HAL cost me a championship last night

I now hate Hanley Ramirez and HAL. Grounded into a home and first double play with the bases loaded and nobody out in the top of the 8th in game 7 of my finals last night while down 1-0 which ended up being the final score. Just needed to vent that somewhere.

What pisses me off is I have him set to not face RHP and Rollins waiting there on the bench for this exact spot. The role was a 3-9 which would have been either a triple or a two run single for Rollins. It was my opponents closer so I know he wouldn't have switched pitchers if HAL pinch hit like he was supposed to.

Was his closer a RHP with a heavy L Bal?, Hal would leave in the RH Ramirez instead of the Switch hitting Rollins probably.

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/pl ... 011/266100

That was the closer, I don't get why HAL wouldn't pinch hit given Hanley's drastic struggles with RHP, me saying to avoid RHP, it's the 8th inning, and I have a lefty on the bench at that position just waiting for this spot. It's bullshit. The fact that the actual dice roll would have given me the championship (there still would be nobody out and I would have been up either 2-1 or 3-1 with Ortiz and Giambi coming up next drives me crazy.

HAL put's a LOT of emphasis on the Pitcher's half of the card when making lineup and PH situation.

HAL put's a LOT of emphasis on the Pitcher's half of the card when making lineup and PH situation.

What you're saying explains what happened and I appreciate the response. That said it is also STUPID of HAL to do that. Obviously in that spot I want Hanley out of the game as he can't hit RHP a lick and there is still a decent OBP chance vs Left handed batters on that pitchers card despite the split. Given the difference between Hanley's and Rolilns cards in that situation and based on my settings I'm just still furious. It literally decided a championship but that is part of the deal I guess. I still love Stratomatic and I just need to get over it.

Maybe you should have scored some runs before the 8th inning so you wouldn't have been in this situation. Runs scored in the first inning are just as important as runs in the 9th as one of my coaches used to say.



Bill

I seem to recall that the "avoid" settings only apply to pinch-hitters first entering the game, not to starters. (Same with pitchers, the "avoid" settings don't apply to starters, only to relievers facing their first batter.)

So, a pinch-hitter should usually respect the "avoid" setting when entering the game, but don't expect a starter to be yanked for a pinch-hitter due to an "avoid" setting just because a "wrong"-handed pitcher enters the game. The "avoid" settings are not programed to pull starters for pinch-hitters, they only affect who comes in to pinch if HAL decides to pull somebody, or if a starter is injured...HAL does not consider those settings in deciding whether to pull a batter.

I seem to recall that the "avoid" settings only apply to pinch-hitters first entering the game, not to starters. (Same with pitchers, the "avoid" settings don't apply to starters, only to relievers facing their first batter.)

So, a pinch-hitter should usually respect the "avoid" setting when entering the game, but don't expect a starter to be yanked for a pinch-hitter due to an "avoid" setting just because a "wrong"-handed pitcher enters the game. The "avoid" settings are not programed to pull starters for pinch-hitters, they only affect who comes in to pinch if HAL decides to pull somebody, or if a starter is injured...HAL does not consider those settings in deciding whether to pull a batter.

Wow, I didn't know that at all. I have to seriously rethink some strategies I've been using. Thanks for the feedback.

This is very interesting. I feel very badly for Mr. Hacktastic. And if what mesquiton writes is accurate, well, I'll be damned, I never knew that. So far, because I don't know the inside secrets about platoons, I have generally avoided them. And of course, not playing platoons, other players who use them well tend to dominate me.

Leaving the issue of Mr. Hacktastic's nightmare finish to his season...I have some general thoughts to share:

As a newbie, I first thought Strat was a cross between baseball and a mathematics puzzle--which is to say, awesome.

As I've played my first three leagues now, I now think it is a cross between baseball and a Dan Brown novel. Figuring things out is like breaking into concentric circles of a secret religious order. Which is to say, still awesome. But really not fair to newbies unless they are willing to be very patient and scrounge around for the tidbits of the truth.

