20%, and probably even more when RL is above 10 (if you do the calculations, let me know as I'm interested to know it exactly ; of course it depends of both players' consistency)
2- even though the number of aces is close of RT, there are likely less serve winners (ie: direct fault on return), partly coz of #1, but also coz it's easier to just put back the ball in play ; I'm not sure how much it'd modify TE RL to change that
3- accelerations & volleys need more shots to conclude the point (usually 1 or 2 more than in RT), per game design, so that's about 1 extra strike of RL
4- the "long way" ("filière longue" in french, I don't know the equivalent technical term in English ; it's when the rallies have many strikes because players play safely) can get really very very long, mostly coz of point #1
There are probably some other little things, but with 4 points you probably have nearly 80% of the extra RL explained.
Point 1 is wanted to avoid frustrating errors (check TE4 official topic for future planned changes about it).
Point 3 is wanted because as a player I personally enjoy a lot more building points to win them, or just playing more strikes when I lose. This may or may not change in TE4. It'll very likely change in TEM2, though.
Elite controls are bound to shorten the RL, at least a little bit, by producing earlier errors, and also balls easier to attack on miss-hits. That is if you have the mean to position yourself perfectly to take advantage of these easier balls and do good accelerations (read: you need the Danger Zone...
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djarvik,
1st, don't pick at
ComeonANDY!! ; either you think you acted badly and are included in his comment and then you humbly shut up, or you don't and then his comment is absolutely not about you and you don't have to feel attacked and then you can nicely ignore it.
Strangely, you take badly some imaginary aggression, want to prevent
ComeonANDY!! to talk in this topic while he's exposing real facts, but you had no problem with all the pack picking at me, twisting and/or ignoring my explanations...
And you said you're mature, huh ?
Now, let's get back to more constructive talking.
So yup, the need to aim for the line is per design.
The reason behind this is to limit the luck factor in the game.
I'll explain. If an acceleration 1.5m away from the line would give a winner 80-90% of the times, then a normal B1 ball on the line would often give a big advantage in the point or even a winner. So I'd have to make it harder to reach the line. There are several ways to do that :
1- Topspin 1/3 way : it's just not possible to aim for the line without doing a risk shot, thus there's no left/right error on normal shot (for me = super bad, I don't want that in my game)
2- make it very hard to aim the lines ; only a few skilled people will be able to do it, which mean most of people playing TE won't be able to enjoy the game to its fullest ; + for these most skilled people, the game might become a winner feast and I'll have big trouble to tune all that
3- make it random to hit the lines (ie: bigger aiming zone) ; the game would then become more luck based, and I don't think luck is the best factor in a tennis game ; people liking luck can play dices
So I went with my solution :
- players run faster than in real life (ie: the real life equivalent of TE 70% power / 70% speed would be same ball speed but slower running speed)
- accelerations don't need to hit the lines when you're really into the court, and/or you really put your opponent far on the other side, so you have to build your points more (ie: it requires more skills when your opponent is more skilled ; not much luck involved, not preventing lower skilled players to enjoy the game)
- in other cases, you have to aim for the lines
So yup, required aiming is far from being 100% realistic, but I hope you'll get my reasons (you don't have to like them, everybody is entitled to their own tastes, as long as they remember their tastes are not universal truth
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Algo,
here the state I think I let the circle dancing into : it's still possible to do it, but it takes more stamina than 1 year ago, while regularly slightly sticking the player making him lose a little bit of time (it's partly avoidable with skills, but not 100% I think). So in terms of gameplay, that's acceptable ; more skills & more stamina lead to a bit more court coverage.
If you think it's not that well balanced, you can send me some .dmo's (with score for key points to watch) and I'll try to check them (nothing soon, though).
And I'll add 1 general point :
changing the roots of the gameplay doesn't take 5 minutes like some of the people around here seem to imagine. It's a long process. It's not hours, days or weeks ; it's more like months & years. A couple of years ago I had calculated that I had played TE a bare minimum of 800 hours since 2005 ; and I almost never play for the pleasure, and even when I do, I'm always ending seeing issues, unrealistic stuff, stuff that doesn't work like it should, etc., so it becomes work quite quickly.
Oh, and playing the game is just a part of tuning the gameplay, there's also coding & thinking required...
by 
=> insert facepalm here <=
but i wouldn't of even dreamed of having a dig at Manutoo about any of my issues (unlike some of you disrespectful shits)! Because they were most likely than not: would always be A patch problem of mine.
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