Ultimate Standard Trainer Guide

Ultimate Standard Trainer Guide
By: mlthmp

The following guide is broken down into Eight parts ranging from terms and explanations to deciding on a home stadium. It is suggested that to get the full benefit of this guide read each segment in order, one through eight.

*
Part One
Terms and descriptions.

Before we get started, lets go over a few terms you will se mentioned multiple times throughout this guide.

“TP” Training Potential, also known as a player’s “pie” a player will only gain skill if he has TP. TP generates on a 48/24 hour basis. Position players will generate a full “pie” every 48 hours while those on the bench do so in just 24. To check a player’s TP click on him, and notice the pie under his feet. Once a player’s TP is used up, he is done training. You may still get several +.01 gains, however these do not count towards training.

Timeshift/Throttle, are programs that can be used to speed up your computers clock. Meaning you can train much faster than normal. These programs can also be used to speed up game play, but only on “your side” and do not speed up games on the Smallball servers. Meaning you can see a games outcome, before its actually finished. These programs don’t appear to harm your computer in anyway, however you still have to be careful while using them. Since they speed up your system’s clock you’ll actually have to reset the time on your computer after a few uses. Also, setting these programs too fast can cause your trainer to lose connection. When/if this happens simply close trainer and reset your TS or throttle to a lower speed and reopen the training field.

Free DT Fridays, are a very useful tool (and it is very generous of commish to allow us to use) Each Friday, all teams can use the Deluxe Trainer, just like teams that actually have the DT attached. This is very useful, as it’ll allow you to check your pitchers speed, allow you to get even better throwing/catching gains and allow you to run MUCH easier than is possible in the ST. It is recommended, that if you use the ST to not train at all on Thursdays, so your team can have a full pie on Fridays, but you may want to train your bench players anyway as they regain TP twice as fast!

FPS, FPS stands for Frames per Second, and is a term thats relative to the Deluxe Trainer. This term will be used when you reach the "Free DT Friday" segment of this guide.


**
Part Two
Skills, at a glance

Now that we have gone over some of the basic terms above, lets look at each skill and get an idea of what each skill reall is.

Running - How fast your players can run. Running is important because it effects both your team's offensive and defensive production.

Catching - How well your players can catch. Catching is one of the main skills in ST training.

Throwing - How hard or far your players can throw. Strong arms means fewer runs given up by your defense. A strong defense is crucial for a ST team.

Batting Contact - How well your players can make contact with pitches.

Batting Power - How hard or far your players can hit the ball once contact is made.

Batting Swing Skill - How well your players can aim the balls they hit, and also the ability to hit said ball further using less power.

Pitching - How well your players pitch.

***
Part Three
Starting a new team.

This guide is written to be followed as-if you're starting a new team. If this is not true, you can simply skip this segment and move on to part four. However if you are following this guide using a new team, it is suggested you read this before opening your new SmallBall Baseball team.

There are a few things to keep in mind when starting a new team, and the most important may be on what day to actually create your new team. Some people will say this doesn't matter, however I disagree. In my opinion you should always start new teams on Wednesday . Reason being, is when you create a new team for the first TWO days you are given a free DT trial. Using these two days on Wednesday and Thursday will allow you to then follow up with Free DT Friday on the 3rd day. Thus giving you three straight days of DT training for your new team. This can give you a vital jump start, and with a ST team you need ot take advantage of everything you can.

Another important fact to consider when starting a new team is overall team speed. My suggestion is to run EVERYONE using your first day of your DT trial. Be sure to turn "Save Report" on as this will save your skill gains to your desktop. Run everyone with FPS set to default. Altering your FPS at this stage may give you better gains due to the altered state, but for this you need to use the default setting to gauge overall speed. After you have finished training everyone in run, go to your save report and add up all the gains. If your totals are in the 480-500 range thats a good indication that team may have good overall team speed. If your team totals is below this range, its suggest to register a new team and try again using the same method above. Continue to repeat these steps until you have a team whose totals are in this range, 480-500. It is also suggested to post any teams that do not fall into this range in the OBF freebies area so other people can claim them and possibly train them. Once you have found your team, its time to move on to Part Four.


