AI is ignoring Minor League age rules

[Karl Pagel Blues]

I'm playing a modern-day MLB/MiLB configuration. Most settings are default. I changed the roster rules for the minor leagues.

In AAA, I set the maximum age at 32 (so that the AI would not be signing so many over-the-hill veterans to play in AAA).

I just ran a 2023 test season on OOTP24. Despite the age 32 rule for AAA, the AI constantly signed veteran relievers who were 33 and older to minor league contracts. These players were not put on the major league team. One day after signing, the AI released them again - because it was unable to send them to AAA because of the age rule.

Josh Martin was signed and released 20 times during the 2023 season!

This should not be happening. If I have a maximum age rule of 32 for AAA, the AI should only be signing players older than 32 that it wants on its big league roster. But the AI is ignoring the AAA age 32 rule and is stubbornly signing players it wants as veteran depth at AAA - even though the rules won't allow that.

That seems like a bug to me.

[Rain King]

I don't necessarily see it as a bug as much as a setup the game doesn't really accommodate.

It doesn't really make sense to place an age limit on your top minor league level, so the game isn't factoring in that possibility.

I'd be in favor of improving the AI to understand this (although as most things this is probably much more difficult than it sounds), but it's not really a "bug". The better improvement IMO would probably be to address the first part of your post where the game should be signing fewer aging players purely as organizational depth.

[Karl Pagel Blues]

Originally Posted by Rain King

I don't necessarily see it as a bug as much as a setup the game doesn't really accommodate.

It doesn't really make sense to place an age limit on your top minor league level, so the game isn't factoring in that possibility.

I'd be in favor of improving the AI to understand this (although as most things this is probably much more difficult than it sounds), but it's not really a "bug". The better improvement IMO would probably be to address the first part of your post where the game should be signing fewer aging players purely as organizational depth.

Yes, I agree that it would be great if AI logic was a little better. There have been countless discussions to that end here on the forums the past few years by people like me who want a more realistic GM experience. But making the AI "smarter" is apparently not an easy undertaking, according to what a few of the developers said in response.

But if I decide to have a maximum age of 32 for the highest level of the minor leagues in my game universe, the AI should act according to that rule. Which it clearly is not doing. Whether or not that setting makes sense, is a moot point. The developers offer me the option of setting that roster rule. As long as I have that option, I expect the AI to respect the rule and sign (or not sign) players accordingly.

The AI ignores my rule that a player in AAA cannot be older than 32 by constantly signing veteran players to ineligible minor league contracts, from which the players have to then be released the very next day. And the AI is incapable of realizing its error, so that it keeps making that same error over and over and over again. I consider that to be a bug in the broadest sense of the term.

Maybe there could be an exception (or setting) allowing players on a major league contract to play in AAA even though they exceed the maximum age for that level. My aim was to prevent AAA rosters being full of veteran over-the-hill players on minor league contracts.

Because of this bug in AI transaction logic, I'll probably have to scrap the AAA age rule for now.

[Charlie Hough]

Originally Posted by Karl Pagel Blues

But if I decide to have a maximum age of 32 for the highest level of the minor leagues in my game universe, the AI should act according to that rule.

I want to offer up some clarification that might help to understand why this is happening, why it's not really a bug, and what might be required to re-code the game and get things to work the way you want.

Strictly speaking, the AI is acting according to your rule. It is releasing those players because it can't assign them to AAA, and based on the players' ages, there is no logical place to assign them. The AI transaction logic is somewhat separate from the game's rules logic, and I don't think they're intertwined in the way you're expecting. During the course of a season, due to performance or player development issues, the AI might still need to demote veteran players to AAA and call up a potential replacement, so trying top apply an age restriction in this way would be a potential problem, even if free agent signings were not involved.

If I understand correctly, the age restriction option in OOTP was designed more for feeder leagues or low-level minors where players are typically 18 to 22 years old. For example, if you're creating a high school or college feeder league, you want players to "graduate," and you don't want 32 year-old players in that league. In other cases, some OOTP users may have wanted an age restriction to effectively force certain players into retirement. I don't think the age restriction option was intended to be a limit imposed on AAA minors, with the intention of globally preventing AI GMs from signing players of certain ages. To do that, you might need to adjust your AI transaction preferences to favor prospects a bit more. But, even then, when injuries or other issues occur and the AI needs talent talent, it's not necessarily going to exclude players of certain ages. It doesn't really know to do that.

I agree that it would be ideal for the AI to start adjusting its transaction strategy based on any age restrictions at any level, if that setting is used the way you're trying to do it. But the game was never coded for that, so it's not really a bug. It seems more like a feature request or feature improvement request, and hopefully there is something OOTP Developments can do to help you.