What are your favorite pointers for creating a fictional league?

[robc]

For those who want to share, this would be a good time to post your pointers on how to make a fun fictional league. I have only created one and decided not to carry it over from OOTP 11. My primary interests is a league that at least has the feeling of real MLB, probably in the modern era.

I do have a difficult time getting into fictional leagues even though I like the idea of not knowing anything about the players, so it should be more challenging.

Does anyone have some pointers on how to make a successful fictional league that you want to stick with for a long time? Besides helping me, your ideas could help people new to OOTP with this version. Here are some ideas I have either thought of or that have been suggested to me.

1) Start small: It helps you get to know the players faster. I'm not exactly how small to start, maybe 8 teams?

2) Create the league 10 years before you want to start playing so you can sim and have the players have a history.

3) Do you release the players and start with a draft or take over a team? My gut says to do a draft, but they are time consuming. I feel you get invested in the players a bit more if you draft your own team.
Starting with a small league helps.

4) Stats only vs limited ratings: I have never done stats only yet even though I want the game to be more challenging. It seem like it may be a hassle. I know you can still sort by ratings, which may help, but it is still so much more convenient to use ratings. I set my scale at 1 to 5, so there is still lots of ambiguity. I also like to use scouting so I don't know for sure. With my scale at 1 to 5, scouting may not mae a huge difference except for those at the edge (someone barely a 4 may show up as a 3). I end up depending on ratings and also using the stats to confirm the ratings or place doubt on them.

5) What about the evolving league feature? I have never used it before. Good / bad?

6) Do you manage your games (all , some , none)? I used to manage all of my games, but it takes so long to develop a true history. Sometimes I play the first game of a series and sim the rest. This lets me see all the players, but still get through more games.

Feel free to comment on the above or add your own 'best practices' for creating an enjoyable fictional league.

Thanks

[ike121212]

I like to do a 10-20 year sim, erase the entire league history, then sim 40-80 years to build a league history, records, etc. Then I take control of a bottom dweller and rebuild. I usually just GM for the first 4 years, so I can start to control the draft, FA's, and get to know the team and league better. With a few top draft picks, it also gives me a few players that I have an attachment to and want to watch their careers play out.

I've gone big with my league. 48 teams and a 16 team playoff. The competition and difficulty of winning the WS keep things interesting. I also use high revenue sharing, to keep things competitive.

I've tried inaugural drafts. They're a little too easy and I lose interest in them quickly.

[KGrob]

I create the league and then sim several years. I've simmed up to 30 years in previous OOPT releases (before I take over) but for my first/only game in this new release, I began in year 2000 and then took over a team in 2010.

I always name the two sub leagues the Patriot and Yankee leagues. I always have the same division names. Stuff like that.

I always make sure a team is located in El Paso and I always make sure they are called the Pigeons because that is the team I always take over, winning or losing.

I manage every detail though I sim the games one day at a time.

[Questdog]

Originally Posted by robc

1) Start small: It helps you get to know the players faster. I'm not exactly how small to start, maybe 8 teams?

My favorite way to start a new league is to start with 8 teams and mimic the growth of real baseball from 1876, with all the teams that failed and the expansions and everything. But this is a big task.

Starting small and going SLOW is the key. Play every game out or if you can't take that sim in very small stretches and create something as you go. I like to keep a manual log of games, that include the score, winning and losing pitchers, saves, home runs and star of the game. The point is the slower you go, the more you get to know and love your players.

If you sim a whole year at a time (or years), the players just seem like a bunch of random idiots that mean nothing to you.

Originally Posted by robc

2) Create the league 10 years before you want to start playing so you can sim and have the players have a history.

I always, ALWAYS (and highly recommend) that you start the sim 25 years before you actually want to begin playing. Sim up to the preseason of the year that you want to start and then erase all the stats and history.

The reason for this is that the players OOTP generates for the initial draft are not the same as the players it creates through the amateur draft and I want to get rid of everyone in the initial player pool before I start playing. The biggest problem is that OOTP creates way too many very young players who are already superstars at 19 or 20 years of age. If you start a new league and play for 100 years, you'll find that all your league's career stats are still dominated by players from the initial draft.

Once I sim the 25 years, I release everyone and have an inaugural draft. I use the players' history to guide me in the draft and then after the draft I delete all the history and stats and start with a fresh slate.

Originally Posted by robc

3) Do you release the players and start with a draft or take over a team? My gut says to do a draft, but they are time consuming. I feel you get invested in the players a bit more if you draft your own team.
Starting with a small league helps.

