Beginners Guide
From Sim Dynasty Rulebook
orreltroccco Welcome to the Beginner's Guide. This is meant to provide information and strategy for new players to Sim Dynasty.
Contents |
Introduction
Welcome to Sim Dynasty - you found us! If you're like most people, right now you're wondering just what Sim Dynasty (or "SD") is. The quick answer is that SD is your chance to be the General Manager of a baseball team. You make the trades; you set the lineups and pitching rotation; you pick what's important in your draft; you develop players - you control the team. The one thing you don't do manage the in-game decisions. The reason for this is twofold: First, your opponents are real people too, and there's nothing worse than sitting at your desk waiting for an opponent who is late. The second reason, quite simply, is that there isn't enough time. Literally thousands of games are played every day, and to get that many games in we have to simulate them very quickly - usually in less than a second. As we get into some of the more advanced descriptions, we'll discuss how your team is managed during games, but for now, all you really need to know is that the games are simulated by computer, based on preferences that you set up.
This Beginner's Guide will walk you through the steps needed to get started with a team. You might want to leave this page open, or print it out, so you can refer back to these instructions as you go. After you finish going through this guide, you'll have your own team, all set up and ready to go win some games. We also have an Intermediate Guide and a Strategy Guide that you should check out when you feel you've mastered the basic setup. Those guides provide more in-depth information on some topics and explain some things you'll want to know before you jump into one of our "keeper" leagues.
Trial Period
Obviously you're new here; that's why you're reading the Beginner's Manual. Our free Single-Season Leagues are the best place for beginners (although anyone is welcome). In a nutshell, a Single-Season League is, just as it says, one season. Playing in a Single-Season League gives you a chance to see what SD is like and explore some strategies. It's also a more simple version of the game: because you're only playing one season, you don't have to worry about amateur drafts, player retirements, developing young players, and mentoring, all of which come into play in the pay leagues. In a Single-Season League, you will have the opportunity to draft a team, set your lineups and pitching rotation, set some preferences on how your team is managed during games, make trades, promote and demote players, make waiver-wire claims, and move injured players to the Disabled List. It's a great way to get your feet wet in SD without having to shell out any cash while you're learning.
This guide will walk you through the steps needed to get started with a team. You might want to leave this page open, or print it out, so you can refer back to these instructions as you go.
Signing Up
To sign up for a team, first go to the signup page. Fill out the simple form to register with SD. Next, you'll move to a screen that asks whether you want to sign up for a Single-Season team or a Dynasty team. Since you're new, you'll want to sign up for a free Single-Season team. Next, you'll have two options: take over a replacement team, or start fresh.
Replacement Team
A replacement team is a team that another owner has already started on but has abandoned. As with any website, we have people who sign up and then forget to come back and check on their teams. The advantage of starting with one of these teams is that the draft is already done for you; it's one less thing to worry about. All you really have to do is manage your team, think of it like taking over a current major-league team after the previous GM was fired. You're not starting with a clean slate, but you have the opportunity to learn both from your own mistakes and your predecessor's. You'll also be able to dive right in and start working on your new team. If you decide to go this route, you can skip ahead to the Playing the Game section below.
Draft Team
Choose one of the above strategies for the upcoming draft, and customize the way you rate pitchers and players. Here is a description of each:
Player Ratings
The drafting engine uses these numbers to determine how you value players. You get 100 rating points to work with for Pitchers, and 100 for Batters. Think of these numbers as your scouts, its what your scouts will look at when evaluating different players. For example, if you have a 20 next to Contact Vs L and a 20 next to Contact Vs R and a 60 next to Youth, the draft engine will come up with a total rating for this player, weighing his age at 60%, and contacts at 20% respectively. All other attributes would be disregarded. A more extreme example would be if you rated Youth as 100. The draft engine would draft your team completely based on age, with zero concern to how talented the players are.
Its a good idea not to drastically adjust any of the numbers, because in the first example you would end up with a really young team, with not a lot of power, defense, or speed. But it is a good idea to weigh each category with at least some number, because it will help with tie breakers (ie if you have two equal players, and rank youth as 1, you'll get the younger player).
