AI signing players to the minors without permission

Satanic · 07-11-2006, 07:08 AM

AI signing minor league players without MY permission. ME! The GM of the team! As if the budget of the ballclub isn't small enough! Now I don't have enough money to sign extra talents/players! I notice this happening EVEN IF I set the Roster Moves option in manager homepage to myself and not granting AI to do it.

I don't want my team expenses going out of whack.

Zeyes · 07-11-2006, 08:24 AM

The frequency of exclamation points is setting off my sarcasm detector, but in case you're making a serious inquiry: Yes, that's probably not supposed to happen, but no, additional minor league players don't cost you anything.

Satanic · 07-12-2006, 08:57 AM

If that is so, I'm sick of cutting 20 players every few months to let my drafted/traded talents get some time to play ball.

Another Mike D · 07-12-2006, 10:34 AM

Are you in commish mode?
Are you the GM?
Are you acting as the GM?
Did you check off that silly box to prevent this?
Are you the CFO?
Did you make yourself Chief of Baseball Operations?
Are you the Vice President in charge of personnel?

It's sort of silly how many things are required for you to just control a team. My vote for the next patch would be to remove this stupid "act as" business and just make it so when you select yourself to run the team, that's the only requirement to actually run the team.

It's amazing that the game has been out for a few months and people are still complaining that the AI is doing things for them and we need 5 extra checkboxes to make sure they don't.

battists · 07-12-2006, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Another Mike D

It's sort of silly how many things are required for you to just control a team. My vote for the next patch would be to remove this stupid "act as" business and just make it so when you select yourself to run the team, that's the only requirement to actually run the team.

Well, of course, if everyone played the game the same way, there wouldn't have to be all of these options. But, Markus wanted to provide maximum customizability, and that ends up making configuring the game more complex for everyone. For every person that wants to control EVERYTHING, there are others still who want to do it differently somehow.

There's no question that this has been one bug that has evaded an easy solution, though. Still, we keep working at it. Anyway, never mind that. :P

In an attempt to suss out what's going on, could you please give some more detail about how your league is configured? Do you have somewhere that you could host a copy of your league files, that I could grab?

Thanks,

Steve

Another Mike D · 07-12-2006, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by battists

Well, of course, if everyone played the game the same way, there wouldn't have to be all of these options. But, Markus wanted to provide maximum customizability, and that ends up making configuring the game more complex for everyone. For every person that wants to control EVERYTHING, there are others still who want to do it differently somehow.

There's no question that this has been one bug that has evaded an easy solution, though. Still, we keep working at it. Anyway, never mind that. :P

In an attempt to suss out what's going on, could you please give some more detail about how your league is configured? Do you have somewhere that you could host a copy of your league files, that I could grab?

Thanks,

Steve

Whereas I agree in principle, I must say that I believe 75% of the customers to be ones returning from previous versions. Additionally, this is mainly a GM sim (though it's intended for more in some instances). That being said, when I select a team out of the box, I should be able to control all aspects unless otherwise stated. There should be boxes to check if I want the AI to do things. I shouldn't have to spend time trying to figure out if I am the GM, acting as the GM, only the manager, the president, etc.

The fact that many of the problems coming up in the tech support are replied with "are you the GM or acting as the GM" I think this really out to be looked at.

Zeyes · 07-12-2006, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Another Mike D

That being said, when I select a team out of the box, I should be able to control all aspects unless otherwise stated.

Err, if you do select a team right from the start (namely when you're creating your manager profile), you get to do exactly that.

Edit: And just because I'm feeling a bit snarky after reading so many posts on this particular theme - this is explained on page nine of the manual. I generally sympathize with the "it's too unclear for casual gamers" complaints, but is it really too much to ask that the manual be given at least some rudimentary attention?

Satanic · 07-12-2006, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Another Mike D

The fact that many of the problems coming up in the tech support are replied with "are you the GM or acting as the GM" I think this really out to be looked at.

Agreed.

Satanic · 07-12-2006, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeyes

Err, if you do select a team right from the start (namely when you're creating your manager profile), you get to do exactly that.

Edit: And just because I'm feeling a bit snarky after reading so many posts on this particular theme - this is explained on page nine of the manual. I generally sympathize with the "it's too unclear for casual gamers" complaints, but is it really too much to ask that the manual be given at least some rudimentary attention?

