According to Sports Director Ollie the team has been chasing several riders since the end of July, but they weren't able to secure a contract with anyone and we, among others, didn't think Le Coq Sportif would add to their current roster of 10 riders before next season, after they signed a new contract with Adrien Poisson. It took until the end of October, but Ollie was delighted to call a press conference where he introduced the teams two new signings. They are both young and french and fits the teams philosophy.
Thomas Boudat is a 20-year old rider from the region of Aquitaine. He is seen as a fighter who's strong on the flats and can hold a high pace over long distances. He's a decent sprinter and likes the hillier stages. Ollie had this to say about Thomas:
"Last season we had two sprinters who never really got in a good position to sprint. I think Thomas is a guy who can help us out in that regard and that's why we wanted to sign him. He'll be a valuable rider, chasing down breakaways and getting our sprinters in a good position."
The other rider signed is 22-year old Maxime Le Lavandier. He's small (160 cm, 50 kg) and a great climber despite coming from the Bretagne area on the west coast. First and foremost a climb specialist, he could with some development become a decent stage rider. Here's what Ollie had to say about Maxime:
"We ride a lot of stages and races featuring climbs and that's also where we've had our best performances, winning two polka-dot jersey's. Next season we want to build a group of riders who are more specialized to help out in the mountains and have more options in breakaways and attacks. Maxine is a brilliant climber and he can definitely help us out next year."
At the moment, it looks like Le Coq Sportif will carry 12 riders on their roster. They let their scout go earlier this season to save some money, but are most likely to bring a scout back in January, especially considering that 9 rider contracts expire at the end of 2015.
Le Coq Sportif Announce New Sponsorships
But what could help out the financial situation, or carry the extra wages next season, are the new sponsorship deals that Ollie has been able to secure over the last couple of weeks. The results and performances may not have been the greatest this year, but at least they did enough to secure some equipment sponsorship for the 2015 season.
Ollie was able to secure a 1-year deal worth €20,000 with Lapierre (frame) and Shimano (groupset). The last 1-year deal was made with Corima who will pay €13,500 for the 2015 season as well as offer a full R&D development program.
Another Polka-Dot Jersey For Le Coq Sportif!
According to Sports Director Ollie, Le Coq Sportif's 2014 season came to an end after Tour du Poitou Charentes at the end of August. The team still had a few races left, but the riders' form was already in full decline, a period focused on training and recuperating, and the few races the had left looked more like exercise.
That season went by rather quickly. No wonder with such a small team. 12 riders next season? Let's see if you can afford them.
One more tip about training, especially with a small team you'd like in good form the whole season: Change the objectives to match your sponsor (or don't, I often can't be bothered) and then fiddle with the training intensity (even after 06.01., when you confirm the objectives). Look how the top of the green area changes - less peaks early on mean more fitness later in the season. I recommend not using the two top training levels at all. You won't see a fitness level 1, but your riders will have level 2 (and 3) for far longer. Good luck next season!
Ripley wrote:
That season went by rather quickly. No wonder with such a small team. 12 riders next season? Let's see if you can afford them.
Been playing everyday while watching Tour de France (and some in the evenings as well I'll admit, I put some of the late season races on x8 for the majority of the race. All my riders had a fitness level of 5 so there wasn't much point, except for the polka-dot jersey though
About the two extra riders, I signed them as soon as I got those three extra sponsorships signed, I figured I could spend that money on two extra minimum wage contracts. 2 x €2,500 = €5,000 x 12 months = €60,000.
I think we have a need for a couple of extra riders in our small squad so I felt like I'm addressing an immediate need, but at the same time 9 of my riders are on expiring contracts so I can easily reduce the squad to 10 again if I want to.
Ripley wrote:
One more tip about training, especially with a small team you'd like in good form the whole season: Change the objectives to match your sponsor (or don't, I often can't be bothered) and then fiddle with the training intensity (even after 06.01., when you confirm the objectives). Look how the top of the green area changes - less peaks early on mean more fitness later in the season. I recommend not using the two top training levels at all. You won't see a fitness level 1, but your riders will have level 2 (and 3) for far longer. Good luck next season!
