Playing every pitch of every game..here's what I would like to see

ootp11.5 · 11-24-2011, 09:15 PM

1. Expanded PbP - yes I understand that there are only so many ways to describe a pop up, but still, there is so much that could be done here to enhance the experience. Some suggestions would include the following..some of the descriptions are seen more often than others obviously, however, maybe changing the outcome so that when you think you know a guy is gonna tumble backwards..maybe sometimes he DOESNT hold on to the ball. Truth be told, the weakest part of this game is the actual game play. So if the graphics are going to be the strong suit of the game play..then the pbp needs to top notch to enhance the ingame experience. Maybe a 7th inning strecth with a trivia question in the 5th with the answer given during the 7th inning stretch - sort of like the news items but ingame. Great way to throw in some historical info. So many ideas but very detailed i wont go into every nitty gritty one.

2. Some things I do like is the little factoids, such as ..so and so, leads the league in stolen bases etc etc. thats a really nice little feature. Maybe expand on that or do that for every player, or when they face a certain pitcher, note what their batting avg against that particular pitcher is or vice versa the pitchers success against batters...maybe having that kick in after the all star break so that there is actually some data to mention after having faced a pitcher a couple of times.

3. I for one love the screen that shows where pitches are located (dont have the game open to tell u the correct name of the tab) but the one with the batter and pitch location along with all the stats. Fantastic screen..but I do admit I play every game on the screen with the stadium. Anyway to combine the 2? So that one can see the great stadum graphics but also get that pitch location screen with all of the wealth of info?

4. Going back to the actual games. Expansion or overhaul of choices. Im not a programmer and I commend all the work done..but what about something for pictures like...focus on breaking pitches or focus on heat or focus on location. In other words, if we can see the pitches being thrown and the location, as in my point above, maybe you get to understand, not to pitch a fastball to a guy on the inner part of the plater because thats his strength. I take it picking every pitch must be a programming issue or it would have been in there, but maybe focus on the KINDS of pitches and the location would take it at least one step up.

5. Stealing...seems to be an issue Ive seen on the board too. I cant tell u how many times my guy starts to run and then stops. I no longer even use it ..but rather Im using send forced. I know at least my guy is gonna go on a favorable pitch count that I want him to run on and it doesnt seem to make a difference is success.

6. Im not sure about the shifting defences. Ive used all the options other than shifting left or right. I dont know that we really know enough about any hitters to know when to use it..in fact i never have. Maybe if there was some scouting feature that lets u see where a players hits are ..ie. 60% left field, 20% centrefield, 20% right field, than that feature becomes useful.. maybe im too simplistic, but Ive never used that feature cause I just dont know enough about a hitter's traits. Yes i know some players are known as pull hitters but its not always accurate.

7. Very small but very useful, would be in the league leaders screen. Its great...for the team you are controlling because your players are highlighted in a different colour than the other players. How about doing that for ALL of your organizations players. So if I go to my AAA affiliate's league and go to the league leaders screen it becomes a bit of a pain to search through every player to see where my guys are..if they are among the league leaders...why not highlight them too? Personally, I would love that.

8. Im just in my first year of managing a ML team, but looking at the awards, I didnt see one for Manager of the Year. Maybe add that? Would be nice

Just some of my quick thoughts thus far..after a quarter season played. Ill add to this thread later. I thank everyone who works on this game both officially and unofficially, and all the members for feedback and the help I have been given by the board. These are just some of MY wishes, obviously everyone has their own opinions. Hopefully, a couple can be incoproated in the next edition of what is the best bball sim out there.

Cheers,

Chicagofan76 · 11-25-2011, 08:28 AM

I agree with all of those in part or in full except 6 & 8. The Manager of the Year Award is an automatic award given to the best mgr or to you as GM during the awards section at the end of your season.
For defense....I tend to let my AI handle that but when I dont have the aI handle that I use it often and it varies for all situations. I use shift Right for a left handed pull hitter coming up often and vice versa for right handed pull hitter especially if I have backup players in who dont have a great range so my IF/OF help each other out. Could Markus improve on it? Perhaps but I dont want to see him get rid of it.

Peterk · 11-25-2011, 12:27 PM

Is AI doing defensive shifts new to OOTP12. I'm playing on OOTP11 and have played out several thousands of games. AI controlled teams never do a shift left/right outfield normal/deep. Or if it does it, it doesn't indicate in anywhere.

