When you start a fictional league, how many seasons do you sim ahead? - Page 2

Markus Heinsohn · 03-13-2018, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caporegime

Great question!

I'm definitely in the minority here. I like to have at least 75, preferably closer to 100 years, worth of history in my fictional leagues before diving in. I like my fictional leagues to have as much history behind them as MLB had when I started following baseball in the now impossibly ancient year of 1976.

So you started following baseball before I was born. Wow.

Markus Heinsohn · 03-13-2018, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gorinski

I'll sim 20 years then delete all histories, then sim another 20 years before starting. This way I will have a history but also get rid of the early years which seem to have some extreme statistical performances that I don't want to keep.

These have been toned down a lot in OOTP 19, by the way. The league is now more balanced from year 1.

Germaniac · 03-13-2018, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

These have been toned down a lot in OOTP 19, by the way. The league is now more balanced from year 1.

I noticed the same thing even in v18. I started my fictional leagues with day one and I haven't noticed any "super humans" ...

Just like you'd expect in any kind of setting, there are star players, very good players, etc.

But not a player you'd regard as out of the ordinary

JaBurns · 03-13-2018, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

So you started following baseball before I was born. Wow.

So what? I was working in mills, going to university, playing Strat-O-Matic, with barely

to rub together before you were born. We have come a long way.

Matt Arnold · 03-13-2018, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Germaniac

I noticed the same thing even in v18. I started my fictional leagues with day one and I haven't noticed any "super humans" ...

Just like you'd expect in any kind of setting, there are star players, very good players, etc.

But not a player you'd regard as out of the ordinary

Yeah, the players should be fine, but obviously you can still sim ahead if you want history.

As for me, I have let the world sim ahead 140 years for me, so that's enough history to get started with

Henry · 03-13-2018, 04:15 PM

I should add, in the event some might have taken my comment "charter" players wrong...

I don't wish to see them gone because of any possible statistical difference with more modern players - I wish them retired because it is only then that the league takes on it's own "persona" so-to-speak. In Coover's novel is the following description...

""Of course, the abrupt beginning had its disadvantages. It was, in a sense, too arbitrary, too inexplicable. In spite of the almost excessive warmth he felt toward these first ballplayers, it always troubled him that their life histories were so unavailable to him: What had a great player already in his thirties been doing for the previous ten years? It was much better once a kind of continuity had been established, and when new players had taken over the league who had their whole careers still ahead of them. It was, in fact, when the last Year I player had retired that Henry felt the Association had come of age, and when, a couple of years ago, the last veteran of Year I, old ex-Chancellor Barnaby North, had died, he had felt an odd sense of relief; the touch with the deep past was now purely "historic", its ambiguity only natural.""

THAT is my reason for putting 50 years between the start of a league and me, as commissioner, owner, or manager.

Caporegime · 03-13-2018, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

So you started following baseball before I was born. Wow.

Haha! Watch it, whippersnapper. Just remember, growing old is a state of mind. At least, that's what I tell myself whenever I look in a mirror and see my grandfather staring back at me.

stealofhome · 03-13-2018, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

These have been toned down a lot in OOTP 19, by the way. The league is now more balanced from year 1.

This would be awesome, I have seen 12-15 WAR players in the first years of a fictional league in 18.

ThatSeventiesGuy · 03-13-2018, 05:05 PM

None. Totally screws up the immersion level for me. Bunch of guys I never got to know much about if I sim ahead.

MrBojangles · 03-13-2018, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cavebutter

The theory is - at least from earlier versions of the game - that "seed" players tend to put up unrealistic career numbers relative to all of the players created after league initiation. I recall reading on the board that as of version 15 or so, this was no longer an issue, but many people disagree.

In the single league I have, which I started playing day 1 and am now 28 years in - a very high percentage of my "lifetime" league leaders are from the "charter class" of players that were around on day 1.

Even though those players started day 1 of the league as "not young" they still put up better numbers then most of the subsequent stars that "started" younger and so had longer careers.

spleen1015 · 03-14-2018, 11:07 AM

The last couple of years I have been starting my fictional leagues in 1876 and having it evolve & grow like real world MLB has. Its just with fictional teams & players.

Syd Thrift · 03-14-2018, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThatSeventiesGuy

None. Totally screws up the immersion level for me. Bunch of guys I never got to know much about if I sim ahead.

To this end, what I've done in the past is start 20 years before when I want to get going with a league history, sim out 20 years to get rid of the "seed" players, and then remove all of the league history. Boom, as far as the numbers are concerned, I'm starting on Day One, but as far as the players are concerned I don't have 20 year olds with fully realized POTs.

