FatPitcher, a couple of WSB questions

[kpeercy]

It appears that 3DO could have possibly blown it this year, so I'll probably be looking for a new baseball game. I have a couple of questions for you, if I may.

1. I like to draft players onto their real-life teams and continue to keep teams updated throughout the season. Does WSB allow you to swap players around to make this possible when playing a season? If it makes any difference, I would be playing all games of one team and simming all others.

2. How many MLB players are included in the game this year? I'm speaking of current players, not HOF or others.

3. Will WSB allow me to set righty and lefty lineups for each team and will the CPU stick to them throughout the season?

4. Will WSB allow me to set the rotations (5 man) and will the CPU stick to it throughout the season? I hate when the CPU starts the highest rated starter that's not tired. This results in #1 and #2 starters getting 40+ starts per year (very unrealistic).

5. Will the stats be comparable to true-life? Will light hitting SS's be light hitting or will I be able to hit 60 HR's with Felipe Crespo or Juan Castro or someone like that?



5.

[FatPitcher]

Re: FatPitcher, a couple of WSB questions

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />
It appears that 3DO could have possibly blown it this year, so I'll probably be looking for a new baseball game. I have a couple of questions for you, if I may.

1. I like to draft players onto their real-life teams and continue to keep teams updated throughout the season. Does WSB allow you to swap players around to make this possible when playing a season? If it makes any difference, I would be playing all games of one team and simming all others.

Yes. Use Season Mode and set all teams to human-controlled. Use Edit Rosters to trade, switch, promote, and edit players (for new players, you can create up to 25--after that, there are dozens of fictitious players you can edit). Use the season management menus for each team to set lineups and rotations. Be sure to set injuries Off when starting your Season, because it will be a big hassle to adjust every team's lineup to account for injuries. It sounds like you wouldn't want injuries to occur anyway, because they wouldn't be mirroring the actual happenings.

2. How many MLB players are included in the game this year? I'm speaking of current players, not HOF or others.

Same as every other game, plus Matsui. They may be organized a bit differently--we put up to 10 real players on the minors roster if they aren't projected to be in the majors when the season starts. If a team has more than 35 real players on the roster, we dump the least likely to make the majors into the free agent pool. (you can have more than 10 players in the minors, we just start the teams out with equal numbers of players).

3. Will WSB allow me to set righty and lefty lineups for each team and will the CPU stick to them throughout the season?

Yes, 4 lineups for each team, plus depth charts for each lineup. You can set the depth charts yourself or have the CPU generate them (same for lineups, but you don't want that). We've taken great pains to ensure that the CPU doesn't mess with your lineups, and if it has to (i.e. to replace a player who's been injured during a simulated game), it tells you that it put someone in to finish the game and asks you if you want to change your lineups (or do a number of other things). This dialog would appear often enough to be a severe nuisance if you were controlling all 30 teams, which is why I recommend you go with injuries off. There are options for auto-management of lineups, injuries, pitching staff, and minor leagues.

4. Will WSB allow me to set the rotations (5 man) and will the CPU stick to it throughout the season? I hate when the CPU starts the highest rated starter that's not tired. This results in #1 and #2 starters getting 40+ starts per year (very unrealistic).

Yes, although in the playoffs the best available guy will start.

5. Will the stats be comparable to true-life? Will light hitting SS's be light hitting or will I be able to hit 60 HR's with Felipe Crespo or Juan Castro or someone like that?

Should be, as long as you are playing on the appropriate difficulty level. There are a lot of difficulty options in addition to the overall difficulty that should allow you to adjust the game to where it gives you realistic stats.


<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

[FatPitcher]

Re: FatPitcher, a couple of WSB questions

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />
It appears that 3DO could have possibly blown it this year, so I'll probably be looking for a new baseball game. I have a couple of questions for you, if I may.

1. I like to draft players onto their real-life teams and continue to keep teams updated throughout the season. Does WSB allow you to swap players around to make this possible when playing a season? If it makes any difference, I would be playing all games of one team and simming all others.

