Time to be a Nagative Nancy

[Cras]

Coaches are something that could use some love.

I posted something about it here a bit earlier on how I would like them to be handled a bit better, but the point of pitcher's becoming hitting coaches and vice versa...yeah that needs some love too.

There is always oddity with coaches and personnel...I just had my top notch scouting director (excellent or legend....dary in all categories) leave because...well I forgot to renew his contract....having him on his own screen still screws me up.

Well, I went to check to see whose scouting department he is now running, and surprise to find, it is no one. He took a job with the San Francisco Giants to be their bench coach. Okay.....

[The Game]

Originally Posted by Cras

Coaches are something that could use some love.

I posted something about it here a bit earlier on how I would like them to be handled a bit better, but the point of pitcher's becoming hitting coaches and vice versa...yeah that needs some love too.

There is always oddity with coaches and personnel...I just had my top notch scouting director (excellent or legend....dary in all categories) leave because...well I forgot to renew his contract....having him on his own screen still screws me up.

Well, I went to check to see whose scouting department he is now running, and surprise to find, it is no one. He took a job with the San Francisco Giants to be their bench coach. Okay.....

Ever see a trainer become manager or GM yet? i have once and i know 1-2 other members have seen it also. Not sure if it was on 13 or 12.

[Critical Mass]

Originally Posted by nutt

I don't think he's being negative....sounds more like he's trying to stir up the pot and its not working out right.

But on a lighter side of things, he's a cheap guy! I'd hate to be a waiter if he sat at my table

I'm not going to bash the game, but I have to defend myself against that one!

First off, I do give good tips if they're deserved. The waiters/waitresses that refill your water glass without being asked, go out of their way to make a child happy (even if it's not my child), that sort of thing. So unless you're a bad waiter have no worries.

Now, on to the "stir the pot" issue: No, I'm not. The recent emails advertising OOTP14 are what prompted me to come here, not to bash the product or Markus, but merely because I so BADLY want to get pumped up for v14, but I just can't, and I'm angry about that. I do want to spend the money on it, because yes, I would definitely get 10 times the entertainment value back.

HOWEVER, I'm merely pointing out that no matter how great of a body this girl has, my eyes just keep getting drawn to the big, hairy mole on her nose. I haven't programmed computers since the days of BASIC, but I can only imagine that it wouldn't take that long to fix the minor issues I mentioned. It's not like the dev team isn't aware of them, because as I said in my first post, these things were discussed 1 or 2 years ago, if not longer. So therefore, the only thing I can figure is that they don't WANT to fix them. In other words, I feel like my thoughts and feelings are ignored by the dev team.

To go back to the waiter analogy, I've asked the waiter to refill my water glass twice, and now he's back with the check. Never brought me the water I asked for, and never even asked if I wanted desert. It's just a pet peeve of MINE, and may be nothing to anyone else. That's all I was trying to say, and I wanted the Powers That Be to know that.

If someone can assure me that even a few of the problems have been fixed, I'd be right on board!

[Cras]

Originally Posted by The Game

Ever see a trainer become manager or GM yet? i have once and i know 1-2 other members have seen it also. Not sure if it was on 13 or 12.

I actually don't pay attention to the leagues personnel too much, only mainly my ex-staff. But I will now. Will see how many major league GMs used to be taping guys up.

Looking at my league, wouldnt be surprised if the Cleveland Indians are run by a guy like that. They are so bad....

[DCG12]

I can't speak to scout issues cause I don't use them but I can say I have never seen the computer go over my head and sign a coach so if that really happened there has to a setting that is wrong.

If you have 1500 free agents I would guess your draft is too big. You have too many players and not enough places,majors or minors, for them to play. I have a fictional league of 20 teams in its 34th year and I have never touched the free agent list to cull out anybody and currently it sits at 345 players.

You say after a little wheeling and dealing you dominated. When I see this it usually means that the player is not playing realistically. Set the trading to "hard" I don't care about neutral or favor prospects but make it hard or very hard so you can't trade your back up CFer and a minor leaguer for Mike Trout.

Also by realistically I mean that there are other things a real life GM has to consider when making deals such as the fact he is dealing with real human beings and not names on a list so he doesn't make 15 trades a year.

