Decided to put aside my Bahrain career, which was nice for learning the game, but it's a team with a lot of old riders and not too much potential for the future. Switched to Lotto-Jumbo, spent a lot of time planning again and so far there no bugs with fatigue (keeping my fingers crossed and weekly saves at hand for that one). It's a strong team for the grand tours (Roglic, Kruijswijk) and the sprints, but I'll need to strengthen it for the classics. Put Mathieu van der Poel into the database and hope to recruit him to fill the gap.
Kicked off the season in the Tour Down Under with a massive surprise. Battaglin was in excellent shape and won the Stirling stage, surprising the peloton with a late attack. In the Uraidla stage, Matthews anticipated his move, but he outpowered the Australian uphill and kept a small gap in the last kilometers. Willunga was still tricky though with strong attacks by guys like Valverde (1st) and Martin (2nd), but Battaglin finished strongly in 5th position, keeping a small gap in the GC. The final stage, won by Bennett taking his second sprint victory (Cavendish won the other one), was no problem and Battaglin won the Tour Down Under! I couldn't wish for a better start of the season with a massive surprise like that.
1 Enrico Battaglin Team LottoNL - Jumbo 19h05'44
2 Daniel Martin UAE Team Emirates + 8
3 Alejandro Valverde Movistar Team + 10
4 Michael Matthews Team Sunweb + 14
5 Enrico Gasparotto Bahrain - Merida + 20
6 Rohan Dennis BMC Racing Team s.t.
7 Wout Poels Team Sky s.t.
8 Tim Wellens Lotto Soudal s.t.
9 Bob Jungels Quick-Step Floors s.t.
10 Dylan Teuns BMC Racing Team s.t.
Spring season with Lotto-Jumbo is done. It had its ups and downs, tactical mistakes, lucky moments and a lot of crashes, but I think we did well enough after winning the Tour Down Under. Sacrificed Paris-Nice and Catalunya to have strong support for Roglic and a fresh Giro squad, so no result was expected (and achieved) there. In Tirreno-Adriatico, Roglic won a hilly stage and then I was lazy... simulated the mountain stage, where he got 19th (in good shape), which is ridiculous, but still managed to finish 4th in the GC, just like he did in Strade Bianche. Simulation of stage races seems to severely disadvantage my riders, also noticed this with other teams. Did Pais Vasco fully without simulation and won it with Roglic, who rode attentively in the hills and grabbed the leader's jersey in the time trial.
The cobbled classics were very hard. Sponsor finds them super important, but with Boom to lead the team, this is a sick joke. Failed to deliver in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (18th), but got some decent sprint results with Groenewegen in Kuurne (3rd) and Gent-Wevelgem (4th). Boom got 10th in E3, 9th in Dwars door Vlaanderen, 8th in Ronde van Vlaanderen and 11th in Paris-Roubaix, so I'm hoping for a stronger leader next year. Didn't feel like doing Milano-Sanremo, so simulated it and Groenewegen won
After the cobbled classics, it was time for the Ardennes. These races are also very important for the sponsor, but without a specialist, I dreaded them. In the end, it went quite well with Gesink 6th in Amstel Gold, Roglic 5th in Fleche Wallonne and again Roglic 3rd in Liege after a strong ride. Kwiatkowski and Alaphilippe were just a little bit stronger, but that is obviously acceptable.
Now we are heading to the grand tours with Kruijswijk/Bennett in Giro/Vuelta and Roglic/Groenewegen to lead the Tour de France team. Results should be good there.
Looking at the result matrix below, it's easy to see that Sky really crushed the competition and Kwiatkowski is the man of the season so far. I'm quite happy with the results in the Ardennes, but it's also clear that the team needs some specific improvement for the races (9 out of 15 goals are spring classics for a stage racing team, wtf?) that are most important to the sponsor.
So, first season so far with Quickstep, on extreme, and won the most part of the races. Don't pretend to be a expert on the game, but after playing it for almost 15 years, I can share what I do.
So... cobbles... start with a lead out train, use the dot for the first rider, and before cobbles accelerate in order to get in the front. On the zones without cobbles, use the dot in order to your first rider lead the bunch. If the favourites attack, use the dot (95) with your first rider in order to catch him. But Quickstep is a beast team on cobbles, so I guess it's easy. Won all the classics.
