New and looking for some advice

Hammerpgh · 12-18-2020, 04:28 PM

Hi all, just joined here this evening and hoping I can find some advice here about whether this game would fit for me.

I'm based in England am a huge NFL fan and was a big baseball fan back in the late 80's early 90's but other things took over and I kind of lost touch with everything baseball related. So i'm here as pretty much a newbie again.

I've always loved simulation type games and used to play the strat-o-matic type board games back in the day and have played numerous NFL simulations over the years. Over recent weeks I've started to get really interested in picking up baseball again and this was mainly sparked by another strategy game I came across due to my NFL interests (not sure I can mention rival games here so steering clear for now) and then during my research I found this game which really looks amazing. There seems to be so much you can get into with it and its really got my juices flowing. However, as I'll be starting my knowledge base pretty much from scratch again, at least until things start to come back to me as I refresh my memory, I'm wondering whether the depth of the game will simply be too overwhelming. I don't have masses of time to play right now but as time goes on that will change and I'm keen to start something that will have years of longevity not just a brief flirtation with it.

So, in a nutshell (sorry I do tend to ramble lol) would this game be suitable for someone like me or will it be just too much?

Cheers.

Brad K · 12-18-2020, 10:18 PM

Some things are optional and many can be disabled. I venture to say there are few people who enable "everything". You'll do OK. Buy the game, look it over, and come back with some questions about specifics.

Timofmars · 12-19-2020, 10:49 AM

The basic management of the team is quite easy, since you can basically play as an AI team if you want, to begin with, and make your own adjustments where you have your own different idea. Like for setting up the lineups or pitching staff, you can just "ask manager to set up" and the AI will put everyone it thinks is best for the job into the lineups. You can then make any adjustment if you want.

A lot of people suggest turning off features that complicate the game, like morale, injuries, or even the financial system and minor leagues. But I think you could just assign the AI control to anything you don't want to handle, and you'll basically be on par with the other AI teams in those regards. Plus there's some ways to still exercise some control in those things, like forcing a promising prospect to start every game in a position, or perhaps locking them to a minor league team, by setting these things in the individual player strategy screen. So then you don't have to worry about making promotions and demotions to the minor league every time their is an injury somewhere (which is often, since there's so many team and players). I think it is actually the default that the AI controls the minor league, so you shouldn't need to change this particular setting.

I think most people just simulate games rather than playing them out, since it's baseball, and each game really has a lot of randomness compared to other sports, and there's a 162 games in season. So there's not really a need to learn how to manage on the field.

I remember when I started out, my biggest question was about what should I be doing to improve the team regarding contracts and trading. Like, who should I try to acquire, and how? Whose contract should I extend, and for how long, and how much money is too much? It was easy to set my lineup and click to go to the next day to see the game results. I just wasn't sure if I should be doing something else.

But now I understand how to improve the team with trades. You can learn by just attempting to trade for different players, offering players and prospects you don't think you really need, etc. until you find a deal that you like. It probably won't be the 1st player you try to acquire. But keep trying and you'll find a trade the feels like good bargain. And for contracts, you'll learn pretty quickly in the 1st free agency period, as you can then see what is available and for how much, and you can then have a good idea about how replaceable your players are.

12-18-2020, 04:28 PM	#1
Hammerpgh Minors (Single A) Join Date: Dec 2020 Location: London, England Posts: 85	New and looking for some advice Hi all, just joined here this evening and hoping I can find some advice here about whether this game would fit for me. I'm based in England am a huge NFL fan and was a big baseball fan back in the late 80's early 90's but other things took over and I kind of lost touch with everything baseball related. So i'm here as pretty much a newbie again. I've always loved simulation type games and used to play the strat-o-matic type board games back in the day and have played numerous NFL simulations over the years. Over recent weeks I've started to get really interested in picking up baseball again and this was mainly sparked by another strategy game I came across due to my NFL interests (not sure I can mention rival games here so steering clear for now) and then during my research I found this game which really looks amazing. There seems to be so much you can get into with it and its really got my juices flowing. However, as I'll be starting my knowledge base pretty much from scratch again, at least until things start to come back to me as I refresh my memory, I'm wondering whether the depth of the game will simply be too overwhelming. I don't have masses of time to play right now but as time goes on that will change and I'm keen to start something that will have years of longevity not just a brief flirtation with it. So, in a nutshell (sorry I do tend to ramble lol) would this game be suitable for someone like me or will it be just too much? Cheers.

12-19-2020, 10:49 AM	#3
Timofmars Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Feb 2018 Posts: 251	The basic management of the team is quite easy, since you can basically play as an AI team if you want, to begin with, and make your own adjustments where you have your own different idea. Like for setting up the lineups or pitching staff, you can just "ask manager to set up" and the AI will put everyone it thinks is best for the job into the lineups. You can then make any adjustment if you want. A lot of people suggest turning off features that complicate the game, like morale, injuries, or even the financial system and minor leagues. But I think you could just assign the AI control to anything you don't want to handle, and you'll basically be on par with the other AI teams in those regards. Plus there's some ways to still exercise some control in those things, like forcing a promising prospect to start every game in a position, or perhaps locking them to a minor league team, by setting these things in the individual player strategy screen. So then you don't have to worry about making promotions and demotions to the minor league every time their is an injury somewhere (which is often, since there's so many team and players). I think it is actually the default that the AI controls the minor league, so you shouldn't need to change this particular setting. I think most people just simulate games rather than playing them out, since it's baseball, and each game really has a lot of randomness compared to other sports, and there's a 162 games in season. So there's not really a need to learn how to manage on the field. I remember when I started out, my biggest question was about what should I be doing to improve the team regarding contracts and trading. Like, who should I try to acquire, and how? Whose contract should I extend, and for how long, and how much money is too much? It was easy to set my lineup and click to go to the next day to see the game results. I just wasn't sure if I should be doing something else. But now I understand how to improve the team with trades. You can learn by just attempting to trade for different players, offering players and prospects you don't think you really need, etc. until you find a deal that you like. It probably won't be the 1st player you try to acquire. But keep trying and you'll find a trade the feels like good bargain. And for contracts, you'll learn pretty quickly in the 1st free agency period, as you can then see what is available and for how much, and you can then have a good idea about how replaceable your players are. Last edited by Timofmars; 12-19-2020 at 10:51 AM.

12-18-2020, 10:18 PM	#2
Brad K Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2016 Location: St Petersburg Florida USA Posts: 6,657 Infractions: 0/2 (3)	Some things are optional and many can be disabled. I venture to say there are few people who enable "everything". You'll do OK. Buy the game, look it over, and come back with some questions about specifics.