Quanity of Players in the Initial Draft of a Fictional League

dougk62 · 03-24-2003, 03:22 PM

I was wondering if there is any way to limit the number of players available in the initial draft for a fictional league. What I have done is create a small 16 team league, but there seem to be way to may players available in the initial draft. I'm afraid that talent levels in the league will be skewed toward the high side because of this. The other thing I noticed when I let the computer draft for every team in the league is that after the draft there are lots of potential superstar prospects (several 5 star even) left sitting in the free agent pool. There must be a hundred total players left in the free agent pool. I thought at first that I did not set my initial draft high enough to gobble up all the good prospects, but I reset the league and ran an initial draft of 65 rounds the 2nd time and still had over 10 5 star can't miss type prospects left in the free agent pool.

It almost looked like the computer kept drafting to "fill weaknesses" even though the players it was drafting would not fill that weakness. I need to find a way to limit the talent pool somehow. Would the best way to do this be to set the league up at 32 teams and them just eliminate half ot them immediately after the draft?

Thanks for any insights your experience may have shown.

Steve Kuffrey · 03-24-2003, 03:26 PM

You could do one of two things(not sure both are possible but ideas anyway):

-Create a league with only 8-12 teams, THEN before you draft go into league setup and add a couple or however many more you need. Not certain you can do this but a thought.

-Go into the FA pool of the initial draft and delete players.

dougk62 · 03-24-2003, 03:46 PM

Do you have any idea how the game decides how many players to put into the initial draft pool? Is it always the same no matter how many teams you initially choose to have in the league?

satchel · 03-24-2003, 03:54 PM

Surely the game only creates enough players for the size of the league. It wouldn’t create the same number of players for an 8- team league and a 30-team league.

LedgerSko · 03-24-2003, 03:59 PM

Enough for 40 rounds correct?

dougk62 · 03-24-2003, 04:03 PM

I got 65 rounds and still had over a hundred (way to may to count) left in free agency when I created a 16 team league, including more than a dozen 5 star prospects. I'm guessing I could have drafted 100 rounds in a league this size. It appears to me that the initial talent pool is not based on the size of the league. I'd like to find out if I'm right.

ghulten · 03-24-2003, 05:08 PM

I started a 24-team fictional league with a 50-round initial draft and ended up with a good balance of talent and only a handful of 1-star players left over. There's a few more available now (in July) but nothing worth grabbing. The team I took over drafted 1st in a serpantine and only had one 5-star player/prospect, and only a few with 3.5+.

Beach Boy · 03-24-2003, 05:34 PM

This gets to one of my pet peeves about V5: The computer's apparent lack of interest in highly rated prospects during the intial draft. It seems to overvalue mediocre bench-warmers in the middle rounds -- filling out the ML roster -- over potential All-Star prospects. As a result, a human-drafted team will almost always have a terrific minor league system against computer-drafted teams.

Aside from the original question -- are there too many players available in the initial draft -- is anyone addressing this secondary question? Does the computer AI undervalue prospects in the initial dispersion draft?

satchel · 03-24-2003, 06:09 PM

I can answer the prospects question: I was recently in an online draft in which I made my first few picks. The rest were made by the computer, and it ignored awesome prospects for the sake of taking mediocre major leaguers in the second half of the draft.

asamford · 03-24-2003, 07:15 PM

Yes, I noticed this as well. I saw that the AI was taking crap instead of the 5 star prospects sitting out there, so I just went through, sorted the players by star ranking, and manually drafted them to the teams, that way, they were divided equally among all franchises, and my team didn't get an unfair advantage by having an incredible minor league system. I still had the #1 ranked system, but it was only by a few points, and by the 2nd or 3rd season, I had dropped down to 5th overall, and now i'm right in the middle of the pack.

captainstarball · 03-24-2003, 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Beach Boy
This gets to one of my pet peeves about V5: The computer's apparent lack of interest in highly rated prospects during the intial draft. It seems to overvalue mediocre bench-warmers in the middle rounds -- filling out the ML roster -- over potential All-Star prospects. As a result, a human-drafted team will almost always have a terrific minor league system against computer-drafted teams.

Yes, I really hope this gets fixed in a patch. When I do an initial draft I need to let the computer pick for me as a handicap. Computer teams will pick a 1 star fully developed player over future superstars, even when they already have a solid starter at that position for the current season.

The AI isn't doesn't ignore prospects as much in trading but the problem is still there. Computer controlled teams just don't care about prospects nearly as much as they should. Don't get me wrong, I love the game but in OOTP4 my team would win at least 130 games a year against the computer because I would constantly recycle veterans with balooning contracts for the best prospects. I was hoping this woud be tightened more. Some people have complained trading is too difficult and some parts of it might actually be this way. However, in my opinion it is too easy to trade for prospects or pick them up in the late rounds of the initial draft.

dougk62 · 03-24-2003, 10:59 PM

I guess then from what it sounds like, the amount of talent in the initial draft is fixed regardless of the number of teams in the league.

Maybe that is an issue that will be addressed in the future. I agree with the comments above though. The AI does not properly value a superstar prospect in the initial draft. After I redrafted my league with 65 rounds, the number 1 prospect in the whole league was like a 22 year old catcher that had been selected late in the 65th round of the draft.

I guess what I will need to do for now is to create more teams in my league than I wish to use and let them draft players. After the draft, I suppose I can just go in and delete all those players and teams permanantely.

