Alright Boyz, Here We Go!!!! (OOTP9 First Impressions...)

[Cringer]

I want to set up a fictional league, I haven't decided on the number of teams yet, but I will most likely start with around 24 teams. The league will be the Western Hemisphere Association, so you can guess I want my teams spread around. The U.S. will have the most, with a team or more in Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cuba....maybe a team in England, South America somewhere, Central America as well.

So my question is, with my league set as a 'United States' league, most the players will come from there won't they? Does having teams in those countries increase players from those countries at all?

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Cringer

I want to set up a fictional league, I haven't decided on the number of teams yet, but I will most likely start with around 24 teams. The league will be the Western Hemisphere Association, so you can guess I want my teams spread around. The U.S. will have the most, with a team or more in Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cuba....maybe a team in England, South America somewhere, Central America as well.

So my question is, with my league set as a 'United States' league, most the players will come from there won't they? Does having teams in those countries increase players from those countries at all?

Hah, I did the same exact thing last night. Except I did mine as a world league with Eastern Hemisphere vs Western Hemisphere...

Anyways to answer your question, no most of the players didn't end up coming from the US. They came from the various countries that you set as the home nation for your teams. I ended up having a pretty even distribution throughout my league from each of the 16 countries that I included (as well as a 30% foreigner rate from outside countries that I did not include in the league).

The part I found disappointing however was that when I started the league, I didn't see the majority of the US players on the US team, and majority of the Japanese players on the Japan team, etc.. They were all pretty much scattered throughout the league.

[Ajaxab]

Originally Posted by Cringer

I want to set up a fictional league, I haven't decided on the number of teams yet, but I will most likely start with around 24 teams. The league will be the Western Hemisphere Association, so you can guess I want my teams spread around. The U.S. will have the most, with a team or more in Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cuba....maybe a team in England, South America somewhere, Central America as well.

So my question is, with my league set as a 'United States' league, most the players will come from there won't they? Does having teams in those countries increase players from those countries at all?

Dark Cloud would probably have a better answer, but I think part of the answer comes in the 'Foreigner Percentage' variable. With a test league I set up yesterday, I created four divisions of teams with each division having teams based in one country. I set foreigner percentage at 0 and the teams were stocked with a pretty even mix of players from only those 4 countries, even though the league was based in England.

I would suspect that in your case, you would get a mix of players from all the countries in your league, but that the better players would come from the better baseball playing nations.

[Ajaxab]

Originally Posted by Alan T

The part I found disappointing however was that when I started the league, I didn't see the majority of the US players on the US team, and majority of the Japanese players on the Japan team, etc.. They were all pretty much scattered throughout the league.

I wish there was a way to distribute national talent a bit better as well. It would be nice to have more Japanese on Japanese teams, Canadians on Canadian teams, etc. I do wonder if things eventually move in that direction as players become free agents. Are they more attracted to teams from their home nation?

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Hah, I did the same exact thing last night. Except I did mine as a world league with Eastern Hemisphere vs Western Hemisphere...

Anyways to answer your question, no most of the players didn't end up coming from the US. They came from the various countries that you set as the home nation for your teams. I ended up having a pretty even distribution throughout my league from each of the 16 countries that I included (as well as a 30% foreigner rate from outside countries that I did not include in the league).

The part I found disappointing however was that when I started the league, I didn't see the majority of the US players on the US team, and majority of the Japanese players on the Japan team, etc.. They were all pretty much scattered throughout the league.

We don't need no stinkin' Eastern Hemisphere!

Good to hear though. Yes, the scattered players may be a touch disappointing, but it will be ok I think. I will go ahead and create this league today then. I started last night but stopped and went to sleep. Thanks for the info.

[Ajaxab]

Another thing I thought of that might solve the talent distribution problem (don't have the game in front of me) would be to set a certain number of foreign players allowed. However, I don't know if that option applies to the league itself or if it applies to each division if the divisions are based in different countries. For example, if a division is entirely in Scotland, but the league is based in England, is a foreign player one who is anything but English or anything but Scottish or anything but English or Scottish?

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Ajaxab

I wish there was a way to distribute national talent a bit better as well. It would be nice to have more Japanese on Japanese teams, Canadians on Canadian teams, etc. I do wonder if things eventually move in that direction as players become free agents. Are they more attracted to teams from their home nation?

