OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post

MidKnight · 04-05-2007, 05:41 PM

Get ready for a long one...

Well, after finally getting my league in place, what do I do? Try to add more to it! I read a couple threads about the feeder leagues and figured I'd give it a go. My current league set-up is a 16 teams ML, with all levels of minors (AAA, AA, A, SA, R), as well as two international leagues (12 teams each). It's the "Fictional Universe in a Box" template package I released in the mods sections. I saw varying formulas for the number of teams needed to have, but they ended up with similar numbers, so I stuck with the formula in the manual.

I've heard of some issues of too much talent ending up in the draft pool, so I decided to investigate. I came up some serious issues and ran a series of tests which took about 3 hours or so. I'm hoping someone can either point out what's going wrong, or if it's nothing I'm doing, that it'll be addressed. In the current state, I've found that feeder leagues only destroy leagues - - either by not creating enough players or by creating too much talent. I'll explain...

Info: My Major League had defaulted to 20 draft rounds/21 generated. Upon adding feeder leagues it jumped to 25/26. The feeders have an age range of 14-18 for High School (HS) and 18-22 for college (NCAA). High school has a 45 game schedule, college 58. I tried both having the ML only allow the feeder leagues in the draft AND have it also generate additional players. I looked at talent by counting the potential ratings of each draft pool - - I looked at 5, 4.5, 4, 3.5, 3, and 2.5 stars and counted how many of each appeared in the draft pool (scouts off), as well as how many total draftees were available.

I ran two sims without feeder leagues and came up with the following for star ratings:

4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 6 [84.5]
3, 4, 3, 5, 2, 2 [77]

For the first line that means there were four "5-star" prospects, five "4.5 star prospects"...etc. The number in the brackets was a rudimentary overall draft ranking with these numbers - I assigned a point value based on how many stars there were. For example, one "5-star" prospect was worth five points, one "4.5 star" was worth four and a half points. I added the totals together.

Being a 20 round draft, there were approximately 14 pages worth of draftees (if I recall, just about 336 draftees). Now for the feeder leagues. I used the formula in the manual (number of draftees needed, divided by six). That's [16 teams] * [25 rounds], then divided by six. That's roughly 67 teams. I always set it up so there were more NCAA teams than HS - - I wanted most players going through college.

In any case, for the first tests, I left the setting to "Use Feeders + Additional Players" for the amateur draft, just in case there weren't quite enough to fill all 25 (no longer 21) rounds. These are the results:

60 Teams - 32 NCAA, 28 HS
5, 14, 12, 5, 5, 12 [198.5]

That was waaaay too much talent (more than twice a normal draft), so I decided to decrease the number of teams.

44 Teams - 32 NCAA, 12 HS
13, 12, 13, 10, 10, 4 [246]

That didn't work. Figured it must have been a fluke. I lowered the teams again.

36 Teams - 24 NCAA, 12 HS
15, 19, 7, 10, 3, 9 [255]

12 Teams - 8 NCAA, 4 HS
3, 11, 7, 9, 5 [193.5]

Even a paltry 12 teams generated too much talent. Then it hit me, I'll turn off the "Generate Additional Players" and set it to "Feeder Leagues Only". Well, the first result with 60 teams came out much better talent-wise:

60 Teams - 32 NCAA, 28 HS - Feeder Leagues ONLY
1, 2, 4, 3, 2, 1 [49]

Results were on the low end, but that could be fixed by adding more teams, I suspect. The only problem was...there were only about 90 draftees in the pool - - not nearly enough for a 25-round draft which requires about 400. I heard many saying that with a 5 year age range (14-18, 18-22), about 6 draftees will leave a team each year. Instead, it only appeared to be about 1 or 2 were leaving each team. It took me until I had 190 teams before I even had enough players for a 20-round draft (about 340).

In summary...what's going on? I figure I'm either doing something horribly wrong, or feeder leagues aren't functioning properly. My methods of measuring draft talent are rudimentary at best, but they should be decent enough for gathering a general look at potential. If I set the amateur draft to "Feeder Leagues + Additional Players", there is far too much talent in the league. If I set it to only use feeder leagues, it won't generate enough players. In any case, let me know...I spent a good three or four hours on this last night, and I'm hoping I'm just missing some minor detail.

