Can this be done?

[Hockey13Playa]

Hey everyone,

Haven't posted much the past few months but with OOTP16 pre-ordered the itch is starting to kick in full force as we are close to pre-order release day!

I have a question if this can be done and if so how complicated would it be? (I have never "created" my own league or started from scratch).

What I would like to try out I think is start off modern day, so the 2015 quickstart with all the sub leagues and all of that. However I want to for lack of better terms insert a new league that over time is going to compete with the MLB. As time prorgresses and my "fictional" league evolves I'd like to have the MLB die off with teams folding and some teams migrating to my "fictional" league. I would like to be able to sign players from the MLB and vise versa, maybe pay a player a huge amount to come over. After say XX years the MLB would be completely gone with my "fictional" league in its place per say with the rules and what not that I give it. I would like to start it small say only 8 teams and build it up as time progresses.

So my question is... is this possible and if so could someone maybe give me a hand in how I would go about creating this? That would be awesome! Thank you in advance!


PS - For anyone thats a hockey fan think of when there was the WHA and NHL competing, it would be a scenario kind of like that.

[jabrown6940]

Wow, you really take "playing OOTP" to another level. If the MLB won't play your way just kill 'em off.

[sbailey85]

I can see this working. You can allow the fictional league to trade with other leagues or to allow it to buy players for a certain amount. I am also thinking maybe messing with the league reputation will help the MLB decline more. I have messed with this setting a little and in my limited testing I was seeing players leave one league to go to the other.

[Hockey13Playa]

Originally Posted by jabrown6940

Wow, you really take "playing OOTP" to another level. If the MLB won't play your way just kill 'em off.

Haha not sure I want to 100% kill em' off but I've always liked the WHA/NHL dual league back in the day for hockey. I wanted to really create my own league but not be 100% fictional at the same time. Having the exact same real world quick start with a "rising" (fictional) league intertwined would be awesome!

[Bluenoser]

This could be done quite easily.

Neat concept.

[Hockey13Playa]

Originally Posted by Bluenoser

This could be done quite easily.

Neat concept.

Hey thanks Bluenoser!

As far as being done quite easily... is there a spot that I could read & learn how to do this. I will admit this game scares me when it comes to modifying anything. The craziest thing I've done in my two years of OOTP (14 & 15) is change logos & jerseys and hold one expansion draft for 2 new teams... off of the MLB14 quick start I believe.

[Peregrine]

One way to start the process would be to make sure the new league pays players more - you can manually adjust the payscale, or use higher media revenue or whatever you want. Over time the big stars will tend to sign with the newer league which will make reducing the size of the old one make more sense.

I haven't tried this but I did have the reverse (main league with smaller, regional competing league with lower salaries) and it worked well.

[Cole]

As others have said, this will definitely work. What I would suggest is don't try to do your main league the first time around.. do a test run, where you set things up how you want it, and sim it out to see how it plays out. Obviously don't waste a lot of time finding jerseys, setting team names, etc.. just the basic structure.

While the game doesn't have a mechanism as far as I know whereby the MLB will struggle, falter and eventually disband, you definitely could make that happen yourself via inserting yourself in the commisioner role.

The other stuff you could have happen organically. In terms of MLB players coming over to your league - making sure your league has comparable or even larger budgets than MLB will be important. You can also play with the prestige ratings of the two league.. Lowering MLB's and raising your own will obviously see more talented players migrate over.

[Hockey13Playa]

Thanks Cole for the tips!I certainly can try out a few tests! I guess besides the advice you've given me I am still looking for some kind of "start to finish" guidelines on how to properly set this up... anyone have anything they could share with me or point me where to go?

Like I said I have never done anything of the sort besides play the quick start and expand once so I am a "fictional" newbie lol.

[Bluenoser]

Originally Posted by Hockey13Playa

Thanks Cole for the tips!I certainly can try out a few tests! I guess besides the advice you've given me I am still looking for some kind of "start to finish" guidelines on how to properly set this up... anyone have anything they could share with me or point me where to go?

Like I said I have never done anything of the sort besides play the quick start and expand once so I am a "fictional" newbie lol.

I've got a ton of snow to shovel tomorrow and nowhere to put it, (haven't finished moving Sundays snow yet never mind last nights n todays) but if I'm still standing when I'm done I'll try and put some stuff together to help you along the way.

You're probably going to want to run a test league or two first anyway, no doubt you'll have to experiment with some settings.

[Hockey13Playa]

Originally Posted by Bluenoser

I've got a ton of snow to shovel tomorrow and nowhere to put it, (haven't finished moving Sundays snow yet never mind last nights n todays) but if I'm still standing when I'm done I'll try and put some stuff together to help you along the way.

You're probably going to want to run a test league or two first anyway, no doubt you'll have to experiment with some settings.

Not a problem, real life issues are more important then helping a fellow OOTP'er (some may beg to differ). But I certainly would appreciate that if you get some time.

Thanks in advance for any help you may provide!

[jokerhusky1129]

I've thought of doing this starting in 1959 by making the Continental League. Basically, I'd use the identities of the expansion teams from the '60s and later and make what was supposed to be the new league. Though with Atlanta not really being an expansion team, I'll probably have to name them the Crackers This is why I love OOTP though..baseball YOUR way

[jabrown6940]

x

[Bluenoser]

Going to try and build this in 16 today. I'll make notes on things as I go along and pass them to you along with how it went.

Couple quick questions for you

Do you plan on having the fictional league right from the beginning or will you play MLB for a few years first then start the fictional?