Zeyes,

Manuals are out there to help players. I don't suppose we need to MEMORIZE the manual like a student reading a textbook before the exams.
And there are just too many aspects we need to remember because if you don't do it right, you screw up the game. Options are supposed to help you, not punish you, yes?

Zeyes · 07-12-2006, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Satanic

Manuals are out there to help players.

Only those who want to be helped.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Satanic

I don't suppose we need to MEMORIZE the manual like a student reading a textbook before the exams.

Absolutely agreed. But in this specific case we're talking about something that is part of a mere two-page section titled (shock, horror) "Getting Started". If even such basic info is being overlooked/ignored, I'm afraid I just can't work up much sympathy.

Satanic · 07-12-2006, 07:25 PM

But I'm sure people jump to sections they care about more, while reading the manual. Only to come back later fussing over some rules they didn't suppose would affect their play style as much as it does.
That's what happened to me, anyway.
Getting Started in 90% of the manuals for games out there are for players that don't have a clue about the games. If something would have an impact upon the game, I suggest that it be placed in "Important-read before play" or "Q&A" section.

battists · 07-12-2006, 07:25 PM

Well, I wrote the guide/manual, and I'm not feeling snarky about it. I agree that the Commish/Act As thing is confusing people, and needs to be looked at, but I suspect that won't happen until 2007, because you can imagine the chaos it would cause to change that all around right now.

The fact is, there is a persistent bug that is causing the AI to make roster moves for human-controlled teams, and it hasn't been resolved yet, in particular for people who choose to play as minor league managers. That's what we're working to resolve. There are actually relatively few scenarios in which the AI will make moves for a human at this point. It's just blatantly obvious to those people who prefer that style of play. For example, if you start a brand new fictional league as the GM, the kind of "default fictional world," the AI won't make any moves for you. (Or if it does, I'm unaware of it.)

I still don't think our actions on this front deserved the snarky comment earlier, but *shrugs* I'm not trying to diminish the fact that there are unsatisfied customers. And in truth, the snarkiness level of Mike D's post is WAY below some of the other ones, so I'll let it go.

Steve

Satanic · 07-12-2006, 07:27 PM

But I'm sure people jump to sections they care about more -by this I mean, "wow, let me check out the scouts system. How does it work again?"

I DID read 70% of the manual.

Zeyes · 07-12-2006, 07:28 PM

I was editing this into my previous post, but the thread has passed me by in the meantime

so let's repost...

I suppose the real problem here is that the Select Team option in the Manager Creation dialog is simply not very prominently placed, and many people (after having been dazzled by the gazillion League Setup options) are simply clicking past it without meaning to. And then the first thing that catches their attention is the Act As thingy, so they end up doing the wrong thing. I'd have to think there's a way that the Manager Creation interface can be improved visually so this won't happen as much.

Edit: Sorry, I should have posted that in Suggestions.

battists · 07-12-2006, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeyes

Edit: Sorry, I should have posted that in Suggestions.

/ban

Another Mike D · 07-13-2006, 09:23 AM

That's the first time I've even heard the work snarkiness, let alone had it applied to me. The original post was sort of tongue-in-cheek, but in all seriousness I keep seeing this over and over (with people complaining about the AI messing with their depth charts, signing players, etc) and the common answer was stated above. Just something that needs to be re-evaluated in my opinion because most people want to be the GM, not acting as the GM with the computer having rights to do whatever it wants anyway.

battists · 07-19-2006, 07:33 PM

Alright folks, I"m moving this to claimed fixed. I've tested a LOT, and haven't been able to make the AI do anything untoward. Hopefully, nothing slipped through the cracks...

07-11-2006, 07:08 AM	#1
Satanic Minors (Single A) Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 82	AI signing players to the minors without permission AI signing minor league players without MY permission. ME! The GM of the team! As if the budget of the ballclub isn't small enough! Now I don't have enough money to sign extra talents/players! I notice this happening EVEN IF I set the Roster Moves option in manager homepage to myself and not granting AI to do it. I don't want my team expenses going out of whack.