I did remember one French player who turned me down to sign with the France team, but that is obviously a pretty small sample size. I haven't gotten far enough to have a feeling one way or another on this.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Ajaxab

Another thing I thought of that might solve the talent distribution problem (don't have the game in front of me) would be to set a certain number of foreign players allowed. However, I don't know if that option applies to the league itself or if it applies to each division if the divisions are based in different countries. For example, if a division is entirely in Scotland, but the league is based in England, is a foreign player one who is anything but English or anything but Scottish or anything but English or Scottish?

The foreigner % seemed to be based on all countries in the league, not just the main league's country based on the limited testing that I did. It also only impacted foreigners from countries other than the ones you include in the league.

ie: someone playing with major league settings with teams in only US and Canada, I would assume the foreigner rate would not include Canadian or American players.

[Alan T]

I kind of like the most and least cost effective player report

[Ajaxab]

Originally Posted by Alan T

The foreigner % seemed to be based on all countries in the league, not just the main league's country based on the limited testing that I did. It also only impacted foreigners from countries other than the ones you include in the league.

ie: someone playing with major league settings with teams in only US and Canada, I would assume the foreigner rate would not include Canadian or American players.

I think you are right on this. But if I remember right, the foreigner percentage is different from the setting that allows you to restrict how many foreign players are on each team. I'm pretty sure you can specify how many foreign players are allowed on a given roster. But what exactly foreign means (to the league or to the division???), I'm not entirely sure.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Alan T

I kind of like the most and least cost effective player report

I also like the hot/cold page and the streaks page. Pretty nifty fun things to look at from time to time.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by Ajaxab

I wish there was a way to distribute national talent a bit better as well. It would be nice to have more Japanese on Japanese teams, Canadians on Canadian teams, etc. I do wonder if things eventually move in that direction as players become free agents. Are they more attracted to teams from their home nation?

You can do this easily now, just go to the league setup, then league rules tab, and enter a foreigner limit of '4' for example...

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Ajaxab

I think you are right on this. But if I remember right, the foreigner percentage is different from the setting that allows you to restrict how many foreign players are on each team. I'm pretty sure you can specify how many foreign players are allowed on a given roster. But what exactly foreign means (to the league or to the division???), I'm not entirely sure.

I haven't found anywhere that lets you specify foreigner % for a team or roster, only for the league. I may have just not found it yet though is all.

[KWhit]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

that's really awesome. i may have to create a Cocksman of the Year award, awarded to the player who banged the most groupies on the road.

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

They didn't start tracking this until 1971, I believe.

Uh, no. They started tracking it in 1969, silly.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

You can do this easily now, just go to the league setup, then league rules tab, and enter a foreigner limit of '4' for example...

Oh Markus points it out to me before I asks the question. How is that for service.. heh

Markus, in the scenerio we are speaking of though, is foreigner defined team by team or leaguewide... ie: a league that has teams in both Canada and U.S... if you have a U.S team with a foreigner limit of 1 per roster, does that then also limit the number of canadians on the team, or just non-Canadian/US.

Trying to understand what is considered a foreigner here.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Oh Markus points it out to me before I asks the question. How is that for service.. heh

Markus, in the scenerio we are speaking of though, is foreigner defined team by team or leaguewide... ie: a league that has teams in both Canada and U.S... if you have a U.S team with a foreigner limit of 1 per roster, does that then also limit the number of canadians on the team, or just non-Canadian/US.

Trying to understand what is considered a foreigner here.

You can set the foreigner rule based on team nationality or league nationality, so in your case the former makes sense So on your Canadian team, 4 foreigners (i.e. US, Russia, Japan) can play on your team.

[Ksyrup]

I don't remember seeing the milestone watch in the previous version - that's pretty neat.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

You can set the foreigner rule based on team nationality or league nationality, so in your case the former makes sense So on your Canadian team, 4 foreigners (i.e. US, Russia, Japan) can play on your team.

Where would I go to set this based on team nationality instead of league nationality? I believe you that it is in there, but I sure haven't found it yet! What you are explaining though is exactly what I was hoping for.. I just couldn't find it

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I don't remember seeing the milestone watch in the previous version - that's pretty neat.

I -think- that was there in ootp8 at least... I either remember it there or did some good drugs at some point... Or I remember it in some past version.. I think..

