Player Ratings/Talents - Advice?

[eneubaue]

While I like the new ratings/talent system for OOTP6, it's taking some getting used to from how it was done in previous versions. I'm posting this in hopes of getting some advice on several points.

1) I have a standard league file that I initially created in version 2.0 and have subsequently imported into new versions of OOTP whenever the new version has come out. Since the establishment of the initial league file (in version 2.0), I have made adjustments to player ratings and talents with every new version of OOTP.

With OOTP6, I imported my standard league file from OOTP5 and the players ratings and talents were converted. In using the 1-100 system for talent and ratings, I am now able to see just how detalied each players ratings/talents are. However, in some players cases, they now have OVERALL current ratings that are greater than their talent ratings. I know that one of the reasons for this is has to do with how the ratings/talents for players were established in previous versions.

(For example, I think in version 2 and 3, if you increased a players' current rating in a particular category, then the talent level would increase as well if the rating increase was large enough. In subsequent version - 4 and 5 - if you made a change to a players' current rating in a given category then the talent level did not change).

The question I have for the above is this - when modifyng player ratings/talents in version 6, should the OVERALL current rating ALWAYS be equal to or less than the talent level for a partiular category (note - I am aware that a Lefty/Righty rating can be, for certain players, greater than the talent)? I am assuming that the OVERALL current rating should always be equal to or less than the talent level.

2) If the above is true (and I am assuming that it is - namely a players' OVERALL current rating in a given category should be equal to or less than his talent level in that category), then how should someone adjust a players ratings and talents?

The reason I ask the above question is that by making changes to a players current rating for a particular category in Version 6 is much different than in previous version.

For example, in attempting to adjust a player's current rating in Gap Power to be lower than his talent rating, the numbers I often select will not be reflected as the number I entered (I enter a 50 for Lefty Gap Power and the computer shows 51). Or the number I select will change the lefty/right/overall current ratings in other categories.

Now, this in and of itself is not a major problem - I know it somehow has to do with the combination of previous categories into the new categories for version 6. So far, I have found that changing the talent level produce no ill effects, so all I would need to do is change the talent level for a given category to be equal to or greater than the OVERALL current rating for that category.

However, I like to modify players for the rookie draft, and I would like to be able to modify a players' current ratings and talent for a particular category. Given the way the new version changes numbers input when attempting to make a change to a given rating, what is the best course of action in attempting to make changes to a player's current rating in a given category? In other words, is there an easy way for me to be able to make a change to a players' current rating that is comparable to the changes I could make in previous versions? I would like to be able to change a player's current rating in a given category to be less than his talent (if the player's current rating and talent are the same for that category) or equal to his talent rating (if his current rating is less than his talent for that cetegory).

The only way I can think of at present is to export player ratings into a *.CSV file, make the necessary changes, and then import back into OOTP6. I think this will work, but I am afraid that it will show the same type of changes I attempted to make manually.

In other words, if I make a change, for example, to a player's current Lefty Gap Power Rating to 50 in the *.CSV file, if I import it back into OOTP6 will it remain 50 or show up as 51 or some other number? And if I make a change to a player's current rating in the *.CSV file and import it back into OOTP6, will that change also affect the current ratings for other categories like it did when I attempted to make changes manually?

I believe Henry (or others) are working on a manual, but maybe someone can provide a FAQ that deals with the issues raised above. The new system is a bit more difficult to determine what kinds of changes one should make in a players ratings/talents.

Any guidance or advice would be most welcome.