What are you most looking forward to with OOTP18?

[Xogo]

Curious to what AI improvements people are looking for. Seems to me the AI managers do a very good job making in game decisions/moves. The GMs may not be as good, but I don't think they are noob level.Id love to hear what specifics the AI isn't doing, or does poorly, since I may not have noticed.

[dunningrb]

It's always seemed to me that the AI is too reluctant to execute a double-switch as opposed to a direct substitution into the 9 hole. I've also seen the AI change pitchers apparently in anticipation of my on-deck hitter, which I don't think would ever happen in real life if that hitter is a likely to be lifted for a PH. I think the AI is pretty solid, but any improvement in its ability to look ahead and act (or not act) in anticipation of what I'm likely to do will just make the game even better.

I don't know how the AI is coded, but some thoughts:

(1) One approach would be to silently simulate the remainder of the game with varying decisions for both teams to determine the best choice for the current situation--like what a very basic chess engine would do.

(2) Another option is for the developers could code a Markov chain subroutine to calculate outcome probabilities and determine which of several possible choices is most likely to result in a winning game.

Anyway, I'd love to see a super-advanced AI with the emphasis on the "artificial." It's one thing to try to out-manage Tommy Lasorda. It's another to try to out-manage an HAL-9000.

Not directly related to the AI logic, some other welcome changes regarding in-game situations:

* defensive substitutions or position changes are not noted in the play-by-play;
* when a pinch-hitter is announced there's no mention of the name of the player he's hitting for; I have to go to the box score to see this;
* injury substitutions are made too early-- e.g., when a player is injured during a plate appearance his substitute is immediately determined and placed into the lineup. In real life, a manager will wait for the half inning to end to determine what substitution he wants to make. In terms of the official rules, the substituted player isn't officially in the game until the half inning ends and his team takes the field, but in OOTP he *is* in the game officially, so it seems there's an inconsistency between OOTP and the official rules.

[BeanballComin]

Originally Posted by dunningrb

It's one thing to try to out-manage Tommy Lasorda. It's another to try to out-manage an HAL-9000.

Ha! Good One.
Maybe that's partly why I have 'Old Time Baseball' and 'Tony Larussa Baseball 3' installed.

[BoomerSoonerAMH]

Originally Posted by dunningrb

* injury substitutions are made too early-- e.g., when a player is injured during a plate appearance his substitute is immediately determined and placed into the lineup. In real life, a manager will wait for the half inning to end to determine what substitution he wants to make. In terms of the official rules, the substituted player isn't officially in the game until the half inning ends and his team takes the field, but in OOTP he *is* in the game officially, so it seems there's an inconsistency between OOTP and the official rules.

I agree with you on point this, which has been made in the past. The issue isn't that the substitutions are made "too early", nor does it contradict the rules, because a substitution is valid as soon as the manager notifies the umpire-in-chief of the change to the batting order.

For example, the leadoff hitter, Abel, is injured while running out a ground ball out. The manager absolutely can go to the umpire and say I'm replacing Abel with Jake. Jake is placed in the lineup and the game continues with Jake in the first spot in the lineup. Jake is in the clubhouse and can't be found (he thinks he has the day off) after 2 more outs are made, so the manager tells Ken to fill that spot. The manager goes to the umpire and places Ken in Jake's spot in the lineup and Jake is removed from the lineup and cannot re-enter the game. He's never stepped foot on the field as a fielder or a batter, but nonetheless Jake's substitution was valid as soon as it was given to the umpire.

The issue I have with this is that most managers wait until the last possible moment to make such a substitution because managers are aware of the potential for the situation to change and prefer to consider all of the information available when making such a change. For example, the same situation from above occurs in the top of the 9th inning while the team batting is down a run. The game requires an immediate decision on who to insert into Abel's spot in the lineup with a very limited awareness of the potential consequences. Obviously my first concern is scoring at least 1 run to prolong the game, but if the next 2 batters hit HRs, I would be more likely to insert the best defensive player available to fill Abel's spot for the bottom of the 9th. If, however, we're still down a run and I filled Abel's spot with that same player (and he was my last available sub) and we get down to 2 outs with the pitcher batting, I'm going to regret placing my last sub in the lineup and am stuck having the pitcher bat.

This entire issue is even more frustrating with pitchers but some of the same principles apply. When a pitcher is injured on an inning ending play, and I'm forced to replace him immediately and then my team goes out and scores 7 runs in our half of the inning, it completely makes me wish I'd picked someone else.

Ultimately, I think the way to fix this is to have some type of coding that forces substitutions before an at bat or when the pitcher goes to the mound to start an inning. Using basic if-then logic, it could be "if player AB/pitching/fielding is injured, then require substitution". I think the current logic is "if player in lineup is injured, then require substitution". It would add to the processing required as the engine would have to assess the injury status of every player in the lineup before every pitch, so I don't know what that would like like for a processing standpoint, but I think it could be done.