You mean in the Objectives screen right? I'll post something about the next season soon, but I have fiddled a lot and I think I have a pretty good setup now. The only thing I fear is what happened to Fouillet last season. I had a perfect setup in the objective's screen for him, no tired legs until the very end of the season, but after just a few races the red tiredness thing in the objectives screen was at max and I had to completely stop him racing anything for several months to get the tiredness out of his legs. Hopefully that won't happen this year but it would be nice to know what caused it...
Le Coq Sportif went under most people's radar in 2014, their first professional season, but despite a slightly disappointing season performance wise, they did win two polka-dot jersey's, one stage and had their captain ride two stages in the yellow jersey. Was it enough to please their sponsor? Well, Sports Director Ollie's moves last fall might suggest otherwise. In addition to signing deals with three new sponsors, he also found two new riders for his squad which counts 12 riders in 2015.
"We had a thorough look at our squad and performances during the rather quiet summer last year," Ollie says when asked about his new additions. Only 10 riders in 2014, with the occasional injury and sickness, meant that the squad was stretched thin, most riders having to race when they were out of form and fitness and had a huge amount of race days.
"It wasn't an ideal situation. Maybe we could've handled it differently, but most races have a minimum number of registered riders, usually 6, so we often felt we were forced to bring riders that weren't fit or in any race shape."
"What will two new riders mean for the 2015 season?"
"It means that we can split our team into two teams, one for the stage races and mountain races and another for the flatter stages and races, built around our sprinters. Not only will it reduce the amount of race days for the riders, but they will also have specific periods where they are in form and are racing, and designated periods where they have no races at all and can focus solely on restitution and training."
"What does this mean in terms of results?"
"Hopefully it'll help us perform better. Last year, we had only a few riders and we constantly had to bring riders who weren't in shape and couldn't really help out at all. That meant that often we had to bring climbers to flat stages trying to help out our sprinters and sprinters as helpers on mountain stages. This year we will instead have two teams who train together and have the exact same schedule throughout the season. Not only are both teams designed for the races they participate in, meaning we hopefully won't have to bring climbers to flat sprint stages and so on, but they will also be in top shape when their captains need them to be. That's the idea anyway. If it works once the season starts is yet to be seen," Ollie says with a chuckle.
"One concern raised by fans and critics around the team is the extra wages in 2015. Not only have you increased the squad size from 10 to 12, but you've also signed two scouts. How do you answer those critics?"
"First of all we've signed deals with three new sponsors for the 2015 season and the money we bring in from those deals almost covers the extra riders' wages for 2015 on their own. The rest, including the two scouts, are covered by Le Coq Sportif. Additionally, if we do need to reduce our team to 10 riders again, we have 9 riders on expiring contracts this year so that shouldn't really be a problem."
"Is the fact that you may lose several riders after this season the main reason why you've employed two new scouts?"
"Yes, definitely. We're not sure who we'll be able to resing come July and if we do lose anyone, we need to be able to bring in replacements, preferably from french amateur teams. That has been our philosophy and we couldn't really put that into effect last season. Hopefully we can make up for that this year."
"Rumours have it you've been very busy since you were back in France on January 1st and that you weren't too happy about the schedule?"
"Actually I was back at work right over Christmas. I was sent the initial schedule when I was back home in Norway, celebrating with the family and it kind of cut my holiday a bit short I'm afraid."
"What specifically didn't you like about what you saw?"
"We really wanted to get in one of the stage races in January because we've picked out a few stage races in February that we hope to perform well in. We were only invited to Grand Prix la Marseillaise (February 2nd) which doesn't really help our riders get into a nice rhythm before they have to perform. So I had to cut my holiday short and try to get my team into some other races. Sadly, my requests were turned down. It's the same dilemma right before some important races in August, but I'm still working on those."
"The schedule will be relased soon along with the team presentation. Are you excited?"
"I'm very excited! I think we did some good things last year and we hope to build on that. We saw some nice progress in several of our young riders, especially during the summer and autumn, so I'm very excited to see what they can do this year."
