How do you all stay interested in your saves after 10+ years in game? - Page 2

Matt Arnold · 05-02-2017, 01:17 PM

My personal viewpoint, I think a great way to rejuvenate interest in a save is to take over a new team in your league (or an expansion team), and build them up. So you still see the familiar names from your save, and you can still watch your old team (and be frustrated at seeing the AI screw up your perfect roster), but it basically gives you a new viewpoint.

Another option I've used in the past, especially when my team is too strong for a time, is to basically expand the league but explicitly not protect the players that I "should". So I'll basically designate 5 or so "core" players, and let the AI teams steal all the other guys from me. That lets me keep the guys I like, but is a way to clear out other guys without just releasing them. Once I even expanded and set up one of the expansion teams as literally half my previous roster, and had fun watching them battle each other for a few years.

My current flaw is actually almost the reverse of the situation in the OP. I have my long-running save, but it's actually been imported through a few versions, so I really want to start a new game using the current updated rosters. But I don't want to give up my current game, since every year I find a new challenge to work through, or I'm just about to give up and suddenly I have a guy approaching a milestone HR or H mark, and want to see them play out their career. I just can't put my game aside...

thirdsaint · 05-02-2017, 03:45 PM

Some others have said this but the best thing may be to leave the A's and take over the team in the worst shape. Maybe it's their budget that is out of control and you have to make tough decisions to cut money while being competitive. Maybe it's an aging team with a horrible farm system and you have to gut it and try to build through the draft. Whatever it is, likely there are some challenges in your current league that you can try to tackle. I mean, even in real life GM's get bored and need to move on to a new type of challenge. Theo busted one curse by building at team one way before heading to the Cubs and doing the same thing a completely different way.

'94 EXPOS · 05-02-2017, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maximus33

In my many years of playing simulated sports I see 2 different types of people.

Type 1 wants to win and win every time, losing sucks and makes them hate the game. If they lose they will lose interest.

Type 2 Also wants to win but losing actually drives them to stay interested. When they win they wonder if they really won or bought the team, its like they feel guilty for winning and to much winning and they will lose interest.

So very true! I am chronic Type 2

HonusWagner · 05-02-2017, 07:32 PM

Am currently in 64th season of fictional game. Except for brief managing stint at HS level, I am content to be commissioner. Have done a few expansions. I feel I am just getting started.

I agree with someone else who said you are likely simming too fast. I starting out using a sim speed of factor 300. Then started slowing it down. Am now using factor 2 and can't see myself going faster.

This speed gives me plenty of time to play more casually. It is easier to become familiar with the names and stories and gives more time to think about direction, subtexts, organization etc.

NoOne · 05-03-2017, 12:08 AM

i play more hands-on until i find that gem pitcher and batter and make sure i have a "greatest" player for that league (not singular in concept).

after that (30-50 years, typically) i like piling up history (50-100+). i go the opposite direction of most others. Eventually, i delegate everything, but i set strategy sliders of the A-GM and head coach. i like comparing strategy choices over those last 50-100years and seeing which results in more WS titles.

And, also in the general sense... i like pouring over the Leaderborad and clicking on each to see top X-number of players etc... i'm slowly trying to shape the statistical environment while playing for fun each year-- i want to get 300win pitchers a handful of times per 100yrs, a 60+ HR guy or two and a .400 hitter or two, even bumping SB #'s a bit. whether those things or normal anymore or not (e.g. imo, .400 in todays era? not likely happening, lol, but eras change in RL).. basically recreate my own mlb and 100-some years of history to enjoy.

the a-gm stuff i learn isn't very useful from the 2nd-half, but the coach strategies provide great info for me, since i don't coach game-to-game. i say "ws titles" aboive, but it's more about likelihood of success. average playoff run length more important than # of titles in a broader sense. i try to consider the various things at play in addition to # of titles.

what i've learned -- control the roster in playoffs, lol... best thing you can do... but seriously, some strategies are better for regular season than playoffs and vice versa.

