Ways to make game more difficult

[masoo]

I've read various ideas on this subject ... I can't find a specific thread, though, so I'll start one. If something similar already exists, let me know.

I'm in Year 24 of a fictional league, and since I'll soon be going to Europe for a month, I figure after Year 25 might be a good time for a break. What I'd like to do when I return is play a league with the same structure, but make it more difficult. I've been far more successful this time around than I usually am with games like this, and while I like winning, it's not as much fun when you win all the time. So I'm looking for ways to make things harder. They can be house rules, or they can be changes in the structure.

First, this is what I mean by "far more successful" ... not trying to brag, believe me this is unusual for me, but it's an example of why I worry my setup is too easy. In the first 23 seasons, I have made the playoffs 16 times and won the championship 9 times. The league has four six-team divisions, two divisions per league, with four levels of minors. I have scouting and coaching turned on. Trading difficulty is set to Very Hard, frequency Average, preference neutral. I have commissioner mode set on, so I can't be fired.

The areas where I seem to be successful are:

1) I rarely go for free agents over the age of 29, although I'll make an exception for a stud pitcher in his early 30s. If there is a hitter around the age of 26 who has already proven himself, I will spend whatever it takes to get him. My salaries tend to have a few guys at the top making a gazillion dollars and a bunch of guys making the minimum, or at least a reasonable sum thru arbitration. The result of all this is that I am rarely paying a lot of money for a crap player. I have crap players, but they aren't often expensive.

2) I grab a handful of excellent prospects right after the first-year player draft, as the A.I. often unloads its top picks for reasons unknown.

3) I can't think of much else. I don't spend money on closers ... I put my best MR in the role until he wants too much money, then I let him go and find another good MR.

I should also add that I often lose money in a season, but don't get fired. After 23 years, I'm about $7 mill in the hole.

Here are some of the things I've seen posted that might add to the difficulty factor:

1) Turn off scouting. Turn off stars. Turn off basically anything that tells you more than the bare minimum about the players.

2) Turn off commissioner mode. That way I can get fired for spending too much (one year I lost $23.5 mill) or for having a few bad years (I've only finished under .500 once, but twice I've gone three years without winning the division).

3) Set house rules regarding the gathering of just-released first-year players after the draft.

4) Don't rip off the A.I. in trades. To be honest, since I set the trading difficulty to Very Hard, I can't rip the A.I, off, anyway. A recent trade was about as good as I can get ... I received a former Pitcher of the Year, a couple of middling prospects, a backup catcher, and three draft picks for a couple of middling prospects and a 25-year-old catcher coming off a .314/.449/.577, 30 HR 100 RBI 100 Run season. The draft picks were all that made the deal excessive ... I could have told myself not to be greedy.

Any suggestions or comments appreciated.

[swishbish33]

Not ripping off the AI in trades is a big one. Don't sign players that you scout internationally. Also, in the MLB, often times teams will sign a guy instead of letting him go to arbitration. IMO, arbitration in the game underrates guys. Sign them to one year deals if possible to what seems a fair market value.

Basically, run your team like MLB is run. Realize that you probably shouldn't have the top minor league system year in and year out if you are winning championships, and create your own barriers that subscribe to that. IMO, the game is much harder when you aren't working with a stacked deck of top flight prospects graduating from your system every year.

Hope this helps in your quest!

[CaLíKrAzY]

If you see players released right after the draft thats a bug that I see as well. For now, don't sign them because in essence your gaining a huge advantage in doing this. I did change my roster limits on my minors teams (try changing your rookie ball player limit to "unlimited") and the AI has stopped releasing draftees the last time I checked.

1. You can always give yourself a budget to keep things interesting.

2. Only aquire one type A/B FA each yr. Should help minimal.

3. Only draft your first 3-5 picks. The AI is broken and won't sign stud middle relief so this will help with that.

4. (This is for new leagues) Only draft your first 10 players.

5. 2-8 rating scales for ratings & pot, 1-10 for atributes. Go lower if you want

This should help slow you down a little.

[Sven Draconian]

Firstly, skip rule #2 and don't rip off the AI.

Secondly, restrict your payroll. I personally force my revenue to be below league average by forcing my marketing revenue into the bottom third and keep my ticet prices at league average to ensure Im always around the bottom third to middle of the league in revenue.

