Calling all with RTTS experience... I have a ?

[brewersfan84]

Could anyone with significant playing time in the past RTTS please offer any advice or technique to starting a career? Last year I tinkered a bit but didn't really find the mode fun. Can anyone tell me a way to keep the mode fun, without being too repetitious?

I would really appreciate anyones opinion or suggestion to help me get the full potential out of my game this year. This mode was more intimidating than I would like to admit last year. Thanks to all who reply!!

[zito75]

Re: Calling all with RTTS experience... I have a ?

Don't max out your stats, and play on legend. Also make it realistic where if you have a right handed hitter, always keep his rating against LHP higher than it is against RHP. The key is to keep it challenging, otherwise you will get bored.

I've been able to get 10 years out of my '09 road to the show player using that strategy, and I actually don't want to buy '10 because I want to finish my guys career.

[brewersfan84]

Re: Calling all with RTTS experience... I have a ?

Thanks man, wow 10 years out of one player? Congrats, man. Wonder if anyone else has had one like you or longer?

[Rickedycricket]

Re: Calling all with RTTS experience... I have a ?

I had one that i played every game the first 7 seasons. Like the above poster said I like to keep it realistic as much as possible because if you can hit 50-60 hr a year then whats the fun? Just keep it real and make a storyline for your guy in your head if your into that. Also the only way i ever got a bunch of seasons in is to simulate some seasons when your guy is estsablished. I did that after my 7th season and i'd sim the season and play every game of the playoffs. My last guy was a 6 time world champion and ended my career on a dynasty yankee team 2028, 2029, 2030 W.S. Champions wooo!

[clownbaby]

Re: Calling all with RTTS experience... I have a ?

I played my 2nd Baseman (Wyatt Jones) until my disc just ran thin. I don't remember exactly how old he was, but I'm fairly certain he was 36 give or take a year.

So 16-18 years of playing EVERY GAME shed some light on the best and worst of RTTS. Here's what I did to keep it fun:

1.) Play on HOF in the minors and Legend in the majors. This sorta helps you overcome the biggest flaw of the game which is:

*NO RAW TALENT SKILLS. At 36 yrs old, I stole over 50 bases, while at 25 years old I took around 20SB in a season.

This is, by far, the laziest neglect on SCEA's part, and I'm calling them out on it. It wouldn't be rocket science to program and implement a declining skill set, and it's overdue.

By playing on HOF in the minors, it kind of compensates for your lack of raw skills which you will eventually accumulate in your mid 30's.

2.) Don't max your stats (as said before). This was a mistake of mine as well, and I won't be repeating it. It also keeps the challenge of attaining respectable career stats (if you max out, you will see your 1000th HR hit at 45 years old).

3.) Don't always play the field and run the bases. If you feel like playing the field and the bases, then by all means do so, but if you don't, then turn them off.

Personally, I played the field and ran the bags when I (A) played a series against the Yankees and (B) when I got to the playoffs.

[SunTzu]

Re: Calling all with RTTS experience... I have a ?

I've put 11 years into a Starting Pitcher, and 8 years into a 3rd Baseman. I don't play the fielding as I found it to be pointless and repetitive, but I do play the baserunning portion.

As far as keeping it fresh, sure you can try all of these things, but what it really boils down to is staying commited to your player. If you get bored easily and have a short attention span, it has nothing to do with the game, and no gimmick you try in game to keep yourself interested is going to work. I'd suggest looking inward, instead of outward.

No offense of course

[Perfect Zero]

Re: Calling all with RTTS experience... I have a ?

Wow, I didn't know you could turn off fielding or baserunning if you wanted to. That's pretty neat; I'll start doing that on Tuesday.

As for me, I created a virtual me so that made it fun. This time around, I plan to make a fictional character, track him on OS, and reach for a certain goal. I want to break Pete Rose's record for hits, so maybe that's something to go for. Your goals, not necessarily the goals of the game, make RTTS fun.