Kronos · 05-03-2017, 01:43 AM

Move from team to team.

texasmame · 05-03-2017, 10:25 AM

I started my league 10 years ago, real-time, and still love it.

My league has real players but has 24 fictional teams, with each team having AAA, AA and A ball minors as well. Additionally, all the players are based on neutralized stats and career averages.

I managed an expansion team to 5 titles in 6 years during the first 6 years of my league, then took over another expansion team and took 3 titles in 3 years with them.

I tired of dynasty building from the ground-up, so, starting last year, I decided to take over the worst team in the league and spend one year with them, rebuilding them and seeing how that went. I loved it - taking a 100+ loss team and getting them the World Series Championship in 6 games required LOTS of wheeling and dealing, with the main house rule being I couldn't raid any of my prior teams for their stars. Doing the same with a different team now and may do another expansion and take over one of those teams next year.

It's also neat to see how my prior teams are doing - all are still going strong, for now, but their minors are sorely lacking.

NoOne · 05-03-2017, 12:45 PM

i prefer authentic, in general, but really glad i experimented with adding teams. i only added 10, so that i'd get 4 divisions of 10 that can play a balanced schedule... would ahve done 4 sub-leagues but i wanted an ASG.

defintiely something to try first, then use if you like it. i don't do expansions, but as above, i've been wrong before about waht i thought i'd enjoy, lol.

mitchkenn · 05-03-2017, 01:14 PM

i keep tinkering with different set-ups (starting with Dead-ball era) ... used to manually add Negro League Players before 18 ... never seem to run out of new ideas to tweak something, so when i get a bit bored with one set up, i start over with something slightly different - or wildly different.
The new one just about got started is 1902 ML (16 traditional ML teams) then created a West Coast/West of Mississippi League (settled on Federal League name, but not certain why) 16 teams - as a separate Major League. (Made it into a template and brought it into the game). Created an association between leagues. Both leagues have 2 sets of minors (not historical). i enter the minor league rookies from a txt file, so hopefully i'll only run into a couple of duplicate names after a couple of years ...

we'll see how this goes. but point being, i just keep tinkering and altering formats and teams and minors and and - well i've been doing this for a while and i'm reaching 68 yrs and still wildly enthusiastic about the game. (Oh yeah, and real baseball too.)

24Rocks · 05-03-2017, 06:50 PM

I am in a 100+ year fictional save 1981-2097 (current year) game started in OOTP11 & OOTP12 and on my 3rd different MLB team inside the save, used real teams because like you I do not like fake MLB teams.

Now for me I have spent 5 years coaching HS team, 11 years with Pittsburgh, 55 years in Chicago and currently 20 years with Fremont 1 year over lap with Chicago cause it was so hard to let go.

To keep involved I follow players, record drafts, I have league evolution on so things change, I also have running a league a Japan league and Canadian baseball league in the same universe along with INDY and WBC, but 50 in game years ago I had a different version of WBC, I tried to create my own manually bringing players over oh boy was it a mess. I also have a Championship between all my main leagues.

I have so much history, I have college and High school; feeders so I can get lost some times in how players know each other or that dream hs team with like 3 MLB stars on it or find a guy with one Game like this

Have I ever got bored hell ya and I tried to add something new like WBC or World Baseball Championship, I tried not playing, I even bought & played Basketball sims for a few weeks to clear my self of OOTP.

Each version of the game provides its own challenges and you have to try and adjust but also play with in your self and not take to many advantages because you are smarter then AI, the few versions of AI have been better able to get to my teams and its been fun not winning Series every year but that's always the goal.

curt · 05-05-2017, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallewalls

I've tried fictional saves before and I just didn't find following fictional teams to be very interesting, not knocking the mode, it's deep and detailed but I'd rather play with real teams, the players might be fictional but at least they "come" from real teams

