by here a few tips to be more effective when you play online :
1- In Fair & Realistic Modes, you need to have 780 points left in your Character Sheet, else the game engine will change your skills to force you to have 780 points left on match start
Here an example of a basic setting for a PowerBaseliner never going to the net, working both in Realistic & Fair Modes :
2- Service Skills : in Realistic Modes, your Service Power is remapped to 30-90% ; it means if you set it at 100% in your character sheet, it'll be at 90% in-game, and if you set it to 90% it'll be at 84% in-game and so on ; as the service efficiency is something very important, it's not advised to set it lower than 90% (to get 84% in-game), though ; set your Service Consistency to 100% to have the highest percentage possible of 1st serve in (idem for the Fair mode, except the Service Power is remapped to 20-70%)
3- Return of Serve :
a) turn on the Service Preview (in your Character Sheet) to know where the ball will land, and even the Danger Zone, so you'll have an idea of its speed and effect
b) if like me, you have poor reflexes on the return of serve and get aced like a turtle glued to the court, this tip should greatly help you : press the button down so the auto-positioning will be activated, and as soon as your opponent will serve, your player will begin to move slowly to the left or the right ; for me, it gives a great visual stimulation to which I react about 2 times faster than to the Danger Zone display ; depending of your own reflexes, it may be helping or not ; me, before I was aced about 1.5 times per service game, and after that, only 0.5 times / service game
c) instead of using the auto-positioning trick, you can try to do little left-right steps : it'll give you a little speed bonus ; but it raises the chances to be caught of the wrong step, so don't do too big left-right moves
d) Try change the distance you stand from the baseline ; go more far if you're close, and vice-versa ; the position you'll be the most comfortable depends on your reflexes & own preferences
4- TopSpin : the higher your Topspin is, the slower your accelerations are ; to counter this, you can take a Defender player with a 0% Topspin skill ; so you'll have full speed on your acceleration, while still have a lot of Topspin when you'll have the time to prepare the topspin strike ( = B1 + down)
5- Rally strikes : you need to have at least 90% in your FH & BH powers ; 100% is better, if you're not planning to come to the net
6- Being efficient at the net : if you want to play at the net often, you absolutely need to take the volleyer style, coz he's the one with the biggest jump ; also, you'll have to limit your rally skills FH & BH to 90% to get enough points left for the volley skills ; don't lower under 90%, else you'll have problem to sustain the rhythm with 100%-power players.
7- Becoming a very good player : once you'll be familiar with the game (after 10-20 hours), to raise even more your game level, you'll likely have to raise your Topspin skill to at least 20 or 30%. It'll make you lose raw speed on your accelerations, but then you'll get much more efficient short accelerations, and slightly better short strikes ; some top players play with 40-60% topspin.
I may add more tips to this list. If I forgot some important ones, you're welcome to answer to this topic...
PS: legacy topic (for versions before TE2011 v1.0d) is here https://www.managames.com/Forum/topic8-2189.php
