Midseason Reflections (Cairo Chronicles: Issue 6, 2042 Season)

Contracted after 2043 season
johnd2442
Ex-GM
Posts: 356
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2020 8:47 pm
Location: San Diego, CA
Has thanked: 150 times
Been thanked: 128 times

Midseason Reflections (Cairo Chronicles: Issue 6, 2042 Season)

Post by johnd2442 » Mon Apr 27, 2020 11:46 pm

Image

2042 UMEBA Midseason Reflections
Cairo Chronicles, Issue 6, 2042 Season

After a little over a real-time month in the BBA universe and midseason in my first UMEBA season, I thought I might employ a bit of what @RonCo wrote in his recent post about team news. I think I’ve been a bit unsure on what team news was for, but after reading what other GM’s write and after Ron’s post, it has given me a new outlook on what team news can be. That it doesn’t have to be just spraining your arm patting yourself on the back, but taking a wide turn with it and having some imagination with it and incorporating it with the league.

I’ve liked how @Clayman has been writing some player profiles. I think that is probably what drew me to the BBA the most was the fictional universe. I’ve had a rough relationship with Major League Baseball because of Bud Selig and not a great experience with how my fantasy baseball hobby ended, so that has affected my baseball fandom. But I loved collecting baseball cards as a kid, playing Strat-o-Matic in my 20’s and then later playing fantasy baseball for a long while. I’ve never stopped liking the sport. So, I think being able to immerse myself in a stable, fictional universe with others who care is something that really inspires me.

In addition, @Clayman and @ca13 with their wonderful team news, in Athens and Beirut respectively, it has also shown me what team news can be. The Fighting Centaurs GM, Neil, also had a wonderful idea with forging a rivalry between Athens and Cairo - another imaginative aspect of what team news could be.

Surely I am able to be as active as I am with my Cairo franchise because of the pandemic. Being incredibly fortunate right now to be able to work from home, I wouldn’t be able to just load the league file during the day at my work computer. But on my laptop at home, I can easily load the file while doing work stuff and then come back to it and play around with my team when I have time. I think that if I were in the office all day, the motivation might be lacking to then sit back down in front of another computer and go through the machinations necessary to load the file and get into the game. However, this time for me during the coronavirus crisis may be helpful in at least one regard: it is forming habits with OOTP so that when things get back to normal, I will be immersed in OOTP and the BBA universe and the UMEBA so that I will want to get into the game and download the file and commit time to it. Without the immersion that I’ve been able to feel during this time, I’m not sure I’d have taken to the BBA universe so quickly.

OOTP is still kind of overwhelming to me because I still don’t know where to find certain menus inside the game just yet. For example, if I make a waiver claim, I’m still having a bit of difficulty in poking around to see the resolution of that. Part of the problem is sometimes I forget players’ names that I tried to sign as a free agent or simply new players on my team! I may need to figure out a system to take notes of these things. So that if I try to sign a free agent or put in a waiver claim on a player and I don’t get them, I can go to the transactions log and hunt for that player’s name.

A league is only as strong as its owners, but a league doesn’t run without a capable steward running the ship. And I have been really impressed with @recte timeliness and helpfulness in responding to queries and fairness when responding to them. And when a league has been going on for as long as BBA has, that is a tremendous achievement by the commissioner.

And on the note of helpful people, I was shown how helpful the BBA general managers were right at the beginning of my tenure when I was having trouble installing OOTP in the first place. I think of @Jleddy and @Jwalk100 immediately there. And for game and strategy questions, I’ve been a bit reticent to ask questions simply because I’ve been unsure if people would be willing to answer them. Quite the contrary though, as people have been very willing to explain their thinking with certain parts of the game, and I’ve been grateful for this.

The participation points and insistence on general managers producing content only enhanced my interest in wanting to get immersed again in a fictional simulation league. I had been in a pro basketball simulation league about a decade ago and clearly remember living and dying with how my team did in that day’s sim. I wanted that again as I steadily move away from being a fan of real-time live actual sports. Interestingly, I recently ended, or maybe just paused, a fantasy basketball league that I ran because I got fatigued with doing the lion’s share of posting on the league’s message board and writing most of the content. It is refreshing and inspiring to see so many people who want to be active participants in the BBA and I think that is another reason why I’m excited and grateful to be a part of this universe.
Cairo Chariot Archers, 2042 -
General Manager: John Diaz

jleddy
Ex-GM
Posts: 3216
Joined: Mon May 27, 2019 5:46 pm
Location: Long Beach, CA
Has thanked: 3377 times
Been thanked: 1174 times

Re: Midseason Reflections (Cairo Chronicles: Issue 6, 2042 Season)

