Y4

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

Whats the earliest I should be looking for signs of the Y4 problem and problems with my competitive balance? Because I was just looking at my standings in season one, and its only Sept. 1, and there are already teams with 88 losses (Orioles), 91 (Crusaders, expansion team in Brooklyn), 85 (Marlins), and 91 (Nationals). All the team's are doing well with cash, but I want to try to spot this before it becomes a problem, if at all.

[CatKnight]

Y1 shouldn't be an issue.

The problem, and the way to avoid it if you really want to put in the effort, is with free agency and re-signings. Long story short, the talent drifts to the larger market clubs and there's not enough coming through the farm systems (nor do they stay long enough) for the weaker teams to recover.

Houston got around it pretty well by making sure the AI doesn't do anything dumb (vetoing trades if needed and handling the re-signings himself, then watching FA to make sure no team starts stockpiling, making a few trades that make sense and so forth.)

Cash reserves have nothing to do with it. Unless cash is very low (like $1) the AI doesn't factor that into its calculations.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

Ok, I just noticed that there were some pretty high loss totals for it just being Sept. 1st and I wanted to make sure I got to it before it became any sort of issue. Thanks .

[ohms_law]

The expansion team is probably what's really throwing a monkey wrench into things. Beef them up during the off-season, and things will get better. While your at it, knock a few million bucks out of all of the large market teams, and buff up (slightly! one or two ranks.) the stadiums for the small market teams. That always helps pretty significantly, and it's something that people often over look. Fan Loyalty is huge in drawing attendance, and the stadium is actually the largest factor of fan loyalty.

[asianinvasion]

So if you were 0-162 but had a state of the art stadium, people will still come?

[Dirty Birds]

What I've been able to do to help with the Y4 issue (which has worked alright so far) is at the start of my franchise. I always start mine in 2008 with current rosters. Before I do any kind of trading, playing, signing, etc.. I go into each team and tweak their fan loyalty, farm system ratings to A+, upgrade their stadium settings and usually turn on equalize cities.

Once I do that, I then go into the league settings option and turn up the draft talent to about 20% and team resigning and contract lengths to 10%.

So far, I've noticed that not many teams will break that 110+ Win threshold if they do at all. Typically, the only team that does that is mine because I generally gut my team, trade all veterans for top prospects and wait out the suckfest for about 3 seasons and then have a team full of upper 80's, mid - to high 90's. Granted, I usually am only able to hold onto a team like that for about 4 seasons on average without going broke but that's the only thing I've noticed so far.

[filihok]

So if you were 0-162 but had a state of the art stadium, people will still come?

That stadium would be sold out...0-162. I'd want to be there!

[RedsoxRockies]

Me Too!

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

How good is equalizing cities at preventing the Y4 problem, or at least helping to prevent it? Does it help a lot?

[Dirty Birds]

I wouldn't say it helps an extreme amount, but it does help 'some'.

I say some because even with cities equalized, it still really depends on your fan base and stadium of how much money you'll make and payroll budget as the seasons progress. That's why I tweak all the stadiums, except for the major-market teams, and fan loyalty & farm system.

[Alloutwar]

Fan Loyalty is huge in drawing attendance, and the stadium is actually the largest factor of fan loyalty.

Is that realistic? Yankee Stadium, Fenway and Wrigley are the oldest stadiums around...they draw a pretty good crowd, if I remember correctly. Perhaps I should take this to the suggestions thread, but...I wouldn't want the Marlins building a new stadium to mean that they get more sellouts than an established, long-standing club.

I think fan loyalty/attendance should be based on the team's performance, coupled with the history of the club. Then other smaller factors should weigh in - affordability, stadium comfort, player popularity, etc etc. Two years ago, the Rays struggled to have 8,000 at a game. A few weeks ago they had 31,000. Same stadium.

Obviously, their recent success is a factor. I'm just saying - people would crowd to see the Red Sox game, even if there were NO seats, and everyone sat on the grass. Some parts of loyalty/popularity transcend park comforts and age.

[boomboom]

Equalize stadiums equalises everything but ball park factors.... the fan base should be equal as well.

[dolfanar]

Equalize Cities
Contract Renewals +50%
Happiness effect on Negotiation -50%
Happiness affect on performance -100%

That's what I do.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

And it works well?

[dolfanar]

And it works well?

Short of running every team, it's the best I've found.