Giving the green light?

[fintach]

I'm playing around with a new league, and I've got some guys with great steal ratings. So I was thinking, how do I give them the green light? Is there anywhere (that I'm missing) that I could check a flag that gives the player permission to attempt steals without my direct instruction?

[DreamTeams]

At the home team screen click on the 'strategy' tab. Then click on 'player strategy.' Next drag and drop a player to where it says 'Drag & Drop a Player Here. A screen will appear that allows you to set the players individual offensive strategy.

[fintach]

For general policies, that works well. But will it lead to players stealing on their own when I'm playing out the games and managing them? I'm just thinking of the great base stealers like Rickey Henderson, Tim Raines, Davey Lopes, Omar Moreno... They had permission to steal on their own, without the manager telling them to go. Does the stealing frequency in player strategy reflect that?

[Elf Marine]

Fintach - I sure agree with this line in your History for playing as manager or for watching in real life... "2011 Las Vegas Coyotes (MLB): half season before DH bored me to death." Before the DH rule I loved the Orioles. Once the DH rule came I stopped watching the American League until I moved to Houston and it is the only thing to go to although next year I'll see where the minor leagues play in town.

[NoOne]

if you are managing games (not "play to X inning"), it will only steal when you say so. if you sim through a half innning or more, then it should do things on its own.

player strategy tip:

this is all relative to overall league stats / AI settings page - SB = rarely, normal, often etc as well as the SB LTMs... and your manger's SB aggressiveness slider... and the player's slider.

you can find an optimum aggressiveness... maybe you want to maximize #, maybe you want to maximize %, or maye something in between. that's a personal choice, but you can apply the concepts to get what you want. you can tailor anythign i say to any way of doing things.

So, try to categorize talent levels relative to specific player strategy... use results to flesh this out... don't use 1 year's results.. this may take 10-20 seasons of playing years out and paying close attention... or it could take some explorative simulating specifically aimed at figuring this out relative to your settings - this will be more certain and it will be fast and easy to set up with profile editing.

let's say... 70+speed and 70+ sb ability = middle of the slider
70+ speed and 50-70 ability = 1 tick down
50-70speed and 50-70 ability = 1 tick down
80+ / 80+ = 2 ticks up from middle.

these #'s were all made up, but this is the sort of reference table you can create with the right knowledge.

if they are slow and poor stealing ability, never be afraid to drop the slider to Zero. I always leave "adjust to team strategy", too. that way i assume if a "do or die" situation comes up, the player will still steal the base even though the slider is at zero.

a ricky henderson might "override team strategy" checked... it might boost SB attempts a bit, but nothing too huge in my experience... not even sure if i could quantify it based on what i know.

[RubeBaker]

This is why I prefer to play in "broadcast mode" as opposed to "3D mode". It's a personal preference but I like to see where the last pitch was thrown, what type of pitch it was, velocity, etc. Maybe I got too much time on my hands. Okay, I DO have too much time on my hands. But I look at a lot of things like the catcher's arm rating, pitcher's hold rating, batter count, infield arrangement, etc.

[NoOne]

i'm not 100% up on all possible ways to watch the game, but if you don't have to press 1- for one pitch or 1 for this or that, it will adhere to strategy slider.

if broadcast allows the AI manager to make his own decisiosns and you are just a spectator, then they should follow the sliders.

[Elf Marine]

Originally Posted by RubeBaker

This is why I prefer to play in "broadcast mode" as opposed to "3D mode". It's a personal preference but I like to see where the last pitch was thrown, what type of pitch it was, velocity, etc. Maybe I got too much time on my hands. Okay, I DO have too much time on my hands. But I look at a lot of things like the catcher's arm rating, pitcher's hold rating, batter count, infield arrangement, etc.

I use broadcast mode also. In part because of what you said and in part because last I checked 3D just locks up after awhile.