As for peoples fears being realized I have to disagree as OOTP 13 is by far the most challenging and most polished release to date. If you were on the forums for the past year you would have seen countless people express the same sentiment

[Critical Mass]

Originally Posted by DCG12

You say after a little wheeling and dealing you dominated. When I see this it usually means that the player is not playing realistically. Set the trading to "hard" I don't care about neutral or favor prospects but make it hard or very hard so you can't trade your back up CFer and a minor leaguer for Mike Trout.

I'm going to tell you how I do it below. Maybe if the development team is interested in how I "beat the system", they will take corrective actions. Probably not.

IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS, DON'T READ BELOW
--------------------------------------------------

The first thing I did upon taking over the last-place team is to get rid of the high-priced talent. I start with the guys that are overpaid for what they produce, especially the ones with the long contracts. If they have a long contract that will cost me megabucks in the future, I don't care, I shop them around.

After looking at the teams that are interested in (i.e. can also afford) the player, I then cross-reference it with the Top 100 Prospects list to see which of those teams has good prospects. I will then attempt to make a trade with that team for that hot prospect, and usually it will involve giving up multiple decent draft picks. Maybe a 2nd, 3rd, + 5th. Mind you, the team has to have the $$$ as well as the prospect.

Why do I do that? Well because: a) This hot prospect has already been paid a high signing bonus by the other team which I don't have to pay if I was fortunate enough to draft him in the first round on my own, PLUS I save on the bonus money I'd have to pay the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th picks next season. In addition, the chances that he will be a stud are generally better than the draft picks, since he's already "recognized" by the "national scouts". I rarely go into a new season with a 1st round pick. Sometimes I don't even have a pick in the top 5 rounds. Why bother? I'm staffing my minors with future studs.

Next thing I do is get rid of anybody with an injury history. There's nothing more frustrating than having a guy get injured 2-3 times a year, sometimes just days after he came back off the DL. Also, it's aggravating to pay a whole year's salary to a pitcher who's on the DL for 13 months, PLUS you have to replace them with someone not good enough to be on your team. So if you are injury prone, you're not welcome on my team. The AI doesn't seem to care if a guy is "WRECKED". It will still sign a guy to a $120M/6yr contract to miss 50-60 games a year.

If I notice someone's stats declining, and I'm locked into them for a few more years, I get rid of them. I don't care if my scout says he's fantastic. I've seen pitchers with ERAs over 5.00 and batters batting under .230 declared "outstanding" by my scout. Baloney! If I see you batted .310 two years ago, .265 last year, and now you're batting .230 through June? Time to go.

Whenever I see a good Scout, Manager or Coach who's at least Outstanding in the relevant categories, I fire who I have and hire them, since they're too hard to come by. I also promote within. Once I have them, I make sure every year I renew their contract until they get too greedy. Sometimes they ask for too much. I've noticed that a manager asking you for $1.1M today will be unemployed tomorrow and willing to take $690K to manage your team. The AI seems to "forget" that you let them walk.

I NEVER even participate in the Rule 5 draft. I have a whole AAA team stocked with guys who could probably be a starter on most teams right now. Why do I want someone else's trash that I have to keep on my roster all year?

To sum up, get rid of the high-priced talent, get rid of the chancy draft picks, go with the almost-sure things, get a good coaching staff, and you'll be set.

[RchW]

Originally Posted by The Game

Ever see a trainer become manager or GM yet? i have once and i know 1-2 other members have seen it also. Not sure if it was on 13 or 12.

A volunteer mail room clerk is running the Blue Jays IRL.

[DCG12]

Originally Posted by Critical Mass

I'm going to tell you how I do it below. Maybe if the development team is interested in how I "beat the system", they will take corrective actions. Probably not.

This part of you post shows you don't respect what Markus has done and the rest of your post shows you're not listening to what people are saying so it leads me to believe you are just stirring the pot prior to a new release.

With that in mind this will be my last post on the subject.