I use a combination of real MLB teams and then added some fictional Canadian teams, 36 teams total in my league. The best of both worlds in my opinion

shipfb21 · 05-06-2017, 09:26 AM

The game takes on a life of its own. There are so many things to get wrapped up in. Check out teams histories, player histories, etc. Check out leader boards. Look at each teams draft history. Follow players careers, check the financial reports. Take ur time, there is no rush, just enjoy the game. Basically, the more invested or immersed u become in ur world, the easier it is to keep interest.

ashantewarrier · 05-08-2017, 09:22 PM

For me fictional is the way to go. I enjoy creating fictional leagues, teams and uniforms and watch the history build.

old fat bald guy · 05-09-2017, 06:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shipfb21

The game takes on a life of its own. There are so many things to get wrapped up in. Check out teams histories, player histories, etc. Check out leader boards. Look at each teams draft history. Follow players careers, check the financial reports. Take ur time, there is no rush, just enjoy the game. Basically, the more invested or immersed u become in ur world, the easier it is to keep interest.

This is it. You know you've immersed yourself nicely when you're imagining yourself telling the media about your reaction to the catastrophic injury suffered by the Best Player in Baseball, who does not play for your team. And I was genuinely sad when I saw the news about Jeremy "Grumbles" Bowman.

thirdsaint · 05-09-2017, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ashantewarrier

For me fictional is the way to go. I enjoy creating fictional leagues, teams and uniforms and watch the history build.

Yeah, that's how I am too. I love building my own history and following it. I take my time too. It usually takes me about 3 months to finish one season doing the Quick Sim. I don't manage games at all but I just follow players and keep track of story lines, some of which I make up myself. For instance, I started my league in 1940 and, while I have a fully integrated league of white and black players, I got rid of any other nationality and ethnicity. Just recently I created the first Hispanic player to have a different form of the Jackie Robinson story and I'm slowly adding one or two a year for a little while before I let them be more prominent.

AirmenSmith · 05-09-2017, 12:00 PM

I usually only stay in sim for about 20 years at the most. Usually that is because there are certain players that I get attached to that I want to see if they get in the Hall.

The only other way I have found to stay interested in a sim for awhile is to put some "House" rules in. Usually if I win the series, i'll move on from that team and take over the worst team in the league. I just keep doing that formula for awhile.

05-03-2017, 12:08 AM	#25
NoOne Banned Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 7,273 Infractions: 0/1 (3)	i play more hands-on until i find that gem pitcher and batter and make sure i have a "greatest" player for that league (not singular in concept). after that (30-50 years, typically) i like piling up history (50-100+). i go the opposite direction of most others. Eventually, i delegate everything, but i set strategy sliders of the A-GM and head coach. i like comparing strategy choices over those last 50-100years and seeing which results in more WS titles. And, also in the general sense... i like pouring over the Leaderborad and clicking on each to see top X-number of players etc... i'm slowly trying to shape the statistical environment while playing for fun each year-- i want to get 300win pitchers a handful of times per 100yrs, a 60+ HR guy or two and a .400 hitter or two, even bumping SB #'s a bit. whether those things or normal anymore or not (e.g. imo, .400 in todays era? not likely happening, lol, but eras change in RL).. basically recreate my own mlb and 100-some years of history to enjoy. the a-gm stuff i learn isn't very useful from the 2nd-half, but the coach strategies provide great info for me, since i don't coach game-to-game. i say "ws titles" aboive, but it's more about likelihood of success. average playoff run length more important than # of titles in a broader sense. i try to consider the various things at play in addition to # of titles. what i've learned -- control the roster in playoffs, lol... best thing you can do... but seriously, some strategies are better for regular season than playoffs and vice versa. Last edited by NoOne; 05-03-2017 at 12:18 AM.

