We Want To Know All The Rules :)

So, guys, clearly my previous thread was going nowhere and this is my new attempt at getting something positive going. As you know, there are those that believe some of the game results are legitimate and those that think they are tampered with. I think we can disagree with civility, it's really not a big deal. That said, one thing I think we can all agree with is that the game would be in its best form if we all knew the rules. An even playing field, no pun intended.

I am returning from a long hiatus and having fun, but there are SO many rules, even multiple rule sets, and I have not been able to pin down exactly which rules are being used with 100% certainty. I have visited Wikipedia and found a great deal of potentially useful information, assuming it is all active. I can say that personally, I find it very difficult to learn exactly how to play the game. I would very much appreciate Strat-O-Matic creating an official rule set here on the website so there is absolutely no ambiguity. I think that is a very reasonable request as from what I have seen, there is some confusion among the player base on how various things work.

Manager settings need to be more clear. How does the Very Aggressive base stealing setting work exactly? We know the success rate should decrease, and the number of stolen bases should increase, but it is not clear if and when the setting should be used without experimentation. That is generally not the way games work, typically you have the full set of information and then make your decisions.

We do not know exactly why "HAL" makes certain decisions. One thing that has not changed over the years is the threads asking for explanations of what is going on when suboptimal decisions are made such as shuffling around fielders into mathematically weaker defense. This is really not good for the game, it is a disheartening way to lose and a lame way to win.

How does the Steal More setting work exactly? How about double base singles? Are they 100% turned on? What about weather conditions? I assume they are turned off but I don't see any proof of that. Why is it that players with the Don't Steal setting turned on will occasionally attempt to steal?

Here is the big one: How does homefield advantage work? Here a quote from the wiki: "This option forces a statistical advantage of approximately 10 points (.010) on the batting average for the home team. This is the traditional major league difference between batting averages at home and on the road."

Okay, so what does that entail? If the game is using simulated dice roll results to determine what happens during the game, how does that additional factor work? This may or may not appear obvious to some but I don't consider this to be a concise explanation of the rule.

Why are bullpen roles often ignored? I will set a reliever to middleman that is rested and he does not come in and I proceed to lose the game after spending $6M on him. What caused that to happen?

How do intentional walks work? Are they thrown out at random? I see intentional walks on the worst hitters in the game. Why? Is it best to just turn IBB off on all pitchers then? If so, why is this not patched?

The wiki mentions bullpen priority but the game does not follow it. Is the rule not active?

Can we get clarification on exactly how the infield in setting works? Is there ever a reason to not set it to 1st inning or 5th inning? I don't see the advantage to setting it to 2nd, 3rd, or 4th.

What did I miss? I'm sure you guys must not know how certain rules or features work. My friends and I just want to play the game on even footing, we don't want to guess. We would love to see all of the rules clearly and concisely written and displayed, all in one place, with no ambiguity. This really should be a wish that is granted as all games have rules and the players, the paying customers, deserve to know them.

Just want to say at the outset that it's good that you're so interested in the rules and how the game engine works, I'll try to help out your understanding where I can.

I would very much appreciate Strat-O-Matic creating an official rule set here on the website so there is absolutely no ambiguity. I think that is a very reasonable request as from what I have seen, there is some confusion among the player base on how various things work.

https://365.strat-o-matic.com/help/rules/baseball
https://stratomatic365.fandom.com/wiki/ ... ndows_Game
Both of these are official documents provided by Strat.

We do not know exactly why "HAL" makes certain decisions. One thing that has not changed over the years is the threads asking for explanations of what is going on when suboptimal decisions are made such as shuffling around fielders into mathematically weaker defense. This is really not good for the game, it is a disheartening way to lose and a lame way to win.

HAL is the worst part of the game and the correct strategy is to minimize his involvement wherever you can. Assume he will make the wrong decision every time, then you'll be pleasantly surprised when he doesn't. I'm not being flippant, that's honestly the best way to approach it. No amount of documentation will ever change the underlying terribleness of the AI.

How about double base singles? Are they 100% turned on?

If you're asking about the asterisks that follow a single on a card reading, the answer is they are often erased by the More Baserunning Decisions max rule. https://stratomatic365.fandom.com/wiki/ ... _decisions

What about weather conditions? I assume they are turned off but I don't see any proof of that.

They are off according to the wiki: https://stratomatic365.fandom.com/wiki/ ... e_Settings

Why is it that players with the Don't Steal setting turned on will occasionally attempt to steal?

