Been Awhile

[1998 Yankees]

Oh, jeez. I give up. Have fun, OFG, whatever you do.

[OldFatGuy]

Hehe, I was wondering if that was a challenge. It worked, I signed off and went back and tried another PBP game. This time I figured out how to go through each AB quicker, but then I noticed my scoreboard at the top was blank and remembered reading here about a fix and that's why I came back, and NOW I CAN'T FIND IT. I could've sworn it was in FAQ, anyways, please don't give up on me yet.

EDIT: FOUND IT, delete skin.bin.

[1998 Yankees]

That's more like it.

[OldFatGuy]

FRIGGIN AWESOME. Only way to describe this. This time I made it all the way to the middle of June and the amatuer draft. Still feel lost most of the time, still didn't even try taking a job, this was just watching the league operate, a few PBP games (man its way better when you quick sim to the end of AB's, plus it helped to bump up PBP speed). Was nice to see a scoreboard for a change.

I am still so way out of my league but man this thing looks like something a true baseball addict (like myself) could get lost in. I mean, its got EVERYTHING. I found stuff this time I hadn't found in the last 3 or 4 times I tried. And I'm bettin I still ain't scratched the surface. I still can't even imagine actually taking a job and being in charge of a team. Could I ask a few veteran players one quick thing? Tell me your SOP for how you play. (Standard Operating Procedure). Not looking for details, just generalities. For example, this time I found there were WAAAY more places for messages than I originally thought. Just wondering, what is your way of playing??? I.E., sim a week, then go back and look at my team's results, injuries, players not working out, etc. in other words immediate team stuff. Then look at league wide news??? Then sim another week??? Right now I still feel so lost maybe if I could imagine what a veteran player does on a daily basis I could give that a go for a while and see how quickly I pick it up.

FWIW, instead of the library, I'm gonna download the video tutorials. They looked small enough to deal with when I looked earlier today, so I thought I'd wait until the midnight hour and download em. (Can't tie up my phone line for hours at a time) Man its tough still living in the stone ages. VERIZON VERIZON VERIZON when are you gonna make hi-speed available here????? Anyway, if others HAVE looked at these and its not worth the few hours of download, please tell me and I'll skip that part. Maybe I'm doing better now and maybe just trudging through, reading the manual, trudging through, cussing, reading the manual, cussing some more, might be the best way to go.

At least I DID figure out why I couldn't stop that first PBP game I was playing. What an idiot.


EDIT: Plus it helps that I've been home all afternoon and will be all weekend too. Woohoo.

[RchW]

Originally Posted by OldFatGuy

FRIGGIN AWESOME. Only way to describe this. This time I made it all the way to the middle of June and the amatuer draft. Still feel lost most of the time, still didn't even try taking a job, this was just watching the league operate, a few PBP games (man its way better when you quick sim to the end of AB's, plus it helped to bump up PBP speed). Was nice to see a scoreboard for a change.

I am still so way out of my league but man this thing looks like something a true baseball addict (like myself) could get lost in. I mean, its got EVERYTHING. I found stuff this time I hadn't found in the last 3 or 4 times I tried. And I'm bettin I still ain't scratched the surface. I still can't even imagine actually taking a job and being in charge of a team. Could I ask a few veteran players one quick thing? Tell me your SOP for how you play. (Standard Operating Procedure). Not looking for details, just generalities. For example, this time I found there were WAAAY more places for messages than I originally thought. Just wondering, what is your way of playing??? I.E., sim a week, then go back and look at my team's results, injuries, players not working out, etc. in other words immediate team stuff. Then look at league wide news??? Then sim another week??? Right now I still feel so lost maybe if I could imagine what a veteran player does on a daily basis I could give that a go for a while and see how quickly I pick it up.

FWIW, instead of the library, I'm gonna download the video tutorials. They looked small enough to deal with when I looked earlier today, so I thought I'd wait until the midnight hour and download em. (Can't tie up my phone line for hours at a time) Man its tough still living in the stone ages. VERIZON VERIZON VERIZON when are you gonna make hi-speed available here????? Anyway, if others HAVE looked at these and its not worth the few hours of download, please tell me and I'll skip that part. Maybe I'm doing better now and maybe just trudging through, reading the manual, trudging through, cussing, reading the manual, cussing some more, might be the best way to go.

At least I DID figure out why I couldn't stop that first PBP game I was playing. What an idiot.


EDIT: Plus it helps that I've been home all afternoon and will be all weekend too. Woohoo.

There is no right way to play. That's the beauty of this game. From your post in bold above, weekly sims are good, check your rotation see who is tired, play with your batting order.

There seems to be two very general camps in solo play. Some people sim all games and look at league wide results as well as their own team. Within that camp some cede control to the AI for daily managing and act more like god or GM. A subset sim the regular season and if successful play out the playoff games.

Others play out all of their team's games. This allows for a true field managers experience. This will also affect player usage and stats. A subset play out all games (or all games in part) in the league. This may be the ultimate in control.

I'm sure there are other ways that I've missed, but you have my .

[Kelric]

The way I usually go varies, as sometimes I sim one week at a time, sometimes a month, sometimes a day, sometimes I play every game. When I pick one of those, I tend to stick with that one style for the whole history of the league, barring playoffs which I always sim a day at a time or play every game.

BTW, once you take a job you really only have to look at your Manager News page (the news/e-mail button that is furthest to the left on the bottom panel - I think it's maybe the second overall from the left?), or at least I do, as that seems to give me the same exact news as the League News Page. And IIRC, you have to assign yourself a job in OOTP. But I could be wrong, since I always play in Commish mode (just in case I need to edit anything).