****
Part Four
Finding your pitcher, or pitchers.

Doing this right the first time will save you many headaches down the road. Taking the time to find your pitchers now means later on (say maybe in the PLs) you wont have to worry about doing it all over again if you suspect you have the wrong pitcher(s) Making sure you have the right pitcher isn’t always easy and may take awhile, but once you have found the best you’ll be on your way to a solid team.

There are several methods you can use to find your pitchers. However, I will give you the one I have found works best for Standard Trainer teams. Consider this segment a "Guide within a Guide" I will break this one down into five steps.

Step One: Assuming you're using the methods listed in the previous segment, then you should have one day of your DT trial left, and then Free DT Friday will roll around. Use these two remaining days of DT to pitch everyone on your team. On day three of this proccess (day four since you opened your new team) Train everyone again in pitching using the ST, making sure to not forget about your players in the batters box and behind the plate at the catcher position. It is suggested that you train your catcher second right after your first guy is done pitching, and then the first batter third. This way they both are able to get some pitching in before their TP has ran out. After this is finished you will have now trained in pitching for three straight days, two using free DT days and one using the normal ST.

Step Two: After those three days of training run everyone on your team for two straight days which will be days five and six of your new team overall (be sure to select pitch ball for just a second or two as the bench player that always starts in the batters box will be off the screen. Turning this on for a few seconds will cause him to walk back to the batters box on the field) Do not forget to run him as well. Run everyone for two days, as running does have some effect on your pitcher’s ability. Running may seem tedious to train in the ST, however making use of programs called macros can seriously help in this proccess. For more information on these programs you can skip ahead to the Running article under "Basic training"

Step Three: Pitch your entire team for two days in a row, making sure to not forget about your players in the batters box and behind the plate at the catcher position. It is suggested that you train your catcher second right after your first guy is done pitching, and then the first batter third. This way they both are able to get some pitching in before their TP has ran out. After this step is completed your team will now be eight days old.

Step Four: Train your entire team in throw for two days. At this point in your training the best way to do this is to simply select the Center fielder and turn “Field Balls” on. Train your entire team using this method for 2 days. The second should fall on the second Free DT Friday of your new team's "life" feel free to use this day to train using the DT's throwing area. After this step your team will now be ten days old.

Step Five: Train your entire team in pitching for one day. Once the entire team is finished, sort by “Pitch Skill” and your top two players should be your best possible pitchers. After this simply train these two in pitch to keep their skill where it should be. If you only want to train one pitcher go with the first listed. Here we are, your new team is just eleven days old and you have now found your pitcher, or pitchers.

Now I realize eleven days seems like a long time to spend only finding your pitchers, but look at it this way. Would you rather spend eleven days now at the start, or eleven days down the road.. maybe even after you’ve made it into the PLs? I promise you taking the time to do this right, and from the start will save you a major headache down the road! Besides, here is another way to look at it. Sure the bulk of these first days may have been spent on pitching, but you also got in some running some throwing and, catching too.. Which will make training the rest of your fielders a little easier as well..I promise you, this is a win-win situation!

It is also worth noting that once your pitcher or pitchers have been found, there is no further need to train the rest of your team in pitch. Pitch skill only factors into your pitcher’s overall star ratings. However, if your teams “starter” (original pitcher when the team was first created) doesn’t turn out to be one of your pitchers.. you’ll need to place him in a field position and close the trainer. This way he is officially reset as a position player and no longer listed as a pitcher. Once this has been done you can do with this player as you wish (bench him, etc as long as he has been set as a fielder at least once)

*****
Part Five
Basic Training

This segment of the guide will be broken down into six separate parts. One for each skill, including skill.

