Strat-O-Matic is granting numerous wishes from its basketball-playing gamers with the forthcoming release of Strat-O-Matic Pro Basketball 2016.

 

Capitalizing on the popularity of game stories that accompany each box score in Strat-O-Matic Baseball and Football, the company is offering game stories for basketball, too.

 

“The typical Game Story recaps the story of the game in a paragraph which might mention such things as the basic flow of the game, when game winning shots are scored late in the game, big performances by individuals such as triple-doubles and high scoring games, team won-loss records after the game, etc.,” the Help File promises.

 

You want to know whether your fast break is helping your team or hurting it? Of course you do – and now you’ll know for sure with a statistics breakout that shows fastbreak baskets attempted and made.

 

Gamers wanted to be able to create/import more court images and now they can – up to 10,000 of them (the limit had been 256). That should cover the ever-changing floors for each NBA and ABA season.

 

Beyond these showy features, Version 2016 is high on increased functionality.

 

For instance, the authorization system has been improved to remember your authorization codes whenever you transfer them to or from the server. The Online Draft logic for drafting players when an owner is not present also has been improved. 

 

And Quickplay has become more flexible – when your specified Quickplay is done, you will have the opportunity to update your preferences instead of waiting for a break in the action.

 

“This can be very convenient because there may be times where you wish to change settings before the game continues,” the Help File encourages. “As an example, say that you are playing with the computer manager set to `Human only shots’ and you are using the `Allow more control in the last 2 minutes’ rule, and you decide to Quickplay until 2 minutes are left in the game.  As soon as Quickplay ends you may wish to update your computer manager to be set to "Human" to allow you more control in those last 2 minutes.”

 

Here is the complete list of features for Version 2016:

 

 

 What’s new in Version 2016

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1) Game Stories – This optional feature adds a game story to the end of each boxscore.  The game story is a quick summary of the major events for that game.  One of the best feelings in the world is reading about your favorite team’s victory.  Now you can experience that same feeling with our Game Stories feature!  The typical Game Story recaps the story of the game in a paragraph which might mention such things as the basic flow of the game, when game winning shots are scored late in the game, big performances by individuals such as triple-doubles and high scoring games, team won-loss records after the game, etc.

 

2) Fastbreak Stats – Fastbreak baskets made and attempted are now included on the following reports (both for the main game reports and the batch reports as well) – Team Stats, Team Stats – Per 48 Minutes, Team Stats – Per Game, Team Stats -Prorated, League Team Totals, League Team Totals – Per Game, League Team Totals – Per 48.

 

3) Authorization System – The Authorization System has been improved.  It now remembers your authorization codes whenever you transfer them to or from the server.  Note that existing codes which have unlocked seasons on your system will not be stored in memory until you first transfer them back to the server.  Also, you should still maintain a manual backup copy of your authorization codes because if your hard drive fails the memorized codes will be lost.

 

4) Quickplay – When Quickplay is done and reverts to the game screen for manual play it will now allow you to update your preferences before proceeding.  This can be very convenient because there may be times where you wish to change settings before the game continues.  As an example, say that you are playing with the computer manager set to "Human only shots" and you are using the "Allow more control in the last 2 minutes" rule, and you decide to quickplay until 2 minutes are left in the game.  As soon as quickplay ends you may wish to update your computer manager to be set to "Human" to allow you more control in those last 2 minutes.  In previous versions you had to wait until a break in the action to accomplish that.  Now you can do that before play proceeds.

 

5) Encyclopedia – The Single Season and Career Player Leader reports have been reformatted for a nicer presentation.

 

6) Support for more Court Images – Many of our customers enjoy creating and using their own court images.  As per their requests we have added support for more court images.  The number of supported court images has increased from 256 to 10,000.

 

7) Online Draft – The Online Draft logic for drafting players when an owner is not present has been improved.

 

8) Team Notebook – The team’s court image is now shown on the Normal tab of Card Image if you own that option.  This is the default tab that displays when a team’s notebook is displayed.

 

9) Help File – If you are unable to read the older help file format we are including a "New Help File" which can be accessed via "Start / Programs / Strat-O-Matic".  It is not accessible directly from the game, though.  Even if you are on Windows 10 you should be able to open the new help file.

 

10) Transaction Files – Thanks to gamer Karl Coleman new transaction files have been added for the following seasons:   

•  2015-16 NBA 

•  1963-64 NBA 

•  1964-65 NBA

 

11) New Seasons – Support for the 2015-16 NBA, 1963-64 NBA, and 1964-65 NBA seasons have been added to the program.

 

 

1) Crash using Detailed Shot Grid – An Invalid Floating Point crash that occurred only when using the Detailed Shot Grid with certain extra players was fixed.  

 

2) Bonus Light – When using the Improved Game Screen the bonus light was getting lit for the team who was over the foul limit.  However, it should be lit for the team who is shooting free throws due to their opponents being over the foul limit.  This has been fixed.  Note: There is no equivalent when using the old interface as that did not have a bonus light on the scoreboard.  When using the old interface the team that goes over the foul limit will continue to have "P" displayed in the total fouls section.

 

 

Note: These data fixes cannot be used for seasons already in-progress.  You must reinstall a fresh copy of these rosters in order to see these changes.

 

•  Matt Guokas, KC – Corrected spelling of last name.