| How to Play SmallBall Baseball | |
| Part 2: Training Potential and Skills | |
|
||
|
||
|
||
>> Page 1, 2
Training Potential
There is a limited amount of progress your players can make each day, which
is referred to as their Training Potential, or TP. Each player has a little
pie chart under their feet that represents the amount of TP they have. When
the circle is white they are at full potential, when it is clear they can
make no further progress until the training session is ended and TP is given
time to replenish. Active players acquire a full pie of TP every 48 hours,
while benched players will replenish completely every 24 hours. Depending
on which skills you are focusing on, you will find that your TP can easily
be used up in less than an hour of training. This makes it important to get
your players on the field every day or two to make the most of their allotment
of TP. Skills will deteriorate if players go without training for lengthy
periods of time.
If you are unable to train your team for a week or two, there are a couple
of options that will help avoid a serious setback. One is to sign up an assistant
trainer who can take care of the team while you're not around. The other
option is to use the Passive Training mode in the "Training" menu. This allows
your team to improve their skills while they are in games as long as they
have training potential available. It certainly isn't as effective as training
your team personally, but if you have a steady number of challengers, it
will keep your team from rotting excessively while you're on a holiday.
3/4 of a TP Pie
Improving Skills
When you enter training you find a player pitching, a player batting, a player
catching, and various players throwing balls around. By clicking and dragging
players you can change their position in the practice session. If you want
a player to work on their pitching, for example, you drag them onto the mound.
To get them to practice to batting, place them in line next to the current
batter. To practice running, drag a player away from their position on the
field, forcing them to run back to it. Double clicking a player selects them,
which does several things.
- It displays their name, game statistics, skill icons, and mood icon on the scoreboard.
- The Training Potential pie appears underneath their feet, so you can see how much TP the player has left.
- If the player is not pitching, batting, or catching, selecting them will force other players to throw the ball to them, improving their throwing and catching skills.
- Selected players like the attention, so their mood improves.
Ranking players by skill is a good way to find out who will be most effective in the various field positions. This can be done using the menu or by clicking on the appropriate skill icon. Remember that pitching and throwing are different skills, and that some players seem inherently better at some things than others.
Playing Other Teams
Once you've done some training you will naturally want to get your team into
a game. There are three types of game in SmallBall. Exhibition games are
like practice games that don't count toward your final standing. Public games
are played in the Big League, which contains all the teams in SmallBall.
These games are recorded and determine your standing in the Big League. The
Pro League is for Big League teams that qualify. Pro League games are scheduled
at the start of each season, which typically lasts two weeks.
Smallball Screenshot
When you click on "Exhibition Game" or "Public Game," a window comes up
that lets you enter the Team Name, Team Letters, and Owner ID number of the
team you want to play. To search for a team that is roughly at your level,
the "Find Opponents" button will bring up a Web page of teams with the same
star rating as yours. Once they have started, games are played to completion
even if you choose not to watch them or turn off your computer. You can watch
a game after it has been played by pressing the "Review Game" button. While
reviewing games you get some handy VCR controls which really speed things up that aren't available in
a live game. Your team will only play one game at a time, but there are no
other restrictions on the number of games you can play.
Another great thing about SmallBall is that it automatically generates a Web page that summarizes your team's statistics and their standing in the league. You can get to that page by selecting "My Team" under the "SmallBall.com" menu.
If you need more help you will find it in the SmallBall Help section. See you in the Big League!
Previous page > Getting Started > Page 1, 2
