New player questions/observations

[auphan]

I picked up OOTP 14 a while ago and have been having fun with it so far. I've played around with a couple of fictional leagues, trying things out, getting used to the interface and so on. I've mainly been focusing on the GM/finance aspects of the game, rather than the management side, building a roster and letting the AI decide how to use, only stepping in if I don't agree what it's doing.

My main issue though is (to my untrained eye) the level of randomness in the game. For example in my first league I managed to fumble my way to the playoffs, by letting AI do most of the work for me as I tried to follow what was happening. We ended up winning the championship when the owner only asked us to play .500 ball!

The following year I had plenty more cash available and by applying it liberally in the offseason I turned what had the previous season been a below average roster in to one I thought could repeat. We ended up playing below .333 ball. My 3rd season went even worse. Yet the core of my team remained and the caliber of my roster had not diminished, if anything it was much better.

Since this first league I've played around, including a league where I intentionally managed the weakest team (the challenge I set myself was to get them to the playoffs inside 5 seasons). I ended up in the playoffs in my 2nd year, seemingly without even trying, with a sub-par team I'd weakened in an attempt to get future prospects. I swept a couple 4 game series against teams playing over .600 ball but would then get swept by rebuilding teams at the bottom of their division.

After these events I've stared at all the info the game could give me, to see if I could work out an explanation for why my amazing team played terribly and my terrible team amazingly, but I can't work it out for the life of me.

All in all I'm starting to get disheartened by the game. It seems like the time and effort I'm putting in isn't worth it, when my actions seem to have little bearing on the end result.

I know that this isn't the games fault, there is obviously something I'm missing, some factors involved that I'm not considering. There has to be some random element or the game would be stale and not replicate real life, but it seems a bit too much.

Anyways, if any of the veteran players can give me some advice on what I might be doing wrong or how I can get over this hump I'd appreciate it, as the way things are going I could see myself giving up on the game.

Thanks.

[Peregrine]

Well I'd advise giving it some more time before you bag it - really there is randomness in the game but I think you have just run into a double dose of it. Normally when I run a team GM style (or even manage) if it is terrible, it does terribly, and vice versa. However there is always the chance that some of your guys just have outstanding years, some poor to average players play great, etc - all of this kind of adds up to the overall result.

You might want to take a deep dive into the stats of your team via the reporting functions, I bet you can tell why one team did well and another poorly, beyond general "randomness." Injuries of course can play a factor, but also how players play from one year to the next. I'm sure others may have a better explanation, I can just say that I have been playing OOTP for several versions now and have found that usually it tracks true to the quality of your teams, though of course there are always unexpected ups and downs - that's baseball.

[The Game]

Originally Posted by auphan

I picked up OOTP 14 a while ago and have been having fun with it so far. I've played around with a couple of fictional leagues, trying things out, getting used to the interface and so on. I've mainly been focusing on the GM/finance aspects of the game, rather than the management side, building a roster and letting the AI decide how to use, only stepping in if I don't agree what it's doing.

My main issue though is (to my untrained eye) the level of randomness in the game. For example in my first league I managed to fumble my way to the playoffs, by letting AI do most of the work for me as I tried to follow what was happening. We ended up winning the championship when the owner only asked us to play .500 ball!

The following year I had plenty more cash available and by applying it liberally in the offseason I turned what had the previous season been a below average roster in to one I thought could repeat. We ended up playing below .333 ball. My 3rd season went even worse. Yet the core of my team remained and the caliber of my roster had not diminished, if anything it was much better.

Since this first league I've played around, including a league where I intentionally managed the weakest team (the challenge I set myself was to get them to the playoffs inside 5 seasons). I ended up in the playoffs in my 2nd year, seemingly without even trying, with a sub-par team I'd weakened in an attempt to get future prospects. I swept a couple 4 game series against teams playing over .600 ball but would then get swept by rebuilding teams at the bottom of their division.

After these events I've stared at all the info the game could give me, to see if I could work out an explanation for why my amazing team played terribly and my terrible team amazingly, but I can't work it out for the life of me.

All in all I'm starting to get disheartened by the game. It seems like the time and effort I'm putting in isn't worth it, when my actions seem to have little bearing on the end result.

I know that this isn't the games fault, there is obviously something I'm missing, some factors involved that I'm not considering. There has to be some random element or the game would be stale and not replicate real life, but it seems a bit too much.

Anyways, if any of the veteran players can give me some advice on what I might be doing wrong or how I can get over this hump I'd appreciate it, as the way things are going I could see myself giving up on the game.

Thanks.

You just described the 2005 White Sox and the 2006 White Sox. The 2012 White Sox & the 2013 White Sox. Life imitates OOTP.
Just as IRL you can not buy a championship.

[endgame]

Originally Posted by auphan

The following year I had plenty more cash available and by applying it liberally in the offseason I turned what had the previous season been a below average roster in to one I thought could repeat. We ended up playing below .333 ball. My 3rd season went even worse. Yet the core of my team remained and the caliber of my roster had not diminished, if anything it was much better.

After these events I've stared at all the info the game could give me, to see if I could work out an explanation for why my amazing team played terribly and my terrible team amazingly, but I can't work it out for the life of me.

All in all I'm starting to get disheartened by the game. It seems like the time and effort I'm putting in isn't worth it, when my actions seem to have little bearing on the end result.

I know that this isn't the games fault, there is obviously something I'm missing, some factors involved that I'm not considering.

