Recommended fictional league

[alex27]

Has anybody got a well balanced fictional league they could share?

[Scipio Africanus]

I don't know if OOTP 21 has it but OOTP 20 has a Quickstart called "US Baseball League" that is all fictional. Here's the descriptive text:

"The US Baseball League is a fictional league with 24 teams and 5 levels of minor leagues. It has 40 years of history and default settings for most rules and options. The game starts two days prior to Spring Training.

This is a good starting point for gamers who are not familiar with OOTP yet or who would like a different experience than playing with real rosters."

[alex27]

Thanks, I've been playing since OOTP 17 and never thought to even look at that

[andyhdz]

A lot of people use USBL as a fictional league. There is even a pro/rel version of USBL that I use and have tinkered and modified it and I'm in my 73rd season with it.

[alex27]

73 seasons? That's commitment, surely that save has been carried over from OOTP 20?

[andyhdz]

Yes I started it on ootp 20.

[jpeters1734]

honestly, i would create your own. start it off small and evolve it

[ALB123]

Originally Posted by andyhdz

A lot of people use USBL as a fictional league. There is even a pro/rel version of USBL that I use and have tinkered and modified it and I'm in my 73rd season with it.

Could you please explain to me what "pro/rel version" means? Thanks!

[jpeters1734]

Originally Posted by ALB123

Could you please explain to me what "pro/rel version" means? Thanks!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promotion_and_relegation

It's how every sports league in the world should be run

[alex27]

Originally Posted by jpeters1734

honestly, i would create your own. start it off small and evolve it

Just finished making my own league, should be fun

[alex27]

What does everyone else put for their player creation modifiers? I've simmed forward 20 years and found only 1 SP over 3 stars

[jpeters1734]

Originally Posted by alex27

Just finished making my own league, should be fun

Have fun with it. Fictional is where OOTP shines IMO. The possibilities are endless. If you don't already have a good logo/uniform set, I would highly recommend checking out the graphics mod section, the Retro thread in particular. TxRanger has been generously serving the community with fantastic fictional/historical sets for years.

Originally Posted by alex27

What does everyone else put for their player creation modifiers? I've simmed forward 20 years and found only 1 SP over 3 stars

I leave mine at default, personally. You only having one 3 star depends largely on your other settings

[Klew1986]

I have my USBL fictional game. It started in 1980 with 30 teams and I just finished simulating through the 2019 season. It's based in the US, although I might expand to 32 teams with the 2 new teams being in Canada. I have mirrored the MLB set up with AAA, AA, A+, A, A- and Rookie Ball. 162 game schedule for the Major Leagues.

If there is interested, I would be willing to upload it.

[Eugene Church]

Originally Posted by jpeters1734

honestly, i would create your own. start it off small and evolve it

This is great advice.

I have a 64-team league... 8 divisions with 8 teams each... it is too many teams for me to keep track of... I have been playing it for 63 seasons... I love it, but it really is hard labor to administer... one day soon, I will probably stop playing it... but I can't at this point... too addicted to it.

In the last year or so, I have created four leagues with 6 teams each... I really enjoy it because I can get familiar with the players.

Start small and evolve is great advice.

[Syd Thrift]

I use the real life structure and generally get to adding to it as I go. My current save started in 1902 with 16 teams in 10 cities with a low-minors reserve "league" that every team has. In 1919 I added in A and B levels in the minors (I believe that's 5 minor leagues in total, most of them 8 teams in size). Teams get minor league affiliates as in real life (right now I think only 2 teams have affliliates at those levels) but everyone does have the reserve "league" as well. There is a draft but it's only I think 3 rounds long with something like 10 rounds of players (the latter to allow the minor leagues to sign new players every year - there's a formula others have figured out where you want to have I think it's 3-5 rounds of players per minor league level). Starting in 1923 I started controlling every team, matching trades and purchases between major league teams and the listed minor leagues as accurately as I can (but otherwise just calling up / sending down guys as I need them, regardless of "historicity").

I also have a save on my Mac that I haven't pulled into 21 that started in 1876, includes the high minors as well, and dropped in the American Association when it came along. Otherwise I run it as above, except that I just have (limited) reserve rosters (which I usually wind up using to trade players off in "purchases"; the game doesn't deal too terribly well with handling the finances of minor league teams, especially when you send guys with major league contracts down there). IIRC I just set the Union Association as an "international" league and otherwise didn't interact with it, except to bring the league champ (I might have gone in and given the St. Louis Maroons a bunch of good players) into the NL for one season. I'm not sure how I'll handle the Player's League, and I *think* I'm going to build the AL out of the Western League, although that has the added effect of adding ~7 years to AL history so I'm not sure about that.

In years past I did a universe that had the Pacific Coast League build itself out as a major league of its own in the 1940s, a "League of Nations" (an idea I keep going back to, in fact) that has a world league style setup beginning (usually) in 1919. That one requires a fair bit of setup so I'm often a bit daunted. One year I did a Star Wars league, and while it was very dumb I have to admit that I also had a lot of fun with it.

Point being, use your imagination here, but on the flip side don't be afraid to make the most cliched, "normal" setup. You can always add to it over time, and it's really the details of the save - the players, the records, the pennant races, etc. - that are truly going to make it shine for you.

[alex27]

Originally Posted by Klew1986

I have my USBL fictional game. It started in 1980 with 30 teams and I just finished simulating through the 2019 season. It's based in the US, although I might expand to 32 teams with the 2 new teams being in Canada. I have mirrored the MLB set up with AAA, AA, A+, A, A- and Rookie Ball. 162 game schedule for the Major Leagues.

If there is interested, I would be willing to upload it.

Sounds great, I'd give it a try if it was uploaded

[Klew1986]

Originally Posted by Klew1986

I have my USBL fictional game. It started in 1980 with 30 teams and I just finished simulating through the 2019 season. It's based in the US, although I might expand to 32 teams with the 2 new teams being in Canada. I have mirrored the MLB set up with AAA, AA, A+, A, A- and Rookie Ball. 162 game schedule for the Major Leagues.

If there is interested, I would be willing to upload it.

I have since expanded to 32 teams (Vancouver and Montreal) and added a feeder league system. Let me know if you would like me to upload the quickstart.

[GDawg]

I would appreciate the upload! Couldnt find a link to that league's file. Does it start in 1980? I was thinking of starting around that date.