Nice, got 800kbps from that link, it took like 2 minutes to download, installing now :)

Would have been my guess as well. What I'm noticing is that managed games are yielding pretty low scores and simulated games are yielding something more than that.

I've seen lots of 1-0 and 2-1 games while managing, and a handful of 9-2 and 17-3 games while simming.

So I'm not precisely sure what's going on, but it feels like when managing, the game is treating the ratings as it would do if the players were in the major leagues. Very, very anecdotal at this point, but I bring it up in case somebody else has a similar take.

Yes sir.

Fairly certain that if I imported the Lahman database, I wouldn't have to go through that, but with no network connection, I can't snag the Lahman database TO import.

*sob*

Well maybe you are really good at managing pitchers, but absolutely horrible at managing hitters. ;)

Not offensively. Pitching, I don't know, but offensively I had several guys with 9's and 10's for contact - although I had a few who were seven and below as well.

I'm great at working the count, though!

For some reason, they just don't want to safely put the ball in play when they're swinging 3-1 and 3-2. I thought those were hitters' counts. :(

Got up to 1910 on an historical replay(started in 1901). Only takes about a min and a half to sim a season. It imports automatically and you can have it automatically adjust the league totals each year.

If someone needs a download link, I can put one up off my machine.

http://rapidshare.de/files/21883680/...Guide.zip.html

Big question mark, why should I pay in € ???

Do you have a choice?

Already discussed to dead here and at ootp when they announced the preorders in past December. One of the few things i didn't like from SI, that we Europeans need to pay way more for a game when it's a sport supossed to be way less popular here (when it was their excuse for cheaper FM in the states).

The low rating system for young players sounds like it's borrowed from the FM system. 19 y/o in FM typically are measured against their older, more polished veterans. How or why this would affect OOTP game outcomes is unclear as the same system in FM doesn't seem to influence the plausibility of that game's results.

Keep in mind that the system in FM is still just going off the ratings. It just happens. Younger guys aren't necessarily being compared to older players, its just that the younger guys' ratings are in general going to be lower.

Ok, loaded the game and toyed around and it looks as complex as FM that are awesome news for me. It's late here in Spain so i'm going to read the manual and wait until tomorrow to start to play. I hope somebody will release soon a MLB06 quickstart with real players, teams, etc etc.

I actually read through a lot of that monstrous manual. I had a couple questions for people who have the game. I love the idea of starting small time and advancing in a career. However, am I right that the only real ability you have to enhance your team's success as an A-ball manager is to set lineups and manage games? Since you can't control transactions, isn't your success really entirely at the whim of the parent organization? That's probably realistic, but it does mean you can have years upon years of failure with little you can do about it. Am I wrong there?

Related to that, does someone have a feel for the prospects of job advancement? In the real world, it is really damn hard to break into the big leagues. An overwhelming majority of minor league managers never do that. And unlike FM, you can't crash the big leagues through promotion of your team. Does OOTP make it too easy (not that I'm sure I want the realistic option either - I'm torn on this)? And if making from minor league manager to MLB manager is rough, how is it from foreign leagues? In the real world, it is pretty much impossible (since managers like Valentine who go to Japan also had MLB experience). Does OOTP make this happen too easy (since you have much greater control of a foreign franchise than you would a minor league team)?

edit: I realize the 2nd question is unlikely to have a solid answer in the short term for players. So, maybe it is better directed at the developers or beta testers.

I thought I read, say I started at the O's organization in Single A Aberdeen, that it wasn't possible to get promoted up to AA, AAA, and then MLB.

Dola,

Within the same organization, at least.

South African major league baseball...here we go. ;)

The manual says that. It says the only way to get new jobs is to look at the available jobs screen and apply. To me, that means you aren't precluded from moving up in an organization, but you can only do so in the same way you can change jobs generally. I'm not sure if that is right, but that's how I interpreted things.

just kidding, it'll be a winter league.

But the UAE major leagues? It's a done deal.

That seems realistic since even if a team "promotes" a manager from A to AA or to hitting coach, he'd have to apply for the gig..even if he's the only applicant.

I think that is realistic, but I do think organizations often look inward when they have an opening. I'm not sure OOTP does that. In fact, I'm not sure you receive job offers at all. If that's the case (no jobs at all), then it would be more than a little disappointing. If the game doesn't look inward in organizations, it probably isn't that big of a deal.

Are the uniforms customizable?
Does your CPU's MIPS rate affect the results of games?
Can I use Canadian rules?

These are the questions that must be answered.

:D

I guess its time to crack open the manual.

Has anyone tested this whole "winter league" deal? I'm curious how that's going to work...

