Financial Nightmares

[vuroth]

So I liked the demo enough to buy OOTP, but now that I'm here, I'm having an awful tough time as GM.

Running on GM mode (bench coach sets lineups), MLB rosters, every team I get given is in awful financial straits. When I got Washington, 1/4 of their budget was going to a SS with all 1s as stats. This isn't remotely uncommon, as pretty much every team I've been given a shot at is blowing millions and millions on guys in their low 30s who have washed up.

None of which, of course, stops every owner from demanding .500 ball. Less than half the league average in budget, and 10 million a year being thrown away on bad contracts I inherited? Play .500. Gah.

The other part that seems impossible to manage is fan approval. When I first took over Washington, I released a lot of the guys on DFA, and refused to sign some guys whose contracts were up who were, from their stats, unproductive. For some reason, the fans hated this. (Seriously, what baseball fan wants their GM to spend 3 million a year on a guy who OPSd .520 last year?)

It pretty much seems that whatever I do, fan support plummets to 1, the owner demans .500 baseball, and I inherit millions and millions of dead weight in salaries to washups.

Needless to say, I'm having a hard time keeping a job.

I'm trying a fantasy league at this point, hoping things will work out better, but what gives? Am I just really that bad at this game? I'd been pondering pre-ordering, but right now it just feels like I'm never going to learn this game....

Can anyone point out to me what I'm overlooking? Or is it really that hard to keep the books balanced and the owner happy?

V

[scott1964]

Start small and work your way up

[1998 Yankees]

Originally Posted by vuroth

The other part that seems impossible to manage is fan approval. When I first took over Washington, I released a lot of the guys on DFA, and refused to sign some guys whose contracts were up who were, from their stats, unproductive. For some reason, the fans hated this. (Seriously, what baseball fan wants their GM to spend 3 million a year on a guy who OPSd .520 last year?)

Take it easy, vuroth. OOTP was not built in a day, so you cannot expect to learn it in one either. View the tutorials on the main web site, use in-game help (F1), and above all read enough of the manual to get started, then zero in on the sections that are still giving you problems.

I quoted one section of your post as an example of stuff you need to learn. Are you unaware that there is a popularity module in this game? Open a player profile and look for National and Local Popularity ratings. The players that you let go may have been Extremely Popular locally, which would account for your adverse fan reaction.

Of course, fan disloyalty lowers attendance and merchandising revenue which could account for your teams being in the red. Get or hold onto some popular players, win some more, and see the numbers go back up again.

Your idea of playing a fictional game for now is probably good for learning; I have read of financial problems with the MLB quickstart that comes with the game. Do some fiddling with the financial settings in League Setup, Rules, to see what happens and that way, you learn.

Relax, enjoy the game.