Most Irritating Feature

Dactyl · 07-28-2014, 06:21 AM

The most irritating feature of OOTP, both the current and earlier versions, is handling coaches and managers. I am referring specifically to the following. On the master list of available personnel, there is no way to tell who is willing to work for a specific team. For example, if my AA team needs a pitching coach, I have to go down the list of pitching coaches offering each one in turn a contract until one of them finally agrees to work for that team. It seems to me that it should be possible to specify a club and a list would come up that would show you all of the coaches willing to work for that club. Also, before the season, I like to move the coaches around so that the best coaches are working for my higher-level minor league clubs. There is no master list displaying the coaches and ratings of all my teams. I have to go through the clubs one by one and click on, for example, the hitting coaches and write down their ratings so that I can subsequently reassign them. It seems to me that it should be simpler than that.

I might add here before finishing that I am overall pleased with OOTP. It's easily the best available baseball sim.

DFyvie · 07-28-2014, 08:17 AM

Yeah.. I tend to agree with this one. Though, when looking for managers/coaches for my lower league teams, I sort according to years experience. I find it easier to go for a decent coach with little or no experience who is willing to go to the boon-docks and teach some plug how to swing a bat.

madJ · 07-28-2014, 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DFyvie

Yeah.. I tend to agree with this one. Though, when looking for managers/coaches for my lower league teams, I sort according to years experience. I find it easier to go for a decent coach with little or no experience who is willing to go to the boon-docks and teach some plug how to swing a bat.

Exactly that. Coaching veterans will almost never accept to work in the minor leagues. So I don't even bother trying to sign a guy with 5+ years of experience to work in the minors. Saves a lot of time.

Hockey13Playa · 07-28-2014, 09:27 AM

I would have to agree as well. Kind of a side question to this topic; is there a way I let the AI setup/hire all minor league personnel? I'd just like to control the big leagues when it comes to managing personnel.

Matt Arnold · 07-28-2014, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hockey13Playa

I would have to agree as well. Kind of a side question to this topic; is there a way I let the AI setup/hire all minor league personnel? I'd just like to control the big leagues when it comes to managing personnel.

I wasn't aware of this until somewhat recently too - but there is, I think under the manager options. I always used to forget, so once my first farm system's season ended and I had an email saying "so and so has left as their contract has run out", I would do the quick scan of my farm systems and re-sign the good coaches. But then occasionally I would forget to hire for them, so I'd occasionally check in like August and realize I didn't have a AA pitching coach. Wonder what that does to development.... Once I found the setting, it's been a relief to just forget about the farm's coaches and hope for the best.

Dactyl · 07-28-2014, 12:58 PM

@madJ, coaching veterans sometimes accept jobs at lower levels. For example, many times I will go through a list of Excellent pitching coaches, trying to sign one for a lower-level minor league club. One after another they turn me down, but then one of the more experienced coaches accepts my offer. That's the reason I keep going through the tedium of working my way through a list of coaches.

Here's a trick that occasionally works. If I have an opening or two and there are only Decent or below coaches available, I hold off in hiring one because Decent and Average coaches are pretty much available any time. When Preseason arrives, I'll sometimes find that a better coach with zero experience appears on the list of available personnel and they're easy to sign.

Cole416 · 07-28-2014, 02:47 PM

I'll be honest. Do you see the difference in having a coach in your minors and not? Because I've done fine without them lol.

sprague · 07-28-2014, 02:54 PM

If on your options screen you have the AI handling your minor leagues, they will automatically find new coaches when the old one's contracts run out. I never have to pay any attention to it, unless once in a while I want a specific former player to manage a minor league team, otherwise, the AI does fine with hiring them for me

goalieump413 · 07-28-2014, 03:20 PM

To Dactyl and others in agreement...

I respectfully disagree with you on this. I've long been a promoter of a more robust coaching system in OOTP, but the way the game is built with regard to hiring coaches works very well. Specifically, in response to your statement that you should see a list of coaches willing to work for a specific club, I don't think that's realistic, or all that fun. To me, it's more realistic, and more fun, to initiate the communication with a prospective coach, rather than assuming a list of available coaches will automatically be willing to work for your AA club (using your example).