As we already knew beforehand that Le Coq Sportif will have 12 riders in their team this year after signing Thomas Boudat and Maxime Le Lavandier last fall. At today's press conference Sports Director Ollie also revealed which 6 of his riders will start the season at Grand Prix la Marseillaise on February 2nd, which makes it easy for us to predict what the two separate teams Ollie has been talking about lately will look like. Two riders were also identified as the primary Captains and based on their skill set we think they will captain one team each. Therefore, we decided to present this years riders under the two teams we expect to see this year: The Stage Racers and The Classics Riders
Pierrick Chevillard, often the Captain in stage races last year. Here in the yellow jersey after winning the individual time trial during Tour de l'Ain
The Stage Racers
11. Captain / Stage Racer Pierrick CHEVILLARD
Region: Burgundy - Age: 19 - Height: 178 cm - Weight: 60 kg
2015: Will be Le Coq Sportif's Captain at stage races again this year and is, at least in our opinion, the most important rider in the team. His contract expires at the end of the season, and Ollie might find himself in a battle for his signature come July (that is if Le Coq Sportif can afford him!).
Skills: Stage racer, great climber and proved to be more and more fit in the longer stage races towards the end of the season, a very important quality in a Captain. His stage win was at a time trial and he still has heaps of potential. Still needs to work on some of the physical categories important to sit with the best in the mountains, but Chevillard could be a highly sought after young rider this year, still just 19 years of age.
12. Co-Captain / Stage Racer Mickaël Cohen
Region: Rhône-Alpes – Age: 19 – Height: 178 cm – Weight: 62 kg
2014: We had Cohen listed as the main captain of Le Coq Sportif at the start of the 2014 season, but he had to see his teammate Chevillard outperform him pretty much the entire season. He started as the main captain at Etoile de Bessèges and finished 54th overall and soon Chevillard was named captain.
2015: Chevillard is the stronger rider, but Cohen is not far behind and we have to conclude that 2014 was a disappointment. We think he could get more chances to ride in breakaways and for a good overall standing this season because when he has a good day on the bike, he can outperform even Chevillard.
Skills: Stage racer, great climber, but needs to become a better time trials and improve some physical traits.
13. Stage racer Adrien Poisson
Region: Alsace – Age: 19 – Height: 178 cm – Weight: 61 kg
2014: Was one of the few bright spots next to Pierrick Chevillard. Finished 4th at GP Ville de Lillers and won Le Coq Sportif's first ever jersey when he won the polka-dot at Circuit des Ardennes International.
2015: With last years performance in mind he is definitely a Co-Captain candidate, but we expect him to still have a free role and go for stages and polka-dot jersey's. If Chevillard disappears after the 2015 season, he will challenge Cohen for the captaincy in 2016.
Skills: He proved last year that he's a good climber, but to become a stage racer he needs to develop his time trial skills and his physical traits that will allow him to sit with the best in the mountains and stand longer stage races.
14. Climber Maxime Le Lavandier (New signing)
Region: Brittany – Age: 22 – Height: 160 cm – Weight: 50 kg
2014: –
2015: A climber brought in to be of better service to the Captain in the mountains. At least that's how we interpret Ollie's signing last fall. But he is good enough to go in breakaways and try to win points on the polka-dot jersey as well.
Skills: He is a tiny rider which helps him scale a mountain in no time. He could be better developed in some of the physical categories considering he's 22 years old, but he should be able to help the team right away.
15. Climber Marius Mourot
Region: Midi Pyrenees – Age: 19 – Height: 173 cm – Weight: 54 kg
2014: Apart from a top 10 finish on stage 2 of Circuit des Ardennes International, Marius' results last year weren't great, but he did fill an important function in the team, being one of the few able to bring the Captains food and water on the steepest climbs. He did also sit in a few breakaways, sporting the team colors.
2015: We expect Mourot to fill a similar role this year as last, helping Chevillard in the mountains, not just catering but bringing him up as well. That said, Mourot is the only rider in the team who can scale a mountain better than Chevillard on a good day and should definitely be allowed to ride for his own chances every now and then.
Skills: Arguably the best climber in the team, but he needs to develop physically. Still only 19, he could become a great climber at a higher level in a few years.
16. Fighter Fernando Fouillet
Region: Nord Pas-de-Calais – Age: 19 – Height: 185 cm – Weight: 73 kg
2014: Stormed out of the gates last season and caught the eye of many a fan early on, but soon "hit the wall" and had to endure a long period of restitution and training before he was finally able to race again in the latter stages of the season. His highest finish was 25th at Circuit de Wallonie, but he was usually in a breakaway or reeling in breakaways at the front of the peloton.
