Advice for playing without ratings?

CHCfan · 05-14-2010, 02:23 PM

I think this might be the way to get me sucked back into playing OOTP, but I'm a little overwhelmed about how exactly to go about it. So, who on here plays without ratings?

How do you use potential ratings? Surely, you display them at least, but are minor league stats, along with potential ratings, a good enough indicator to make promotion/demotion decisions?

What are the AI evaluation percentages set to?

What advice to you have for evaluating players? I mean, I know how to look at stats, but I'm so used to easily, quickly evaluating OOTP players by rating, how do you do it in the game?

Long story short, for those of you who've tried this, do you recommend it, and what should a newcomer know beforehand?

Thanks.

markprior22 · 05-14-2010, 02:40 PM

I can't answer all your questions (at work right now) but I don't display any of the main ratings (I do display steal, bunt, speed, defense, etc). One thing that helps a little is that you can still sort a list by any category...you just don't know what the exact numbers are. For example, I can sort all batters by power rating and they are listed in correct order, you just don't see the numbers.

Myself, I love playing this way. I take a team (usually the Cubs) and jump right in. The first season is kind of hit or miss...I make it so I can't be fired the first two years so I can "figure out" the league a little. Then I read scouting reports, consider injury probability etc and go from there. It has made the game much more fun for me.

injury log · 05-14-2010, 04:16 PM

It's my favorite way to play. A few things:

* text scouting reports are always available, no matter what settings you choose. If you have scouting off, those reports will be deadly accurate - they will reflect a player's true ratings. I assume that's not what you want, so best to have scouting on. Then the text scouting will sometimes be reliable, sometimes not.

* I sometimes keep 'other ratings' on, sometimes not - it used to be almost necessary in order to evaluate defense. Now that we have advanced defensive stats and text scouting reports, it's possible even to leave those off.

* I never display potential ratings. There are a ton of ways to figure out which prospects in the league are good - the top prospect reports, positional strength reports, etc. For the draft, you have text scouting reports, and as pointed out above, you can, from any transactions/roster screen, sort players in any category (even POT or OVR), even if the numbers themselves are invisible. If you have scouting on, of course, then you're getting your scout's ranking of players, so this ranking is still sometimes unreliable, but you still have quite a bit of information to go on. I definitely make bad draft day decisions all the time when ratings are hidden, but I like things that way.

* Though some people complain that it gives bad advice, your minor league system report tells you which players the game thinks ought to be promoted and demoted. If you want to be more certain you're making good decisions, you could go by that report and stats in combination. I just go by minor league stats alone, knowing that I'm sometimes making bad decisions - that seems like real life to me.

never_ends · 05-14-2010, 06:27 PM

What markprior22 and injury log said, best way if you a real challenge...

plus

I also turn off Trades and Waivers.
1) Trades - It is way to easy to screw the AI on trades and build an instant winner.
2) Waivers - The AI will eventually dump a future superstar in there, within 2-3 years you will dominate any league simply by living on the Waiver wire.

An additional tip, by using the Top Prospects list you can make sure your top players get full-time playing time (to see if they progress as expected) by using the Set Strategy editor and forcing them into the lineup, sometimes at a new position if necessary if that's what it takes to get them into the lineup. Along with the few reports still available you will be able to tell if the player is ready or not for the big leagues.

House rules do not work for me.

This forces you to build a team through the 1st year draft, your Minor League systems and Free Agents. If you get an owner who is tight Free Agents are out making it harder yet.

I ran up 60 years of history, took the worst team (55-107) over as GM, spent 5 years slowly re-building the team with the lowest payroll (cheap owner, little money for FA) and have finally reached 76 wins...

Now I'll take over on the field and play out game by game as the Minors have good players coming up in the next 1-3 years, I managed to sign the players I wanted to long term contracts and it might finally be time to cross over the 81 win line...

Fun for me although I understand not fun for everyone who plays OOTP...

Malleus Dei · 05-14-2010, 06:38 PM

Turn off all ratings but Other Ratings. Set the AI to evaluate 0-67-22-11. Scouting on, and use your scouts for draft data.

This is the only way I play any more. You have to evaluate players by performance and scouting reports only, just like a real GM. You will make mistakes, and so will the AI. You will be frustrated at times. But it will be fun.

dunningrb · 05-14-2010, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malleus Dei

Turn off all ratings but Other Ratings. Set the AI to evaluate 0-67-22-11. Scouting on, and use your scouts for draft data.

This is the only way I play any more. You have to evaluate players by performance and scouting reports only, just like a real GM. You will make mistakes, and so will the AI. You will be frustrated at times. But it will be fun.

