Option to see dice rolls?

Fenway · 01-08-2012, 11:22 PM

Don't flame me for this, because even I'm not sure I like this idea. But I'm wondering whether in-game decisions might be more interesting if we had more information about the possibility of success. E.g., when deciding whether to send a runner an extra base, it might be fun to have some general or even specific idea of how likely you are to succeed. The current system does provide us with some info -- runner speed, outfielder arm -- but it's not as much info as one would have in a game, where one could see how far the runner had progressed, how deep the ball was hit, etc. I don't know how much more info would be realistic, but I do think it might be more *fun.*

I've been thinking about this because I've started playing my old childhood favorite Strat-o-Matic Baseball again, having received the newest version of the boardgame for Christmas. SOM has its flaws, but I find the play-by-play decisionmaking fun in part because I know what the odds of success are, and it's fun to roll the dice to see whether I succeed. I know some (many?) people won't want this sort of thing in OOTP, so I'd suggest it be implemented as an option. (I know, I know, it would probably be a ton of work. But hey, this is the suggestions forum, right?) If I had my druthers, we'd have the option to see hidden die rolls on all sorts of things, from injuries to fielding chances to player development.

Thanks for reading.

PSUColonel · 01-09-2012, 12:31 PM

sorry, but ridiculous. Someone had to say it.

Fenway · 01-10-2012, 12:51 AM

Heh, okay. But why do you think it's so ridiculous? Could you please explain?

Don't get me wrong, I love OOTP, and I'm not about to abandon it to return to the board-and-dice game SOM that I loved as a kid. Still, I think the game-level decisions in SOM are more fun. I played a game of Strat-O-Matic tonight. It was a lot more interesting to decide whether to send a runner, or to bring the infield in, or to conduct a hit-and-run, because I had a better sense of the tradeoffs. The dice rolls themselves were exciting.

Computer wargames sometimes give you the option to see dice rolls. Why is baseball so different?

Biggio509 · 01-10-2012, 09:49 PM

I don't think it is ridiculous. It is just the old pencil and paper gamer coming out. Games are moving away from this today. Even the so called "RPGs". There was some outcry with Mass Effect 2 that your weapons didn't have stats just descriptions of what they were good against.

While I am sure Markus has a probit model with RNGs to determine every little action I am not sure seeing all the die rolls would be preferable. I think the game has many more "rolls" per an action than something like strat-omatic could handle. All those millions of calculations per second means you can 20 or 30 rolls instantaneously. My guess is that is taken advantage of.

It is a different way of thinking than the old pencil and paper games board games. You get an idea for odds by experience rather than seeing if it 1 in 6 or 5 in 6. I think if this were implemented it would be something like Bass hits the ball into shallow right field do you want to send Reynolds from 3rd. to home. Wilson has a good arm and reynolds is slow. Your chance of success is 47% percent. For old school pencil and paper games that is a HR. For others it is more like Han Solo's reaction to C-3PO when he tells the odds of successfully navigating an asteroid field. "Never tell me the odds. "

I am curious to see which way the majority would lean on this.

01-08-2012, 11:22 PM	#1 (permalink)
Fenway Minors (Double A) Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 139 Thanks: 3 Thanked 5x in 5 posts	Option to see dice rolls? Don't flame me for this, because even I'm not sure I like this idea. But I'm wondering whether in-game decisions might be more interesting if we had more information about the possibility of success. E.g., when deciding whether to send a runner an extra base, it might be fun to have some general or even specific idea of how likely you are to succeed. The current system does provide us with some info -- runner speed, outfielder arm -- but it's not as much info as one would have in a game, where one could see how far the runner had progressed, how deep the ball was hit, etc. I don't know how much more info would be realistic, but I do think it might be more fun. I've been thinking about this because I've started playing my old childhood favorite Strat-o-Matic Baseball again, having received the newest version of the boardgame for Christmas. SOM has its flaws, but I find the play-by-play decisionmaking fun in part because I know what the odds of success are, and it's fun to roll the dice to see whether I succeed. I know some (many?) people won't want this sort of thing in OOTP, so I'd suggest it be implemented as an option. (I know, I know, it would probably be a ton of work. But hey, this is the suggestions forum, right?) If I had my druthers, we'd have the option to see hidden die rolls on all sorts of things, from injuries to fielding chances to player development. Thanks for reading.

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01-09-2012, 12:31 PM	#2 (permalink)
PSUColonel Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 2,985 Blog Entries: 3 Thanks: 163 Thanked 234x in 140 posts	sorry, but ridiculous. Someone had to say it.

01-10-2012, 12:51 AM	#3 (permalink)
Fenway Minors (Double A) Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 139 Thanks: 3 Thanked 5x in 5 posts	Heh, okay. But why do you think it's so ridiculous? Could you please explain? Don't get me wrong, I love OOTP, and I'm not about to abandon it to return to the board-and-dice game SOM that I loved as a kid. Still, I think the game-level decisions in SOM are more fun. I played a game of Strat-O-Matic tonight. It was a lot more interesting to decide whether to send a runner, or to bring the infield in, or to conduct a hit-and-run, because I had a better sense of the tradeoffs. The dice rolls themselves were exciting. Computer wargames sometimes give you the option to see dice rolls. Why is baseball so different?

01-10-2012, 09:49 PM	#4 (permalink)
Biggio509 All Star Starter Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 1,482 Thanks: 32 Thanked 449x in 264 posts	I don't think it is ridiculous. It is just the old pencil and paper gamer coming out. Games are moving away from this today. Even the so called "RPGs". There was some outcry with Mass Effect 2 that your weapons didn't have stats just descriptions of what they were good against. While I am sure Markus has a probit model with RNGs to determine every little action I am not sure seeing all the die rolls would be preferable. I think the game has many more "rolls" per an action than something like strat-omatic could handle. All those millions of calculations per second means you can 20 or 30 rolls instantaneously. My guess is that is taken advantage of. It is a different way of thinking than the old pencil and paper games board games. You get an idea for odds by experience rather than seeing if it 1 in 6 or 5 in 6. I think if this were implemented it would be something like Bass hits the ball into shallow right field do you want to send Reynolds from 3rd. to home. Wilson has a good arm and reynolds is slow. Your chance of success is 47% percent. For old school pencil and paper games that is a HR. For others it is more like Han Solo's reaction to C-3PO when he tells the odds of successfully navigating an asteroid field. "Never tell me the odds. " I am curious to see which way the majority would lean on this.