Home | Webstore
Latest News: OOTP 25 Available - FHM 10 Available - OOTP Go! Available

Out of the Park Baseball 25 Buy Now!

  

Go Back   OOTP Developments Forums > Out of the Park Baseball 21 > OOTP 21 - General Discussions

OOTP 21 - General Discussions Everything about the brand new version of Out of the Park Baseball - officially licensed by MLB and the MLBPA.

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 03-25-2020, 11:28 PM   #1
Sin44
Minors (Single A)
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 99
What is challenge mode exactly?

Does it just grade me after every season and lock me out of changing ratings?

Or i am put up against Other human GMs.

Also I’ve fell victim to force quitting once, would love if the OOTP team added a penalty for that. Although I’m not sure how they would implement it
Sin44 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-26-2020, 02:22 PM   #2
jimmysthebestcop
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 1,728
Infractions: 0/2 (5)
It standardized settings. But it isn't really good for a long term universe.

If you are only playing 1 team for like 5 years it's not a bad option to turn. But any longer your universe will need assistance. And a lot of those options can't be done in challenge mode.
jimmysthebestcop is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-26-2020, 02:31 PM   #3
AirmenSmith
Hall Of Famer
 
AirmenSmith's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Corpus Christi TX
Posts: 2,089
Do we still get PT packs in challenge mode?
__________________
Come join me on my Twitch Channel for gaming at its excellence Twitch Link

AirmenSmith is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-26-2020, 05:14 PM   #4
ALB123
All Star Reserve
 
Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 638
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimmysthebestcop View Post
It standardized settings. But it isn't really good for a long term universe.

If you are only playing 1 team for like 5 years it's not a bad option to turn. But any longer your universe will need assistance. And a lot of those options can't be done in challenge mode.
Oh no!

Would you mind elaborating on what you meant by the universe needing assistance? I'm in the beginnings of what I plan to be a long term universe. And I'm not currently in Challenge Mode. However, that was my intention for the next time I start up a Yankees team from 1975 onward.
__________________
"I'm on the side that's always lost against the side of Heaven. I'm on the side of snake-eyes tossed against the side of seven" - Leonard Cohen "The Captain"
ALB123 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-26-2020, 05:28 PM   #5
thesmokeshow
Minors (Double A)
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 109
For me, I need access to expansion teams and having the liberty to customize them if I don’t like the AI generated ones. Also, changing the division and playoff structures. Maybe allowing more teams to make it or going to 2 or 4 divisions per league. Even the rules, like maybe adding a DH for the NL down the road.

I want to have the freedom to alter certain things with players. If there’s a young player that has ‘fragile’ durability on someone else’s roster, sometimes I’ll lower that so they don’t get injured their whole career. I feel OOTP tends to put players in ‘fragile’ status a little too often and sometimes one big injury can cause that. Which I think is a little drastic at times.

So just the access to changing important elements within your universe is important. And Challenge mode disables a lot of those things. It just doesn’t work for how I play the game.

Last edited by thesmokeshow; 03-26-2020 at 05:30 PM.
thesmokeshow is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-26-2020, 06:31 PM   #6
AlpineSK
All Star Starter
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Bear, DE
Posts: 1,618
Quote:
Originally Posted by ALB123 View Post
Oh no!

Would you mind elaborating on what you meant by the universe needing assistance? I'm in the beginnings of what I plan to be a long term universe. And I'm not currently in Challenge Mode. However, that was my intention for the next time I start up a Yankees team from 1975 onward.
Strikeout totals are sky high requiring adjustments to LTMs and league totals...

Owners randomly making roster decisions based on their "involvement" levels...

Trade AI adjustments to keep rates of trades and values at reasonable levels for the league...

Those are just a few examples. The problems for me are magnified this year beyond previous years.
__________________
Check out my Sims!!

2013 Boston Red Sox

Or my blogs:

http://www.medicsbk.com

The Sports Medic
AlpineSK is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-26-2020, 07:02 PM   #7
jimmysthebestcop
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 1,728
Infractions: 0/2 (5)
Great examples above. But any modification to the universe. Say if you are new player and are just doing MLB no minors, no indys, no foreign. You can't add them later. You can't modify the universe. You can't even use templates.

