|
The Crocs were my team in SMB2. I hated the Nemesis, feared the Sirloins and snickered at the Freebooters' names. The Overdogs were surpisingly hard to play against when they got hot (and juiced). The biggest surprise was the Grapplers who I never pegged to completely choke the Crocs bats out, I remember a playoff game where Jovita Pulo ( ) pitched a one-run game into the 12th before I handed the game over to the pen and ultimately blew it in the 16th.I'm four seasons into a Custom franchise partly from being scared off from that Standard not saying simulation was allowed led me to think it wasn't, but this is neat. Weird that my strategy for the Booters was 'worry about the top third of the order but that's it' when on paper they're championship contenders. Aside from the precarious Catcher situation the fielders are all decent, the only crimes of Walker Runs and Patience Evergreen is that they're old. I guess it would also be reasonable to see who of the top three is doing worst halfway through the season and move them for a left-handed bat. Also by the halfway point of the season there will be plenty of cheaper C+ players to choose from, but I think Kenna Quorn makes a decent backup catcher, and I would also like to play devil's advocate for Badhop Brown who sucks but has pinch hitter potential and is only 20 so who knows. Rocky Backstop on the other hand is not worth one penny of his contract. You have some serious thinking to do about the pitching staff, Winnie/Grace/Ryder are long term but the rest might not be around to see the fruits of the development that their cap hit is stalling. I think Steamboat Wisselle is an easy move though, I wouldn't pay 10 million to watch a three-pitch reliever decay. I wouldn't mind seeing the free agent bargain bin in case there are any prospects kicking around down there. You never know. e: I can't believe I made these takes before I watched Game 6. tomanton fucked around with this message at 09:42 on May 31, 2020 |
#
¿
May 31, 2020 08:57
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 24, 2024 18:40 |
|
|
I haven't figured out how relief in SMB3 really works yet, compared to 2 starters last longer/recover faster while relievers last shorter/recover slower and the gap is enough that an early trip to the pen doesn't seem worth it unless things have really gone to hell. The AI seems to approach it differently too, in SMB2 starters would reliably come out in the 6th or 7th inning no matter what but in SMB3 I'm seeing the AI let a lot more starters comple blowouts or, if their bullpen is in deep trouble, prefer to get 20 pitches out of a tense starter than an exhausted reliever and extend their uselessness. A recent experience: In my franchise I took over a game where my starter was Tense/Strained and my closer was useless on 25% stamina (what did they do to her???? In 2 no matter what happened last game she'd be fresh.) My team held the title by run differential in the second-last game of the regular season and could afford to lose but not collapse, my dude got lit up for five runs early but I still needed him to soldier three times through the order before turning it over. Everyone was reasonably rested for the final game, which was nail-biting as the deficit crept closer and closer to the edge of the safety net, but they ultimately retained the title. It's too early to say if I like or dislike the changes but they're definitely a good first step for breaking open the four-starters-three-relievers-one-closer staff that was absolute in SMB2. Cuveball Sliders posted:Pitching is a lot harder in this one than is was in 2 because of the way they reprogrammed the batter's eye and pattern recognition. The biggest difference is that in Super Mega Baseball 2 you are basically conditioned to throw strikes exclusively, I think I had like 3 walks in the entire time I played that game. tomanton fucked around with this message at 01:10 on Jun 1, 2020 |
|
#
¿
Jun 1, 2020 01:07
|
|
|
In my custom franchise it was easy to see the problems that needed ironing out in a random-gen team, here it seems like you're playing Jenga with what might be a championship contender so who knows. It would be nice to find a way to get the game to use Ratherswell, stamina seems at a premium in this new system (I suspect the game not starting him means SP/RP stamina is less than an SP on two games' rest unless they're also hurt). Totally open to moving Wissele, that $10m can work harder for the team on a player not giving up 11.50 ERA. Frequin is overpaid but has been lights out in her few appearances and it would be nice to see how she does after strengthening earlier links in the chain. I'd like to see Ed Reed for Wissele (maybe this will nudge up Frequin's use too). Bernal is still overpriced. Doyle for McPride would be more pitches for less money, so that's a great deal. Santana just seems like another fossil but with less depth.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 2, 2020 08:21