Some random thoughts about this Stratomatic sect:

1) You find little truths in unexpected places at unexpected times: Took me to the end of my third season when I read in one of the forums that HAL will prevent any more than one of your catchers being injured at a time. I can't think of a good reason for not sharing nuggets like this with players when they plop down their $65;

2) It took me into my fourth season before I figured out that there are well known "broken" cards (that is what we called them in ChronX (http://www.chronx.com) an amazing online strategy game I used to play). And there are well known "crap" cards (again, the nomenclature from a previous game I played). The vets know where the values and pitfalls are, and newbs like me haven't a clue--When I started, I thought it was the vets use of ballpark strategy and player TYPE, or how they tinkered with their lineups and strategy (stolen bases, bunting, hit and run, how deep to go with pitchers, etc) that made them better than me. Now I know that some significant part of their domination of me is that they have a working list of broken and crap cards in their head, and I, alas, do not;

3) In ChronX, the "broken cards" were well known, and we had a list. While we prayed to the altar of CX and hoped/pleaded for card fixes (which came late when they came at all), the community made playing those cards taboo. Why don't we do that in Strat?

4) So in order for me to know what the values are, I guess I need to scour the forums. Or look at the players the good managers pick and have picked previously.

5) In my old game, ChronX, we created factions. Players in a faction had the symbol of their faction next to their name. Factions accumulated and shared knowledge internally. And of course, there were forums and websites, like in Strat, where information was shared;

6) There is a market for the inside scoop. Probably even a secondary market. If Strat doesn't create a handbook, someone else should, and they could charge for it.

I'd pay in a heart beat. Who wants to be in the dark? Noone, you feel like an idiot. To keep with the religious metaphor and to bring it full circle, we all want to be enlightened, don't we?


Last thought: Hell, I'd go beyond paying for the product, I'd even invest in the person who took on the task, and take a cut on the back end.

I know this is not about the thread but just tossing my 2 cents for the above post.

I have also lost in the 7th game but also have beaten teams I had no reason to. My last Championship team made the post seasson with a 80-82 record. I have lost twice in the head to head tiebreaker not to make the post season. I keep coming back though because beating the crap out of the BoneCracker and Frank is fun!

I do pretty well at this game and I just stick to good defense up the middle with arms in the outfield so no one runs on me much. I look at the cards and pick the ones I think will do well. I set my pitchers and hitters to thier strenghts. I don't go for much that most do. I don't put alot into a 7 being rolled more than a 2 or 12. I have played Craps and from what I have seen any number can come up at any time. You do have your great cards like Ellsbury and Kemp but have seen them just lay an egg for me. Francouer is the biggest pig of the set for me. I have had him somewhere around 6 times and he has never even come close to 47 Doubles. I will take him everytime as that -5 cannon in RF is worth every penny to me.
I make sure I have 3 or 4 players that can't go down for more than 3 games and gamble with the others. I always go for defense when I can. I have Morse in LF right now and man that really hurts on defense as the new stats have showed me. You can compete here with just some knowlege of the game as I have. I make the post season about 1 out of 3 times and win it all about 1 in 6. I play with the veterans only.
How do I do so well? I pretty much only play in the theme leagues. I Think that evens the playing field for me anyway.

A few rules to live by

Never mix SP* with non *. If you go with 4 starters that can go on 3 days rest(Thats the SP*) get a $.50 starter and keep him out of the rotation. Pitchers rarly get hurt. The other teams DH has to roll a 6-12 when he bats to injure your pitcher.

Go with pitching or Hitting but don't try and spend it evenly. The norm for a $80 league is 30 pitching and 50 hitting.

Most Fielding Chart rolls will hit against your SS, 2B and CF in that order. Don't have a 3 at SS with a high error rate as he will give up baserunners and won't turn many doubleplays. If you do the guy better hit the piss out of the ball to makeup for the baserunners.

What I do when I build my team is look at it from the other teams point of view. Will they look at my team and set thier baserunning and stealing at max or will they think twice before they try for extra bases. Do my pitchers have a plus hold? If they do it won't matter if I have a catcher with a lazer arm as they will steal me blind. Don't have a lineup with all RHB or LHB as the teams in your division will grab a pitcher or 2 just for you. You play your division 24 times each and everyone else only 12. Make sure you can compete in your divsion or you will be toast.

Most important is you will see the batters that are slanted R2 to R4 go before batters that lean to the left. You will see many more RHP than left during the season.

Pay attension to the N and W rating for hitters. The W means he won't hit a HR against my mother if she is called in to pitch.

I have found that watching what the guys that do well and following thier statergy works. durantjerry was the guy I followed and apolivka was the guy that helped me the most. I also don't know how to use a platoon but someday I will try and figure it out.