Strat-O-Matic Baseball 2016 New Features

New Features in Strat-O-Matic Baseball 2016
 
By Glenn Guzzo
 
As relentless as time, Strat-O-Matic’s baseball game for Windows keeps moving forward with advances in appearance, game play and statistics year after year.
 
This year, the prime-time event is the inclusion of Baseball Daily as an optional add-on. Also optional, but certain to be popular, are new high-resolution color ballpark photos (lower-resolution color images will come standard with the game).
 
Those who already own color stadiums will receive a free upgrade to the hi-res parks.
 
Strat-O-Matic Baseball 2016 also will be the first to employ new Individualized Pitcher Injury rules and new Super-Advanced Injury charts. Both are suitable for board-game play as well, with current or older seasons.
 
Also during game play, when card images are displayed in clutch batting situations, the images will adjust to show the clutch results (single or out) rather than the clutch symbols. That will make it easier for a manager to evaluate a player’s value in the clutch.
 
In the statistical area, Strat-O-Matic goes to WAR (Wins Above Replacement). The stat that reflects a player’s value above a replacement-level (AAA) player has been added to the main game screen for both batters and pitchers. When evaluating players, you may also sort them according to WAR.
 
TWEAKS
There are improvements to existing features as well.
 
The Online Draft logic for drafting players when an owner is not present has been improved.
 
The Super Advanced Fielding results for G3 and G2 on Catch-X plays have been given more realistic descriptions.
 
Previously, when a double-duty player pinch-hit for the pitcher, the computer manager attempted to keep him in the game to pitch. This year, code has been added to use another reliever if the double-duty guy is tired and there are two or more other relievers available in the bullpen.
 
A new computer-manager option prevents the computer from automatically overriding certain defensive strategies such as holding baserunners, positioning the infield, and positioning the outfield.
 
The Promote/Demote Minor Leaguers dialog now includes an “All” and a “None” button to make it possible to set all players eligible or ineligible with one click.
 
The Restore League function now defaults to the Backup folder since that is where backups are normally stored.
  
Most of our new features were suggested to us by game players like you.  If you have a suggestion or feature you would like to have added to Strat-O-Matic Baseball, please e-mail us at customerservice@strat-o-matic.com.
 
 
IMPORTANT NETPLAY NOTE FOR WINDOWS 10(tm) USERS:
 
If you are running Windows 10(tm) and are using Netplay, you must run the game in compatibility mode.  See the Netplay Compatibility Note in the Netplay section of the Help File.
 
 
List Of New Features And Improvements In Strat-O-Matic Baseball 2016
 
1) Daily Data (Optionally Available) Our most exciting innovation in years is now available for play. Imagine playing Strat-O-Matic in parallel to the real-life baseball season! As the players go through hot and cold streaks, imagine seeing that reflected in their Strat-O-Matic cards! Imagine seeing a new Strat-O-Matic card daily for every player!! Well, imagine no more – this option is now available for Strat-O-Matic baseball fans! Please see the full description of Daily Data for restrictions and additional information. 
 
2) High Resolution Color Ballparks Our ballpark option has been enhanced to include high-resolution ballpark pictures for all current major league stadiums. In addition, low resolution color ballparks will now be included with the game.
 

3) Individualized Pitcher Injuries – Starting with the 2015 season, pitchers will be assigned an individual injury rating. This new rating is designed to be used with the new Super Advanced Injury charts. Older seasons will use default ratings (based upon actual usage).
 
4) Card Image – Clutch Hitting
If you have purchased the Card Image Option, then the Clutch Hitting effects are now integrated into the card image displayed on the Game Screen Layout. In clutch situations (2-outs, runner(s) in scoring position), the clutch result will display instead of the original card result. This will make it easier to evaluate the current batter and pitcher and will make more sense when the clutch result is rolled with the dice. Note that the only place this is done is on the in-game batter vs. pitcher card image (where the dice are rolled). You can still view the player’s original card image by clicking on the player’s name to display his notebook. Also note that the Clutch Hitting results are shown in green (the color of money!) to indicate that the original card result has been replaced with the clutch result.
 
