MLB Realistic but Easy Setup?

[SlyBelle]

Hello,

Looking for some thoughts concerning MLB quick start (or alternative) and if already previously discussed elsewhere, certainly would welcome a link.

I have bought every version of OOTP as far as I can remember, but admittingly have often been paralyzed by the amount of details and settings available where I never get far with each new version. I always think I might not be setting up something right and/or find out after my league started that I wish I would have changed something that I didn't. This leads me to drifting away from the game, which isn't the game's fault, it's just my lack of understanding and/or my attention span.

With that said, I really want to try sticking with it this year so looking for advice. I simply want a realistic modern (starting with current season) experience of being the GM/manager. This includes realistic amount of trades, reasonable player development, and playing by all the current rules. If I use the QuickStart, will this provide me the type of experience I seek without then having to change a ton of options/settings? If additional settings are required, is there a guide or place to look to determine what those are? I realize everyone has their own way of playing and what they consider realistic, I am simply just looking for largely a realistic out of the box experience if it exists. Also interested on how many leagues and such I need to include for reasonable experience. I have a decent computer, but really prefer a "speedy" experience and not sure how much having a ton of leagues adds to the experience as I plan to largely manage one team at a time throughout my career.

Thanks!

[ubernoob]

Honestly just start as basic as possible. MLB (and minors) only quick start is fine. You're overthinking it. The world will never be 1:1 (well, I guess to a point it can if you start during the season using live start) so don't worry about if it matches the real world developments. The randomness of each game is the fun of it.

Once you get that under your belt if you enjoy it, then worry about adding leagues and stuff.

[SlyBelle]

Originally Posted by ubernoob

Honestly just start as basic as possible. MLB (and minors) only quick start is fine. You're overthinking it. The world will never be 1:1 (well, I guess to a point it can if you start during the season using live start) so don't worry about if it matches the real world developments. The randomness of each game is the fun of it.

Once you get that under your belt if you enjoy it, then worry about adding leagues and stuff.

Thanks. I wasn't really concerned if the results of the games/season turned out the same as the real world, in fact prefer they don't and largely seem realistic for what is happening in my universe. More of my question was the setup of the league at the start to ensure all the options/settings/rules/leagues were already set to resemble the current world at the start of the 2022 season. So if I simply use the quick start (or another recommended starting point), will it set all the options and rules automatically to resemble the current world? If so, that is great and exactly what I am looking to do. Just wanted to make sure after doing the quick start that I still didn't need to make other manual changes to the setup.

Thanks.

[ubernoob]

Generally, yes.

If you do find there to be too many (or too little) trades for your liking, you can tweak that in game at any time too. The rules *should* resemble them, but I think last year I always had to double check that the extra innings rules were in effect.

I normally make my own world, so I'm not sure how exactly similar it will be with moves/contracts/etc but quick start is definitely the best option around for playing something that is analogous to the real world MLB. Dodgers will always be overpowered compared to real life though.

[SlyBelle]

Originally Posted by ubernoob

Generally, yes.

If you do find there to be too many (or too little) trades for your liking, you can tweak that in game at any time too. The rules *should* resemble them, but I think last year I always had to double check that the extra innings rules were in effect.

I normally make my own world, so I'm not sure how exactly similar it will be with moves/contracts/etc but quick start is definitely the best option around for playing something that is analogous to the real world MLB. Dodgers will always be overpowered compared to real life though.

Thanks, appreciate that. Exactly what I am looking to understand whether settings need changed like trades to have it work like real life, along with others. If the default is reasonable and the rules represent today's real world, then I am good. Trying to keep as simple and realistic as possible I'll likely be trying to turn around the Pirates so my work is cut out for me anyway

[Pelican]

Originally Posted by SlyBelle

Thanks, appreciate that. Exactly what I am looking to understand whether settings need changed like trades to have it work like real life, along with others. If the default is reasonable and the rules represent today's real world, then I am good. Trying to keep as simple and realistic as possible I'll likely be trying to turn around the Pirates so my work is cut out for me anyway

On the Pirates, do yourself a favor and tweak the financial side to give yourself more money, which you can then choose to allocate to free agents, player development, international signings, contract extensions, or free hot dogs. Would the Pirates with the Braves budget (sign a new OF at the trade deadline, and go from losing record to contention, just like that) be a better team? Of course. But how much better, is the challenge for you as the GM.

I took over the Orioles for 2021, signed a bunch of free agents (Kris Bryant, Trevor Story, Alex Wood), made some trades, moved up younger players. Still a distant fifth in the AL East. "Hard? Of course it's hard. It it were easy, anyone could do it!"

[PSUColonel]

Well, I can think of a list of things I personally do in an effort to create the most challenging and realistic experience possible. Those two words (challenging and realistic) mean different things in my experience. For me, the idea is to try and find a good balance between the two...a challenging task for sure.


1. I set overall & potential ratings to 20-80 by 5's.

2. I set injuries to high (realistic modern day)

3. I do show personality ratings on the profile page. Some may argue this makes the game easier, but I think it's realistic to have a reasonable player makeup portion of a scouting report.

4. I change trade difficulty to the hardest level possible...while leaving the favor prospects/vets neutral.

5. I set AI evaluation settings to 55/20/15/10. I think it's imperative to have ratings at at least 55 for trading and waiver purposes. This is where challenging over realistic comes into play. I think it's important to go challenging here.

6. I change market sizes to the ones I recommend in this thread: I also use 2 percent inflation.

https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...t=market+sizes

7. I am not a huge dynamic evolution fan, but if you want to use it, I only recommend using more/less offense and defense....disable the rest.

8. I re-name all the awards to their actual names.

9. This one depends if you are using other International or Independent Leagues. If you have them all ENABLED...then DISABLE the generate IEFA & generate FA from Indy leagues.

10. For my minor leagues I use actual roster rules:

AAA 28 players no service limit
AA 28 players no service limit
A+ 30 players 5 years service limit
A 30 players 4 years service limit
FCL & ACL 35 players (in reality this is usually unlimited...but the actual rule of 180 total players can't be replicated) 3 years service limit
DSL 35 players 3 years service limit

11. I change all awards in every league to best match reality. I also attempt to replicate roster rules in all of the leagues the best I can to match reality...although this is simply going to be impossible in many cases.

12. I ensure all leagues using reserve rosters have a limit of 15 players available on the reserve roster. This may even be too many, but it seems reasonable to me, so that teams' don't hoard players. It's the same reason I use a 35 player limit in all rookie minor leagues.

13. Enable inflation of all leagues at 2%.

14. Ensure I have all of the correct logos and ballcaps. I try to get all of the right jerseys, but some just aren't available. I zoom in all the way on photo players to minimize this.

15. Have Fun!!

[SlyBelle]

Thanks, so even using the quick start, real life roster sizes and such are not correct after starting? I was at least hoping the real world rules and structure were auto setup.

[Javs]

Does anyone enable independent, Japanese, Mexican, Cuban leagues or others? If so, what is the best realistic setup for player movement.

[PSUColonel]

Originally Posted by Javs

Does anyone enable independent, Japanese, Mexican, Cuban leagues or others? If so, what is the best realistic setup for player movement.

You are correct..I don't do those