Fyre's Wishlist/Suggestions

[Fyrestorm3]

Alright, my turn for a wishlist, why not?

1. A "Position: Bench" filter for in-game substitutions. I think it'd be really helpful to have the option to just show back-up players (in the dropdown menu that includes "All Pitchers", "All Batters", etc.). Like, if I need a pinch-hitter, it'd be nice to go to my Substitutions tab and be able to select a view that shows all of my bench players side-by-side, rather than having to look at my entire roster, including players who are ineligible to pinch hit.

2. A "League Scope: All Minors" option when viewing stats. Very similar to the idea above; right now, we can view a player's stats at all levels, or filtered by a specific level (AAA, AA, etc.). I'd like to see an "All Minors" option that excludes the ML level and High School/College, but groups all the other levels together. There might only be a few limited uses to this, but I've come across it enough times to make me think it'd be useful.

3. A new Day-to-Day Injury function. As suggested by mattb_222, I would REALLY love to see a more dynamic injury system. For example, a guy gets hurt, he's day-to-day, but the game doesn't give you a set return time (there would naturally be a return time visible in the editor, though). Instead, all you get is the percentage performance that we already have, except it's variable. He's 75% the first day, 80% the next, 85% the day after that, but whoops, you played him too hard, and he slips down to 70%. After a couple off-days, he's back to 95% and gets back in the regular lineup. It creates a ton more strategy when it comes to deciding whether to play a guy with a DtD injury. It'd also be nice to see guys be able to re-injure themselves a month down the line, or to have a particularly selfish player refuse to play through a DtD injury, but the dynamic system in general is one thing I really want.

4. A "Force Start: Bench" option in player strategy. I suggested this for OOTP14, but it never made it in. I would still love to see it. As it stands now, if you have a guy that the AI REALLY wants to start, who can play all 3 outfield positions, the only way to get the guy to be forced onto the bench is to Force Start all three of your other outfielders. "Bench Player for X Days" means the guy would never start at all, which isn't what I want. I'm looking for a way to tell the AI that Player X is not allowed in the starting lineup, unless someone is hurt or exceptionally tired.

5. An overhaul of the player morale system. This is the biggest suggestion, and likely the most unrealistic, but it'd be really awesome to see a player interaction system along the lines of Football Manager's. Being able to give locker room speeches, or praise/discipline a player who's playing surprisingly well/poorly. Maybe even going so far as to earn yourself a reputation as a "hard" or "soft" coach that could influence a player's willingness to sign with you. Right now, there's only four variables that can make a player unhappy, and you are in direct control of just one of those (role on team). It really should be more complicated than that. I want to be able to try and alleviate some concerns a player has about not playing every day ("you can't hit lefties, so we're kind of forced to platoon you"), and have it impact the guy positively or negatively, based on his personality. Or maybe reassure an underperforming player that I have faith in him. Or let him know that the acquisition of another second basemen is not going to jeopardize his role on the team. There's all these ratings that tell us if a player is greedy, intelligent, loyal, etc. I feel like the game could utilize these in a much more active fashion than it currently does.


That's what I've got for now; I'm sure I'll come up with more eventually.

[The Wolf]

Seconded.

[mgom27]

7 Day,Retroactived to,if you have 30 selected 15 can be also used.

[Fyrestorm3]

Originally Posted by mgom27

7 Day,Retroactived to,if you have 30 selected 15 can be also used.

...What?


6. More customization options in the in-game screen. For those of us without extra-large monitors, there's a very limited number of boxes we can put on the in-game screen. The max size I can make the game on my laptop is 1280x720. However, I keep it set to 1024x720, because if I make it wider, there ends up being a bunch of unused space. As you can see in the screenshot, even with the field screen set to the lowest size, there's just no way to fit the other boxes, such as Out-of-Town Scores or Team Info, without overlapping the field. I feel like there should be an option to customize how those boxes are set up (Team Info would be easy to do a more vertical set-up, for example, with one team below the other as opposed to side-by-side). I would love to have some of this information on my screen, and I simply can't fit it without having a large monitor.

Also, the PbP box should be able to be customized more. At 1024x720, the last couple of options (Visit Mound in the screenshot) get cut off and are unselectable unless you go to the Webcast tab (and overlap the player picture if I reverse the setup). If you select "Automatically Setup Game Screen", all the options are visible, but at the expense of being completely unable to customize the screen further. I would like the ability to make the PbP box three rows tall, so that all the options can fit.

So yeah, just a lot more customization options in general.

[PSUColonel]

Originally Posted by Fyrestorm3

Alright, my turn for a wishlist, why not?

