[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by mgoetze

Le Grande Orange, I don't really see why distinguishing between "standard" and day-night doubleheaders should be such a big deal ...

Because that`s how it is in real life. There`s a reason MLB prefers day-night doubleheaders and that`s because each game requires a separate ticket. Clubs don`t lose any potential revenue. In contrast a regular two-for-one doubleheader means a game`s potential revenue is lost.

The minors don`t have much choice since the schedules and travel arrangements there are already tight.

Originally Posted by mgoetze

If the game just treated every double header as two seperate games on the same day, that would be more than good enough for me.

Why do it half-arsed when it can be done properly from the start? We wouldn't accept the game spitting out unrealistic player statistics, so why treat other areas unrealistically? Doing it right the first time means no kludges that only have to be reworked again in later versions.

Originally Posted by mgoetze

Anyway, to sum it up: perfect is the enemy of good. Please don't sweep rain-outs under the carpet entirely just because you can't do them perfectly.

See above.

Originally Posted by Cryomaniac

The main issue with coding rain outs as far as Markus has said in the past is scheduling the make up game.

I think that can be handled with a series of "if-then" statements. That's really the sticking point, knowing the conditions around when a postponed game should be slotted back into the schedule. Shouldn't be too difficult to construct a proper list of steps to follow.

I'm thinking one way OOTP could open up its scheduling is by having two schedule files. One is the 'original' schedule file, this is the base one that the game uses to set up the slate of matchups for the upcoming season, and would operate just as it does now. OOTP then creates a copy of that schedule file for specific use in the current season; let's call that the 'dynamic' schedule file.

The first thing OOTP does with that dynamic file is individually adjust the starting times for each home team; that is, each home team can have its own unique typical starting time. These can be set in the team options section, and add more variety and flavour, especially for those using the RTS feature. No longer would you be restricted to whatever start times were entered into the schedule file itself. It's in the dynamic schedule file that OOTP keeps track of postponements and slots in the dates for make up games. At the end of the season, OOTP then deletes that dynamic schedule file since it's no longer needed. It takes the original schedule file, swaps around the opponents to create new matchups just like it does now, then creates a copy of that in the form of a new dynamic schedule file for the next season. Rinse and repeat for every season.

I think a system like this could work out really well, adding a lot of new potential features to the schedule side of things.

Originally Posted by The Game

While OOTP may not be able to reschedule games due to rainouts. Rain shortened games should be doable.

Other than being a tiny proportion of games played, there is still the matter of games potentially becoming suspended or tied if they can be interrupted by bad weather during their playing. To avoid such outcomes the game may have to "cheat" with its weather interruption such that the game isn't called off until there's a winning condition for one of the clubs.

Originally Posted by abefrohman

I'd like to see rain-outs in OOTP 15 where the game(s) would need to be replayed as part of a double-header. Example: Opening Day between the Cardinals and Cubs gets rained out. The computer could then ask you "Make up as double-header tomorrow?" and you could select "Yes" or "No" and the game would be made up.

Problems with the manual approach:

• Does the user have to reschedule every postponed game manually, even for AI-controlled teams? Or does the user only handle their own club, in which case what happens with AI teams? Do they not have postponements then?
• What happens for those who sim stretches of the season? Does the sim stop every time there is a postponement? Not only would that get irritating, but it could mean a lot of games that the user has to reschedule if bad weather has been frequent.

The above illustrate why an automated system is much more preferable. The user can then concentrate on running their team and not have to handle league administrative tasks.