2015: He's the only "pure fighter" in this 6-man team and will therefore play an invaluable part in stage races, both reeling in breakaways and catering the other, more specialized, riders. He will probably not be in as many breakaways this season, but hey, it's Fouillet – he'll make himself know one way or the other!
Skills: A big talented fighter who could already do a job at a higher level in our opinion. He's nuts down hills and can create separation. He needs to develop physically, especially considering his very aggressive riding style. He never backs down and won't stop pedaling until he passes out, but with better physical traits hopefully he won't! We are looking forward to seeing Fouillet in top form!
Adrien Poisson in the polka-dot jersey he eventually won
The Classics Riders
21. Captain / Sprinter Lucien Chateau
Region: Nord Pas-de-Calais – Age: 23 – Height: 181 cm – Weight: 80 kg
2014: The best sprinter in the team but except for finishing 2nd at Circuit de Wallonie, he was never really close to any stage wins. Part of the reason is that he has trouble staying with the front, or staying with his own train for that matter, when the pace in the peloton is high.
2015: Ollie has built a 6-man strong team built around Chateau this year and hopefully that will help Chateau to some higher finishes. But, and this is a big but, Chateau needs to develop and become a lot better in the last 10-15 kms so that he actually has some energy left in his legs for the sprint. But getting a better train to deliver him can't hurt.
Skills: Despite not being able to showcase his sprinting ability last year, we know that he's actually a very good sprinter who can ride fairly well in flat terrain. He struggles with hills and he needs to develop his physical traits which will allow him to both sit with this train and save energy, and have some energy left for the final sprint. Huge talent and hopefully we'll get to see some more of his sprinting skills this year.
22. Co-Captain / Sprinter Pierrick Lhermitte
Region: Center – Age: 19 - Height: 186 cm – Weight: 88 kg
2014: Was mainly used to bring up Chateau and Chevillard and didn't get many chances to ride for a stage win or the green jersey. He did sit in a few breakaways but never wore green or finish high up in a sprint.
2015: This might be another year where Lhermitte will have to help out everyone else and not ride for his own chances. We didn't see enough positive development last season to think he'll take any major leaps this year, but let's hope he proves us wrong. Will probably be relied on in sprints if Chateau is out.
Skills: A few steps behind Chateau in pure sprinting capabilities and he needs a lot of developing before we'll consider him a threat in any mass sprint. Still only 19 and with some potential, so he might be a rider Ollie wants to resign in July.
23. Puncheur Wladimir Froment
Region: Lorraine – Age: 22 – Height: 192 cm – Weight: 80 kg
2014: No real results to showcase in 2014 and was mainly used as a domestique (or water carrier) last season.
2015: Will still be a water carrier this season. He's good in the hillier terrains but overall he's a few steps behind other riders.
Skills: Except for riding over hills, he basically needs to show much more improvement overall than he did last year. Already at the age of 22 and on an expiring contract, he needs to develop a lot and fast.
24. Puncheur: Thomas Boudat (New signing)
Region: Aquitaine – Age: 20 - Height: 186 cm - Weight: 85 kg
2014: –
2015: If there was one area where Le Coq Sportif needed an immediate upgrade, it was having someone ride at the front of the peloton at a high speed for a long time, putting their train in a good position and keeping up with the other teams. Thomas Boudat seems to be brought in to be that guy.
Skills: He's a fighter who's excellent in flat terrain and can go at a high speed for a long time. He's fearless downhill and is actually a fairly decent sprinter as well. An exciting signing by Le Coq Sportif who hopefully will be able to contribute right away.
25. Fighter: Mickael Castan
Region: Rhône-Alpes – Age: 20 – Height: 178 cm – Weight: 70 kg
2014: One of the weaker riders coming into the 2014 season and despite some positive development during the course of the season, he was mainly used as a water carrier who was never able to follow a high paced peloton towards the end.
2015: We expect Castan will have a similar role as last year, being an important water carrier for the rest of the team. He is still too weak of a rider to sit in breakaways or ride for his own chances.
Skills: Decent over hills and a decent fighter, but he is in a similar situation to Froment. Both need to develop quickly in a year they're on expiring contracts otherwise this could be their last in Le Coq Sportif. In other words, he has a long way to go before he can compete properly at the Continental level.