Busted hit and run would be my guess.

Here is the big one: How does homefield advantage work? Here a quote from the wiki: "This option forces a statistical advantage of approximately 10 points (.010) on the batting average for the home team. This is the traditional major league difference between batting averages at home and on the road."

Okay, so what does that entail? If the game is using simulated dice roll results to determine what happens during the game, how does that additional factor work? This may or may not appear obvious to some but I don't consider this to be a concise explanation of the rule.

The wiki includes a helpful accounting of how max rules work: https://stratomatic365.fandom.com/wiki/Maximum_Rules

The wiki mentions bullpen priority but the game does not follow it. Is the rule not active?

Not sure about priority but the game is currently on Bullpen AI v3 and parts of the wiki still list v2, maybe the v3 page will shed some light: https://stratomatic365.fandom.com/wiki/Bullpen_v3

Can we get clarification on exactly how the infield in setting works? Is there ever a reason to not set it to 1st inning or 5th inning? I don't see the advantage to setting it to 2nd, 3rd, or 4th.

There probably is no advantage to setting it to one of those innings. Infield positioning is explained in the rules but the wiki is missing the associated chart: https://i.imgur.com/A57OFBh.png If anyone reading has wiki permissions please add that to the charts section.

Thank you MaxPower, very helpful.
Your comment about the AI was duly noted...

I appreciate the considerable effort of your post, thank you very much! I have to say, it would be nice to have everything in one place and clarity on what is active in 2022. I have spoken with various players and it's not uncommon for there to be confusion about the rules, especially which ones are active. And it can feel like a scavenger hunt at times trying to find things. This is especially bad for me because I constantly forget how certain rules work

As for HAL, I think it's clear it's a big problem. I am unsure why that is the case though, it sounds like it the code could use a second look. This should be a greater priority than releasing new cards IMO. From a business standpoint, how many people quit the game due to HAL? Probably a significant chunk of the population. I play lots of video games and run one as well, bugs and bad designs scare people off quickly. I also play a lot of board games and it's the same deal, design issues, ESPECIALLY unclear rules, are a big factor in players quitting. The truth is that it is incredibly difficult to write a good rule book and practically impossible to please everyone. But I do think what we have could be better.

Lastly, while the wiki efforts are commendable, they are insufficient for mastering the game. Take this for example "This setting dictates how aggressive your runners are at attempting to steal bases."

Okay, that's pretty obvious just from the name, isn't it? It doesn't really mean anything. All you can do is tinker with the settings and see what happens. That's really bad, this game costs money and it'd be pretty difficult for a person to get enough data (likely ruining seasons in the process) to optimize perfectly. This is one of many cases where exactness of the rules would be great.

I always assumed that "aggressive" vs. "conservative settings for base stealing, running, H&R, etc. have some type of variable that increases the likelihood of an event happening.

Something like this:
Team Aggressive = 0.5
Team Conservative = 0.2
Player setting "more" = 1
Player setting "don't" = 0
Situation = 0 to 1 depending on several factors including:
number of outs
where are baserunners
score
inning
player speed??
catcher arm??
hold rating??
runner held on yes/no
etc.
RANDOM range 0 to 1

Then calculate
If (situation * aggressiveness > RANDOM) then "hit and run" else "swing away"

Since all of the variable settings work together to make the final calculation it is theoretically possible to back calculate everything.
I also assume that the coding is complicated enough where a few goofy numbers work their way in.
"Why did the game end when a player was thrown out at the plate when my team is down by 3 runs? Everyone knows that the runner would not be risking an out to score a meaningless run in that situation."
But even in real baseball, players sometimes make illogical decisions.

By playing and trying different settings, we get a feel for how it works without actually knowing the black box mathematics behind it.
I don't have the time or the desire to calculate the probability of Ty Cobb attempting to steal every time he reaches first base. But I do have the desire to give general instructions such as having Ty Cobb steal more while Ralph Kiner doesn't steal at all.
All in all, SOM does a pretty good job delivering a computer simulation that plays like a very complicated game. I think there are something like 18 base-out combinations and strategies that shift based on the inning and score. SOM must take all of that into account as well as the managerial settings, player statistics, etc.
Baseball seems simple to people who have been playing/watching for decades. The dice game has the advantage that the managers have this background knowledge about what makes sense within the context of a baseball game.
But it isn't easy to translate all that to a computer program.