Training Mood

Mood training is often overlooked in the world of Smallball. However, I believe that for a brand new team a player’s mood has a huge impact on his ability to “learn” new skills for the first time. Your players are more human than you may have originally though. When they’re “happy”" they’re easier to train and its easier for them to gain skill than when they’re “upset”

OK STOP LAUGHING! I’m being serious here.. I truly believe that player’s mood is important to a brand new team. However, it is also the easiest thing to train in (and it also takes the longest) All you have to do is simply click on a player, and his mood will VERY slowly increase since he knows you’re “watching” him.. Thats it! Simply select him and let him sit there, and it takes awhile for his mood to increase. You can tell each player’s mood by the smiley face shown on the scoreboard when (s)he is selected. Use of Timeshift or SB throttle can make this process go much faster, and is highly recommended. It is also suggested that you work on everyone’s mood before any actual training begins. Possibly even your initial pitch training, since it may help your guys adapt to training which means they could possibly gain more skill while you’re training.

Once you have worked on mood for that first time its not really necessary to train in it again specifically as your player’s moods will increase during regular every day training as well. It is up to everyone to decide if they want to go through with this initial mood training or not, some people say it really doesn’t make a difference while others swear by it. Personally I believe it makes a difference and believe its well worth the extra time it takes. What does it hurt? Even if its just the slightest advantage when it comes to ST training.. you need to take advantage of all the tricks you possibly can.

Pitching:

This is without a doubt the easiest skill to train in the ST. Simply put the player you wish to train on the mound, and turn on “Pitch Balls” This will make the player on the mound use his TP by pitching to whoever is in the batter’s box. However, you need to be sure to train your catcher, and whoever is in the batter’s box ASAP so they’ll get some skill gains in whatever you wish to train them in. If you don’t they’ll burn all their TP in either catch (player at the catcher’s position) or in batting (player at the batter’s box) Once you’ve found your pitcher(s) you should only need to use this method for that/those player(s) Be sure to use Free DT Friday each week to make sure your pitcher(s) are maxed, or at least close to it in pitch skill. This will also allow you to know the speed your pitchers are hurling!

Running:

Running is just a downright nuisance. Of course the easiest way to get around having running in the ST is to use Free DT Fridays. However, using the proper techniques it can very easily be done in the ST. The best positions to run from in the ST to me would be the RF and LF spots. Place whoever you wish to train in these spots, click and drag them down past the batters box. Once released they’ll return to their positions on the field, and after just a few of these moves they’ll begin to burn their TP giving them good run gains. The use of Timeshift or Smallball Throttle can make this process go much faster. Also, the use of programs called “macros” can be a help with running. Using one of these programs its possible to do only one drag while the program is recording your mouse movements, and then let the macro do the rest. There are drawbacks to this however, as these programs usually aren’t very cheap or user friendly.

Throwing:

There are two easy methods you can use to gain throwing skills. The first, is to select the player in the CF position, and turn on the “Field Balls” option. Once you do this, the three outfield positions will play catch with each other. This will give the players in those three positions both throwing and catch gains.

To gain mostly throwing skill, select sort by throwing. Place the 1st and 2nd on the list at the 3rd base and Center field positions. Then simply put the player you wish to train into the Left field position, and turn on Field Balls. Using this method, the player in the LF position will usually end up being forced “off the screen” or very nearly so. He will play catch with the CF and 3rd base positions, and being forced further away, will have to throw harder to get the ball to the other positions. Giving you better throwing gains, and slightly less catch gains.

Throwing is another skill you can always use free DT Fridays for as well. Use of DT on Friday will of course give you total throwing gains (without any catch at all) So keep this in mind as well.

Catching:

There are several ways to train in catching using the ST. The easiest is to simply move whoever you want to train to the CF position, and turn on the “Field Ball” option. With this position selected, the three outfield positions will place catch. This method gives you both catching and throwing gains. However this method tends to give you more in the ways of throwing than catching so keep this in mind.

There is another method you can use that gives you only catch gains. Gains that nearly equal those you can see in the Deluxe Trainer. The easiest way to do this, is to select the third basemen and turn on “field Balls” for JUST a second and turn it right back off. If done correctly, he should have two balls thrown at him, catching one while the other sails by him. This is the correct setup for this training technique.

Now, simply hold and “drag” him JUST a little from his current position. He will then simply turn around, and pickup the ball from the ground. Doing this several times will give you very solid catch gains, and as long as you don’t drag him too far you’ll probably not see a single run gain using this method.

