Broken Bat - Discussion Forum: bot

Post ID	Date & Time	Game Date

#66626	06/26/2019 3:13:03 pm	May 22nd, 2041
Rock777 Joined: 09/21/2014 Posts: 9596 Haverhill Halflings III.1	What is wrong with losing to a well built bot team? A lot less fun if the bot teams were all walk-overs. No point in playing a game that is fixed for you to win without trying. Both of those teams have turned bot recently after long stretches of human management. The bots are bad managers, so those teams will get worst over time. Currently you aren't really playing against bots, but rather the remnant of human teams whose manager hasn't logged in for an extended period of time.

#66630	06/26/2019 6:15:47 pm	May 25th, 2041
AssumedPseudonym Joined: 10/26/2016 Posts: 1130 Deerfield Beach Rats V.7	Bot-managed teams can be vaguely competent, particularly if they inherit a decent team from an owner who was paying attention for a while. Even a team with extended bot management can be surprisingly solid in VI if they pick up either a good draft pick or a good under-the-radar free agent. The teams that really suffer are the ones that get a long string of owners who only log in once so that not even the bot can make any moves on Friday mornings.

#66633	06/26/2019 6:59:14 pm	May 25th, 2041
Rock777 Joined: 09/21/2014 Posts: 9596 Haverhill Halflings III.1	A lot of online sports sims will dump all the players off a team and make them easy rolls when they go bot. I think that is terrible design, as it makes low level leagues incredibly boring. I think the model Steve uses here is infinitely better, but people often come to the game with expectations created from these other online games that bots equal easy roll.

#66639	06/27/2019 1:21:31 am	May 25th, 2041
Oudhoffs Joined: 06/11/2016 Posts: 4 Holland Nicols IV.5	Do understand that steve did a relative good job to tackle the BOT teams. The most ideal way to tackle the issue IMO, is once in a while(like 3 seasons over or so) demote all BOT team to the bottom and fill the open space according ranking. Indeed the current situation is just a timing issue.

#66640	06/27/2019 1:53:50 am	May 25th, 2041
Oloof22 Joined: 08/10/2015 Posts: 9 Inactive	If bots are strong then let them be strong. I entirely disagree with demoting bots and giving players free advance in leages. I like that I have to work out my way to higher leages and there are no shortcuts.

#66641	06/27/2019 2:34:38 am	May 25th, 2041
Haselrig Joined: 04/13/2014 Posts: 2790 Novi Doubledays III.4	I don't really get the argument here. If you run into a team that gives you trouble, whether human or bot, study them and build a team to beat them.

#66642	06/27/2019 4:46:05 am	May 25th, 2041
wickersty Joined: 05/11/2017 Posts: 1002 Deadwood Perambulators II.1	Yeah I don’t get the argument either. Agree 100% with haselrig.

#66643	06/27/2019 5:59:33 am	May 25th, 2041
Longviewess Joined: 09/23/2018 Posts: 111 Frederick Keys III.3	When someone has been playing a game for 3-5 calendar years, it is easy to forget the challenges a new manager faces and why many can be frustrated and quit after losing to bots while trying to learn the game. Saying basically "suck it up and deal with it" is all well and good, but it won't make those new owners feel any better and won't help them stick around any longer. The bigger issue I see with bots relates to the roster moves they make. While other games will generate a brand new roster when a new manager takes over, this game doesn't. However, I have seen multiple instances here where a bot has released a 26-27 year old stud player that would have been a key piece if/when that bot team gets taken over. That is wrong because it even further hinders future new owners. Sure existing players might like that because someone wins a 70-100 claim lottery. Doesn't mean it is a good thing to happen though.

#66644	06/27/2019 6:20:44 am	May 25th, 2041
Rock777 Joined: 09/21/2014 Posts: 9596 Haverhill Halflings III.1	I agree that I would like to see the bots be a bit smarter in their man decisions. However that just makes them more difficult to compete against. Its kind of going in the opposite direction in terms of new teams. New teams do also start off with the existing team, so if you sign up for a good team you have a good team. If a new player is finding the game to challenging, I would suggest asking Steve to switch to an easier team. We shouldn't ruin the challenge aspect of the game for people who want to salvage a bad team and make them champions. That is removing fun from one part of the population to appease another part. Leave the game as is, and if someone finds their team to difficult to work with, just take another team. We have bots in LL-1. We even had one of the more prestigious teams win Legends after going bot. If those teams were reset to scrubs, or dropped to the bottom of the pyramid, it would be very destructive to the game world. Better to let them get taken over by another human player who can try and continue the reign. Updated Thursday, June 27 2019 @ 6:24:29 am PDT

#66645	06/27/2019 8:17:09 am	May 25th, 2041
Haselrig Joined: 04/13/2014 Posts: 2790 Novi Doubledays III.4	This is not a let them eat cake thing, it's the reality of the game. Bots or not, winning isn't a given. This game is competitive, even at the lowest levels, but there is infinitely more help for the new player than when I started. Many long-time players, myself included, have given away their entire strategies on team-building, on lineup and pitching staff configurations, heck, even ballpark dimensions. None of that was happening five years ago. I think the game changer that likely skewed most towards helping the new player compete with veteran owners was the potential search function. That leveled the playing field and made every aspect of the game luck-based instead of the work an owner would have to dedicate to uncovering that gem of a FA just sitting there. My advice to the new player would be: if you like this game and you think you're going to play it for a while, study. Read the forums and the manual. It's all there. If you have questions, people will answer them. Enjoy the good-natured competition. It's rare to have both in one place. Updated Thursday, June 27 2019 @ 8:17:47 am PDT