26. Fighter: Johan Baudot
Region: Center – Age: 22 – Height: 181 cm - Weight: 85 kg
2014: 15th in Circuite de Wallonie, a good race overall for Le Coq Sportif, but other than that he was usually used as a water carrier and often sat in the train leading up to the mass sprints.
2015: He probably won't have to gather as many water bottles this season as Ollie would want to use his abilities in the sprint train and not waste his energy fetching food and water.
Skills: Decent in flat terrain and over hills, but needs to develop his physical traits to be effective. Probably the best rider in the team on cobblestone, but in the Continental division he's only average.
As mentioned, a total of 9 riders are on expiring contracts and we could see a lot of change in this team come January 2016. Pierrick Chevillard could be too expensive to re-sign. The same could be the case with Lucien Chateau and possibly Fernando Fouillet. We consider Mickaël Cohen, Marius Mourot and Pierrick Lhermitte as riders that Ollie wants to and should be able to re-sign, while Johan Baudot, Wladimir Froment and Mickael Castan needs to show some good progress during the spring and summer if they are to earn contract extensions.
Ollie was a bit upset in our interview a few days ago about not getting his team into any of the stage races in January, races he considered to be perfect warm-up races for his team before they enter three stage races in February. From his statement a few days ago we got the impression that these February stage races were of importance, races where they wanted to deliver a solid performance. Now that the full schedule for the months of January through March have been released, we can reveal that, as you would expect for a Continental team, the race schedule the first months will be very similar to previous years. In fact, Le Coq Sportif's schedule for the first three months is identical to last year's. No wonder Ollie was trying to change things up a bit. At least it will be easy to compare results...
As Ollie mentioned a few days ago their only 'warm-up' race is the Grand Prix la Marseillaise where Fernando Fouillet was their best placed rider last year in 70th. This will serve as the warm-up for three stage races in just 18 days.
Even if you didn't play on extreme the races in February are tough because all the top riders show up to start their season. Your best bets generally will be the .2 races, where only "weak" teams start.
From my experience an exception can be the Tour de Langkawi, despite being labelled 2.HC. I went there once with the Leopard Development Team and only 48 riders turned up. And I got a top 10 result with a 68 climber, because fortunately only 5 or 6 climbers were there, the rest was worse than my best climber. Also, usually not many good sprinters and plenty of flat stages to try out your sprint train. But every season is different, no race guarantees a small peloton.
If you have a good TTer, you could also apply for the Qinghai Lake Tour. In my game last year's edition was won by Gregor Mühlberger from my old team Tirol Cycling. Check him out, he should be pretty useless (depends on the db, of course), all he has going for himself is his TT ability, barely over 70.
It's going to be an exciting summer with so many contracts ending. The better your results until then, the higher the budget will be. You can already start looking around, put some names on your short list. Use the search function "contract is end of season" OR "is free" AND "age is below" AND "country is France", for example.
Ripley wrote:
Even if you didn't play on extreme the races in February are tough because all the top riders show up to start their season. Your best bets generally will be the .2 races, where only "weak" teams start.
The first season showed me that it is possible to do well in certain races, win jersey's and even a stage every now and then, even with a 1 star team on extreme. I also feel like we have a better team this year (both due to progression and also having two teams and each rider having fewer race days). The sponsor was also very happy with the last polka-dot jersey we won (they ignored the first one) and the 'sponsor satisfaction' made a healthy jump after the race That leads me to believe I can keep the sponsor satisfied with some good results here and there and as you say, the .2 races might become crucial for us.
Ripley wrote:
It's going to be an exciting summer with so many contracts ending. The better your results until then, the higher the budget will be. You can already start looking around, put some names on your short list. Use the search function "contract is end of season" OR "is free" AND "age is below" AND "country is France", for example.
I definitely want more money next year or else I'm afraid I'll lose Chevillard and I'll do (almost) anything to keep him.. I've set up two scouts to help me find replacement riders as I'm sure I'll lose someone, but thanks for the tip. I've never really used the search function yet but I'll check it out!
How's the story going so far? Is it still entertaining? Too long, updates coming too frequent? Any feedback is appreciated! Thanks for reading btw!