Also, the use of “macros” can be a help while training catching as well. Using one of these programs its possible to do only one drag while the program is recording your mouse movements, and then let the program do the rest. This can be a great help while training catch using this method, seeing how it takes more movement than running.

Overall Batting

In the Standard Trainer, there is only one way to train in batting, and thats by having your pitcher pitch to your guys in the batter’s box. However, be sure to keep an eye on your catcher’s TP. In the ST you’ll have to have your catcher working behind the plate, which means he’ll be getting catch gains, while your pitcher is gaining in pitch and the player at the plate is gaining in batting. Make sure once you’ve trained your first player in batting, to switch your catcher and train him next. That way he’ll be able to get some training in as well.

There is a known bug in the ST that makes training in power very hard, and sometimes impossible. Once you have a player thats maxed, or close to it in bat contact the ST will no longer give him any power gains at all.

There are 2 ways around this, you can either use a ticket (QT or a Batting Camp) for training in these areas, or you can use Free DT Fridays for this.

******
Part Six
Player positioning

"How should I set my positions", is a very common question in the Smallball world. positioning is very important in Smallball, and YES having the proper players in the correct position makes a difference. While there are many theories on the issue, below is the method I recommend using for ST teams.

Left Field: I believe this is the second most important position on the field behind Third Base due to the distance to throw to first or home. Use the second best available arm for this position (without moving players in the 3rd, CF or RF positions)

Center Field: To me, this is where you need your BEST speed to help manage the lefty advantage. In this position I suggest using your fastest player on the team.

Right Field: This is where your second fastest player should be positioned. Having great speed here as well as at the CF position will greatly help you reduce damage caused by the lefty advantage.

3rd Base: I believe this is the second most important position on the field due to the distance to throw to first or home. For this position I suggest using your best arm on the team, as long as doing so doesn't effect your players at CF or RF. If your best arm is already at one of these two position, move down to the next best arm.

Shortstop: This is where your third best arm should go, as having a good arm here will help in giving you more throw outs at home plate.

2nd Base: This position should receive your fourth best arm. Having a decent arm here will help produce more throw outs at first base.

1st Base: Whoever is left thats bad in fielding, and good in batting

Catcher: Same as 1st base. These two positions for most people become their true power spots. For these positions in SmallBall, neither running or throwing comes into play, so use these two positions (1st and C) to get your best offensive batters on the field, and into your lineup!

*******
Part Seven
Stadium Breakdowns

Another common question in the world of Smallball is “Which stadium is the best?” This is a question that cannot always be answered by a training guide or manual due to the simple fact that each team is different. No two teams play exactly the same way, which means you have to study your team to really be able to answer this question. There is a difference in the way ST and DT teams seem to play, and I have actually done some research into this issue. I have come up with the following chart of stadiums, and which type of team may do well in them. Again, there is no real way to prove this, in the end you have to use trial and error. However, this chart may help you in making your decision of which stadium is best for your team. Also, please note that I am only going to post about the basic stadiums you can buy in the Smallball mall and Intel field, and not the “rare” parks.

Intel Field - Intel is the free field that comes with all Smallball teams. You can consider it an “average” field. If you have an all around well rounded team Intel may be a good park for you to sick with. A decent offense can produce runs in this park, and the field itself isn’t as “deep” as some of the other parks. This may also be a good fall back if your team doesn’t seem to play well in any of the other stadiums.

Homerun Park - Homerun is a great ST park. The field is shallow which means an average defense can usually do well here. However, with the park having the setup it does.. defense other than pitching wont play too much of a role in this field. It doesn’t take alot of power to send one out of this place. Which may make it very ST friendly for some weaker teams. Just make sure you keep your pitcher up to speed or it can get ugly in Homerun real quick.

Centennial Park - Awesome park for ST teams that are mainly righty (meaning 10-11 rightys) a weak righty may be able to send one over the wall in cent easier than any other park with the exception of possibly Homerun. If you have a “below average” defensive team with a decent offense Cent may be a nice park for you. Be warned however, leftys usually don’t do very well here. If you like to try and keep multiple leftys in your lineup.. don’t expect much from them in this park

World Park - If you have an average defense with an *OK* offense.. you may do well in World Park. The playing field seems to be larger than Intel and cent (and Homerun by far) so don’t expect to see a lot of homers here unless you have an above average offense. Your fielders have to be quick here, and have decent throwing skill to make the semi-long throws needed for throwing runners out. If you have a good contact hitting team world may be a nice fit for you. May want to give it a try.

