|
Getting back to the original post, considering beta for v10 is almost upon us, it seems it would be useful to list exactly why it is easy to outsmart the AI. The OP listed two issues:
-it's too easy to trade guys of zero value for guys of some value;
-the AI doesn't compete for minor league free agents.
There seem to be other problems as well:
-it's too easy to stack a trade, particularly at the winter meetings or at the trade deadline, since you can just keep requesting more and more players until the AI changes its mind.
-the AI should claim a *lot* more guys on waivers. I can pass pretty good guys through waivers almost at will;
-it's too easy to stockpile minor leaguers. They all take minor league contract extensions, which is crazy if they're good and aren't being given an opportunity in the bigs. So you can stockpile depth, and it doesn't seem that the AI does the same.
-the trade AI *still* seems to give 'negative value' to some pitching prospects. The AI might not much like a trade, then I ask it to add in some AA pitcher who my scout thinks is a 4-star prospect, and the AI suddenly accepts the deal. Doesn't make sense, and it almost seems there's a stray negative sign somewhere in the code of the trade AI;
-the AI doesn't seem to appreciate how the OOTP dev engine works. It will give crazy contracts to guys who are clearly declining, or trade crazy packages to guys any human player would recognize is going to decline fast. This leaves the AI hamstrung with massive contract commitments to mediocre players, and lets the human fleece the AI in trade;
-I still don't think the AI assigns anywhere near enough value to prospects. I've traded one big league pitcher, for four pitching prospects each of the same Potential as the big league guy, according to my scout. Two years down the line, I have three big league starters who are all above average from the deal, and the declining pitcher I traded away is a borderline fifth starter type;
-hidden players don't seem to work properly. When the AI finds them, they go to the FA pool, giving the human a lot of opportunities to sign young free agent prospects. Since the human can find hidden players himself, and also sign the ones the AI finds, the human has a huge advantage;
-also, with hidden players, it seems that spending an enormous amount, which the AI doesn't do, yields an enormous number of hidden finds, many of which are very good prospects. There should be severely diminishing returns for increased spending, or else this can be exploited;
-AI teams (still) don't seem to properly value closers in the draft, an especially important issue now that relievers are capable of being starters. A shutdown closer prospect should probably be valued more highly than a guy who projects as a below average starting right fielder, but the AI almost always seems to wait until the second round of the draft to even consider relievers. It's easy to stock a bullpen cheaply by drafting relievers, who seem to pan out far more often than position players or starting pitchers.
Intended the above just to start discussion- if there are other issues, it would be great to get a comprehensive list together so that the next version of OOTP can be even better than it is now.
|