Hi everyone who plays PCM and i must say that i like very much this game even if i'm new to this sport.
My first experience was last year TDF and from then i started to like very much this sport, and after this i saw this game on the internet and i started to play it. But like a new one to this game i had and i have some problems and hope you all can help me.
I read a lot about strategies, stories etc but i didn't see a good thread about PCM 09 with guides, strategies etc, i saw only for 08,07 etc but from what i read here a lot of things had changed from 08,07 to 09.
From the start i want to say that i like very much Liquigas for their shirt colours and design even if they don't have a very good rider who can win TDF. Last year my ''favourite'' team and rider was Contador and Astana because my mainly bets for TDF were on him and his team and you know, i don't like to loose money
Until now i have 2 careers with Liquigas, one which i simulate and won Giro and some other important races and now i’m at TDF stage i think, and one in which i play in 3D mode and in which i try to test my skills. In both careers i play on normal dificulty.
This 2 are succesfull but i started in the past at least 10 unsuccesfull careers with them
And here comes my questions:
1) In a mass sprint is better to take others train with your first 2 good sprinters or to try and form your own train?
From what i saw at Liquigas only Quinziato is good but not good enough to lead out our sprinters. I think a fighter, with at least 77 in flat and at least 75 in fighter and acc, you need to form a good train but i’m not very sure and need some answers.
2) In hilly stages, how to approach them?
At the moment at the start i set everyone on relay to move in front of the peloton and after that i set one to protect my first best rider who has chances to win and with another one i protect my second best rider who has chances to win. I put first, this first 2 who are protected on maintain position and the others i let them on relay. Everyone is set at 50 effort. I don’t know if its good and need some answers too.
3) In mountain stages, how to approach them?
I set exactly as in hilly stages and i don’t know if its good because i lost considerable time even if i have Basso, Nibali etc there.
4) What is the right aproach in mountains and hilly stages to break off from the peloton? Attack or individual effort?
From what i saw if you attack your yellow and red bar goes down immediatly and you don’t get a lot of time and if you set on idv efort at 75 for example you don’t break from the peloton.
5) In cobble-classics, how to approach them?
I know that here you must have a good rider with at least 75 Cob to hope you can get into a top 10 positions but even if i have one, Quinziato my example for Liquigas, i can’t get him into top 10 even if i don’t have great competition riders in that stage. And my aproach is to put everyone on relay with 50 effort and micromanage my best Cob rider or my best 2 cob riders but without notable results like i said above
6) How you set your equipment on bike?
For flat stages its obviously that you put your best flat equipment starting from frames until helmets. I hope i’m right. For flat TT and TTT you put again your best TT equipment. But how you set for mountains, hilly stages or hilly-mountain TT or TTT?
7) What is the max days raced for your riders based on your riders status within the squad?
8) About calendar/races: How to handle it?
In my carrer i deselect all my races except CTT races and request manually some invitation for some other stages based on form building for a specifical CTT race etc. I do that because i don’t want my riders to race over a ‘’race days limit’’. Is good is bad... i don’t know exactly how to handle the calendar and if this is a good approach. Need answers pls
9) About training? How you set it? Custom schedules?
I set it based on what races i want a rider to participate. I think the preselected one are good but sometimes you must do your own schedules i think. How you set up your training for your riders based on their age, specialisation etc. ? For riders between 18-24 is good to set up stage races even if he has other specialisation? And after that to set up training for their specialisation? Answers pls
10) Trainers
I read here that you must train your best riders and the younger ones with your best trainers, but what are we doing if trainers don’t have the right atributes for the specialisation we are training our riders and we don’t have money to buy legendary trainers with very good atributes.
11) Scouts and scouting area
You buy a scout with good atributes for what rider are you expecting to find and put him on an area which has expected rider specialisation, stage races for example. But what atributes or what combination of atributes the scout need to have in order to find a stage races rider or puncheur or fighter? For sprint is obviously that must have sprint and for mountain obviously need mountain atribute, for classics obviously classics and for TT obviously TT, but for the other one which i mention above? And what are the best areas around the globe where you can find very promising riders prospects? I tried in Italy (because my team is an italian one and i want mainly italians in my squad) for stage races riders i find only one promising and he was a TT not a stage one, and the rest were only good for teammate, no one was a GC contender or something around.
12) Yellow bar, Red bar, energizing gel, water, effort?
I saw that in flat stages mainly the yellow bar is going down, in hilly and mountain both bars are going down but the red one faster that the yellow one. What that means, that the yellow one is for flat and and red for mountain and hills? How to work with them to not go down so fast and to have good performances on stages? For what is energizing gel there because i didn’t see any benefits using it, and when to use it if it has benefits for the riders? At how much distant do you resuply with water your riders and who is good to be the carry man? How do you set your effort in order to be good at mass sprint, mountain stages, hilly stage, cobble-classics stages or in order to chase down a breakaway? And how do you set your riders for the above mentioned moments?
I hope that many users will answers to this questions from their experience and knowledge and if this thread will be filled with many and good responses it could become a very good guide, i think, for every new player and why not for the older ones too.
Sorry for the long post and for my english if it is bad in some sections of this paragrapgh and again i say, every response is welcomed and everyone is free to participate especially the experienced players who play this game for some years or months.
Let’s start a great discussion here and hopefully a great guide for everyone guys.
Hello and welcome. I think that you will not get much responses because nobody will read your post. Try to make smaller posts and try to make different posts for different topics. And the most important tip, use the search function of this forum and/or read the stickies and FAQs.
