OOTP 19 Feature List!

[Markus Heinsohn]

Hey folks,

each year we add tons of new features and tweaks to the game, and this year is no different. Here is the current list of new features and improvements. Since we still have two weeks of beta testing left, there likely will be some more additions. Also, this is an incomplete list, as we usually make so many changes that we forget to write them down.

Major Changes & Additions
- 2018 rosters
- New in-game screen & 3D ballparks & player animations
- Manual voting for end of season awards
- New scouting report text & player development graphs
- Tournaments may optionally take teams that already play in other leagues
- Improved in-game AI: double switches, closer/starter usage in playoffs
- Added the option to choose between six different interface fonts
- Added team leader tabs to the pre-game screen
- Manager home page now has customizable sized widgets
- Modified internal ratings calculations. Adjusted global options for ratings display.
- Recoded many screens
- Added 800 fictional team logos

Minor Changes & Additions
- Added flag for user gender
- Added the Pacific Association independent league
- Can now set a league/tournament with schedule length of 0 to create a quick custom playoff-only bracket
- Added the option to lock the league total stats (historical leagues) while keeping league total modifier recalculation active. This enables users to have a static stats enviroment.
- Added arm angle rating for pitchers
- Historical leagues now support minor leagues and roster limits when playing with real life MLB transactions & lineups
- Added L/R split stats to historical leagues. These are used for player ratings calculations and can also be displayed in the career stats.
- Improved historical simulation accuracy
- Improved defensive ratings in historical leagues
- Added 1908 & 1909 as-played lineups to historical league database
- More accurate and realistic 19th century historical league and team database
- Added accurate single game records to historical database and default MLB games.
- Added the option to choose between Opening Day and End of Season rosters in the historical exhibition mode
- Improved draft pick trading AI
- An AI team's fantasy / expansion / FA draft strategy now depends more on the GM's preference ratings, eg. wether he prefers veterans or prospects or hitters over pitchers and vice-versa.
- Unsigned high school draft picks now either go to college and re-enter the draft 3 years later or junior college and re-enter the draft the next year.
- Added RA9-WAR for pitchers, player defense breakdown by difficulty
- Added an "Extremely Low" injury frequency setting
- Columns can be sorted on the batter vs pitcher tab in the player profile screen
- Auto-load player pictures will search for BBRef-Minor-ID first
- Improved team color dialog
- Injured players no longer need to be immediately replaced in-game
- Fixed bug which caused interactive storylines to not trigger
- Added playoff history to league history page
- Moved languages and ethnicities into world.xml file. 1 to "n" languages possible now
- Can now skip player creation when adding a league to a world already in progress
- The middle mouse button now acts as a "page back" button
- Support for page navigation buttons on advanced mouse devices added
- The cursor keys up / down now let you scroll through player lists while viewing a player profile
- Added filter in coach lists for available jobs
- Added speed factor 1000 to real time simulation speed selection
- Countless other small improvements and fixes

I'll update this list during the next two weeks if we add more stuff or remember things that have been added already but not logged

Cheers!
Markus

Update 3/4:
- Added arm angle rating for pitchers. This is used for platoon splits. Historical DB contains arm angles for historical players

Update 3/5
- Added accurate single game records to historical database and default MLB games
- Added the option to choose between Opening Day and End of Season rosters in the historical exhibition mode

Update 3/6:
- Added ability to clear player strategies for all players on team

Update 3/8:
- Top prospect lists increased from 20 players per team to 30 players per team

Update 3/13
- Unsigned high school draft picks now either go to college and re-enter the draft 3 years later or junior college and re-enter the draft the next year.
- Can continue historical exhibition games in the historical exhibition mode
- Added league strategy settings for SP hook and RP hook. This allows finer control over pitcher usage patterns.

Update 3/14
- An AI team's fantasy / expansion / FA draft strategy now depends more on the GM's preference ratings, eg. wether he prefers veterans or prospects or hitters over pitchers and vice-versa.

[jdw31158]

Very nice You guys are the best!

[Padreman]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

Hey folks,
- Can now skip player creation when adding a league to a world already in progress

does this mean it wont creat players just the use players already in the game? If so can it be the same for managers GM's and a
Staff?

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

- Columns can be sorted on the batter vs pitcher tab in the player profile screen

I think I just started to get emotional and may have teared up a bit

It's something I've asked to have added for a few versions and it's finally here, thanks Markus and Matt!

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

- Injured players no longer need to be immediately replaced in-game

Both of these quoted lines are great additions for those of us that play out all of our games.

I just pulled up these two but really, I don't think I would use the word "Minor" as a way to describe the changes & additions in the second part of the feature list. So may cool things in there!