Incidentally, you do have pull/spray data to make the defensive shift decision, but to see the batter's characteristic you have to check out his details. Slows down the game too much to be worthwhile.

I like your comments. A trivia question would be pretty cool....but NOT a question about actual baseball. Make it trivia about the OOTP league that is being played at the moment! That would be really neat.

Qwerty75 · 11-26-2011, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peterk

Is AI doing defensive shifts new to OOTP12. I'm playing on OOTP11 and have played out several thousands of games. AI controlled teams never do a shift left/right outfield normal/deep. Or if it does it, it doesn't indicate in anywhere.

Incidentally, you do have pull/spray data to make the defensive shift decision, but to see the batter's characteristic you have to check out his details. Slows down the game too much to be worthwhile.

I like your comments. A trivia question would be pretty cool....but NOT a question about actual baseball. Make it trivia about the OOTP league that is being played at the moment! That would be really neat.

I've seen the AI shift the infield to the hitter's pull side in v11 if: 1) The hitter is designated a Pull hitter; and 2) If his overall hitting ratings are really good. I've only seen it once or twice, but it *did* happen, so there's that. The AI putting the shift on may only happen when the game is tied or close as well -- not completely sure. Don't know if or how this has been changed in v12.

ootp11.5 · 12-05-2011, 11:17 PM

Just wanted to add a few more thoughts. First on the play by play. I saw a forum that seemed to suggest the play by play was a little less than professional at times. I would have to agree ..somewhat..but my criticism is more in trying to understand WHAT the play by play should be. I imagine it would be like listening to a game on the radio, so the pbp should be reflecting a commentators point of view. Having said that Ive seen lines like "he hit the SNOT out of that one" and that does actually take away from the pbp. I look for the pbp to enrich the game and those comments do unfortunately take away from it. Ill repeat that in a low graphics environment the pbp makes a huge difference to enriching the experience if done well. I know and appreciate the hard work everyone puts in. Just wanted to note those types of comments that do take a bit away from the pbp.

Having said that I wanted to expand on an idea I was thinking about...follow me for one moment...

Since baseball is so much about the interaction between pitcher, hitter and catcher, what about some kind of rating that combines a pithcers effectiveness in communicating with the catcher. What I mean is the following..the catcher has 2 rating right now, arm and ability, but what about communication...to signify the catchers play calling ability and leadership behiind the plate. Imagine a scenario with a young pitcher and a veteran catcher with a high level of "communication" rating, to help the young pitcher along. It would make pitcher catcher pairings a little more meaningful ,and for a veteran catcher, his arm might not be so hot anymore but his ability to read batters and make good calls on pitches might help offset his otherwise fading abilities elsewhere. For a youing catcher he may make a few bad calls but have a stronger more youthful arm.

OR

Maybe give the pitcher this ability, so that a pitcher with a high "communication" or "play calling" rating, would offset the weakness of his catcher, and have a higher degree of success with his pitches of course keeping in mind his limitations in the other characteristics. Young pitchers would be weaker in this area, veterans stronger, but those talented ones, are just plain good would have a high value in this skill early on.

Maybe the players intelligence rating takes this into account somewhat already? Im not sure. But whatever the case, I would love to see that pitcher batter catcher relationship advanced since it is the most important part of baseball (imho)

OR

Maybe both pitcher and catcher have this ability so that if u get 2 guys with a high level of pitch calling ability, all other things being equal, would have good success whereas if one had a high value and the other a low value, not as successful. Im not sure how the pitch engine works where is might be a control *stuff* movement = success ...type of equation, but maybe this could be one more piece of the pie in determing whether a guy throws a strike, or ball, or whether or not he leaves a meatball hanging over the plate, walks a guy etc etc. I am relatively new to this (with 12 being my first version in the series) so maybe alot of what I have said is redundent and already part of the process. Thanks for listening.

Any thoughts? Opinions? I think so much is done well, its strange that in my opinion the weakness is the actual gameplay.

Peterk · 12-06-2011, 12:35 AM

If I understand correctly, the pitching-by-pitch model is more or less a facade. The game calculates the results of the at-bat first - the individual pitches which get thrown are merely conjured up window dressing. It's well done, mind you, but it does get in the way of really building up a detailed model centered around the individual pitches and play calling.

I like your ideas. I think the effects of experience/leadership in general should have more of an impact in the game. The player descriptions keep telling me that so and so is a great leader and that guys respect him but I'll be damned if I can actually see any way that it manifests itself in an obvious manner.