Post by jleddy » Tue Apr 28, 2020 12:30 am

johnd2442 wrote:
Mon Apr 27, 2020 11:46 pm
OOTP is still kind of overwhelming to me because I still don’t know where to find certain menus inside the game just yet. For example, if I make a waiver claim, I’m still having a bit of difficulty in poking around to see the resolution of that. Part of the problem is sometimes I forget players’ names that I tried to sign as a free agent or simply new players on my team! I may need to figure out a system to take notes of these things. So that if I try to sign a free agent or put in a waiver claim on a player and I don’t get them, I can go to the transactions log and hunt for that player’s name.
  • As stupid, annoying and often silly as they are, the emails in your your in-game inbox will usually tell you specific items for your team, such as if an offer to a free agent or extension to a current player was signed or not, inform you of a successful or unsuccessful waiver claim (and on the flip side, if you lost someone to waiver), messages from players, coaches or owner, etc. On that note, the OOTP manual can be quite vague (to a fault), but it's good to read at least once so you can see what screens and menus are available and where.
  • The transaction list that Recte posts in each sim chatter is a great place to start to find the transactions you mentioned. Just search (⌘f) for Cairo and you can pick out all the ones specifically relevant to you (although I read them line-by-line to get a sense of what's going on around the league.
  • If you have the time, the tutorials and play-thrus OOTP Developments has been putting out the last few years are decent at showing the basics of the game. I'd recommend videos #2 and #3 from this playlist, narrated by OOTP founder and CEO Markus.
  • Nothing wrong with taking down notes, keeping a spreadsheet, or taking screenshots of screens you want to remember. There's no right or wrong...do what's going to help you out the most.
  • Try not to feel overwhelmed, or at least feel like that is bad...because OOTP can be overwhelming at the start! Keep in mind that while there is a large learning curve and everyone will tell you that takes a season or two, if not more, we've all been there too. We all move and learn at different speeds. Like Ron said in his post today, it's all about having fun.
  • Feel free to start a single-player MLB season and dick around. You can sim at your pace, so it's a great way to familiarize yourself with menus, how to access reports, experience free agency/arbitration/etc.
Good read, thanks for sharing.
"My $#!? doesn't work in the playoffs." - Billy Beane Joe Lederer

johnd2442
Ex-GM
Posts: 356
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2020 8:47 pm
Location: San Diego, CA
Has thanked: 150 times
Been thanked: 128 times

Re: Midseason Reflections (Cairo Chronicles: Issue 6, 2042 Season)

Post by johnd2442 » Tue Apr 28, 2020 12:34 am

This is all so helpful @jleddy. Thank you so much!
Cairo Chariot Archers, 2042 -
General Manager: John Diaz

User avatar
Clayman
Ex-GM
Posts: 820
Joined: Thu Feb 13, 2020 3:52 pm
Has thanked: 634 times
Been thanked: 194 times

Re: Midseason Reflections (Cairo Chronicles: Issue 6, 2042 Season)

