The Out of the Park Baseball series is one of the most popular sports management sims in the world, and for good reason. It’s an outstanding game series based on a sport that places high value on management and managers’ decisions. It is also a complex game that can be off-putting to some new players. If you’re ready to give it a try, this beginner’s guide can help you have the best possible time with your first playthrough.
How To Get Started When There’s Everything To Do
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The biggest problem most new players face when they start a save in Out of the Park Baseball is one that is common to sports management sims in general: there is so much to do that it can be hard to know where to begin. This is where the ultimate tip for management games comes into play immediately by turning to your assistants. When you start the game, you can choose to delegate responsibilities and can update this as you play.
If there’s a system you don’t understand yet and you’re worried it will tank your club, delegate it! You can come to grips with as many systems as you’re comfortable with initially, then slowly add in others as you get a better understanding of how they work.
What Should You Choose For A Starting Save
The first big decision you have to make when getting underway is choosing when and where to play. While this obviously has a big impact on the gameplay ahead of you, there’s no need to overthink it. These tips can help you choose your first playthrough settings:
- Start With Leagues You Know: The best way to make your first time with Out of the Park Baseball less intimidating is to reduce the number of variables that you don’t know about. A simple way to do this before you’ve even begun is to choose starting leagues where you are most familiar, so most likely if you’re reading this, that would be Major League Baseball. While a familiar setting won’t make you immediately understand the mechanics of the game, you enter with some inherent knowledge that will make your challenges a bit more familiar, and which can provide context on the numbers the game uses as you begin assessing teams and players.
- Mods Can Offer New Options: Unfortunately, not every major baseball league you may want to play in is in the game, as Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball is not a licensed part of the game. The good news is that if this is the league you are most familiar with or one that you want to play in, the modding community for OotP has you covered. If you can’t find a league you’re looking for, check if there is a mod available that you can install.
- Try A Save Kicking Off In Your Childhood: The ability to run a save in Out of the Park baseball from throughout history provides a great deal of replay value, as the different eras not only come with different players, but also entirely different play styles and strategies prevalent. If you’re overwhelmed by the mass of options, this provides a great way to dip your toe in the historical pool is to start a save in your childhood if you grew up watching baseball. This is not only a fun way to enjoy some nostalgia but also provides you with context you can use for decision-making as you come to grips with the game.
- The Dawn of the 20th Century Is An Old School Entry Point: If you think a historical simulation can be fun but are worried about the game feeling too foreign if you head to the early days of the sport, popular sentiment points to the early 1900s as a good point to jump in. The quality of players has improved enough that every game isn’t an error-generation ending and some of the biggest names in baseball history you’re likely familiar with are present while still positioning you in the distant past of the oldest Big Four sports league.
Early-Game Mistakes To Watch Out For
You are going to mess up in Out of the Park Baseball. Even the best players make mistakes in a save, and new players have far more opportunities to make errors. Although it’s important to accept that goofs and losses are part of the game, these common beginner mistakes to avoid can help you miss the biggest traps for new players:
- Building A Team To Win The Series Five Years Ago: Early in a management sim when you aren’t yet familiar with what constitutes outstanding, good or bad ratings for players a simple solution is to fall back on real world knowledge. This can be a great way to learn benchmarks by checking out a player you know and seeing how they rate, but it can also lead to a common beginner’s mistake: relying too much on name value. Scooping up a bunch of older names you know can get you a team that looks familiar and potentially even compete initially, you also run the risk of loading your team with depreciating players and finding yourself weighed down by less-effective vets in a couple seasons.
- Believing Too Much In The Power Of The Bat: When assessing a baseball team there are two broad platoons to look at, the pitchers and the hitters who face off on every pitch of the game. With this approach, you may fall into the trap of thinking that a good bat is the end-all be-all of quality assessment for your batters, but this can be a backbreaking mistake. The ability to field effectively is crucial to championship teams, and many beginners find their teams constantly losing high-scoring games. While you can find room in the lineup for a few pure hitters, make sure you’re watching your team’s defensive abilities in general.
- Selling Your Staffing Short: Baseball games are won and lost on the diamond, with the pitchers and batters on your team ultimately the ones who need to go out and get on base while stopping the other team from doing likewise. This can make it easy for new players to think the game is just about scooping up the best players and letting them play. In reality, the staff around your team is critical to long-term success, so make sure you’re maximizing the financial resources available for scouting and staffing to truly get your team operating at elite levels in all phases of the sport.
- Expecting A Home Run Right Out Of The Gate: Management sims can be challenging when you are first getting started. There’s a lot to keep track of, and you don’t have the experience to quickly and intuitively make wise decisions that work within the game’s meta. This can often lead to high crashout levels, with many gamers who try management sims not making it very far into their first save. Entering your first game of Out of the Park Baseball with the understanding that it may be a rocky start, but that’s just the first step on a journey to a dynasty.
