Any tips for a total newbie?

[voodoo_magic]

Re: Any tips for a total newbie?

For someone new I believe playing the current MLB as gm+coach is quite playable even if it looks like a lot going on with all the minor leagues.
The MLB is set up at default to result in a realistic sim so you don't need to tinker around with league stats settings or financial settings.

There are a few things a new player can do to keep things simpler:
In the global settings you can turn off scouting and coaching.
You will still get a league scout network scouting report but you won't have to worry about hiring scouts, and coaching is very tedious to try to look after especially at first. Of course if you try a couple throw away leagues turn them on and see if you like them. If you have them on you can always turn them off at the end of a season, all coaches just disappear, it doesn't seem to hurt the league.
There is a setting in league settings>rules where you can allow incomplete minors (ghost players). What this means is say in AA you don't need to have 5 starting pitchers, you could have 2 and the other starts are simulated. So you don't have to worry about having invalid minor league rosters.
Also in manager options you can set some things to ai especially for the minor league stuff so you can just concentrate on the MLB to start.

They have it set to show a red ! at the top of the screen to indicate something important like draft, all star voting etc so you shouldn't miss anything you need to take care of.

Use the managers office screen. You can set up what displays and use it like a home screen.

[Qeltar]

Re: Any tips for a total newbie?

Thanks for the replies. Useful stuff!

I am an "RTFM" kind of guy so the manual link is great too.

[KBLover]

Re: Any tips for a total newbie?

https://manuals.ootpdevelopments.com...php?man=ootp19

I love how the personality section is still not showing the Controversy, Adaptability, Handles Success/Failure/Critics ratings

Especially when those ratings determine some of the personality types players have.

[nicholaseck]

Re: Any tips for a total newbie?

I love how the personality section is still not showing the Controversy, Adaptability, Handles Success/Failure/Critics ratings

Especially when those ratings determine some of the personality types players have.

I noticed that too. I kinda feel like it was copy and paste with the manual. But it still has some useful help that could be utilized.

[335TDC]

Re: Any tips for a total newbie?

Thanks it sounds great.

Normally I wait for Steam stuff to go on sale but this seems like a small company that deserves the support.. plus my first trip is soon. Probably pick it up tomorrow.

(My favorite oddities in The Show are the "A" prospects that mysteriously appear out of nowhere aged 25, the guys with steal ratings 20 points above their speed (which you never see with real players), and my personal fave, the hitter whose heat map is red all around the outside and blue in the middle. )

They’re not oddities; they’re the usual suspects. MLBTS has horrible prospect generation logic. Age and attribute spreads are comical. Have not improved at all since last year. Gotta love a 99 potential guy at 1B with a 42 OVR, no power, and durability in the teens who’s 23.


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[Qeltar]

Re: Any tips for a total newbie?

Bought the game, started reading up on stuff but eventually decided to just jump in.

I was going to do Boston but honestly I don't want to GM for a team trying to win now. So I said "what the heck" and restarted with the Marlins.

I've already made my first trade (a salary dump -- true roleplaying!) and played a couple of games. I put more cash into scouting but I really have no idea what I am doing so I am sure this will end poorly.

There's a bewildering array of menus and screens and options. I'm sure I'll appreciate this later. Right now, I am pretty clueless.

One thing that is driving me nuts. How do I check how my starter is doing? As soon as I start the game he goes to "exhausted." Is the only way to visit the mound?

Thanks.

[KBLover]

Re: Any tips for a total newbie?

I've already made my first trade (a salary dump -- true roleplaying!) and played a couple of games. I put more cash into scouting but I really have no idea what I am doing so I am sure this will end poorly.

That's about all you can do with the Marlins to start. That and hope to get luck from talent pipelines like international players/scouting and Rule 5 draft.

One thing that is driving me nuts. How do I check how my starter is doing? As soon as I start the game he goes to "exhausted." Is the only way to visit the mound?

You should be able to view his status in a couple places.

-Check his profile and click on "Status". That should show his health and energy status.

-Go to your pitching screen. If you see a battery next to him, he's got some fatigue. Red means he's pretty worn out. Yellow means he's tiring but still got something left.

If your rotation is set to "start highest rested", this should be avoided by your manager without any input from you (he should start the most rested pitch that's the closest to #1 in the rotation).

[Qeltar]

Re: Any tips for a total newbie?

That's about all you can do with the Marlins to start. That and hope to get luck from talent pipelines like international players/scouting and Rule 5 draft.

Of course I know squat about drafting also, at least in this game, but I can at least put some of my many years of general baseball knowledge to work here.

Their scouting budget started at $4m. I bumped it to $10m, with most below MLB. We'll see I guess. At least the owner has reasonable expectations. And I do like a challenge.

