Questions on what OOTP supports

[jakobscalpel]

Hi All,

I've done some research here in the forums to see if OOTP will fit my style of play better than DMB. I've been active in the DMB community as a developer and I love that game but it is increasingly difficult to justify spending time customizing DMB via add-ons to accomplish what another game does out of the box. OOTP 11 (I tried the demo last year) was close and maybe it did all I wanted and my unfamiliarity stopped me from realizing it. Perhaps 12 will do everything I'd like. My list is long but I'd appreciate it if you could let me know your thoughts.

My goals:

1. Replay all seasons in baseball history sequentially
2. Use real life players with real life stats on fictional teams and leagues
3. Have full computer roster management and GM functions for x number of computer managed teams in the fictional leagues. I'd likely manage 1 or 2 of the teams
4. Relegation style leagues
5. Ability to customize standings so that a point system (4-2-1-0) is used instead of win/loss records
6. Ability to turn off salaries and contracts but retain GM for drafting/trading
7. Ability to customize schedule so that an in-season tournament (similar to FA Cup in English Premier League) is played but that the statistics from the in season tournament are not added to the season totals. This in-season tournament would need to handle pitching rotations seamlessly.
8. Ability to migrate fictional leagues easily from one season to the next with real-life player availability trimming the rosters
9. Ability to specify the number of players kept on each roster for the next season
10. Ability to customize the free agent draft order each season

My impressions on what is supported. I could easily be wrong on some of these:

1. Available
2. I think this is possible but not sure
3. Available
4. Available but not clear on the limitations, if any, for goal #2
5. Not Available
6. Available
7. Unknown
8. Not Available? At least, I didn't see how in the demo last year.
9. Unknown
10. Available

Thanks for any feedback you can provide!

[Cooleyvol]

Hit me up about a point system and promotion/relegation. I have answers for you.

4,5, and 7 can be done. In fact, we just finished our first season of the BBS and did all of this and more. We now have a sister league in America starting up (others in the works) with the hopes of a Champions League very soon.

[TribeFanInNC]

Originally Posted by Cooleyvol

4,5, and 7 can be done. In fact, we just finished our first season of the BBS and did all of this and more. We now have a sister league in America starting up (others in the works) with the hopes of a Champions League very soon.

One caveat here: these can be done pretty well in an online setting (as Cooley has proved). But not in a solo league. OOTP, like other baseball programs, is just not made for this. However, I'm sure he has some pretty good advice on the situation.

In general, I'd say you are on the mark with your evaluations.

[Curtis]

Originally Posted by jakobscalpel

1. Replay all seasons in baseball history sequentially
2. Use real life players with real life stats on fictional teams and leagues
3. Have full computer roster management and GM functions for x number of computer managed teams in the fictional leagues. I'd likely manage 1 or 2 of the teams
4. Relegation style leagues
5. Ability to customize standings so that a point system (4-2-1-0) is used instead of win/loss records
6. Ability to turn off salaries and contracts but retain GM for drafting/trading
7. Ability to customize schedule so that an in-season tournament (similar to FA Cup in English Premier League) is played but that the statistics from the in season tournament are not added to the season totals. This in-season tournament would need to handle pitching rotations seamlessly.
8. Ability to migrate fictional leagues easily from one season to the next with real-life player availability trimming the rosters
9. Ability to specify the number of players kept on each roster for the next season
10. Ability to customize the free agent draft order each season

My impressions on what is supported. I could easily be wrong on some of these:

1. Available
2. I think this is possible but not sure
3. Available
4. Available but not clear on the limitations, if any, for goal #2
5. Not Available
6. Available
7. Unknown
8. Not Available? At least, I didn't see how in the demo last year.
9. Unknown
10. Available

1. Correct, but with a caveat. 1901-2010 are available. 1871-1900 provide enough information that they can be approximated. The players are available, and in the correct years, but not on their historical teams. (Version 12 might correct that, depending on what the feature 'historical transactions' turns out to mean.) The league structures and schedules would require considerable customization, and some of it (like The Year of the Three Leagues) will never be exact. Trying to get teams to expand and contract on exact dates would be difficult, but not impossible, and likewise for creating schedules for the leagues with an odd number of teams. Le Grand Orange can provide you with 'as played' schedules for most or all of those years.

2. Available

3. Correct

4. per Cooleyvol, available

5. per Cooleyvol, available

6. Correct

7. per Cooleyvol, available

8. If you mean playing with real players and having some of those players disappear during military service, or when they were on the DL or in the minors all season… hmm. The Lahman database should have the 'out of service' years for each player, and if you know where to look for that information I THINK you could mod that yourself, but it would be labor intensive and might not make you happy. I'm not an expert on that, but I think the way you'd do it is to retire the player at the end of the season just before the one(s) he missed, then un-retire him at the end of the season just before he historically returned. Lord only knows what that would do to his career stats, or whether his skills would atrophy while he was away. Presumably the roster list (or database) you choose to play with would compensate. That's a long way of saying, "I think so, but I'm guessing."

9. Available

10. Correct

[Cooleyvol]

Originally Posted by TribeFanInNC

One caveat here: these can be done pretty well in an online setting (as Cooley has proved). But not in a solo league. OOTP, like other baseball programs, is just not made for this. However, I'm sure he has some pretty good advice on the situation.

In general, I'd say you are on the mark with your evaluations.

You can do all of those in a solo league as long as you use statslab for #5.

[TribeFanInNC]

Originally Posted by Cooleyvol

You can do all of those in a solo league as long as you use statslab for #5.

Good point. See, I knew you would have good ideas

My point, of which I'm sure you are aware, is more theoretical. In a solo league, the third place will not go out of its way to get to second. And more problematic, the second worst team will not really try to get to third last place to avoid relegation. Of course, you could pretend they are and that's fine.

So I'll amend my statement and say that promotion/relegation leagues are possible with some imagination.

[jakobscalpel]

Originally Posted by TribeFanInNC

So I'll amend my statement and say that promotion/relegation leagues are possible with some imagination.

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I'm not worried about the AI being unaware of the relegation style league. That is fine with me and I just consider it the price of playing a solo league.

What is statslab?

[TribeFanInNC]

It is a great mod that does a lot of external things using database exports from OOTP.

Here is the thread: http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...tatslab11.html

[kq76]

Assuming you're not somehow allowing for ties and overtime wins/losses, how does this 4-2-1-0 point system work? I suppose it's used for promotion/relegation, but if the only possible outcomes are win or lose then why 4 possible point outcomes?

[Cryomaniac]

Originally Posted by kq76

Assuming you're not somehow allowing for ties and overtime wins/losses, how does this 4-2-1-0 point system work? I suppose it's used for promotion/relegation, but if the only possible outcomes are win or lose then why 4 possible point outcomes?

I'm not him, but presumably the 2 and 1 are for Extra innings wins / losses.

[jakobscalpel]

Originally Posted by Cryomaniac

I'm not him, but presumably the 2 and 1 are for Extra innings wins / losses.

Yes, this is it exactly. It is a bit bizarre but I found it to be a very enjoyable way to keep track of my standings. When entering the ninth inning of a close game in a pennant race I liked knowing there were more than two outcomes of the game to consider. Also, since I play an in season tournament, using a points system gave more variation to the results, rather than just a best of 5/7 series.

At one point I even played with one run wins and losses having different values but found that diminished my enjoyment, rather than enhancing it.

Thanks for the links to statslab. It looks fantastic.