1. A "Position: Bench" filter for in-game substitutions. I think it'd be really helpful to have the option to just show back-up players (in the dropdown menu that includes "All Pitchers", "All Batters", etc.). Like, if I need a pinch-hitter, it'd be nice to go to my Substitutions tab and be able to select a view that shows all of my bench players side-by-side, rather than having to look at my entire roster, including players who are ineligible to pinch hit.

2. A "League Scope: All Minors" option when viewing stats. Very similar to the idea above; right now, we can view a player's stats at all levels, or filtered by a specific level (AAA, AA, etc.). I'd like to see an "All Minors" option that excludes the ML level and High School/College, but groups all the other levels together. There might only be a few limited uses to this, but I've come across it enough times to make me think it'd be useful.

3. A new Day-to-Day Injury function. As suggested by mattb_222, I would REALLY love to see a more dynamic injury system. For example, a guy gets hurt, he's day-to-day, but the game doesn't give you a set return time (there would naturally be a return time visible in the editor, though). Instead, all you get is the percentage performance that we already have, except it's variable. He's 75% the first day, 80% the next, 85% the day after that, but whoops, you played him too hard, and he slips down to 70%. After a couple off-days, he's back to 95% and gets back in the regular lineup. It creates a ton more strategy when it comes to deciding whether to play a guy with a DtD injury. It'd also be nice to see guys be able to re-injure themselves a month down the line, or to have a particularly selfish player refuse to play through a DtD injury, but the dynamic system in general is one thing I really want.

4. A "Force Start: Bench" option in player strategy. I suggested this for OOTP14, but it never made it in. I would still love to see it. As it stands now, if you have a guy that the AI REALLY wants to start, who can play all 3 outfield positions, the only way to get the guy to be forced onto the bench is to Force Start all three of your other outfielders. "Bench Player for X Days" means the guy would never start at all, which isn't what I want. I'm looking for a way to tell the AI that Player X is not allowed in the starting lineup, unless someone is hurt or exceptionally tired.

5. An overhaul of the player morale system. This is the biggest suggestion, and likely the most unrealistic, but it'd be really awesome to see a player interaction system along the lines of Football Manager's. Being able to give locker room speeches, or praise/discipline a player who's playing surprisingly well/poorly. Maybe even going so far as to earn yourself a reputation as a "hard" or "soft" coach that could influence a player's willingness to sign with you. Right now, there's only four variables that can make a player unhappy, and you are in direct control of just one of those (role on team). It really should be more complicated than that. I want to be able to try and alleviate some concerns a player has about not playing every day ("you can't hit lefties, so we're kind of forced to platoon you"), and have it impact the guy positively or negatively, based on his personality. Or maybe reassure an underperforming player that I have faith in him. Or let him know that the acquisition of another second basemen is not going to jeopardize his role on the team. There's all these ratings that tell us if a player is greedy, intelligent, loyal, etc. I feel like the game could utilize these in a much more active fashion than it currently does.


That's what I've got for now; I'm sure I'll come up with more eventually.

To chime in on number five, the things I'd really like to see is position promises. As it currently stands, you can only promise a player a "starting lineup" role. When a player signs a contract, they usually always know how they will be utilized by the team the are going to play for. I think this is something that should be modeled in contract negotiations. You should be a ble to tell the player they are playing a specific situation, or whether they are a starter or role player. A player who is brought on as a utility infielder will clearly have tolerance for playing multiple IF positions. A starter expecting to only be a 3B will/may become upset at the idea of playing 2B. It is something you would have to "goto" the player about. They may agree, they may not. This is one area where I feel it is realistic to bring to the morale system. Elaborating on what you said, I think maybe team meetings could be a good idea. They don't happen all that often, but could have an effect on a team's morale. A GM will routinely (in conjunction with coaches) attend these meetings and in some cases will call them. This helps lead to another area of improvement...involvement with staff. Perhaps the manager will suggest the meeting, or perhaps you (the GM) will. I also would like to see expanded staff, and the ability for each individual staff member to offer up their own personal opinions on players. This system does not have to be completely like Football Manager, but if done properly, it can adopt certain aspects of it that would pertain to baseball as opposed to soccer. For example, I don't think press conferences are needed after each game. A General Manager does not engage in these. A manager, does, but I can can guarantee it would become redundant and stale. However, every once in a while a GM could be asked about personnel as it regards to staff and players. A GM could also be asked about trades, and or, free agents. They aren't something that should be asked everyday, but every now and then when appropriate. (not just for the sake of it) In other words, if BNN has decided any given team in particularly weak at certain positions, they may ask the general manager about his plans. This would also need to apply to AI General Managers, and not just the human GM.