As a rule for Pitchers, Velocity and Control should both be above 40. And it is a waste of points to rank both Throws Right and Throws Left, whichever way you decide to go, just rank that one. As a rule, if you rank either of these above a 5, you will probably end up with a team of all Lefties or Righties.
As a rule for Batters, Contact, Power, and Speed should be your three highest ratings. These areas should add up to 70 at the least.
To see more info on this matter, please see this post on the message board which describes why one player was taken over another in a recent draft. Draft Ratings Discussion
Your other option is to draft a new team. There are a few steps: i. Pick Your City - Your first decision will be what city you want to represent. Each league has 16 teams: 8 in the National League (Brooklyn, Chicago, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis) and 8 in the American League (Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, New York, and Washington). The first person to sign up for a league may choose any of the sixteen cities; the sixteenth person will get the last city available. ii. Name Your Team - Having chosen your city, you need to come up with a nickname for your team. Many people use traditional names (Dodgers, Giants, Phillies, etc.), but you can pick any name you want, as long as it's not offensive. After naming your team, you will go to a screen with a link to access your team. Click that link, and you'll be taken to your team's home page. You'll see a logo for your team (which you can change on your profile page), your team's name, the name of the league you're in (named after a former major-league manager), and your screen name. Also on this page are announcements from the SD staff; you should briefly read them whenever you check in. This page also show your league's current date, right next to the league name. If the league date is 4/1/1950, congratulations - you've signed up at the beginning of a season and will play a full 162-game schedule. If the date is later than April 1st, then you're in a "short season" league; your team will play until October 1st, and then you can sign up for a full season if you want. iii. Drafting Players - Now you have a team, and your team has a name. But you don't have any players, because your draft hasn't run yet. It will happen soon, though, so get yourself ready. Choose GM --> Draft Center from the green menu at the top of the screen. There are a variety of skills (described in more detail below, under "Grades"), and you decide what kind of players you want -- just fill in the boxes to say how much weight you'd like to give each category. You now have one more decision to make: do you want your team to be "Totally Balanced" (you will pick 3 starting pitchers, 2 relievers, and your starting lineup with the first 13 picks and have a balanced team when you're done); "Well Rounded" (your first 25 picks will be 10 pitchers, 5 outfielders, and 2 at each infield position; after that, you'll select the best remaining players for your minor-league roster); or "Best Available" (takes the best available player with each pick -- you may not draft a pitcher until round 25 or you may end up with five first basemen). (One little note: Most Single-Season Leagues use our traditional "Quick" system for the initial draft, but a few use the newer "Pre-Rank" system, which is a bit more complex and intended mostly for use in the pay leagues. If your draft screen includes a list of the individual players available, please look at the "Initial Draft" discussion in the Intermediate Guide, then come back here to finish setting up your team.)
Once you set your preferences, your draft will run within 24 hours of all 16 teams in your league being taken. You should receive an e-mail when the draft has run.
Playing the Game
Congratulations; you now control a team! Now we'll look at setting your batting lineup, pitching rotation, and bullpen. We'll make sure you've told the computer how to manage your team during games and designated backups in case of injuries. We'll also talk about the various roster moves you can make -- including offering trades to your fellow league members. Before we get into detailed instructions on setting your lineups and pitching rotation, we'll talk quickly about grades and energy.
Skill Grades
Each player has a series of grades that range from F to A+. Each player has a grade for each skill set. These grades are not like the ones you had in school; instead,they represent a 100-point scale. For instance, a D- player rates 4-11 within the skill, while an A+ player is 92-100. So, the difference between an A and a B player may be more than you would expect. These skill grades provide a quick reference to see how your players compare to other players in your league.
