Any tips for starting a new league?

robc · 04-10-2010, 11:54 AM

Hi,

I've been waiting to start a new league until 11 comes out. I'm not an expert at setting up a new league and imagine there are others in the same boat. There are lots of very knowledgable people here. I was wondering if those knowedgable people could post any tips for avoiding common pitfalls setting up a league.

For example, I have had problems with finances in the past (maybe corrected in OOTP 11?) where all the teams run out of money. This prevents most trades from happening. Are there any common tips to help prevent something like this?

I myself am interested in starting a league that mimicks the setup and behavior of MLB in the 1970s+. I might start one historical and one fictional.

Can anyone post any tips for this kind of setup, or any other kind of setup that they are interested in?

Thanks

MizzouRah · 04-10-2010, 12:52 PM

I was just wondering if there are any fictional league guides out there.

With all the great logos and uniforms out there, this will be my first time setting up an MLB style fictional league.

Cras · 04-10-2010, 01:11 PM

I always thought that attendence was set too low for the early years of baseball in this game. If you try to mimic MLB as much as possible, teams will already have smaller stadiums, have no media contracts, so the low attendence seems to compound the problem.

With FA off, after a while things seem to balance out, players definately get paid less than what they are worth since they get a contract based on their previous years performance mixed in to how big a market the team they play for. I know this because once I clicked to give every player a new contract, and the payrolls skyrocketed up.

In my OOTPX fictional historical league, I did have to give some cash to teams once in a while, and I usually gave the fanbase a boost when a club moved to a new stadium, just to keep things going up. Turned out all right, teams were making money, a few couldn't, and as a result sucked every year, my Washington club truly was Last in the American League, every single year, along with the Red Sox.

And you have to set up market sizes to as they would have been back in the day. Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cinicnnati all would have been considered a bigger market in the 40's than they would be today, now with the west coast boom and many of the older cities shrinking.

Ktulu · 04-10-2010, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

I was just wondering if there are any fictional league guides out there.

With all the great logos and uniforms out there, this will be my first time setting up an MLB style fictional league.

You can always read the advanced league setup section of the manual. It covers most of the settings fairly well.

Ktulu · 04-10-2010, 01:15 PM

Also, make sure to save your universe as a template before you start the game. That way if there is anything you don't like, it's easy to go back and change things.

My advice would be to play around with the setting you want > save a template > start the game and sim 20 years and check to see if things are working out how you want.

redwa · 04-10-2010, 01:25 PM

will with a fiction league any thing is up to you. I only play using fictional leagues and find that to be very creative and fun. For me i find it to tempting to expand the league and that often leads to eventual problems. The 2 biggest i found was looking at all the clubs that don't win championships. even after 100 seasons there always seems to be 1 or 2 that really struggle in this area. That is like real life too, think Cubs and Rangers. I normally have to move two franchises to different cities for either attendance or finance trouble. I once over expanded to 32 teams. I used the football format of 8 divisions with 4 teams. The problem is a few teams barely finish over .500 and win a division. I stopped it when a club finished under .500 and won the division. I normally run a 24 team like as i found that is a good number for a nice rotation of teams to at least get to the the World Series. Oh don't forget the minor league clubs. I found that 1 minor league club is suffiencent. The customization is great. I run 64 games season with 3 pitcher rotation and that works well and 4 pitchers for 100 games is works well to.

Cras · 04-10-2010, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ktulu

You can always read the advanced league setup section of the manual. It covers most of the settings fairly well.

I just lost about three hours looking at the manual. I have played OOTP for many years now, and understand the game pretty well, but I just couldn't help myself reading the manual. Not that I learned anything new from it, I guess I just am so excited to play the new version, I can't help myself.

Bluenoser · 04-10-2010, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cras

I just lost about three hours looking at the manual. I have played OOTP for many years now, and understand the game pretty well, but I just couldn't help myself reading the manual. Not that I learned anything new from it, I guess I just am so excited to play the new version, I can't help myself.

