International League Fantasy Players

[enuttage]

Just a couple of resources I put together to assist anyone who does what I do and ends up revisiting a lot of the same sources everytime I start a league...

1. World map with the locations of the most populous 103 agglomerations on the planet including their populations:

Google Maps

2. HTML 'spreadsheet' listing those same agglomerations, including their populations, elevations (help with ballpark factors, if you pay attention to such things), primary sporting venues (I've taken some liberties if the place plays cricket - I know it's not baseball but the stadia tend to mirror the size of baseball stadia vs. soccer (footie) venues), capacity, and use.

http://whbl.org/OOTP/World%20Agglomerations%20HTML.html

I may eventually fire up a wiki with more detail and more cities/agglomerations, but this is a starter doc for now.

The map isn't necessary if you're just picking out cities you're already familiar with or if you're going on pop alone, per se. But it's handy if you're a 'realist' when it comes to geographical limitations and divisional/sub-league alignment.

I don't profess this to be 100% accurate, but it's as close as I've got in my limited time.

I'm happy to alter it if folks see any glaring errors, or can help fill in some of the blanks.

[enuttage]

Ugh. Double post. This is the *right* one, with a more thorough explanation.

[enuttage]

I'll add that I've no idea how all of these cities are represented in the game, or whether they are at all.

With the exception of Ruhr, they all *should* be represented whether they are or not.

[Charlie Hough]

Thanks for posting this. I don't do any international fantasy leagues in OOTP, but the information was interesting anyway.

[Tyke]

Thanks, enuttage, this could be really useful

[Eumel]

Originally Posted by enuttage

I'll add that I've no idea how all of these cities are represented in the game, or whether they are at all.

With the exception of Ruhr, they all *should* be represented whether they are or not.

The Veltins Arena is in Gelsenkirchen, but you probably know that already.

[enuttage]

Originally Posted by Eumel

The Veltins Arena is in Gelsenkirchen, but you probably know that already.

I did. My understanding was that Gelsenkirchen was in the 'Ruhr area' still. Is that correct?

If it isn't, I'll swap it out for for the MSV Arena in Duisburg.

To me, Gelsenkirchen 'looks' more central to Ruhr (plus Veltins looks a lot nicer than MSV), but you are intimately more familiar with the area than I am. I promise.

edit: Or Signal Iduna

[enuttage]

Originally Posted by Charlie Hough

Thanks for posting this. I don't do any international fantasy leagues in OOTP, but the information was interesting anyway.

Originally Posted by Tyke

Thanks, enuttage, this could be really useful

No prob, guys. Hopefully folks will have at least a *little* bit of centralized info now.

[Eumel]

Originally Posted by enuttage

I did. My understanding was that Gelsenkirchen was in the 'Ruhr area' still. Is that correct?

If it isn't, I'll swap it out for for the MSV Arena in Duisburg.

To me, Gelsenkirchen 'looks' more central to Ruhr (plus Veltins looks a lot nicer than MSV), but you are intimately more familiar with the area than I am. I promise.

edit: Or Signal Iduna

Yup, it is. All fine, I'd take the Gelsenkirchen stadium.

[enuttage]

Originally Posted by Eumel

Yup, it is. All fine, I'd take the Gelsenkirchen stadium.

Cool. Thanks. On that note, in your opinion, what are the 'best' stadia for baseball on a large scale in both Ruhr and Berlin?

I know it isn't played on the same scale there, but I guess I'm wondering if certain playing fields, in your opinion, would be better suited to baseball than others when converted.

[Eumel]

Yeah, Baseball is almost nonexistant here, so no one wastes a thought about using a large stadium for it.

Schalke's Veltins Arena is used for all sorts of things (from concerts to ski racing), so I guess this would also be my choice. Nice and new with a retractable roof and a roll-out pitch, and supposedly with intimidating acoustics (never actually been there).

In Berlin, the Olympiastadium would seem less suitable, as it's basically an (old) athletics stadium, complete with track. However, it's by far the largest stadium in Berlin. The Jahnstadion (20000 seats) has been used for American Football, but it also has a track around the field. In short, there's probably no large stadium in Berlin that would be suitable for baseball. The larger stadiums are all rather old, and Berlin is notoriously short on money. Go with the Olympiastadion, because of its size. If realism mattered, they'd play on some DIY-diamond in front of 50 spectators anyway.

[enuttage]

Originally Posted by Eumel

If realism mattered, they'd play on some DIY-diamond in front of 50 spectators anyway.

Heh. Yeah, this is a good reminder that 'realism' is only so real.