[Aceshigh24]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

- Added playoff history to league history page

Gravy!!!!!

[wallewalls]

"But, the Perfect Team mode is taking resources away from the main game!!"

Yeah, I dont think so. Great to see this list in full, look forward to the full game

[sdw1000]

I like the concept of taking an injured player out in the middle of a game...(depending on injury).

[Germaniac]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

...
- Added speed factor 1000 to real time simulation speed selection

I'll update this list during the next two weeks if we add more stuff or remember things that have been added already but not logged

Cheers!
Markus

Great thing for my World Baseball League, thanks a lot

[32koufax]

Markus,
Just to clarify as I only play historical... Are the L/R splits for historical leagues, the real honest to goodness splits of the players and pitchers? IOW, no need to have or use the generic L/R option in setting up my league? If this is so, I'm reeallly happy!
Thx!

Jack

[jaysfan17]

"New scouting report text & player development graphs"



-This feature to me is arguably the most exciting one. Does this feature entail hiring more scouts for our team or is it going to be a surprise?


"Improved draft pick trading AI"

Not sure exactly what this means because I do enable draft pick trading. Example: Will this mean it will be easier to acquire a 1st round pick or harder?


For me personally, I find it hard to acquire a 1st rounder.

[Tony-OH]

Originally Posted by 32koufax

Markus,
Just to clarify as I only play historical... Are the L/R splits for historical leagues, the real honest to goodness splits of the players and pitchers? IOW, no need to have or use the generic L/R option in setting up my league? If this is so, I'm reeallly happy!
Thx!

Jack

I sure hope so as I only play historical as well. I also really hope someone goes back and faithfully recreates historical stadiums for the 3D. I know there are some out there that are ok, but I'd love to have the stadiums get to be like the old Tony LaRussa 3 and 4.

[joefromchicago]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

- Countless other small improvements and fixes

I was counting on this.

[32koufax]

Originally Posted by Tony-OH

I sure hope so as I only play historical as well. I also really hope someone goes back and faithfully recreates historical stadiums for the 3D. I know there are some out there that are ok, but I'd love to have the stadiums get to be like the old Tony LaRussa 3 and 4.

Remember LaRussa's old time baseball? All the old teams with Curt Gowdy and Red Barber calling the games?

[smiller]

The two minor changes that caught my eye were the "extremely low" injury button and being able to use the middle mouse button to page back. These are the kinds of small improvements that may get lost among the bigger ones. but really make the game more enjoyable.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by 32koufax

Markus,
Just to clarify as I only play historical... Are the L/R splits for historical leagues, the real honest to goodness splits of the players and pitchers? IOW, no need to have or use the generic L/R option in setting up my league? If this is so, I'm reeallly happy!
Thx!

Jack

Yes, it's real split stats for hitters which are the base of the platoon splits for batting ratings (if the sample size is big enough) now. Pitcher platoon splits are still determined via the pitch repertoires and arm angle etc.

[Markus Heinsohn]

I added something to the list: Pitcher arm angle rating. This is new and used for better determining platoon splits. So, LHP with a very low arm angle (or even submariners) have more extreme splits. The historical DB has also been updated with proper arm angle ratings for most pitchers.

[Padreman]

What about lifetime pinch hit stats?

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

- Added the option to lock the league total stats (historical leagues) while keeping league total modifier recalculation active. This enables users to have a static stats enviroment.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for this. Now, can you possibly add the option to lock league strategy settings to a particular year as well, or would that be too difficult? I like to play random debut and I lock my league totals and league strategy settings to 1984 settings in my random debut historicals because it means if Mariano Rivera (or any other really good closer) enters my league in 1901, he will get used more than a handful of times. 1901 strategy settings generally make starters go all the way in most games, which makes having a really good closer kind of pointless. Locking the league totals keeps offensive output somewhere between the deadball era and the steroid era, which is my comfort zone.

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

- Added RA9-WAR for pitchers

Awesome. Thank you. I think this version of WAR in addition to the FIP-based WAR that's already in the game gives a clearer picture of a pitcher's season than one or the other does, so kudos for this addition.

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

- Auto-load player pictures will search for BBRef-Minor-ID first

Does this apply to FaceGen as well? Thanks.

[Matt Arnold]

Originally Posted by sdw1000

I like the concept of taking an injured player out in the middle of a game...(depending on injury).

You still usually have to remove them, but if your pitcher gets hurt on the last out of the inning, you can wait until he's either due up or needs to go pitch next inning before replacing him.

[BaseballMan]

"More accurate and realistic 19th century historical league and team database"

Looking forward to this.