Missing features or suggestions for historical play...

[Marc Duffy]

Calling all historical players. I'm looking for your help and feedback.

I've seen some threads claiming we have not paid enough attention to the historical side of the game. Of course, we do not believe that is true (especially with the likes of Tiger Fan on the team), that said I'll throw the door open and let you guys tell us what is missing.

For starters, I've attached comments by The Wolf

- historical quickstarts, say one a decade, a minor league team database that automatically adds the historical minor leagues for those who want that

- the ability to have more than two subleagues in a given minor league level,

- either built-in or better support for the Lahman and other databases (have the game create a /historical subdirectory that it looks in for the database files by default where the Lahman or other database would be etxracted to so that the customer isn't regularly floundering around his computer looking for master.csv)

- automatic league expansion with drafts and protection

- the ability to add a league or a sub-league over time

[Raidergoo]

Shaughnessy playoff format

[jnshmoo]

Too bad Eck can't add to this.

[eriqjaffe]

Originally Posted by Marc Duffy

automatic league expansion with drafts and protection

Having expansion drafts & protection lists would benefit far more than historical players. Given the headaches the OTBA just had with it's expansion (still on OOTP 6.5), having the game be able to handle this sort of thing would be incredibly incredible.

It'd be even better if it could be togglable and/or triggered manually.

[eriqjaffe]

dola,

The ability to automatically update stadiums with changed dimensions and park effects.

[akw4572]

"era" settings that change automatically over time, i.e. bullpen usage, starting pitcher endurance, closer usage, stealing and bunting frequency.

[WrightWing]

1) Allow a Rule V Draft when playing with no minors. Or, said a different way, allow a Rule V Draft from the reserve roster.

2) Let the game draw player photos from the data/photos folder rather than the saved_games/example.lg/news/html/images folder. This would save a ton of time when doing more than one historical replay.

[WrightWing]

dola,

The 2 sub-league maximum really needs to be expanded. See this thread as an example;

How do I get three AAA leagues?

[BravesSince66]

One - At present, new stadiums do not become available to the pick list as time progresses. We need historical stadiums to be added automatically to the list of stadium choices. For course, if the game could somehow automatically assign the correct historic stadium (and/or stadium dimension changes) to the historic team that would be cool (with the option to override or edit of course).

Two - The ballpark factors of historic stadiums could be improved, especially in earlier stadiums here the game is kinda cookie-cutter in its approach even though the dimensions are known.

Three - 42,000. That default number needs to change. You can edit it now but I wish it were more "intelligent". Every stadium now seats 42,000 or something. Of course, this isn't THAT big a deal since you can control the "average" attendence anyway. BUT, I've simmed the early 1900's and when teams make the World Series you often get 42,000 fans watching the game in a stadium that could not hold that many even with standing room only.

Thanks!

[cibl commish]

Personally don't care about automatic expansion for certain years, but to be able to hold a "real" expansion draft and control it would be absolutely wonderful!

[rogmax11]

Add a clone import feature that allows importing individual teams/ leagues, and add a normalization function that easily facilitates cross-era play.

Add a Baseball Timeline feature that incorporates actual baseball and real-world historical news to replays

Add historical manager/GM models for the AI to emulate tendencies in the way real teams were managed or run.

Incorporate player-chosen awards/ASG selections. Better yet, add an option to select "All-League" players for those who choose not to have a stupid ASG.
Simulate the voting by writers/HOF committee members on the HOF as well as the above areas, with the player being able to vote/override as he sees fit.

[Nukester]

Lose the fictional players in historicals with minors (at least allow one level of minors to be created without fictionals). I dont care if we can make them crappy players. I dont want fake players in there, period, no matter how bad they are. Sometimes those fake players sneak into your league and see more action than expected. I know we can use the "reserve roster", which is ok, but one level of minors (where players can accumulate minor league stats) would be very cool

Better ratings based on missing data in the standard Lahman database. I like the 3rd party DB's which can help this, but most of the time I dont want two of the same player in the league (Ruth, Wood, etc...) or I dont want Negro League players in the league, or I dont want different debut years, and going through and deleting them from the 3rd party DB's can be a pain in the butt. A more accurate import from the standard Lahman would help that.

Past records. If I import in 1983 I want to see the league records up to that point (even if there was a cutoff of say 1901-the import date)

Ill metion more when I can think of them

[Vholes]

The three biggest issues for me:

(1) Allow pure cash sales of players, especially from unaffiliated minor league teams to major league teams.