Thirdly, play with only talents, and have those at 1-5. You basically have to go by stats (which can vary year to year) and you can't find those gems as easily. Its a lot harder to find somebody with a great walk rating if the AI never gives him a full season in the big leagues.

It also makes the draft much much harder.

[masoo]

These are all great suggestions ... so much so that I want to use some of them now, rather than waiting. I'm between Years 24 and 25, I could change things before I proceed. It's pretty easy to quit looking for those abandonded first-year draftees ... I can set some restrictions on myself in other areas ... what I'm wondering is, will everything crash if I turn off scouting or play with only talents, after doing it the other way for 24 seasons?

Thanks again, guys, this is great stuff.

[ETA: Yes, masoo, read the f. manual. I see on page 99 that I can change rating scales whenever I want.]

[Sven Draconian]

Originally Posted by masoo

These are all great suggestions ... so much so that I want to use some of them now, rather than waiting. I'm between Years 24 and 25, I could change things before I proceed. It's pretty easy to quit looking for those abandonded first-year draftees ... I can set some restrictions on myself in other areas ... what I'm wondering is, will everything crash if I turn off scouting or play with only talents, after doing it the other way for 24 seasons?

Thanks again, guys, this is great stuff.

The game would continue normally no matter what game setting you turn on and off, or atleast should.

The biggest thing is just avoiding obvious loopholes. If you know something works different than IRL than avoid it (within reason, if you have a fictional league than some differences can be seen, but nobod would just deal a top draft pick).

There isn't an AI that can rival a human, but turning off the information you can see an exploit (such as ratings) and giving the AI some slight advantages can atleast level the playing field.

[MogulChamp]

Ways that I have found to make the game more challenging:

• Turn off Coaches and Scouts. You can use your scouts better than the AI, as well as make sure you have the best coaches.
• Either turn ratings off completely or turn on more difficult rating scales: 2-8, 20-80, 1-5
• Turn stars off.
• Potential only. You cannot see actual ratings just players potential.
• Trading AI to very hard.

Try these, and see how you do.

[injury log]

Good thread! A few suggestions:

-leave scouts on, but set ratings to very low resolution- 1 to 5 scale is best. With scouts off, all ratings are the real ratings, and the unreliability of scouts makes things more challenging;

-turn coaches off, since it's easy to hire better coaches than the AI;

-go through your league, find the lowest payroll and smallest market size, and set your team's to be equal or lower;

-if you scout internationally, only sign players under 18y years of age, and sign one out of every three guys over 18y that you find and immediately release them to free agency for other teams to pick up- the AI teams don't sign enough international players;

-force yourself to carry at least one Rule 5 guy each year;

-in the draft, only send one scout, and use his reports and SISA- when you send several scouts, it's too easy to see which prospects are best- the guys your scouts agree on;

-don't exploit the trade loophole that's been discussed, and limit the number of players you can request in exchange for one guy;

-raise injury frequency (if you can stand to lose your superstars to career ending labrum tears!); this at least introduces some randomness in the game, since even the best teams can become mediocre if they lose two stars to season enders;

-when I start a new fictional league, I always find tons of good free agents and free agent prospects who are willing to take way below-market contracts. With free agents, I always 'meet demand' or pay more, never less, and I don't sign any prospect free agents in the first year of a new game.

Will be interested to hear any other ideas...

[injury log]

...and, of course, set trading to hard or very hard, heavily favour prospects, and I'd normally disable draft pick trading (draft picks seem a bit undervalued by the AI).

[Mel Ott]

It's not clear to me how favoring, and trading for, and drafting exclusively younger players really makes the game more difficult. If you follow that strategy, you're constantly getting infusions of young talent, at the expense of the AI. True, not all the prospects will develop, but then not all the highly-rated older players will play up to expectations, either. And older players will get worse over time, AND be more expensive than a promising minor-leaguer. It seems to me that sticking with younger players actually makes the game easier.

The thing I would suggest is that you turn off ratings entirely, or view only talent ratings, not the actual ones. That makes the game more challenging and IMO more realistic.