Yes. Use Season Mode and set all teams to human-controlled. Use Edit Rosters to trade, switch, promote, and edit players (for new players, you can create up to 25--after that, there are dozens of fictitious players you can edit). Use the season management menus for each team to set lineups and rotations. Be sure to set injuries Off when starting your Season, because it will be a big hassle to adjust every team's lineup to account for injuries. It sounds like you wouldn't want injuries to occur anyway, because they wouldn't be mirroring the actual happenings.

2. How many MLB players are included in the game this year? I'm speaking of current players, not HOF or others.

Same as every other game, plus Matsui. They may be organized a bit differently--we put up to 10 real players on the minors roster if they aren't projected to be in the majors when the season starts. If a team has more than 35 real players on the roster, we dump the least likely to make the majors into the free agent pool. (you can have more than 10 players in the minors, we just start the teams out with equal numbers of players).

3. Will WSB allow me to set righty and lefty lineups for each team and will the CPU stick to them throughout the season?

Yes, 4 lineups for each team, plus depth charts for each lineup. You can set the depth charts yourself or have the CPU generate them (same for lineups, but you don't want that). We've taken great pains to ensure that the CPU doesn't mess with your lineups, and if it has to (i.e. to replace a player who's been injured during a simulated game), it tells you that it put someone in to finish the game and asks you if you want to change your lineups (or do a number of other things). This dialog would appear often enough to be a severe nuisance if you were controlling all 30 teams, which is why I recommend you go with injuries off. There are options for auto-management of lineups, injuries, pitching staff, and minor leagues.

4. Will WSB allow me to set the rotations (5 man) and will the CPU stick to it throughout the season? I hate when the CPU starts the highest rated starter that's not tired. This results in #1 and #2 starters getting 40+ starts per year (very unrealistic).

Yes, although in the playoffs the best available guy will start.

5. Will the stats be comparable to true-life? Will light hitting SS's be light hitting or will I be able to hit 60 HR's with Felipe Crespo or Juan Castro or someone like that?

Should be, as long as you are playing on the appropriate difficulty level. There are a lot of difficulty options in addition to the overall difficulty that should allow you to adjust the game to where it gives you realistic stats.


<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

[kpeercy]

Re: FatPitcher, a couple of WSB questions

One more question; I'm not even the slightest bit interested in the minor league function. Can I disable the minors and put all the real players in the free agent pool and access them there if I need to? You were dead on with the fact that I don't want injuries. Thanks for your help.

[kpeercy]

Re: FatPitcher, a couple of WSB questions

One more question; I'm not even the slightest bit interested in the minor league function. Can I disable the minors and put all the real players in the free agent pool and access them there if I need to? You were dead on with the fact that I don't want injuries. Thanks for your help.

[sdrotar]

Re: FatPitcher, a couple of WSB questions

Thanks for the info, FatPitcher - your time on the boards here is appreciated.

With all due respect to kpeercy, however, I looove having the minor leagues available.
It helps me make my rosters more realistic, as I can stash extra guys away and call them up when needs be, whether it's injuries, other players being waived, what have you...and by the way - what is the maximum number of players allowable in each team's minor league pool?

Anyway, I think this system worked rather well in last year's iteration, and the improvements that you've mentioned sound sensible and player-centric. I'm looking forward to popping a copy into my XBox!

[sdrotar]

Re: FatPitcher, a couple of WSB questions

Thanks for the info, FatPitcher - your time on the boards here is appreciated.

With all due respect to kpeercy, however, I looove having the minor leagues available.
It helps me make my rosters more realistic, as I can stash extra guys away and call them up when needs be, whether it's injuries, other players being waived, what have you...and by the way - what is the maximum number of players allowable in each team's minor league pool?

Anyway, I think this system worked rather well in last year's iteration, and the improvements that you've mentioned sound sensible and player-centric. I'm looking forward to popping a copy into my XBox!

[FatPitcher]

Re: FatPitcher, a couple of WSB questions

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />
One more question; I'm not even the slightest bit interested in the minor league function. Can I disable the minors and put all the real players in the free agent pool and access them there if I need to? You were dead on with the fact that I don't want injuries. Thanks for your help.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

I think we require 3 or 4 players in the minors, and you can't disable them.

