How do you play the game and why?

[Dutchy]

How do you play OOTP? I'd love to know because I'm running into some problems with my game and I'm getting a bit discontented feeling when playing at times. My style is to play out every game because this makes get into it as much as possible but some things are worrying me.

Many times I feel like I'm the batter at the plate while I really just should be the manager. I get to tell the player how to bat or not to bat at all, and baserunners don't seem to be capable of making decisions for themselves either. I don't mind making a few decisions such as waving a baserunner on to home but I shouldn't be telling the batter how and when to bat or whether to steal now or give up on stealing second or third. This actually means I'm more or less responsible for player's batting averages and pithcer ERA.

Since the game is like this and I'd like to be not as responsible for the result and players' performance as I'm now, I'd like to know how to avoid these situations, get the most fun out of this game (and immersion!) and not get the feeling I'm playing an enhanced version of MS Excel Baseball.

How do you go through the games and season and still feel you're part if it in stead of being a mere spectator?

[Dutchy]

51 views and no reply?

[revcarte]

For this particular game I play one team. For example I am playing the 68 Cardinals and will manually play out their entire schecule. The computer plays all the other teams. when I play Strat O Matic I play all the teams manually, but for this game I play an entire season and then pick another project or re-start the season. I have no interest in playing a number of years in successioin and doing the drafting, free agent, things. I enjoy playing the game the way I want. I like the fact that this game has the ability to tweak the game to your own liking. Have Fun!!

[RchW]

You should play one-pitch and concern yourself only with stealing, hit-and-run, run-and-hit, pitching changes, defensive changes and other macro strategies. Real life managers have limited input and in fact typically let their players play except for specific situations, say a squeeze or playing the IF in on a bases loaded situation.

The game plays itself. You have to decide what level of influence you want to have.

[StyxNCa]

I play sitting down cuz it's more comfortable than standing.

[craftdr]

I used to play each game out but I found that playing a 162 game season just took too long and I couldn't really see how my prospects developed. I now control one major league team and handle everything except for in game decisions. I sim 1 day at a time and check the box scores, results of other teams and my minor league teams.

I also control the promotion/demotion of all minor leagues (AAA, AA, A, & R) as I find this helps to really know the players in my orginization. I do let the minor league managers control setting lineups though. It can be frustrating at times with injuries but I find it to be worth it.

I normally play a 16 team fictional league but today after 20 seasons of play, I expanded by four teams and promptly lost 22 of my players (most of any team; second highest lost 11) so I have to pretty much rebuild my minor leagues.

All in all, I would figure 1 season playing this way takes about 12-15 hours of play.

[Lucas718]

I play out all my games and the only thing I control during a game are substitutions.

[Orcin]

I manage the first game of every series (one pitch mode) and sim the others. I let the AI handle minor league lineups but I control roster moves.

[MizzouRah]

I play a few games.. important games and all postseason games, let the AI handle my minor leagues barring some releases here and there.

[themonk]

Sim during the regular season. Play out games (one pitch mode) during the playoffs & world series (if my team makes it).

I'd like to sim most of the time because it would take too long for me to finish a season if I play out all of my games...

[DanDiaz]

If you rebuild a team, it is fun to watch draft cllasses and traded for prospects go from rookie ball to super star, trade bait, role player or bust.

I am currently following the ups and downs of 20+ prospects in my system and feel very involved.

[mrcoach00]

I usually play a fictional 16 or 24 team league, but this time I playing with MLB rosters.

I oversee all roster moves including those at the minor league level. I really enjoy being the GM and controlling the minors as I get to adjust all lineups, force start a player to learn a new position, and try to get my high endurance pitchers to learn a new pitch.

During the season I "Eugene Church it". I think he was the one who started simming the first 6 or 7 innings of a game and the play out the last couple. I like this method because I can then control most of the bullpen choices and handle the double switches. Plus, it really speeds up my simming, as I used to play out every inning.

[THEOVELS]

I manage only one team, (the Cardinals of course) in a fictional league, and I play out every game. One way I shorten the game time is when pitching and the bases are empty, I play at-bat mode. All other times I play pitch by pitch. The reason I bought this game since version 6 or 6.5 was to be in charge of my team's entire system. To me, siming games would cause me to miss out the record preformances that happen.

