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Author Topic: Out of the Park Baseball  (Read 1930 times)

Ekaton

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Out of the Park Baseball
« on: August 17, 2017, 04:54:09 pm »

If you like sports managers but soccer is not exactly your thing (or you don't approve of how Sports Interactive treats its fans) you may want to try Out of the Park Baseball 18. In my opinion it can compete with Football Manager in many ways and the devs actually improve the game every year. Not to mention that the previous version, OOTP17 was the Metacritic Game of the Year for PC.

There are several things I love about this game:
- The game is very detailed with a lot of statistics that really mean something
- The ability to play every year of baseball from 1871 to the present day and beyond, with all the historical players (even those that never made it to the majors and dozens of minor leagues, all with their players), and the rules are changing accurately too. What's more, the game takes the number of all the doubles, triples, home runs, balks, balls, strikeouts etc. from each year and modifies their number each year to account for the different eras - in the dead-ball era you won't get that many homers because the ball is primitive, different tactics are used and ballparks are huge (each ballpark is different in its size and that can mean more or less home runs, triples etc. too).
- Team chemistry with different types of players - some may be good leaders, some work as sparkplugs, some are outspoken or disruptive. You might think twice before signing a good but disruptive and slothful player.
- Pretty good facegen, IMHO better than the one in Football Manager.
- Everything's moddable and there is no DLC editor, actually no DLCs or paid content at all. You can modify every single things, create your own leagues, or even whole worlds. You can even create a Game of Thrones league if you want.
- You can skip all the strikes/balls/fouls and simply see the end result if you want (personally I never use it).
- There are a lot of mods online including facegen for almost every player in Baseball history, all of the ballparks as they were in different years, or fictional leagues.
- 3D mode which is not top-notch and worse than in FM but is alright.
- Three modes to play - General Manager (buying and selling players, hiring and firing employees, financial stuff like budget adjusting, but also managing lineups if you want, influencing strategy), manager (essentially giving orders what your players should do on the field), or playing both as GM/Manager combining responsibilities.
- Owner goals with many different types of personality - some will prefer money and some will prefer winning, some will be very controlling and others will leave you alone, and their patience will vary greatly too.
- Commissioner mode that allows you to control pretty much everything that happens in the game.
- Steroids that can lead to your best players being suspended.

What I don't like then? Probably that the devs don't have the license for things like ballparks and you need to download them yourself and the quality varies. Some facegen players are wrong too, but only in case of minor leaguers so far. Overall it's a very solid sports manager and certainly one of the best on the market.


https://www.ootpdevelopments.com/out-of-the-park-baseball-home/
« Last Edit: August 17, 2017, 05:08:02 pm by Ekaton »
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JohnnyYuma

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Re: Out of the Park Baseball
« Reply #1 on: August 21, 2017, 01:47:08 am »

Sounds great, is it possible to create your own players?
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Aoi

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Re: Out of the Park Baseball
« Reply #2 on: August 21, 2017, 02:26:16 am »

I checked my bundles and it turns out I actually have a key for 2014 and 2017; how different would you say the two are?

Also, since I'm guessing I'll never touch OOTP2014 at this point, I do giveaway for it sometime this week; send me a PM. Must be an account with some kind of post history and made before today.
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Ekaton

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Re: Out of the Park Baseball
« Reply #3 on: August 21, 2017, 02:41:26 am »

Sounds great, is it possible to create your own players?

Sure, you can modify existing ones too and change everything about them.

I checked my bundles and it turns out I actually have a key for 2014 and 2017; how different would you say the two are?

Also, since I'm guessing I'll never touch OOTP2014 at this point, I do giveaway for it sometime this week; send me a PM. Must be an account with some kind of post history and made before today.

OOTP2014 and 2017 are hardly comparable I must say and really a lot has changed. They added the 3D system, historical minor leagues, a quite realistic player development system, better interface, and finally a decent AI. OOTP17 is still pretty good but I'll try to sum up what they improved in OOTP18.


1.First of all, they improved the 3D mode. While still not great, looks better now.
2. There is a new injury system which does feel more realistic.
3. They added historical Negro Leagues.
4. They improved AI although it still tries to scam you with obviously bad deals - like giving them a rather decent prospect for a guy who can hardly hit the ball (.150 in AAs).