Either way is fine; like you said a draft can be time consuming. Sometimes I like to take over whoever the worst team in the league was at the end of the 25 year pre-sim and go from there without a daft. Since you'll end up building a whole new team in the first few seasons, it will not be long before you feel like these are your guys. This method usually means you will be losing for a while, so if you can't handle that, then have a draft or pick a better team.

Originally Posted by robc

4) Stats only vs limited ratings: I have never done stats only yet even though I want the game to be more challenging. It seem like it may be a hassle. I know you can still sort by ratings, which may help, but it is still so much more convenient to use ratings. I set my scale at 1 to 5, so there is still lots of ambiguity. I also like to use scouting so I don't know for sure. With my scale at 1 to 5, scouting may not mae a huge difference except for those at the edge (someone barely a 4 may show up as a 3). I end up depending on ratings and also using the stats to confirm the ratings or place doubt on them.

Stats only, except Show other ratings on a scale of 1-5. It is not difficult to figure who the good players are (hint: they are the ones leading the league in all the categories). But you need the Other Ratings to see the things that a manager OUGHT to be able to judge easily by observation; i.e. speed and range, etc.

One plus to using stats and Feeder leagues, is that the guys you draft high will be the guys that were studs in HS and college. A lot of them will turn out to be studs in the majors, but some of them won't. It always felt silly to me drafting a guy in the first round who hit .220 his senior year in HS....

Originally Posted by robc

5) What about the evolving league feature? I have never used it before. Good / bad?

I personally don't use it, because I like to be the one to make the calls.

Originally Posted by robc

6) Do you manage your games (all , some , none)? I used to manage all of my games, but it takes so long to develop a true history. Sometimes I play the first game of a series and sim the rest. This lets me see all the players, but still get through more games.

I usually play all the games out, except I am only in charge of the lineups and substitutions; I let the AI handle the strategy choices. If I am in charge of the signs, everyone on my team will have 100 stolen bases and no one will ever have a sacrifice and there will never be a hit and run play.

[coljesep]

When you create a fictional league, will "market" size be determined early by the city each team plays in?

So for example if I choose a NY City team and a Portland, Maine team... will Portland have a significantly smaller market size or will it be determined by how the teams initially draft and perform?

[Kuttner]

I disagree with playing stats-only right out of the gate. I've tried this several times and find that, even with a small league, I have trouble getting immersed. I play my games out and when I see an opponent's batter coming up, I want to know his ratings. When I look at the leaderboards I want to click and quickly see if that player "should" be doing that.

After about 10 years, I turn ratings off and go stats only, which I love. It really does make the game more challenging and I'm glad that forum members have been suggesting it.

[klkitchens]

Originally Posted by robc

1) Start small: It helps you get to know the players faster. I'm not exactly how small to start, maybe 8 teams?

I have for years wanted baseball to go to a 2 league, 4 division, 4 teams per division format. 32 teams total. No wild cards. Weighted schedule like it used to be (more games vs. your division). No interleague play (otherwise there are no points to leagues).

30 vs. 3 teams in your division = 90 games.
6 vs. the other 12 teams in league = 72 games.

Winning your division becomes more of a challenge.

Originally Posted by robc

2) Create the league 10 years before you want to start playing so you can sim and have the players have a history.

I do 20 years. The sim speed is awesome now. I started in 1991 and ran up to 2011 with no involvement from me just to build history.

Originally Posted by robc

3) Do you release the players and start with a draft or take over a team? My gut says to do a draft, but they are time consuming. I feel you get invested in the players a bit more if you draft your own team. Starting with a small league helps.

Don't care. It starts without me.

Originally Posted by robc

4) Stats only vs limited ratings: I have never done stats only yet even though I want the game to be more challenging. It seem like it may be a hassle. I know you can still sort by ratings, which may help, but it is still so much more convenient to use ratings. I set my scale at 1 to 5, so there is still lots of ambiguity. I also like to use scouting so I don't know for sure. With my scale at 1 to 5, scouting may not mae a huge difference except for those at the edge (someone barely a 4 may show up as a 3). I end up depending on ratings and also using the stats to confirm the ratings or place doubt on them.

I keep this at 1-20.

Originally Posted by robc

5) What about the evolving league feature? I have never used it before. Good / bad?

Nope. Hate when I forget to turn it off and pre-ran my season. Did that in 2011. See above. I have the league the way I want it.

