are there any benefits playing fictional league?

[theasfl]

Originally posted by I_Got_Wood_34
Im thinking of creating a league with all the different retail chains. Target, Kmart, Walmart, Bestbuy, Circuit City...etc seeing which one i can take to the top. Is it possible to have expansion teams enter the league as the years go on?

quite creative, yet not as good as the religions guy

[EagleEye_0]

Originally posted by theasfl
quite creative, yet not as good as the religions guy

Why, thank you

[Gastric ReFlux]

To move to fictional is to fully embrace all that is OOTP. Even if you use real rosters, you are using a crutch because those rosters are fictional representations of what's real.

OOTP at its best is a poem, so I offer these words penned by Wallace Stevens to consider:

A High-Toned Old Christian Woman

Poetry is the supreme fiction, madame.
Take the moral law and make a nave of it
And from the nave build haunted heaven. Thus,
The conscience is converted into palms,
Like windy citherns hankering for hymns.
We agree in principle. That's clear. But take
The opposing law and make a peristyle,
And from the peristyle project a masque
Beyond the planets. Thus, our bawdiness,
Unpurged by epitaph, indulged at last,
Is equally converted into palms,
Squiggling like saxophones. And palm for palm,
Madame, we are where we began. Allow,
Therefore, that in the planetary scene
Your disaffected flagellants, well-stuffed,
Smacking their muzzy bellies in parade,
Proud of such novelties of the sublime,
Such tink and tank and tunk-a-tunk-tunk,
May, merely may, madame, whip from themselves
A jovial hullabaloo among the spheres.
This will make widows wince. But fictive things
Wink as they will. Wink most when widows wince.


--A well-constructed fictional league is much like that poem. Enjoy the supreme fiction of OOTP.

[Eugene Church]

I played with real players originally, but like many others didn't like it when some great players didn't play great....that's the way OOTPB does it...you never know how a player will develop...in the career mode it doesn't recreate history...it makes it own. That's the joy of fictional players.

I have 20 teams.

It takes a while to learn the players. I'm in my third year. I know who the good players are, but have not connected them to a team yet. It may take several more years to really connect with them.

For added enjoyment, be sure to download photos, this helps you relate to the players more when you put a face with the name. I downloaded Killebrew's face pack...I think they are unknowns from high school and college...you will see the team names on caps and jerseys. I even made sure the ethnic names fit the photos...the Italians looked Italian...the German looked German...the Hispanics looked Hispanic.

Go to the Logos and Graphics Forum and request your own logos.
I suggest you list each logo one at a time. I have found you get them done sooner that way.

Download the great stadiums by Teflon Skies...I think Henry has done fine stadiums, too. There are others, too. Just do a search for Stadiums or post a request for the various sites in the Mods Forum.

Include doubleheaders, the game can handle it with only a few gitches...do a search for the thead about doubleheaders. This really requires you to handle the pitching staffs like real baseball and it enables you to use the whole staff, both as relievers and starters.

Do a manual custom schedule, so it can be balanced the way you want it. OOTPB's schedule generator is poor. Once you have the schedule the way you want it, the game will reuse it year after year...although it does rotate the teams each year, but it's still balanced the way you originally set it up.

Having said that, I am also going to setup an Alltime Allstar League. Each team will be composed of the best 12 position players and 9 pitchers in each team's history. Eventually, I will add great Negro, Japanese, Mexican, Caribbean stars and some great career minor league stars. I plan to have 20 teams. I will use Ankit's great Career Average Database...the best one I know of to get career average performance...at least initially...then OOTPB will develop them its way. I will not be disappointed by my performance expectations this time. When I run out of players, then I will use fictionals and continue.

I like Ankit over the Lahman because it doesn't require as much player ratings editing. Be sure to check each players ratings, especially base stealing and pitchers strikeouts while batting.

Make sure you import the player in his rookie year...otherwise his HTML Report will not be accurate. Once you import a player, check his HTML Report and make sure it has no career stats. Ankit adjusts the rookie year to the players first season as a regular. You don't want a player imported if he did not play much his first seasons...like Jimmy Foxx.

[Bonedwarf]

I like the sound of your All Star league idea Eugene.

As for stadiums, I've not used any yet, though only because I have no clue what I'm doing I'd love to get some of Ankrit's stadiums into the game as they look fantastic.

[gambler]

Take a gander at my "In the Category Of: Can't make this stuff up" thread in this forum for the reason why I'm very quickly a convert to the "Fictional League" concept.

[SSG Troyer]

In a quick review of the replies on this thread, I didn't see anyone mention the fact that, in 20 or so seasons, any MLB league will become, de facto, a fictional league as all the current MLBers retire and are replaced by fictional draftees.

If someone did mention this, I apologize for the repetition.

[Eugene Church]

Originally posted by Bonedwarf
I like the sound of your All Star league idea Eugene.

As for stadiums, I've not used any yet, though only because I have no clue what I'm doing I'd love to get some of Ankrit's stadiums into the game as they look fantastic.

I am computer-challenged and I installed stadiums.

They really add to the game atmosphere.

See OOTPB FAQ and look for roster, logo, stadium installations.

Check it out here:

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...&threadid=5499

If you run into problems, post on the Mods Forum. The guys will help you.