Let's say I sim a week at a time, this is generally what I do:

Starting at the beginning of the league, I look through my entire organization and decide who plays at what level of the minor leagues. I use the Minor League System Report (which you can get via the Transaction Screen or your team's Home Page) which will tell me when a guy is ready to be promoted or demoted.

Once I have guys at every level where I want them, I ask the AI to set up all my lineups/depth charts/pitching staffs in the minors. Then I go through them and make whatever adjustments I want - usually just changing the MR setup around or making shortstops learn second base and whatnot.

After that, I set up every lineup/depth chart/pitching staff for my big league club. Get everything how I want it. I usually always set my Strategies to Neutral for everything, unless I have a particularly fast (more steals) or slow (less steals) team.

Sim through the entirety of Spring Training. Look at the Player Development Report via the Team Home Page. This tells me who has had Potential changes, good or bad. In the League Settings, I have the game tell me every change (you can have it tell you only some, as well, but I prefer having more info). Then I look at my Minor League System Report again, adjusting levels/lineups/depth charts/pitching staffs. Go through my big league team again.

Regular season starts, I sim a week. Read my Manager News/E-mails. Check my big league stats. Do this one week at a time for the whole month.

When the month ends, check the Player Development and Minor League System Reports, changing levels/lineups/etc. as needed.

Sim a week.

Rinse wash and repeat. Whenever I feel like it, I check the league leaders, other teams, etc.

If I sim a month at a time, I go the entire month then read the news/check stats/Player Develop./Minor League System Reports. If I sim daily, I read the news every day, then check the other stuff every month as usual. Same if I play every game.

[OldFatGuy]

Thanks again for the replies, hope we can close this thread now as others with more pressing problems will undoubtedly come along.

Originally Posted by Kelric

you have to assign yourself a job in OOTP. But I could be wrong, since I always play in Commish mode (just in case I need to edit anything).

Don't mean to nitpick, especially since I DON'T HAVE A CLUE WTF I'm talking about, I just happened to finish my season tonight and DID get offerred a job. So I GUESS you dont' HAVE to assign yourself a job. Which is cool, I personally think it makes it more realistic, but I'm not sure you and I are talking about the same thing. I watched the whole first season, then got offerred a job (actually two, got to pick) from the two almost worst teams in the league. But I personally think that's cool, that's what I was hoping for in terms of realisim. After all, the only MLB teams that would offer some old fat guy a GM job would HAVE to be the worst ones wouldn't they?????

[Kelric]

No, we are talking about the same thing. I just always assign myself a job at the beginning of the league, so I have no idea about that aspect of the game.

Feel free to keep asking questions. Sadly, I had nothing better to do tonight.

[injury log]

I think, as you're probably already beginning to see, everyone plays the game in different ways. Part of what makes the game great. I'd suggest the following, if you're starting out:

-don't take a job as a minor league GM. It's full of frustration, because you can't control who gets promoted and demoted from your team. It might seem counter-intuitive, but for a first job, be a Major League GM;

-at first, at least, I'd recommend letting the computer control your minor leagues, because this can be pretty time-consuming, and always seems boring to me until I become committed to some of my minor league players. Once you've been hired, go to Manager menu --> Options, and set 'Minor League Transactions' and 'Minor League Lineups etc' to 'minor league managers'. The computer will then handle all your minor league pitching rotations, lineups, depth charts and promotions and demotions within your system *except* promotions and demotions to and from your Major League team. Those will still be up to you.

Beyond that, how you play depends on what you find interesting. If you like being a Manager, and like getting to know your players really well, playing out your games can be a lot of fun. It does take ages, though, to progress through a season. I prefer the GM side of things, so I don't play out many games, and sim forward days, weeks, and sometimes months at a time.

[Comedian2004]

You need to check out some of my Utilities (see my signature). Some are too large for you to download the 'required' files, but you should be able to use a majority of them.

You can also get them on CD.

[OldFatGuy]

Originally Posted by Kelric

Feel free to keep asking questions. Sadly, I had nothing better to do tonight.

Nothing personal, but hopefully there will be other times with nothing better to do. I got a feeling I'm gonna be needing all the help I can get. Started being a real GM this morning and really got that overwhelmed feeling again. Man, this game is DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP. There are enough strategy settings in there to take up a weekend. Or three.

[OldFatGuy]

Originally Posted by injury log

I think, as you're probably already beginning to see, everyone plays the game in different ways. Part of what makes the game great. I'd suggest the following, if you're starting out:

-don't take a job as a minor league GM. It's full of frustration, because you can't control who gets promoted and demoted from your team. It might seem counter-intuitive, but for a first job, be a Major League GM;

-at first, at least, I'd recommend letting the computer control your minor leagues, because this can be pretty time-consuming, and always seems boring to me until I become committed to some of my minor league players. Once you've been hired, go to Manager menu --> Options, and set 'Minor League Transactions' and 'Minor League Lineups etc' to 'minor league managers'. The computer will then handle all your minor league pitching rotations, lineups, depth charts and promotions and demotions within your system *except* promotions and demotions to and from your Major League team. Those will still be up to you.

Beyond that, how you play depends on what you find interesting. If you like being a Manager, and like getting to know your players really well, playing out your games can be a lot of fun. It does take ages, though, to progress through a season. I prefer the GM side of things, so I don't play out many games, and sim forward days, weeks, and sometimes months at a time.

Thanks for the good advice. Right not I can't even imagine trying to handle minor leagues, though if I'm smart enough and/or brave enough someday I do hope to.

[Kelric]

Manager Settings would take a long time if you set every little thing. Which is why I generally just neutralize 'em.