For purposes of keeping major league rosters accurate, you'll find it easier keeping guys in the minors than tossing them in the free agent pool. The reason is that you can easily call them up and put them where they belong if needed using the team management menus, rather than having to go to the roster editor and wade through dozens of free agents to find the right guy. In season mode, minor leaguers just sit around doing nothing (no stats, no development, etc.), making it a handy place to stash a team's extra guys that aren't currenty on the majors. A good time to use the minors would be if a guy gets injured in real life. You can't force him to be injured in the game, but you can send him down to the minors until he's come off the DL in real life and get the same effect.

[FatPitcher]

Re: FatPitcher, a couple of WSB questions

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />
One more question; I'm not even the slightest bit interested in the minor league function. Can I disable the minors and put all the real players in the free agent pool and access them there if I need to? You were dead on with the fact that I don't want injuries. Thanks for your help.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

I think we require 3 or 4 players in the minors, and you can't disable them.

For purposes of keeping major league rosters accurate, you'll find it easier keeping guys in the minors than tossing them in the free agent pool. The reason is that you can easily call them up and put them where they belong if needed using the team management menus, rather than having to go to the roster editor and wade through dozens of free agents to find the right guy. In season mode, minor leaguers just sit around doing nothing (no stats, no development, etc.), making it a handy place to stash a team's extra guys that aren't currenty on the majors. A good time to use the minors would be if a guy gets injured in real life. You can't force him to be injured in the game, but you can send him down to the minors until he's come off the DL in real life and get the same effect.

[kpeercy]

Re: FatPitcher, a couple of WSB questions

Thanks. That really clears it up for me. I was concerned that the minors would be riddled with fictitious players that were developing and would eventually end up on my Major League roster against my will. In this context, the minors sound terrific. FYI, I don't disable players when they get hurt in real life. I only take them off the roster if they are waived, traded, released, etc. If a player is on the MLB roster when the season starts, he's there at the end unless he's traded or cut.

This really sounds like the game for me this year. I'm putting my faith in it. I just hope that it doesn't take long for people to come up with realistic slider settings that allow the game to be a true "sim" and not Triple Play.

[kpeercy]

Re: FatPitcher, a couple of WSB questions

Thanks. That really clears it up for me. I was concerned that the minors would be riddled with fictitious players that were developing and would eventually end up on my Major League roster against my will. In this context, the minors sound terrific. FYI, I don't disable players when they get hurt in real life. I only take them off the roster if they are waived, traded, released, etc. If a player is on the MLB roster when the season starts, he's there at the end unless he's traded or cut.

This really sounds like the game for me this year. I'm putting my faith in it. I just hope that it doesn't take long for people to come up with realistic slider settings that allow the game to be a true "sim" and not Triple Play.

[FatPitcher]

Re: FatPitcher, a couple of WSB questions

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />
I just hope that it doesn't take long for people to come up with realistic slider settings that allow the game to be a true "sim" and not Triple Play.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

Well, *I* hope that no one has to mess with the sliders

To answer the question before that, I think that 15 minor leaguers is the limit.

[FatPitcher]

Re: FatPitcher, a couple of WSB questions

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />
I just hope that it doesn't take long for people to come up with realistic slider settings that allow the game to be a true "sim" and not Triple Play.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

Well, *I* hope that no one has to mess with the sliders

To answer the question before that, I think that 15 minor leaguers is the limit.

[Motown]

Re: FatPitcher, a couple of WSB questions

Sup FatPitcher,Hey man are you in the game... You know the chubby guy with the 98mh heater, with 'bout 5 more pitches to your arsenal that's uh pretty much unhittable?

[Motown]

Re: FatPitcher, a couple of WSB questions

Sup FatPitcher,Hey man are you in the game... You know the chubby guy with the 98mh heater, with 'bout 5 more pitches to your arsenal that's uh pretty much unhittable?