Hills - sometimes the lead out train isn't so effective. Of course your leader must be in the front, and protected but some of these classics end on a sprint. so the best tactic it's to make your leader follow your 2nd 3rd best rider in a lead out train, and about 500 meters to the finish... sprint. Alaphilippe won all the april classics.
Sprints - Use the lead out train, but in PCM 18 it's a bit tricky to know when to sprint with your leader. I use the dot on 85/90/95 for the first rider about 16 km, and then in the last 3 kms use the dot on 95... the sprinter only sprints about 1 km to go. Won almost every flat stages, points jersey on Giro and Tour.
Mountain - With Mas with low stats on TT got a 3rd place in the Giro, after Roglic and Porte. Won the TDF with Jungels - almost 6 min on Froome... ok in the cobbles stage gave him 4 minutes. So, protect your leader as you can, and use the dot on mountains. The AI seem to attack at the beginning of the slopes, so use dot at 78/80/85.. .then after a while they stop... so use the dot on 55/60, in order to stay in the front... as the other leaders attack, dot on 85/90/95 and you should be able to catch them.
I guess this is not a surprise for you, and it's not perhaps a "fair" way to play, but if you want to win a lot this is how you can do that.
I prefer to start with a low quality team, my W52-Porto, and improve as I can.
Best regards, and even with bugs etc, thanks to this forum etc for being able to still play a game I love.
So just finished my first season of career mode in PCM18 with my Caisse d'Espargne and man was that a rollercoaster ride. Negatives so far started with the race planner, but think I got around figuring out how it works. Another negative is rider development, where Adam Yates got a big boost from 79 MO to 83 MO during Paris-Nice. To top that off he went off in unstoppable mode for me and ended up winning Paris Nice, Giro d'Italia, Romandie and Dauphine while getting 2nd in Vuelta behind my Vuelta leader Bob Jungels.
Now Bob Jungels had 77 MO, 79 TT, 77 RES and 77 Hill at the start of my career. Before Giro d'Italia he got a boost to 79 MO, 80 TT, 78 RES, 77 Hill and I managed to pull off a 2nd place mainly due to his ability in TT's and trying to save as much energy for the last week. Now he went off to win from a weak overall lineup in Tirreno - Adriatico, but as I couldn't get him in proper shape in the mid season, a lot of race days were wasted. He then went to the Vuelta and in the first 14 stages he just about managed to keep within 2 minutes of Adam Yates and an inform Bauke Mollema.
However on the 15th stage his stats got the biggest boost I have ever seen in PCM and he then got (with 100 % Fitness and with Form Boost) stats to 83 MO, 81 TT, 80 RES and 77 Hill and with ease took the win in the Vuelta and finished 2nd in the Rider Rankings behind Yates. I have to say at that point I felt really annoyed at that getaway ticket given to me and will have to decide if I want to lower his stats in order to have some sort of challenge whenever he races.
3 talents in Bega, Palma and Banaszek. MO rider depth with Soler and Martinez that gives me the ability to have 3 leaders in the Mountain and an actual ability to defend my leader jerseys. Finally Moser, Tratnik and Oliveira for more depth in my TTT squad, so with them and Jungels, Castroviejo and Latour (now has 77 MO, 78 Hill and 77TT) that will not be a weak point.
I started a career with a French Pro Conti team. Some of my sponsors objectives were stage wins in Paris-Nice and Tour de France but I have not had a wildcard. Has this happened to anyone else? Will this mean that my objectives aren't counted. They are both 5 stars importance for my sponsor
Quick question: I sometimes simulate longer periods. For instance I like to create my own team and them simulate until 1/8 to sign new guys and then actually first ride from year 2. But "some messages need my attention" always stops my simulating. It is frustrating if you want it to simulate many months while I'm making dinner or something, and then when you come back with a good red steak, ready to plan your season two and sign riders, it is only january 31st year one or something like that. I would like to be able to simulate without having to pay attention to any messages.
