OOTP Newbie

[loaf31]

I am going to be brand new to OOTP. I have recently found a new affinity for strategy games, etc...

Any tips/pointers?

Are there any good references for someone who has never played any OOTP before? I looked on YouTube but most of the streams are so dry, it is hard to watch.

Appreciate it

[KSUowls]

Haven't played OOTP 26 yet, which came out today, but I've been playing the franchise for close to 10 years at this point.

Pretty much every OOTP video that I have ever seen is pretty dry, which maybe makes sense for a game in this genre

For general tips:
1 - Don't try to micromanage everything at once. Let your managers control your lineups and rotations while you just control the roster. Some people actually prefer to play this anyway since it puts them in the shoes of an actual GM rather than GM + Coach, but it's also one less thing that you have to worry about (managing daily lineups can get VERY tedious).

2 - Your minor league systems will become overfilled with players if you don't address it early. I'm not sure why there is not default logic to try to stop this already built into the the game, but basically you will see like 80+ players in a single level of minor leagues on your team after a year or two. This is because there is no roster limit at the minor leagues by default (unless this has been updated in ootp26). So, most people implement some custom rules in the game via the League Settings > Rules (Not 100% on the naming functions off memory, but "Rules" is options menu you need). People will put either a hard roster limit it like the MLB side has (I usually do around 30 for each level just to allow room for injuries) or some people put age limits like "you can't be in Single A if you're older than 24". This one is pretty easy to google for different strategies, but ultimately there to be rules which will force teams to not hoard minor league players

3 - Custom views are your friend. The game has a few built in views like standard batting or advanced batting, which will show things like OBP, HR, WAR, etc. But you also have the ability to create new views. This is especially helpful for me in the draft/free agency. I have a draft batters and draft pitchers view, which isolates the viewable states for each that make it easy to filter for. For instance, maybe I really want a pitcher who throws gas, and so so in my Pitcher view, I have added a column for how hard they throw. The default options are good as a starting point, but this is something that I recommend playing around with early to find some views that you like


4 - Try to look at your minor leagues once an in-game month or so. This can be one of the more time consuming parts of the game. You'll want to make sure that you are promoting guys appropriately and making sure that the players you want to get playing time are actually seeing the field. Don't get too caught up in monitoring it daily (unless you really want to micromanage), but also don't go too long without moving guys around as that.

5 - email - for your GM e-mail page, I recommend doing something like news within your organization and around the league. To be honest, 90% of the messages that you get here are useless for anything other than immersion. Personally I like the little stories that it gives you, but it will quickly overload you if you check off too many things (like news around the world). So, try to find a good balance.


Definitely one of those games where you have to dive in and learn a little bit each day as you go.

[BV28]

you really should check out ootpaddy (pfholden formerly)

old school sports is a good one
around the world sports as well

have fun

[canes21]

Pretty much what KSU said. Honestly, dedicating a first career as a learning experience and diving in and just rolling with the punches is how I'd recommend learning if you can stomach it. For example, if you want to be a GM only, start up a career, tune the settings for that, then just sim days/weeks at a time getting used to all the mechanics and actions you'll need to take care of during the season, during each stage of the off-season, etc.

More or less speed run a trial session trying to soak everything in. Try to make some trades to get a feel for that system, make free agency moves to get used to how negotiations work, participate in the draft, manage the minor leagues a little bit, etc. Get your hands a bit dirty in each facet of the game with the sole intent to learn.

You can knock out a handful of seasons in one session while dabbling in a little bit of every aspect of the game. Make notes on how each thing operates, how different parts of the game intertwine with one another, then when you feel comfortable enough go and start an actual career mode out playing at your desired pace.

You may learn differently from me, but I tried watching guides and whatnot when I initially got into the series. It didn't really set me up too well for success. I eventually just dove right into a trial career as a GM, tried to drink all I could through the fire hose, then after 4-5 seasons of messing around I went and started an actual career mode as a GM taking things a lot slower and I've been hooked since.

[voodoo_magic]

Something they added a couple years ago that could be incredibly useful is the tutorial game.
On the start screen, new game, new tutorial game.
It will walk you through all the important info and I think it will cut down on the time needed to learn the basics of the game.

Also there is a help wiki which can help if you have questions.
Inside the game, at the top, File, help, online wiki