🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992May22.1...@pmafire.inel.gov> w...@pmafire.inel.gov (William Lechner) writes:
>
>Now that some of the glamore has wore off the graphics-based baseball
>simulations, let's talk about potential realism.  APBA has released a
>new version of their baseball game that allows programming of the
>managers actions.  No, not just the cheesy 0-5 setting, but actual expert
>system programming.  You tell the computer the rules that you want your
>team coached by.  If your pitcher gives up 35 runs and 50 hits prior to
>your relieving him, It's your own fault.  You only want your pitcher to
>throw curveballs.  Then program it.  What only knuckleballs to Candiotti
>and Hough?  Program it.  This game has real potential in the field of
>arm-chair coaches.  No more can you blame your teams mental mistakes on
>the computer.  It was you who gave them their brains.  Granted, the game
>still has the computer coach, but you can program it too.  This may 
>eliminate the senseless calls that it makes.

First, thanks for the input Bill.

(1) I've heard its a real bitch to program it.  Whats your experience?
    And how much extra does it cost?  

(2) I don't think it would matter what pitches you program.  Unless they
    radically changed the game APBA doesn't work on a pitch by pitch
    basis. What I was considering really only pertains to you-play
    games. Where you as the hitter try to guess what pitch is coming.
    And the pitcher tries to outguess you.  In the typical game, you
    just choose one and the pitcher chooses another.  But in real life,
    hitters and pitchers have their strengths.  So you guess fastball
    with Dibble on the mound.  He may cross you up with a change, but
    his change would be that of an ordinary pitcher.  Actually this
    could work in a text-based game, but it would have to be a pitch
    by pitch game.  And you'd have to rate every pitcher for each pitch
    type (maybe just a modifier to his overall stats).  This would get
    real complex in a hurry.  But it would be hot!

>APBA is still the leader in statistical realism and league replayibility
>(with PtP closing the gap daily).  With the addition of a externally
>programable coach, your true coaching skills and knowledge of baseball
>should shine through (or fade away).

Is it really good in realism?  I only played a few games and got a no-
hitter by '90 Clemens (ok, he did have a 1.93 ERA that year), plus a 
few 1,2,3 hitters by other top pitchers.  I didn't have the stat
compiler so I can't say overall how the stats come out.  But it seemed
like it favors pitchers.  Anyone have long term experience?

I once played a 30 game schedule (NL East only) with PtP.  So thats
180 team-games overall.  The summed team stats came out very realistic
except steals.  I stole about twice as much with a high success rate.  I
think PtP has adjusted this as I noticed a lower success and steal rate
in the few games I've played since.

>I have no interests in APBA other than the respect they earned through
>the play of their games.  The bottom line is:  If you want to *really*
>coach a baseball team, then APBA has the answer (for a mere $100+ as
>was pointed out a couple of days ago).

One more example how some of these games go half way is infield/outfield
shading (actually APBA and PtP don't have this).  The brain-dead 
manager in EWBBII usually beats me (says a lot for my managing, huh)!
I think one reason is that it probably uses the "correct" depth and
shading for each of my hitters.  I say "correct" as there is no
adjustment for pitcher type, count, or whether the hitter is pull/
straight away/opposite field.  In real baseball you would account
for all these.  On a 0-2 count with Cone on the mound, you would
no longer play a pull hitter to pull.  Actually bad example, the
Mets stick their OF's in one place and never move them!  But you 
can see how complex this all can get if you want a realistic sim.
In summary, I don't think any game will give a real feel for true
managing.
A game that took all this into account would be hot.  But could they
sell enough to justify the effort/cost?

Dave Masten