I think you're doing a fine job. But I admit I find it a bit hard to keep these French names apart. Maybe you should give them all nicknames. Purely based on their names (and their meaning in French) I have some silly proposals, though you might rather come up with names based on their riding styles/team roles:
Pierrick "V8" CHEVILLARD
Mickaël "Brother" Cohen
Adrien "Gills" Poisson
Maxime "Bubbles" Le Lavandier
Marius "M&M" Mourot
Fernando "Fighting" Fouillet
Lucien "Rick" Chateau
Pierrick "Hermit" Lhermitte
Wladimir "Strawman" Froment
Thomas "Napoleon" Boudat
Mickael "Castaway" Castan
Johan "Bits" Baudot
Ripley wrote:
I think you're doing a fine job. But I admit I find it a bit hard to keep these French names apart. Maybe you should give them all nicknames. Purely based on their names (and their meaning in French) I have some silly proposals, though you might rather come up with names based on their riding styles/team roles:
Pierrick "V8" CHEVILLARD
Mickaël "Brother" Cohen
Adrien "Gills" Poisson
Maxime "Bubbles" Le Lavandier
Marius "M&M" Mourot
Fernando "Fighting" Fouillet
Lucien "Rick" Chateau
Pierrick "Hermit" Lhermitte
Wladimir "Strawman" Froment
Thomas "Napoleon" Boudat
Mickael "Castaway" Castan
Johan "Bits" Baudot
Didn't really help adding Boudat when I already had Baudot did it? I'll try to separate the riders a bit better in the future.
Anyway, I was wondering how the Auto function in 3D races is. I haven't done well lately managing all the riders during the race so I tried a few stages where all riders were set to Auto. They look a bit better organized during the race, but we're not getting any results. So is the Auto function useful or should it be avoided?
I'm also not sure where this story is going right now. So far 2015 is a repeat of 2014 and even with what I thought were improvements we are really struggling. Lost motivation a bit. Hopefully we can turn a corner soon.
Funny you should ask, I'm just playing a career on auto, more watching, less micro-managing. Though I cannot help myself intervening once in a while. So the short answer is, you definitely do much better with good manual control.
Have you read all the tricks&tips on this site? It's the only chance I see to beat the extreme difficulty level, by fully exploiting the AI weaknesses, by pausing and micro-managing all your riders. And even then I'm doubtful. There's still the choice to revisit the difficulty level, can be changed at any point in-game.
I'll have a look at them. I haven't seen or discovered any AI weaknesses in the game so far, but that's mainly because the AI dominates me in every race!
I have learned one important thing though, which makes me want to start a new career... Our main issue in races is that when the peloton increases it's speed to catch the breakaway, my riders are using up all their energy (the yellow and often the red bar as well) several kms before we get to the finish line. So on the last 5 kms the sprint train is already exhausted and the sprinter falls through the pack and rolls over the finish line in 87th. I found a sort of guide to all the attributes and the impact of the different training categories so now I've set all my riders on a training schedule to increase RES, STA and ACC in particular, since these stats are very low (and I'm thinking that's why we can't sit with the peloton all the way to the finish line AND have a decent sprint). Hopefully that will help in the long run, but I should have done that at the start of the first season.
In addition I have a better grasp of the 2nd season - the extra cash, signing free riders and scouting - which makes me think I could plan the first season a lot better now. So, in short, I might start a new career mode soon and scrap this one. I learned a lot from this one though. Let's pretend Le Coq Sportif were so unhappy with my first season they sacked me and I'm starting over
I had warned you about the extreme difficulty. Though it does pretty much guarantee that your story will remain true to its title, life in obscurity.
So it's a question of what you want from your career. You could just continue and celebrate the few good results you'll see. That's definitely unique. If instead you want to see some progress, even get to the World Tour at some point, have a squad of 30 riders - you'll have to lower the difficulty. If you play on normal, it'll definitely happen. On hard I'm guessing it'll only happen if you don't restrict yourself on the transfer market, get the best riders your budget can afford. And you'd also have to learn all the tricks to get the best results.
An alternative idea is, as I wrote in the other thread: Pick the normal difficulty and set all riders on automatic. Then you aren't "cheating" by exploiting the AI weaknesses, nor are you artificially making the opposition stronger than it really is by picking a harder difficulty level. I's a bit more boring than manually controlling your riders, though it would help to concentrate on your reports and screenshots.
Ripley wrote:
I had warned you about the extreme difficulty. Though it does pretty much guarantee that your story will remain true to its title, life in obscurity.