Field of Dreams - To me, this is about the same as playing in World Park. You shouldn’t expect to see many homers here unless you have enough power and good bat skill. The field is just large enough be be a problem for a below-average defense. So make sure your fielders are quick enough to run down a slow roller and have enough passing power to blast it when needed.

Letterbox Park - Smallball’s strangest field. Homeruns seem to come a little easier here than in World and FOD, so if you have an average to above-average offense this park may work for you. However, not many people use this field. If you can do well here go for it.. Also it cannot be bought by itself any longer in the Smallball Mall. It can only be bought as part of the “Stadium Pack”

The BrickYard - This park is just downright not friendly for most ST teams. Most ST teams are mainly righty, and the brickyard is known as a “lefty” park. Its nearly impossible for a righty to homer in Brickyard. Also, your fielders have to have decent speed and throwing here or a game can get ugly pretty quick.

Monster park - The only way I would suggest using Monster for a ST team is if you have one of the better offensive teams in the game. Homers are hard as nails to get out of Monster, and the ST “power bug” comes into play when considering this. However, if you have ok power and good contact skills.. you might could do alright in monster. You’ll have to ride your team’s contact skills most of the way however, and your defense has to be very fast and have great arms.

Ocean Park - This may be the park for you (upon availability) if you have a high power team. Homeruns seem to sail out of this park by both lefty and righty batters. If your team is heavy on offense and slightly lighter on the defensive side of the ball, give Ocean a try.

Alice's Park - An exact mirror of Brickayrd, and equally as unfriendly to Standard Trainer teams. As with Brickyard, your fielders have to have decent speed and throwing here or a game can get ugly pretty quick. On the offensive side of the ball, contact and skill are the keys to scoring run in this park. Batting skill itself is very hard to train in the ST. As I said, this is a rather unfriendly park for ST teams.

Jurassic Park - This park is still a mystery. Great arms are needed on the defensive side of the ball, as many times balls are bounced off the higher parts of the walls and back into play. Speed is required as well, but defensively speaking throwing is VITAL in this park. On the offensive side of the ball contact and skill are the keys to surviving in this park. If you're a ST team try and stay away from this one, as batting skill is very difficult to train for in the ST.

********
Part Eight
Free DT Friday

Finally, the last part our our journey explores Free DT Friday. By this time you're already well acquainted with Free DT Fridays. It is suggested to use this time to change your field positions when needed, so schedule ahead to reinspect your positions every Friday. Doing this in the ST is possible, but very time consuming and annoying. Also, when Free DT Friday rolls around depending on which skill you're training consider trying using the FPS (Frames per Second) methods of training, as doing so may help give you better gains. As said many times in this guide, when training a ST team you need to take advantage of anything you can along the way, and FPS is no different.

As far as Free DT Fridays go, some people prefer not to train on Thursdays so they can have full pies for the DT on Friday. However, if you do not wish to do this here is a tip. Train as early as possible Friday morning (2,3 or 4 am, etc) and every 3 to 4 hours open your trainer and switch your bench players. Doing so will allow everyone on your team to gain extra TP (do not train at this time) Late Friday night, go back into DT and train again. Doing this will give you two trainings for Free DT Friday, and when you factor in the bench swaps your players will have more pie to use.

What should you use your free DT time to train in? Well, that depends on you and on your team. Most people will say running, and yes thats a good idea. However you can also use Free DT Fridiay to train in throwing if your team have weak arms. One way to gauge this is to test your 2nd basemen in the throwing range. If he is below 150 feet, you may want to consider using the DT for throwing. If your team is being effected by the ST-Power Bug you may want to use this time to train in power, as you cannot gain further power skill using the ST. So in closing, this question can only be answered by you, assuming you know your team well enough. That is the one most important key to SmallBall, knowing your team.