They don't work as you would think. Organizations can't send prospects to play in a winter league. They're just regular leagues that play in the winter

Yeah, I just read the OOTP boards and that's the impression I got there. Oh well. I'll adapt.

Thanks.

This is as I feared. The minor leagues sound like they are being treated like just a slightly lower rated league when actually there is ahuge differnce between them.

Wow, after reading this thread, I'm tempted.
I've just got going with Puresim, and now OOTP is out.
I may wait a little longer for more reviews.

Well here's my experience so far.

I started off at Single A - West Virginia (fictional league). You basically have no control over the roster and the Major League team keeps moving your players up and down. It can be pretty frustrating at times because you have no control over your roster. You do control the lineups and rotation and that seems to be the only influence you really have. I had a couple guys they sent me that I more or less refused to play and they ended up shipping them off to the other Single A team at the end of the month. The owner expected me to finish .500. I ended up finishing in 2nd place with a record of 81-59. After the season, I checked the available jobs and there were about 10 openings. Most were other Single A teams and Rookie league teams, but there were 2 Double A teams so I took one of those and moved on to Bowie. I'm now working my way through the offseason. I got the feeling I'll be abandoning this career and starting over in the Majors just to have some control of my roster.

So, I just noticed the trading block and shop player feature were removed for some reason.

Has anyone worked through a major league draft yet?

Have they changed it at all? (like do players sign immediately and are there more player details?)

Not that I have any interest in purchasing this version but if this is true, that's despicable. A good portion of the enjoyment I get out of any pro text sims is in looking to make trades. That's probably one of the main reasons I stick with 5.11 for that had the best trade AI, better than what came before and after (including 5.12 and 6.x). IMO.

This confuses me. How do you get that impression? Minor league stats might not be perfect, but I'm not seeing anything too out of the ordinary.

After 3+ hours of setup, I'm finally ready to get started. lol

6.5 isn't bad with some settings.. but I agree, another reason to keep my wallet closed.

I screwed up the quote thing on that post. I got that impression from this quote earlier by SACKATTACK:
"Six hits of combined offense in 12 innings because the game appears to be treating the ratings of minor leaguers as major league equivalencies (i.e. contact of '4' sucks ass even though, well, he's a 19 y/o in Rookie ball)? That's...not so cool."

I wouldn't be especially interested in playing this sort of career but assuming you were... isn't this exactly what you would expect? Wouldn't it be unrealistic to be an A-ball manager and have roster control?

I am assuming this is sarcasm? If not wouldn't that constitute a deal breaker. How do we trade?:confused:

Probably like we did it for OOTP4 (and FOF, if I recall correctly). You just make your offer and the AI will tell you how close or not.

Well, trading and trading block are different. Trading block is putting players on a trading block so other teams can offer you players or you can see who the computer is wanting to get rid of. Shop a player lets you pick a player and in one click see what other teams are willing to offer you for that player.

A few thoughts. I hate how you have to go to a certain screen to sign FA's or do anything, instead of a sub menu on the players card. I also dislike when offering a contract, they'll tell you the offer and you have to manuelly enter it in to get to the right price, instead of their offer being what is the default offer

I have found the value of trade blocks to be one way. I get a lot of offers for decent players I put on the block (every once in a while, the AI would offer a trade that interest me). With 5.11, I have not had much success in trading for good players that they put on the block so I don't use that. However, I absolutely love the shop player feature. I know v.6 did improve on that mechanism but v.511 works very well for me even if I have to do it team by team.

Use the Save as Quickstart option.

This will save all settings nicknames/etc in the league. Then the next time you create a league just choose that quickstart as the base.

The trading in OOTP2006 requires you to make or respond to an offer (rather then just hitting the shop player button).

After you make the offer the other GM will contact you via email with a response.. if he doesn't like the offer he'll tell you what he's looking for to make it work for him.

I was hoping to have some degree input on the roster, which seems like it would be much more realistic to me. A MLB GM doesn't just move people around without consulting the managers of the minor league teams. I'd have also liked to see the option to request certain free agent signing, releases, etc. I didn't expect final decision power, but I was hoping (not expecting) there would be something in place for roster input at the minor league level.

But it has to be a game in there somewhere, which is what I think you are getting at. I think that's one of the big things I have against people crying "not realistic" is that if it were true realism, it would so boring and monotonous. We are playing a game not simulating real life and in the case of managing at A, it has to be fun for us to play, just as if we are playing GM/Coach at any other level.

I'm not responding to anything specific, just a random, incoherent thought I had.

I'm seeing what feels like a ton of injuries in my second season. This is at the default "normal" injury setting. Does this same unusually high to anyone else?

I didn't download the game yet or anything, but in EHM, you put a guy on the trading block, by setting their player status and making them available. I don't know if OOTP 2006 is the same or not.