If it could be done, I think there could also be some other interesting applications for it. Obviously an injured player will always refuse to bat/pitch prompting a required substitution at that point. Where this could be an added layer of game play is if you have a player that has a nagging injury (something added to 18 if I remember correctly), there could be a variable chance that said player will refuse to bat/pitch. Some kind a story like, "David Ortiz has been battling soreness in his feet and ankles all season and asked to be pulled for a pinch hitter late in last night's game against the Rays. When asked about the situation by reporters after the game, Ortiz responded, 'I just wanted to put our team in the best situation to win the game'." Obviously there could be other angles to this such as a disgruntled player situation, too much fried chicken in the clubhouse, etc.

[swampdragon]

Pet peeves with the AI:

1. I have noticed that the pitcher is likely to bunt any time he comes up with runners on base, regardless of how good a hitter he is. I suspect Babe Ruth would lead the Red Sox in sacs during the years he was a starting pitcher.

2. Steals with runners on first and third and less than two out. Cut it out already. It should never happen.

[rpriske]

Originally Posted by swampdragon

2. Steals with runners on first and third and less than two out. Cut it out already. It should never happen.

Do you mean with two out rather than less then two out?

1st & 3rd with none out is a perfect stealing opportunity.

With 1 out is less perfect but still doable.

With 2 out, never, nyet, no.

[bama1959]

With the WBC going on I am looking forward to the International teams. I can create my own USA team and play a WBC would be fun. I'm new to this game so I have alot of playing around to do and that should be fun to. I have been a strat aholic since the mid 60's, still play strat but this caught my attention.

[Cryomaniac]

Originally Posted by dunningrb

It's always seemed to me that the AI is too reluctant to execute a double-switch as opposed to a direct substitution into the 9 hole. I've also seen the AI change pitchers apparently in anticipation of my on-deck hitter, which I don't think would ever happen in real life if that hitter is a likely to be lifted for a PH. I think the AI is pretty solid, but any improvement in its ability to look ahead and act (or not act) in anticipation of what I'm likely to do will just make the game even better.

I don't know how the AI is coded, but some thoughts:

(1) One approach would be to silently simulate the remainder of the game with varying decisions for both teams to determine the best choice for the current situation--like what a very basic chess engine would do.

(2) Another option is for the developers could code a Markov chain subroutine to calculate outcome probabilities and determine which of several possible choices is most likely to result in a winning game.

Anyway, I'd love to see a super-advanced AI with the emphasis on the "artificial." It's one thing to try to out-manage Tommy Lasorda. It's another to try to out-manage an HAL-9000.

AI is an arse to code, so it is something that is always likely to throw up odd behaviour, which honestly is fine by me because human managers have been known to do odd things too.

[Hammercraft]

2017 data. I like all the improvements, but I'm eager to see what I can do with the new set of Brewer prospects.

[Germaniac]

Originally Posted by RubeBaker

Just curious what everyone is most looking forward to with OOTP18.

This is easy to answer - the mail with the download link on Monday

[Harmon Killebrew]

Improved 3d play.


Really don't care about 3d highlights being that I play the games, but I like having at least a less buggy 3d game to watch.

[thirdsaint]

Just looking forward to any additions and modifications for my existing fictional league I'm bringing over. I really haven't been keeping up on this so I'm not sure what to expect.

[chriskelly]

I'm really curious about the negro leagues, how they will work, etc. The "official" stats for Josh Gibson show he only played 32 games a year. I wonder what the schedule will be like? I also wonder how the ratings will be, relative to MLB....for example, can we sim earlier integration and get realistic results? that seems pretty cool to me.

[BusterKing]

AI improvements, Promotion and Relegation and of course my little pawn buddies, hoping they are smarter.

[wallewalls]

I'm just looking forward to starting up my main A's save after the a patch during the beta stage and seeing how many championships I can win, and how far along I can go in the game in terms of years. Trying to pass 2032 which is as far as I made it in 17

[chuy1530]

Originally Posted by dunningrb

(1) One approach would be to silently simulate the remainder of the game with varying decisions for both teams to determine the best choice for the current situation--like what a very basic chess engine would do.
.

I doubt we'll ever see this because it would require a huge amount of processing (number of options AI has times number of reactions human has times number of trials) but this does bring up some super interesting baseball and programming questions.

On the baseball side, how different would the AI be than a real life manager? What things would it do way more often, or never? Think about football: If you did this in a football game teams would go for two and go for it on 4th down far more often than in real life. In a baseball game would they steal more often? Bunt more? How different would pitcher substitutions look?

On the programming side, the two hardest things I can see would be long term effects of decisions and factoring in reactions. It might be that the best thing to do to win a game is to put in a new reliever, but if your bullpen is already exhausted maybe you want to save your last guy to be fresh the next day. That's tough to code around.

Reactions are the biggest hurdle (besides processing time) though. How does the AI factor in my reaction when they make a lefty/righty switch? Maybe 90% of my options are to not react, but in reality I'm going to make the reactive switch, so now for example the AI has a weaker pitcher on the mound still at a handedness disadvantage. Guessing what the other manager will do is part of the gut instinct that makes some managers great. Now, for sure, the current AI system isn't great at this either, but I could see the human manager exploiting the AI in some situations if it were probability based.

[lukess1]

As someone who does historical watcher leauges, the Negro addition and the 3D replays.

[ianthemaloney]

1.) Unretiring Jose Fernandez
2.) Playing Babe Ruth's age-123 season

[mgom27]

Unretiring all Guys but would take to long to do same with Drafted by Teams,Homegrown to.