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Where would I go to set this based on team nationality instead of league nationality? I believe you that it is in there, but I sure haven't found it yet! What you are explaining though is exactly what I was hoping for.. I just couldn't find it

in the team setup area within your league. each team can be set to a new country

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Alan T

I -think- that was there in ootp8 at least... I either remember it there or did some good drugs at some point... Or I remember it in some past version.. I think..

you are right. 8 was the 1st version.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Where would I go to set this based on team nationality instead of league nationality? I believe you that it is in there, but I sure haven't found it yet! What you are explaining though is exactly what I was hoping for.. I just couldn't find it

In the league rules tab, you need to set a foreigner limit first

[Capital]

Originally Posted by INDalltheway

Just keep the Triple-A teams, Double-A teams, and the highest A team in each organization.

I was having this problem last night as well and never did figure it out. What do you mean by "keep"? I only want to play with 3 maybe 4 minor leagues at the most. Unfortunately, I'm at work and can't check the game, but this was causing me grief?

However, I'm starting to get the interface down and seems like a big improvement from OOTP7.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Capital

I was having this problem last night as well and never did figure it out. What do you mean by "keep"? I only want to play with 3 maybe 4 minor leagues at the most. Unfortunately, I'm at work and can't check the game, but this was causing me grief?

However, I'm starting to get the interface down and seems like a big improvement from OOTP7.

You can delete the league minor leagues.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

In the league rules tab, you need to set a foreigner limit first

Oh, I found it.. I see why i couldn't find it...

If you set a team to allowing only 1 foreigner you can define if it is team or league based.. but if you set it to no foreigners allowed, you don't get that same pulldown. Shouldn't you though? I would think if you don't want any foreigners allowed, it should know if you are meaning team or league foreigners correct?

Thanks for the help.

[spleen1015]

The Milestone Watch was first added in OOTP6.5.

I don't remember if it made it into the rewrite with the switch to SI.

[JetsIn06]

This question is for Dark Cloud but many of you can probably help me...What are your round number and player setting for the amateur draft for a regular 32 team, MLB setup with 6 levels of minors? I do have ghost players turned on.

[BigPapi]

Originally Posted by JetsIn06

This question is for Dark Cloud but many of you can probably help me...What are your round number and player setting for the amateur draft for a regular 32 team, MLB setup with 6 levels of minors? I do have ghost players turned on.

With ghost players turned on it doesn't make any difference- and if you don't have a feeder league supplying the draft- it shouldn't make any diffrence, either. Just set it to whatever you are comfortable drafting- though I would do at least 10 rounds. The remaining debit in players will be made up by ghost players in your minor league affiliate teams (if there is one).

With feeder leagues- you have to be sure that the feeding league(s) is large enough to supply demand for the parent club and it's affiliates. There is a formula in the manual. And of course, this too is only a concern if you don't want ghost players.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by JetsIn06

This question is for Dark Cloud but many of you can probably help me...What are your round number and player setting for the amateur draft for a regular 32 team, MLB setup with 6 levels of minors? I do have ghost players turned on.

This is one of those things that may have changed in ootp9, if so DC can probably answer.. but in the past I always went with 10 rounds if I had ghost players on.. By increasing the number of rounds you don't increase the talent that is coming in. You still have the same number of top prospects as before, you just get that many additional rounds of 1 star prospects.

I usually find it a mistake to have a minor league system cluttered with 1 star prospects when you are looking for player development. Of course with that approach, you usually end up with a fair number of ghost players, but your prospects don't get stifled that way at least.

[Cringer]

Sounds like I can have an almost national team set up for my Western Hemisphere Assoc. Kick ass. Wasn't expecting so much info for my situation to pop up while I was checking the MILFs out as I dropped the kid off at the Rec Center and working out.

Now it's time to go watch the kid get her swimming lesson, keep bringing the great info guys.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by JetsIn06

This question is for Dark Cloud but many of you can probably help me...What are your round number and player setting for the amateur draft for a regular 32 team, MLB setup with 6 levels of minors? I do have ghost players turned on.

Umm..I use feeders. So when I do that, I currently have an MLB setup with 3 levels of minors and I've created three feeder leagues that feed into the majors and my draft is...well, about 15-20 rounds depending on how I feel. I don't usually go further than that.

My development modifiers are set to 1.500 and my aging modifers are set to .300

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Alan T

This is one of those things that may have changed in ootp9, if so DC can probably answer.. but in the past I always went with 10 rounds if I had ghost players on.. By increasing the number of rounds you don't increase the talent that is coming in. You still have the same number of top prospects as before, you just get that many additional rounds of 1 star prospects.