[SA1NT401]

Re: Calling all with RTTS experience... I have a ?

Wow, I didn't know you could turn off fielding or baserunning if you wanted to. That's pretty neat; I'll start doing that on Tuesday.

As for me, I created a virtual me so that made it fun. This time around, I plan to make a fictional character, track him on OS, and reach for a certain goal. I want to break Pete Rose's record for hits, so maybe that's something to go for. Your goals, not necessarily the goals of the game, make RTTS fun.

My biggest gripe with RTTS, and it might sound strange....But i get called up WAY too early.....In both my RTTS players, i would make it to the THE SHOW by mid-point in my 1st season. I usually select DRAFT. Maybe i have just gotten lucky...TWICE....but i like playing in the minors for at least 2 yrs bfore getting the call.

By year 2...I was the starting 3rd baseman for the ASTROS. Batted .244 with 8 HRs and 56 RBI's and played in 144 games. RTTS got VERY stale after that point.

As great as the mode is....RTTS is just not for me. I think the main thing is the loading....6 mins playing...training....loading....aspect. I would rather play a franchise.

[clownbaby]

Re: Calling all with RTTS experience... I have a ?

I've put 11 years into a Starting Pitcher, and 8 years into a 3rd Baseman. I don't play the fielding as I found it to be pointless and repetitive, but I do play the baserunning portion.

As far as keeping it fresh, sure you can try all of these things, but what it really boils down to is staying commited to your player. If you get bored easily and have a short attention span, it has nothing to do with the game, and no gimmick you try in game to keep yourself interested is going to work. I'd suggest looking inward, instead of outward.

No offense of course

Definitely crucial. If you play an RTTS with no specific goals in mind, you will bore yourself to death with loading in/out 200 a season.

Having done that somewhere around 3,000 times, I got bogged down every now and then. You need to have a personal goal.

But, if I could suggest one thing about personal goals....

-GET DRAFTED. If you land on your dream team then take it. Congrats. For the other 99/100 people: Don't be a p***y and roll the dice again to see if you get something different. Take the first draft result and go to work.

By doing this, your mission isn't over after you achieve MLB status.

Then you're goal is stockpiling service time until you get 6 years and apply for Free Agency.

EXAMPLE: My 2B was drafted by the Royals. Yes. The Royals. Yes, I kept the draft result and played for the Royals. Not only was I playing for the royals, but they had a 2B one year younger than me who was the best 2B in AA or AAA. I spent FOUR YEARS stuck behind their future-All-Star 2nd Baseman without seeing the light of day (including spring training).

After 4 years I was selected in the Rule 5 Draft by the Washington Nationals... Yes, the Washington Nationals. For 7 years (took an extra year to get my 6 years of service due to a couple stints in the minors), I played 2nd Base for the Nationals with 0 winning seasons.

So just to recap, I played RTTS for 11 YEARS either in the minors or for the washington nationals before I could attempt to sign with my Red Sox.

NOT. They didn't want me. Pedroia was still kicking *** and I wasn't about to try to take his spot. I was done sitting the bench, so I had to sign a 2 year deal with the Braves until Pedroia was traded to the Twins.

13 YEARS passed until I signed with my team. Then I was dead-set on winning a ring and producing for a team that actually had a shot at winning.

I cannot explain to you the satisfaction of playing 13 years to finally sign for your team and try to win a ring. After 5 years with the Sox I eventually won it all. But it really sucked being at the peak of my career at 36. No stat declining=Terrible end to a great journey. It was a game breaker

[eyeamg0dly]

Re: Calling all with RTTS experience... I have a ?

my catcher went through trade hell. i was drafted by the white sox, i was so happy since thats where i wanted to be. a month into double a and i get traded the astros. i spend 4 years going back and forth between the majors and triple a. i would get hurt and lose the starting job and get sent down. when finally it was clear i wasnt going to be sent down anymore, i was platooning the starting catcher job sitting at #4 in the lineup. made absolutely no sense to me.