Any idea of a time frame? What I mean here is, say you start in 2001 (just grabbing a date at random), do you plan to have MLB completely gone in say 20 years, 30 years, or sooner maybe?

This will be important for league quality and how quickly you want guys moving over from MLB to Fictional league.

One of the key things here will be the league quality - which we can set. I would suggest starting off with a lower quality for the fictional and gradually increasing it over a number of seasons.

With a lower quality setting for the fictional, you'll likely see less movement at first, and then it would increase as the quality does (I don't know this for a fact, not having tried it, but this is one of the things that will need adjusting as you progress.)

That's it for now, if I think of any more questions I'll post them here. Want to get this done today because once the game is released tomorrow I'll be hanging around the forums all weekend to answer questions and provide general help to users.

Cheers

[dave1927p]

I must admit I have done this on several versions and occasions with the exact same mindset, the WHA/NHL. It works quite well to an extent. I typically lower the generated talent in the competing league to players who never play a pro game and retire right away, then expand the number of players generated for the draft from the top pro team. Finally I would lower the UFA age in the top league. Then over years manually change the reputation of the competing league. I've also had alot of fun creating a top japan league where they get paid very little money and with a low rep, and having the top NA league not allow foreigners for a short time but the competing league allow them.

However, you will never get two teams drafting the same player and competing to sign him as a rookie like we saw in the WHA/NHL but once they become FA you can watch the two leagues battle it out for the players. I have never bothered disabling the draft but that might work. Also I have found that using Associations with this does not work well, at least not for my leagues.

[Bluenoser]

Originally Posted by dave1927p

I must admit I have done this on several versions and occasions with the exact same mindset, the WHA/NHL. It works quite well to an extent. I typically lower the generated talent in the competing league to players who never play a pro game and retire right away, then expand the number of players generated for the draft from the top pro team. Finally I would lower the UFA age in the top league. Then over years manually change the reputation of the competing league. I've also had alot of fun creating a top japan league where they get paid very little money and with a low rep, and having the top NA league not allow foreigners for a short time but the competing league allow them.

However, you will never get two teams drafting the same player and competing to sign him as a rookie like we saw in the WHA/NHL but once they become FA you can watch the two leagues battle it out for the players. I have never bothered disabling the draft but that might work. Also I have found that using Associations with this does not work well, at least not for my leagues.

Perhaps you could share your setup with Hockey13Playa?

If you've already done this it would save me doing a number of tests.

Thanks.

[Hockey13Playa]

Originally Posted by Bluenoser

Going to try and build this in 16 today. I'll make notes on things as I go along and pass them to you along with how it went.

Couple quick questions for you

Do you plan on having the fictional league right from the beginning or will you play MLB for a few years first then start the fictional?

This is up to you, and what you think would be the better choice. I can have it start year one (2015) or I can add it within a few years... sooner the better though as my personal pereference.

Any idea of a time frame? What I mean here is, say you start in 2001 (just grabbing a date at random), do you plan to have MLB completely gone in say 20 years, 30 years, or sooner maybe?

I want to start modern day 2015 so essentially the 2015 quickstart with my fictional major league added in. As far as the MLB length I say 15 years is a good sweet spot. ***Another option if its easier... I wouldnt even mind possibly having both leagues end up surviving and stealing players from each others leagues in the offseason, somehwat how the current NHL and KHL are***

This will be important for league quality and how quickly you want guys moving over from MLB to Fictional league.

15 years i think is good but I am flexible here too if its easier or harder with more or less of a time frame.

One of the key things here will be the league quality - which we can set. I would suggest starting off with a lower quality for the fictional and gradually increasing it over a number of seasons.

I think that is a good idea, I dont want this inserted fictional league to dominate off the get go. A gradual increas in quality and talent seem realistic to me and more challenging as well as engaging.

With a lower quality setting for the fictional, you'll likely see less movement at first, and then it would increase as the quality does (I don't know this for a fact, not having tried it, but this is one of the things that will need adjusting as you progress.)

I agree, and per my comment above that sounds good to me. Just may need some assistance or guidance on how to gradually ajust these things.

That's it for now, if I think of any more questions I'll post them here. Want to get this done today because once the game is released tomorrow I'll be hanging around the forums all weekend to answer questions and provide general help to users.

Cheers

Thanks for the response sir!! I have replied to your questions above in bold so hopefully that will help out some. I'd love to give this a try, just to reiterate I am a rookie when it comes to messing with settings year by year. Below are a few other random things that may or may not be useful for you:

I'd like to start off with two conferences 4 teams in each for a total of 8. Schedule wise I'd like to do spring training and have the schedule for opening day start around the same time frame as the MLB. Basically its going to mimic a majority of MLB structure but with slight modifications. As far as stats go I'd like it to be comparable to the MLB too. Whats going to differ is say I may have DH across the board or no DH across the board, amount of regular season games and playoffs. I am flexible here as well and things may change as the league grows and expends (and MLB shrinks).

Other note, if i was to do the option of MLB and Fictional league both surviving I wouldnt mind maybe a "merger" of sorts for the playoffs with some kind of joint playoff system, not sure if thats a whole new animal to skin or not though.

[Hockey13Playa]

Oh, and thanks again for getting back to me and helping out a random stranger... there really are good people in this world!

[IanIachimoe]

Sounds like a cool idea.

[jparker2112]

If you get this to work would you PLEASE post it as a quick start for those of us who are very limited in our knowledge of making OOTP unique (like your idea) I can hardly get the random debut to work!! HAHA!

Thanks!