I usually find it a mistake to have a minor league system cluttered with 1 star prospects when you are looking for player development. Of course with that approach, you usually end up with a fair number of ghost players, but your prospects don't get stifled that way at least.

yy. I try to avoid minors with lots of kids who won't play or make the majors and I use ghost players too. I've been playing with a talent change randomness of 150 or even 200 and it's actually been useful in getting players who are drafted in late rounds to 'blossom' later. It's supposedly been in other versions, but I've never seen it work as well it has in this version.

[Alan T]

I wonder how long I have to wait for OOTP to start responding again after I check the box to force the season start on a specific day. Been waiting 10 minutes now and am starting to think it might never come back

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

you are right. 8 was the 1st version.

I didn't get 8. So...it's new to me!

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Capital

I was having this problem last night as well and never did figure it out. What do you mean by "keep"? I only want to play with 3 maybe 4 minor leagues at the most. Unfortunately, I'm at work and can't check the game, but this was causing me grief?

However, I'm starting to get the interface down and seems like a big improvement from OOTP7.

i still didn't figure it out. i wish there was a deafult 3 minor league limit, and then you click on "extended minor leagues" to get like the rookie leagues and the other ones.

i decided to just play with all the minor leagues, it was getting late and i couldn't figure out which ones to keep. you can always delete or add anytime you want.

how do you set up your scout to actually scout other leagues? like will he send you a report like in FM, or is it you have to scout each team in each league by clicking on them and you just use his scouting ability to look at each guy?

and i love how the AI signed Mike Piazza - a 4 star catcher - off of the FA pool during preseason. i looked at the crappy catchers the Mets have and i was like "i need a new one". would've loved to have brought Mike back home to NY to finish out his career.

how to you put guys on your shortlist? i want to snatch up Clayten Kershaw from the Dodgers before they bring him up and i want to track his minor league progress.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

i still didn't figure it out. i wish there was a deafult 3 minor league limit, and then you click on "extended minor leagues" to get like the rookie leagues and the other ones.

i decided to just play with all the minor leagues, it was getting late and i couldn't figure out which ones to keep. you can always delete or add anytime you want.

how do you set up your scout to actually scout other leagues? like will he send you a report like in FM, or is it you have to scout each team in each league by clicking on them and you just use his scouting ability to look at each guy?

and i love how the AI signed Mike Piazza - a 4 star catcher - off of the FA pool during preseason. i looked at the crappy catchers the Mets have and i was like "i need a new one". would've loved to have brought Mike back home to NY to finish out his career.

how to you put guys on your shortlist? i want to snatch up Clayten Kershaw from the Dodgers before they bring him up and i want to track his minor league progress.

Should be able to right click Kershaw's name and add him to your shortlist if it is like past versions of ootp. Or from inside of his player card, the action button at the bottom should have the option to add him to your short list.

[Young Drachma]

To delete a minor league, go to League Setup, go to look in the bottom right and click "functions" and click on "Delete League"

[Young Drachma]

How the hell do we get rid of nicknames? I cleared the file, but my draftees have nicknames.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Should be able to right click Kershaw's name and add him to your shortlist if it is like past versions of ootp. Or from inside of his player card, the action button at the bottom should have the option to add him to your short list.

nice. will do when i get home.

does the all-in-one mod by padresfan have real mlb coaches in it? mine didn't.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

To delete a minor league, go to League Setup, go to look in the bottom right and click "functions" and click on "Delete League"

its not so much how to delete, its more of "which" ones to delete. i just want the vanilla 3 levels of minor leagues. i don't need all those other hoobidy goobidy other minor leagues.

i do want to add in the Cape Cod league though. i hear that's where a lot of MLB players have played. that's the only one i'm familiar with thanks to Freddie Prinz Jr's movie "Summer Catch".

go Chatham A's!

[Alan T]

Just reported the following bug on the ootp forums:

A bug I noticed that isn't impacting me any, but figured it should be logged:

When using the fictional league creation wizard, you define what date you want the league to start on, then two screens later change your birthdate (for your GM that you will be playing as), that action changes part of the league start date. If you go back to look, it has changed now. Changing that back then affects your manager profile birthdate again.