In practice, I will say that since it still takes actual time to sim out 20 seasons, I often/usually don't do that because I want my OOTP right now this second.

sprague · 03-14-2018, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Germaniac

I noticed the same thing even in v18. I started my fictional leagues with day one and I haven't noticed any "super humans" ...

Just like you'd expect in any kind of setting, there are star players, very good players, etc.

But not a player you'd regard as out of the ordinary

I find the opposite.
I start a fictional league. Say 16-20 teams. There will always be 8-10 players rated over 200 for home runs. In 50 more years of play no one else will pass 190 rated. So that’s why I want 15 years to have the league populated by mostly all drafts from the engine itself, delete history and start.

spartacus007 · 03-14-2018, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

These have been toned down a lot in OOTP 19, by the way. The league is now more balanced from year 1.

Great news -- thanks!

MBarrett · 03-14-2018, 06:42 PM

1 problem with the seed players is that most of the young players have already reached their full potential. So they accrue some huge career stats because they're getting 15+ years of peak value.

silvam14 · 03-14-2018, 07:57 PM

I don’t. I just start from year 1

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

NoOne · 03-14-2018, 10:34 PM

they've said they aren't created in the same loop of logic as for the draft, so they are a bit different... they have to have varying ages and such, it's a bit more complicated.. they've evened it significantly in recent versions. i think the mil isn't as robost either. maybe the same # of quality guys, but nothign after that. so the lucky ones don't have as much of a chance starting at a lower quality (TCR stuff and small help needed etc).

with that said..

i pre-date 30 years and sim 30 years, so that would make a 17 year old ~47 - should be 5 years to spare in case it creates anything younger that i cannot see easily.

Then, i delete all stats and history, delete all retired players, and turn on all the asthetic stuff i disabled during the 30-year intial sim to save time, and purge of the dB. old newstories won't exist, no drawbacks.

i think ihad to save ad backup, then restore to a new location to reduce league directory size... i guess you could go hand-delete stuff too. could manipulate how the incremental backup works to eliminate unwanted old bulk too.. backup, delete contents, but not the directory, then click backup again... it's an incremental backup with minimum required files. now, restore and use that. (can rename other one before you start, or rename after deleting existing etc etc)

should be just like a "new" league at that point and a nice robust FA field, a deeper MiL imo, and the ability to start my season on day 1 of offseason, if i choose.

i'll make a template at this point just to save progress. a template or 2 during creation for backtracking.

i alwys start with the same year as the mlb quickstart. (to avoid conusion with release "years" being +1.. thank EA for that crap trend, lol)

waittilnextyear · 03-17-2018, 08:51 PM

I like to start in, say, 1901 and sim to ~present day so my fictional league is a bit of an alternate MLB with a comparably huge amount of history. I start in 1901 (or even later) because I don't want all the pitchers making 60 starts and pitching 400 innings, setting those wacky, old-timey pitching records that will never be broken.

I quick sim thru looking for who the Babe Ruth is going to be. A big part of the appeal is watching the seasons melt away and seeing which one is going to have Nolan Ryan or Rickey Henderson or Joe DiMaggio or Pedro Martinez type of careers. I remember one sim--maybe it was on OOTP14--where a guy named Dave Swint (I remember him like it was only yesterday) was generated in the 1970s and he ended up with 700-something homers in a career than spanned the 70s and 80s with a little bit of 90s. I made sure to look at his ratings and his power was way off the charts. He was a real unicorn, especially considering the period he played in.

After the initial sim, I look over the team histories and take over the hard luck case--the team with little history of success and a barren roster and try to turn them around.

Also, big shout out to the knuckler/txranger retro thread tandem. It wouldn't be an OOTP season without me browsing through that thread and stuffing as much of it as possible into my fictional league. lol

View Poll Results: How many seasons do you sim ahead?
None - I start with day 1	36	50.70%
1 to 25 seasons	23	32.39%
26 to 50 seasons	8	11.27%
more than 50 seasons	4	5.63%
Voters: 71. You may not vote on this poll

03-13-2018, 05:05 PM	#29
ThatSeventiesGuy Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Midland, MI Posts: 3,429	None. Totally screws up the immersion level for me. Bunch of guys I never got to know much about if I sim ahead. __________________ https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...00&postcount=1