[Hank Greenberg]

Right now Im setting up a 20 team (2 league, 2 5 team divisions per) based on old MLB teams (mostly).

Each city (obviously 10) gets 2 teams (Seperate Leagues), and all but 2 teams are based off teams that existed at some point in baseball (Washington and Pittsburg, couldn't remember any 2nd teams for those cities).

Im going to make my own stadiums and try and find some old time looking stadium backgrounds (there are 6 or so from MVP out their, Im 14 short).

[I_Got_Wood_34]

Ok, im convinced!

im tinkering with the setting snow, gathering my mods and going to create an awesome customized fictional league. and get immersed in my imaginary baseball universe.

Thanks for the responses, it seems a fictional league is definitely worth investing the time necessary to learn the players, because of the payoff in the long run.......i like using my imagination....so the whole idea sparks tons of interest.

[Ktulu]

Honestly Ive never played a non-fictional game of ootp ever.

It doesnt take too long to learn the players, especially if you make the playoffs, you really get to know your rivals.

[William4192]

this is a great little thread that has convinced me to try a fict. league

[jbmagic]

i think i try fictional league too...do you guys play your games out or sim weekly, etc?

my only fear is knowing the players....any tips what the best way to know all the players..what do you look at afte each game u play or sim to help know the players...?

do you guys use the defalt stadium i think it old parkstadium they assign all teams too when i try a quick fictional test...or download it...if so what the best fictional stadium to download?

what the best fictional facepacks to download?

in fictional league how many teams you recommend to start off with and how many games season?

do you recommend to release all players and do a fantasy draft when u start your fictional league?

do you recommend a salary cap if so how much ? and do you see all teams with the same amount in the front office, if so how? this way all teams start off the same.


thanks

[chrisod]

Your thinking too much. Set up a league and play. The whole point is to do it your way. Knowing exactly what we do doesn't help you get to that point. I'd share my settings - but I'm honestly not real sure what they are. I just sort of went with the defaults in V6.

[treedom]

jbmagic, get either LivnLegend's or Killebrew's face-packs. They're the only two I know of, and they're both great. As for the setup, I recomend as few teams as you can...like maybe 16...it helps to get to know the players better. Regarding the fantasy draft, you have to do one with a fictional league, all the teams come empty.

Finally, to get to know the players better, look at the news, look at the league leaders, open up player cards and look at stats, history, abilities, etc. Also, look at the teams. The roster page is a nice one stop shop. You can see what a team's strengths are by seeing how it ranks in team batting and pitching categories, ands you can see who the movers and shakers are on a team by sorting on stats and looking at the team leaders on the left side.

Also, don't get overwhelmed. You don't have to get to know every player in the first week, month or even year. Just poke around often, look at what interests you. Soon some names will start to stick in your mind, and you'll find yourself starting to 'care' about some of them, and checking up on them once in a while just cause. Well, that's what happens with me anyway. YMMV.

[Viva Los Expos]

Originally posted by jbmagic
do you recommend to release all players and do a fantasy draft when u start your fictional league?

It depends. I just started a fictional league with hidden ratings, and forgot I had it set for an initial draft. This turned out to be a mistake. After taking forever to make my first two picks -- without having ratings OR statistics to guide me -- I let the computer draft the rest of the way.

Even if you're playing with the ratings visible, I would recommend skipping the initial draft. Then if you still want to draft your team from scratch, just sim a few years of "league history" to get some more background, then do a release all.

[Malleus Dei]

I have two fictional OOTP6 leagues that I will upload to the boards if people are interested. Well, actually it's two versions of one 16-team fictional league, the USBA. In the first version, no one has yet been drafted, and in the second, all the rosters are complete. Each team has a nickname and a correspoding logo and stadium and the stadiums are the lovely fictional ones from Teflon Skies. All scouts are set to average and all ratings and talents are hidden, so this is a rather challenging league. It's even more challenging if you do the draft yourself.

Any interest?

[Malleus Dei]

Originally posted by Viva Los Expos
After taking forever to make my first two picks -- without having ratings OR statistics to guide me -- I let the computer draft the rest of the way.

Hey, you had scouting reports.

[jbmagic]

Malleus Dei

yes interest to see....thanks

[Whitey]

Originally posted by jbmagic
i think i try fictional league too...do you guys play your games out or sim weekly, etc?

my only fear is knowing the players....any tips what the best way to know all the players..what do you look at afte each game u play or sim to help know the players...?

thanks

I try to consider looking over rosters and players as part of playing OOTP. Maybe not as much as playing games but certainly close. I take my time. I might set one playing session for just looking at all the teams rosters, team names and maybe even see if there is an interesting story line happening in the league. Maybe a team with 7 or 8 weaknesses is leading the division.

How are the big time prospects across the league doing? Is there a hitting streak worth watching? Anythinig that might help me to know more about the teams in the league besides mine. I know mine pretty well.

Another fun thing for me to do is to make pre-season predictions and identify the favorites and the probable also rans. Maybe even write up a preview in a little word document.As the season unfolds this can pinpoint some interesting story lines.

Identify the top three players at each position. Sort of a pre-season All League team. Or flip through the schedule and make a Fox Saturday TV lineup and/or a Sunday Night ESPN lineup. Imaginations are wonderful things sometimes.

The key is taking it slow and getting to know your league. Fictional leagues for me are a blast if I take my time.