[Mr. Capo]

I quick play most games, and look at box scores or game logs. I will play out an occasional game at random, usually when there is a good pitcher match-up or something of special interest. If my team is in a pennant race, I will play out more games, especially as the race heats up. I handle all roster moves, and tweak the lineups and rotation throughout the season.

I have one team in a 16-team major league, and my friend has another in the same league. We use historical players, but re-name the teams. I prepare the game (customize the teams and sim a few years), then save as a quick start and give it to him. So we begin in an identical world, and we hold an inaugural draft. From that point, our baseball "worlds" diverge, and we compare notes, issuing email reports to each other, sometimes weaving stories to support the events. After a few seasons, we pick either his or my version of that world, make another quick-start, and get back into sync. And we have A LOT of fun!

[1998 Yankees]

Rich and some of the others have it right, Dutchy. I too sometimes feel discontentment with my current style of play.

The thing is, there are so many ways/levels of immersion in this game that, no matter how I feel at the time, I can always adjust in order to get back into the game. I've played at every level possible from "God at 50,000 feet" (mixing metaphors) to micro-managing. That explains why I'm still here after six years (lurking like a timid mouse for the first one) and six versions of OOTP.

Call for a changeup (in playing style), coach!

[Xpert7777]

I think I have tried pretty much every way possible, from playing out every game, to simming entire seasons.

What I enjoy doing now is starting a new league, simming at least 20 years to create some decent history and taking over a poor team who does not have gobs of money laying around and try and create a winner. I will sign the FA's, do the draft and set up the lineups and generally sim a week at a time or just sim game by game and adjust rosters/lineups.

I love watching players develop and move through the system and I realized that playing out every game just took too long to notice any development. I usually finish an entire season in 5-6 hours or so, and depending on how much free time I have during the week, that comes out to a season per week.

There are so many different ways to play, one of the reasons that makes this game so great though.

[Chicagofan76]

My preferred style of play is to create a new league and play out all games unless I have a 10 game lead or higher or am 20 games or more under .500 then I just sim the rest of those seasons. I tend to play out the 1st 15 games of ST and sim the rest making cuts at games 15,18,20,22 & end of ST.
I tend to play out most of my leagues, since I always create myself in those leagues. It does get frustrating when I have myself on a poor team. A league I had just trashed because the League Strategy defaulted to 2001 for the 2001 season, after I set it up after creating the league to 1973. I was 17-6 2.03 but my team had won 39 of 130 games. In another league I tend to have a 10 game lead by the ASG so i sim til Sept call ups. I like playing out the last month to look at new players, rest my regulars. I play out all playoffs even in leagues i sim such as my 1871 -2011 historical league, i have played out a total of 75 regular season games 1871-1900. I play 1 pitch mode, p-b-p is too tedious. I want to see a manage only mode similar to High Heat were when I want to make a move I can hit ESC and change a pitcher visit the mound, etc. I hate having to hit enter after every AB.( not gonna stop me from playing OOTP though)
I only play out the ASG if I had won the league pennant the yr prior.

[beorn]

Far, far, and away my favorite way to play is in an online league that sims a week at a time and runs sims as frequently as possible. That way, you can use the weekly lineup feature for some level of micromanagement, but things move right along. Human opponents are less predictable and not such pushovers that you need house rules to prevent rolling over the opposition.

Second is to run a solo league and not only play out all the games (one pitch) but also play out some minor league games as well, particularly where the best prospects are playing, so their development is more real to me.

[Peterk]

I play pretty much the way you do....playing out each game in one-pitch mode. I can get through a season in about 3 weeks or so. Immersion is great and you get attached to your players because the pace is fairly slow.

I don't quite get your complaint though that you should not be telling batters how to bat or run. Managers DO all of the things that you were compaining about. The only thing that doesn't ring true for me is calling pickoff throws to catch a runner (that should happen automatically if you're holding the runner), but apart from that everything on the list of options are things that managers would call from the bench.

[Cinnamon J. Scudworth]

Originally Posted by Orcin

I manage the first game of every series (one pitch mode) and sim the others. I let the AI handle minor league lineups but I control roster moves.

I've increasingly started playing this way, both to get through the season faster and also because I feel like managing in-game is pretty tedious over time. It also makes me feel freer to pay more attention to what's going on elsewhere in the league, too. I like controlling the minor league line-ups to make sure the bench players are getting some playing time, though.