|
|
|
I can't believe my move sent the team to hell!!!  Here are some more bright ideas.FIELDING: For a defensive CF I nominate Carson Rojas for Patience Evergreen. His secondary is IF/OF with the Utility trait and A+ defensive stats, for a savings of 1.5m you would be trading a bat for someone who instantly is the best defender on your team at any position. Cale Santana for Walker Runs is cool and good for the reasons you described, least of all the gentle hit on a more or less across the board upgrade. And it's only like +1m yeah. Rocky Backstop still sucks (that 17 arm will never develop throw out a runner at third, let alone second) but I don't see anyone cheap/bad/catcher enough to swap him, so even though Kenna Quorn is the better long-term prospect he's probably gotta stay for the time being, and his pinch-hit potential is okay. A better prospect may appear before the cool catchers come down in price. PITCHING: Rufus Houndstooth is everything I'd want in a prospect, his stats are weighted where it counts and K-Man sweetens the deal. I'd like to give Ed Reed (and his bat which is 4th-most powerful on his team for some reason) a chance, I'd replace him with Lana Rhymes who isn't getting any younger or better or left handed-er. It's +4.5m which isn't too bad. Doyle > Frequin seems like a great way to free up 9m to me. I'm not sure about Zuri Savage, that's a great team contract but her rookie stats seem the opposite of what you'd want for that limited pitch selection and who knows how many seasons it would take to iron that out. All these moves free up a net 4-ish million for any other ideas people have. Also all the development options on the left side of the screen are good and ones on the right side bad.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 5, 2020 01:26
|
|
|
Those moves all look good, though come what may I'd like to not go too much closer than 5m to the salary cap so development funds don't completely dry up. With this seeming to be the de facto SMB3 thread, I wouldn't mind good trip reports either. They could inform our choices!
|
|
#
¿
Jun 6, 2020 03:21
|
|
|
My developing experience has been a custom team I named the Zeroes. THE STORY SO FAR:  Out of the box they were bad at a glance, worse on paper and disastrous on the field, you can imagine the defensive issues a team runs into with a top speed of 64, or a roster so shallow that nobody can play third except two planks who can't play anything else. The "bullpen beasts" had nice numbers but very limited pitch selections that were, uh, not kind to a first encounter with the improved batting AI. Suffice to say the team had more problems than a visit to the salary cap could fix and the teardown began. First I came for the bad contracts and the elderly but soon everyone was fair game. The first two seasons saw about a 66% turnover and never came close to the playoffs, which is saying something in a league where 16/30 teams make it. There were plenty of brutal blowouts and squandered developments, notably Dumpling "i'll keep you as a face of the franchise i guess" Ibarra who hung it up at 29. Still the team was about 30m clear of the salary cap and everyone slowly but surely developed. In the Zeroes' third season a generational talent came up in the draft and I knew I wanted him, but I didn't know the value of a contract and while I dithered he went elsewhere; when he reappeared on the market midway through the season I didn't repeat my mistake and scooped him. He was slumping (why the other team dealt him, I guess) but I could still justify his price as paying half to play for the Zeroes and half to not play for anyone else. The Zeroes got their first wild card on the back of a D+ starter who I hired for 0.9m as a joke and played out of his mind; I guess I also had to learn about sports curses, as I dealt him for an A- "upgrade" who lost the Zeroes' first playoff game and then, due to a teamwork breakdown on an infield dribbler, the deciding game 5. In the fourth season the Zeroes' prospects had come a long way from C- and I trusted them to sim the first 90% of the season (the franchise crossed .500 for the first time), only coming in to help win their first division title on negative run differential (  ). Mindful to not throw off the team's rhythm this time, I traded some bench warmers for power bats and vowed only to play if the Zeroes faced elimination. They swept the first round, and then the second, and then the conference finals.The Zeroes' cursed A- pitcher from last year was having an MVP postseason on the other side of the bracket, and for a bit there was a real chance her team could start her games 1 and 5 in a dark mirror grudgematch of a finals, but the best team in the conference (.750, +70 RD) overcame a rough start to the playoffs and crushed them, winning 6 postseason games in a row to the Zeroes' 9. By the time the Zeroes took game 1 in extra innings my non-baseball friends were on the edge of their seats, going from laughing at Rosalie Peppers' nervous batting face to cheering and yelling when she threw out a runner at home from center to keep game 2 alive in the bottom of the 11th. They tied the series 1-1 but the damage to their bullpen was done, which collapsed in game 3 and never recovered; with a magical 12-1 postseason the Zeroes finally kissed the rings. The season five team needed a few games to click, but then ran away with the division and are ready for the playoffs. Meet the Zeroes now:     You can see some of the fielders who have stuck with the team from day 1. Drew Aguilar has developed into a great leadoff batter (mostly), Rosalie Peppers honed her defense into a first-rate CF. Mateo Witness became an A+ player for a bit but the years haven't been kind, still he'll probably be useful on cleanup for as long as he feels like playing. For free agent signings the big man with the big price tag is Keaton Brown, who I have to keep manually putting into right field, I get he's the best LF in the league but we have no natural RF and his fielding penalty is a drop in the bucket of his talent. Catcher Odin South is the only Zero to ever pursue free agency, asking for... exactly the same amount the team was paying him, so I just took him back, his backup Maren Fowler is just as good but her 97 Contact switch bat is too useful at PH. Goldie Thomas has some sort of magical bat that breaks it open all the time constantly, she led the championship playoffs in homers. Elegance Colombo got into the starting lineup when the previous 3B hung it up at 32, she mostly solves the mystery of how many times can a player GIDP in a single game but either way I got her at C- and that contract can't be beat. New this year are Forest Greene, Carlisle McClain (useful off-brand versions of other teammates), Samuel Henson, Gunther Tinklethorpe, and Happy Hurst (surplus but have been competent when the starters need a day off). I'm pretty sure that the pitching staff hasn't changed in the two seasons following that first round playoff collapse. Zeroes vets Top Kramer, Santiago Copeland and Isreal Steward have greatly improved and earn a fraction of what they're worth now, which can also be said of Corbin Marquez and Alec Stuart and Hannah Grouse, who I wanted to replace this year but her contract is so team-friendly that the SP/RP prospect I coveted didn't even get to twice her salary before another team took him and she did fine anyways. Moses Shannon and Mariam Sierra are overpaid by my standards but good SP prospects are hard to come by and bad closers bleed wins like you wouldn't believe. At 20m under the salary cap I could afford some of the fat bats now on the market, but the team is clicking so well I kind of don't want to change a thing; while I dread the day Kramer asks for 25 million dollars, for now the Zeroes are finally in a good place and I hope their title defense is fun to watch.  e: helluva booters game 
tomanton fucked around with this message at 05:33 on Jun 7, 2020 |
|
#
¿
Jun 7, 2020 03:24
|
|
|
Robert Deadford posted:That was a hell of a game! The longball is in fashion this season. I've also noticed that catchers have started dropping excessive numbers of pitches and a patch did drop recently. Yeah this, it helps that Polebean is eight years younger and could still improve a bit. TEAM MVP: Kache Baskette BEST PITCHER: Write-in vote for Jovita Pulo of the Crocodons BEST BACKUP: Badhop Brown
|
|
#
¿
Jun 7, 2020 18:16
|
|
|
22 for Crocodons, 24 to see if the new roster can write their own win against the first team we beat.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 10, 2020 00:15
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 24, 2024 18:40 |
|
|
Kache Baskette is out here tearing it up. There really does seem to be a sweet spot for competent B-grade batters where a pitcher won't fear them but they have enough behind their power swing to do some real damage. Shame about the relief pitchers too, I dunno if the low bullpen stamina makes the AI want to overuse them no matter what but the danger sense is nonexistent. Speaking of which, the Zeroes crashed out of the first round in the deciding game 5 - after something like six simulation playoff wins in a row last time I thought I was safe to watch two home games against a wild card, they choked both in the top of the 9th with massive home runs off relievers who should have been long-gone. I'm down to play in EST, I don't think franchise beast teams can go up against eachother but if it's co-op someone can share the manager's burden.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 12, 2020 10:09
|
|