Help Me Set Up My Fictional Solo League

[laser]

I have played OOTP a little bit in the past and enjoy the game. The reason that I have never been able to really get into a fictional solo league (which I really want to play) is that I want to spend my time PLAYING the league, not setting it up to do what I want. I don't mind spending time to set it up, but it is very frustrating spending a lot of time setting it up to do what I want, and then not having it work.

I would like to try doing a fictional solo league with OOTP X, and figured that I would ask for suggestions here and on the OOTP boards regarding what settings and modifiers to use.

The league will be 2 12 team leagues. Each league will contain 3 4 team divisions. Division winners and 1 wildcard will make the playoffs. Teams will play a 162 game schedule. Teams will have a 25 man roster and a 10 player reserve roster (no minors). There will be no financials or free agency. I will not be manager or GM for any team but will manually control any trades for all teams. There will be no free agency. There will be a 10 round draft every year using players only from feeder teams (40 feeder teams of 27 players should produce about 270 players per year with 240 needed for the draft). Now for the hard parts that I usually have trouble with:

DEVELOPMENT: One thing that I enjoy so much about football and basketball is the draft each year. I want my baseball draft to be the same. I don't want first and second round picks to be drafted and not be able to play in the majors for at least 3 years. In my league, I would like for first round picks at least be able to make the team and contribute at least a little bit. I would like for 2-3 draft picks in an average year be able to make heavy contributions and potentially become real impact players.

AGING: The feeder leagues will have players from 18-22. The major league teams will have players from 22 and up. Some players will make the major league team right after they are drafted (see above). I would like players to be in their prime from 25-30. At age 30 their skills should start declining. Most players should retire by age 33, and it should be rare to see players over age 35.

PITCHING: I will be using 4 man rotations, with an occassional 5th starter. I would like good starting pitchers (mostly 1st and 2nd starters) to be capable of pitching 250 innings, and capable of pitching complete games. I would like the average team to have 50-60 complete games pitched over a 162 game season.

POWER: I would like my league leaders to hit about 45-50 home runs, with the occasional 60+ home run season.

SPEED: I would like my league leading stolen base champions to average 50-60, with the occasional 75-80, and extremely rare 100 stolen base season possible.

Any suggestions on how to set this up is greatly appreciated. I really want to enjoy the fictional solo league experience, but each year I find myself getting frustrated after playing 2-3 seasons because I spend hours setting up everything and it does not turn out how I wanted. The customization of OOTP is fantastic. I just feel like I need a little help being able to use it correctly.

I have not played Pure Sim yet but would be interested in knowing if this type of set up and customization is able to be done with that game. If so, is it easier than with OOTP?

[Young Drachma]

OOTP is really a game where you can play it out of the box, but most of us get a lot more enjoyment once we tweak it to our own liking, which takes times, sadly.

You could look here for SkyDog's modifiers from last year, which produce the sorts of results you're talking about. Those worked pretty well.