Oldest players

[jdw31158]

How old are the oldest players any of you have seen in your games? I've had a few 43 year olds and I think one that was still playing at 44. Just wondering if there have been any late 40's or even 50, or if guys automatically retire by the time they hit their mid 40's.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by jdw31158

How old are the oldest players any of you have seen in your games? I've had a few 43 year olds and I think one that was still playing at 44. Just wondering if there have been any late 40's or even 50, or if guys automatically retire by the time they hit their mid 40's.

This question needs to be qualified with "settings at default" because one may significantly alter results by editing the factors used for Batter/Pitcher Aging Speed. That said, I think you pretty much summed up what one will see with default settings: An occasional iron man playing into his early 40's, maybe a very rare mid-forties player, but most guys start going down hill in their mid-30's and are increasingly likely to retire as they approach 40.

[jdw31158]

Huh. I didn't know you could edit things like that. The depth of this game never ceases to amaze me.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by jdw31158

Huh. I didn't know you could edit things like that. The depth of this game never ceases to amaze me.

Yes, but caution. I've never tinkered with those settings but from what I have heard, a little goes a long way. See the bottom line here (from the online manual):

[MrBojangles]

Are the settings global, or individual to players?

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by MrBojangles

Are the settings global, or individual to players?

Those are global settings, which means they apply to all players in all leagues in the game.

[bwburke94]

I assume real players (i.e. Julio Franco) are ineligible for this?

[jdw31158]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Yes, but caution. I've never tinkered with those settings but from what I have heard, a little goes a long way. See the bottom line here (from the online manual):

So if you go too far in either direction, you could conceivably have a 65 year old Cy Young winner, or guys that are broken down and retired before they're 30.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by bwburke94

I assume real players (i.e. Julio Franco) are ineligible for this?

That's a good question. I'm not sure how this affects historical leagues. I think it would be applicable to real players but there is an option in historical leagues, under Historical Progressing Settings, to "Retire players according to history." If that is selected, but you make players age and lose skills faster, does that mean Franco will hang around, worthless and doing nothing, until he is "scheduled" to retire?

Originally Posted by jdw31158

So if you go too far in either direction, you could conceivably have a 65 year old Cy Young winner, or guys that are broken down and retired before they're 30.

Exactly. I would search the forums to see if you can find commentary on the scale of advisable edits for these settings. Look at OOTP 16 and 15 forums as well as this one because the developers have not made any significant changes (at least, ones that were advertised) in player aging in years, AFAIK.

[grmagne]

Originally Posted by jdw31158

So if you go too far in either direction, you could conceivably have a 65 year old Cy Young winner, or guys that are broken down and retired before they're 30.

I found that decreasing the aging speed down to 0.6 only increased the average age in the league by one year. This effect was much less dramatic than I expected.

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...t-lhp-rhh.html

I posted a lot of charts in the attached thread. If you scroll down to the very last set you’ll see bell-curve shaped age distribution charts. One of the last charts titled “At Bats by Batter Age (Scenario 4b: Development)” shows the age distributions where both Batter Aging Speed & Batter Development Speed are decreased to 0.6. As you can see, there are a few more age 40+ batters, but not a dramatic increase.

Similar thing in the set of charts above that: “Starts by Pitcher Age (Scenario 4c: Development)” shows the age mix of pitchers with Pitcher Aging Speed & Pitcher Development Speed both decreased to 0.6. Again, a one year average age increase and a clear bump in the number of pitchers age 29-34 but virtually all of the starting pitchers are gone by age 40.



By the way, in that same thread linked above I found that pitchers are older in OOTP than they are in real life. I recommend increasing the Pitcher Development Speed to about 1.25 to get more young pitchers into the majors. I also found that left-handed pitchers aren’t making it to the majors often enough (definitely an issue), but none of the scenarios I tested were able to fix that problem.

Here’s a guide to the charts 4a, 4b, 4c in the linked article.


(4a) Modified Development: Pitcher Aging Speed = 0.5, Pitcher Development Speed = 1.5, Batter Aging Speed=1.4, Batter Development Speed = 0.6


(4b) Modified Development: Pitcher Aging Speed = 1.5, Pitcher Development Speed = 1.5, Batter Aging Speed= 0.6, Batter Development Speed = 0.6


(4c) Modified Development: Pitcher Aging Speed = 0.6, Pitcher Development Speed =0.6, Batter Aging Speed =1.5, Batter Development Speed = 1.5

[NoOne]

i have default settings. i'm pretty sure i've seen mid-40's before - not just hanging around but actually contributing too. i've definitely seen the has-beens hang on into their 40's often. it's not something i write down or really focus on... so limited memories dedicated to it.

[jdw31158]

Originally Posted by NoOne

i have default settings. i'm pretty sure i've seen mid-40's before - not just hanging around but actually contributing too. i've definitely seen the has-beens hang on into their 40's often. it's not something i write down or really focus on... so limited memories dedicated to it.

I play default too......then I'll usually have a former All Star (and fan favorite) hanging around, taking up a roster spot, and refusing a minor league assignment. Then I release him, and I get a notification that fans are shocked I let so-and-so go, and the fan interest crashed. Just can't win, I guess.