Regarding play by play. You don't really want to get super detailed either...this isn't a game where you only play one season and that's it. Most people, I think, expect to get through a season in a reasonable amount of time. If the play by play gets so elaborate that it takes a half hour or more to get through a game, I don't think that would really work.

11-24-2011, 09:15 PM	#1 (permalink)
ootp11.5 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 69 Thanks: 20 Thanked 9x in 7 posts	Playing every pitch of every game..here's what I would like to see 1. Expanded PbP - yes I understand that there are only so many ways to describe a pop up, but still, there is so much that could be done here to enhance the experience. Some suggestions would include the following..some of the descriptions are seen more often than others obviously, however, maybe changing the outcome so that when you think you know a guy is gonna tumble backwards..maybe sometimes he DOESNT hold on to the ball. Truth be told, the weakest part of this game is the actual game play. So if the graphics are going to be the strong suit of the game play..then the pbp needs to top notch to enhance the ingame experience. Maybe a 7th inning strecth with a trivia question in the 5th with the answer given during the 7th inning stretch - sort of like the news items but ingame. Great way to throw in some historical info. So many ideas but very detailed i wont go into every nitty gritty one. 2. Some things I do like is the little factoids, such as ..so and so, leads the league in stolen bases etc etc. thats a really nice little feature. Maybe expand on that or do that for every player, or when they face a certain pitcher, note what their batting avg against that particular pitcher is or vice versa the pitchers success against batters...maybe having that kick in after the all star break so that there is actually some data to mention after having faced a pitcher a couple of times. 3. I for one love the screen that shows where pitches are located (dont have the game open to tell u the correct name of the tab) but the one with the batter and pitch location along with all the stats. Fantastic screen..but I do admit I play every game on the screen with the stadium. Anyway to combine the 2? So that one can see the great stadum graphics but also get that pitch location screen with all of the wealth of info? 4. Going back to the actual games. Expansion or overhaul of choices. Im not a programmer and I commend all the work done..but what about something for pictures like...focus on breaking pitches or focus on heat or focus on location. In other words, if we can see the pitches being thrown and the location, as in my point above, maybe you get to understand, not to pitch a fastball to a guy on the inner part of the plater because thats his strength. I take it picking every pitch must be a programming issue or it would have been in there, but maybe focus on the KINDS of pitches and the location would take it at least one step up. 5. Stealing...seems to be an issue Ive seen on the board too. I cant tell u how many times my guy starts to run and then stops. I no longer even use it ..but rather Im using send forced. I know at least my guy is gonna go on a favorable pitch count that I want him to run on and it doesnt seem to make a difference is success. 6. Im not sure about the shifting defences. Ive used all the options other than shifting left or right. I dont know that we really know enough about any hitters to know when to use it..in fact i never have. Maybe if there was some scouting feature that lets u see where a players hits are ..ie. 60% left field, 20% centrefield, 20% right field, than that feature becomes useful.. maybe im too simplistic, but Ive never used that feature cause I just dont know enough about a hitter's traits. Yes i know some players are known as pull hitters but its not always accurate. 7. Very small but very useful, would be in the league leaders screen. Its great...for the team you are controlling because your players are highlighted in a different colour than the other players. How about doing that for ALL of your organizations players. So if I go to my AAA affiliate's league and go to the league leaders screen it becomes a bit of a pain to search through every player to see where my guys are..if they are among the league leaders...why not highlight them too? Personally, I would love that. 8. Im just in my first year of managing a ML team, but looking at the awards, I didnt see one for Manager of the Year. Maybe add that? Would be nice Just some of my quick thoughts thus far..after a quarter season played. Ill add to this thread later. I thank everyone who works on this game both officially and unofficially, and all the members for feedback and the help I have been given by the board. These are just some of MY wishes, obviously everyone has their own opinions. Hopefully, a couple can be incoproated in the next edition of what is the best bball sim out there. Cheers,

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11-25-2011, 08:28 AM	#2 (permalink)
Chicagofan76 Banned Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Diamond, IL Posts: 6,339 Thanks: 3,340 Thanked 571x in 500 posts Infractions: 2/2 (3)	I agree with all of those in part or in full except 6 & 8. The Manager of the Year Award is an automatic award given to the best mgr or to you as GM during the awards section at the end of your season. For defense....I tend to let my AI handle that but when I dont have the aI handle that I use it often and it varies for all situations. I use shift Right for a left handed pull hitter coming up often and vice versa for right handed pull hitter especially if I have backup players in who dont have a great range so my IF/OF help each other out. Could Markus improve on it? Perhaps but I dont want to see him get rid of it.