So even you only play shirt careers but you want to only have to setup your universe 1 time and create a template you can't.

Example say you want to start in 2020 and play 5-8 years then you want to start over same universe, same time period just with a different team. You have to do all that setup work again.

And no Live starts. Well not a big deal so far in 2020 lol But you can't do challenge mode if you want to just start from the all star game and turn around a basement dweller or just do the playoffs. New feature in 21 if there is a mlb season/playoff this year.

So then it is weird to me to have some universe/save files with challenge mode turned on and some with it turned off.

But how about you have random int foreign free agents turned on and someone from cuba comes out with 100% all maxed stats. It is kind of game breaking you can't delete him or ban him or modify him. I don't play with any random generated free agents as I play a full universe. But I did when I started out. And every couple years there be this insane super star created and he would destroy the league.

Also there are some times bugs or stuff that gets missed until later in the season and you can't fix it in challenge mode. I remember the 1 year it was if you had Australia turned on it would start to produce MLB draft level talent. Just a couple each year but Australia and MLB have a contract so MLB teams can buy their players. All of a sudden the Yankees and Red Sox would be buying 1 Australian 1st rounder a year for like 250k and he was the same as a real MLB 1st round talent.

And you had no way of turning the league off or stop the buying or getting rid of the players etc.

To me challenge mode still has future potential. It is great it creates base settings players can use between universes as standards but it just locks so much of the OOTP game out. There would need to be in game mechanics on say how to expand the universe, how to add minor leagues, basically modifying MLB rules.

Sort of like how Motorsport Manager had team owner votes on like 5 topics. OOTP would have to model some kind of annual league meeting for rules where all the owners/gm could vote to get things done.

Cause rule changes will only happen random in OOTP. You have no control over it if your in challenge mode. You can turn random changes off of course but then your universe is always the same going into the future.

But if its a short universe 5-8 yeas then challenge mode might shine. If you like to restart a lot with different teams. But if you want long term universe NO WAY would I ever recommend challenge mode. If something happens to bork up your universe then you can't fix it and it's screwed.
jimmysthebestcop is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-26-2020, 08:01 PM   #8
Warhawk
Major Leagues
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 437
What is challenge mode exactly?

FWIW all that isn’t an issue for historical, and I play historical in challenge mode almost exclusively.

Speaking of which, when are the leaderboards going to be active for OOTP 21?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Warhawk is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-26-2020, 09:21 PM   #9
Sin44
Minors (Single A)
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 99
The great thing about challenge mode for me, is I can’t cheat. I tend to want to always make my experience perfect and challenge mode as it stands makes me “deal with it” in fact I hope the OOTP team expands on this and gives me options to further handcuff my ability to alter and change things or knows when I force quit bc I’m losing in the playoffs.

I’m not proud that I do that sometimes but it does happen. If I’m given the ability to change a rookie I might not In the beginning but it’s only a matter of time before I give in.

That for me is the beauty of challenge mode. I do hope though that it doesn’t handcuff long term like you say
Sin44 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-26-2020, 09:25 PM   #10
Will_L
All Star Reserve
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Laurelton, NY
Posts: 590
Quote:
Originally Posted by AirmenSmith View Post
Do we still get PT packs in challenge mode?
Yes.
__________________
Will_L is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-27-2020, 09:11 AM   #11
AlpineSK
All Star Starter
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Bear, DE
Posts: 1,618
"The great thing about challenge mode for me, is I can’t cheat. "

I dont think anyone plays this game to cheat, I know that I don't, but there's a definite line between cheating and trying to achieve realism. Its more difficult to do that this year, at least in my experience, in challenge mode alone.
__________________
Check out my Sims!!

2013 Boston Red Sox

Or my blogs:

http://www.medicsbk.com

The Sports Medic
AlpineSK is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-27-2020, 09:14 AM   #12
Sin44
Minors (Single A)
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 99
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlpineSK View Post
"The great thing about challenge mode for me, is I can’t cheat. "

I dont think anyone plays this game to cheat, I know that I don't, but there's a definite line between cheating and trying to achieve realism. Its more difficult to do that this year, at least in my experience, in challenge mode alone.
I def don’t play to cheat, but in my solo league I’ve been victim to force quitting because my star has a major injury or I alter my top draft pick who is fragile to not fragile.

