What does the game include?

[CoogansBluff]

Basic question here, as I'm unfamiliar with OOTP baseball, but ..

If I buy the game, does it come with the most recent season? How do I get previous seasons? I see that I can create fictional teams, but are their both seasonal and historical players? That is, can I use 1956 Mickey Mantle but also career Mickey Mantle?

[LansdowneSt]

Originally Posted by CoogansBluff

Basic question here, as I'm unfamiliar with OOTP baseball, but ..

If I buy the game, does it come with the most recent season? How do I get previous seasons? I see that I can create fictional teams, but are their both seasonal and historical players? That is, can I use 1956 Mickey Mantle but also career Mickey Mantle?

If I buy the game, does it come with the most recent season? - Yes

How do I get previous seasons? - They all come with the game, no additional purchase.

are their both seasonal and historical players? Yes. You can import any year Mickey Mantle to play alongside any year (including more 1956 clones) of Mickey Mantle. There isn't a "career" Mickey if by that you mean his a career average per 162 game version of him available for import - but every specific year version of him is available.

[kq76]

Since you posted on the general board it should be pointed out that LansdownSt's answers apply to the computer game, not the mobile game.

[CoogansBluff]

Originally Posted by LansdowneSt

If I buy the game, does it come with the most recent season? - Yes

How do I get previous seasons? - They all come with the game, no additional purchase.

are their both seasonal and historical players? Yes. You can import any year Mickey Mantle to play alongside any year (including more 1956 clones) of Mickey Mantle. There isn't a "career" Mickey if by that you mean his a career average per 162 game version of him available for import - but every specific year version of him is available.

Thanks! Is there any normalization process when importing a player from one era to another? For example, how would a .300 hitter from 1968 fare in 1930?

[MathBandit]

Originally Posted by CoogansBluff

Thanks! Is there any normalization process when importing a player from one era to another? For example, how would a .300 hitter from 1968 fare in 1930?

The short answer is "Yes".

The long answer is that every season you play will have so-called "League Total Modifiers" that tweak the different statistical outputs to suit what you are looking for. So if you are in the late 90s then HRs will be increased, and if you are in the 2020s then HRs, Ks, and BBs will be increased- etc. So if you take say Babe Ruth his ratings tell you that he has about as much HR power as any player can have- and then when you slot him into a different era instead of hitting the raw number of HRs he did IRL he will (likely) be at the top of the HR curve for whatever era he is playing in.

[CoogansBluff]

Originally Posted by MathBandit

The short answer is "Yes".

The long answer is that every season you play will have so-called "League Total Modifiers" that tweak the different statistical outputs to suit what you are looking for. So if you are in the late 90s then HRs will be increased, and if you are in the 2020s then HRs, Ks, and BBs will be increased- etc. So if you take say Babe Ruth his ratings tell you that he has about as much HR power as any player can have- and then when you slot him into a different era instead of hitting the raw number of HRs he did IRL he will (likely) be at the top of the HR curve for whatever era he is playing in.

Very good, thanks.

Also curious how many teams are allowed in a league? How many teams in a tournament? Does it have a tournament format that allows you to keep stats and draws from the tournament?

And I believe my question has been answered on 'career' players. That is, there is no player created to represent a player's career, that instead, I might pick a player's most representative year for some career project. Let's say I wanted to do a franchise league and have the best players in Cubs history, I would find the most appropriate season card for each player? Is that how game players deal w/ that? I assume there's no way to average statistics and create a player based on the player's best 5 years or something like that.

[MathBandit]

Originally Posted by CoogansBluff

Very good, thanks.

Also curious how many teams are allowed in a league? How many teams in a tournament? Does it have a tournament format that allows you to keep stats and draws from the tournament?

And I believe my question has been answered on 'career' players. That is, there is no player created to represent a player's career, that instead, I might pick a player's most representative year for some career project. Let's say I wanted to do a franchise league and have the best players in Cubs history, I would find the most appropriate season card for each player? Is that how game players deal w/ that? I assume there's no way to average statistics and create a player based on the player's best 5 years or something like that.

I don't play much with historical rosters, but I do think that when you pick (for example) 1998 Sammy Sosa, you can tell the game if you want that to be based on 1-year (98), 3-year (97-99), or 5-year (96-00). Hopefully someone that knows more about the historical side can chime in for that.

[CoogansBluff]

Originally Posted by MathBandit

I don't play much with historical rosters, but I do think that when you pick (for example) 1998 Sammy Sosa, you can tell the game if you want that to be based on 1-year (98), 3-year (97-99), or 5-year (96-00). Hopefully someone that knows more about the historical side can chime in for that.

I'd be curious to know about that, whether players can be imported from a select portion of their careers.