So it's a question of what you want from your career. You could just continue and celebrate the few good results you'll see. That's definitely unique. If instead you want to see some progress, even get to the World Tour at some point, have a squad of 30 riders - you'll have to lower the difficulty. If you play on normal, it'll definitely happen. On hard I'm guessing it'll only happen if you don't restrict yourself on the transfer market, get the best riders your budget can afford. And you'd also have to learn all the tricks to get the best results.
An alternative idea is, as I wrote in the other thread: Pick the normal difficulty and set all riders on automatic. Then you aren't "cheating" by exploiting the AI weaknesses, nor are you artificially making the opposition stronger than it really is by picking a harder difficulty level. I's a bit more boring than manually controlling your riders, though it would help to concentrate on your reports and screenshots.
I've thought a lot about the difficulty setting lately. I kind of want to give it another go with a new team and do things a little bit different. What annoys me is that the Hard and Extreme level doesn't make the AI smarter or harder to beat, it just "cheats" by making their stats artificially better as you point out. It annoys me when I have strongest climber in the breakaway and yet my rider looses every climb because the AI riders are made stronger than they really are. That's my main argument for going back all the way back to normal (I guess Hard suffers from the same 'cheat'?)
I've also thought a lot about a new career, custom Continental team on Extreme, but setting it up slightly different:
- I would start with 12-14 riders to give us some more flexibility and be able to lower the amount of racing days for each rider.
- The captain could have an AVR above 69 (70-74 maybe?). They would earn more than the minimum wage (I'll make sure no one makes more than €6-7K) which makes it a financial gamble in the 2nd season and beyond, but as long as it's not considered 'cheating' or taking advantage of something to have riders above AVR 69 I would take that gamble to see if we can perform better with a couple of stronger riders.
- Also, I have some new ideas about the training in the 1st season. If I'm correct, the most important thing for the young riders to improve are the physical stats - ACC for the red bar, RES for the yellow bar (and probably STA is important as well?) If they improve these two (or three) stats in the first season, they should be more capable in the 2nd season and beyond of following the high tempo of races for longer periods of time and should be able to have some energy left in their legs at the sprint.
- I would try to get in as many .2 races as possible during the season and replace .1 races that aren't sponsor objectives. That should give us the best opportunity to get some better results (even though I know the sponsor doesn't pay too much attention to those races it would at least help my motivation )
If I test out this idea and I still can't make any progress on Extreme, yes, i will lower the difficulty. What do you (or anyone else for that matter) think?
If I have only 12 riders, split into two teams of 6, is it dangerous to schedule two races on the same day? What happens if I have an injury meaning 6 riders are in one race while I only have 5 riders left for the other?
I have never tried such scheduling in fear the game won't let me continue if I don't have enough fit riders. But even the worst case scenario could be fixed by using an editor.
As for your other ideas:
- Sure, a couple of better riders - 6k or 7k will get you an AVG of 72 - might get you some results even on extreme.
- But that idea, paired with more riders, does risk bankruptcy in the 2nd season if you don't get the results and your sponsor slashes the budget. Not good for your story. Ok, you could easily add more money with an editor, but that goes against your anti-doping (cheating) policy.
- I dunno about concentrating the training on specific stats, I usually treat them all equally. Yes, higher RES and your yellow bar lasts a bit longer, but higher FLA, MON or HIL (depending on the terrain, obviously) means you need less effort, so the yellow bar also lasts longer. For example, something I believe has been true forever with PCM, when it comes to climbing, every point counts. RES is nice to have, but I'm pretty sure higher MON will beat higher RES on a 10km final climb every time.
- I didn't have much success when applying for races as a low-level team, even .2 races. So applications first and only if they are successful you can cancel another race. As I said, even 2.HC races can have low and weak turnouts, you never know beforehand. A tactic might be to apply for lots of stage races, see who else turns up and if it's a strong field of riders you can withdraw all your riders except one after the first stage and hope for a better opportunity in the next race.
From a story point of view, your story was highly entertaining even without any results. I think next to no results evokes sympathy. I would be happy if you just continue. Sure, a better team and a few podium places will do nicely as well. I'm just saying, for a story it doesn't matter much/at all. Probably the most boring would be how my careers end up, with my team winning everything.
11. Captain / Stage Racer
