Setting up a league with teams from different years

[BradC]

I know I've seen threads like this around here before, but I'm not sure of the best terms to use to search and find them, so I'm hoping someone who has been around a while can offer some thoughts here.

I've been talking by email with a customer who is a long-time Strat player and has purchased OOTP 14. What he wants to do is of course simple with Strat but not so easy with OOTP - however, we have the edge over Strat in the "ditch the dice and pencils and paper" dept., which is why he bought our game.

Here's what he said to me in an email. I'm thinking his only way of doing this is to grab the All-Time Greats league, and/or the Seamheads Laundry League, and use that as his starting point. Then he would take, for example, the Mets and delete all the guys who weren't on the '86 team. Then he'd fill in the rest by importing the players he needs from the database. (That's not something I'm well-versed in, so I might need some pointers there.) Wash, rinse, repeat for the other teams, and then delete the rest of the teams and divisions, since he just wants 8 teams total.

But the guys who were left wouldn't all necessarily have their '86 years represented, correct? So I don't know if what I'm proposing would even be the best starting point. Maybe it would be better to start fresh and import the players he needs and create the teams by hand.

Or, hey, maybe a few folks around here have saved games that include these teams, and he can Frankenstein together a league from the pieces of different saved leagues.

I'm willing to get on the phone with this guy and walk him through everything that needs to be done. I just need a starting point.

Thanks!

Here's what he sent in the email:

I want to create my own league of eight teams using past seasons.
I want to be able to import specific teams from past years (WS champs) for my league.
My league would have two divisions (NL and AL):
The NL would have the 67 cards, the 77 dodgers, 86 mets and 95 braves
The AL would have the 66 Orioles, the 73 A's, the 84 Tigers and 96 Yankees.
(I was thinking of making my own rosters of players from different teams but that seems
to be very complicated, so I would think using existing teams will be easier....no?).

[endgame]

I have nothing to offer but my thanks for taking individual time to enhance a newcomer's possibilities of enjoying his game. Way to go the extra mile, Brad.

[BradC]

Thanks! I enjoy doing that, and I know it helps our reputation.

[pstrickert]

Create a custom (fictional) league. It would have 2 subleagues with 1 division in each subleague (each containing 4 teams).

Go to the Edit League Structure screen. Delete the individual (fictional) teams one by one. Then click on the Import Hist. Team button. Follow the directions found in the OOTP manual: Out of the Park Baseball Manual

He would still have to decide which options he wanted to include (or not). But I think this would get him started toward his goal.

[BradC]

Wow, I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't realize that existed. I thought historical teams had to be built from scratch. Many thanks!

[pstrickert]

I'm not sure what he wants to do about the schedule. He'll need at least to go to the Edit League Schedule screen and clear the original schedule. Then he can generate a new one or create one manually.

[Lukas Berger]

Originally Posted by endgame

I have nothing to offer but my thanks for taking individual time to enhance a newcomer's possibilities of enjoying his game. Way to go the extra mile, Brad.

Yeah, have to agree. Well done, Brad.

[pstrickert]

Plus, he's probably going to have to turn off Trades, Injuries, etc., etc.

[Lukas Berger]

Originally Posted by pstrickert

I'm not sure what he wants to do about the schedule. He'll need at least to go to the Edit League Schedule screen and clear the original schedule. Then he can generate a new one or create one manually.

I'm pretty sure he should be able to generate a new schedule without clearing the old one.

[BradC]

Thanks, guys. I will discuss those things with him. Coming from Strat, I'm sure OOTP's possibilities will be a bit overwhelming for him at first. He said he played the computer version of Strat a little bit too - I have played the dice-and-card one but not the PC one - Is the PC version just good for season replays too, or does it have franchise capabilities?

[Lukas Berger]

Originally Posted by BradC

Is the PC version just good for season replays too, or does it have franchise capabilities?

No clue. From the first time I played OOTP it became clear that there was no need to ever try another PC baseball sim.

[BradC]

I spent 2 hours on the phone with him today, but he had trouble with OOTP's scheduling. He said that in Strat, he could set up a league like this and just tell it that he wanted to play Team A vs. Team B, make it a regular season game, and control both teams. Then it would record the stats and give him a box score.

I walked him through all the setup stuff and then had him wipe the 162-game schedule it had created by default, but he didn't want to have to enter the schedule he had created on paper. He wanted it to work the way Strat does and unfortunately had a hard time with that. I think it was just a case of being used to doing something one way in one game and not having it work that way in another.

He said he'll spend some more time with it and get back to me next week, so hopefully he will find a method that works. I directed him to our forum and said he might find some helpful advice here, so hopefully he'll stop by.

[pstrickert]

How many games did he want to schedule with just the eight teams?

[BradC]

As I recall, it was about 30 or 40 per team. We didn't get too far into that because he wanted to keep the schedule on paper and just use OOTP to run the games.

[Papa3]

Originally Posted by BradC

Thanks, guys. I will discuss those things with him. Coming from Strat, I'm sure OOTP's possibilities will be a bit overwhelming for him at first. He said he played the computer version of Strat a little bit too - I have played the dice-and-card one but not the PC one - Is the PC version just good for season replays too, or does it have franchise capabilities?

I played Strat on the PC many years ago, when it first became available. I don't think anything has changed, but it did not have any franchise capabilities.

Essentially, the ONLY differences between the board and PC versions were that the PC played the game out faster because all the chart referencing was automatic (saving the time having to compare player ratings and dice rolls to the charts for each play) and it's ability to automatically add up the stats as the game and season went on.

The PC version adds the ability to play against the AI at the manager level as well. The AI would choose when to steal, hit and run, advance the runner an extra base, pinch hit, make a pitching change, etc. for the opposing team. This made it so a single player actually had someone to manage against. There were always glaring limitations on this such as the pitcher fatigue model.

It also has an automatic sim mode, but Strat has been (and will probably always be) 100% about historical replay. (I had fun playing the 1930 season over and over but there was no variety. The Phillies could always score a ton, but always gave up two tons!)

There's not a single thing in Strat about AI general managers or anything else roster related aside from setting the day-to-day lineups and choosing which players are active for the game (often based on historical lineups and rosters.). It's not at all like OOTP as far as it's depth, options, and customization.