Originally Posted by robc

6) Do you manage your games (all , some , none)? I used to manage all of my games, but it takes so long to develop a true history. Sometimes I play the first game of a series and sim the rest. This lets me see all the players, but still get through more games.

Nope. I set things and let 'er rip to the end of the week. As the season nears the end and milestone or clinching games come into play, I may watch and sim 3 innings at a time (in game).

[klkitchens]

Originally Posted by KGrob

I create the league and then sim several years. I've simmed up to 30 years in previous OOPT releases (before I take over) but for my first/only game in this new release, I began in year 2000 and then took over a team in 2010.

I always name the two sub leagues the Patriot and Yankee leagues. I always have the same division names. Stuff like that.

Funny! Mine are Patriot League and Liberty League. Red/White/Blue/Gold divisions.

[kingcharlesxii]

I've run the same basic 24 team league for many versions now but I usually start fresh with each new release to fully take advantage of the new features. I keep the same teams and logos because that's usually where I get bogged down. Nothing crazy about the settings just modern day.

I like to do an initial draft for the first 5-10 rounds and then let the AI finish. This gives me a few hand-picked players that I like and saves time.

Usually I keep ratings on (1-10), I might hide actual ratings and just use potentials this version to make things a bit tougher and I like not knowing how developed a prospect is or if that veteran really is falling off a cliff rating-wise. I don't use automatic evolution at the start, I like to get a feel for the league before stuff starts changing. Sometimes I turn it on, sometimes I don't. I play out all of my team's games, including strategy (the new "confirm substitution" is the best thing ever, I can't count how many times I accidentally subbed a guy into the wrong spot).

The big rule is keep it simple for your first fictional league, you can try the more complicated stuff once you get the hang of the game and the new changes.

[coljesep]

Any of you guys with an answer to my city question I'd appreciate it. I've never done my own OOTP league... I'm in an online one switching to 12, but I figure it won't kill me to mess around with the game on my own. So really step 1 is the teams.

"So for example if I choose a NY City team and a Portland, Maine team... will Portland have a significantly smaller market size or will it be determined by how the teams initially draft and perform?"

[klkitchens]

Originally Posted by Questdog

I always, ALWAYS (and highly recommend) that you start the sim 25 years before you actually want to begin playing. Sim up to the preseason of the year that you want to start and then erase all the stats and history.

The reason for this is that the players OOTP generates for the initial draft are not the same as the players it creates through the amateur draft and I want to get rid of everyone in the initial player pool before I start playing. The biggest problem is that OOTP creates way too many very young players who are already superstars at 19 or 20 years of age. If you start a new league and play for 100 years, you'll find that all your league's career stats are still dominated by players from the initial draft.

Once I sim the 25 years, I release everyone and have an inaugural draft. I use the players' history to guide me in the draft and then after the draft I delete all the history and stats and start with a fresh slate.

Best tip of the thread!

With one exception which ike121212 alluded to but didn't explain why.

Sim 25 years to filter out the initial players.
Clear the history.
Sim x number of years (20-25) to build up player history before you step in. I wouldn't think it was fun to not have records to aspire to, etc.

So to start in 2011, start in 1961, sim 25 years to 1/1/1986.
Clear history.
Sim 25 years to 1/1/2011.
Take the reigns.

[dmoore2231]

Thanks for all the tips. I've been a long time player, but I've never really done much fantasy. I'm working on one now, just doing the initial sims before I jump in. Really looking forward to it.

[gord]

Originally Posted by coljesep

Any of you guys with an answer to my city question I'd appreciate it. I've never done my own OOTP league... I'm in an online one switching to 12, but I figure it won't kill me to mess around with the game on my own. So really step 1 is the teams.

"So for example if I choose a NY City team and a Portland, Maine team... will Portland have a significantly smaller market size or will it be determined by how the teams initially draft and perform?"

I've set up a few MLB-style leagues and have found that city size in real life does NOT match up with the market size in the game.

[coljesep]

thanks... my thought is that if I do a fictional and do an initial draft that the market size will be based on player popularity/owner budget and then eventually team performance.

So a team in Bumble(blank), Iowa could have a bigger market than NY City.

[Hazza]

1) Start small: It helps you get to know the players faster. I'm not exactly how small to start, maybe 8 teams?