Look I commend purists who play it as it falls, but it’s like putting a kid in a candy shop at times if I have options. If I can make a super prospect I prob will at some point. Taking that away from me keeps me honest. I can’t be the only one
Sin44 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-27-2020, 09:24 AM   #13
AlpineSK
All Star Starter
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Bear, DE
Posts: 1,618
I think it just depends on how/why you play, and this is in no way a dig on you. I never (EVER) pick a team like the Yankees, but a variety of reasons lol when/if I finally get down to not just playing test games this year, it'll probably be the Orioles or Royals. I usually go back to the 1980's Phillies teams. I like to build things up on a rebuilding team, so when my star player gets injured, or my prospect fails to develop, I wring my hands and try and figure out how I'm going to get myself out of this one.

I've played virtually every save that I've run in Challenge Mode since the feature was released. At the same time though, I dont think 15+ players striking out 200+ times a year with guys like Sano leading the way with 270 and a .186 average, or my owner going rogue and signing two players to extensions in the first weeks of the season, both things that have happened to me this season, really feed the realism that I want from this game, and the only way to prevent those types of things from happening is by not playing in Challenge Mode.
__________________
Check out my Sims!!

2013 Boston Red Sox

Or my blogs:

http://www.medicsbk.com

The Sports Medic
AlpineSK is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-27-2020, 02:07 PM   #14
ALB123
All Star Reserve
 
Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 638
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimmysthebestcop View Post
Great examples above. But any modification to the universe. Say if you are new player and are just doing MLB no minors, no indys, no foreign. You can't add them later. You can't modify the universe. You can't even use templates.

So even you only play shirt careers but you want to only have to setup your universe 1 time and create a template you can't.


*** Message Trimmed ***


But if its a short universe 5-8 years then challenge mode might shine. If you like to restart a lot with different teams. But if you want long term universe NO WAY would I ever recommend challenge mode. If something happens to bork up your universe then you can't fix it and it's screwed.
Oh wow! Thanks for the detailed response. You've just taught me a lot about OOTP that I didn't know.

The #1 reason I started OOTP is because of how incredibly realistic and statistically accurate it is, as explained to me by a friend 3 months ago. I'm playing a historical - I started with the 1981 Yankees (my fav team IRL and 1981 is the furthest back I can remember...at 5 years old. So, I thought it would be awesome to play that era and it has exceeded my expectations and desires tremendously. Opening Day '85 is one day away!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Warhawk View Post
FWIW all that isn’t an issue for historical, and I play historical in challenge mode almost exclusively.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I'm playing with minor leagues, of course, but I did not enable Feeder Leagues. I kind of thought that was what minor leagues were. So you're saying that if I so choose, I could insert HS & College Feeder Leagues into my ongoing saved game, and if I chose to in Challenge Mode as well? jimmysthebestcop said differently, hence your response, but it is possible he meant you can't do it in Challenge Mode if you start off in '20 and play into the future? For some reason, I got excited once I learned what Feeder Leagues are. At first I thought it meant like adding a new farm club to my team in a minor league I don't currently participate in. I really want to try adding them. Maybe I'll create a backup first.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sin44 View Post
The great thing about challenge mode for me, is I can’t cheat. I tend to want to always make my experience perfect and challenge mode as it stands makes me “deal with it” in fact I hope the OOTP team expands on this and gives me options to further handcuff my ability to alter and change things or knows when I force quit bc I’m losing in the playoffs.

I’m not proud that I do that sometimes but it does happen. If I’m given the ability to change a rookie I might not In the beginning but it’s only a matter of time before I give in.

That for me is the beauty of challenge mode. I do hope though that it doesn’t handcuff long term like you say
Being unable to change anything is what made me interested in Challenge Mode too. In my current Historical saved game, I have tried to be 100% above board. I failed one time and I'm so disappointed in myself. I was in a bidding war for Mario Soto 4/4.5 Starting Pitcher. I said only one more bid and holy crap! I got him...and his big contract. [[Here comes my stupidity]] Being such a young, naive ootp GM & Manager, I was so wrapped up in celebrating and trying to make a couple of other moves, Mr. Soto sat in DFA longer than 10 days. Houston snatched him from me via the Rule 5 Draft. It took me about a week IRL to decide to force a trade through with Houston. I gave 'em a 3-Star Catcher in return. I'll never make that mistake again!