Anyway, these are some of my ideas I have elaborated as it pertains to a more robust morale/personality model within OOTP.

[rpriske]

People play DtD guys?

I leave them on the bench unless there is an emergency.

[Fyrestorm3]

Originally Posted by rpriske

People play DtD guys?

I leave them on the bench unless there is an emergency.

Kind of my point, when you think about it. With the current model, there's no tangible reason not to play a DtD guy other than a 20% dropoff in performance.

[Fyrestorm3]

7. An easier way to set up ball locations. I understand that this is not an easy thing to write a script for, but I would love to see a system where all we have to do is designate specific points on the stadium picture, and have the ball locations filled in for us. I would think we would have to select the Pitcher's Mound, Home Plate, L/R Foul Poles, the Wall in L/LC/C/RC/R, and First, Second, and Third Base. And possibly the start of the Outfield Grass in Left, Center, and Right. With those 15 locations, I feel like the game could be set up to reasonably place the rest of the ball locations (and, naturally, we'd be able to move them around to fix any errors).

With the system that's in place now, it's just such a hassle to change even one park's ball locations, let alone 30 (which I do on a regular basis, when I get tired of the style of picture I'm using).

8. Speed and Fielding ratings on the Webcast screen. I love the Webcast screen, it's very nearly perfect. But the one thing it doesn't have is the one thing keeping me from using it when I play out games - Speed and Fielding ratings on the stadium diagram. I don't think this would be very hard thing to implement, even as a checkbox option, and it's important information to know.

All I want is this:


Instead of this:


EDIT: It would also be nice, though not necessary, to be able to move the widgets around the Webcast screen in a similar fashion to the main Broadcast screen. The only reason I say this is because, on my screen, the batter's picture gets cut off slightly at the bottom; all I'd want to do is move that widget up a tiny bit higher to avoid that.

[Fyrestorm3]

9. Not removing players from the depth chart when you remove them as a defensive replacement. This one's simply annoying as all hell. If you have a guy listed as both a backup player at LF, and as a defensive replacement at LF, if you remove them from the defensive replacement column, they get removed from the depth chart, as well. This doesn't make a lick of sense. Let's say I acquire a new outfielder, who has a fantastic rating in LF. I slot him into the starting role, moving my old LF to RF, but now I don't need my backup LF as a defensive sub. I take him off the defensive replacement list, and he gets removed from the depth chart... because apparently not needing him as a defensive upgrade anymore means I don't need him in general. This forces me to manually put him back in. I have to do this process 4 times, once for each lineup. It's highly aggravating.

I mean, how hard could it possibly be to fix this? Just have the guy remain in the depth chart when you remove him as a defensive sub.

[Fyrestorm3]

10. Mention managers by name in news reports. We're all familiar with stories like the one attached. A pitcher hurls a shutout, so we get a news story in which it describes his performance, and usually includes a quote from one of the managers praising him. But why does it always say "his skipper" or "the Seattle manager" instead of just giving their names? Those generic terms actually pull me out of the game a little bit, because it makes it obvious that it's just a re-hashed version of a standard news story. Having the name of managers in the news reports would help to increase immersion.

[RchW]

Originally Posted by PSUColonel

To chime in on number five, the things I'd really like to see is position promises. As it currently stands, you can only promise a player a "starting lineup" role. When a player signs a contract, they usually always know how they will be utilized by the team the are going to play for. I think this is something that should be modeled in contract negotiations. You should be a ble to tell the player they are playing a specific situation, or whether they are a starter or role player. A player who is brought on as a utility infielder will clearly have tolerance for playing multiple IF positions. A starter expecting to only be a 3B will/may become upset at the idea of playing 2B. It is something you would have to "goto" the player about. They may agree, they may not. This is one area where I feel it is realistic to bring to the morale system.

The AI would need some drastic changes if players were affected by position changes. AI players move around a lot and often play more games at their second or third position. Take a look at Cincinnati below. Joey Gunia and Tyler Garrett flip among three positions Gunia SS/1B and Garrett SS/2B playing half the time at their second best position. Since they play every day why not play them at their best positions? This is completely wrong and with the exception of 1 to 3 players IRL baseball it never actually happens. This is the norm for AI teams.

I'd like to see this fixed before we work on team meetings and interactive player morale.

[snepp]

11. Show some kind of visual feedback when a player has had their individual strategy modified. Those of us with lousy memories have no way of knowing who has or hasn't had changes made without checking every player one by one, a brutally painful process that eventually leads to me ignoring player strategies more often than not.

