I agree with Paul23, it's not realistic in any way.

I guess you guys are right. Ollfardh did say he wants to keep this guys as realistic as possible so it makes sense not wanting females or extraterristrial creatures.

Didn't you guys read the back-story of this young promising talent? I say it's absolutely realistic! I think in reality it won't take more than 1,500,000,000 globeks until we have aliens riding in the professional peloton.
Is it because you are racists? I get it you guys don't like Gelatinous people, do you?

Does Gelatinous imply that his whole race is made out of Gelatin? Cause in that case someone will eat him.

Actually, the stats have everything to do with realism. If you don't think so, maybe have a look in the PCM Stat Discussion thread where they split their heads over who's and what's closer to reality than the other. Seeing then, riders with some strangely obscure stat matrix or some others with their background get accepted, at the beginning right to recent days, adds nothing to the desired realism either.

Krista can be very well explained as a PR measure and a way to raise awarness. She wants to make it in a man's world. It's also a great feminist opportunity, racing the same events and such. For UCI, why shouldn't cycling want to increase its own popularity by getting some great headlines out there. Chicks do ride bikes and they race, but it's still largely men who watch and men's support. Too less females watch cycling. Krista could be a way to get "the other half" of the planet's population into cycling, whilst also promoting women cycling through her a bit.
There has also been talk about Vos doing men's races in the past, Krista is the one daring enough to do it.

But of course, it's Ollfardh's call and if he doesn't want to let it get too much out of hands, I understand him.

I don't understand Ollfardh, and some others of you, who have this irrational need to conform so much to real life when we are taking part in a story game.
Or maybe you derive pleasure from sticking to your concept of realism, even though your understanding of realism is shoddy at best in relation to this game?


Well at the end of the day it is unlikely EPIC will make it a whole lot further, so why not add some different characters to liven things up?

No need to castrate yourself Ollfardh.


- Anyhow, I think most of the active EPIC teams have signed all of their EPIC riders anyway, so the Alien might not ......

As one that goes in for Realism, when it comes to cycling and it's usage, I would like to say that this will kinda ruin the basic concept, that we build new teams that fits our dreams. And to include an Alien into something that involves the lust to feel like a real Manager or rider just doesn't fit right.

As for the whole Krista Marcus discussion, there is a reason why both genders doesn't compete against each other irl, as men are just better at sports and is physical superior to women.

Not saying that the idea is bad, it is just never gonna happen and that it is fine to include in EPIC =)

Don't get involved... don't get involved.... don't get involved... ffff****cccckkk



I want to adress this first. This is possibly the least useful, or relevant comment, i've seen in EPIC at all. If you don't think a game is going to last longer you do one of two things. 1) You get involved yourself to help ensure the future of the project, something i am thinking about, or 2) You roll back your investment quietly and let it run its course.
You don't say things like this, as it is detrimental to the motivations of those who do run the game and try and keep it going. The only worse thing would be for someone to start up another idea of similar interest.
If you are going to be critical, be constructive. Offer ideas on how to keep it going. Otherwise f*ck off because you will not be wanted around.



And what if peoples pleasure is derived from the realism? Clearly the odds of any of us being real life cyclists or managers is minute to none. So this is a fun way to get some of that pleasure, hell it's why video games exist!
I understand this varies, as shown by the different ways people approach stats and the role playing, but fundamentaly it's based upon real world scenarios and outcomes. An Alien does not.
This is not different to the Man-Game in that sense, and i bet if something this left-field happened over there the response would be instant and negative against the concept. The Man-Game is also a story game as much as EPIC, or the ICL etc is/are


I have to say surely it's too late to comment upon Krista. I made her over a month ago, and there was zero comment about the realism/possiblilty/whatever of having a female in the game. The only commment was "Is that allowed" by cycleman, to which Oldfarts response was "...All others are good." She even signed a contract with Bardini which was confirmed with zero problems. And as i've said before the difference between a female and an alien is just out of this world, pun intended.
Now for Alien's case it's very different. Instantly we have problems and complaints, even from Oldfart himself. So clearly there is a discussion to be had. This discussion has a precedent to go from, the case of Mysterion. If we wouldn't allow Mysterion we cannot allow Alien.

And i'm starting to get slighty too annoyed in a debate i was gonna try and avoid...

Bardini or Androni?

Creepy old Italian men are all the same

Well, I heard some good arguments for both sides, thanks for keeping it (mostly) civilised.