Post by Clayman » Tue Apr 28, 2020 5:34 am

johnd2442 wrote:
Mon Apr 27, 2020 11:46 pm
After a little over a real-time month in the BBA universe and midseason in my first UMEBA season, I thought I might employ a bit of what @RonCo wrote in his recent post about team news. I think I’ve been a bit unsure on what team news was for, but after reading what other GM’s write and after Ron’s post, it has given me a new outlook on what team news can be. That it doesn’t have to be just spraining your arm patting yourself on the back, but taking a wide turn with it and having some imagination with it and incorporating it with the league.
I use the team news for my Athens timeline, transactions I use for something I'll be posting on here in the future I'm working on.
johnd2442 wrote:
Mon Apr 27, 2020 11:46 pm
I’ve liked how @Clayman has been writing some player profiles. I think that is probably what drew me to the BBA the most was the fictional universe. I’ve had a rough relationship with Major League Baseball because of Bud Selig and not a great experience with how my fantasy baseball hobby ended, so that has affected my baseball fandom. But I loved collecting baseball cards as a kid, playing Strat-o-Matic in my 20’s and then later playing fantasy baseball for a long while. I’ve never stopped liking the sport. So, I think being able to immerse myself in a stable, fictional universe with others who care is something that really inspires me.
The player profiles are some of the first I've written but weirdly it's what drew me to fictional baseball leagues about 12 years ago now, like most people I started with real or historical leagues but you can't write about much. You can't write Ty Cobb was a gentleman on the base paths, Babe Ruth was a tea totaller but I can write Chris Carter was a track star, nobody knows Chris Carter but my imagination. I do think there aren't enough, may take me awhile but I'd love to do every Athens player, if not who ever appeared on the franchise at least every major leaguer.
johnd2442 wrote:
Mon Apr 27, 2020 11:46 pm
In addition, @Clayman and @ca13 with their wonderful team news, in Athens and Beirut respectively, it has also shown me what team news can be. The Fighting Centaurs GM, Neil, also had a wonderful idea with forging a rivalry between Athens and Cairo - another imaginative aspect of what team news could be.
Kind words, someone asked if I needed a tissue the other day maybe I should return the favour after the sweep, need a tissue? I think every team should have a rival, my reasons behind the expansion teams I put forward was rivalry. Athens was Nige's idea Kuwait City was mine, my thought behind Kuwait City were rivals of Manama. I'd love Karachi to be a future expansion team to give Mumbai a true rival, long as it doesn't go overboard I think it can be a good addition to a league.
johnd2442 wrote:
Mon Apr 27, 2020 11:46 pm
Surely I am able to be as active as I am with my Cairo franchise because of the pandemic. Being incredibly fortunate right now to be able to work from home, I wouldn’t be able to just load the league file during the day at my work computer. But on my laptop at home, I can easily load the file while doing work stuff and then come back to it and play around with my team when I have time. I think that if I were in the office all day, the motivation might be lacking to then sit back down in front of another computer and go through the machinations necessary to load the file and get into the game. However, this time for me during the coronavirus crisis may be helpful in at least one regard: it is forming habits with OOTP so that when things get back to normal, I will be immersed in OOTP and the BBA universe and the UMEBA so that I will want to get into the game and download the file and commit time to it. Without the immersion that I’ve been able to feel during this time, I’m not sure I’d have taken to the BBA universe so quickly.
Don't use your laptop, most of the day I'm outside so can't get to the laptop. Anyway I'll take a break get the tablet/phone out and look at the HTML pages work out my line ups, then I'll either put them on the tablet notebook or an actual notebook then when I get to the laptop I'll put them in game. I actually prefer this way plus feel like I get to know my players better.
johnd2442 wrote:
Mon Apr 27, 2020 11:46 pm
OOTP is still kind of overwhelming to me because I still don’t know where to find certain menus inside the game just yet. For example, if I make a waiver claim, I’m still having a bit of difficulty in poking around to see the resolution of that. Part of the problem is sometimes I forget players’ names that I tried to sign as a free agent or simply new players on my team! I may need to figure out a system to take notes of these things. So that if I try to sign a free agent or put in a waiver claim on a player and I don’t get them, I can go to the transactions log and hunt for that player’s name.
List them, then it's just a matter of looking at your list.
johnd2442 wrote:
Mon Apr 27, 2020 11:46 pm
A league is only as strong as its owners, but a league doesn’t run without a capable steward running the ship. And I have been really impressed with @recte timeliness and helpfulness in responding to queries and fairness when responding to them. And when a league has been going on for as long as BBA has, that is a tremendous achievement by the commissioner.
I don't agree with everything Matt does, I'm 100% certain he doesn't agree with everything I say and do. However I'd say over the 15+ years of online play he's top 5 out of probably 30+ commish I've met, probably the best since I've comeback to online leagues.
johnd2442 wrote:
Mon Apr 27, 2020 11:46 pm
And on the note of helpful people, I was shown how helpful the BBA general managers were right at the beginning of my tenure when I was having trouble installing OOTP in the first place. I think of @Jleddy and @Jwalk100 immediately there. And for game and strategy questions, I’ve been a bit reticent to ask questions simply because I’ve been unsure if people would be willing to answer them. Quite the contrary though, as people have been very willing to explain their thinking with certain parts of the game, and I’ve been grateful for this.
There's always someone who will help you, I've never been in a league were nobody would help. Just more people will help you than in other leagues. If you ever want to ask me how I do my strategy just ask, apart from trade and draft strategy there's not much you can do to counter act against my strategy unless I told you my starting line up and pitcher I'd be putting up against you.
johnd2442 wrote:
Mon Apr 27, 2020 11:46 pm
The participation points and insistence on general managers producing content only enhanced my interest in wanting to get immersed again in a fictional simulation league. I had been in a pro basketball simulation league about a decade ago and clearly remember living and dying with how my team did in that day’s sim. I wanted that again as I steadily move away from being a fan of real-time live actual sports. Interestingly, I recently ended, or maybe just paused, a fantasy basketball league that I ran because I got fatigued with doing the lion’s share of posting on the league’s message board and writing most of the content. It is refreshing and inspiring to see so many people who want to be active participants in the BBA and I think that is another reason why I’m excited and grateful to be a part of this universe.
I watch sports to watch sports, I don't really take notice of the news they produce. I learned a longtime ago that sports don't care about fans, just the money they spend.
Athens Fighting Centaurs 2051 75-87
Athens Fighting Centaurs 2049 72-81
Valencia Stars 2045-2047 185-301
Beirut Cedars 2044 90-72
Athens Fighting Centaurs 2042-2043 112-118
Cairo Chariot Archers BC 2041 8-5

