Need guidance, looking for an online-league Yoda.

[cmdroverbite]

I'm thinking of setting up an online league using OOTP 2006 but I've got some questions.

There will be 12 teams (fictional) with one layer of minors, so that should keep the export file sizes reasonable, no? What about if I turn on the scouting system? Am I setting myself up for a world of hurt w/r/t file size? Does anyone run an online league with scouting? (I do see how it could cause problems, but I do think that solo play with the full scouting system is a better game.)

Are all the problems that prevent Mac users from participating in and/or running online leagues sorted out?

Do fictional leagues typically begin with fantasy drafts, and if so how is that done?

Anything else I need to know before I dive in?

[Kaitiaki]

I don't know if I qualify as Yoda (I'm not really green enough ), but I'll give it a shot.

Originally Posted by cmdroverbite

There will be 12 teams (fictional) with one layer of minors, so that should keep the export file sizes reasonable, no? What about if I turn on the scouting system? Am I setting myself up for a world of hurt w/r/t file size? Does anyone run an online league with scouting? (I do see how it could cause problems, but I do think that solo play with the full scouting system is a better game.)

Yes, that size should be OK.

Scouting definitely ups the file size substantially. I don't know how it would affect a 12-team league, but turning it on for an MLB-structured 30-team league that I was setting up added ~30MB to each league file. It's all contained in one file, though, so just turn Scouting on, check the size of your scouting.dat file, and then turn it off again if it turns out to be bigger than you want.

Some people do run online leagues with scouting, though both of the ones I am a part of have elected not to use it for a combination of complexity and filesize issues.

Are all the problems that prevent Mac users from participating in and/or running online leagues sorted out?

The only problems I've continued to have with the Mac owners in my league are with the internal league file downloader. Some people have had problems getting that to work, but they've been fine using the traditional 'download and extract a .zip file' approach.

Do fictional leagues typically begin with fantasy drafts, and if so how is that done?

Up to you/your owners, but in most cases, yes, since generally want to feel they have some control over whether or not they win for the first few years.

Depending how dedicated your owners are, drafts can be done quickly in an IRC/chat type setting, on a forum, or through e-mail. The smaller the league the greater the chance of getting everyone together for a "live" draft over MSN or IRC or what have you. For larger leagues e-mail drafts tend to be the only way to go.

- Kai