i ask for a trade and they sent me to milwaukee. first season our lineup was stacked and we go to the playoffs and lose in the first round. the next year, fielder, braun, and hart are gone and i have to carry the team for the next 3 years.

free agent now and i sign a 2 year contract with the yanks. i get reunited with braun and he beats me out for mvp in my first season there. the next season i get hurt and get stuck on the bench, never making it back into the starting rotation.

im a free agent again but didnt like any of the contract offers. at this point i wanted to be in another hitters park. i tryout for the rangers and sign a 5 year contract with them. first year we go to the world series and win it. at this point i sim out the rest of my career. my 5th year in texas we go back to the ws and lose to the phillys.

i sign with the phillys in the offseason and play till im 42, we win 4 titles in 7 years and i retire.

for me to play all those seasons, was because the change in scenery. honestly i would have liked to stay in chicago for my entire career but they never had a decent team when i became a free agent, so i kinda became a nomad.

[brewersfan84]

Re: Calling all with RTTS experience... I have a ?

I've put 11 years into a Starting Pitcher, and 8 years into a 3rd Baseman. I don't play the fielding as I found it to be pointless and repetitive, but I do play the baserunning portion.

As far as keeping it fresh, sure you can try all of these things, but what it really boils down to is staying commited to your player. If you get bored easily and have a short attention span, it has nothing to do with the game, and no gimmick you try in game to keep yourself interested is going to work. I'd suggest looking inward, instead of outward.

No offense of course

None taken. Thanks for the idea's guys, you've all been a big help.

[artyzipp]

Re: Calling all with RTTS experience... I have a ?

I played my 2nd Baseman (Wyatt Jones) until my disc just ran thin. I don't remember exactly how old he was, but I'm fairly certain he was 36 give or take a year.

So 16-18 years of playing EVERY GAME shed some light on the best and worst of RTTS. Here's what I did to keep it fun:

1.) Play on HOF in the minors and Legend in the majors. This sorta helps you overcome the biggest flaw of the game which is:

*NO RAW TALENT SKILLS. At 36 yrs old, I stole over 50 bases, while at 25 years old I took around 20SB in a season.

This is, by far, the laziest neglect on SCEA's part, and I'm calling them out on it. It wouldn't be rocket science to program and implement a declining skill set, and it's overdue.

By playing on HOF in the minors, it kind of compensates for your lack of raw skills which you will eventually accumulate in your mid 30's.

2.) Don't max your stats (as said before). This was a mistake of mine as well, and I won't be repeating it. It also keeps the challenge of attaining respectable career stats (if you max out, you will see your 1000th HR hit at 45 years old).

3.) Don't always play the field and run the bases. If you feel like playing the field and the bases, then by all means do so, but if you don't, then turn them off.

Personally, I played the field and ran the bags when I (A) played a series against the Yankees and (B) when I got to the playoffs.

Holy crap, you can choose to not play the field in some games? This changes everything. I mostly played as a pitcher because the position player on an everyday basis was a grind and got repetitive.

Where is this option?

[tribefanisu2003]

Re: Calling all with RTTS experience... I have a ?

This thread has been an enjoyable read. Fun to see how everyone's career progressed. My story is a bit different, as it seems RTTS has been easy for you guys on Legend and HOF, which just blows my mind. Here's why (and I apologize if this gets a bit lengthy):

I've always been HUGE into franchise mode. However, about a month ago or so, I was itching to play MLB, but wasn't sure I could commit to an every inning of every game style again, as I tend to have trouble playing sports games out of their real-life season. So, I thought, what the heck, I'll give RTTS a try.

I always figured the mode was programmed to be easy for you to make a player, and become a star, with little difficulty. Boy was I wrong.

I was drafted by the A's originally, spent 4 seasons between AA and AAA, then was picked as a Rule 5 pick by the Nats in the 5th year. As I played, I was trying to reach each advancement goal in each period. (Apply the points earned to the ratings they were wanting improved, THEN use any extra toward other ratings). This didn't work out too well. They kept me on the bench all year, and as a result of me aiming only to achieve the advancement goals with my points, most of my ratings had regressed to first-season levels by the end of that year. So, I retired him.

