Fun With New Teams

[LeeD]

A place to post progress on new teams.

I might've over-reacted a bit while bemoaning the super promotion system, as I've started a new team and accomplished a lot so far despite the threat and actuality of super promotions.

Sternwood Chauffeurs*, Day 8. Started last Wednesday, debuted in Low Silver this week after winning a little over 80% of my games in Entry Pool. I'm 47-28 and have a ten-game lead in division.

Eight-days-in roster:
Ca - Biz Mackey / Ernie Lombardi
1B - Dick Allen (100)
2B - Rod Carew
3B - Jimmy Collins
SS - Honus Wagner (variant)
LF - Manny Ramirez / Lonnie Smith
CF - Mickey Mantle
RF - Dave Parker
DH - Mark McGwire

SP - Dazzy Vance
SP - Pat Dobson
SP - Roy Halladay
SP - Cy Young
SP - Satchel Paige
RP - Dave Righetti
RP - Dave Stieb
RP - Kevin Brown
RP - Bob Ojeda
RP - Jake McGee
RP - Bobby Jenks
CL - Ryan Pressly

As usual, completion of Live Series is comically easy with five months of play in the books. I scored Dobson, Righetti, and Mantle as the notable card pulls there, then sold a couple of duplicate Perfects for 72,000 and went after Launch Plus and Negro Leagues (and all of the Launch missions except Nolan Ryan), which I completed before league start on Monday. Also added HOF Parker. Since then, I've worked through the Halladay Perfecto set (got a fortunate low-price purchase of Cy Young to complete that one) and nearly all of the Baseball Ref missions, acquiring Dazzy Vance (plus purchases of Allen, McGwire, and Pressly).

Not at all bad for FTP, although I'm pretty much out of PP at the moment. Dazzy was expensive, but the underlying purchases are contributing as well.

* Sternwood Chauffers, an inside joke from the 1945/1946 movie version of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep. The Sternwoods' chauffer is found dead at the wheel of a Packard which was driven off the Lido pier, with the hand throttle engaged. No one involved in the production could figure out who killed the chauffeur, so they cabled Chandler (a notorious Hollywood-hater despite his involvement as script writer on several Hollywood classics, including Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity and Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train). Chandler responded that he didn't know either, which was an artful dodge because actually the chauffeur committed suicide after having an incriminating photo of one of the Sternwood sisters stolen from him by a blackmailer. Humphrey Bogart, as Philip Marlowe, retrieves the photo shortly thereafter.

[cwhitman]

Yeah: i think the catch up mechanism is still there even if it's a little tougher this year: the missions being clubhouse based forces you to actually play tournaments/drafts as well for completion, which i think is a good thing, but still makes you work harder earlier on.

i was going to make a video based off of the first two weeks of my team to basically say the same things you did, as well as give some tips of how to do so. basically you need to feel comfortable selling the mission rewards knowing that you'll be able to replace them sooner than later anyways.

[bailey]

I started the last week of August and completed the live missions and the missions for Carew, Robinson, and Ryan (key card from a pack). Seeded into High Bronze, won 108 games, and immediately lost the division series to a 90-win team per OOTP usual. This is the team I ended up with and haven't changed in many days. Team chemistry is at 28.56 which I think helped being most teams are ~15.5%. Note to staff: Is there a report where I can view the whole league chemistry without poking about team by team?

[cwhitman]

you should completely ignore chemistry because nobody has seen it to make any impact, especially at those numbers

[LeeD]

Chemistry made some difference in PT25 if it got really high (like over 50% and preferably 75%), but the loss of cross-chemistry on Mission Reward cards in PT26 has killed that. I tried some tournament rosters full of Negro League cards in PT26, and the 60% or so chemistry had no effect that I could see. Still beaten by better cards even if the clubhouse atmosphere was great.

[bailey]

Let's have some fun, anyway.

Chasing the Negro league missions has inflated my reserve roster with scads of worthless diamonds. So, to boost chemistry, the following changes were made:

Jason Giambi replaces Frank Howard at DH
Craig Biggio replaces Biz Mackey at C. Yadier Molina starts against both sides. FWIW, Molina is my best hitter this week.
Jose Mendez replaces John Hiller. net loss of 8 points chemistry, but Mendez is a perfect card. [spare me any canards about OVR, it's a joke]
Bobby Grich replaces Chuck Knoblach. vL at 2B.