(2) In conjunction with (1), improve financial AI so that financially distressed teams will be forced to sell off their players (or at least try to dump expensive contracts).

(3) For teams with no minors, make it possible to fix the size of the reserve roster or disable reserve rosters entirely.

[swampdragon]

1. The ability to add and delete leagues, both major and minor.
2. Echoing Wolf, a dedicated subdirectory for the historical databases would be a great idea.
3. The ability to import teams from the Lahman and other databases. (PureSim already has this one. It's very useful.)
4. Unaffiliated minors that work a little better. They shouldn't be able to sign major league stars.

[Raidergoo]

Originally Posted by rogmax11

Add a Baseball Timeline feature that incorporates actual baseball and real-world historical news to replays

You want a news article on your email on Dec 7th, 1941 that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor?

Basically, you are asking for date-triggered news?

Oh-ho. What fun! I think that is a splendid suggestion. I'd be glad to write some.

[rogmax11]

I cant tell if you're being facetious or not, and the timeline idea is merely a suggestion to deepen or intensify the historical immersion process, not unlike, say, financial coefficients. And it certainly isnt any more requisite than a working expansion feature or real-world fatigue models or the impact of weather delays on a pitching rotation.

I just thought it was a neat idea, and one I cribbed from the TWB at that. Oh well.

[Ankit]

Intelligent assessment of potential and actual abilities of players imported from Lahman. I don't want a hitter who went 6 for 18 in his only stint to be rated the same as a hitter who went 3 for 9 in his rookie season but was 1000 for 3000 in his career. Same for pitchers.

Summary:
Instead of having the current option of Adjust hitters with less than X at-bats (in THE IMPORTED SEASON), make it an option that is:

Adjust Hitters with less than X AB in their CAREER
Adjust Pitchers with less than X IP in their CAREER
Make Bad Hitters with less than X AB in their CAREER
Make Bad Pitchers with less than X IP in their CAREER

The "X" should be adjustable by the user.

Also, allow players who can hit and pitch to be able to do so automatically.

These should help a lot in making DBs more usable with OOTP.

Another thought, what about reading and importing ballpark info from a txt/csv file? I think we can create that file so that each year, the game can read that file and assign the appropriate ballpark, dimensions, seats, and park factors to the relevant team. We can work out the details if you are interested.

[Raidergoo]

Ballparks.txt was suggested a very long time ago, and it ought to be a component as described by Ankit.

[rwd59]

Originally Posted by Ankit

Intelligent assessment of potential and actual abilities of players imported from Lahman. I don't want a hitter who went 6 for 18 in his only stint to be rated the same as a hitter who went 3 for 9 in his rookie season but was 1000 for 3000 in his career. Same for pitchers.

Summary:
Instead of having the current option of Adjust hitters with less than X at-bats (in THE IMPORTED SEASON), make it an option that is:

Adjust Hitters with less than X AB in their CAREER
Adjust Pitchers with less than X IP in their CAREER
Make Bad Hitters with less than X AB in their CAREER
Make Bad Pitchers with less than X IP in their CAREER

The "X" should be adjustable by the user.

Also, allow players who can hit and pitch to be able to do so automatically.

These should help a lot in making DBs more usable with OOTP.

Another thought, what about reading and importing ballpark info from a txt/csv file? I think we can create that file so that each year, the game can read that file and assign the appropriate ballpark, dimensions, seats, and park factors to the relevant team. We can work out the details if you are interested.

Anything Ankit says about importing players!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also, along the lines of importing players: How about an option to base a players import ratings on his rookie year plus x number of years. Then I could choose say to import players based on the import year plus the next 2 years per se. I know there is a choice...or has been in the past for full career, remaining career, or peak seasons but this could be another option. I have used the modified DB exclusively in the past because I want people who had lousy first seasons to have a chance to develop. But these modified DB then cause some to come in ready to play and play well too quickly. Example of my suggestion, Nolan Ryan as a rookie in 1966. He pitched 3.2 innings with a 13 or something like that ERA. With the regular Lahman he comes with such lousy ratings that many times he doesn't develop at all. If you could average his first 2 or 3 seasons then he will come in somewhat better but still with room for improvement. Then maybe he will and maybe he won't and I'm ok with that. Mike Schmidt was the same way..awful first year, shaky second, and much improved third. Combining the 3 he will have a better chance of becoming what he was but still not a sure thing.

[TheBishop]

Historical leagues either need ghost players back in so we can have minor leagues or some other way to keep fictional players out. They are just way to intrusive upon the leagues and not having minors leagues at all really stunts the way I play.