In your example, all you'd have to do is click a button on the coach you really want, and agree to his contract demands. This eliminates the coach's discrepancy in selecting which organization he'd like to coach in. It also assumes that a nation-wide bulletin of your coaching vacancy goes up, bringing in the hordes of coaches ready to go.

So, I don't think it's all that irritating to have to begin the selection process only to see that the coach isn't interested. It simulates you contacting him and asking the question, "hey, are you interested...?"

You make a valid point, it's just that I see it from a different game-dynamic perspective I guess.

07-28-2014, 06:21 AM	#1
Dactyl Minors (Double A) Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 112	Most Irritating Feature The most irritating feature of OOTP, both the current and earlier versions, is handling coaches and managers. I am referring specifically to the following. On the master list of available personnel, there is no way to tell who is willing to work for a specific team. For example, if my AA team needs a pitching coach, I have to go down the list of pitching coaches offering each one in turn a contract until one of them finally agrees to work for that team. It seems to me that it should be possible to specify a club and a list would come up that would show you all of the coaches willing to work for that club. Also, before the season, I like to move the coaches around so that the best coaches are working for my higher-level minor league clubs. There is no master list displaying the coaches and ratings of all my teams. I have to go through the clubs one by one and click on, for example, the hitting coaches and write down their ratings so that I can subsequently reassign them. It seems to me that it should be simpler than that. I might add here before finishing that I am overall pleased with OOTP. It's easily the best available baseball sim.

07-28-2014, 09:27 AM	#4
Hockey13Playa Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 2,616	I would have to agree as well. Kind of a side question to this topic; is there a way I let the AI setup/hire all minor league personnel? I'd just like to control the big leagues when it comes to managing personnel. __________________ FHM NHL Complete Historical Jerseys & Logos

07-28-2014, 08:17 AM	#2
DFyvie Major Leagues Join Date: May 2014 Location: Cambridge, UK Posts: 384	Yeah.. I tend to agree with this one. Though, when looking for managers/coaches for my lower league teams, I sort according to years experience. I find it easier to go for a decent coach with little or no experience who is willing to go to the boon-docks and teach some plug how to swing a bat.

07-28-2014, 12:58 PM	#6
Dactyl Minors (Double A) Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 112	@madJ, coaching veterans sometimes accept jobs at lower levels. For example, many times I will go through a list of Excellent pitching coaches, trying to sign one for a lower-level minor league club. One after another they turn me down, but then one of the more experienced coaches accepts my offer. That's the reason I keep going through the tedium of working my way through a list of coaches. Here's a trick that occasionally works. If I have an opening or two and there are only Decent or below coaches available, I hold off in hiring one because Decent and Average coaches are pretty much available any time. When Preseason arrives, I'll sometimes find that a better coach with zero experience appears on the list of available personnel and they're easy to sign.

07-28-2014, 02:47 PM	#7
Cole416 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Jun 2014 Posts: 63	I'll be honest. Do you see the difference in having a coach in your minors and not? Because I've done fine without them lol.

07-28-2014, 02:54 PM	#8
sprague All Star Starter Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 1,947	If on your options screen you have the AI handling your minor leagues, they will automatically find new coaches when the old one's contracts run out. I never have to pay any attention to it, unless once in a while I want a specific former player to manage a minor league team, otherwise, the AI does fine with hiring them for me

07-28-2014, 03:20 PM	#9
goalieump413 All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2013 Posts: 765	To Dactyl and others in agreement... I respectfully disagree with you on this. I've long been a promoter of a more robust coaching system in OOTP, but the way the game is built with regard to hiring coaches works very well. Specifically, in response to your statement that you should see a list of coaches willing to work for a specific club, I don't think that's realistic, or all that fun. To me, it's more realistic, and more fun, to initiate the communication with a prospective coach, rather than assuming a list of available coaches will automatically be willing to work for your AA club (using your example). In your example, all you'd have to do is click a button on the coach you really want, and agree to his contract demands. This eliminates the coach's discrepancy in selecting which organization he'd like to coach in. It also assumes that a nation-wide bulletin of your coaching vacancy goes up, bringing in the hordes of coaches ready to go. So, I don't think it's all that irritating to have to begin the selection process only to see that the coach isn't interested. It simulates you contacting him and asking the question, "hey, are you interested...?" You make a valid point, it's just that I see it from a different game-dynamic perspective I guess.