Critique My Settings

[bly08]

I was wondering if I can get some feedback on my current settings, and more importantly my logic for picking them. I arrived at these from going through previous threads and my experiences thus far of playing several MLB quickstarts with the Red Sox.

0/55/30/15, show ratings

I used to play with 15/55/25/5, but I've noticed that in several of my games, when I call Moncada up in the 2nd or 3rd season, the AI would play him over Pedroia who was still playing at a projected 6 WAR level. This applies even when Moncada's 100% scouted potential rating was < 4 stars and Pedroia's current ratings was 4 or 5 stars. I don't wanna play complete stats only since I like looking at ratings. But I'm concerned if this gives me a big edge over the AI if I can still see ratings, although I understand that even with ratings weighed at 0 the AI still peeks.

Trading at very hard/neutral/low frequency

I've been going back and fourth between neutral and heavily favor prospects. I imagine the latter would make the league more competitive for smaller market teams, and as a whole in the long run; but it also gives me a huge advantage at the start of the game since the Red Sox have plenty of prospects and also enough budget to afford veteran contracts. I was able to pull off some, imo, lopsided trades at the start of the game on very hard/heavily favor prospects

These two trades don't come close to gutting my farm system and in return, I was able to get the best 1-2 punch in AL, and (in the game), two of the top 1B and 3B on arbitration contracts. Conversely, it's much harder for me to dump Hanley Ramirez/Sandoval's contracts, but there were still more than a few teams who would take both of them.

TCR - 100

I tried 75 and 120 but found the default most enjoyable, this is probably the most subjective setting.



I'd like to find a setting that's challenging but realistic and also allows me to look at ratings. I do not want to play complete stats only so I'd appreciate if this thread doesn't turn into a debate about that. Thanks for help.

[ondemonitors]

those are pretty much the settings I use..mine are 0/60/25/15, others are the same..I do hide the ratings though and just go by the scouting reports..but I like what you have going there.

[Gai1997]

Can someone explain these 0/55/15/5 things? I know they are right under the AI Settings below trade difficulty and trade preference, but what exactly am I doing to the AI when I change these?

[ezpkns34]

Originally Posted by Gai1997

Can someone explain these 0/55/15/5 things? I know they are right under the AI Settings below trade difficulty and trade preference, but what exactly am I doing to the AI when I change these?

Those (coupled with ticking the checkboxbox telling the AI not to base it's evaluations purely off ratings) is used when trying to do a stats-only league

You're telling the AI to pay no attention to ratings (which you'd likely want to hide in a stats-only league) and to pay attention solely to the players' stats in evaluating them

Also, I'd recommend not going with 0/55/15/5 as the numbers need to add up to 100

[Gai1997]

Originally Posted by ezpkns34

Those (coupled with ticking the checkboxbox telling the AI not to base it's evaluations purely off ratings) is used when trying to do a stats-only league

You're telling the AI to pay no attention to ratings (which you'd likely want to hide in a stats-only league) and to pay attention solely to the players' stats in evaluating them

Also, I'd recommend not going with 0/55/15/5 as the numbers need to add up to 100

Do you think default numbers, Very Hard, Heavily Favor Prospects = a balanced, hard to make trades and good evaluation league?

[ezpkns34]

Originally Posted by Gai1997

Do you think default numbers, Very Hard, Heavily Favor Prospects = a balanced, hard to make trades and good evaluation league?

The trade difficulty doesn't (or at least shouldn't) have any effect on evaluation, just generally makes the AI teams value their players more than normal while valuing your players less than normal (thus, making it harder to trade)

If you're looking for most realistic trade settings, I'd suggest setting it to Average or Hard with either Neutral or Favor Prospects on the focus. However, these settings would require the player to not knowingly take advantage of the AI (no need for house rules outside of simply asking yourself "does this trade make sense from the other team's point of view"). If you want to make the trades as fair as possible but don't trust your ability to restrain yourself from taking advantage of the AI, then I'd probably suggest Very Hard & Favor Prospects. For instance, if you would make the above Bumgarner trade, then you aren't one that's able to restrain yourself from taking advantage of the AI

Again, a lot of these settings are relative to the one using them. Best way to find settings that fit what you want to do is to play with them yourself and see

[bly08]

Am I correct in my assumption of how favor prospects vs. neutral affects the game? What are people's reasoning for going either/or?

[Lou Gehrig]

Originally Posted by ezpkns34

Again, a lot of these settings are relative to the one using them. Best way to find settings that fit what you want to do is to play with them yourself and see

I have found the most difficult decisions in OOTP are not inside the baselines or even running the front office...they are deciding what game settings to use.
I'm actually relieved when I arrive at Spring training knowing those decisions are behind me.

[jlking]

Originally Posted by Lou Gehrig

I have found the most difficult decisions in OOTP are not inside the baselines or even running the front office...they are deciding what game settings to use.
I'm actually relieved when I arrive at Spring training knowing those decisions are behind me.

Sometimes I am just trying to tell a story. Last weekend I setup an independent league set in rural Ohio in 1910. It was all based on a book the wife read in which a farm kid waits all year for the start of the baseball season - because basically there is nothin' else to do. I wanted to make it a barnstormer kind of a league and decided that trades should be obscenely easy. The idea being you could just rent the service of another team's player for money if the need arose. The league stands were not as important as the games. The pure entertainment and spectacle for the locals was the point.

Next, I am thinking of a Cuban sugar cane league set in about the same era. They actual were very competitive, and the rich owners would hire major league wringers to play for their teams. I have not yet figured out quite how to do that yet...

Which I guess is all to say, it depends on what you are trying to do when setting up the game as far as trades are concerned.

[ra7c7er]

Originally Posted by jlking

Sometimes I am just trying to tell a story. Last weekend I setup an independent league set in rural Ohio in 1910. It was all based on a book the wife read in which a farm kid waits all year for the start of the baseball season - because basically there is nothin' else to do. I wanted to make it a barnstormer kind of a league and decided that trades should be obscenely easy. The idea being you could just rent the service of another team's player for money if the need arose. The league stands were not as important as the games. The pure entertainment and spectacle for the locals was the point.

Next, I am thinking of a Cuban sugar cane league set in about the same era. They actual were very competitive, and the rich owners would hire major league wringers to play for their teams. I have not yet figured out quite how to do that yet...

Which I guess is all to say, it depends on what you are trying to do when setting up the game as far as trades are concerned.

I like that kind of stuff. OOTPs fictional leagues allow for so many interesting ways to play.