Contract Negoations, Am I missing something?

cabot41 · 07-14-2006, 06:39 AM

I'm dealing with a fictional league, post patch.

1) It seems to me that if you meet a player's stated contract desire (or perhaps go a little above it) he is going to sign with you, no matter what. I don't get the impression (from looking at what other teams sign players for) that the AI ever matches a player's desired offer. So if you do, you're pretty much all set.

2) The only way to generate any sort of bidding war is if you lowball the player. Which is fine I guess, but occasionally the player will sign with another team for slightly more money without giving you a chance to counter. I don't mean you never get to counter, I just mean that it is not garunteed. Even then, it still tops out at the player's desired level.

3) The player's desired level seems to have everything to do with how you set the "average superstar player" scale on the league set up screen and how good the player thinks he is (based only on ratings, but that point has been brought up before). It seems to have nothing to do with how other similar players or other free agents are getting paid. So, if I pay a 27 year old All-Star $10mil, the 27 MVP isn't necessarily going to demand more than that (assuming the ratings are similar).

4) Players are more expensive to sign to extensions than they are on the FA market (in my experience, this cuts across all desire to win/loyalty ratings). I've got guys that won't resign with their current teams, but then will take far less on the FA market (which again would be fine I guess if I felt like that was being dictated by the market, but not every player can be as silly as Bengie Molina).

So, I guess my question here is: Is this all intentional, or am I missing something? I assume greed/loyalty/desire of a winner all play a role in some of this, but at a very basic level, I feel like free agency has been dumbed down or something. In 6.5 I used to have to have multiple back up FA options, because I was always afriad that I could just get stright out bid by an agressive AI. I used to cringe when I saw the AI make a big money signing for somebody I didn't think deserve because I knew it was going to raise the cost for the guys I wanted (kinda like every GM does when the Jaret Wright's of the world get paid more than 8 dollars and 50 cents.). 15 seasons into my main sim, and that just has yet to happen. I look at my money, I look at who I can afford, I pay them, they sign, wash/rinse/repeat.

If this is the way it is intended I can live with it. I can adjust and start lowballing everybody, never sign contract extensions, and some other things I haven't thought of yet. But I honestly can't tell if it is meant to be like this, or if this is something that will get "tweaked" to make it more like the old way.

Thoughts?

Markus Heinsohn · 07-14-2006, 07:12 AM

This will be further tweaked in 1.0.2, the AI is not agressive enough right now...

cabot41 · 07-14-2006, 08:59 AM

Cool. Great. Thanks.

jbmagic · 07-14-2006, 12:48 PM

When you create a brand new season, why doesn't the AI teams sign any free agents before opening day?

It makes it so easy for human team to sign any free agents before opening day.

Geebob · 07-14-2006, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbmagic

When you create a brand new season, why doesn't the AI teams sign any free agents before opening day?

It makes it so easy for human team to sign any free agents before opening day.

I'm not sure this is a new thing... or even unique to OOTPBB. I've always found that text sims tend to be more enjoyable if you autorun a season or two to allow things to "settle down" a bit. (... and give me a chance to inherit Cliff Floyd with a 6 year $90m contract!!!

)

Good news that Markus is going to make the AI a little more aggressive toward FAs!

07-14-2006, 06:39 AM	#1
cabot41 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 78	Contract Negoations, Am I missing something? I'm dealing with a fictional league, post patch. 1) It seems to me that if you meet a player's stated contract desire (or perhaps go a little above it) he is going to sign with you, no matter what. I don't get the impression (from looking at what other teams sign players for) that the AI ever matches a player's desired offer. So if you do, you're pretty much all set. 2) The only way to generate any sort of bidding war is if you lowball the player. Which is fine I guess, but occasionally the player will sign with another team for slightly more money without giving you a chance to counter. I don't mean you never get to counter, I just mean that it is not garunteed. Even then, it still tops out at the player's desired level. 3) The player's desired level seems to have everything to do with how you set the "average superstar player" scale on the league set up screen and how good the player thinks he is (based only on ratings, but that point has been brought up before). It seems to have nothing to do with how other similar players or other free agents are getting paid. So, if I pay a 27 year old All-Star $10mil, the 27 MVP isn't necessarily going to demand more than that (assuming the ratings are similar). 4) Players are more expensive to sign to extensions than they are on the FA market (in my experience, this cuts across all desire to win/loyalty ratings). I've got guys that won't resign with their current teams, but then will take far less on the FA market (which again would be fine I guess if I felt like that was being dictated by the market, but not every player can be as silly as Bengie Molina). So, I guess my question here is: Is this all intentional, or am I missing something? I assume greed/loyalty/desire of a winner all play a role in some of this, but at a very basic level, I feel like free agency has been dumbed down or something. In 6.5 I used to have to have multiple back up FA options, because I was always afriad that I could just get stright out bid by an agressive AI. I used to cringe when I saw the AI make a big money signing for somebody I didn't think deserve because I knew it was going to raise the cost for the guys I wanted (kinda like every GM does when the Jaret Wright's of the world get paid more than 8 dollars and 50 cents.). 15 seasons into my main sim, and that just has yet to happen. I look at my money, I look at who I can afford, I pay them, they sign, wash/rinse/repeat. If this is the way it is intended I can live with it. I can adjust and start lowballing everybody, never sign contract extensions, and some other things I haven't thought of yet. But I honestly can't tell if it is meant to be like this, or if this is something that will get "tweaked" to make it more like the old way. Thoughts? Last edited by cabot41; 07-14-2006 at 06:43 AM.

07-14-2006, 07:12 AM	#2
Markus Heinsohn Developer OOTP Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Germany Posts: 24,803	This will be further tweaked in 1.0.2, the AI is not agressive enough right now...

07-14-2006, 08:59 AM	#3
cabot41 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 78	Cool. Great. Thanks.

07-14-2006, 12:48 PM	#4
jbmagic Hall Of Famer Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 3,417	When you create a brand new season, why doesn't the AI teams sign any free agents before opening day? It makes it so easy for human team to sign any free agents before opening day.