Amaroq
Posts: 1100
Joined: 8/3/2005 From: San Diego, California Status: offline
|
Yes. The PITCHER_HOOK setting in the XML is a global setting which should modify the individual settings made for each manager. Think of it as the base number which the manager setting modifies: e.g., if manager setting 'Quick Hook' modifies the value by +2, and 'Extremely Patient' modifies it by -2... the default is -1, giving you a range from -3 to +1, but you could modify the base value down to say -4 or so, giving you a range -6 to -2. (Shaun, correct me if I'm wrong!) To more accurately simulate dead-ball era play, I also modified the RECOVERY_PITCHER tags; I found that a bump of about 10 points was enough to get my pitchers recovering enough to pitch every fourth day despite going a complete game the previous time out; however, this meant that the first relief pitcher was nearly the only one ever called upon, so I changed the PITCHER_FATIGUE_DESC ranges, ignoring the scary warning :) You will also want to bump FIELDING_ERRORS down significantly - maybe half of the default, possibly less, to get the correct number of errors for dead-ball play. I also took the time to modify every ballpark, putting the fences wayyyy out there - historical distances where appropriate, but longer-than-historical where needed - as a deterrent to home runs. There are also ways to modify the pinch-hitting chances from the XML file - you may want to reduce BASE_PINCH_HIT_CHANCE_BY_INNING in the later innings, and/or increase MIN_PINCH_HIT_INNING (the first inning that a manager will consider pinch-hitting). There are some other things you might do in that section - CANCEL_PINCH_HIT_IF_AHEAD_BY might be appropriate to set to '1', as any pitcher with a lead can reasonably be left in the game in the deadball era. {If you are new to .xml editing, the brief precis is this - with key steps in bold: 1. Exit PureSim. 2. Copy puresim.xml to a new file with a name like deadball.xml - something which will help you identify it. 3. Open deadball.xml with Notepad, WordPad, Write, or your favorite text editor. (There are specific XML editors, but I don't use one.) 4. Modify the name tag - I don't remember the name of the tag, but it should be near the top of the file, and the text should be something like 'Default PureSim engine', and you want to change it to something like 'Deadball-era engine'. 5. Then search for every tag I've mentioned (each word in ALL_CAPS is a 'tag' in the XML file - search for the exact text I've mentioned.) 6. Near that tag should be a number, and above it should be a 'comment' explaining what it means. 7. Modify the number, according to the instructions in the comment. 8. Save the file. 9. Open PureSim. 10. START A NEW ASSOCIATION - you don't want to test changes on the association you know and love. 11. Go to 'Association Options'. 12. One of the options should be 'choose XML file', and you want to pick the one with the name you chose - 'Deadball-era engine', or whatever. (If you didn't change the name, you'll see two 'Default PureSim engines', and won't be able to tell which one was yours. ) 13. Let the computer run for at least one season, preferably five. (I usually kick off a run when I leave for work, and its done when I come back.) 14. Look at the statistical results - see if the things you changes gave you the numbers you wanted, overcorrected, or didn't help the way you'd wanted. 15. Lather, rinse, repeat (from step 3), until you're happy with the results. }
|