Regarding the female, I was not immediatly convinced, but to avoid TMM bitching, I decided not to address the issue at that time. After all, changing Krista to kris and a simple background story change would be all that's needed to fix the problem. Over time, I guess it slipped my mind until yesterday.

Now with an alien, I immediatly felt "no". Granted, it was a great background story and it was worked out extremely well. But it was still a no. Pretty much the same feeling I had about Shonak's original rider. To keep things fair, I should reject this rider as well

But of course this brought us back to female riders, and even riders with crazy stats. As we have precedents for 2 of those cases, the verdicts for them are simple.

Shilzicor Creolnilkua gets rejected. Sorry, but he's definitely not what I want this game to be about. There's plenty of opportunities to be funny with a more realistic and (most importantly) human rider, like Ahmed Al-Mohney.

New guys with crazy stats, we had those before. I allowed them before, I'll allow them now. History shows neglecting stats results in failure, so there. That's 2 our of 3 settled.

That leaves us with the problem of Krista Markus. As I said above, a lot of good arguments were given pro and contra, but most of all in this case. Both sides also point out the realism (which I obviously care about) of letting her ride / not letting her ride.

My prefered solution would be to allow Krista in the peloton, but as she is a woman, she can't be as strong as her male counterparts. Now I'm pretty sure I would have both TMM and every feminist against me for reducing her stats, but yeah, I've been there before.

So my proposal is to take 3 points from Krista, lowering her Flat, Recovery and Stamina to 69. As she's already one of the more balanced riders, I think 3 points are enough. The stat reduction will also ensure it will keep Krista unique. I want to applaud your creativity for introducing a female rider, comnig up with a good background story and motivation why she should be in the game, but I don't want half of the new riders to be female as that would pretty much ruin it.

Other options are rename Krista to Kris or a plot twist discovering Ylvo Chelyakov isn't dead after all.

Let me know what you think.

I'm ok with your dropping her stats, she'll get enough written updates to hit 80 inside a season anyway

I am, now, okay with your decision Ollfardh and understand you reasoning. I was just a bit frustrated after writing the long intro.

Also sorry for saying EPIC won't last long, I, of course hope it lasts well into the future, but I say stupid things at times.

Everyone happy then?

That counts for real riders...if my rider has 80 hill and 80 sprint, and just 55 in everything else, he is just a guy, who is riding hills very well, but he is not good on the flats, in mountains and he hasn't a good endurance...There is nothing unrealistic about that.

great :/

It would be a better way, to just set another maximum for her stats...like f.e. 75

But your game, your decisions.

I don't care what riders are in the game, I just came here to say thank you for calling my rider funny.

Bring on more racing!

Some of the anger of #969 was more than justified. But I would like to ask TMM this:

Why do you respond to my, admittedly, out of hand post when you could have commented more often, but didn't, on any number of times to say well done when I did a race report/preview/review?

- I have helped out big time in EPIC with 20+ stages of reporting (if all goes well 40+ next season, as I wouldn't mind doing a GT (maybe 2)).

To only comment when someone (me) is angry and not when someone is trying to make some good reports says a lot about a person you know .......

Then again I don't need to justify myself, especially to one with a prostitute for an avatar......


Paul23 - I wouldn't mind riders like that, it makes it more unpredictable.

Riders like what?

For the same reason i barely ever comment on stories despite reading 90% of them. I'm not a fan of the "i like this" "+1" "it's good" etc type of post. If i'm going to comment on the quality of a report i will make it a full comment, which will only happen if the report is either bad enough to need help, or good enough to be really noteworthy.
I make a lot more comments when the general running of the game is being discussed, becuase it's much easier to make a comment that is constructive and because i usually have an opinion on the discussion.
As manager of FDJ i don't usually even have a comment on the racing because the team apparently sucks



Have a cookie and a gold star Next season (or sooner depending on pace of the game) i will join the reporter ranks now that i have a laptop that can actually do 3D mode.



Sorry that i've helped advise Oldfart when he was starting out. Sorry i did some basic reports. Sorry i run an active team and 2 active riders. Sorry i'm not doing enough for the Story Game sub-forum. Sorry i pushed for a separete sub-forum. Sorry i actively participate in every game. Sorry i try and advertise the section as much as possible via things like the Weekly News. Sorry i'm trying to improve the sub-forum through my position as an Admin.



Now i wouldn't hesitate to think this was a light hearted ending.... if not for the extended elipsis on the end.