OOTP 16 vs OOTP 24 (Fictional Leagues)

smossman14 · 11-11-2023, 03:43 PM

Hi there, another "is OOTP 24 worth it?" thread, but this one is in comparison to OOTP 16, and specifically in regards to fictional leagues, which is my focus.

I've only played OOTP 16, way back in 2015. Liked it a lot, but got burned out. I was wondering how OOTP 24 compares. Since I'm into fictional leagues, roster updates don't matter to me, just gameplay. To help answer, here's what I DIDN'T like about OOTP 16:

-AI Coaches seemed to override my lineups/strategy
-Clunky interface.
-Difficult to filter when looking for players to trade for or draft

Thanks!!

Charlie Hough · 11-17-2023, 03:45 AM

OOTP has made a lot of improvements over the years since OOTP 16, so I would highly recommend an upgrade.

AI coaches cannot override your lineups or strategies. If you use the right settings, you can control all the lineups and strategies yourself. You can even lock specific players into certain roles and strategic settings on an individual basis. For example, I delegate my minor depth charts and lineups to the AI, but sometimes it wants to use a pitcher as a starter when his stamina is not great. So I can just lock him into being used as a reliever, and the AI cannot override that.

The interface is pretty smooth and fairly streamlined, but a lot of the menus are similar to what they once were. But some things are more organized, some menus have been improved, and I think you can customize some of your interface options, your play button defaults, etc.

You have way more filter options now. It's to a level of very granular detail, although you need to get used to the different filter tabs and options before you know where everything is. But you can filter by virtually anything you can image. It's WAY more detailed than the filter once was.

There are hundreds of improvements that have been made, but obviously not all of them apply to however you play the game. If you're into fictional leagues using your own ballcaps, jerseys, pants, logos and 3D ballparks, or using those posted here on the forums, the graphical improvements over the years have been great for that. That even includes some improved default graphics for fictional team logos, although those are never remotely as good as the graphics that people create themselves or here. There are amazing real-life and fictional ballparks available here too, along with countless graphics for team uniforms and logos.

Another important thing to keep in mind is that, if you used to create your own world, such as nations and cities, or you modified the ethnicities or other files in your fictional leagues, some of that isn't quite as easy now. But it's because OOTP consolidated and reorganized how some of that data is stored and how the files are laid out, and it attempted to translate things such as real-world city names into multiple languages. You can still modify and work with the files, but they're arranged a bit differently.

kq76 · 11-17-2023, 06:05 AM

It's difficult to compare OOTP24 to a version so long ago, but I'll try to answer your question as best I can.

Probably the biggest changes to the game over the last several versions have been to the "in-game" visuals, the representation of the actual matches playing out. I was one of the ones who didn't think it was really necessary to go down that route, but I'm glad they did as I play out all my games now whereas I used to pretty much only sim. If you're old enough and have nostalgia for games like Hardball! and MicroLeague Baseball, you'll probably really appreciate these visual improvements in playing out your games.

To answer your points directly:

1) I think it depends on your settings / how you play - I think many people might say that the AI won't override you, but the way I play (I "act as"), the AI overrides what I set all the time. This is frustrating, yes, but I make use of the save/load lineup feature a lot. The way others play they might never override you.

2) I don't know exactly what you mean by clunky interface, but I don't really find it that clunky. I could easily nitpick that X should be there and Y should be renamed Z, etc, but overall I don't find it that bad. It's like anything, however, the more you use it, the easier it is. Regardless of my opinion on it, however, I don't think the interface has changed much in the last several versions so if you found it clunky before, you probably still will.

3) Huh. This is the most interesting. I don't think this has changed much since 16, but I suspect you might not have dug into the filter options as much as you could. But even if you have, you could just export the data and look at it in a spreadsheet of your own making. I do that sometimes.

Charlie Hough · 11-17-2023, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kq76

1) I think it depends on your settings / how you play - I think many people might say that the AI won't override you, but the way I play (I "act as"), the AI overrides what I set all the time.

When you're "acting as," you're not really the GM in any permanent sense, so once you're not acting as the GM for a team anymore, then obviously the AI is going to take over. However, if the AI is overriding things while you're "acting as" a GM, you still might be able to use OOTP's options to lock down certain things while you're in that mode. But I rarely use the "act as" feature, so I can't be sure of this.

JRM65 · 11-23-2023, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smossman14

Hi there, another "is OOTP 24 worth it?" thread, but this one is in comparison to OOTP 16, and specifically in regards to fictional leagues, which is my focus.

I've only played OOTP 16, way back in 2015. Liked it a lot, but got burned out. I was wondering how OOTP 24 compares. Since I'm into fictional leagues, roster updates don't matter to me, just gameplay. To help answer, here's what I DIDN'T like about OOTP 16:

-AI Coaches seemed to override my lineups/strategy
-Clunky interface.
-Difficult to filter when looking for players to trade for or draft

Thanks!!