05-03-2017, 10:25 AM	#27
texasmame All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Planet Texas Posts: 1,717	I started my league 10 years ago, real-time, and still love it. My league has real players but has 24 fictional teams, with each team having AAA, AA and A ball minors as well. Additionally, all the players are based on neutralized stats and career averages. I managed an expansion team to 5 titles in 6 years during the first 6 years of my league, then took over another expansion team and took 3 titles in 3 years with them. I tired of dynasty building from the ground-up, so, starting last year, I decided to take over the worst team in the league and spend one year with them, rebuilding them and seeing how that went. I loved it - taking a 100+ loss team and getting them the World Series Championship in 6 games required LOTS of wheeling and dealing, with the main house rule being I couldn't raid any of my prior teams for their stars. Doing the same with a different team now and may do another expansion and take over one of those teams next year. It's also neat to see how my prior teams are doing - all are still going strong, for now, but their minors are sorely lacking. __________________ Managing and rebuilding the 98-loss TOKYO THUNDER. Last edited by texasmame; 05-03-2017 at 10:28 AM.

05-03-2017, 01:14 PM	#29
mitchkenn Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Oregon, not by design Posts: 2,872	i keep tinkering with different set-ups (starting with Dead-ball era) ... used to manually add Negro League Players before 18 ... never seem to run out of new ideas to tweak something, so when i get a bit bored with one set up, i start over with something slightly different - or wildly different. The new one just about got started is 1902 ML (16 traditional ML teams) then created a West Coast/West of Mississippi League (settled on Federal League name, but not certain why) 16 teams - as a separate Major League. (Made it into a template and brought it into the game). Created an association between leagues. Both leagues have 2 sets of minors (not historical). i enter the minor league rookies from a txt file, so hopefully i'll only run into a couple of duplicate names after a couple of years ... we'll see how this goes. but point being, i just keep tinkering and altering formats and teams and minors and and - well i've been doing this for a while and i'm reaching 68 yrs and still wildly enthusiastic about the game. (Oh yeah, and real baseball too.) __________________ "This is my opening farewell " - Jackson Browne “They make a desolation and call it peace.” ― Agha Shahid Ali "Maybe she just has to sing, for the sake of the song - And who do I think that I am to decide that she's wrong." - Townes Van Zandt "I saw a young man leaning on his wooden crutch - He called out to me, 'Don't ask for so much' And a young woman leaning in her darkened door She cried out to me, 'Why not ask for more?' " - Leonard Cohen "Hello darkness, my old Friend ...." - Paul Simon Before Mays, before DiMaggio, there was Oscar Charleston. "All the lies about Babe Ruth are true." - Waite Hoyt Avatar is the late great Townes Van Zandt. rip.

05-03-2017, 06:50 PM	#30
24Rocks All Star Reserve Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Scarborough, Ontario, Canada Posts: 808	I am in a 100+ year fictional save 1981-2097 (current year) game started in OOTP11 & OOTP12 and on my 3rd different MLB team inside the save, used real teams because like you I do not like fake MLB teams. Now for me I have spent 5 years coaching HS team, 11 years with Pittsburgh, 55 years in Chicago and currently 20 years with Fremont 1 year over lap with Chicago cause it was so hard to let go. To keep involved I follow players, record drafts, I have league evolution on so things change, I also have running a league a Japan league and Canadian baseball league in the same universe along with INDY and WBC, but 50 in game years ago I had a different version of WBC, I tried to create my own manually bringing players over oh boy was it a mess. I also have a Championship between all my main leagues. I have so much history, I have college and High school; feeders so I can get lost some times in how players know each other or that dream hs team with like 3 MLB stars on it or find a guy with one Game like this Have I ever got bored hell ya and I tried to add something new like WBC or World Baseball Championship, I tried not playing, I even bought & played Basketball sims for a few weeks to clear my self of OOTP. Each version of the game provides its own challenges and you have to try and adjust but also play with in your self and not take to many advantages because you are smarter then AI, the few versions of AI have been better able to get to my teams and its been fun not winning Series every year but that's always the goal. __________________ Jonny Former OOTP Online leagues: LOHO: Detroit Tigers ISL: San Diego Padres VSL: Pittsburgh Pirates NPBL: Ohio Raptors/Nova Scotia Fishermen AFBL:Ontario Blue Pirates Check you my YOUTUBE or TWITCH

