THE TALK SHOW
Host: Glenn Guzzo
You can submit your question or insight on any Strat-O-Matic game to SOMTalkShow@aol.com.
When you do, kindly include your name and town. Other gamers like to see that.
And the display format below works better that way.
Reminder: Send us your “Great Moments in Strat”
– your playing experiences that you just have
to share.
In the last Talk Show, we invited gamers to share their
rules to prevent abuse of dominant relief pitchers …
Beware the POW
In our six-team
face-to-face league, the teams are obviously pretty set with quality arms in
the bullpen. However, this did not
dissuade people from using their “studs” for multiple innings. After one season where a manager abused this
situation, we instituted what is now called “the Derek Liliquist
Rule.” Relievers who now pitch past
their POW inning have to sit out the next game to rest. Also, they can only pitch one inning past
their POW rating before the “dots” on their cards become hits. This has limited managers from using dominant
closers for multiple innings to only crucial games, or games where they have
used all other eligible pitchers (e.g. long extra-inning affairs.) It has worked extremely well for our league,
especially since we do not have a usage rule otherwise for relief
pitchers.
The Redbirds
I like this rule. It’s very simple to
understand and apply. It’s true to the game’s endurance ratings. And it ought
to simulate the actual use of relievers.
NetPlay
Hockey
I am writing to update all the
hockey gamers out there about our all-netplay hockey
league, which to my knowledge is the only one of its kind. You can review
the website, http://www.freewebs.com/barryb1124/. If anything, I
think that the website shows our commitment to netplay
hockey, and certainly the website has as much statistical info as any league
website out there. My contact info is on the site for anyone interested
in learning more about the league.
I am also writing about one
concern regarding the hockey game:
Why not change Passing L some
more to accommodate the more accomplished passers (more rebound chances
and fewer outside chances for a Joe Thornton L reading for
instance) and balance it by providing more outside shots from Passing L
for the lower-rated L Passers? It could be made optional in the computer
game and would require absolutely no split-deck changes and only slight
modifications to some goal-scoring cards. It shouldn’t be terribly
difficult to accomplish. Strat is the best
hockey game out there, but the one consistent complaint from SOM hockey gamers
is about the passing. I know that more complex passing systems would be
very unlikely to be adopted by Strat due to split-
and/or action-card changes. But with the changes I am describing no
action or split cards would have to be changed. These changes would make Strat the perfect hockey game. I hope that they will
be taken under consideration.
Barry,
Congratulations on the web site and your
league. Your web site is an impressive statistical resource and your league
looks like it is flourishing. The site is a fine example of elevating interest
in the sport and in SOM hockey.
I had the same impression about the
Super-Advanced Passing L system when it first came out. And when I published
STRAT FAN in the 1990s, we printed many playing innovations – about passing and
other facets of the hockey game. I think Strat-O-Matic
has been receptive to gamers’ suggestions and the game company has improved an
already-popular hockey game several times. The Super-Advanced rules were a
major step, and the computer-game options were another. Your suggestion joins
others on the company’s wish list.
Pass Block vs. Pass Rush
I play SOM Football solo C&D, basic game only. The simplicity and accuracy as well as the challenge makes for a great game. I have an observation on the differences between the big card (pre-1982) and the small cards (1982+). It seems to me that for the basic game, the big cards are more realistic because the QB sacks are distributed on both the defensive cards and the QB cards. A QB with few sacks (Marino) has no control under the new game, but would have in the old game (no sacks, no pass rush on his card). This is such a huge factor in the game.
Yes, I understand the small cards
have penalties, the
Anthony N. Abilo,
Two thoughts:
1)
The current card format is far superior, even with the
tradeoff you mention. In addition to the advantages you cite, the offensive
cards are vastly superior, without the blocking plays there.
2)
To gain the contemporary advantages and get back what you
have lost on the pass-rush, use the Advanced pass rush (not the Super-Advanced
with individual pass-rush ratings). When playing solo, assume there is one blitzer whenever the offensive pass block or defensive pass
rush is consulted.
Waiting for Zelmo
While
purchasing the new computer basketball game this year, I noticed the 1970-71
Kelly Robinson,
Possible? Sure. However, as an
Another Vote for the WNBA
I have
been wondering why women’s sports are not represented. The WNBA is 10 years
old, excellent entertainment and represents a great league for young girls to
aspire to.
Susan Simpson
All true, but the question for Strat-O-Matic is a business issue rather than a social one.
We know, for instance, that many women are baseball fans, football fans and
hockey fans as well as basketball fans. But we also know that few play Strat-O-Matic. We
also know that the NBA game is the least successful commercially of any SOM
product. So I can understand the game company’s reluctance to go deeper into
the niches of the sport. While the WNBA has a solid following, it is a small
fraction of the NBA’s following.
Pitcher Injuries Needed
My draft
league is currently completing its 14th season. Over the last couple of
years, we’ve been trying to fix the injuries to be more realistic and penalize
players for over-usage. We moved to the
15-day/60-day method with daily injuries with maximum rules. However, it still does not seem to penalize
teams and players appropriately. We’ve
had batters and pitchers at 110% to 135% get the injury selection yet they
continue to shake it off more times than get injured and most times are able to
stay in the game.
This is
not the aspect that disturbs us the most.
Daily injuries and the occasional 15-day and rare 60-day (only once ever
in our league) have kept our batters relatively in check (although that needs
some improvement by SOM). Our pitchers,
especially starters, seem to get injured rarely or inconsistently.
For
example, nothing is stopping one of our players from pitching Johan Santana 275
or even 300 innings. We do not wish to
limit our players by innings but rather want the game to punish and injure over-used
players. Will SOM improve the injury
system? At least force pitchers over 100% who roll the 6-12 to be removed from
the game.
Matt Phelan,
Your deeper
experience with the Super-Advanced injury system actually encourages some of us
using it for the first time in an eight-team league. In my second game of the
season, I lost two pitchers to the 15-day DL. One was 261-IP Tom Seaver. In the first 47 games (total) of the league, four
pitchers have gone on the 15-day DL, compared to three position players.
According
to the Help file in the computer game, “When using this system, pitcher
injuries that occur from the pitcher’s hitting cards are
ignored. Instead, all pitchers can be injured when a dice roll of 6-12 occurs. An injury can occur to a pitcher with any
player at-bat (not just the DH as was the case with the old rules).”
That tells
me pitchers have a 9 times greater chance of being injured than in other injury
systems and a 9 times greater chance of being injured than a position player
(although there are 8 times more position players in the game).
At this
point, I’d predict that the difference between your league’s two-year
experience and my league’s two-week experience is random chance.
Your
larger point about an injury role automatically punishing an over-used player
has much merit. That would raise the risk of over-usage.