Suggestions: Artificial Intelligence

[Raidergoo]

Suggestion Leverage the smarter human brain when the human proposes a trade by having the AI shop the player (or package of players) the human asks for to other AI teams, thus starting a bidding war. Such a bidding war will make it harder to fleece the AI, because the human will be in competition with other clubs for talent.


Reason The human brain is going to be able to spot talent, develop it, and plan ahead far better than the AI for quite some time. This human advantage can be exploited, almost in a jujitsu-like manner. A human identifies what he feels as superior talent when he makes a trade request to a AI team. The players that the human wants should be immediately shopped to other clubs to see if they would make a better deal for them.


Priority
low

[bailey]

Suggestion: Have the AI stop sac-bunting with 1 out.

Reason: Very often the leadoff man gets to 1st then there follows 2 sac bunts. Earl Weaver might think even the 1st sac bunt is a bad move early in the game, but 2 in a row is just not done. (Not sure if bunting for a hit is OK with 1 out and a man on 2nd).

Priority: High

[Raidergoo]

SuggestionHave a strategy setting for closer use.


ReasonHistorical accuracy. Today, closers start the 9th inning something like 90% of the time. This used to be far lower. The closer used to be called the fireman, and would put out the fires in the 7th inning. See Ch 2.2 of Baseball Between the Numbers.


Priority
HIGH

[tysok]

Sort of on the lines of Raiders trade suggestion above, but more.
Make the computer value it's prospects more, and it needs to value the first couple picks in the draft more.
Here's a trade I managed to make:
Hatsutori, 29 year old CF 9/14/11 and my 12th and 13th draft picks for Saville, 27 year old CF 15/9/11 and their 2nd and 3rd pick. Saville had one more year of arbitration making 7 million, Hatsutori was making 12 million a year for 4 more years. This was with a team that finished 66-96 for the year, the trade was made in July.

This is a common trade for me. I easily get high draft picks from the AI, and always trade off a slightly aging or injury affected star (Hatsutori had recently dropped from 14 contact to 11) making a lot of money for a younger better at the moment star making 4+ million less, or a super prospect.
An example of the super prospect trade would be I got Salame with potential 17/20/16 plus a whole lot of high draft picks (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 2 5ths) for 25 year old rated 11/14/11, potential 12/16/14.

Too easy to fleece the AI when they value prospects as little as they do. I can't steal them for nothing, but I can get way too much in terms of draft picks and established prospects by giving up medium level stars.

[Mr. Capo]

Originally Posted by JerryArr

Suggestion
Different individual AI GM's have varying levels of intelligence/preferences for prospects/etc.

Reason
Adds variety to the game.

Priority
Low

Seconded, except,

Priority: Very high

It would go a long way towards improving drafts and trading. And it would be way more realistic.

[voxpoptart]

Suggestion
Create models for relief-pitcher use for different eras, especially the 1970s (the "stopper" model, with aces used whenever the game is close and for multiple innings). The user should be able to toggle on the Global A.I. setting. An especially nice feature would allow the user to select two models of reliever use, and have some managers use one, others use another.

Reasons
1. Hugely benefits the historical simmer.
2. Adding the 1970s model in particular makes the A.I. more difficult to defeat, because frankly, all analyses suggest that the "stopper" model was a lot smarter than wasting the Mariano Riveras of the world for 60 innings of protecting two-run leads.

Priority
High.

[voxpoptart]

Originally Posted by Raidergoo

Suggestion Leverage the smarter human brain when the human proposes a trade by having the AI shop the player (or package of players) the human asks for to other AI teams, thus starting a bidding war. Such a bidding war will make it harder to fleece the AI, because the human will be in competition with other clubs for talent.

Seconded! With enthusiasm. However, you'd want to make that a toggle on Global A.I.: there'd be a lot of players, I think, who wouldn't like this.

[voxpoptart]

Suggestion
I realize this is probably very hard to code, but: make the minor league A.I. aware of when there is no backup at a position (so it can fix this), and make it aware of when a player is out for a long period of time (so it can adjust the depth charts and maybe call up a replacement).

Reason
What I most frequently see is a minor league team with two catchers: one is a full-time catcher, the other is a full-time DH. The catcher spends most of the year totally exhausted, and if he gets injured, the team spends the year playing an outfielder at catcher. Less often, I see a team with no backup shortstop; and often, I see a team with four injuries and nothing done to accommodate the fact. I don't let this happen in my team's minor league system, but then I wind up with an unfair advantage.