07-12-2006, 10:34 AM	#4
Another Mike D All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: atl Posts: 891	Are you in commish mode? Are you the GM? Are you acting as the GM? Did you check off that silly box to prevent this? Are you the CFO? Did you make yourself Chief of Baseball Operations? Are you the Vice President in charge of personnel? It's sort of silly how many things are required for you to just control a team. My vote for the next patch would be to remove this stupid "act as" business and just make it so when you select yourself to run the team, that's the only requirement to actually run the team. It's amazing that the game has been out for a few months and people are still complaining that the AI is doing things for them and we need 5 extra checkboxes to make sure they don't. __________________ San Diego Padres NexGen Baseball League Cleveland Indians United Baseball League Co-commissioner of United Baseball League

07-12-2006, 07:28 PM	#14
Zeyes All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 818	I was editing this into my previous post, but the thread has passed me by in the meantime so let's repost... I suppose the real problem here is that the Select Team option in the Manager Creation dialog is simply not very prominently placed, and many people (after having been dazzled by the gazillion League Setup options) are simply clicking past it without meaning to. And then the first thing that catches their attention is the Act As thingy, so they end up doing the wrong thing. I'd have to think there's a way that the Manager Creation interface can be improved visually so this won't happen as much. Edit: Sorry, I should have posted that in Suggestions. Last edited by Zeyes; 07-12-2006 at 07:32 PM.

07-13-2006, 09:23 AM	#16
Another Mike D All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: atl Posts: 891	That's the first time I've even heard the work snarkiness, let alone had it applied to me. The original post was sort of tongue-in-cheek, but in all seriousness I keep seeing this over and over (with people complaining about the AI messing with their depth charts, signing players, etc) and the common answer was stated above. Just something that needs to be re-evaluated in my opinion because most people want to be the GM, not acting as the GM with the computer having rights to do whatever it wants anyway. __________________ San Diego Padres NexGen Baseball League Cleveland Indians United Baseball League Co-commissioner of United Baseball League

07-11-2006, 08:24 AM	#2
Zeyes All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 818	The frequency of exclamation points is setting off my sarcasm detector, but in case you're making a serious inquiry: Yes, that's probably not supposed to happen, but no, additional minor league players don't cost you anything.

07-12-2006, 08:57 AM	#3
Satanic Minors (Single A) Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 82	If that is so, I'm sick of cutting 20 players every few months to let my drafted/traded talents get some time to play ball.

07-12-2006, 07:25 PM	#11
Satanic Minors (Single A) Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 82	But I'm sure people jump to sections they care about more, while reading the manual. Only to come back later fussing over some rules they didn't suppose would affect their play style as much as it does. That's what happened to me, anyway. Getting Started in 90% of the manuals for games out there are for players that don't have a clue about the games. If something would have an impact upon the game, I suggest that it be placed in "Important-read before play" or "Q&A" section.

07-12-2006, 07:25 PM	#12
battists Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 18,506	Well, I wrote the guide/manual, and I'm not feeling snarky about it. I agree that the Commish/Act As thing is confusing people, and needs to be looked at, but I suspect that won't happen until 2007, because you can imagine the chaos it would cause to change that all around right now. The fact is, there is a persistent bug that is causing the AI to make roster moves for human-controlled teams, and it hasn't been resolved yet, in particular for people who choose to play as minor league managers. That's what we're working to resolve. There are actually relatively few scenarios in which the AI will make moves for a human at this point. It's just blatantly obvious to those people who prefer that style of play. For example, if you start a brand new fictional league as the GM, the kind of "default fictional world," the AI won't make any moves for you. (Or if it does, I'm unaware of it.) I still don't think our actions on this front deserved the snarky comment earlier, but shrugs I'm not trying to diminish the fact that there are unsatisfied customers. And in truth, the snarkiness level of Mike D's post is WAY below some of the other ones, so I'll let it go. Steve

07-12-2006, 07:27 PM	#13
Satanic Minors (Single A) Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 82	But I'm sure people jump to sections they care about more -by this I mean, "wow, let me check out the scouts system. How does it work again?" I DID read 70% of the manual.

07-19-2006, 07:33 PM	#17
battists Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 18,506	Alright folks, I"m moving this to claimed fixed. I've tested a LOT, and haven't been able to make the AI do anything untoward. Hopefully, nothing slipped through the cracks...