Oh, the guy I traded for was an SP... 2 stars, which is good for this rotation. He injured himself throwing in his first start, lol. Probably require Tommy John...

You should be able to view his status in a couple places.

-Check his profile and click on "Status". That should show his health and energy status.

-Go to your pitching screen. If you see a battery next to him, he's got some fatigue. Red means he's pretty worn out. Yellow means he's tiring but still got something left.

I'll try to find those. Not sure what the "pitching screen" is in-game but I'll try to find it.

I thought his battery went right to red as soon as he started pitching. I am not sure.

If your rotation is set to "start highest rested", this should be avoided by your manager without any input from you (he should start the most rested pitch that's the closest to #1 in the rotation).

Oh I think I want a standard rotation...

BTW, what is the red "!" next to MLB? I've checked every menu item, I can't figure out what it is for. Thanks.

[Qeltar]

Re: Any tips for a total newbie?

Another thing I am wondering... will temporarily shoring up the team to win more games in the short run help me get more cash to spend on rebuilding? Or is finishing 62-100 or 77-85 about the same?

[Qeltar]

Re: Any tips for a total newbie?

And one more.. I assume players aren't hard-limited to their "star potential" as shown when they are 18 or whatever, that it can go up or down.

I understand I have to manage them and put them at the right level so they develop properly. There's a LOT of guys in the minors, though. Do people really manage this by hand or do they let the AI do it (and if so, how?)

Thanks. Trying to figure out most stuff myself but it's a lot to take in.

[Qeltar]

Re: Any tips for a total newbie?

Oh man I am going to have fun with this.

I am currently trolling through the unsigned free agents looking for potential gems I can sign for cheap and see if any pan out.

[KBLover]

Re: Any tips for a total newbie?

Of course I know squat about drafting also, at least in this game, but I can at least put some of my many years of general baseball knowledge to work here.

One thing that will help is to go to Game Settings->Global Settings->Scouting Report Updates and set it to once a month.

This will cause the scout to update you on your player's development in his eyes but also every player in your game. Literally. You can see the report history by going to a player's profile and clicking the "Scouting" choice at the top.

You can call for manual scouting by clicking on a player (opening his profile) and then do Actions->Request Scouting Report. You can do this as often as you want. Takes a day or two to get the report. You can do this for any player in your game that's "active" (you can see them...the game tracks "unknown" players not yet shown to you in your game).

Scouting the amateur draft and any other talents will happen automatically by your scout. And then you can request any manual scouting.

I'll try to find those. Not sure what the "pitching screen" is in-game but I'll try to find it.

Pitching screen is when you click "Pitching Staff" in your team menu.

Oh I think I want a standard rotation...

BTW, what is the red "!" next to MLB? I've checked every menu item, I can't figure out what it is for. Thanks.

Do you mean strict order? You can have that also. You set that on your Pitching Staff screen.

Is there any menu items in red when you click on MLB? Usually it means something will happen soon.

[Qeltar]

Re: Any tips for a total newbie?

Thanks KB. I already found and set strict order.

I see the batteries now. I think I left that SP in too long, but he went from nothing to "red" immediately so I didn't know what it meant. Also he only pitched 70 and had stamina 65 which was weird.

I actually already found that scouting frequency and changed it to monthly during the season since it just made sense...

The only thing red under MLB was the live scores. Once I advanced to the next day the "!" went away.

[KBLover]

Re: Any tips for a total newbie?

And one more.. I assume players aren't hard-limited to their "star potential" as shown when they are 18 or whatever, that it can go up or down.

Correct, there are no hard caps in the game. Any player can go from rock bottom to top talent if enough breaks go his way. Even potential isn't a hard cap (players can exceed their actual potential ratings...sometimes temporarily, sometimes it prompts an increase in their potential ratings.

I understand I have to manage them and put them at the right level so they develop properly. There's a LOT of guys in the minors, though. Do people really manage this by hand or do they let the AI do it (and if so, how?)

There's a couple ways to let the AI do things for you with the minors:

Go to your ML team->Rosters and Transactions->Actions->Ask AI to setup complete minor league system.

This will have the AI put guys at levels it thinks they are best suited for and setup team lineups and pitching staffs. You can then make any changes you want as usual.

If you want this to be persistent:

Go to your manager's office->Manager Options

On the right-hand column, there's Team Control Options. There's settings for minor league promotions/demotions/strategy. You can set that to Minor League Managers.

[Qeltar]

Re: Any tips for a total newbie?

Started a new game, and again the red line at the bottom of the "battery" is showing after 2 innings and 25 pitches. Doesn't make sense. I think it automatically exhausts the pitcher after a start begins so you can't cheat with consecutive starts and so forth.

But it still leaves me no way to see how he is doing. Status just says "Health Status OK" -- does this change as he tires maybe?

This should be easier to see while you play.