You mention that you "received a former Pitcher of the Year, a couple of middling prospects, a backup catcher, and three draft picks for a couple of middling prospects and a 25-year-old catcher coming off a .314/.449/.577, 30 HR 100 RBI 100 Run season." I would also suggest that you turn off draft pick trading entirely, and restrict the number of players that you can trade per deal - if every trade has to be a straight-up, 1-for-1 exchange, it makes it very difficult to address one problem without creating another, and it works to some degree if the maximum players you allow yourself to trade is 2 or 3.

For a real challenge, you could even refuse to make trades at all; you'd have to improve your team solely through the draft and free agency. Or you could refuse to sign free agents.

Basically, anything you do that restricts either your information or your ability to do things will make the game more difficult. There are a lot of good suggestions in this thread, and hopefully some of them will give you the challenge you're looking for.

[CBL-Commish]

1. Divest yourself of your minor league affiliates - make them all independent, but only for your team. The rest of the league still has minors. All draftees that you sign have to go straight to the majors. All injuries have to be dealt with by signing fill ins from the free agent pool or playing short.

2. Pay yourself a $20M salary every year. Basically, make a house rule that you have to be $20M in the black each season.

3. Restrict yourself to signing only players belonging to the smallest minority group in the nation where your league resides.

4. Restrict yourself to signing only players named "Bob".

5. Don't sign anyone with a fielding rating at any position of more than 25 on the 20-80 scale.

6. Never sign anyone to a contract over league minimum.

7. Release anyone who is arbitration-eligible.

8. Make your entire 25-man roster Rule 5 draftees.

9. Only sign knuckleballers. If there aren't enough existing knuckleballers to fill out your organization, you have to convert position players to knuckleball pitchers.

10. Take Oriole manager Sam Perlozzo's 13-man pitching staff to its logical conclusion: a 25-man staff.

11. Restrict your roster to players under 5'10", and over 250 lbs.

12. Base every roster decision and signing on exclusively "rating in left field".

13. Forbid your manager to make substitutions.

14. Move your team to Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada. Build them a 550-seat, open-air stadium. Adjust market size and merchandising revenues accordingly.

15. Since in high school most of the good players were shortstop-pitchers, only sign shortstop-pitchers.

16. Intentionally hire the worst scouts and coaches, and assign the scouts to coach and the coaches to scout.

17. Assign all of your scouts to scout the nation of Sao Tome and Principe all of the time.

18. Make sure all of your players have illogical name and FaceGen/race combinations just to annoy you.

19. Tailor your stadium to minimize your strengths. If your team is mainly slow power hitters, make your stadium huge, with massive foul territory and artificial turf. Stubbornly refuse to change.

20. Refuse to acquire anyone between the ages of 20 and 40.

[AD31]

I find it hard enough with the settings of Owner sets budget, trading at hard, no draft pick trading and compensation picks on. Also, medium market size.

I also try not to lowball my players or potential free agents by placing high bonuses, and usually limit myself to "meet demand" option. Last offseason, a stud 27 year old Pitcher was on the free agent market. He wanted 4 years at 4 million each. I was going to do it, but that was all my available money. Funny thing is, the Yankees ended up signing him at 3 years for around 2 million each year.

[akw4572]

Go on vacation during the offseason in the game. Then during the season, only manage the team. Have the computer do all the GM stuff, then you are like a real manager.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by akw4572

Go on vacation during the offseason in the game. Then during the season, only manage the team. Have the computer do all the GM stuff, then you are like a real manager.

I take this a little further. All I do is manage the team the entire year, playing out each game. The computer GM makes all the roster moves and I just deal with whatever he does.

[injury log]

Originally Posted by Mel Ott

It's not clear to me how favoring, and trading for, and drafting exclusively younger players really makes the game more difficult.

Was this a response to my post? I should have been more clear- when I said 'heavily favor prospects', I meant that the AI trading preference should be set to 'heavily favor prospects' so that prospects are harder to acquire in trade. I agree with you completely; the game is easiest if you stock up on young players, which is why I find it important to limit the number of players I'll accept in a trade, normally to one-for-one. In international scouting, by signing under 18s only, I almost never get good prospects- most good guys I find are in the 19-26 yrs range- and by returning the over 18s to the free agent pool, other teams get some stud international prospects.

[masoo]

Thanks again for all the suggestions. Here's what I'm going to do:

First, I retired after a 25-year career that saw 10 championships, 18 trips to the post-season, 24 years over .500, and a lifetime W-L Pct. of .616.

