No idea what I am doing

[kborsuk]

Hi there, I downloaded this game for the first time today and I have to say it is quite overwhelming. I have no idea what I am doing. It all seems like too much. I am not particularly tech savvy and I think the last time I did a baseball game it was Bases Loaded on the original Nintendo.
What are the best resources for figuring out how to get started? I could use a good tutor because I am just staring at the end of last year's season and have no idea how to get started on a new simulation for 2022 and beyond.
Any help anyone could provide would be much appreciated. Thanks


Ken

[BirdWatcher]

The first place I would recommend you start is with the official OOTP Manual, which you can access through the game (or even just find through a browser search). It won't capture all of the nuances and is sometimes a bit outdated but it is a great starting off point for understanding how the game works. I'm personally not a read the manual kind of guy but it is a place to look up specific topics when you are feeling lost.

I would also recommend you check out the various YouTube videos, particularly focusing at first on the tutorials. There are a number of them put out by OOTP Developments and in fact Alex Murray (AZAxel) is currently in the midst of releasing a series of shorter focused tutorial videos. You might also want to watch YouTube videos of OOTP'ers simply playing the game as you can learn just watching. Which ones will be most useful or enjoyable for you I couldn't guess, but I particularly enjoy those produced by pfholden and he also has put out several good tutorials on OOTP as well.

When I first started playing OOTP I read as much here, particularly in the general discussions subfolder and this new to the game subfolder, as possible just to glean information and get a bigger picture understanding of the game. I also found some very helpful user guides on the OOTP subreddit. There is a quite exhaustive one that is from 2017 I believe that might be slightly outdated but contains good information. You should be able to find that by entering key words OOTP user guide reddit or some variation on that in your browser's search engine.

One thing to keep in mind is that through these various sources you may actually see conflicting information and there will be individual biases being presented. Eventually you have to sort out what works for you or what you think is the best way to approach the game for yourself by doing and failing and doing again, etc.

My main piece of advice other than all of this is to start small, start simple, start with something you know, be okay with messing things up and needing to start again, consider failures as learning opportunities, etc. This is a deep and immersive and complex game and it offers great opportunities for enjoyment but also for frustration. The learning curve is steep, but certainly not unconquerable. The game is very flexible in terms of options and styles of play and I would recommend that at first you don't try to take on too much in terms of organizational tasks (maybe start just as manager or just as G.M. and delegate a great number of things, like minor league roster management and the like, to your staff/the AI).

Mostly, hang in there. If you are anything like me (no guarantee of that, of course ) you will find that this game offers you many, many years and thousands of hours of enjoyment ahead and over time things will begin to click and if anything you will be looking for new ways to challenge yourself in the game.

[kborsuk]

thanks. I get so easily flummoxed.
I don't even know how to get started playing. I've been stuck at the end of the 2021 season and I don't know to trade or sign a free agent or even simulate a game. I need basic instructions and I dont know where to find them.
Ill give all of that a look but I haven't found the manual much help since it doesnt say how to actually simulate a game or make a trade or anything, at least not that I can find.

[BirdWatcher]

For some of what you are describing, which are the basic mechanics of the game, it might be best to watch someone play the game in a YouTube video and just pay very close attention to the steps they take in the game to accomplish various tasks.

I would encourage you to just try things too and not worry about breaking anything. Much of it is pretty intuitive. You might want to just click on various screens and see what is there and it might become more clear to you how it is set up and where to go for various actions. I would say to just start where you are and think of it as a trial run. The first try or two might end quickly or not go the way you want them to but you can always just start over and apply what you have learned from your errors.

[RchW]

Have you created a persona?

Are you in charge of a team?

Is scouting on or off?

Is coaching on or off?

What is the date?

The reason I ask is to help determine what you should expect to be able to do. For example if you are in the offseason, there are no games for you to play. Check out the attached screen shots and go there in your game and we will be able to help more.

[kborsuk]

I have created a persona. I have control of a team as GM.
This is a screen shot of my scouting set up. How do I enable scouting and coaching?

How do you change the date?

[BirdWatcher]

It certainly appears that you have both scouting and the coaching system enabled.

Do you know how to go to your team's page? Is your team the Mets?
Basically most of the important things you need will be in the drop down menus at the top of the page there. (Though that isn't the only way to access them, but let's start there.)

So if you look at the drop down menu for the Mets (if that is your team- otherwise pick the team that is yours if you want to look at your team's information) you will have many options of things you can navigate to and look at. Given that you have asked about scouting and the coaching system, you might want to select Front Office and then click on the personnel tab and you can see who your coaches and other personnel like scouting director and team trainer are.



The short answer for how to change the date is to move forward to the next day. I don't mean that to be flippant. If you select the Play drop down menu in the top right corner of the screen there the very first option will be Finish Today. If you choose that then the calendar moves to the next day. And you might get messages about things that have occurred on the day just finished. Though during the off season there can be days with very little action. You just might want to decide first though whether there is anything you want to or should do on the current day before moving forward. One way to get some clues about that is choosing the drop down menu under your name up there (it looks like you have some mail to read, and it might have some clues for you as to what you should be doing). So you might want access that drop down and go to your office and see what information is there. That's also a good place to access things like making a trade or signing a free agent. (There are options that are simply named Make a Trade and Sign a Free Agent.) As you play the game more you will see that, as with most things, this isn't the only way to access these actions but it is a good place to start.



There is also that big green Continue button that you might want to push as it offers the promise of an important message for you to read. (In this case, I'm quite sure that the continue button is going to take you to your office and show you those unread emails. Eventually you can decide what you want that continue button to do.)

I apologize if I am giving you information that you already know but it does sound like when you say you are flummoxed you mean that you really just don't even know how to move forward, not that you aren't sure what you should do, but that you don't know how to do it. Is that correct?
Or am I misunderstanding the situation?

At this point it really does sound like the best place to start is by exploring some of the tabs and drop down menus in the game and seeing what all is there. Maybe moving forward on the calendar isn't the top priority until you have a bit more understanding of the basic views of your baseball universe you have before you. And, again, watch some YouTube videos- I really think learning by watching might help a lot.

[Brad K]

Originally Posted by kborsuk

I have created a persona. I have control of a team as GM.
This is a screen shot of my scouting set up. How do I enable scouting and coaching?

At this point turn off scouting and coaching. You don't need those extra things going on right now.

Turn off minors and use a reserve roster. Turn off owner goals. Enable can't be fired.

[kborsuk]

I've finally been able to start playing. Thanks for all the tips!