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Subject: Strat-O-Matic - How's it going?
Posted by: Guru
- [330592710] Wed, Jun 12, 2002, 11:11
Now that some of your seasons have reached the dog days, I'm curious about your reactions. I haven't seen much posted here lately, and don't know whether that implies a lack of interest, or just a lack of anything worthy of discussion. Or something else.
Is the game holding your interest throughout? Are most of the teams in your league still active? Or does that matter?
How much time are you spending on this?
I haven't yet decided whether to try a team, and I'm interested in some current feedback. |
| 1 | Toral
Sustainer
ID: 2111201313
Wed, Jun 12, 2002, 11:57
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My opinions:
1. There ain't much to post about except gloating by the winners and crying by the losers. And since I don't like to cry in public, I've been quiet recently....
2. The game is definitely holding my interest (or, more accurately at the moment, my anger, fury and disappointment). It's the first thing I check in the morning. The winning streak where I took the West lead was glorious, glorious. Sweeping Erik B. made my whole day. Recently, Mariomaniac has made things much less glorious....
3. Re time and interest: because of the way it is structured, once the season has started there isn't that much to do, timewise. Some teams have a set 4- or 5-man starting rotation; there is almost nothing for such teams to do, except alter lineups and/or acquire a replacement in the case of injury. Some teams have a "wild card" kind of starter, who they plug in against teams with certain combinations of righties and lefties in the lineup, but even so, in time terms, we're talking 5 minutes a day, max. (Eventually, TSN will add per-game lineups and/or reverse pitcher lineups, which will add to the strategy immensely). And the computer will replace injured players for you fairly intelligently anyway. Almost no trades during the season, simply because in an 8-team league with a salary cap, it's hard to find a good fit between two teams. Little time requirement during the season, with one exception, which I will get to....
4. It is important to note that in this game 95% of the thinking and time requirement occurs right at the beginning. First you set your draft...the 25 players you want, in order. Some hours are appropriate for that. And, almost as important...geez, even more so...when you start, the game will tell you that rosters will be set up sometime overnight, on a specific night. It is vitally important, crucial, to be ONLINE as soon as possible after the rosters appear, ideally AT THE MINUTE they appear, to drop players the computer gave you that you don't want (because someone else got them first) and pick up free agents. Once the season starts, releasing a player gets you only 80% of his cost, making elaborate roster revamps in-season impractical. But before the season starts, you can drop people, get your full cash back, and pick up replacement free agents. I don't remember how many transactions were made in the first 12 hours after our rosters were set, but it was least 200, and that period *was* the league, IMO. In my league, the Impalers were (IMO) fatally hurt by not being able to access the game till ther Monday (IIRC) after the rosters are set. Despite Bernie H.'s bravado, and the fact he really knows the game, his team couldn't compete with that disadvantage.
5. There is an exception to the above notes. Most teams, mine included, have helped themselves (or tried) by making a few key roster changes during the season despite the 80% rule. This takes time, thinking, and planning, remembering that you are by definition making changes that presumptively reduce the potency of your team since you are of necessity exchanging players worth one dollar, according to the TSN pricing scheme which has seemed pretty good to me, for players worth 80 cents... think of it as an 8-week SW season where you only get, say, 5 trades total and lose 20% of a player's cash value when you sell him....
6. I'm pretty sure you'd enjoy the game, especially in a league with people you already know where some ragging will go on. The question is whether it's worth the price....
Toral
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| 2 | Shelby-villian
ID: 111412312
Wed, Jun 12, 2002, 14:35
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Most of the interest is at the TSN bulletin
boards. If you want to look at strategy,
competition, and the type of player who play,
take a look over there. Like all boards there
are dumb and intelligent threads.
Further, anything league specific like trades
and such, I send using TSN league mail. In
my two leagues there are have been a fair
amount of trades. In one, in the first third of the
season, around 5 trades...
Lastly, I only use the rotoguru board to trash
talk Erik B. =D
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| 3 | Erik B.
ID: 239592612
Wed, Jun 12, 2002, 15:17
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The boards are silent because the Dodgers continue their complete, utter, thorough reign of dominance. Bring on the playoffs!
-ESB
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| 4 | Mariomaniac
ID: 1143418
Wed, Jun 12, 2002, 15:20
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I think it's a fascinating game. There are seemingly endless combinations of moves/tradeoffs that you can play with. As the season has worn on I've done more research and have overhauled about 2/3 of my team (only 1 starting pitcher remaining, new infield, LF and CF. Pudge and Dye the only remaining starters, bullpen intact.)
Thankfully it's paid off, as Toral mentioned, although I wonder if standing pat would've produced a similar result. The pricing system for the most part is quite good. Cheap players usually have a reason for being so, whether they're poor hitters, fielders or injury-prone.
Same story with pitchers. For the same $ you can buy a 3 day rest starter, or a slightly better 4 day rest starter. Middle relief is even cheaper for the same quality. Closers seem to be priced a little expensive.
The key to the game is the salary cap. $80 million is enough to build a credible team, but not enough to leave you without weaknesses. Trying to cover as many as possible, while accentuating your strengths is what makes it fun.
Then there's the Bonds factor. He is so much more expensive than the rest of the players that a lot of leagues don't pick him up. My second league will be starting soon, and he's on my draft list this time, despite costing 20% of the cap. Using him adds a whole new dimension to the game.
Anything more TSN can do to add greater managerial control will only be a bonus to what is right now a very good game.
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| 5 | Purple Pimp At Work
ID: 26410116
Wed, Jun 12, 2002, 19:26
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I think its a really good game, but not worth 24.95. There just isnt enough to do basically. I mean GSB was what 3 bucks a month and it had ALOT more to do.
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| 6 | Gangman
Leader
ID: 58238278
Fri, Jun 14, 2002, 07:36
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I second everything Toral says.
It's more like following your hometown squad in real baseball. You get up in the morning and hit the boxscores over breakfast. My team is doing very well (especially after sweeping my division leader last night), and I look forward to the results each day.
As much effort as Ultimate takes, the lack of "anything to do" is refreshing.
FYI: It is a HUGE advantage to be at the computer when the rosters are announced! (see Toral #4). Fixing this inequity would help those less fortunate than I :-) .....
In my opinion, the best upgarde would be to somehow be able to "watch" the games in progress. That would be excellent! Perhaps in the future....
Guru, we're starting another league at the All Star break....if you're interested, let me know.
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| 7 | Lutefisker
Sustainer
ID: 295541317
Wed, Jun 19, 2002, 01:34
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I think that the biggest change that would make the game better would be for the option of setting individual lineups against specific pitchers or games rather than against a whole series
e.g.... What do you do with 2 right handed pitchers when one has a 5L listing and the other has a 6R?
Presently, you may as well call it a wash and leave in your standard line-up. More realistically, you might have several different players starting in one game than in the other.
The other change that would be helpful would be to allow a manager to choose NOT to use certain players (particularly pitchers) in certain situations. E.G. I picked up D. Lowe to be one of my 5 starters. In the first series of the year, he was already used in relief rather than those who I choose to be my primary relievers. Chad Fox, on the other hand, who was one of my primary relievers and closer was not even used, even though I had him listed as middle man and closer.
In another case, I had to finally drop a left handed 5th starter who I planned on using only in specialty starts because he had an 8L rating. No matter what I did, the coach took him in relief situations and than left him in until he got bombed by some right handers further on in the line-up. In the mean time, my big money relievers and closers who I picked to be my main relievers would just sit on the bench.
Having said all that, all & all, I like the game very much.
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