So the first time I played Pro Cyclist Mode in PCM 15, I liked it, but by the end of my career I was racing against old, worn out and decrepit versions of the stage racers we love today, not to mention the fantasy racers who were young riders when you started your career. I think it was an oversight by Cyanide to not include an option or in fact make the whole mode about racing up to the current year, not past it.
Luckily it seems there are many talented DB makers and while it may not turn out perfectly (transfers, etc), it should be possible to start with a circa 2006-2009 field of cyclists, and then when you reach your peak you will actually be able to challenge the best riders we get to watch today.
Many of the databases with these riders in them exist at least back to 2009. Also, for a company like Cyanide it probably wouldn't have been a stretch to script the correct transfers, etc to make sure the riders got on the right teams by 2016, but maybe not possible for a custom DB.
Ideally we could have different eras, since I'm guessing most of us playing are not 18 years old, and have our own favorite era of cycling, and to be able to race in your favorite would be pretty cool. At least cooler than racing against riders no one has ever heard of in your 10th season.
The easiest way to compete with the best racers of today by the time you reach your peak would be to set their birthdate to around the same as your ProCycling rider and lower their characteristics accordingly
zuff wrote:
The easiest way to compete with the best racers of today by the time you reach your peak would be to set their birthdate to around the same as your ProCycling rider and lower their characteristics accordingly
I think it would be even easier to change the starting year of the career so we only have to lower the characteristics.
I just took the (un)-official real name DB and tried it out by setting the year 2013 and adjusting the stats. (Declining riders will have higher stats, all other riders have lower stats based on a formula which should consider the development speed.)
Obviously some riders in the DB will only be 15 when starting in 2013 but the first test was successful because the game did not crash when starting a career.
@Lachi I'm glad there is someone with so much experience with the databases interested in the idea. I hope more people decide to take a look and see what is possible.
I guess I should have mentioned that I ran nearly a full career in Pro Cyclist Mode with the 1991 db by Sali, and it worked mostly ok for me. I think that DB has been updated since I used it, as there were some graphics issues with the non 3d interface. I did the same with other historical databases in PCM 15, and never had any issues, other than things like team sponsor names changing (Inbrew), and Nairo Quintana riding for Sky, haha. (this also happens with the PCMDaily db)
I can understand the problem with very young riders if the date is set back. Also, how to introduce young riders when starting with a db for the 2009 season, other than having those riders start at 13-15, kinda weird, but still better than getting a fantasy name imho.
I'll give your DB a little run and let you know if I have any issues, might take a bit of time, unless it explodes spectacularly (which I doubt).
The problem I have with this mode is that it's too unrealistic - I mean I propelled my rider into second season (with the default db as the PCM Village one crashes the game) and two riders from Bulgaria were signed by Sky and FDJ while in AG2R my rider had Uzbek for teammate. Also it's annoying that the birth date for my rider is by default on January 1st (this should be fixed in PCM 17).
@Lachi There is no problem that I can see with your date changed DB, other than what is discussed with quite young riders, and also retired or retiring riders. If you go back to to just 2012 with this current DB, you lose the TDF winner, Wiggins. I imagine adding in retired riders is easier than that the young rider problem. One issue, 2 years of TDF (2013,2014) and Sagan hasn't scored a single point in the green jersey competition . The DB also seems to have fixed the problem with the results page (recent results), stages in incorrect order. I believe I had that problem with the default DB, and also PCMDaily pack, still happens with PCMDaily pack but not yours.
@Ivaneurope - It's not perfect, and I agree, the transfers are always strange, and unrealistic. Seems the AI for transfers doesn't take into account what a teams goals are (sprints/stage races/classics) at all. After a couple of years its a mess. The game is too easy too, but I handicap myself using potentials and editing to make it actually hard to progress to winner. I've managed to get all the way to 22!!! without winning a race, and mostly forced to work for other riders, but it's getting too easy to play the AI patterns. There are a lot of improvements to be made, and it shouldn't take 3 years and 3 games to get the basics down.
When I get the order to lead out the sprint train, none of my teammates follow me, (ever) in the closing Kms of the race... In previous tries I've just ridden away from the peloton and won. Sometimes the peloton sits up with 3k to go too, with or without a breakaway, very strange. This may be a problem with difficulty, I've read someone elses post about this on hard, I don't remember them sitting up on normal, but I wasn't leading out a lot of sprints in that career.
. The DB also seems to have fixed the problem with the results page (recent results), stages in incorrect order. I believe I had that problem with the default DB, and also PCMDaily pack, still happens with PCMDaily pack but not yours.
