That means the age of decline has been increased (from the number to the left of the + column).

Bikex - Why is Contador on such a low wage?!! Do we really want to be able to renew GT winning riders at less than 1000?

*Searches frantically for someone to make us less crap*

Say, that Nairo someone doesn't look bad...

He almost retired, so he can't really make high demands to his team

What, GT winning rider? He didn't win a GT last season. He had a shit season, even missing Giro podium. Contrary to Froome and Nibali who are 1 & 2 in WT ranking and have won big time. I also used Mediator on him and he's old, so old.

Actually, I changed my mind. It is kinda very low compared to other top riders. Age shouldn't matter because you used a potion on him so he's not on decline age yet.

Furthermore, I still don't agree with the pass Bikex gave Contador regarding his retirement. I think everyone should get the option to prevent a rider from retiring, for example by paying him a higher wage (which would also solve The Rider's complaint).

Again, I used to mediator on him, previous wage was already below 1000 last season(!!), have high loyalty and he had a really shit seaosn (more than 1k points less than Froome and Nibali). That said I take it how it is and I was surprised at low wage too. Lucky me.


Well that's too bad for you, you should have said something when the issue was mentioned first and not complain a few weeks later

Also I tried to sneak a low wage past Chavenal due to his old age and decline but he also ended up on a much higher wage than he deserved (almost as much as De Gendt) so I don't really see how Contador can be so low given he hasn't even declined yet.

EDIT: Was Zabel'd and didn't see the mediator, etc. Nevermind

I went to quote my post, but apparently it didn't come through. Personaly I don't think any rider should be forced in retirement while he's not a FA.

I used 4 mediators on Froome and he still wouldn't accept less than 1490 - diva!

No regrets though, considering how last season went I think 1650 is a very fair price.

Mediator only does 5-15, which is irrelevant when used on star riders.

I don´t get why you are complaining about Contadors wage? If the wage of your riders demands are too high in comparison to his then just let them go to FA? There is just no point of complaining, especially if you look at who Shonak let go (most likely in terms of wages) in Stybar and JRod...I call that good managing by Shonak combined with some luck with demands, no need for offense against him or bikex in my opinion!

I don't think anyone is giving offence to either Shonak or Bikex? Both are respected members of this community and have been in several games before this one, so I think they can handle this feedback. If we can't point out potential inaccuracies in the system that need to be discussed, what's the whole point of having a discussion thread?

I don't understand. I think I used 7 mediator on Contador and I imagine it helped to some deal?

I have said before the transfer season that I thought the wages were too low and Bikex actually increased them he mentioned. maybe the separatation of budget & wage cap (like MG) could help in future seasons?

The reason why Contador is at 775 has multiple factors that I have mentioned. One more I'd like to add: Contador is fairly unloved (back in season 1 I was the only one to bid on him) and no steal attempts have ever been attempted on him. After all, I wouldn't either: He is too old, soon to decline and there have been "flashier" options on the market every year. It's basically the result of very low demand for Contador.

So I started out at very, very low wage (FA Market prices of other big riders: Nibs 1.950? Froome over 2k?). Even second-tier climbers like Bardet and Barguil go for higher sums than Contador initially went (1.200-1.400?). Why wouldn't it be fair that this low demand goes into the calcuations of the prices long-term?

Ah, I though you only used 1 mediator, my bad

I can see why Contador's price is so low, but I still think the difference is too big. If the age or the age of decline should have an impact on wages, I think the potion of youth you used should be included so the system doesn't treat him as a normal 35 year old. Other than that, your explanation was completely satisfactory!

I don't know bikex alrogithm but considering his excel magic skills I'm pretty sure he's got that covered this way. I agree that age should play a little factor and majority of wage should be determined by stats, success and demand. Other smaller influences probably are mediator bonus, loyalty and maybe even nationality?

Not sure if I commented on this before but here we go:

I totally agree that leader wages are way too low.
*insert argumentation which riders are too low and why this or that rider might (not) be underpaid*

How to solve this issue:

1) raise leader's demands more. This has been discussed a lot already and i think it would be best if we would slowly introduce this even more.

2) Lower min wages for domestiques. A basic decision every manager should have to make is whether to go for top stars or depth. Let's take Contador as an example. If you would want to replace him by 3 riders having the same wage (775) combined then you can not even get Jeremy Roy (73TT,71HI,70MO), Tim Declerc (74CB) and Baptiste Planckaert (74SP) as the min wages of the 3 is slightly higher.

I realize that the mediator came into play and stuff but still that's the point: The difference in min wage is way too low.
You can get a top 3 rider on every terrain for 1000 in renewals while an average CT domestique demands 1/3 of that. I know its unfair to compare with MG but there the superstars demand about 1M in renewals (depending on various factors) but the average CT domestique only 1/20 of that.
We don't need to go that far but we should at least go a bit closer to that

If we cut down the min wages for domestiques / everyone under 75 AVG then teams will have more money which could lead to more steal attempts and thus higher superstar wages in general. Or even if not it will work as a mechanic to counter increased leader wages due to excel formulas in the next seasons

@bikex , @knockout: I love it like it is. Otherwhise it would become impossible to own riders like Aru in CT.

In my opinion it's good that there is something like minumum wages. And I don't feel there should be a bigger difference between domnestiques and leaders. With this money everybody has the chance to pick the leader he wants, some decent domnestiques and 1-4 crap riders to fill the team. So if leaders wages will become higher I will have to make 1-2 domnestiques free agent and fill the spot with crap.

I think knockout have right, but one thing, if changes will be then only from next year or redo the renewals because i (and as i see some more) released dome strong domestiques because high(ish) wage....

I doubt anyone wants to change this for this FA period already. These changes have to be added before the first off-season task of a season which is the scouting process...

The wage differences have been an issue in the past, but are now working themselves out much better with leaders demanding (and receiving) much higher offers than their minimum wage and having their wages raised by steal attempts. Contador being on a lower price than the other guys is not an issue at all for me, that's the benefit of having someone on your team that nobody else was prepared to bid a large amount for.

Don't get me wrong, I think Shonak is very lucky but no-one deserves to be punished for that



Mini-rant below, please don't take offence...



Phew. That's enough from me for today...