What Kind of "Simmer" are you?

[skalepp]

I would just like to see how often some of you guys sim? Do you sim game-by-game? 1 week at a time? or months at a time and take time re-evaluate your whole lineup?

And also do you have any specific rituals your check after your sim period is over?

-I personally play every game out. I don't manage the game, but make my adjustments on a day-to-day basis. I'll go about a week or so and evaluate my lineup and rotations to see if any adjustments need to be made. I also try to see if there is any weakness's in my positions to see if there can be any needs met in the FA market after a month or so of a sim.

[Mr. Baseball]

I haven't played solo in about a year due to time restraints. As far as online leagues go, I like them to sim at a slower pace.

When I'm playing solo leagues though, I'd always play out every game and manage. Because of the time that took me, I'd usually only do seasons that were 50-60 games long. I couldn't imagine just simulating four weeks at a time before making adjustments. That defeats the purpose of the game completely because you're hardly in control at all.

[Fyrestorm3]

I usually play out all my games, but if I do sim, I only go one game at a time. I couldn't imagine jumping ahead even a week, I'd be afraid I'd miss something.

[hfield007]

During the regular season I keep a lot of extra notes on the side in wordpad docs about the league. my personal monthly awards etc, keeping track of pennant races every season to look back on, writing down historical or big games. For my team every day I hit quick play on my team's game and then auto sim the day. I check the news stories then.

During the all-star break I hand select the entire league running them through a votes system I made and then I run a homerun derby with the 4 best HR hitting all-stars from each league.

About once every week or two i look through my lineups and pitching staff to make tweaks or to check up.

Come playoff time I run real-time sim at 40 factor for all games. For the World Series I personally watch every game no matter who makes it.

After the season I manually do about 15 or so awards with MVP and pitcher of the year going through a voting system. The other awards are hand selected by me (silver slugger, gold glove, foreigner of the year, best overall defensive player, southpaw award, all-pro 9 man squad etc) and I keep track of team seasonal records (most one run victories, extra inning wins, best home record) and monthly player records (mos hr in month etc).

After awards I assess my entire organization, releasing veteran minor leaguers who may never off value, trades, etc.

Once every three seasons in January I run a World Baseball Classic for 16 countries.
Also in January is the Hall of Fame voting process along with hand selected Team Hall of Fame Inductions (one player to each team HoF every 7 seasons).

January also is time for the Collective Bargaining Agreement to be checked on.. If it's expiring that season I enter a bargaining system I made to see if the season will begin on strike and go from there.

Come spring training if i have any jobs that are up for grabs or am trying to pick a #4 or #5 starter from a handfull of people I'll watch ST games and whittle my choice down as spring progresses.

Come April I do it all over.

[Snarf054]

I sim day by day and check my messages after every 3 game series to see what my starting pitchers ERA's look like in the preview message your scout sends you. I let the AI handle most of the stuff during the season and only fiddle with things if needed. At the All Star break I will do a thorough check and trade off players that are underperforming or to fill in holes.

If my team makes the playoffs I watch the play by play for each game. If I did that during the season I would probably trade off every good player I have because I get so annoyed at them when they do stupid things.

The offseason from the end of the playoffs through the Rule 5 draft is where I do most of my hands on stuff. Once I get the team where I like it, or as close as I can, I pretty much let it play out from there.

Haven't won it all yet, but have made the playoffs three seasons straight now with a lower third budget and middle of the road salaries so I must be doing something right.

[TGH-Adfabre]

I sim one week at a time. I wish I could sim directly from the schedule, right click on a game and sim to it.

I check my messages after each sim. I set my manager options to leave me alone unless the injury is over 2 weeks or a trade offer.

This is very much influenced by playing online leagues more than solo.

[BoSoxFan]

I don't play as a team, I just sit back and watch. I think watching an NHL-esque playoffs is fun. I've always wanted to play one out, but I've never been able to get through the regular season

[Painmantle]

I play almost exclusively online now, my only regular exception is my Ruth Dynasty...when I play solo, I play out every game.


I only join online league that sim 7-days at a time so I can use my 7-day lineups and I look at every single Box score of every game at every level. Use 7-day lineups at every level.I micro manage every team of every league I'm in.


I am seriously considering starting up my Indiana baseball Club Fictional league I set up like 4 months ago. I dink around with it a few times a week trying to get the settings just right. My goal is to have it perfect by the time I get to 2013..it started in 1963 and is up to 1983 now...I usually sim a few months at a time but always stop at key times to check out how the financials, draft's and over-all player quality is in an effort to get a league I'm happy with. I hate leagues that are stacked with talent...I want a league where the difference in winning and losing is in the role players... It is a tedious process but I think I enjoy messing around with the settings as much as playing the games anymore

[BIG17EASY]

I sim one game at a time in the two main leagues that I play. I also have a random debut historical that I sim weekly and let the AI set all lineups and rotations.