Overall, while OOTP18 is better, the 17 version is perfectly playable too.
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JohnnyYuma

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Re: Out of the Park Baseball
« Reply #4 on: August 21, 2017, 09:48:20 pm »

Gonna buy the newest version then. Sounds prety cool. 1910s Detroit Tigers, here I come!
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Not good with names

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Re: Out of the Park Baseball
« Reply #5 on: August 24, 2017, 02:40:21 am »

Bought the 2017 and have been playing through a season with the Tucson Saguaros, anyone got any experience playing in an independent league?

I'm mostly wondering if I will get any development for the reserve roster or if I have to cycle them onto the team for improvement.

Was also going to ask some additional development/ratings questions then found the button that makes all the ratings relative to the league.  Been spending the entire season so far arbitrarily deciding between which 30 30 30 player I wanted to start.
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tnc

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Re: Out of the Park Baseball
« Reply #6 on: August 25, 2017, 09:19:25 am »

It feels like a Crusader Kings of Baseball. Would you guys say it is as deep as your most beloved strategy games?
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Urist McScoopbeard

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Re: Out of the Park Baseball
« Reply #7 on: August 25, 2017, 12:29:40 pm »

It feels like a Crusader Kings of Baseball. Would you guys say it is as deep as your most beloved strategy games?

OOTP and Football/Championship Manager are both considered some of the most intensive and detailed sports managers of all times. So... ya.
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Ekaton

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Re: Out of the Park Baseball
« Reply #8 on: August 26, 2017, 04:16:35 pm »

Bought the 2017 and have been playing through a season with the Tucson Saguaros, anyone got any experience playing in an independent league?

I'm mostly wondering if I will get any development for the reserve roster or if I have to cycle them onto the team for improvement.

Was also going to ask some additional development/ratings questions then found the button that makes all the ratings relative to the league.  Been spending the entire season so far arbitrarily deciding between which 30 30 30 player I wanted to start.

Independent leagues are always difficult as those clubs don't have the same capabilities as the large ones, but with difficult things to do, the victory is all the sweeter.

Probably the most important thing to do as an independent club is to develop your prospects. Look for them actively, scout every league and request reports on promising young players and take their work ethic into account. If it says something like "he's the first to come to the training and the last to leave", he will probably develop quite well, while a player with good potential but lazy might well decline or take steroids which will result in a suspension. Try to get a good scouting director who has good knowledge of the amateur and minor leagues to improve your chances.

Another important thing, try to find good coaches. You can never be sure but if he's improving his reputation quickly, he's probably fine. A good coach will really help your player improve over time.

Also, with players that have equal or very similar stats, make them both play, make the reserve one play every second game and later on compare their stats. Also, watch their improvement. They won't stay the same forever.

It feels like a Crusader Kings of Baseball. Would you guys say it is as deep as your most beloved strategy games?

Oh yeah, it's really deep but very customizable so you can adjust the difficulty a lot. You can make it very easy or very hard, your call.
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Not good with names

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Re: Out of the Park Baseball
« Reply #9 on: August 27, 2017, 08:05:14 pm »

Thanks for the tips Ekaton.  The Saguaros missed the playoffs in their first season by 1/2 game, beating their preseason projection by about 10 wins, so I guess I'm doing something right.  Thankfully I got good reputation hitting and pitching coaches over the offseason (my original ones jumped ship after the first season, but that's probably because CPU GM could charm them where I couldn't).  My scout is iffy, so this year I'm having to jump back and forth from OSA and his ratings to try to keep a good baseline.

Edit: Found the option to enable extensions, so now this is just a thanks for the tips post.
« Last Edit: August 27, 2017, 10:14:31 pm by Not good with names »
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Ekaton

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Re: Out of the Park Baseball
« Reply #10 on: September 03, 2017, 08:42:16 pm »

I am currently in the middle of my 1984 Mets campaign and I'm posting an AAR on the OOTP forums, trying to explain my strategy, lineups, trades etc. in there so it might be useful for someone trying to learn how to play.

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/showthread.php?t=280929
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ConsUme

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Re: Out of the Park Baseball
« Reply #11 on: September 03, 2017, 09:03:24 pm »

Out of the Park Baseball 8 is freeware.

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/ootp8/
« Last Edit: September 03, 2017, 10:43:33 pm by ConsUme »
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Goddamit SourceForge

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Re: Out of the Park Baseball
« Reply #12 on: September 06, 2017, 01:06:09 am »

Was reading through your AAR Ekaton, looking good in that second season so far.  I guess I'll also use this place for a little self promotion myself, with a business diary based in large part on CivicEvo's game he's playing through on the OOTP forums.  The link for my game is in my signature below, having fun playing through that when I'm bored with my GM/Manager game.
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