I'll tell ya what, I have just as much respect for the way you play ootp as those who never "cheat". That's because you're honest about it. I hate seeing obviously doctored players as much as I hate seeing box scores posted on Reddit with scores such as San Diego 132 - Atlanta 146. Gwynn went 12 for 14 with 6 home runs.

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlpineSK View Post
"The great thing about challenge mode for me, is I can’t cheat. "

I dont think anyone plays this game to cheat, I know that I don't, but there's a definite line between cheating and trying to achieve realism. Its more difficult to do that this year, at least in my experience, in challenge mode alone.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sin44 View Post
I def don’t play to cheat, but in my solo league I’ve been victim to force quitting because my star has a major injury or I alter my top draft pick who is fragile to not fragile.

Look I commend purists who play it as it falls, but it’s like putting a kid in a candy shop at times if I have options. If I can make a super prospect I prob will at some point. Taking that away from me keeps me honest. I can’t be the only one
I'm a big believer of the saying everybody has a right to play any which way they choose. Being honest about these types of things is great. I'm definitely going to be creating a fictional league at some point...probably after running historical careers a handful of times. So maybe I'll have questions *wink* *hint* *hint* on how to make a slugger who's good, but not too good if you know what I mean.

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlpineSK View Post
I think it just depends on how/why you play, and this is in no way a dig on you. I never (EVER) pick a team like the Yankees, but a variety of reasons lol when/if I finally get down to not just playing test games this year, it'll probably be the Orioles or Royals. I usually go back to the 1980's Phillies teams. I like to build things up on a rebuilding team, so when my star player gets injured, or my prospect fails to develop, I wring my hands and try and figure out how I'm going to get myself out of this one.

I've played virtually every save that I've run in Challenge Mode since the feature was released. At the same time though, I dont think 15+ players striking out 200+ times a year with guys like Sano leading the way with 270 and a .186 average, or my owner going rogue and signing two players to extensions in the first weeks of the season, both things that have happened to me this season, really feed the realism that I want from this game, and the only way to prevent those types of things from happening is by not playing in Challenge Mode.
OMG! I totally forgot about International Leagues. I haven't read a single page about them or bidding systems and anything else related to foreign leagues and whatever accompanies them. Are those considered "Feeder Leagues" too? This has been a great post! I've learned a lot and I've even put some thought into what I am doing, what I want to continue doing, what I want to remove and what I want to add.

Hey, does anyone feel like giving me a broad, general rundown on international leagues and the way they work within OOTP. I've got my ootp 21 manual open, but I learn a lot quicker with some discussion. The manual will tell me how to do things, but I like to learn why we do those things, things not to do, and maybe some hints so I don't screw 'em up. I'm really good at screwing things up.
__________________
"I'm on the side that's always lost against the side of Heaven. I'm on the side of snake-eyes tossed against the side of seven" - Leonard Cohen "The Captain"
ALB123 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-27-2020, 02:28 PM   #15
jimmysthebestcop
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 1,728
Infractions: 0/2 (5)
Me personally I play full universe, mlb, minors, all the Indys and international leagues. Turn off all random generated free agent stuff. This is for present day.

I dislike feeders aka high school, and college. No matter how stacked your computer rig is it will destroy sim time.

To me it doesn't bring enough to the game to turn feeders on especially after the big draft improvements in 21 version.
jimmysthebestcop is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-28-2020, 03:03 PM   #16
ALB123
All Star Reserve
 
Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 638
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimmysthebestcop View Post
Me personally I play full universe, mlb, minors, all the Indys and international leagues. Turn off all random generated free agent stuff. This is for present day.

I dislike feeders aka high school, and college. No matter how stacked your computer rig is it will destroy sim time.

