Quote:
Originally Posted by David Watts
I don't like to manage or gm, I like to be the commissioner and just watch things unfold.
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It is that sentence that makes me thinking trying a league simming out long periods first to build a history is something you would enjoy.
For me it is all in the numbers you get from building a history. In most of the sims that have any sort of length for me at all I tend to sim out a large number of years quickly and then slow down in the era I want to focus on. With each version of OOTP I like to do one main game that I always call my History of Baseball sim and I try and make a different era be the focus. Last year was the 1920s and the previous one was more the forties if I recall correctly. In my current History of Baseball replay I started a league in about 1892 and then let the game run until 1965. For my tastes I wanted all the World Series boxscores and other major league history as I love to be able to look back and see things such as who Al Kaline got his first career hit off or how Koufax did when pitching in deciding World Series games so I made sure to set it to create an almanac each year.
When I stopped the fast sim at 1965 my first step was to spend hours pouring over the league history. Just looking at things like my leaderboards, who threw no-hitters, what teams dominated and who their key players were. There is just so much history and so many things to discover regardless of your league settings (recalc or development engine, draft or assign rookies to proper teams etc) that you can get lost for hours as each player page you open leads to a guy he was traded for or something else of note. I find it fascinating to look at all of that.
Once I got to 1965 in this sim I slowed down and really 'watch' the league unfold. Sometimes I sim a week at a time, sometimes a month but I make sure at each stopping point I read the news articles, look at injuries, see who is hot...just really get a feel for my universe. WIth OOTP19 and the improved in game viewing experience I have now started watching the occasional regular season game much more than I used. In the past I would sim everything except for the World Series but now watching games really adds to my immersion in the league.
The other key to getting really into your league for me is to do some sort of a dynasty report write-up. I know you have done some with your Random Development Leagues and it is a great way to 'force' yourself to do research on what's happening in your league.
Having the long history that I simmed out makes the league so much more enjoyable. It gives me story lines to follow in my sim. If you look at pretty much any write-up from my current HOB sim you will likely see some references to past seasons or accomplishments.
Going a month at a time generally until September, then a week at a time or slow right down to a day at a time and maybe watch the key games in a pennant race is how I normally sim out a season.
My advice is try picking an era you want to play or if Random Debut sim out 30 or 40 seasons in advance to build that history, then go to the shorter sim schedule.
Good luck. I hope you find you enjoy it. And sorry for such a long reply.