A Suggestion: Let users set the date of Free Agent creation if there is no draft

tm1681 · 07-31-2022, 01:27 PM

IMPORTANT: If I'm missing an obvious setting that lets me do something similar to what I'm asking for below, please me know. I haven't been able to find it.

I currently run a fictional game with two leagues set in the 1800s - I've posted about it elsewhere - so obviously there's not going to be a draft.

However, I've run into a bit of a problem when running concurrent leagues without a draft setup: the Free Agent pool is automatically created 24-48 hours after the last game is played for a no-draft league in its current year. If I don't balance the start of the two leagues just right so that the free agents are created at almost the same time, I usually see most of the 18-21 year-old prospects snapped up by one of the two leagues regardless of either which one is the higher-tier league or which league the free agents were meant for.

Now, I know an easy fix to that is to check the box disallowing free agents from leaving a selected league. However, what I'm doing is a "minor" independent league and major league setup, where the best players from the lower league get the signed to play in the major league. Also, I've noticed that the AI is so poor at managing players at the low end of the depth chart I've repeatedly run into issues where, when preventing free agents from leaving the "major" league, there was so much roster churn that the teams in the lower-tier league simply didn't have enough players available to fill out their rosters. So, I had to allow for totally free movement.

I think something that should (could? would??) be relatively simple to put in the game would be a line under the League Rules tab, right under "Disable Automatic Creation of Free Agents", to let users set the exact date that the first-year Free Agent pool is created for leagues that don't have amateur drafts.

At the very least, that would mean that for those of us who aren't running leagues with amateur free agent drafts we could have leagues start whenever we want to without having to worry about one league signing a majority of the available prospects

bwiese3908 · 07-31-2022, 06:12 PM

Agree 100%

Ktulu · 07-31-2022, 06:37 PM

To kill multiple birds with one stone a better solution would be to have a global setting for the Off-season Start Date that can be applied to all leagues. This way you could easily coordinate multiple leagues without having to worry about schedule length or playoff length.

Bobfather · 07-31-2022, 08:18 PM

You can go to the free agent screen, far left under Actions, to create fictional players. You can create as many as you like. You can create by position country quality level and age. Just a few checkboxes and you are done.
I know this isn't exactly what you are looking for but it should work. I think you can turn off auto-creation of free agents.

tm1681 · 07-31-2022, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobfather

You can go to the free agent screen, far left under Actions, to create fictional players. You can create as many as you like. You can create by position country quality level and age. Just a few checkboxes and you are done.
I know this isn't exactly what you are looking for but it should work. I think you can turn off auto-creation of free agents.

I know that's a possibility, but here's the problems I've run into with that:

1) It's fiddly - you can't just have it create X number of free agents of random quality and development stages. To recreate the automatic free agent pool you essentially have to create four smaller sets of free agents, and ehhhhhhhhhhh I just wish it didn't have to take that many steps.

2) Quality - I created my own free agents for two years in my world setup, and noticed there weren't as many four-star and five-star players as there were when the game engine does it on its own. It would therefore seem to me that the "Create Fictional Players" tool is meant to be more of a supplemental thing. I've done it in the past (been playing since either OOTP 3 or 4 - the pre-Sega days) and it's always seemed to work that way.

Carplos · 07-31-2022, 09:47 PM

Yes! I would love this.

My current workaround for this situation is to turn off the auto-creation of free agents, and manually create them once every league is done.

I actually kind of like the extra control that gives me, but as my universe(s) expand it becomes too time consuming.

Carplos · 07-31-2022, 09:48 PM

Yes! I would love this.

My current workaround for this situation is to turn off the auto-creation of free agents, and manually create them once every league is done.

I actually kind of like the extra control that gives me, but as my universe(s) expand it becomes too time consuming.

07-31-2022, 01:27 PM	#1
tm1681 All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 1,688	A Suggestion: Let users set the date of Free Agent creation if there is no draft IMPORTANT: If I'm missing an obvious setting that lets me do something similar to what I'm asking for below, please me know. I haven't been able to find it. I currently run a fictional game with two leagues set in the 1800s - I've posted about it elsewhere - so obviously there's not going to be a draft. However, I've run into a bit of a problem when running concurrent leagues without a draft setup: the Free Agent pool is automatically created 24-48 hours after the last game is played for a no-draft league in its current year. If I don't balance the start of the two leagues just right so that the free agents are created at almost the same time, I usually see most of the 18-21 year-old prospects snapped up by one of the two leagues regardless of either which one is the higher-tier league or which league the free agents were meant for. Now, I know an easy fix to that is to check the box disallowing free agents from leaving a selected league. However, what I'm doing is a "minor" independent league and major league setup, where the best players from the lower league get the signed to play in the major league. Also, I've noticed that the AI is so poor at managing players at the low end of the depth chart I've repeatedly run into issues where, when preventing free agents from leaving the "major" league, there was so much roster churn that the teams in the lower-tier league simply didn't have enough players available to fill out their rosters. So, I had to allow for totally free movement. I think something that should (could? would??) be relatively simple to put in the game would be a line under the League Rules tab, right under "Disable Automatic Creation of Free Agents", to let users set the exact date that the first-year Free Agent pool is created for leagues that don't have amateur drafts. At the very least, that would mean that for those of us who aren't running leagues with amateur free agent drafts we could have leagues start whenever we want to without having to worry about one league signing a majority of the available prospects Last edited by tm1681; 07-31-2022 at 07:05 PM.

07-31-2022, 06:37 PM	#3
Ktulu Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: BC Posts: 4,710	To kill multiple birds with one stone a better solution would be to have a global setting for the Off-season Start Date that can be applied to all leagues. This way you could easily coordinate multiple leagues without having to worry about schedule length or playoff length. __________________ "The ice is getting even more thinner, my friend!"

07-31-2022, 08:18 PM	#4
Bobfather All Star Starter Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: Boston Ma. Posts: 1,845	You can go to the free agent screen, far left under Actions, to create fictional players. You can create as many as you like. You can create by position country quality level and age. Just a few checkboxes and you are done. I know this isn't exactly what you are looking for but it should work. I think you can turn off auto-creation of free agents. __________________ I play out every game—one pitch mode.

07-31-2022, 06:12 PM	#2
bwiese3908 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Aug 2019 Posts: 145	Agree 100%

07-31-2022, 09:47 PM	#6
Carplos Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Idaho Posts: 2,896 Infractions: 1/0 (0)	Yes! I would love this. My current workaround for this situation is to turn off the auto-creation of free agents, and manually create them once every league is done. I actually kind of like the extra control that gives me, but as my universe(s) expand it becomes too time consuming.

07-31-2022, 09:48 PM	#7
Carplos Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Idaho Posts: 2,896 Infractions: 1/0 (0)	Yes! I would love this. My current workaround for this situation is to turn off the auto-creation of free agents, and manually create them once every league is done. I actually kind of like the extra control that gives me, but as my universe(s) expand it becomes too time consuming.