Newbie Questions

[Dactyl]

I just purchased OOTP6 last week. It's an impressive game, and I have only one really criticism. The game interface is kind of clumsy to use. For example, I have not started a manager's career and I'm playing in GM mode, which I prefer anyway. I am controlling one team myself and I tell the AI to play out the month. Say I get an email offering a trade. I have to go to the team menu, select the team I'm playing, wait for the menu to come up, click on the email button, read the email, then go to the league menu, pick scheduling, click on the button on the lower right to get back to the screen that will let me simulate some more games. Way too many steps there just to read an email. I could give other examples, but I don't want it to appear that I'm down on the game. I'm not. It's impressive.

At present I'm overwhelmed by all of the information and options. I feel like, before the season, I have no sense of how my team is going to do. For example, how do I know how good my players are in regard to the other teams? This is particularly a problem in the beginning when you don't have a history on your players.

I am also confused by the hiring process, both for coaches and free agents. When it comes to coaches and such, how do I know how much I'm really going to have to pay them in order to hire them? They'll ask for something like 300K for 2 years. I'll offer them that and find out that they have been hired for more by another team. How am I supposed to know how much it will really take to sign them. The same thing applies to free agents. How do I know how much to offer? In real life, GM's know how much similar players have signed for in the past and they know how the current market is shaping up compared to the past. I can't seem to find any guidelines to help me in signing free agents. Am I missing something here?

One last question, I tried drafting a 17-year-old free agent middle reliever and converting him into a starter as soon as I picked him. In spring training, I let the coaches set the parameters. However, in his third season in the my organization, this player is still only pitching 2-3 innings a start. Is it impossible to change roles like that?

[Dactyl]

I made a mistake there. That was a 17-year-old amateur, not free agent.

[Cardinal Rule]

Well I'll answer your pitcher question - you can convert any pitcher to any of the three roles, but if you make a low-endurance guy a starter (endurance of less than 5 on the 1-10 scale) he'll never pitch more than a couple innings. Better to leave that guy as a reliever, even heaping spring training points to endurance usually won't make a serious difference.

Also on free agent offers - some free agents will tell you what the want (example - "I will sign for 1,500,000 for 3 years"). Others will just say "Let me hear your offer" and you have to guess.

Evaluating talent is difficult - there are many things to look for. Read the scouting report on each player you are interested in and see how that corresponds to his ratings - that may help you feel more comfortable knowing what makes for a marginal, good, or great player.

[obaslg]

Originally Posted by Dactyl

For example, how do I know how good my players are in regard to the other teams?

If you go to League - Almanac and hit Display All Players, you can see all of them, and can filter by position (position they can play, not necessarily do play). If you go to League - League Setup and hit Misc. Setup you can hit buttons to create csv files you can open with Excel.

Originally Posted by Dactyl

When it comes to coaches and such, how do I know how much I'm really going to have to pay them in order to hire them? They'll ask for something like 300K for 2 years. I'll offer them that and find out that they have been hired for more by another team. How am I supposed to know how much it will really take to sign them. The same thing applies to free agents. How do I know how much to offer? In real life, GM's know how much similar players have signed for in the past and they know how the current market is shaping up compared to the past. I can't seem to find any guidelines to help me in signing free agents. Am I missing something here?

You'll get a feel for that pretty quickly. There's no easy guide, though the AI teams will use the number of stars. There will always be some unpredictability, or it wouldn't be much fun.

Originally Posted by Dactyl

One last question, I tried drafting a 17-year-old free agent middle reliever and converting him into a starter as soon as I picked him. In spring training, I let the coaches set the parameters. However, in his third season in the my organization, this player is still only pitching 2-3 innings a start. Is it impossible to change roles like that?

Changing his role doesn't change his endurance, which is what determines how long he stays in. You can try changing him to a SP in spring training; if you're successful he'll get an endurance good enough to start with.