Either i'll start with two lots of 6, or I will start with two lots of twelve, and add a foreign league (Normally a Dominican league) with less money and work my way "up" from there. By the time I have dominated the Dominican league and are ready to tackle the Majors then there is enough history to make it interesting.

2) Create the league 10 years before you want to start playing so you can sim and have the players have a history.

I have, on occasion, done this. I do generally want there to be some sort of history.

3) Do you release the players and start with a draft or take over a team? My gut says to do a draft, but they are time consuming. I feel you get invested in the players a bit more if you draft your own team.

Have never tried this in all my years of playing. Probably should. If I am starting "as is from scratch" I just select a team, don't worry about inaugural drafts.

4) Stats only vs limited ratings:

Traditionally I'm a ratings guy, but I've just started playing with stats only. It really adds another dimension. Gee, that back up catcher is hitting 330 while my starter is hitting 270. Should I make him start? That 1B I have is earning 11million a year to sit the bench, but isn't very productive. Is he slumping or is he just passed his prime? That college stud wants seven million a year to play A-ball. Is he worth it? Did he have a really good senior year by chance? Will he be a superstar or will he be a bust?


5) What about the evolving league feature? I have never used it before. Good / bad?

Trying to get into that now.

6) Do you manage your games

Always manage opening day. Lets me get a feel for my players and bond with them. An actual moment (that time my number 3 starter doubled at the top of the seventh to set up the game winning innings) really helps me connect with a player.

I also manage (or at least watch) playoffs.

As for calling the games? I normally leave the fielding to the "bench coach" and I sometimes give signs to the pitcher (only if i'm feeling cocksure about myself), otherwise I give signs to the hitters (yeah, I bunt ) and do substitutions.

[Toado]

When I first started playing OOTP about seven years ago I liked the idea of playing with real MLB rosters. Gradually, I gravitated toward an MLB-style setup with fictional rosters but occasionally missed having real players.

My solution? A little of both. I fill rosters with all fictional players, but then import 20-25 real life players (superstar guys like Pujols, A-Rod, Mauer, Halladay, Jeter, Miguel Cabrera, etc.) and their career stats. Next, I'll delete 20 or so of the top fictional players as well as the guys who are superstars at ages 18-21) to balance out the additions.

Doing this, I still get to enjoy the perks of a fictional league (99 percent of the guys are fictional), but also have some realistic career records to chase. It's also nice looking at the leaderboards in the first couple seasons and recognize some of the names while I'm in the process of learning all the names. Plus, this way I won't need to wait 15 years or so before anyone gets into the Hall of Fame.

[KowboyKoop]

In my league, I play out every single game. That helps immersion the most I think. I play stats only...only way to go in my opinion. You still have scouting reports and you can sort by ratings still, so you aren't completely blind.

I started with a 16 team league and I just jumped in from year 1, no simming and clearing, no building up a history first. I think it's going great. I mean, in real life baseball all the records talked about today are in the "modern era" b/c when there are a lot of numbers from the 19th century pro baseball that are wacky...well same thing in my league. I'm only in the 13th season, but once I get farther in I'm sure I'll expand to more teams and more games per year....so the stats will be skewed once again.

[Thundercrack]

This is a great thread, I've been playing fictional for years and I've picked up some things in this thread that I'm going to try. Should be stickied.

[Questdog]

Originally Posted by coljesep

thanks... my thought is that if I do a fictional and do an initial draft that the market size will be based on player popularity/owner budget and then eventually team performance.

So a team in Bumble(blank), Iowa could have a bigger market than NY City.

There are two ways to do this:

1) The default way: Just draft and the game set markets sizes for teams based on the payroll they drafted. So teams with higher payroll are bigger markets. This insures no teams start losing money right out of the gate.

2) Draft with budgets: You can ceck this option BEFORE a draft and also have budgets set according to population, so that if it is important to you New York will always be a bigger market that Ottumwa, Iowa.

[ike121212]

Originally Posted by klkitchens

Best tip of the thread!

With one exception which ike121212 alluded to but didn't explain why.

Sim 25 years to filter out the initial players.
Clear the history.
Sim x number of years (20-25) to build up player history before you step in. I wouldn't think it was fun to not have records to aspire to, etc.

So to start in 2011, start in 1961, sim 25 years to 1/1/1986.
Clear history.
Sim 25 years to 1/1/2011.
Take the reigns.

Right...gotta have single season and career records to shoot for. If you don't filter out the initial players, they often set the .420 or 75 HR seasons that are almost untouchable. That kind of stuff drives me crazy.