Energy
On your lineup cards, each batter has an "energy" indicator. When this indicator dwindles to one red bar, the player will have to sit out a game. You can make your own substitutions game-by-game, or you can let the computer do the legwork, using your designated backups (see "Backups" below). Pitchers have energy levels, too. A starting pitcher must take off four days before he may start another game; the energy bars show how soon he'll be ready. For relievers, the bars reflect how heavily a pitcher has been used in your team's last five games. A reliever who has one red bar is unavailable for the next game; a pitcher with five green bars is at full strength. A pitcher at a level between these extremes will tire more quickly if he gets into the game.
Setting Lineups
After your draft, the default settings will have the first nine players on your roster in the starting lineup -- you may have a catcher playing first base and a first baseman playing shortstop. You'll probably want to chage this. On the green menu, go to Manager --> Lineup vs RHP. On the lineup screen, you'll see all of your major-league batters, along with how well they hit against right-handed pitching. Set your lineup any way you want, using the drop-down menus to select each player's position and spot in the batting order. When you're done, click on the red "Update Lineup" button at the bottom of the page. If you make a mistake (for example, you have two players batting sixth), you'll see an error message. Find the mistake, fix it, and click the "Update Lineup" button again. Note that if you're removing a player from your lineup, you must select "Bench" in the drop-down menus for Order and Position. Once you've set your lineup against right-handers, click over to Manager --> Lineup vs LHP and go through the same process to set your lineup against southpaws.
Pitchers
Now you need to choose what roles you want your pitchers to fill. Click on Manager --> Rotation & Bullpen. By default, the first starting pitcher you drafted will be listed in the number-one starter position; your second draftee will be #2; and so forth. Similarly, the first reliever you drafted is listed as your long reliever, and so on down to the closer role. Adjust these roles however you want, using the drop-down menu under "Pitching Role," and be sure to click the "Update Pitchers" button at the bottom of the screen. You must have all ten roles filled when you click "Update Pitchers," or you'll receive an error message.
Promoting and Demoting Players
By default, the first 25 players you drafted were placed on your major-league roster, and draftees 26-50 were put in the minor leagues. From time to time, you may want to promote a minor-leaguer to your major-league roster -- maybe you'll decide you really need another backup shortstop, or one of your regulars will get hurt (more on that in a bit). To recall someone from the minors, click GM --> Promote/Demote. The Promote/Demote page lists all of your players, with major-leaguers on the top and minor-leaguers at the bottom.
Find the player you want to promote and change the drop-down menu next to his name from "Minors" to "Promote." Then locate the major-league player you're demoting and change his status from "Majors" to "Demote." If you try to promote or demote a players who is over 27 years old, the system will remind you that he is out of options and must pass through waivers to move from the majors to the minors. (There's a more detailed discussion of options and waivers in the Intermediate Guide, but you don't need to read that for a Single-Season League.) After you have indicated whom to promote and demote, click the "Promote/Demote" button at the bottom of the screen. If the player you are promoting does not have any options left, the system will ask if you really want to promote him. Clicking yes to this prompt will not promote the player; you still have to click the "Promote/Demote" button again.
Minor Leagues
After the draft, you will have 25 players in your minor-league system. As minor leaguers, they will have the opportunity to improve during the season. Typically, younger players improve faster than older ones in the minor leagues. Go to Manager --> Minor Leagues. On this screen, you'll notice a number next to each player. This is that player's coaching points. We include a more detailed discussion of coaching points in the Intermediate Guide; for now, you shouldn't worry about it -- it's just not important in Single-Season Leagues. D. Setting your Lineup and Rotations After your draft you will find your default settings have the first nine players on your roster in the starting lineup. This will mean you've got catchers playing first base and first basemen playing second. You'll want to change this. On the green toolbar, go to Manager-->Set Lineups v RHP or click here. This will pull up your players with how well they perform against right handed pitchers. Set your lineup anyway you want. When you are done click on the Red Update Lineup at the bottom of the page. You have to have one player at each of the eight positions and one player at each of the eight spots in the lineup. If you've made a mistake and have (for example) two players batting sixth, you will get an error message. If you get an error message simply figure out which player is incorrectly indicated and correct it. Player not in the starting lineup need to say Bench on both the Postion and Order columns. You'll also need to set your lineup against lefties so go to Manager-->Set Lineups v LHP and repeat the process there. To set your pitching staff click on Manager-->Rotation and Bullpen. Your default will have your first SP drafted in the number one starter position and so forth with the first reliever drafted in the long reliever position. Make what adjustments you need to and be sure to hit the Update Pitchers bar at the bottom of the screen. You must have all ten roles filled to be update your pitchers.