5) Super-Advanced Injury Charts
– A new and improved set of Super-Advanced Injury Charts is now supported. The new charts alter the frequency and length of injuries to more closely simulate current real-life injuries than the original charts did. We recommend using these new charts when playing with the 2015 or newer season(s). However, they can be used with any league from any season. Use this option if you desire maximum board-game compatibility.
 
6) Online Draft The Online Draft logic for drafting players when an owner is not present has been improved.
 
7) Help File – If you are unable to read the older help file format, we are including a "New Help File" which can be accessed via "Start / Programs / Strat-O-Matic". It is not accessible directly from the game, though. Even if you are on Windows 10, you should be able to open the new help file.
 
8) WAR – Wins Above Replacement (WAR) has been added to the Main Game Screen for both batters and pitchers. WAR is an estimated measure of the number of wins a player contributes to his team. Our version of WAR is a combination of a player’s wRAA, rWAR, and dWAR and attempts to value a player’s total contribution in one number. This number should not be taken as the definitive measure of player value but as another tool to use when evaluating a player’s performance. In addition to the player’s replay WAR, we included a calculated WAR for the player card as well (that is located on the top line of the display). This roughly estimates the real-life WAR of the player’s card, but is not an exact match of other WAR systems available elsewhere.
 
9) Roster Report – The Roster Report (located in the Teams / Display Reports menu) now includes a count of the number of batters and pitchers on each team’s roster. The counts are shown on the heading line, in a series of two numbers separated by a slash – the first number is the number of batters, the second is the number of pitchers. Two sets of numbers are shown. The first set is the number of eligible batters and pitchers. The second set is the number of ineligible batters and pitchers. Here is an example showing a team with 13 batters and 12 pitchers who are eligible, and 2 batters and 3 pitchers who are ineligible:
  
2014 New York (NL) Amazins Black=In Majors (13/12) Blue=In Minors (2/3) 
 
10) Sort Players – Sort Players has been improved to allow sorting of players by WAR. You can sort all players, just batters, or just pitchers by WAR. This capability will be especially convenient when looking at the free agent pool, as it allows you to sort all batters and pitchers into one list, which provides an idea of the relative worth of the batters compared to the pitchers in the pool.
 
11) X-Chart Improvements
  • Super-Advanced Fielding Catch-X G3 Rare Play play-by-play has been changed to better reflect what might happen on such a play.
  • Super-Advanced Fielding Catch-X G2 with the infield in, play-by-play has been changed so that it indicates the tag was made directly by the catcher instead of a throw being made.

 
12) Restore League Improvements

  • The Restore League function now defaults to the Backup folder since that is where backups are normally stored.
  • After you restore a league, it is now automatically selected in the league listbox as a convenience.

 
13) Eligible Players The Promote/Demote Minor Leaguers dialog now includes an "All" and a "None" button to make it possible to set all players eligible or ineligible with one click.
 
14) Computer Manager – When a Double Duty Player pinch-hits for the pitcher, the computer manager attempts to keep him in the game to pitch. This year, code has been added to use another reliever if he is tired and there are two or more other relievers available in the bullpen.  
 
15) Turn Off Suggested Defensive Strategies
– A new option is available in the Computer Manager section of the Game Preferences dialog that will prevent the computer from automatically overriding certain defensive strategies such as holding baserunners, positioning the infield, and positioning the outfield.  
 
16) Multiple Instances
– A warning is now issued if you attempt to run multiple copies of the game at the same time. This is a dangerous practice that can lead to serious data corruptions! We allow you to ignore this warning, however, before doing so, you should read the documentation on Multiple Instances that has been added to the Help File.
 