04-05-2007, 05:41 PM	#1
MidKnight Major Leagues Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Milwaukee, WI Posts: 396	Serious Problems with Feeder Leagues? Get ready for a long one... Well, after finally getting my league in place, what do I do? Try to add more to it! I read a couple threads about the feeder leagues and figured I'd give it a go. My current league set-up is a 16 teams ML, with all levels of minors (AAA, AA, A, SA, R), as well as two international leagues (12 teams each). It's the "Fictional Universe in a Box" template package I released in the mods sections. I saw varying formulas for the number of teams needed to have, but they ended up with similar numbers, so I stuck with the formula in the manual. I've heard of some issues of too much talent ending up in the draft pool, so I decided to investigate. I came up some serious issues and ran a series of tests which took about 3 hours or so. I'm hoping someone can either point out what's going wrong, or if it's nothing I'm doing, that it'll be addressed. In the current state, I've found that feeder leagues only destroy leagues - - either by not creating enough players or by creating too much talent. I'll explain... Info: My Major League had defaulted to 20 draft rounds/21 generated. Upon adding feeder leagues it jumped to 25/26. The feeders have an age range of 14-18 for High School (HS) and 18-22 for college (NCAA). High school has a 45 game schedule, college 58. I tried both having the ML only allow the feeder leagues in the draft AND have it also generate additional players. I looked at talent by counting the potential ratings of each draft pool - - I looked at 5, 4.5, 4, 3.5, 3, and 2.5 stars and counted how many of each appeared in the draft pool (scouts off), as well as how many total draftees were available. I ran two sims without feeder leagues and came up with the following for star ratings: 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 6 [84.5] 3, 4, 3, 5, 2, 2 [77] For the first line that means there were four "5-star" prospects, five "4.5 star prospects"...etc. The number in the brackets was a rudimentary overall draft ranking with these numbers - I assigned a point value based on how many stars there were. For example, one "5-star" prospect was worth five points, one "4.5 star" was worth four and a half points. I added the totals together. Being a 20 round draft, there were approximately 14 pages worth of draftees (if I recall, just about 336 draftees). Now for the feeder leagues. I used the formula in the manual (number of draftees needed, divided by six). That's [16 teams] * [25 rounds], then divided by six. That's roughly 67 teams. I always set it up so there were more NCAA teams than HS - - I wanted most players going through college. In any case, for the first tests, I left the setting to "Use Feeders + Additional Players" for the amateur draft, just in case there weren't quite enough to fill all 25 (no longer 21) rounds. These are the results: 60 Teams - 32 NCAA, 28 HS 5, 14, 12, 5, 5, 12 [198.5] That was waaaay too much talent (more than twice a normal draft), so I decided to decrease the number of teams. 44 Teams - 32 NCAA, 12 HS 13, 12, 13, 10, 10, 4 [246] That didn't work. Figured it must have been a fluke. I lowered the teams again. 36 Teams - 24 NCAA, 12 HS 15, 19, 7, 10, 3, 9 [255] 12 Teams - 8 NCAA, 4 HS 3, 11, 7, 9, 5 [193.5] Even a paltry 12 teams generated too much talent. Then it hit me, I'll turn off the "Generate Additional Players" and set it to "Feeder Leagues Only". Well, the first result with 60 teams came out much better talent-wise: 60 Teams - 32 NCAA, 28 HS - Feeder Leagues ONLY 1, 2, 4, 3, 2, 1 [49] Results were on the low end, but that could be fixed by adding more teams, I suspect. The only problem was...there were only about 90 draftees in the pool - - not nearly enough for a 25-round draft which requires about 400. I heard many saying that with a 5 year age range (14-18, 18-22), about 6 draftees will leave a team each year. Instead, it only appeared to be about 1 or 2 were leaving each team. It took me until I had 190 teams before I even had enough players for a 20-round draft (about 340). In summary...what's going on? I figure I'm either doing something horribly wrong, or feeder leagues aren't functioning properly. My methods of measuring draft talent are rudimentary at best, but they should be decent enough for gathering a general look at potential. If I set the amateur draft to "Feeder Leagues + Additional Players", there is far too much talent in the league. If I set it to only use feeder leagues, it won't generate enough players. In any case, let me know...I spent a good three or four hours on this last night, and I'm hoping I'm just missing some minor detail.