In the two main leagues, I set my lineups through the 7-day lineups screen, then sim from the scores and schedule screen in the league menu. I check that box score, then click the (dreaded) check mark to advance a day. Then, I check the waiver wire and trading block to see if anyone new and interesting may have appeared there. After that I go to each minor league team's home page and read the box score from the day that was just simmed. After I look at the minor league teams, I check the full transactions list for the league and my shortlist to see if anyone's been hurt or promoted/demoted. (I keep my shortlist limited only to players in other organizations who I may be interested in acquiring.) And then I read my messages that came through that day and sometimes poke around in league stat leaders and things like that.

After that, it's on to the next day, unless I have organizational transactions to do, like DL moves, promotions, demotions, signings, etc. In the offseason, I'll move a little quicker.

[rpriske]

I play out every game. My FAVOURITE part of OOTP is being the G.M., but I quite enjoy being the manager as well.

[chucksabr]

You guys who play out every game--how many months does it take to complete a season? I ask because a 162-game season for a 30-team league is 2,430 games. If it takes an hour to sim out a game, including taking in and internalizing all the activity or even taking notes on the side, and you do this 40 hours a week like a full time job, it would take you sixty-one weeks, or fourteen months, to do one season. Do you guys really do that?

[chucksabr]

My dynasty league so is complex that I spend, easily, 98% of the time setting up the season and doing the pre-season write-ups, then reviewing the season and doing the post-season write-ups. The actual play is me simming out the season in one fell swoop, and watching the standings change as it progresses.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by chucksabr

You guys who play out every game--how many months does it take to complete a season? I ask because a 162-game season for a 30-team league is 2,430 games. If it takes an hour to sim out a game, including taking in and internalizing all the activity or even taking notes on the side, and you do this 40 hours a week like a full time job, it would take you sixty-one weeks, or fourteen months, to do one season. Do you guys really do that?

I think most people mean that they play out all of their own teams games. This is what I do. I'm more or less there simply to make pitching changes and pinch hitting decisions. I leave pretty much everything else up to the AI. For me it's all about watching a league develop a history of its very own. I usually get through a season in weeks time. I use short play by play/instant and probably finish most games in 5 minutes or less.

Another way that I like to play is simply as fan of a particular team. I pick a team and just watch all of their games. It's fun to sit back and scream at the AI when it trades away one of your favorite players.

[Matt Arnold]

I sim in a few week increments. Adjust lineups infrequently as people come on and off the DL, or I get any other message.

Come playoff time, I usually sim games 1-3 or 4, then play out the rest.

To me, I prefer the GM aspect of the game. The only reason I set lineups manually is that sometimes I want to adjust playing time for a few players, and need to set that by hand.

[rpriske]

Originally Posted by chucksabr

You guys who play out every game--how many months does it take to complete a season? I ask because a 162-game season for a 30-team league is 2,430 games. If it takes an hour to sim out a game, including taking in and internalizing all the activity or even taking notes on the side, and you do this 40 hours a week like a full time job, it would take you sixty-one weeks, or fourteen months, to do one season. Do you guys really do that?

As said above, I play out MY games, not everybody else's games.

Also, it doesn't take anywhere near an hour to play a game. More like 20 minutes or so.

[ThatSeventiesGuy]

I sim everything but the All-Star Game and some playoff games, usually. I barely have time to play OOTP as it is, I certainly wouldn't have time to actually play out all my games!

[canaveral]

I sim a month at at time, then check over my team for who's performing well and who's not. I adjust lineups and pitching staff as needed. And it is amazing how simple tinkering can change things so much. I've played dozens and dozens of historical leagues this way and that's my passion.

[RchW]

I sim day to day and by series. You can tell when your team is on a roll. Sometimes even a losing streak needs to run its course. After the AS break until the trading deadline I sim only day-by-day and look at every team and my own for potential trade fits.

I am a notorious batting order fiddler so use the 7-day lineups to force my choice of batting order/SP and to use subs correctly ie using a backup catcher on Saturday or resting a key player before an off-day. The 7-day lineup is great for letting one insert a hot player for 2-3 games without mucking up the entire lineup or depth chart.

Minor league results and roster needs are checked at least by series early in the season. I cull the low minors to make sure the AI doesn't play no hope types with higher ratings ahead of less developed but higher potential prospects. OTOH I have used such players locked into a position in order to prevent the AI from forcing a prospect into a position that may hurt their development.

On a weekly basis I check around the major league to see who is performing, who may be sitting, injuries etc. I shortlist players (regular and prospects) to get reminders. I unshortlist often. I wish we had tabbed or nested shortlists.

Every 2 weeks or if injuries require I check players who are locked in the minors to decide if they need to be moved up or down. I may lock or unlock other players if the AI and I disagree and/or to maintain the correct numbers of IF OF and P at each level. Reduced player movement ie learn to ignore the arrow, helps development IMO.

[buffalo_pete]

I play out every game, every day. I manage the pitchers and the bench, and occasionally call plays or defensive alignments, but mostly I just quick play the at bats. I feel like I get a much better sense of how my players are doing day to day when I actually read the play by plays. Any scout will tell you that reading columns of numbers will only get you so far.

[buffalo_pete]

I play out all of my big club's games, mostly pressing enter to quick play through at bats. I'll probably play a series or two every other real world day or so? Get through a season every month or two like that.