Did the exact same thing in the last couple of weeks, and one issue I had is that the player ratings swung wildly once I got the game to OOTP24. I chalked this up to maybe the historical assessments had moved over the last eight years, but I did it for both an historical team and a fictional team. I am curious as to what could cause this for a fictional team, which is not based on any real life stats.

Charlie Hough · 11-23-2023, 09:51 PM

Do you have scouting enabled? If all of your players have been re-scouted and their ratings are based on scouting accuracy, maybe that would cause ratings to appear to change. But if you're importing from OOTP 16 to OOTP 24, that is a huge leap, so I'm not even sure how perfectly compatible everything would be. I never import leagues from one version to another, so I don't have any expertise with it.

11-11-2023, 03:43 PM	#1
smossman14 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Oct 2015 Posts: 25	OOTP 16 vs OOTP 24 (Fictional Leagues) Hi there, another "is OOTP 24 worth it?" thread, but this one is in comparison to OOTP 16, and specifically in regards to fictional leagues, which is my focus. I've only played OOTP 16, way back in 2015. Liked it a lot, but got burned out. I was wondering how OOTP 24 compares. Since I'm into fictional leagues, roster updates don't matter to me, just gameplay. To help answer, here's what I DIDN'T like about OOTP 16: -AI Coaches seemed to override my lineups/strategy -Clunky interface. -Difficult to filter when looking for players to trade for or draft Thanks!!

11-17-2023, 06:05 AM	#3
kq76 Global Moderator Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 11,791	It's difficult to compare OOTP24 to a version so long ago, but I'll try to answer your question as best I can. Probably the biggest changes to the game over the last several versions have been to the "in-game" visuals, the representation of the actual matches playing out. I was one of the ones who didn't think it was really necessary to go down that route, but I'm glad they did as I play out all my games now whereas I used to pretty much only sim. If you're old enough and have nostalgia for games like Hardball! and MicroLeague Baseball, you'll probably really appreciate these visual improvements in playing out your games. To answer your points directly: 1) I think it depends on your settings / how you play - I think many people might say that the AI won't override you, but the way I play (I "act as"), the AI overrides what I set all the time. This is frustrating, yes, but I make use of the save/load lineup feature a lot. The way others play they might never override you. 2) I don't know exactly what you mean by clunky interface, but I don't really find it that clunky. I could easily nitpick that X should be there and Y should be renamed Z, etc, but overall I don't find it that bad. It's like anything, however, the more you use it, the easier it is. Regardless of my opinion on it, however, I don't think the interface has changed much in the last several versions so if you found it clunky before, you probably still will. 3) Huh. This is the most interesting. I don't think this has changed much since 16, but I suspect you might not have dug into the filter options as much as you could. But even if you have, you could just export the data and look at it in a spreadsheet of your own making. I do that sometimes. __________________ My OOTP Wishlist \| My FAQ List OOTP Wiki \| Your Recommended Team Nicknames, By City (A Crowdsourced Project)

11-17-2023, 03:45 AM	#2
Charlie Hough Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 3,642	OOTP has made a lot of improvements over the years since OOTP 16, so I would highly recommend an upgrade. AI coaches cannot override your lineups or strategies. If you use the right settings, you can control all the lineups and strategies yourself. You can even lock specific players into certain roles and strategic settings on an individual basis. For example, I delegate my minor depth charts and lineups to the AI, but sometimes it wants to use a pitcher as a starter when his stamina is not great. So I can just lock him into being used as a reliever, and the AI cannot override that. The interface is pretty smooth and fairly streamlined, but a lot of the menus are similar to what they once were. But some things are more organized, some menus have been improved, and I think you can customize some of your interface options, your play button defaults, etc. You have way more filter options now. It's to a level of very granular detail, although you need to get used to the different filter tabs and options before you know where everything is. But you can filter by virtually anything you can image. It's WAY more detailed than the filter once was. There are hundreds of improvements that have been made, but obviously not all of them apply to however you play the game. If you're into fictional leagues using your own ballcaps, jerseys, pants, logos and 3D ballparks, or using those posted here on the forums, the graphical improvements over the years have been great for that. That even includes some improved default graphics for fictional team logos, although those are never remotely as good as the graphics that people create themselves or here. There are amazing real-life and fictional ballparks available here too, along with countless graphics for team uniforms and logos. Another important thing to keep in mind is that, if you used to create your own world, such as nations and cities, or you modified the ethnicities or other files in your fictional leagues, some of that isn't quite as easy now. But it's because OOTP consolidated and reorganized how some of that data is stored and how the files are laid out, and it attempted to translate things such as real-world city names into multiple languages. You can still modify and work with the files, but they're arranged a bit differently.

11-23-2023, 09:51 PM	#6
Charlie Hough Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 3,642	Do you have scouting enabled? If all of your players have been re-scouted and their ratings are based on scouting accuracy, maybe that would cause ratings to appear to change. But if you're importing from OOTP 16 to OOTP 24, that is a huge leap, so I'm not even sure how perfectly compatible everything would be. I never import leagues from one version to another, so I don't have any expertise with it.