To me it doesn't bring enough to the game to turn feeders on
especially after the big draft improvements in 21 version.
Oh no! Really? Why does it slow everything down so much? I would have thought that if you created a High School Feeder League it would be no different than adding in the Japanese Nippon Baseball League or the Cuban League or even a minor league team. ::shrugs::

Let me ask you a question, jimmysthebestcop. You said you like to activate basically everything (besides HS & College). Do you have to do anything with those leagues? Do you control one team in every league like I currently do in the MLB? Or do they just run silently in the background, the AI handling everything? Do you enjoy running all of the leagues so that you can scout and hopefully draft/sign some hidden gems?

Last night I decided to mess around with 'em, so I created a new game to see how I could make out. As I expected, it was a total disaster. On my first attempt I had two full MLB Leagues, one from 1975 the other from 2020. Full Minors for both and Cuban League attached to the 2020 MLB group. I tore that all apart, obviously...and I think I've got it now, however, I don't want to add HS & College Feeder Leagues if it's going to kill system performance. To be honest, the only reason I wanted to have them is so when players from one of those leagues eventually make it to the Bigs, all the additional stats would be pretty cool.

One thing I wondered about the HS feeder league, for example, Barry Bonds was just drafted in my latest Amateur Draft. IRL, he attended Junipero Serra HS (San Mateo, CA) for High School (drafted in '82 but went to college) and Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ) for college. Does that mean I would have seen his name playing in my HS feeder league if I included a team from San Mateo, CA or would I have seen Barry Bonds in my College Feeder League if I had a team from Arizona? Or are the High School and College feeder leagues filled with fictional names?

Maybe I'll just hold off on all of this for now. One thing I noticed when I made the debacle last night, the 2020 Yankees have 9 minor league affiliates. I'm having trouble managing 6... Geez.

Again, thank you & the others for helping me. I am learning so much stuff I wouldn't find in the manual.
__________________
"I'm on the side that's always lost against the side of Heaven. I'm on the side of snake-eyes tossed against the side of seven" - Leonard Cohen "The Captain"
ALB123 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-28-2020, 07:19 PM   #17
jimmysthebestcop
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 1,728
Infractions: 0/2 (5)
The feeder system replaces the draft. If you have a full mlb and full milb you need a lot of feeders.

There will be more feeder teams then all of standard leagues combined. Just think of real life there are a thousands colleges, jr colleges and high schools needed to keep the mlb milb system full.

No I only manage whatever mlb team I'm playing as. The rest of the universe is for flavor. I also set up my milb to use close to real life roster size and service limits.

Say if you are drafting 40 players a year that means if you don't touch your organization roster at all you still have to cut 40 minor Leaguers to fit your draftees every year.

All those guys who are cut need places to play. Like Indy leagues and overseas. You do see about a handful of cases each year where a discarded mlb/milb went to play Indy ball or hit it overseas and is getting a 2nd shot at the mlb like 8 years later or what have you.

To me feeders don't give any more enjoyment and are a huge pain. And 21 has a lot better draft stuff going on so I don't see a need.

Other players not using roster limit and service time only playing mlb and milb no other leagues might get by with less feeders but you still have more feeders then mlb n minors combined. Or the talent level would be awful.
jimmysthebestcop is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-28-2020, 10:48 PM   #18
Brennan
Minors (Triple A)
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Virginia
Posts: 288
Somewhat off topic but can the developers compile a complete list of every difference between normal mode and challenge mode?
Brennan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-28-2020, 11:01 PM   #19
blue_536
Bat Boy
 
Join Date: Mar 2020
Posts: 5
The thing I'm not understanding about Challenge Mode is, when I go to play a game, there's the little logo in the top right corner and when I hover over it, it tells me "You need to manage 20 more plays in order for in-game achievements to count".

I'm in my second season and probably played out around 30 games and that message hasn't changed. I don't know what it means.
blue_536 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 08:19 PM.

 

Major League and Minor League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball. Visit MLB.com and MiLB.com.

Officially Licensed Product – MLB Players, Inc.

Out of the Park Baseball is a registered trademark of Out of the Park Developments GmbH & Co. KG

Google Play is a trademark of Google Inc.

Apple, iPhone, iPod touch and iPad are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.

COPYRIGHT © 2023 OUT OF THE PARK DEVELOPMENTS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

 

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.10
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright © 2020 Out of the Park Developments