I want two things, and they aren't big things.

1. When I turn financials off, I want them to GO AWAY. I never want to see another $ figure displayed anywhere in the game until such time as I turn financials back on. The fact that financial figures stay displayed when financials are off just ruins old season replays.

2. I want all major league events to make the news. One of my pitchers threw a no-hitter; it didn't make the news. One of the other team's players broke Lou Gehrig's record (he got to 58, and then lost it and never was much again) and it didn't make the news. If someone breaks a league record, that should be news.

Two closer spots or, better yet, an option to disable the closer.

:)

You can disable the closer, at least in effect. Just leave the closer spot empty. The AI will then use a committee.

The ability to actually assign your scouts to various players, teams or areas to find out about and to recieve E-mailed scouting reports on :-

1. Your next opposition in advance (Hot, Cold for example).
2. A player you are interested in.
3. New freeagents who would fill you weak spots well
4. Players who you have noticed but may not be as good as you think.
5. Another team`s Minor league games.

This would make the scouts earn their money and interact with you more..They would be able to express their opinions and maybe influence your decisions a little.

Another Idea........The ability to see how tired a pitcher is on the mound with a fatigue bar or something similar...........

Mound Visits from both your team and the opposition would be a valuable and informative addition to the game...

Include all the players who are on a hot or cold streak in the list.
I had 7 players on a hot streak once and only 5 of them were noted in the hot/cold lists.

What about the option to just let the game run as a pbp/ball by ball in real time, but without the insesant pressing of the mouse......and just stop the game for the vital plays or lineup changes when you need to ..........This is quite a user friendly way to play manager sims.........

I know I`ve seen this one before somewhere......How about having a 40 man roster and a 60 day DL.....

Include all the players who are on a hot or cold streak in the list.
I had 7 players on a hot streak once and only 5 of them were noted in the hot/cold lists.

I would like to see a retroactive DL.


Crabster, don't you think 7 posts in 10 minutes is a little excessive? EDIT BUTTON.

I thought it would be better putting different ideas in seperate posts...that way they would stand out more as stand-alone ideas.

thanks crab
thanks crab
thanks crab
thanks crab
thanks crab
thanks crab
thanks crab
thanks crab
and..............................
thanks crab :p

It`s OK
It`s OK
It`s OK
It`s OK
It`s................

Make "Automatic Expansion" a league option based upon the entire league's finances.

For example, are more than 55% (completely arbitrary number at this point) of the teams doing well (what defines "doing well"?) for more than 5 years in a row (once again arbitrary)...? If the criteria is met, then the game will announce there will be a expansion (one or two teams?) in two seasons time (off-season draft, etc).

The message from the league/computer:

"October 5, 2003 Due to the positive economic indicators and increased fan interest through-out the league, the *LEAGUE NAME* has announced plans to establish additional franchise(s) in *CITY* and *CITY*. These teams will draft amateurs in this upcoming draft and there will be an expansion draft after the conclusion of the 2004 season. The teams will begin play opening day 2005."

It's rough but the general idea is there. I think the idea of an expansion draft is fun... only makes it MORE challenging to keep our teams (dynasties?) together.

Having played other team management games for a few years now (Championship Manager 01/02 and CM4). Thats soccer for those who havn`t heard of it....I feel there isn`t enough interaction with your own players in OOTP.....They should have requests and needs that they should be able to ask you as their manager.....which would encourage them or not as the case may be.....Be able to publicly or privately critisise them or praise them on there performances....The kind of stuff you hear or read about in the press...
I think this would add a huge amount of depth to the game....
What do you think ?

It certainly could be fun, but I think I'd like that extra level of interaction to be an option rather than always on. I think that for some folks there's already lots going on to deal with, and they wouldn't want to have to deal with players' needs and wants too. :)

Plus, I'd rather see a few other areas upgraded first. Still though, it would be a nice addition.

I've played CM, too, and experienced what you've described above. While this sounds good, once you get into the game, there's much less to it than it seems.

The problem is, quite often the 'interaction' turns out to be meaningless in that you can completely ignore it without consequence. A few examples from my games:

1) The board often gives you messages that it considers a player to two as 'key' or some such. I've sold those players without any negative consequences. The opposite of this when the board says 'it considers so-and-so should not be part of the side.' Again, I've ignored this without consequence. The most striking example was playing as Arsenal when the board suddenly didn't like Theirry Henry (IRL, the second best striker in the priemier league, only to Van NIstleroy) In my game, Henry was coming off back to back player of the year seasons, when the board decided (for reasons I never figured out) to dislike him. I ignored this for two more seasons, then he scored six goals in a game versus Bolton and the message went away. So what was the point of all that?

2) All these 'proud to be at Arsenal' or 'honored to be training with Patrick Viera' messages have never made an impact on the game as far as I can see.

3) the media stuff in CM is looks and sounds like it means something, but I've never seen a 'build up praise' raise the player's morale, or 'play down praise' lower morale. In fact, telling the media there' room for improvement often spurs the player to 'show his manager' after a goal, but whether or not that goal was aided by the comment or not is unclear. The game simply waits to make that comment when the player next scores, is my opininon. there's no actual impact on the game.

there are other little bits, but I can't think of them right now.

There are, however, lots of messages that do impact the game in small ways, and that's fun, but, in general, there is less of this in CM than meets the casual eye.

Thanks for that "OldGiants".....I can see where your coming from with what you say...I know the statements you make to the press about various player`s performances in CM probably don`t have much impact on the actual game, but the impression they do is what gives CM the illusion of a more interactive and realistic world........It`s that impression of personal dealings with individual players and their problems, which gives you, IMO, a deeper, more hands-on management simulation rather than the seemingly distant impersonal management style of OOTP. I hope that in future versions of OOTP, there is more interaction with the players themselves and a few more in game stratagy options....
With these included OOTP would, IMO, make the jump from being a very good sim to almost untouchable in this genre......
By the way, Are you English ?

No, I'm an American. But I've been following footie a lot recently thanks to CM and Nick Hornby books. The BBC website keeps me up to date on results and transfers.

I do like the interaction in CM, but it does need to be more meaningful. Another good soccer sim is 'Sick as a Parrot' and there you 'talk' to the players as well, but the you can see the effects of 'chewing them out' or praising them on their morale indicators. I rather like that in SAAP, but it is too much clicking on players, after awhile.