The team is 5.5 back in the division and up 2.5 in the wildcard race. Let's see what happens. [spare me any canards about small sample size].
Chemistry is 40%

Edit: a few minutes later: plunked down 10K for Mariano Rivera to complete Ageless Wonders rather than lock Nolan Ryan. Rivera replaces McDowell, chem up to 47.33%

[HermanSmutley]

How do you set up a new team with existing username and password?

Thanks

[cwhitman]

Originally Posted by HermanSmutley

How do you set up a new team with existing username and password?

Thanks

you create a new account

[LeeD]

Originally Posted by HermanSmutley

How do you set up a new team with existing username and password?

Thanks

It's the same process as creating your first team. To create a new team, you log out from your current team and select New User? Register. You enter a new username (can't have the same one as any existing team, including your own). You'll also need a different email address, which means you need to add one if you don't have multiples already. Once you complete the username, email, and password boxes, you'll need to log in to the email server and run the verification email before the game will let you log in to the new team.

Or...if you had other teams in previous versions, skip team creation and log in to one of those. OOTP has the account info saved from at least the last two versions.

edit to add: you can't have more than three teams per license and one for GO!

[LeeD]

Originally Posted by bailey

Let's have some fun, anyway.

Chasing the Negro league missions has inflated my reserve roster with scads of worthless diamonds. So, to boost chemistry, the following changes were made:

Jason Giambi replaces Frank Howard at DH
Craig Biggio replaces Biz Mackey at C. Yadier Molina starts against both sides. FWIW, Molina is my best hitter this week.
Jose Mendez replaces John Hiller. net loss of 8 points chemistry, but Mendez is a perfect card. [spare me any canards about OVR, it's a joke]
Bobby Grich replaces Chuck Knoblach. vL at 2B.

The team is 5.5 back in the division and up 2.5 in the wildcard race. Let's see what happens. [spare me any canards about small sample size].
Chemistry is 40%

Edit: a few minutes later: plunked down 10K for Mariano Rivera to complete Ageless Wonders rather than lock Nolan Ryan. Rivera replaces McDowell, chem up to 47.33%

That Molina card is sneaky useful because of its good contact, good power, and low eye, plus the defense is solid. One of the better mission reward cards in lower-level leagues.

[HermanSmutley]

Originally Posted by LeeD

It's the same process as creating your first team. To create a new team, you log out from your current team and select New User? Register. You enter a new username (can't have the same one as any existing team, including your own). You'll also need a different email address, which means you need to add one if you don't have multiples already. Once you complete the username, email, and password boxes, you'll need to log in to the email server and run the verification email before the game will let you log in to the new team.

Or...if you had other teams in previous versions, skip team creation and log in to one of those. OOTP has the account info saved from at least the last two versions.

edit to add: you can't have more than three teams per license and one for GO!

Thank you, much appreciated.

[LeeD]

Mission #1 accomplished, as the Sternwood Chauffeurs finished the regular season at 103-59 and won 11 of 12 playoff games to capture the Low Silver .224 championship. Dave Parker was named league MVP after posting a .329/.381/.530 slash line with 21 home runs, 94 RBI, and 96 runs scored. DH Manny Ramirez was right behind him in the lineup, contributing 33 home runs and 112 RBI while batting .302. Number two hitter and shortstop Honus Wagner led league position players in WAR but finished third in the MVP vote. There were contributions up and down the lineup, with catcher Biz Mackey being the only exception. Mackey struggled to a .189 average in-season but saved his best for the playoffs, posting a 1.114 OPS in ten games.

Satchel Paige was the team's top pitcher at 19-5, 2.73. Mid-season acquisition Ryan Pressly was lights out as closer, posting a 0.96 ERA and 30 saves in 41 appearances.

-------------------

Onward. 262 missions off the board, 69 to go. I'm kind of glad that the team slightly under-performed this week, as getting to 111 wins would have meant a super promotion. Better to take things one step and one league level at a time.

[rburgh]

One is on day 18, record is 260-134, currently 41-28 in HS263, using only White Sox, Pirate, and Rockies players. Current team is Carey, Maz, Wagner, Parker, Bay, Burks, Stargell, Ventura, and Schalk. Rotation is Tannehill, Veale, Jack McDowell, Dock Ellis, and Moose. Ellis is 47-12, 2.71. My pen is headed by Jenks, Garber, and FL Franklin Morales.