Started a new guy. CF again. What I'm doing now is doing my best to make sure some of the more important ratings (DUR (because I found that I was slumping BIG TIME at the end of each season), CON, PWR, SPD, BR Abil., FLD Ability), THEN putting the other points I may accumulate toward the advancement goals. I figure this way, I'll be more likely to keep earning points in the long run, even if I don't reach my advancement goals each time. So far it's working out pretty well.

Depsite the difficulties I had with the first guy, it's been fun figuring out which point distribution strategies work, which don't, etc., and I've been hooked on RTTS like I never thought I would be. I also have a second one going with a pitcher, but I made it to the Majors with him at the beginning of the 3rd season. I'm less intrigued by that one because it seemed a LOT easier to reach the majors using a pitcher than it has been with a position player.

Anyway, kudos to you all who had an easy time with this on HOF or Legend. VERY impressive, in my book.

[Misfit]

Re: Calling all with RTTS experience... I have a ?

I find it is a flawed but fun mode when you have the right mind-set. As others stated, its important to have goals in mind and the early promotions, free agency, winning it all is strangely rewarding even if its just a video game.

For me, I decided with the '08 game I was going to play as a starting pitcher until retirement. As a result, when the '09 game came out I was still playing and hardly scratched the surface of RTTS in the '09 game (instead, I played a ton of franchise games).

The biggest flaw I found (and this is for '08 though it is my understanding these flaws were not addressed for the '09 game) was that players do not age. Yes as you get older your player's skills will begin to decline faster but not to the point where you can't keep up. I had no problems keeping my guy's skills maxed out, and I don't mean just the pitching related ones. See, at some point it does get boring if you consistently dominate. My guy after 5 or 6 years had maxed out his pitching and fielding abilities. At some point several years after that I said "What the hell? I'll max out his hitting stats too," so my player, a starting pitcher, finished his career with a .960 OPS and 92% stolen base efficiency. At age 45, my pitcher's last year, he was still throwing in the high 90's, banged out a few homeruns, and won the Cy Young - probably his 20th or so (I lost count and the game only keeps track of the last 20 years). The peak for my player, and when I started simming a lot of regular season games, was a 30-0 season where I punched out 280-something guys with a 0.86 ERA.

For me, using a dominant starter in baseball games is always fun, especially when you craft the arsenal of pitches to your liking. My guy threw nothing straight - a riding fastball, cutter, slider, knuckle-curve, and circle change, so it made it fun to play with location. I had pitches to run inside on all batters or run away from all batters. And always have goals. They start small - make the club, break into the rotation, become the ace, sign a huge deal, etc. And then your goals may become record oriented. One of mine was to go undefeated, when it became obvious I could achieve it of course. Another that I never achieved was 300 strikeouts, probably the only goal I failed to achieve. My final goals were to break the wins record and the strikeout record. I broke the wins record at age 42 and the K record in my last year. I was also traded a few times which always makes things interesting - as a minor leaguer I was deal from the Red Sox to the Tigers, then to the Blue Jays where I got a cup of coffee, then to the Mets where I pitched for over 10 years before being traded to the Yankees when the Mets were in a rebuilding mode. I signed my last deal, a 5 year deal, after 3 and a half seasons with the Yankees and I returned to the Mets where my guy made his name. During my farewell season I was dealt at the deadline to the Rangers, those Mets front office guys are jerks. The game forced me to retire after that half season in Texas. I was actually hoping to play just one more year with the Red Sox since that is my favorite team and my guy never played for it but oh well. My career pitching record was something stupid, 591-88 I think. I know I finished my career with 5999 strikeouts. The funny thing is, the last 10 years or so of his career I mostly simmed so he had no trouble maintaining his dominance without me playing.