Ha ha, I've been playing OOTP since version one and every year I will read and find something in the manual that I never knew about before. I try to read the whole thing, which usually takes a couple weeks, but I find it to be a worthwhile investment of time.

04-10-2010, 11:54 AM	#1
robc Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 2,095	Any tips for starting a new league? Hi, I've been waiting to start a new league until 11 comes out. I'm not an expert at setting up a new league and imagine there are others in the same boat. There are lots of very knowledgable people here. I was wondering if those knowedgable people could post any tips for avoiding common pitfalls setting up a league. For example, I have had problems with finances in the past (maybe corrected in OOTP 11?) where all the teams run out of money. This prevents most trades from happening. Are there any common tips to help prevent something like this? I myself am interested in starting a league that mimicks the setup and behavior of MLB in the 1970s+. I might start one historical and one fictional. Can anyone post any tips for this kind of setup, or any other kind of setup that they are interested in? Thanks

04-10-2010, 01:11 PM	#3
Cras Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: LEO Posts: 3,789	I always thought that attendence was set too low for the early years of baseball in this game. If you try to mimic MLB as much as possible, teams will already have smaller stadiums, have no media contracts, so the low attendence seems to compound the problem. With FA off, after a while things seem to balance out, players definately get paid less than what they are worth since they get a contract based on their previous years performance mixed in to how big a market the team they play for. I know this because once I clicked to give every player a new contract, and the payrolls skyrocketed up. In my OOTPX fictional historical league, I did have to give some cash to teams once in a while, and I usually gave the fanbase a boost when a club moved to a new stadium, just to keep things going up. Turned out all right, teams were making money, a few couldn't, and as a result sucked every year, my Washington club truly was Last in the American League, every single year, along with the Red Sox. And you have to set up market sizes to as they would have been back in the day. Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cinicnnati all would have been considered a bigger market in the 40's than they would be today, now with the west coast boom and many of the older cities shrinking. __________________ The Chicago White Sox 1906, 1917, 2005 World Series Champions 1900, 1901, 1906, 1917, 1919, 1959, 2005 American League Champions 2000, 2005, 2008 American League Central Division Champions 1983, 1993 American League West Division Champions OOTP \| Orbiter \| SSMS \| FSX \| LoL \| MLP:FIM!

04-10-2010, 01:15 PM	#5
Ktulu Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: BC Posts: 4,506	Also, make sure to save your universe as a template before you start the game. That way if there is anything you don't like, it's easy to go back and change things. My advice would be to play around with the setting you want > save a template > start the game and sim 20 years and check to see if things are working out how you want. __________________ "The ice is getting even more thinner, my friend!"

04-10-2010, 12:52 PM	#2
MizzouRah Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Troy, Mo Posts: 6,252	I was just wondering if there are any fictional league guides out there. With all the great logos and uniforms out there, this will be my first time setting up an MLB style fictional league.

04-10-2010, 01:25 PM	#6
redwa Minors (Single A) Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 76	will with a fiction league any thing is up to you. I only play using fictional leagues and find that to be very creative and fun. For me i find it to tempting to expand the league and that often leads to eventual problems. The 2 biggest i found was looking at all the clubs that don't win championships. even after 100 seasons there always seems to be 1 or 2 that really struggle in this area. That is like real life too, think Cubs and Rangers. I normally have to move two franchises to different cities for either attendance or finance trouble. I once over expanded to 32 teams. I used the football format of 8 divisions with 4 teams. The problem is a few teams barely finish over .500 and win a division. I stopped it when a club finished under .500 and won the division. I normally run a 24 team like as i found that is a good number for a nice rotation of teams to at least get to the the World Series. Oh don't forget the minor league clubs. I found that 1 minor league club is suffiencent. The customization is great. I run 64 games season with 3 pitcher rotation and that works well and 4 pitchers for 100 games is works well to.