Next, I made the following changes: turned off scouts and coaches, turned off all ratings except Potential, set the scale on that to 1-5. Trading difficulty was already at Very Hard.

Finally, I gave myself a new name, made myself 40 years old, and took over the organization that seemed to have the fewest possibilities overall. In this case, it's the (fictional, obviously) Minnesota Twins:

Finished in last place, 35 games out, in the most recent season. Are 15th out of 24 teams in Power Rankings, 18th of 24 in Farm System. About $9 million in the hole. Have never made the post-season in 25 years ... have only had one winning season, 20 years ago. Have finished in the bottom half of their six-team division 23 times in 25 years. Attendance last season was 840,000 ... next-worst was 1.4 mill. Market size is small, fan loyalty is average, fan interest is 28 out of 100. Financial situation is "not adequate." Finally, each year I give out an award to the "Worst Player of the Year" ... the last season, the winner was from Minnesota, as were the second and third-place finishers.

[ETA: I will turn off commissioner mode so I can get fired.]

[Mel Ott]

Originally Posted by injury log

Was this a response to my post? I should have been more clear- when I said 'heavily favor prospects', I meant that the AI trading preference should be set to 'heavily favor prospects' so that prospects are harder to acquire in trade. I agree with you completely; the game is easiest if you stock up on young players, which is why I find it important to limit the number of players I'll accept in a trade, normally to one-for-one. In international scouting, by signing under 18s only, I almost never get good prospects- most good guys I find are in the 19-26 yrs range- and by returning the over 18s to the free agent pool, other teams get some stud international prospects.

Well, I wasn't sure whether you meant he should favor prospects, or the computer should.

But I also noticed this:

1) I rarely go for free agents over the age of 29, although I'll make an exception for a stud pitcher in his early 30s. If there is a hitter around the age of 26 who has already proven himself, I will spend whatever it takes to get him. My salaries tend to have a few guys at the top making a gazillion dollars and a bunch of guys making the minimum, or at least a reasonable sum thru arbitration. The result of all this is that I am rarely paying a lot of money for a crap player. I have crap players, but they aren't often expensive.

...which is a pretty good strategy, actually, but you can see how the AI might have problems competing with a team that did this repeatedly and successfully.

[masoo]

Originally Posted by Mel Ott

Well, I wasn't sure whether you meant he should favor prospects, or the computer should.

But I also noticed this:

...which is a pretty good strategy, actually, but you can see how the AI might have problems competing with a team that did this repeatedly and successfully.

This is one area where I'm not concerned with making the game more difficult. Obviously I think it's a good strategy ... I think it's a good strategy in real life, and the sooner my favorite Giants get rid of that idiot Sabean and replace him with someone who agrees with me, the better off the team will be :-). But I understand there is more than one way to build a team. I prefer to leave those kinds of OOTP settings on neutral or average or whatever. In an ideal OOTP world, some teams would be like Sabean, some would go only for prospects, and the mix would make for an interesting game. Outside of that, I let average/neutral carry the day.

[injury log]

Originally Posted by masoo

Obviously I think it's a good strategy ... I think it's a good strategy in real life, and the sooner my favorite Giants get rid of that idiot Sabean and replace him with someone who agrees with me, the better off the team will be :-). But I understand there is more than one way to build a team. I prefer to leave those kinds of OOTP settings on neutral or average or whatever. In an ideal OOTP world, some teams would be like Sabean, some would go only for prospects, and the mix would make for an interesting game. Outside of that, I let average/neutral carry the day.

I'm with you, masoo, it's just that I find, even with the trade AI set to 'heavily favor prospects' that most AI GMs are still pretty Sabean-like!

[Mike Lowe]

Good read. Questions:

1) What happens to the weight for ratings when evaluating a player's worth? Should I set it at 0?

2) I have turned all ratings off (still debating what to do with potential...either off or 1-5). I want to keep scouts on though...is there a reason to do so? Will they be able to do anything worthwhile without ratings?

3) Coaches I will leave on with ratings off...this will force me to want to hire guys with experience (who are realistically rated). I will simply go after guys who make a realistic choice and/or guys the AI is going after. Thoughts?

More to come!