Is OOTP too big a learning curve for someone who doesn't understand baseball?

[andyhdz]

don't go with a full MLB replay to start. I did that when I first started playing and I quickly got frustrated and confused. Start with a small 6 or maybe 8 team league with one minor league level. It will give you the very basics of baseball and from there move up.

[Goliathus]

Nothing is too big of a learning curve if you are willing to learn. No one is born with understanding of anything int he world. We have to learn everything, this is no exception.

This, IMO, is just another "easy to learn, hard to master" game. You can quickly get to a point that you have grasped the basic and you can then have fun. This game is definitely easier for you as you are familar with NA sport niches like drafting and playoff. I am in a football(read: soccer) country so it takes a while to get to know things like salary cap, draft and such. After you know that, it's much easier to pick up any of the NA team sports.

[NoOne]

it's so modular that you can make it simpler through settings. i'd start with default and go through a few calendar years to get some ideas on preferences and familiar with the yearly cycle. make a little outline the first year. i used to have a little cheat sheet for my 'likely' MiL promotion ratings for each level too. anythign that is reference material is worth a note, in case you take time off. that's the stuff i forget after 3-6 months. the concepts translate between all sports games, though. minor adjustments here and there.

i don't think size of the league is the source of complexity. in fact, in a larger league it seems easier to collect talent, imo. even though there are roughly the same percentage of great players, there are more of them in a larger league. i.e. in a small enough league relative to ~30 teams you can't fill out as strong of a team simply due to availability.

a parrallel i'd use is me buying football manager (or whatever it is called - PFM?) i know nothing of soccer, but i have played numerous sports games. i understand ratings and such, but i may not understand all the financial rules and SOP in the soccer world. if i cared about soccer, in spite of this lack of knowledge, i'd have no fear playing that game nor how complicated it might be.

would i have all options turned on and running the first year? meh, probably, but i wouldn't be doing much custom league creation or significant deviations from RL rules -- outside of asthetic things that have no repercussions or side effects to account for.

[fredbeene]

Originally Posted by Colorado

I'm not from the US so baseball isn't a mainstream sport here but I'm familiar with FHM as I'm a big hockey fan so have a general understanding of the concept behind North American sports such as drafts, trades, play-offs etc ...

I'm quite intrigued by baseball but don't really understand anything about it except for the very, very basics. As a complete novice to the sport, is OOTP too big a learning curve to understand the game or would it accelerate my learning and understanding of the sport?

Yes because of the poor manual on almost zero in game help, occasional column definitions.
I still don't get how you can have rating higher than 100 if the scale is 1 -100. Others should be adjusted down??
Still no doc on closer vs stopper.....waste to much time simming different scenarios to understand differences in settings.
Waste way to much time looking for stats that doing exists..(triple plays, steals of home and third....waste to much time regurgiatating all the missing stats each month)

But there is hope?? with a new hire?!!

[Calvert98]

There are some good recommendations here on books and video playlist in this thread, and I thought I would add one more.

I would also recommend "Foolish Baseball"'s tutorials on YouTube. They are numbered from like 1 to 25 I think, and cover a lot of OOTP basics using OOTP19, and he also goes over a number of baseball terms / stats.

Here is a link to the intro video for that playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1jF...GhQGk0YR5VcJPi

[SxSnts9]

Originally Posted by fredbeene

Still no doc on closer vs stopper.....waste to much time simming different scenarios to understand differences in settings.

Not sure about your other complaints, but this one is simple.

Closer comes in to work the end of the game...guy that tries to get saves. Nail it down in the 9th (or sometimes the 8th if he has solid stamina).

Stopper comes in whenever there is a late inning high-pressure situation that could determine the outcome of the game. Sometimes the 9th, but could also be the 7th. Depends on the game.

Some people prefer closer because they always want their best reliever rested for the 9th or extras.

Some people prefer stoppers since it's a more difficult situation to get out of bases loaded 1 out in the 7th than it is to just come in at the start of the 9th inning with no one on base and your team is up by 3.

It's all personal preference.