Fat Nige
Ex-GM
Posts: 3982
Joined: Fri Apr 09, 2010 3:50 pm
Location: Leeds, West Yorkshire, ENGLAND
Has thanked: 586 times
Been thanked: 456 times

Re: Midseason Reflections (Cairo Chronicles: Issue 6, 2042 Season)

Post by Fat Nige » Tue Apr 28, 2020 8:15 am

I use Gyazo to take shots of all the end of season stats / tables etc which helps me to compare performance year on year. Also good to snip tables, box scores etc to illustrate TN's. For faster TN's too I have word files of the url's of all my players and of the team logos so I can just copy & paste from them when doing TN's rather than having to look up the HTML and construct them each time I want a player to feature
Nigel Laverick
(former GM of El Paso Chilis #WeWereShitty) ,
Now GM Riyadh Red Crescents #WeBeNotSoNewNow #WeAreJustAsShitty


Riyadh GM since May 2046

JL Manager of the Year 2000 (Baltimore Monarchs)
Nothing since


An MBBA GM since 1995 (off & on)

User avatar
Dington
GB: Recruiting & Development Director
Posts: 4814
Joined: Mon Mar 30, 2020 12:06 am
Has thanked: 2073 times
Been thanked: 1147 times
Contact:

Re: Midseason Reflections (Cairo Chronicles: Issue 6, 2042 Season)

Post by Dington » Tue Apr 28, 2020 11:53 am

It's definitely overwhelming at times. I've been playing OOTP for 15 years and I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on things, but look at the standings. :lol:
Image
Nashville Bluebirds GM
HOW I BUILD A WINNING TEAM <---Click
Kuwait City GM 2042-43
2043 UMEBA United Cup Champion*

johnd2442
Ex-GM
Posts: 356
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2020 8:47 pm
Location: San Diego, CA
Has thanked: 150 times
Been thanked: 128 times

Re: Midseason Reflections (Cairo Chronicles: Issue 6, 2042 Season)

Post by johnd2442 » Thu Apr 30, 2020 12:43 am

Fat Nige wrote:
Tue Apr 28, 2020 8:15 am
I use Gyazo to take shots of all the end of season stats / tables etc which helps me to compare performance year on year. Also good to snip tables, box scores etc to illustrate TN's. For faster TN's too I have word files of the url's of all my players and of the team logos so I can just copy & paste from them when doing TN's rather than having to look up the HTML and construct them each time I want a player to feature
I've never even heard of Gyazo before! That looks like a pretty useful program actually. I am eager to play around with it and see how that works. I've been using imgur whenever I want to post a screenshot as a picture, but it is a little cumbersome.
Cairo Chariot Archers, 2042 -
General Manager: John Diaz

User avatar
shoeless.db
BBA GM
Posts: 2316
Joined: Wed May 29, 2019 10:25 pm
Has thanked: 1821 times
Been thanked: 1090 times

Re: Midseason Reflections (Cairo Chronicles: Issue 6, 2042 Season)

Post by shoeless.db » Mon May 04, 2020 9:32 am

I enjoyed reading your reflections, John. I'm glad you found our league, and I hope you continue to enjoy your time here.
Sacramento Mad Popes (unretired)
-- Vic Caleca Team News Award Winner 2052
-- BBA Champion 2053
-- Pacific Champs 2040, 2042, 2043, 2047, 2048, 2049, 2051, 2053, 2054
Life is a bit more beautiful when time is measured by the half inning rather than the half hour.

johnd2442
Ex-GM
Posts: 356
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2020 8:47 pm
Location: San Diego, CA
Has thanked: 150 times
Been thanked: 128 times

Re: Midseason Reflections (Cairo Chronicles: Issue 6, 2042 Season)

Post by johnd2442 » Mon May 04, 2020 12:32 pm

shoeless.db wrote:
Mon May 04, 2020 9:32 am
I enjoyed reading your reflections, John. I'm glad you found our league, and I hope you continue to enjoy your time here.
Seriously, much appreciated. I can tell from listening to the podcasts and on Slack (where I enjoy reading your reflections!) that there are a bunch of like minded gents with myself.
Cairo Chariot Archers, 2042 -
General Manager: John Diaz

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic

Return to “Cairo Chariot Archers BC”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests