TRTR : Day 17

[sfeldkamp]

First of all, very well written manual. 284 pages is a ton of work, and I'm very happy about how thorough it appears to be.

Second of all, I happen to agree that scouting reports should not disappear immediately when a scout is terminated. Perhaps after 1 year scouts without a contract should drop off the menu? I would think that scouting reports would be inaccurate after that time anyway. I know this was a decision that was made for very good reasons (not the least of which is the potential for abuse), but I think it should be changed.

I am however perfectly willing to wait for the next version for this to change and if it doesn't it's not the end of the world. I'll just have to remember not to fire my scouts mid-season. (or assign a scout I might ever fire to scout a league!)

[battists]

Originally Posted by Fallschirmjager

Marc, can we assign scouts to scout out the opposistion for the upcoming games like we can in FM?
In Baseball advance scouting is even more important and it should give our team a hidden and very slight boost in performance like it does in FM

There is no special "pre-game scouting" option, but you can certainly send a scout to scout a team. You'd just have to look at your schedule and make that decision accordingly. Scouting a team doesn't give your team any special benefits, though. It will just give you up-to-date scouting information about the team.

This is important though, especially if you play out your games, because when you are playing out games, there is a scouting drop-down that lets you choose which scouting ratings you wish to see for opposing players. It sucks hard to have the opponent bring in a lefty you know nothing about, because you didn't bother to look him up .

[silvam14]

Possible solution: How about adding the ability to print out or export scouting reports to a file. This way you can save you reports for when the time comes to give your scout the heave-ho

[battists]

Originally Posted by sfeldkamp

First of all, very well written manual. 284 pages is a ton of work, and I'm very happy about how thorough it appears to be.

Thanks!

I believe a little bit "meatier" section will be coming in the next few days.

[deadringer]

Will there be any stragedy tips included in the manual? I love the depth but it increases the learning curve quite a bit.

[SSG Troyer]

Originally Posted by battists

Thanks!

I believe a little bit "meatier" section will be coming in the next few days.

When you came up with your idea about the hotlinks a few days ago, I was thinking you meant there would be a way to reference the manual from within the game.

i.e. while looking at a pitcher's career page, "What is this stat abbreviation?" <shift_right-click> [manual page]

It appears I was being far too grand ...

[Raidergoo]

tip #1

RTM

tip #2

RTFM, again.

[battists]

Originally Posted by SSG Troyer

When you came up with your idea about the hotlinks a few days ago, I was thinking you meant there would be a way to reference the manual from within the game.

i.e. while looking at a pitcher's career page, "What is this stat abbreviation?" <shift_right-click> [manual page]

It appears I was being far too grand ...

Yeah, I would LOVE this, and I'm sure Marc would too, but there simply wasn't enough time to make something like this happen in this version. Perhaps next year...

[Raidergoo]

Originally Posted by Mattymo

I think scouting is the most amazing part of this game...wow.

At first look, I said, I have HOW many scounts to manage?

Today, I say, I have ONLY how many scounts to manage?

Scouts are more fun to manage than a bullpen.

[battists]

Originally Posted by deadringer

Will there be any stragedy tips included in the manual? I love the depth but it increases the learning curve quite a bit.

Honestly, not a whole lot, for a few reasons:

1. It's such a deep game, the manual is enormous already without too much of that.

2. So much of the strategy depends on what your league settings are.

3. The product is so new, and was changing so rapidly during the writing process, that it was very difficult to get a good feel for strategic suggestions.

Like many other things, this is one area that could grow with the new franchise.

Good suggestion, though.

[OakDragon]

The manual looks great! Thanks for the sneak peak.

Three thoughts:

1. It would be nice from my point of view if when an organization or minor league team is scouted, the team (or at least the level, AAA, AA, etc.) of the prospect was listed in the report so we can have an idea of how well they're progressing.

2. Would it be possible to add an option to automatically send scout X to scout country Y when otherwise "idle"?

3. Regarding the initial draft issue, it seems to me that when a draft occurs in real life, some scouting has already been performed, otherwise how do teams know who to draft? If initial scouting was already done (in the game) by SISA, it seems to me like that's a fair compromise. We have some scouting information to start with, but if we're smart, we'll hire our own scouts and rescout them anyway, because SISA is not very reliable. I don't see any problem with doing it this way.

[battists]

Originally Posted by Raidergoo

At first look, I said, I have HOW many scounts to manage?

Today, I say, I have ONLY how many scounts to manage?

Scouts are more fun to manage than a bullpen.

I really enjoy the scouting feature too, and yet, it's one area that has a lot of room for neat new features as well, which is cool.

[MorseMoose]

I think it would be nice in those emails to get some kind of information on whether or not they were free agents (maybe a start next to their name) or if they were on the 40 man roster.

It would be nice to see free agents (although those change) as a head start on planning your team.

It would be nice to see the 40 man roster for the rule V draft...maybe I should recommend a marker for the players that are eligible for the rule v draft.

[Kyros]

Alright!. Thanks Marc.

[andymac]

Originally Posted by battists

I really enjoy the scouting feature too, and yet, it's one area that has a lot of room for neat new features as well, which is cool.

Yea, I think an actually "Advance Scout" position or two would be really cool. This way you don't have to worry about missing a team or something that is coming up...these guys would automatically be checking out the next team you are playing and send you reports.

[f.montoya]

And honestly, managing your personnel is just one of the many features that goes so indepth that you end up slowing down the progression of your universe to the point of waisting one of the great features...the speed in which it can sim the entire calendar.

[billethius]

One small thing I noticed:

In figure 181, the Top Players are listed with their age, current ability, and talent. However, the top prospects only have two numbers listed, and there's no indication of what they represent.

[Malleus Dei]

Originally Posted by silvam14

Possible solution: How about adding the ability to print out or export scouting reports to a file. This way you can save you reports for when the time comes to give your scout the heave-ho

Excellent idea.

[Malleus Dei]

Originally Posted by MorseMoose

I think it would be nice in those emails to get some kind of information on whether or not they were free agents (maybe a start next to their name) or if they were on the 40 man roster.

It would be nice to see free agents (although those change) as a head start on planning your team.

It would be nice to see the 40 man roster for the rule V draft...maybe I should recommend a marker for the players that are eligible for the rule v draft.

Let me second all of this.

[White Sox]

OOTP Baseball 2006 will ship with a manual, in addition a larger guide will also be made available for download from the site. Take a sneak peak now.

"Ship?" Will 2006 not be purchased and DLed straight from this website?