Disabled Lists
As with MLB teams, sometimes your players will get injured. If you checked the box requesting email updates when you signed up you'll get an email each time one of your players is injured. You can also find out about injuries a couple of other ways. 1. They are listed at the bottom of the boxscore for the game in which the player got injured. 2. On the green menu bar click News-->Injuries. This will tell you all the players injured in your league. 3. On any of your team pages (lineup v RHP, depth chart, etc) your player will appear with a little Red Cross next to him. When a player is injured you can put him on the DL by clicking GM-->Disabled List. If you want to put the player on the DL click the box for Add to or Remove From DL. Note: If the player will be healed before 15 games is up you can still DL him but the system will give you a little prompt letting you know that he'll be healed first. Be sure to call up a reserve player either from the waiver wire or from your minor leagues. To recall someone from the minors, click GM-->Promote/Demote. Your major league players will be listed first with the minor leaguers at the bottom. Change the status of the player you want to promote from minors to promote and click the Promote/Demote bar at the bottom of the screen. If the player you are promoting does not have any options left the system will ask if you really want to promote him. Clicking yes to this prompt will not promote the player, you still have to click the promote/demote at the bottom of the page. When your player is ready to come off the DL you must first clear a roster spot by demoting one of your major league players, click GM-->Promote/Demote. Do this first! Its the same process used for promoting except this time you're changing the status from Majors to Demote. Then go to GM-->Disabled List and click the box to remove your player from the DL. Note. You can remove a player from the DL before his injury is healed but if you click the box twice you'll take him off the DL and put him right back on.
Manager Preferences
You can determine which strategies your team likes to use. On the green menu board, click on Manager-->Manager Preferences. There are two modes that you can use. Regular Mode and Advanced Mode. Advanced Mode will be discussed in the intermediate section but here we'll start with the Regular Mode. This should be the default when you first sign in. Click on the link for preferences to set how your team plays. Most of the options are self-explanatory. If you make changes be sure to click the Save Changes button on the bottom of the page.
Watching the Games
One of the most enjoyable parts of baseball is the opportunity to watch your team play. Because you can't watch the games in real time (they take about 1 second to run) you don't have to be online at the moment the game is playing. You have the opportunity to watch the games on your schedule. To watch your team's games, from your green menu bar go to Games-->Results. This will show you your most recent games If you click where it says "click here" the game will run for you in dynasty vision. You don't see every pitch, but rather the penultimate pitch of each at bat, so it doesn't take 3 hours to watch, more like 5-8 minutes depending on your connection speed.
Getting Help
The Sim Dynasty community is full of helpful people who would be more than willing to help you out with any questions or problems you might have. SD has its own message board forum which you can access by clicking on the message board link on your green menu board. There will be several options here. For common questions and answers that others like you may have had, click on the Questions and Answers link. Many of the most common questions are discussed in this board. If you can't find the answer you're looking for, feel free to post a new question by clicking on New Topic (be sure to put a Subject in the subject line or it won't post) and posting your question. There is also a quick link for you to Report Problems as well as links to the latest news and your own league's message board. Many short season message boards aren't overly active as it sometimes takes owners a while to discover the SD community out there. You can see what's going on all the message boards, however by clicking on Today's Posts. Feel free to take a look at what's going on in other leagues but as a courtesy the general rule of thumb is that owners don't post in leagues they are not members of.
When you're ready there are two more tutorials/rule books for more advanced users but try these out first and see how you do. Have fun! One of the most helpful boards is the Most common questions from new players board where some of the most common concerns are discussed.