11-25-2011, 12:27 PM	#3 (permalink)
Peterk Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Montreal Posts: 218 Thanks: 0 Thanked 19x in 17 posts	Is AI doing defensive shifts new to OOTP12. I'm playing on OOTP11 and have played out several thousands of games. AI controlled teams never do a shift left/right outfield normal/deep. Or if it does it, it doesn't indicate in anywhere. Incidentally, you do have pull/spray data to make the defensive shift decision, but to see the batter's characteristic you have to check out his details. Slows down the game too much to be worthwhile. I like your comments. A trivia question would be pretty cool....but NOT a question about actual baseball. Make it trivia about the OOTP league that is being played at the moment! That would be really neat.

12-05-2011, 11:17 PM	#5 (permalink)
ootp11.5 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 69 Thanks: 20 Thanked 9x in 7 posts	Just wanted to add a few more thoughts. First on the play by play. I saw a forum that seemed to suggest the play by play was a little less than professional at times. I would have to agree ..somewhat..but my criticism is more in trying to understand WHAT the play by play should be. I imagine it would be like listening to a game on the radio, so the pbp should be reflecting a commentators point of view. Having said that Ive seen lines like "he hit the SNOT out of that one" and that does actually take away from the pbp. I look for the pbp to enrich the game and those comments do unfortunately take away from it. Ill repeat that in a low graphics environment the pbp makes a huge difference to enriching the experience if done well. I know and appreciate the hard work everyone puts in. Just wanted to note those types of comments that do take a bit away from the pbp. Having said that I wanted to expand on an idea I was thinking about...follow me for one moment... Since baseball is so much about the interaction between pitcher, hitter and catcher, what about some kind of rating that combines a pithcers effectiveness in communicating with the catcher. What I mean is the following..the catcher has 2 rating right now, arm and ability, but what about communication...to signify the catchers play calling ability and leadership behiind the plate. Imagine a scenario with a young pitcher and a veteran catcher with a high level of "communication" rating, to help the young pitcher along. It would make pitcher catcher pairings a little more meaningful ,and for a veteran catcher, his arm might not be so hot anymore but his ability to read batters and make good calls on pitches might help offset his otherwise fading abilities elsewhere. For a youing catcher he may make a few bad calls but have a stronger more youthful arm. OR Maybe give the pitcher this ability, so that a pitcher with a high "communication" or "play calling" rating, would offset the weakness of his catcher, and have a higher degree of success with his pitches of course keeping in mind his limitations in the other characteristics. Young pitchers would be weaker in this area, veterans stronger, but those talented ones, are just plain good would have a high value in this skill early on. Maybe the players intelligence rating takes this into account somewhat already? Im not sure. But whatever the case, I would love to see that pitcher batter catcher relationship advanced since it is the most important part of baseball (imho) OR Maybe both pitcher and catcher have this ability so that if u get 2 guys with a high level of pitch calling ability, all other things being equal, would have good success whereas if one had a high value and the other a low value, not as successful. Im not sure how the pitch engine works where is might be a control stuff movement = success ...type of equation, but maybe this could be one more piece of the pie in determing whether a guy throws a strike, or ball, or whether or not he leaves a meatball hanging over the plate, walks a guy etc etc. I am relatively new to this (with 12 being my first version in the series) so maybe alot of what I have said is redundent and already part of the process. Thanks for listening. Any thoughts? Opinions? I think so much is done well, its strange that in my opinion the weakness is the actual gameplay.

12-06-2011, 12:35 AM	#6 (permalink)
Peterk Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Montreal Posts: 218 Thanks: 0 Thanked 19x in 17 posts	If I understand correctly, the pitching-by-pitch model is more or less a facade. The game calculates the results of the at-bat first - the individual pitches which get thrown are merely conjured up window dressing. It's well done, mind you, but it does get in the way of really building up a detailed model centered around the individual pitches and play calling. I like your ideas. I think the effects of experience/leadership in general should have more of an impact in the game. The player descriptions keep telling me that so and so is a great leader and that guys respect him but I'll be damned if I can actually see any way that it manifests itself in an obvious manner. Regarding play by play. You don't really want to get super detailed either...this isn't a game where you only play one season and that's it. Most people, I think, expect to get through a season in a reasonable amount of time. If the play by play gets so elaborate that it takes a half hour or more to get through a game, I don't think that would really work.