Everyone will agree that you can beat the system if that is your goal but most of us just want to play a decent game of baseball and again I repeat a somewhat realistic game. Injuries are part of the game so I don't know why you go to extremes to eliminate them. If you maintain such a high level of player in AAA I have to wonder if you are using rule 5 and option years etc. I know OOTP allows draft pick trading but MLB does not so try turning it off. As I said change your trade settings so you can't rip off prospects from the AI. If all else fails turn off the ratings and stars and go stats only and see how you do.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by DCG12

... it leads me to believe you are just stirring the pot prior to a new release.

This is what I was thinking. Every year, about this time, we have people come out of the woodwork, so to speak, with "Negative Nancy" type threads. Axes to grind, for one reason or another.

It's not that I don't tolerate criticism of this game. I do object to the timing and the style of it, in this case. My troll meter is beeping.

[damientheomen3]

Now Mass, I'm not disagreeing with you here, just playing Devil's Advocate. I understand that you want Markus to fix the bugs in the game and all that, but as you said yourself, the last two versions didn't have enough new things or changes in them to justify spending the money to you, so...

[tomwolf2008]

Well, OOTP is a computer game, and if you are smart enough, humans are bound to beat computer in the long run. (at least for right now...)

So...It is not a bug that you can beat the system, because it is very reasonable that if you try to do it you will, and I'm not sure what can be fixed

[Craig Scarborough]

Originally Posted by Critical Mass

I'm going to tell you how I do it below. Maybe if the development team is interested in how I "beat the system", they will take corrective actions. Probably not.

IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS, DON'T READ BELOW
--------------------------------------------------

The first thing I did upon taking over the last-place team is to get rid of the high-priced talent. I start with the guys that are overpaid for what they produce, especially the ones with the long contracts. If they have a long contract that will cost me megabucks in the future, I don't care, I shop them around.

After looking at the teams that are interested in (i.e. can also afford) the player, I then cross-reference it with the Top 100 Prospects list to see which of those teams has good prospects. I will then attempt to make a trade with that team for that hot prospect, and usually it will involve giving up multiple decent draft picks. Maybe a 2nd, 3rd, + 5th. Mind you, the team has to have the $$$ as well as the prospect.

Why do I do that? Well because: a) This hot prospect has already been paid a high signing bonus by the other team which I don't have to pay if I was fortunate enough to draft him in the first round on my own, PLUS I save on the bonus money I'd have to pay the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th picks next season. In addition, the chances that he will be a stud are generally better than the draft picks, since he's already "recognized" by the "national scouts". I rarely go into a new season with a 1st round pick. Sometimes I don't even have a pick in the top 5 rounds. Why bother? I'm staffing my minors with future studs.

Next thing I do is get rid of anybody with an injury history. There's nothing more frustrating than having a guy get injured 2-3 times a year, sometimes just days after he came back off the DL. Also, it's aggravating to pay a whole year's salary to a pitcher who's on the DL for 13 months, PLUS you have to replace them with someone not good enough to be on your team. So if you are injury prone, you're not welcome on my team. The AI doesn't seem to care if a guy is "WRECKED". It will still sign a guy to a $120M/6yr contract to miss 50-60 games a year.

If I notice someone's stats declining, and I'm locked into them for a few more years, I get rid of them. I don't care if my scout says he's fantastic. I've seen pitchers with ERAs over 5.00 and batters batting under .230 declared "outstanding" by my scout. Baloney! If I see you batted .310 two years ago, .265 last year, and now you're batting .230 through June? Time to go.

Whenever I see a good Scout, Manager or Coach who's at least Outstanding in the relevant categories, I fire who I have and hire them, since they're too hard to come by. I also promote within. Once I have them, I make sure every year I renew their contract until they get too greedy. Sometimes they ask for too much. I've noticed that a manager asking you for $1.1M today will be unemployed tomorrow and willing to take $690K to manage your team. The AI seems to "forget" that you let them walk.

I NEVER even participate in the Rule 5 draft. I have a whole AAA team stocked with guys who could probably be a starter on most teams right now. Why do I want someone else's trash that I have to keep on my roster all year?

To sum up, get rid of the high-priced talent, get rid of the chancy draft picks, go with the almost-sure things, get a good coaching staff, and you'll be set.

I wonder - if you played with MLB rules that prevent trading draft picks would you be as successful?