17) Bugs Fixed 

  • A very rare program hang was found and corrected in the Recommend Best Available Player routine. 
  • The Blogger interface has been replaced, as we are no longer able to authenticate your blog credentials using the Blogger API.
  • Sometimes the box score story would say that a leadoff hit plated a run, which is not possible unless it was a homerun.
  • An extremely rare sequence caused an incorrect number of earned runs to be calculated. According to baseball rule 10.16, an inning that proceeds as follows should result in two runs allowed being credited to the pitcher, but only one earned run:  Out, out, catcher’s interference, homerun, out. In essence, since there is no way to determine the final result of the at-bat due to the catcher’s interference, that plate appearance is ignored for purposes of determining earned runs.
  • In the Report Writer 2014 John Danks was displaying as "Jordan Danks" when viewing pitching reports.
  • According to the Strat-O-Matic Rule Booklet, rule 25.21, which is for adjusting outfielders range ratings when playing out of position, is both an Advanced and Super-Advanced rule. This rule was not being used for the Advanced computer game, and that has been corrected.
  • When using the Show Flight of Ball game option, home plate was reversed.
  • Setting the lineup with your pitcher as the leadoff hitter was confusing the stats package. Sometimes two pitchers would get credited with a loss or the runs and/or earned runs for the pitcher were incorrect.
  • Defensive Runs Above Average (dRAA) was being miscalculated for certain outfielders.
  • Award icons were not showing in the Team Yearbooks for old seasons.
  • A Catcher’s Interference with the bases loaded should result in an RBI for the batter according to baseball’s 2015 official rules, section 9.04(a)(2). The RBI for this situation has been added back (the RBI was removed in Version 10 as a result of an erroneous bug report).
  • A Netplay bug was identified and fixed that could cause games to get out of sync after a message was displayed. For example, sometimes after the message that states the pitcher is tired was displayed the games would get out sync.
  • The play-by-play for a rare play regarding the hidden ball trick was indicating that a double was hit down the line even though it was hit to center field.

 
18) New Seasons – Support for the new 2015, 2016 Daily Data, 1982 (Deluxe Super-Advanced), Hall of Fame 2016, 2015 Career Historical, 1874 National Association, 1908 Negro League, 1917 Negro League, 1935 Negro League, 1948 Negro League, and 2015 Japanese Baseball seasons has been added.
 
19) Ballpark Photos  

  • 6 new ballpark pictures – Cleveland (day and night), Los Angeles (night), Texas (night), Anaheim (night), Houston (day).
  • 34 new ballpark entry pictures – Cleveland-11, Los Angeles-5, Anaheim-6, Houston-4, Chicago-NL-6, Kansas City-2.

 
20) Play-By-Play 

  • Over 1350 new lines of Nickname play-by-plays have been included!
  • New and updated Trivia questions are included.
  • All 30 team play-by-play files have been edited and updated for 2015 season.  

  
21) Roster Improvements and Corrections    
 
– The
Roster Corrections and Improvements Team brings you these upgraded rosters:
* Work done on adjusting roster limits. Some Read files updated.

 
1873   Corrected BAS Brainard 2b e-rat.
1875   PHS Henry Gilroy name.
1911G  PHG Pearl Webster name; added CHG Parks to 98.
1920G  BRG Johnson, CHG Brown, SGG Johnson bat hand; ACG Harvey name.
1922G  DEG Barber & Riggins, SGG Johnson bat hand.
1924U  CHA Hervey McClellan name.
1927G  BAG Brown, DEG Rile, HAG Johnson bat hand; CSG Manuel Rigal name.
1931G  ING Rile bat hand.
1934G  BEG Longley added field ratings; added PIG Carter to 98.
1937G  ORG Rojo bat hand; TCG Rudy Fernandez name.
1942G  NWG Willie Burns (was Charlie Davidson); BIG Douglas bat hand.
1945G  BEG Russell Dedeaux (was Nate Moreland); BIG Ed Steele name; BIG Britton bat hand; CHG Rhodes pitch hand. 
1948U  Corrected SLA Garver card.
1951U  NYN & SLA Rapp bat hand.
1966U  Improved trns*.
1967U  Improved trns*.
1969AP Added Starting Pitchers to the Computer Manager Schedule.
1969U  Added Starting Pitchers to the Computer Manager Schedule; OAA Roland pitch hand.
1972U  Improved trns.
1974U  Improved trns*.
1976U  Improved trns*. 
1977U  Added Starting Pitchers to the Computer Manager Schedule.
1980U  Corrected OAA Hamilton E.R.A.; improved trns*.
1981U  Improved trns*.
2012U  CLA Fausto Carmona (was Roberto Hernandez).
2013U  CLA Fausto Carmona (was Roberto Hernandez); improved trn*.
2014U  Debuts Multi-card AP set; adds individual Pitcher Injury ratings; adds CHA Jones.
2014WS Corrected lup.