Hi

Im a long time lurker who loves this game,keeps me sane while im off shore.

iv down loaded your great horses and use them in a separate game from my own...i dont quite get horses as good as the shared ones but i try

My real question is do u find that esp the Derby is easier in So5 than So4? I seem to win the Derby every 2 seasons or so and the Oaks most years but then the horse grows a 5 leg and never stays 1m4f again or win a grp1.Every one of them seems to need to drop back as far as 1m.....but struggle to win a grp2 and end up in BB...but am i breeding dodgy traits in to there offspring? im loathed to sell them as most of the horses i sell seem to come back and bite me....but that is prob more realstic as not all horses work well for every trainer.

I had a horse that won 105 rated handicap over 1m4f but had nothing else that looked like staying that far so banged him into the Derby which he won could it be the dreaded prep race thing that iv read about?


going to start a new game with PJs schudlue and hemminyways kids and see how i get on...mind you i got hemmingway beat...so im not that good

was going to post the handiacap to derby horse but looks like iv killed the horse as no longer in game

The Derby (and in fact most 3yo only Group races) is very easy to win. Epsom does suit 1m3f horses in the main due to the downhill finish but it does mean that milers can win it in poor years.

Its when they compete against their elders later in the season that the real level of ability becomes apparent.

The prep races will only go out of synch if you've made amendments using the schedule editor, as there is still a fault with it. Otherwise, the Derby in the game is fully prepped to include the best middle distance 3yo colts in the game at the time, so the issue is more likely to be that there isn't enough strength in each individual age category, which would explain why all of the 3yo-only races are easier to win that the open-aged races. I don't think there is a way around this, other than for Mark to further increase the quality of game-controlled horses. Generally speaking, the more races you have in a schedule, the easier the game will be, as the game won't adjust to having more races by adding more quality; there will always be the same number of horses, and they will always be of the same average quality, so adding extra races usually just makes races easier to win, as the quality will be more spread out. I've done a lot of testing with this over the last few versions of the game, including this one, and it's always the same case. If you want a more difficult game, you would need fewer races, with all the major races prepped to the max to include the very best horses in the game at the time.

Panther is the default schedule prepped to the max for the best horses to enter the major races?

No, that's why I'm saying the only way to make the game more difficult overall would be to have fewer races with all the major races heavily prepped to ensure that they all had the best runners. It's not realistic though, as you simply wouldn't ever get all of the best horses available in each race in real life. In the default schedule the only races that are heavily prepped are the classics, as otherwise they would be even weaker than they are.

The default schedule was designed to be just that: a basic, default schedule (with all the UK races and the most important of the overseas races) that people could customise to their own preferences, although this will be much easier for people to do when the schedule editor is working. I don't play with the default schedule, as I'm currently trying to create my own ultimate worldwide schedule where seasons in the main overseas countries take place concurrently with the UK season, flowing in a realistic way, while making good use of preps to maintain as high a level of difficulty as possible. I've been in touch with Mark, and I'm hoping he can look into a few issues which will make this a lot more effective once he's got the game's main bugs dealt with.

panther,

How many races do you think is the right number for competitive races? Or more closer to the point, how many do you think is too many?

Thanks panther.