12. Add a "Reset all player strategy settings" function to the strategy section, preferably with the options to select "current team", "all minors", or "entire organization".

[Fyrestorm3]

11. An option to have all trades run by you when playing in Commish Mode. Even just as a checkbox option, it'd be nice to have the option to have the game notify you of AI trades that have been accepted before they are completed. For the most part, I like to let the game run its course and only intervene when a trade makes no logical sense (such as a trade between division rivals involving marquee players). But when that situation does come up, I then have to manually go to every player involved in the trade, edit them back onto their original teams, and then delete the entry in their history that says they were traded. It'd be nice to be notified of a trade that is about to go down, with the ability to veto it as the Commissioner and not have to go through all that.

I have no problem with the fact that the AI doesn't see a flaw in trading star players within your division, and I have little problem fixing it when it does happen, but I'd like to see this option as an easier method.

['94 EXPOS]

Originally Posted by Fyrestorm3

11. An option to have all trades run by you when playing in Commish Mode. Even just as a checkbox option, it'd be nice to have the option to have the game notify you of AI trades that have been accepted before they are completed. For the most part, I like to let the game run its course and only intervene when a trade makes no logical sense (such as a trade between division rivals involving marquee players). But when that situation does come up, I then have to manually go to every player involved in the trade, edit them back onto their original teams, and then delete the entry in their history that says they were traded. It'd be nice to be notified of a trade that is about to go down, with the ability to veto it as the Commissioner and not have to go through all that.

I have no problem with the fact that the AI doesn't see a flaw in trading star players within your division, and I have little problem fixing it when it does happen, but I'd like to see this option as an easier method.

A great idea! Something I have long wished for. Some CPU trades just leaving you saying "uh no freaking way!". And if you don't like it you don't have to use it.

[Fyrestorm3]

12. More conversations options when you visit the mound. In OOTP as it stands, visiting the mound is effectively you asking the pitcher how tired he is. That's it. Even though you can already get that information from the status screen in-game. I believe it also does have a minor effect on calming a pitcher down if used in the right spot, and that's all well and good, but could we have a conversation option to reflect that? When I visit the mound in the second inning because my pitcher has just thrown 8 straight balls, of course I know he's not tired; I don't need him to tell me that. At the very, very least, I would like to see more than one line for when a pitcher's not tired. "I'm perfectly fine, let me pitch please!" makes no sense when I'm talking to him in the first inning.

[drksd4848]

All good suggestions, especially:

1. A "Position: Bench" filter for in-game substitutions.

[Marinersfan51]

One little suggestion that doesn't really merit its own thread. Games played at DH, PH, or PR in the fielding stats.Then you can look at a player and know if he was primarily a DH.

[Fyrestorm3]

13. An easier way to view a pitcher's past pitch counts. I often choose my reliever based on how many days it's been since he pitched last. It'd be nice to be able to see all my pitchers' past pitch counts side-by-side, possibly as a customizable view option. As it stands now, I have to go into every single pitcher's profile to see that information. Not a huge deal, but tiresome.

14. IRS%! Seriously, this has been requested for so many versions, I can't believe we still don't have any Inherited Runners stats for relief pitchers.

[Fyrestorm3]

15. A different news story for when a FA signs with their previous team. See the attached screenshot. It's so unbelievably odd to see Joe Mauer, who has played 15 years with the Twins, calling Minnesota "his new home." It doesn't have to take years played into account, but there should simply be a different news story when a FA signs with the team he played with last year.

A related idea - it'd be really nice to see the news stories take awards into account for free agents, too. Reigning MVP Bryce Harper was a FA this most recent season, and the news story for him was that fans were "excited to have a player of his caliber" sign with their team - the exact same thing you'd get if a non-MVP power hitter signed. It'd be cool to have a different news story for award-winning free agents.

[blasek0]

Originally Posted by Fyrestorm3

15. A different news story for when a FA signs with their previous team. See the attached screenshot. It's so unbelievably odd to see Joe Mauer, who has played 15 years with the Twins, calling Minnesota "his new home." It doesn't have to take years played into account, but there should simply be a different news story when a FA signs with the team he played with last year.

Yeah, since in that case Mauer is just re-signing with the team he was already on. That should be its own story result, since he's not going anywhere new.

I'd also like to see free agent stories take into account a player going back to a team that he's previously played for, but didn't play for in the previous season. IE, when Cliff Lee signed with Philadelphia as a free agent. He didn't play for them in the previous season (Philly had traded him to Seattle, who then traded him to Texas, which he left in FA), but he'd played there previously, so the story could go something like "It's nice to be coming back to Philadelphia, I loved playing here back in X-Y."