Quick question: I sometimes simulate longer periods. For instance I like to create my own team and them simulate until 1/8 to sign new guys and then actually first ride from year 2. But "some messages need my attention" always stops my simulating. It is frustrating if you want it to simulate many months while I'm making dinner or something, and then when you come back with a good red steak, ready to plan your season two and sign riders, it is only january 31st year one or something like that. I would like to be able to simulate without having to pay attention to any messages.
Probably a stupid question, but how do you simulate? You had the option to simulate until a certain date 4 or 5 years ago, but as far as I'm aware, they've stopped that.
In the calender right hand corner you just choose what date to simulate. Though it will stop when "important messages" shows up such as choosing national team etc.
Champ_Armstrong wrote:
In the calender right hand corner you just choose what date to simulate. Though it will stop when "important messages" shows up such as choosing national team etc.
After some more database work and a bit of practice, I started a new Bahrain career. Racing more aggressively, focusing more on getting the perfect timing, making everybody peak where they are supposed to and getting better results with different riders.
Blueprint wrote:
After some more database work and a bit of practice, I started a new Bahrain career. Racing more aggressively, focusing more on getting the perfect timing, making everybody peak where they are supposed to and getting better results with different riders.
Good results! Glad you focus on all your riders as it can be a mess with 25 + riders sometimes. Bahrain seems like a fun team to race with. Like their kits too.
Just continued with my Mitchelton Scott save. Had a great win of the Criterium Dauphine with S. Yates with just a few seconds ahead of Froome. Also had a lot of fun with the national championships. Decided to ride the one for Czech, Slovenia and Spain (sponsor goal). The rest I simulated. The first one in Czech just went crazy. I only had Kreuziger, and there was one full team of some czech cycling team. They decided to attack with one unknow rider and the guy at some point had a 30 min advantage over the Peleton. Eventually he won with 17 min or something difference.... Same happend with Slovenia. Therefore I decided to attack in the Spain championship with C. Verona. He didnt made it, but somehow I managed to win the jersey in a sprint with M.Nieve....
Currently in the TDF, just finished my first stage and won the sprint by inches with C.Ewan. Still finding it difficult to apply the right strategy regarding sprinting (when to start/lead out train).
Late start with PCM19. Must say I was a bit sceptic but I'm enjoying it a lot now. I've been playing all these years only PCM13 (bought the ones that followed but somehow kept coming back to it) so I found it a bit hard to get grips with this one but I'm enjoying it a lot now.
After a bit of a trial to learn the new things, decided to start a proper career with Katusha mainly because they have the 2 portuguese and decided to send them to little fun objectives (Valencia, Algarve, win the polka dot in TDF and so on).
Zakarin is going to the Giro and Vuelta, Kittel is doing the TDF with a full sprint train with him, Spilak isn't doing any GT like irl instead focusing on week long stage races and so on. Let's see how it goes.
Infernoss wrote:
Just continued with my Mitchelton Scott save. Had a great win of the Criterium Dauphine with S. Yates with just a few seconds ahead of Froome. Also had a lot of fun with the national championships. Decided to ride the one for Czech, Slovenia and Spain (sponsor goal). The rest I simulated. The first one in Czech just went crazy. I only had Kreuziger, and there was one full team of some czech cycling team. They decided to attack with one unknow rider and the guy at some point had a 30 min advantage over the Peleton. Eventually he won with 17 min or something difference.... Same happend with Slovenia. Therefore I decided to attack in the Spain championship with C. Verona. He didnt made it, but somehow I managed to win the jersey in a sprint with M.Nieve....
Currently in the TDF, just finished my first stage and won the sprint by inches with C.Ewan. Still finding it difficult to apply the right strategy regarding sprinting (when to start/lead out train).
The national championship races with only a small peloton don't work very logically.
Feel a little proud of this one. Managed to win all the 3 GT's with a pretty mediocre (stat wise) Egan Bernal in the same season. One of the last goals i had left in this game was to win all the GT's in the same season, so i am very happy about it. I have tried before with better riders than him, but always something unexpected happened. So i'm still a bit shocked i managed to pull if off, even the team was not the best compared to other teams.
Second seasom in be a pro, with mighty astana now..Must say I really enjoy the game, love the double track and creating my little Valverde, jack of all trades.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
