Feeder League Questions

[RevanFan]

I have a few questions relating to feeder leagues.

I have a fictional league, and briefly had feeder leagues years ago, but I decided to remove them after one season. However, I now think I want to give them another chance. So I have two questions.

1. If I created feeder leagues, WHEN exactly should I create them? I'm currently just at the start of the regular season.

2. What should the schedule look like for feeder leagues? How many games, and during what months?

3. Are there any specific tips or settings you recommend?

4. Is this guide still accurate?

https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...d.php?t=211757

[Sweed]

First thing is with the new way OOTO creates draft classes I would not encourage you to use feeders. That comes from a guy that used and liked feeders from the time they were added to OOTP. In v21 OOTP changed the way it created draft classes adding schools, stats, classes that develop over 4 -8 years (HS-College including junior college), etc. This IMHO negated the need to have feeders and the extra size of save files and places for something to go wrong. Larger file means more places for a save file to get borked. But to be fair I never had an issue with a save becoming corrupt. Nor did I have issues with my feeders once setup.

The thing for me discontinuing use of feeders starting with v21 is my save file is now literally half what it was before. I also see realistic dominant HS and College players in OOTP's created draft classes that are not likely found in feeders. Add to that I don't have to tweak league totals or modifiers each season to continue to produce the stats I want.

I do understand some still like feeders as you can interact and watch them develop your upcoming players in real time. That includes having news articles, awards, championships, etc. that you don't get with a created class. So if one wants to go that road it can be rewarding. If you want feeders because of the bold part, fair enough. For me feeders were there to create draft players with stats, nothing more. So I don't miss them.

Having said all of that with regard to your #4 point. I think you would have to read that entire thread. Note the first post was last edited\updated July 2011. The last post in the thread is from November 2014. Almost 7 years ago. Feeders at least saw many tweaks in the following versions that may have finetuned some issues brought up in that thread. (and no I did not take the time to reread it from beginning to end today )

The biggest things for me with feeders was getting the players that filled the rosters in the original created league reapportioned. IE in my experience the league might be way to top heavy in P's or batters. So draft classes might come out 90% P's 10% B's (might be slight exaggeration but it's been a long time). I know I mass selected some players and moved them to even out the 4 class years for college and HS. This is something that might have been "fixed" in later versions and no longer needed?

1. when? If you've already started your regular MLB (pro?) season than I think it's too late. You want your league to have graduation before your draft so it can populate the draft pool. I'll tie this is with the schedule question.

2. Schedule? I set mine to ~54 games and had them end is late May so there would never be a conflict with my June MLB draft. I didn't want player still playing yet also eligible for the draft. It caused issues at first but may have been one of those things tweaked in later versions. So IIRC I would start my feeders around April 1, go with ~54 games, and make sure it ended by May 31. If the game created a schedule with those parameters that went into June I would change the start date of the season to late March and recreate the schedule. Once you get this right it should work every year, IIRC.

3. settings? Make sure you get the ages for both creation and max age per league right. But most of that is talked about in the old thread you linked. Figure out what stat output you want, set your league totals accordingly, and autocalc your league total modifiers before each season.

Do not expect real college or hs stats as far as dominant players like Joe Mauer who K'd like 2 times over a 4 year HS career IRL. Don't expect guys that dominate batting ~.500 and play like a man among boys. What you get is a league where the best players should show up over a 4 year career and you can look at them in the context of the league. IMHO feeders got a bad rap from many who didn't take them for what they were intended to be. IE a draft pool creator. Instead they wanted and complained they weren't a realistic college or high school baseball simulator.

Don't get me wrong it is s cool feature. Just one I personally don't need anymore for the way I play. If you go in knowing what to expect it does add depth and fun.

I hope you find something helpful in this post.

[Rain King]

For the stats stuff, the way to think of a "feeder" league is basically an All-Star Prospect League. You can't think of it as players' going against regular ole high school guys who they will dominate. All of the players are still created on the professional scale because that is the only ratings scale OOTP has.

[Bulldog Johnny Blatnik]

Originally Posted by RevanFan

I have a few questions relating to feeder leagues.

I have a fictional league, and briefly had feeder leagues years ago, but I decided to remove them after one season. However, I now think I want to give them another chance. So I have two questions.

1. If I created feeder leagues, WHEN exactly should I create them? I'm currently just at the start of the regular season.

2. What should the schedule look like for feeder leagues? How many games, and during what months?

3. Are there any specific tips or settings you recommend?

4. Is this guide still accurate?

https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...d.php?t=211757

1. I would create my Feeder Leagues as soon as your MLB season ends.
2. I usually use the Wizard to create my Feeder Leagues and edit from there. My HS/College Leagues start around March 1st and play 50 games for College and 40 games for HS. Be careful using too many playoff rounds. Like Sweed mentioned, you want your Feeder Leagues to be completed well before the draft.
3. Players ages and Draft Eligibility are usually the issues I have trouble with. This is what I do, others may have simpler ways, but this works for me and has changed over the past few versions I believe.

When creating your Feeder Leagues, on the Rules tab, set Age Minimum to 14/Age Maximum to 17 for High School, Minimum 18/Maximum 21 for College, AND set Draft Eligibility Starts to "If Maximum Age is Reached". Then on the Players Tab, Minumum/Maximum Ages will be zero (and grayed out).

After Feeder League is created, on the Rules tab, change Draft Eligibility Starts to "According to HS/College Year", change Min/Max Ages for HS and College to 0. Then, on the Players Tab, change the Min/Max Ages to 14 for HS and 18 for College.

This will make sure your newly created Feeder Leagues has kids between 14 & 17 in High School and 18 & 21 in College. Then, all future created kids will be aged 14 as Freshmen in HS and 18 as Freshmen in College. Kids will play 4 years in High School. from ages 14 to 17, then go on to College as 18 year-old Freshmen, graduating at Age 21.

That's probably the best tip I can pass on for people who want to create Feeder Leagues.

4. I believe things have changed since then.

Good luck and let us know how it works for you. Sweed has some great ideas too, just find what works best for you.