[Superdude]

I liked the Pitcher guide you gave so much that I actually used it in the DT. :P I finished the 10 days, but Ive decided to max everyone anyway, just in case.

[XegoX]

I Love This Tut.

The Positioning Part Helped my team Up 1 Star.

LineUp Help Mightve been nice?

[redbirds33]

Originally Posted by XegoX

LineUp Help Mightve been nice?

The lineup is whatever you like to do. I think a lot of people come to play a baseball trainer game already knowing how they like to set a lineup.

Spots 1-3 should be fast and hit for contact.
Spot 3 should be your best, most reliable hitter.
Spots 3-5 should have good power.
The rest (well, all of it) is really up to you, the manager.

[*THE*MANNY]

Originally Posted by redbirds33

The lineup is whatever you like to do. I think a lot of people come to play a baseball trainer game already knowing how they like to set a lineup.

Spots 1-3 should be fast and hit for contact.
Spot 3 should be your best, most reliable hitter.
Spots 3-5 should have good power.
The rest (well, all of it) is really up to you, the manager.

Don't forget that this is SB, so sometimes people will sort terribly on the lists, but kick butt in the games. I have one player who will not hold ANYTHING but run. He is last in swing skill, last in contact, last in power, last in throwing, almost last in catching. I don't take him out of the line-up because he is hitting over 390 or something. No HRs, just lots of singles, doubles, and a triple here and there. For me he bats sixth, so if the five hitter knocks in a run or gets a double, etc., hopefully he can bring them home.

[xhellionx]

dumb question but...

how do you offset the bench players? what i mean is...if you follow your guide and train EVERYONE everyday, your bench players are gonna be at the top of the list every time since they regen TP faster right? how do you figure out who the top pitcher is if those "B" players are at the top automatically? you can't tell if an actual "B" player is the legit #1 or if it's skewed. HELP!?

dumb question maybe but enlighten me if you will...

[epiphanic]

If your bench players are better than your starters and are still on the bench, you need to rethink your managing strategy.

[xhellionx]

Originally Posted by epiphanic

If your bench players are better than your starters and are still on the bench, you need to rethink your managing strategy.

i understand that. what am saying is, if the bench players get 24hr recovery time vs 48, they have more time to train...thus better stats. so do you just rotate ALL your players in and out of the "B" position so they all get extra training???

[Gunnen]

i train my team as a whole and then position everyone accordingly, players don't stay in the same spot for me i am constantly interchanging players. For the pitching i trained them all at the same time and whoever finished last in pitching that session would be moved to bench so they can "catch" up. Hope that helped.

[GodofAcid]

I agree with Gunnen. Take the 3 players that are the worst in pitching, bench them. You want to give the slow ones a leg up so it doesn't take longer than it needs to. It should be obvious pretty early on who the slowest are. They're probably NOT your pitchers but if you want to be absolutely sure, go this route. So, you train them every day and when your quick learners hit their max, use the remaining pie on something else, hitting would be a good choice if you're worried that run/throw will skew their sort position (not sure if this is proven to happen or not). Then it's just the long process of getting everyone to max pitch, holding them all there for 3 training sessions (or more if it's inconclusive), and you've found out what you wanted to know.

Also some suggestions, once your sort list is complete, save it so you know. Try everyone out in big league games. There has been alot of discussion that just because a player sorts well doesn't mean he's your best option. If a guy pitches outstanding over a long period of time then he's just a good pitcher. Have several pitchers (at least 2, I don't like more than 3 but that's me personally). If a guy you thought was a good pitcher struggles frequently in the PLs you can always scrap him, and if you don't have at least 2 other pitchers, go back to your sort list, pick the next best guy, bring his pitching up and go with him. Any other skills can be fixed relatively easy, but pitching will set you back if you have to fix it in the middle of the PLs, so try to get it the best you can early on.

I can tell you that I used my 2 best sorting pitchers and they've done a pretty good job so far. However, if there was another player who would give me even better results then you bet I'd wish I had taken the time to find that out. I thought it was a cut and dry thing, best sort = best pitcher and that was the end of it.