03-24-2003, 03:26 PM	#2
Steve Kuffrey Administrator Join Date: Jul 1999 Location: S.E. TN - Georgia born and raised Posts: 17,035	You could do one of two things(not sure both are possible but ideas anyway): -Create a league with only 8-12 teams, THEN before you draft go into league setup and add a couple or however many more you need. Not certain you can do this but a thought. -Go into the FA pool of the initial draft and delete players. __________________ Steve Kuffrey DABS Atlanta Braves - 2008 Eastern Division Champ *DBLC Atlanta Braves - 2011, 2014 East Division Champ, 2012, 2013 NL Wildcard Baseball Maelstrom-Montreal Expos-2013 Tourney winner, 2014 WC Team Sparky's League - Tampa Bay D'Rays Epicenter Baseball League - Astros 2014 The CBL Rewind - Phillies '95

03-24-2003, 03:46 PM	#3
dougk62 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Tonganoxie, KS Posts: 304	Do you have any idea how the game decides how many players to put into the initial draft pool? Is it always the same no matter how many teams you initially choose to have in the league? __________________ NABA - Calgary Wolfpack JOBL - Jacksonville Express Creator of Offensive Value Rating Reports

03-24-2003, 03:54 PM	#4
satchel Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Ft Smith Ark. USA Posts: 2,681	playas Surely the game only creates enough players for the size of the league. It wouldn’t create the same number of players for an 8- team league and a 30-team league. __________________ JL Commish NPBL Rhode Island Reds ’33 ’34 ’35 TCBA San Francisco Railbornes ’74 ’76 ’77 ’78 FL New Orleans Black Sox ’56 ’57 ’58 ’59

03-24-2003, 04:03 PM	#6
dougk62 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Tonganoxie, KS Posts: 304	I got 65 rounds and still had over a hundred (way to may to count) left in free agency when I created a 16 team league, including more than a dozen 5 star prospects. I'm guessing I could have drafted 100 rounds in a league this size. It appears to me that the initial talent pool is not based on the size of the league. I'd like to find out if I'm right. __________________ NABA - Calgary Wolfpack JOBL - Jacksonville Express Creator of Offensive Value Rating Reports

03-24-2003, 06:09 PM	#9
satchel Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Ft Smith Ark. USA Posts: 2,681	prospects. I can answer the prospects question: I was recently in an online draft in which I made my first few picks. The rest were made by the computer, and it ignored awesome prospects for the sake of taking mediocre major leaguers in the second half of the draft. __________________ JL Commish NPBL Rhode Island Reds ’33 ’34 ’35 TCBA San Francisco Railbornes ’74 ’76 ’77 ’78 FL New Orleans Black Sox ’56 ’57 ’58 ’59

03-24-2003, 03:22 PM	#1
dougk62 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Tonganoxie, KS Posts: 304	Quanity of Players in the Initial Draft of a Fictional League I was wondering if there is any way to limit the number of players available in the initial draft for a fictional league. What I have done is create a small 16 team league, but there seem to be way to may players available in the initial draft. I'm afraid that talent levels in the league will be skewed toward the high side because of this. The other thing I noticed when I let the computer draft for every team in the league is that after the draft there are lots of potential superstar prospects (several 5 star even) left sitting in the free agent pool. There must be a hundred total players left in the free agent pool. I thought at first that I did not set my initial draft high enough to gobble up all the good prospects, but I reset the league and ran an initial draft of 65 rounds the 2nd time and still had over 10 5 star can't miss type prospects left in the free agent pool. It almost looked like the computer kept drafting to "fill weaknesses" even though the players it was drafting would not fill that weakness. I need to find a way to limit the talent pool somehow. Would the best way to do this be to set the league up at 32 teams and them just eliminate half ot them immediately after the draft? Thanks for any insights your experience may have shown.

03-24-2003, 03:59 PM	#5
LedgerSko All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 1,085	Enough for 40 rounds correct?

03-24-2003, 05:08 PM	#7
ghulten Minors (Double A) Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 135	I started a 24-team fictional league with a 50-round initial draft and ended up with a good balance of talent and only a handful of 1-star players left over. There's a few more available now (in July) but nothing worth grabbing. The team I took over drafted 1st in a serpantine and only had one 5-star player/prospect, and only a few with 3.5+.

03-24-2003, 05:34 PM	#8
Beach Boy Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Virginia Beach, Va. Posts: 49	This gets to one of my pet peeves about V5: The computer's apparent lack of interest in highly rated prospects during the intial draft. It seems to overvalue mediocre bench-warmers in the middle rounds -- filling out the ML roster -- over potential All-Star prospects. As a result, a human-drafted team will almost always have a terrific minor league system against computer-drafted teams. Aside from the original question -- are there too many players available in the initial draft -- is anyone addressing this secondary question? Does the computer AI undervalue prospects in the initial dispersion draft?

03-24-2003, 07:15 PM	#10
asamford Banned Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Snellville, Georgia Posts: 1,769	Yes, I noticed this as well. I saw that the AI was taking crap instead of the 5 star prospects sitting out there, so I just went through, sorted the players by star ranking, and manually drafted them to the teams, that way, they were divided equally among all franchises, and my team didn't get an unfair advantage by having an incredible minor league system. I still had the #1 ranked system, but it was only by a few points, and by the 2nd or 3rd season, I had dropped down to 5th overall, and now i'm right in the middle of the pack.

03-24-2003, 10:59 PM	#12
dougk62 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Tonganoxie, KS Posts: 304	I guess then from what it sounds like, the amount of talent in the initial draft is fixed regardless of the number of teams in the league. Maybe that is an issue that will be addressed in the future. I agree with the comments above though. The AI does not properly value a superstar prospect in the initial draft. After I redrafted my league with 65 rounds, the number 1 prospect in the whole league was like a 22 year old catcher that had been selected late in the 65th round of the draft. I guess what I will need to do for now is to create more teams in my league than I wish to use and let them draft players. After the draft, I suppose I can just go in and delete all those players and teams permanantely. __________________ NABA - Calgary Wolfpack JOBL - Jacksonville Express Creator of Offensive Value Rating Reports