First and foremost, thanks for the comments and for joining the forum discussions. It's invaluable.

Secondly, and my opinion only based on my experiences, the "factors involved that you may not be considering" are what's happened to the rest of your baseball world. Your team and management, unfortunately, do not exist in a vacuum. Your viable, wonderful, team may remain the same, with the same caliber of talent, while a few other teams made the kinds of changes that blew your candle out or at least shadowed its once bright light. I might suggest, as the season ensues, though the analysis will be different for each user, a monitoring and review of the Offseason Summaries by team, watching the signings, changes, (bookmarking the page can be helpful) and you'll probably note that another team increased its bullpen quality, beefed up its pitching rotation, acquired better defense, or signed that power hitter that kept them from winning the division the year before. All sorts of variables.

Finally, yes, you can make a difference, but in the end, those differences exist within the realm of the entire league and you have to live within the confines of both the limits and benefits afforded your capabilities. There's no magic answer when your movements revolve around the movements of all things surrounding you. If there were, the game would lack fun, it would lack mystery, and in the spirit of baseball, it would eliminate hope, the single strand that keeps one hanging on, whether it's a season, or a decade of seasons, the story unfolds. That's the reason to keep playing the game. Not the end of any single chapter, but being a part of the story itself, turning the page with, as you've demonstrated, both joys and often heartbreaks and disappointment. That's not just a good game, IMHO, it's a good look at baseball, and often grants us a glimpse, out of the corner of our eye, at life. FWIW

[le receveur]

and I will add, spend time around this forum... if you get blazé with the game for a little while, go spend time in the MODs section, and see the wonderful and creative work they are doing... I have spent hours just looking at some of the logos and uniforms around, and including them in my game.... all me affiliates have moved just to be able to use some of my favourite,,,

build feeder leagues, and spend hours going through 1000 draftees to prepare for the draft...

funny, I've been addicted for 3 months now, and I actually don't even care about the WS anymore (especially not the 9th inning of game 7,,,)

[TGH-Adfabre]

My first questions:
1) Is scouting on? What is the accuracy? What are your scouts ratings?
This will have a huge effect on how you percieve the quality of your team and other teams in the league.
2) Did you build your defense to fit with your pitching staff?
Are your starters ground ball pitchers or fly ball pitchers or strike out artists?
Groundball percentage is in the Player Profile on the right.
If you have a GB heavy staff and Gloves of Stone in the infield your top notch looking pitchers will be very mediocre.
3) Pitching first- What are the BABIPs of your Starters. This will tell you a lot about luck and defense.
4) Do you know how to post screen shots?
That is where I would start.

This is a great game and it sounds like the complexity is winning out.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by endgame

First and foremost, thanks for the comments and for joining the forum discussions. It's invaluable.

Secondly, and my opinion only based on my experiences, the "factors involved that you may not be considering" are what's happened to the rest of your baseball world. Your team and management, unfortunately, do not exist in a vacuum. Your viable, wonderful, team may remain the same, with the same caliber of talent, while a few other teams made the kinds of changes that blew your candle out or at least shadowed its once bright light. I might suggest, as the season ensues, though the analysis will be different for each user, a monitoring and review of the Offseason Summaries by team, watching the signings, changes, (bookmarking the page can be helpful) and you'll probably note that another team increased its bullpen quality, beefed up its pitching rotation, acquired better defense, or signed that power hitter that kept them from winning the division the year before. All sorts of variables.

Finally, yes, you can make a difference, but in the end, those differences exist within the realm of the entire league and you have to live within the confines of both the limits and benefits afforded your capabilities. There's no magic answer when your movements revolve around the movements of all things surrounding you. If there were, the game would lack fun, it would lack mystery, and in the spirit of baseball, it would eliminate hope, the single strand that keeps one hanging on, whether it's a season, or a decade of seasons, the story unfolds. That's the reason to keep playing the game. Not the end of any single chapter, but being a part of the story itself, turning the page with, as you've demonstrated, both joys and often heartbreaks and disappointment. That's not just a good game, IMHO, it's a good look at baseball, and often grants us a glimpse, out of the corner of our eye, at life. FWIW

This is an excellent post and TGH-Adfabre has just asked some about some specifics so I will stick with the general.

endgame mentions the "factors involved that you may not be considering" and these could include not just injuries but the quality of your coaching and the effect on performance and results by things like player morale and personality. For example, one of the things your team may be lacking is team leadership. It's known that this affects team performance but by how much, who knows?

endgame also says that you make a difference and you certainly do. If you don't know much about Baseball, and how to play it in this game, you will not do well over time. However, if you DO know how to play, you will do well OVER TIME. That much I can say with certainty.

The last thing that I want to echo in endgame's post is that if improvement were a graphable as a 45-degree positive slope, then "the game would lack fun, it would lack mystery, and in the spirit of baseball, it would eliminate hope, the single strand that keeps one hanging on, whether it's a season, or a decade of seasons, the story unfolds. That's the reason to keep playing the game." Until a little while ago, perhaps even up to OOTPB 13, I used to see frequent complaints here about the game being too easy. It is my own theory that the developer did something in 14 to make consistently dominating the game much harder. Which is appropriate and appreciated, if sometimes quite frustrating. As The Game said, "Life imitates OOTP. Just as IRL you can not buy a championship."

Anyway, welcome to the game and the community. I hope you will find enjoyment and satisfaction from both.