A compilation of the information needed to understand and play the Management Game.
WARNING: check the title for the last update. If it was not very recent, the post may contain some outdated information.
1. The pre-season arrangements
From the F.A.Q.
Spoiler
For new teams, this mostly consists out of creating your team and picking your goals. Creating the team is basically choosing your sponsors and getting a jersey. After that you can start thinking about the orientation of your team (if you don't know it already). On the base of that, you decide 5 goals. E.a. Team Pokerstars decided before the season that their focus would be sprinting, so their goals were mostly flat races, made for sprinters. Others choose their goals pending on their team's nationality, but in the end it's your choice. It's an important one though, as the harder your goals, the higher your budget.
Existing teams will also face renewals on top of this. Here riders they currently own will request their wage for the current season, based on a formula from various factors - negotiation is required to try to get the most value for money, but there can be negative effects to attempts at negotiation, as well as positive.
You will need to pick goals and target races for your team. Here's the 2013 thread about picking goals. https://pcmdaily.c...d_id=26165
Two things you might not know:
- The regional tour rankings are determined by a combination of the points from HC, C1 and C2 races.
- Goals are not an "all or nothing" situation. If you come very close to achieving a goal, the sponsor will take this into account when judging your overall goal performance.
Probably the most important step of the game as this is where you assemble your team. After all the renewals are done, and all goals have been decided, the transfer period will start. This period last 2 weeks and during this you can do 3 things to obtain riders; Buy a free agent, buy a rider from another team or loan a rider from another team. For a new team, the first two steps are the most important. For the specific rules, go here.
This way, you build a team to fulfill your goals.
Before signing any riders it is good to understand how rider progression and training work.
Riders get experience points from riding in races. The amount of xp they get for a race day depends on their current level and the status (GT/Monument, PT or CT) of the race they ride in. Every time a rider hits 100 xp points their level goes up 1 point. Leveling up means you can choose a package of stat increases, which will depend on a combination of the reached level and the talent of the rider. The maximum level is 4.
After a rider reaches level 4 AND has 100 xp points on top of that, you can start training his stats by paying money. In 2013 only riders born in 1983 or later can be trained this way.
An extra explanation of rider XP by SN:
Xp is calculated on a total race days basis, not race by race. A rider who starts the season at Level 1 only gains XP at the Level 1 rates until he reaches Level 2. Xp is applied such that you benefit most. The exception is Avenir - this gives 20 xp and is always applied to the rider first.
You can exit renewals with more than 30 riders. Squad limits only kick on at the end of the transfers. Why you would want to exit renewals with more than 30 riders, I dont know!
Every team will be able to use their maximum race day allocations. If a race you want is full, you get to choose again, yes
Riders from '81 or earlier will be affected and riders from '76 will retire. See this file for the exact amounts of decline: https://pcmdaily.c...ile=615760
### Individual rider results
Spoiler
This will give you an idea of how well riders are actually performing.
SportingNonsense will put up files after the transfer period. Now it's time you choose your races. New teams will start in the Continental Division, so they will have a much wider choice of races. There are 2 kind of races; HC races and C1 races. You can choose 12 HC races for the season, out of a list of 20. HC races are more highly contested and give more points. You prioritize this races from 1 to 20, hoping that you'll get your first 12 choices appointed .
After this, you get another file with all races to choose from. The 12 HC races you got are already filled in on this excel sheet. Now you can fill up the remaining race days. In total you get 150 race days, and the more you use, the more points you can get. So try to use them all 150.
If all this is completed, it's time for the final step. You will get a file that lists all your races and all your riders. Now you choose which line-up you send to which race. Sounds simple, but be careful, as your choice can not be changed afterwards.
More detailed information
### Race days
Spoiler
ProContinental teams will get 175 race days this season.
Continental teams will get 150 race days this season. Why less? Well you will have less riders to use in those race days!
### Eligibility
Spoiler
For Continental teams, you can send any rider to C2 races.
For ProContinental teams, you are limited to:
- Any level 1, 2 or 3 rider - regardless of average.
- Any level 4 rider (maxed or otherwise) whose average is less than 72.
The team size for each C2 race is 7 riders, just like C1.
Non-ProTour teams can apply for a wildcard to enter some PT races. This costs them money. Points earned in PT races will not count for the rankings, but it is a good way to gain experience for riders with XP level 3 and 4. There's some info in this thread: https://pcmdaily.c...d_id=12379
Everyone has send in their line-up, so now it's time to enjoy the game. The races will be ridden by reporters. They will bring up a thread when the race comes near with a preview. In this place you can also discuss the race as it goes on. The reporter controls the 'Control Team'. A team with crappy riders that won't interact with the race. So it's AI vs AI, and if your team fails, blame PCM and not the reporters.
This will be really helpful for people that are seeing the game for the first time. I remember before I joined, I hard a hard time understanding everything because it was all scattered. Good job!
Nice initiative, i was also a bit lost at all the information all over the place last season, i had to add every page with info to favourites. This is much better.