"Other ratings?" Can you make these changes after you've started a game? (Sorry, new to the game. Maybe you can give a walk through?)

injury log · 05-14-2010, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dunningrb

"Other ratings?" Can you make these changes after you've started a game? (Sorry, new to the game. Maybe you can give a walk through?)

Yes, you can change which ratings you display at any time. It's in the game setup menu. The 'other ratings' include baserunning/speed/bunt ratings and defensive ratings, along with personality ratings (actually, I haven't checked in the new version to see if the personality text reports disappear when other ratings are hidden; I assume they do).

Malleus Dei · 05-14-2010, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dunningrb

"Other ratings?" Can you make these changes after you've started a game? (Sorry, new to the game. Maybe you can give a walk through?)

Yes you can change them for a game in progress. Look in Game Setup for most of them, AI Settings for the evaluation values.

05-14-2010, 02:23 PM	#1
CHCfan All Star Starter Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Grand Island, NE Posts: 1,117	Advice for playing without ratings? I think this might be the way to get me sucked back into playing OOTP, but I'm a little overwhelmed about how exactly to go about it. So, who on here plays without ratings? How do you use potential ratings? Surely, you display them at least, but are minor league stats, along with potential ratings, a good enough indicator to make promotion/demotion decisions? What are the AI evaluation percentages set to? What advice to you have for evaluating players? I mean, I know how to look at stats, but I'm so used to easily, quickly evaluating OOTP players by rating, how do you do it in the game? Long story short, for those of you who've tried this, do you recommend it, and what should a newcomer know beforehand? Thanks.

05-14-2010, 02:40 PM	#2
markprior22 All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: springfield, illinois Posts: 1,235	I can't answer all your questions (at work right now) but I don't display any of the main ratings (I do display steal, bunt, speed, defense, etc). One thing that helps a little is that you can still sort a list by any category...you just don't know what the exact numbers are. For example, I can sort all batters by power rating and they are listed in correct order, you just don't see the numbers. Myself, I love playing this way. I take a team (usually the Cubs) and jump right in. The first season is kind of hit or miss...I make it so I can't be fired the first two years so I can "figure out" the league a little. Then I read scouting reports, consider injury probability etc and go from there. It has made the game much more fun for me.

05-14-2010, 04:16 PM	#3
injury log Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Toronto Posts: 9,162	It's my favorite way to play. A few things: * text scouting reports are always available, no matter what settings you choose. If you have scouting off, those reports will be deadly accurate - they will reflect a player's true ratings. I assume that's not what you want, so best to have scouting on. Then the text scouting will sometimes be reliable, sometimes not. * I sometimes keep 'other ratings' on, sometimes not - it used to be almost necessary in order to evaluate defense. Now that we have advanced defensive stats and text scouting reports, it's possible even to leave those off. * I never display potential ratings. There are a ton of ways to figure out which prospects in the league are good - the top prospect reports, positional strength reports, etc. For the draft, you have text scouting reports, and as pointed out above, you can, from any transactions/roster screen, sort players in any category (even POT or OVR), even if the numbers themselves are invisible. If you have scouting on, of course, then you're getting your scout's ranking of players, so this ranking is still sometimes unreliable, but you still have quite a bit of information to go on. I definitely make bad draft day decisions all the time when ratings are hidden, but I like things that way. * Though some people complain that it gives bad advice, your minor league system report tells you which players the game thinks ought to be promoted and demoted. If you want to be more certain you're making good decisions, you could go by that report and stats in combination. I just go by minor league stats alone, knowing that I'm sometimes making bad decisions - that seems like real life to me.

05-14-2010, 06:27 PM	#4
never_ends Minors (Double A) Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Nevada Posts: 133	What markprior22 and injury log said, best way if you a real challenge... plus I also turn off Trades and Waivers. 1) Trades - It is way to easy to screw the AI on trades and build an instant winner. 2) Waivers - The AI will eventually dump a future superstar in there, within 2-3 years you will dominate any league simply by living on the Waiver wire. An additional tip, by using the Top Prospects list you can make sure your top players get full-time playing time (to see if they progress as expected) by using the Set Strategy editor and forcing them into the lineup, sometimes at a new position if necessary if that's what it takes to get them into the lineup. Along with the few reports still available you will be able to tell if the player is ready or not for the big leagues. House rules do not work for me. This forces you to build a team through the 1st year draft, your Minor League systems and Free Agents. If you get an owner who is tight Free Agents are out making it harder yet. I ran up 60 years of history, took the worst team (55-107) over as GM, spent 5 years slowly re-building the team with the lowest payroll (cheap owner, little money for FA) and have finally reached 76 wins... Now I'll take over on the field and play out game by game as the Minors have good players coming up in the next 1-3 years, I managed to sign the players I wanted to long term contracts and it might finally be time to cross over the 81 win line... Fun for me although I understand not fun for everyone who plays OOTP...