The other is on day 11, with the Reds, Cleveland, Twins, and Cardinals. That team is in LS209 and won 121 games and a ring in Iron last week but is 27-39 this week. Team is scuffling because I have had a hard time pulling useful cards from packs; my best SP's are Mort Cooper and Carlos Carrasco and besides Carew I have Bob Allison as perfect hitters. Not ideal but I keep plugging away. Unfortunately the prime cards for that squad are mostly packables. I do get a lot of cards to sell, though.

[bailey]

I followed the advice to clear the Negro League missions and the Launch Plus missions and for net cost of about 150K, I improved the team, I think.
Tulowitzki plays SS only until V5 Honus clears OOTP waivers. Chemistry was crushed; now a pedestrian 16.67%.

[LeeD]

Yes, clearing NeL and Launch Plus will definitely improve low- to mid-level teams, especially if you pull some juicy cards out of the Perfect and Rainbow packs at the end. Well worth the effort.

[Buchs]

How are you completing the Honus Wagner variant mission first week?

I’ve been playing for months and have 3/10 perfects needed and 200k to buy them would take me probably 6-8 weeks to grind. I feel like I’m missing something.

[LeeD]

It's a matter of getting the snowball rolling downhill. Sell most of the the Live Series toppers. Generate packs, which generate cards, then sell anything that isn't directly related to the mission sets you're after. The two primaries are Launch Plus and Negro Leagues, although you'll likely stumble into a few other missions along the way. Laser focus, though. If you pull a Baseball Reference or Immortals card that isn't part of the primary mission sets, sell it. The goal is to keep as many points as possible in hand so that you can complete the Diamond and Perfect missions that finish the sets.

My personal strategy was to start with the Bronze Launch Plus set, which generates two packs per mission. Since the vast majority of cards pulled will be Iron, you'll acquire a decent number of the Launch Plus Iron cards without having to buy them. Also keep an eye on the low-level Pack Rewards missions. A lot of those will complete or nearly complete as you work through Launch Plus.

The main goal is to get into the Diamond level missions with 100,000+ PP. At that point, the sets are almost self-funding. You'll either be pulling Diamond cards that go toward mission completion or selling them for 4000+ each. There are also a lot of non-related Diamonds that go for much more than that.

Pack luck is always important, but remember that pack luck requires packs. I detailed this in an earlier thread, but a run through the two primary mission sets generates about 100 Standard packs (including the Pack Rewards missions that complete or nearly complete along the way), about 40 each of Silver and Gold and Diamond, and seven Perfect/Rainbow packs. The key to getting there is to focus on those two sets and take advantage of all the cards that are present in both the Launch Plus and Negro League sets (lots of Early Eras players, including some of the Perfects needed to complete Launch Plus).

[cwhitman]

yeah: needing to be comfortable selling rewards that make your team better instead of playing them is the play. but that's hard when you're a new player and don't really know what better is coming.

[Buchs]

Thanks… that makes sense. I definitely did not laser focus.

I completed Negro league and when I was working through the launch plus mission I spent the PP from the extra diamonds I picked up on some of the other missions like the Mike Piazza chain.

I also held on to immortals and baseball reference cards for those missions.

I also didn’t have great luck with cards, I think I’ve completed over 200 missions and get packs from tournaments every day and I pulled a handful of perfects from non perfect packs and only 1 historical perfect. Paul Goldschmidt.

I think the other two 100 historical cards I got from packs came from two historical perfect packs from missions.

I also struck out on the immortal mission cards. I see a bunch of really high value diamonds possible there, but I got non of them.

ItÂ’s kind of a bummer, I like doing the missions but IÂ’ll likely never finish those immortal ones. I would need to spend far more PP than the rewards justify.

Anyway, thanks I can see how it would be possible now. I probably still would have struggled just by not having great luck with packs.

[Buchs]

Originally Posted by cwhitman

yeah: needing to be comfortable selling rewards that make your team better instead of playing them is the play. but that's hard when you're a new player and don't really know what better is coming.

Thanks for this advice. This is my first year playing perfect team and have been thinking of it like collecting cards. I probably have some mission rewards like maybe Brooks Robinson I no longer play I can sell off (unless he’s locked) I’ll have to look at those.