I wanted to make all in one because is much easier for all to find this information, somenthing like a mini guide for all users, but i think is a failure, nobody is interested, only enter here, read it and 0 answers.
I don't believe that anyone who read it doesn't know the answers but i think that aren't very interested.
I don't think is so hard to answer to some questions, questions which i think are very important for all and especially for new players.
I hope in the end that at least 1 or 2 people will answer
Edited by Ronye on 30-05-2010 19:37
You'll find the answers to your questions in the forums in various posts. Just search.
6) Equipment doesn't matter. Choose whatever you want.
8) I usually don't deselect races. I may do this a couple of times in the year, but only ones that are not in my home country and I'm already racing one or 2 other races at the same time. Keeping the game suggested schedule is more realistic than just picking a few races here or there. In real life you couldn't do that because your sponsors pay for exposure at as many races as realistically possible.
10) Train with whatever trainers you have, even if not the best. Your riders will still improve.
11) Finding a great rider is not easy. Scout various areas of Italy. Hire more scouts to increase your odds of finding a gem.
12) Red bar is for attacking. If it's gone, you can't attack. Yellow is for intense effort. It's needed to stay in a group, for attacking, for a good sprint, etc. Try to keep some of it all the way to the end. Personally I haven't found much if any help from the gel.
Post a message if there's anything you can't find answers to.
I have more than 40 victories now with Liquigas, mainly with Benatti and Basso, and i do great (i think) with Quinzato in classics two 4 place, one 5 place and one 7 place until now.
I forgot to mention that i won both Paris-Nice and Tireno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo.
In short time comes Giro. Hope for another victory.
1) I usually follow other people in a train, however forming your own train can also be succesful as long as your riders have enough (70-75+) flat riding, depending on course you are racing.
2) Start off somewhere middle up front peloton, protecting your two best riders 50 effort is enough. At 2/3 of the race, put your team up front, about third line from the front and keep protecting your best rider. Then counter-attack when the top rider attacks.
* 'Best' rider depending on stage, but also depending on course e.g. Tour de France. You might have a useful climber you want to protect so he'll be fresh as possible in mountain stages.
3) Make sure you are up front before the final climb starts. Keep protecting your best rider and counter-attack when the favorite(s) attack.
4) This is very circumstantial, i can only tell you in certain situations. It will take some time playing before you can accurately define certain moments it is possible to solo and actually win. Either way, you shouldn't attack when your riders' heart rate is over 165 while riding in the peloton, in exception when you have the favorite or one of the favorites and there is a hill or cobble section near the end.
5) To get a good finish here, you need heaps of cobs. 80+ will do to get a top finish. Always be up front in cobblestone races as the peloton will break in pieces when there's a decent or high pace.
6)
Mountain = lots of climb
Hilly = climb + flat
Hilly-mountain = lots of climb + little bit flat
7) Any amount, although condition starts to decline after 60 races.
8) Unsigning races to not let them race to often is good, although you have to keep in mind that races will increase your riders' condition. This is especially important before starting an important race. Although, you do have to keep your sponsors' satisfaction into mind.
9) Making your own schedule is good, but you could use pre-made schedules to get an impression on the training/condition progress. A lot of pre-made schedules are pretty bad though.
10) Look for cheap trainers which have averagely a lot of the specialization you want. E.G. a trainer with 6 climbing and the other attributes on 1. It will still be a relatively cheap trainer and ofcourse only useful for riders that can progress in climbing.
11) Keep an eye on young rider results, only sign scouts to search for a specific well performing youth rider with cheap scouts.
Areas with high potential: Italy - Venice & Friuli, Italy - Lazio & Abruzzen, Italy - Emilia & Romagna, Italy - Trentino. Belgium (Flanders), Spain - Andalusia & Murcia, Germany - South. Those four countries have the most average potential.
12) Red is indeed for attacking (and sprinting). Yellow is for all effort that can be done which keeps your heart rate above 165. Green is long-run condition. The more green you have, the faster your yellow and red bar will refill.
Good water carrier is a weak rider in your team, he can waste some extra energy to get water. Get water when your water bottles are almost empty.
"How do you set your effort in order to be good at mass sprint, mountain stages, hilly stage, cobble-classics stages or in order to chase down a breakaway? And how do you set your riders for the above mentioned moments?"
- All circumstantial. Depends on distance from group to group or group to finish, riders' attributes in general, riders' condition. One tip i can give though, for a good solo you will need to find an exact/stable pace which makes your riders' yellow energy bar empty exactly at the time when he reaches the finishing line. The pace is dependant on the energy and distance left.
Edited by Gizim on 02-06-2010 12:59
Thank you very much for your answers. Very usefull again. I think i will increase dificulty in the next weeks after this all usefull answers and after some more practice in normal mode.
Last time I had 78 victories on hard. And it wasn`t an absolutely incredibly team. Monfort, Gerdemann, T.Martin, Roche, Ciolek, D. Martin, Ignatiev, Casar.
It`s not just the difficulty, it`s also the kind of races. I have almost no GT victories but a lot Down Under, Paris-Nice and such smaller Pro Tour races and a few really small races like San Luis, Langkawi etc.
But extrem makes no fun for me. It is just not realistic if your good riders can`t follow much weaker ones in a lot of races.
Most victories were in T1, THC, CHC or Paris-Nice or Tireno. I hope to shine in grand tours too.
There is the big chalenge. In my game the next dificulty level is only hard, i don't have extreme and i heard from more users that is unrealistic so i will keep with normal for now and i will change to hard in the next few weeks after i do some more practice on normal like i said above