[Brad K]

You can select a one, three, or five year rating base. The years are consecutive but it's not static, if that's what you were hoping for. When the year advances the oldest year falls out of the ratings and the next newer year is added.

[MathBandit]

Originally Posted by Brad K

You can select a one, three, or five year rating base. The years are consecutive but it's not static, if that's what you were hoping for. When the year advances the oldest year falls out of the ratings and the next newer year is added.

I think what they're asking is for the ability to pull historical players into the modern day (or any other era). If I want 1998 Sosa to play on the 2023 Cubs, can I choose if that's 1-year, 3-year, or 5-year 1998 Sosa? Or are those options only available for full historical play (as opposed to a Fictional setup where players from different eras are all playing at the same time)?

[hfield007]

Also curious how many teams are allowed in a league? I have had leagues with over 300 and saw no issues. im unsure if theres a max.

Does it have a tournament format that allows you to keep stats and draws from the tournament? the tournament stats are kept separately from regular season stats.

And I believe my question has been answered on 'career' players - I was told last year they would try to add importing a player with 3 year or 5 year overall but it never got added. When you import it just imports the season. however if you play the 1977 season you can choose if all players from that season use 1 year, 3 year, or 5 year ratings based on how they did across those seasons. But if you import Ty Cobb into that 1977 season you have to choose a single season.

[Brad K]

Originally Posted by hfield007

When you import it just imports the season. however if you play the 1977 season you can choose if all players from that season use 1 year, 3 year, or 5 year ratings based on how they did across those seasons. But if you import Ty Cobb into that 1977 season you have to choose a single season.

I don't know but wouldn't the import type default to the game's settings? Like it does with real stats or neutralized stats.

[Brad K]

Coogan, this game does a lot. Maybe it doesn't do every thing you want but it does stuff you'll want when you see it. Anyway, it's $20 right now. Don't overthink a $20 purchase.

[CoogansBluff]

Originally Posted by Brad K

Coogan, this game does a lot. Maybe it doesn't do every thing you want but it does stuff you'll want when you see it. Anyway, it's $20 right now. Don't overthink a $20 purchase.

Yes, price is tremendous considering that the game comes with every season. Not much to lose in trying it out.

[Pelican]

I’d also chime in and point out that you have the full range of options in terms of replaying historical seasons with actual transactions, retirements, rookies, injuries, lineups - or, you could start in a given historical year and let players develop organically - that is to say randomly, based on their original ratings and potential - into the future. A alternative baseball universe. There is a magical setting called “talent change randomness” [“TCR”] that allows you to determine just how far performance might depart from IRL. Think of this in terms of 1955 Sandy Koufax and Roger Maris. IRL we know they became the best pitcher of his generation and - briefly - a HR Champ. With high TCR, Sandy might not ever learn to control his awesome stuff, and Roger might be more like his time with St. Louis (a solid defensive RF with warning track power). The variables in the game are endless.

Not to mention eliminating the color bar, or reinstating Joe Jackson, or preventing Lou Gehrig from contracting ALS!

[Brad K]

Originally Posted by Pelican

With high TCR, Sandy might not ever learn to control his awesome stuff,

Great points. Just a note that with recalc on whatever changes TCR makes during the season don't carry over to the next year.

[Pelican]

Yes. Very important to have annual recalc off. I would prefer to see that happen “automatically” when development is chosen. But I guess some prefer to play with changes only season by season, not cumulative.

[Brad K]

Originally Posted by Pelican

Yes. Very important to have annual recalc off. I would prefer to see that happen “automatically” when development is chosen. But I guess some prefer to play with changes only season by season, not cumulative.

The defaults are a guess at how people play and also an attempt to steer users into selection where the devs think the game works best. For example, we know that with dev only people have reported Koufax pitches until he's 50 years old. Anyway, changing long time defaults at this point would confuse a lot of players. And I say this as someone who does a lot of over rides.

Also dev added to recalc let's some players paly longer than historical. I think this is important for several reasons. It adds some unknown to the game for human players, it helps AI GMs who don't make decisions based on future real life, and it compensates for players the game takes out early with career ending injuries.

[Pelican]

Brad, I totally agree. And I had forgotten (only four years ago) how much the default settings helped me through my first sim. I would have been lost. In retrospect I appreciate the default path that achieves what most, not all but most, would want in the first instance. And the great thing about defaults is they can be changed - in a myriad of ways - once we get our feet on the ground.

[PSUColonel]

One thing that is not default that I would strongly advocate however is realistic minor league roster sizes and service time limits.




EDIT: This (to me anyway) is probably something that should have snuck into the default settings by now. It works very well IMO provided you have enough weight on ratings in the AI evaluation settings. (which the default settings do)