[Isryion]

+1 Craig! Draft pick trading isn't part of real baseball. It's a nice option to have, but I can imagine it would be very hard to program, especially as there's no real evidence. I think, at this point, the OP finally gave us enough to understand why it's so easy for him. His other strategies are not a shock, but the AI doesn't appropriately value them -- and why would it?

When I play solo, I set the trading to very hard and I never get trade offers where I feel I am taking advantage of the AI, especially difficult to trade are players with big salaries.

One more thing to add is that while I realize people would like other issues fixed, the international academy and the way scouting international talent works is a major improvement in the game and something I didn't think ever worked correctly. A 16 year-old asking for a ML contract? Then having to use up three option years before being developed? Ridiculous. In my league, we've actually house ruled this and created a bidding system because we like the additional talent but didn't like the way the game worked. So, I'd argue it's a great fix and not just a new feature.

[The Game]

Even being able to trade for draft picks doesn't guarantee success. i have it on in my ABF and best pick I was ever able to get (so far) was a 2nd rd 28th pick. He has since been traded and is a FA. Traded my #4 pitching prospect for him who suffered a CEI. i am hoping to be able to trade for the #1 overall pick in the 2006 Ammy draft. We'll see if i can pull it off in 2 more years.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by lukasberger

many of your complaints are things that you can control and fix/modify yourself, by changing the settings.

That's one of the beauties of ootp, how customizable it is.

If you find the game too easy, play stats only.

If there are too many free agents, set the draft to have less rounds and generate less players.

If you don't like how accurate or inaccurate the scouts are, change the scouting accuracy level.

If you don't want the cpu to hire coaches, change the settings so it can't/won't.

So don't blame the dev team because the initial settings don't work for you, then throw up your hands and say 'this game sucks, i'm outta here'. Change them until they do work for you. That's what most of us do.

And if you've actually looked at the feature list for ootp14 and you don't think that there's been any major changes, i just don't know what to say. The int complex added, the entire fielding model has been overhauled, the pitching staff setup has been massively overhauled...

+1

[The Wolf]

Critical Mass:

If you think the game is too easy, try this:

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...ly-league.html

[David Watts]

Another suggestion for those that think the game is too easy is, play manage only. Turn everything but in game decisions over to the AI. You won't win often, but along the way you will fall in love with the wonderful stories OOTP creates.

[Bluenoser]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Another suggestion for those that think the game is too easy is, play manage only. Turn everything but in game decisions over to the AI. You won't win often, but along the way you will fall in love with the wonderful stories OOTP creates.

This - and also the other way around, be GM only, do only the things a real GM would. Let your manager set line-ups and do all the on field stuff. Even if you disagree with him sometimes and get frustrated, let him manage.

There are so many ways to make this game easy and to win.

There are so many ways to make this game challenging and fun.


The choice is yours, or as the Team says - "It's your game, play it your way."

They weren't kidding when they said play it your way, because that's exactly what you can do.

[SirMichaelJordan]

Originally Posted by Bluenoser

This - and also the other way around, be GM only, do only the things a real GM would. Let your manager set line-ups and do all the on field stuff. Even if you disagree with him sometimes and get frustrated, let him manage.

There are so many ways to make this game easy and to win.

There are so many ways to make this game challenging and fun.


The choice is yours, or as the Team says - "It's your game, play it your way."

They weren't kidding when they said play it your way, because that's exactly what you can do.

Yup. It even makes managers usable. I recently fire a manager because we were losing and I didn't like the lineups he were putting out there.

My lineup changed for the better with a new manager.

To the OP,

If you know how to avoid the poop then you will never have poop on your car. I can honestly say that I haven't ran into any of your problems with OOTP 13

And the chrome like international FA was the deciding factor on if I should pass on 14 and continue longer with OOTP 13 or not.

I am critical and can be anal when it comes to details in sports games (text sim or video) and I can say that I really enjoyed OOTP 13.


-Juke

[CBL-Commish]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

Critical Mass:

If you think the game is too easy, try this:

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...ly-league.html

Yea, and combine that with jacking up the trading difficulty to the highest level, and heavily favoring prospects. Sounds like he's exploiting AI weaknesses to have almost endless prospect depth in the minors.

But there will always be ways to game the system if that's your real goal. On the other hand, if your goal is to have fun playing baseball that's absolutely do-able in all versions of OOTP.