05-08-2017, 09:22 PM	#33
ashantewarrier Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Somerset, NJ via Brooklyn, NY Posts: 2,309	For me fictional is the way to go. I enjoy creating fictional leagues, teams and uniforms and watch the history build. __________________ "I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me... All I ask is that you respect me as a human being." -Jackie Robinson, #42 Brooklyn Dodgers *"Hitting is better than sex."* - Reggie Jackson

05-02-2017, 01:17 PM	#21
Matt Arnold OOTP Developer Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Here and there Posts: 16,243	My personal viewpoint, I think a great way to rejuvenate interest in a save is to take over a new team in your league (or an expansion team), and build them up. So you still see the familiar names from your save, and you can still watch your old team (and be frustrated at seeing the AI screw up your perfect roster), but it basically gives you a new viewpoint. Another option I've used in the past, especially when my team is too strong for a time, is to basically expand the league but explicitly not protect the players that I "should". So I'll basically designate 5 or so "core" players, and let the AI teams steal all the other guys from me. That lets me keep the guys I like, but is a way to clear out other guys without just releasing them. Once I even expanded and set up one of the expansion teams as literally half my previous roster, and had fun watching them battle each other for a few years. My current flaw is actually almost the reverse of the situation in the OP. I have my long-running save, but it's actually been imported through a few versions, so I really want to start a new game using the current updated rosters. But I don't want to give up my current game, since every year I find a new challenge to work through, or I'm just about to give up and suddenly I have a guy approaching a milestone HR or H mark, and want to see them play out their career. I just can't put my game aside...

05-02-2017, 03:45 PM	#22
thirdsaint Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Chicago Posts: 364	Some others have said this but the best thing may be to leave the A's and take over the team in the worst shape. Maybe it's their budget that is out of control and you have to make tough decisions to cut money while being competitive. Maybe it's an aging team with a horrible farm system and you have to gut it and try to build through the draft. Whatever it is, likely there are some challenges in your current league that you can try to tackle. I mean, even in real life GM's get bored and need to move on to a new type of challenge. Theo busted one curse by building at team one way before heading to the Cubs and doing the same thing a completely different way.

05-02-2017, 07:32 PM	#24
HonusWagner All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 521	Am currently in 64th season of fictional game. Except for brief managing stint at HS level, I am content to be commissioner. Have done a few expansions. I feel I am just getting started. I agree with someone else who said you are likely simming too fast. I starting out using a sim speed of factor 300. Then started slowing it down. Am now using factor 2 and can't see myself going faster. This speed gives me plenty of time to play more casually. It is easier to become familiar with the names and stories and gives more time to think about direction, subtexts, organization etc.

05-03-2017, 01:43 AM	#26
Kronos Major Leagues Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Northern Ky. Posts: 318	Move from team to team.

05-03-2017, 12:45 PM	#28
NoOne Banned Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 7,273 Infractions: 0/1 (3)	i prefer authentic, in general, but really glad i experimented with adding teams. i only added 10, so that i'd get 4 divisions of 10 that can play a balanced schedule... would ahve done 4 sub-leagues but i wanted an ASG. defintiely something to try first, then use if you like it. i don't do expansions, but as above, i've been wrong before about waht i thought i'd enjoy, lol.

05-06-2017, 09:26 AM	#32
shipfb21 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Apr 2014 Posts: 117	The game takes on a life of its own. There are so many things to get wrapped up in. Check out teams histories, player histories, etc. Check out leader boards. Look at each teams draft history. Follow players careers, check the financial reports. Take ur time, there is no rush, just enjoy the game. Basically, the more invested or immersed u become in ur world, the easier it is to keep interest.

05-09-2017, 12:00 PM	#36
AirmenSmith Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Kalispell, MT Posts: 2,094	I usually only stay in sim for about 20 years at the most. Usually that is because there are certain players that I get attached to that I want to see if they get in the Hall. The only other way I have found to stay interested in a sim for awhile is to put some "House" rules in. Usually if I win the series, i'll move on from that team and take over the worst team in the league. I just keep doing that formula for awhile. __________________ Come join me on my Twitch Channel for gaming at its excellence Twitch Link