03-14-2018, 07:57 PM	#36
silvam14 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Dedham, MA Posts: 10,170	I don’t. I just start from year 1 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk __________________ Senior "Nancy Boy" of the OOTP Boards _______________________________________________

03-14-2018, 10:34 PM	#37
NoOne Banned Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 7,273 Infractions: 0/1 (3)	they've said they aren't created in the same loop of logic as for the draft, so they are a bit different... they have to have varying ages and such, it's a bit more complicated.. they've evened it significantly in recent versions. i think the mil isn't as robost either. maybe the same # of quality guys, but nothign after that. so the lucky ones don't have as much of a chance starting at a lower quality (TCR stuff and small help needed etc). with that said.. i pre-date 30 years and sim 30 years, so that would make a 17 year old ~47 - should be 5 years to spare in case it creates anything younger that i cannot see easily. Then, i delete all stats and history, delete all retired players, and turn on all the asthetic stuff i disabled during the 30-year intial sim to save time, and purge of the dB. old newstories won't exist, no drawbacks. i think ihad to save ad backup, then restore to a new location to reduce league directory size... i guess you could go hand-delete stuff too. could manipulate how the incremental backup works to eliminate unwanted old bulk too.. backup, delete contents, but not the directory, then click backup again... it's an incremental backup with minimum required files. now, restore and use that. (can rename other one before you start, or rename after deleting existing etc etc) should be just like a "new" league at that point and a nice robust FA field, a deeper MiL imo, and the ability to start my season on day 1 of offseason, if i choose. i'll make a template at this point just to save progress. a template or 2 during creation for backtracking. i alwys start with the same year as the mlb quickstart. (to avoid conusion with release "years" being +1.. thank EA for that crap trend, lol) Last edited by NoOne; 03-14-2018 at 10:38 PM.

03-13-2018, 04:15 PM	#26
Henry Hall of Fame Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 6,498	I should add, in the event some might have taken my comment "charter" players wrong... I don't wish to see them gone because of any possible statistical difference with more modern players - I wish them retired because it is only then that the league takes on it's own "persona" so-to-speak. In Coover's novel is the following description... ""Of course, the abrupt beginning had its disadvantages. It was, in a sense, too arbitrary, too inexplicable. In spite of the almost excessive warmth he felt toward these first ballplayers, it always troubled him that their life histories were so unavailable to him: What had a great player already in his thirties been doing for the previous ten years? It was much better once a kind of continuity had been established, and when new players had taken over the league who had their whole careers still ahead of them. It was, in fact, when the last Year I player had retired that Henry felt the Association had come of age, and when, a couple of years ago, the last veteran of Year I, old ex-Chancellor Barnaby North, had died, he had felt an odd sense of relief; the touch with the deep past was now purely "historic", its ambiguity only natural."" THAT is my reason for putting 50 years between the start of a league and me, as commissioner, owner, or manager.

03-14-2018, 11:07 AM	#31
spleen1015 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 6,008	The last couple of years I have been starting my fictional leagues in 1876 and having it evolve & grow like real world MLB has. Its just with fictional teams & players.

03-14-2018, 06:42 PM	#35
MBarrett All Star Reserve Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Canada Posts: 627	1 problem with the seed players is that most of the young players have already reached their full potential. So they accrue some huge career stats because they're getting 15+ years of peak value.

03-17-2018, 08:51 PM	#38
waittilnextyear All Star Starter Join Date: Jan 2016 Posts: 1,273	I like to start in, say, 1901 and sim to ~present day so my fictional league is a bit of an alternate MLB with a comparably huge amount of history. I start in 1901 (or even later) because I don't want all the pitchers making 60 starts and pitching 400 innings, setting those wacky, old-timey pitching records that will never be broken. I quick sim thru looking for who the Babe Ruth is going to be. A big part of the appeal is watching the seasons melt away and seeing which one is going to have Nolan Ryan or Rickey Henderson or Joe DiMaggio or Pedro Martinez type of careers. I remember one sim--maybe it was on OOTP14--where a guy named Dave Swint (I remember him like it was only yesterday) was generated in the 1970s and he ended up with 700-something homers in a career than spanned the 70s and 80s with a little bit of 90s. I made sure to look at his ratings and his power was way off the charts. He was a real unicorn, especially considering the period he played in. After the initial sim, I look over the team histories and take over the hard luck case--the team with little history of success and a barren roster and try to turn them around. Also, big shout out to the knuckler/txranger retro thread tandem. It wouldn't be an OOTP season without me browsing through that thread and stuffing as much of it as possible into my fictional league. lol