No huge issue for me, but something that should be noted I guess.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

and i love how the AI signed Mike Piazza - a 4 star catcher - off of the FA pool during preseason. i looked at the crappy catchers the Mets have and i was like "i need a new one". would've loved to have brought Mike back home to NY to finish out his career.

Yeah, he was another one, in addition to Bonds/Clemens, that I saw sign.

Also, Frank Thomas retired during the year and immediately made the HoF - which reminds me that I'd really like to see the game follow the 5 year eligibility rule. Seems ridiculous that the guy gets put in the day after he retires (or suffers a CEI). At the very least, wait until the off-season!

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

its not so much how to delete, its more of "which" ones to delete. i just want the vanilla 3 levels of minor leagues. i don't need all those other hoobidy goobidy other minor leagues.

i do want to add in the Cape Cod league though. i hear that's where a lot of MLB players have played. that's the only one i'm familiar with thanks to Freddie Prinz Jr's movie "Summer Catch".

go Chatham A's!

You should add it as a feeder league.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Oh, I found it.. I see why i couldn't find it...

If you set a team to allowing only 1 foreigner you can define if it is team or league based.. but if you set it to no foreigners allowed, you don't get that same pulldown. Shouldn't you though? I would think if you don't want any foreigners allowed, it should know if you are meaning team or league foreigners correct?

Thanks for the help.

Been playing with this more.. I think the idea in concept is pretty good, but I think ootp9 is having issues handling this at least from the start. Anyone looking to do this type of setup probably have to phase into it or manually move around some people for a bit.

When you set up the league, if you choose to not allow any foreigners to be on the individual teams, the game will still start it up with your team having foreigners, but then it will instantly dump any foreigner on your team into the free agency pool or on waivers (or into the minors if you allow the foreigners to play in the minors) in order to abide by the roster rules.

So then once that is done and you have a handful of people left on your major league roster, you'll need to then go through and sign all of the people for the appropriate team.. so it seems doable, but a bit of work.

[Ajaxab]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Been playing with this more.. I think the idea in concept is pretty good, but I think ootp9 is having issues handling this at least from the start. Anyone looking to do this type of setup probably have to phase into it or manually move around some people for a bit.

When you set up the league, if you choose to not allow any foreigners to be on the individual teams, the game will still start it up with your team having foreigners, but then it will instantly dump any foreigner on your team into the free agency pool or on waivers (or into the minors if you allow the foreigners to play in the minors) in order to abide by the roster rules.

So then once that is done and you have a handful of people left on your major league roster, you'll need to then go through and sign all of the people for the appropriate team.. so it seems doable, but a bit of work.

I think you can avoid this work by going into 'Functions' under 'League Setup' and then hitting 'Fill Teams with Fictional Players' after you have made your changes. As long as you haven't been simming for 20 seasons have a league history you're concerned about losing, this *should* avoid the free agent dumping problem.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Been playing with this more.. I think the idea in concept is pretty good, but I think ootp9 is having issues handling this at least from the start. Anyone looking to do this type of setup probably have to phase into it or manually move around some people for a bit.

When you set up the league, if you choose to not allow any foreigners to be on the individual teams, the game will still start it up with your team having foreigners, but then it will instantly dump any foreigner on your team into the free agency pool or on waivers (or into the minors if you allow the foreigners to play in the minors) in order to abide by the roster rules.

So then once that is done and you have a handful of people left on your major league roster, you'll need to then go through and sign all of the people for the appropriate team.. so it seems doable, but a bit of work.

I want a quick start of this once you are done...

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by dangarion

I want a quick start of this once you are done...

I'm mainly just playing with various things right now just to see how they all work, at some point I'll set it up to actually play and I can make a quick start for it if interested.

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Also, Frank Thomas retired during the year and immediately made the HoF - which reminds me that I'd really like to see the game follow the 5 year eligibility rule. Seems ridiculous that the guy gets put in the day after he retires (or suffers a CEI). At the very least, wait until the off-season!

Are there still comebacks from retirement in this version? That could be messy with a HOFer.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by kcchief19

Are there still comebacks from retirement in this version? That could be messy with a HOFer.

They're not automatic. You can just make them happen.

[samifan24]

Question: I have four levels of minor leagues active (AAA, AA, A and R) but my two lower level teams only have something like four or five pitchers (and one team has just one pitcher). Is there a quick and easy way to automatically fill out these rosters without having to sign a bunch of player manually?