Note, by the way, that I specifically set up the minor leagues with 27-man rosters to help avoid these problems. Very rarely do the computer teams use more than 25 players. I've tried, rather burdensomely, signing third catchers or backup shortstops or replacement pitchers to those minor league teams; almost always, someone will be demoted/released and the problem will continue.

Priority
If it is in fact fixable? High.

[matt2053]

Suggestion
I would like to see managers or coaches labeled with some sort of "managing style." Such as "small-ball" managers who like to bunt and hit-and-run or "big hit" managers who wait for the extra base hit to drive in runs.

Reason
I know there are ratings and sliders for these things, but it's just incredibly tedious to go through all the ratings for all the possible combinations of situations, scores, and innings.

Priority
Low

[matt2053]

Suggestion
I would like to be able to squeeze with the bases loaded.

Reason
Why not?

Priority
Low

[matt2053]

Suggestion
The AI handling of minor league rosters could really stand some improvement, as well as the AI's lineup construction.

Reason
I have to spend way too much time removing injured players from my minor league depth charts and setting the lineups. Also I play in an online league, and if there is an injury that affects my lineup during a sim, the AI comes up with some bizarre lineups (such as batting my slow, .190 hitting catcher leadoff). I have also had problems with the AI letting my pitcher bat, and then replacing him with a relief pitcher immediately thereafter.

PriorityHigh

[matt2053]

Originally Posted by matt2053

Suggestion
I would like to see managers or coaches labeled with some sort of "managing style." Such as "small-ball" managers who like to bunt and hit-and-run or "big hit" managers who wait for the extra base hit to drive in runs.

Reason
I know there are ratings and sliders for these things, but it's just incredibly tedious to go through all the ratings for all the possible combinations of situations, scores, and innings.

Priority
Low

Originally Posted by matt2053

Suggestion
I would like to be able to squeeze with the bases loaded.

Reason
Why not?

Priority
Low

I apologize, those suggestions should have gone in more appropriate threads.

[Raidergoo]

Originally Posted by matt2053

I apologize, those suggestions should have gone in more appropriate threads.

Don't worry about it. It all ends up in the same XLS file. I'll correct it on the master file.

[Qwerty75]

Suggestion
Improve the AI's decision-making for defensive re-configuration and/or substitution after a pinch-hitter enters the game. Make it more consistent in finding the optimal choice for configuration/substitution.

Reason
I have seen players play out of position too often following pinch hitting appearances when appropriate backups are available as defensive substitutes. Sometimes the said pinch hitters remain in the game at an appropriate defensive position and the player at that position in the game is removed, but this hasn't happened all the time, and at times the player taken out of the game is one of the team's better hitters, which makes the substitution a poor one. Ideally, the AI should be able to make a decision for what pinch-hitter to send up for a certain situation given the game circumstances, defensive position the pinch hitter plays, and available defensive backups. The choice for pinch hitter and possible subsequent substitution made would leave the hitting team with the optimal alignment in the field in the next inning, taking into consideration the quality of hitting remaining in the lineup for the appropriate game circumstances (inning, score of game) as well.

Priority
Medium

[Qwerty75]

Suggestion
Change use of defensive substitutes so that they do not enter the game in the 9th inning when the game is tied, or have a slider for def. substitute usage so that the manager can determine if he would like substitutes to be regularly used in the 9th or possibly even earlier in the game.

Reason
At best this point of strategy is let up to the discretion of the individual manager. My sense of defensive specialist substitution patterns is that they do not enter the game in the 9th in a time game, but only with a lead, as they may be replacing one of the team's better hitters who would give them a better chance of scoring the go-ahead run. Run prevention may be important more important for some teams depending on manager preferences and personnel, though, so a slider may be the ideal solution.

Priority
Medium

[murmur13]

Suggestion

Improve AI player signing selection of foreign players in leagues with foreign player limits AND minor leagues.

Reason

Currently, if you're playing in a league with foreign player limits, the minor league affiliate(s) of the parent club has no limits. If there are lots of good foreign free agents, the AI will sign MANY foreign players that don't get to play for their major league club. I've seen organizations where the major league club is filled with domestic players and the farm club is comprised mostly of foreign players. Also, some of these extra foreign signings are important, high salary players.

This hurts the team that does this, because they're not using minor league spots to develop domestic talent that they can use.


Priority

Medium-high. This made some of my historical foreign leagues close to unplayable because of AI roster decisions.

[Raidergoo]

All suggestions collected in this thread.