Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

Hey everyone! I'm going to make this is as quick as I can because I have a lot of work to get back to. But I wanted to give you all a general update on what's coming down the pipe for SOM Online.

[size=16:a065ece7ef][b:a065ece7ef]Back to the '90s[/b:a065ece7ef][/size:a065ece7ef]

... is set to launch [b:a065ece7ef]tomorrow[/b:a065ece7ef], Thursday, 8/26. '70s and '80s fans who've been waiting for your beloved Mystery Card format to finally emerge from the dark ages, this is it! The Back to the '90s set will be the first Mystery Card game to feature all the enhancements that all sets of the past few years have incrementally enjoyed, including [url=http://somonline.wikia.com/wiki/Bullpen_v2]Bullpen v2[/url], [url=http://somonline.wikia.com/wiki/Live_Draft]Live Drafts[/url], and [url=http://somonline.wikia.com/wiki/League_sizes]24-team leagues[/url].

Note: While I am [i:a065ece7ef]dying[/i:a065ece7ef] to port the '70s and '80s games (and all other old sets, for that matter) over to the central site, it's probably not in the plans for this calendar year... sorry.

Also: after we launch, instead of creating yet another sub-forum for '90s discussion, we're going to merge the '70s, '80s and '90s into one "Mystery Card / decade" forum.

[size=16:a065ece7ef][b:a065ece7ef]All-Time Greats VI[/b:a065ece7ef][/size:a065ece7ef]

There will be an ATG VI this fall/winter. First of all, the news is [b:a065ece7ef]we finally have official clearance to include active players[/b:a065ece7ef] in ATG, so we'll be looking to add some current Greats to the fold. Second, I would love to get your input on other cards YOU would like to see that you haven't seen in ATG yet. I'll try to organize something soon after Back to the '90s launches, but in the meantime feel free to start chatting about that. I've seen the idea raised of merging 1986 and 1999 in; that will definitely be considered, if at least specifically the "Greats" therein.

ATG VI will also come with enhancements/fixes on the wish list; I know what they are so you don't have to raise them unless they're new. I'd love to fill you in on what I'm thinking, but I won't right now, in the interest of time, and for the fact that I ALWAYS get into trouble when I start making promises...

That's all for now; talk to you tomorrow!

Great Bernie! I am withdrawing $$$$ from my 401K to play the 90s! I finally have a chance to to win more Championships in a league than Panzer Ace. :D

We appreciate your hard work and I'll be buying twenty five 5-packs.

I'll be in the first league! Anyone want to face me? 8-)

Great news Bernie! Please find attached a link to a thread wherein the topic of "card additions to ATG we would like to see" is addressed.

http://forums.sportingnews.com/viewtopic.php?t=613897

[quote:cd5db9dd08="bernieh"]

ATG VI will also come with enhancements/fixes on the wish list; I know what they are so you don't have to raise them unless they're new. I'd love to fill you in on what I'm thinking, but I won't right now, in the interest of time, and for the fact that I ALWAYS get into trouble when I start making promises...

[/quote:cd5db9dd08]

I sure hope this is true. I know others have harped on me when I say that the solution to these problems is NOT adding more and more and more cards, but fixing some of the simplest things, like making the stats pages for your team look the same for regular-season and post-season stats. I mean, really, how hard is that???

I know a lot of folks will be thrilled to have a 5,000 player set (or whatever ATG VI ends up having), but I think improvements to the game and the TSN features will be much more beneficial. After all, basically every possible card configuration is out there already, so many of these cards will continue to be unused. The creation of subsets, a continuum of salary caps, and facilitated trading will allow a lot more enjoyment to be had by all!

Finally, I'm still waiting (probably won't happen for a long while, if ever) for a live, head-to-head game playing application online so that we can control everything, just as with the CD-ROM and board game.

Great!

Maybe you can add the ability to sort Pitchers by defense and by hitting ability with ATG version 6.

8-)

That's awesome news!
I can't get into any leagues for a couple of weeks, but it's great to know that it'll be ready when I can get back to playing!

Thanks a lot!

I like the idea of adding new cards to the ATGV set, but if this is done, I also like the idea of retiring an equivalent number of the least used players in the set.

Great news about the 90's, except... Bullpen v.2 is [b:a85337ce8c]way[/b:a85337ce8c] confusing! :D

The 90's sounds great. I've not played a Mystery Card game yet. I think I understand how it works, but are there any other things that are different in the mystery card format versus the regular game? Any different strategies? Different team composition, etc? Thanks.

how about an updated FantaSim set?