I’ve read a lot of comment about difficulty setting being too easy on hard therefore I thought it could be useful for some people if I’d share the way I play.
Mostly I play on Ironman style ( no pause unless I have to go to the bathroom ).
I use a lot of the automatic strategy and focus mainly on my 2 or 3 leader unles i’m riding a sprinter train ( or mountain)
Here’s my setting:
Difficulty : Normal ( no pause) I manage what I can in real time anything else is the will of the AI.
Mouse ( 7 button Logitech)
Thumbs button 1 : attack / sprint
Thumbs button 2 : dot
Scroll button left : relay
Scroll button push : maintain
Scroll button right : automatic
This way I can react quickly and I DONT NEED to be on the rider to give order ( I can be looking from far back in the peloton)
To counterattack I select the rider and push S to follow.
This is giving me pretty realistic results that fit my rider stats.
This is the most realistic way I found to play and like a sport director I have to make heartbreaking decisions and sometimes let my second leader on the AI and just trust him.
My group are always the same :
Key 1: sprinter or leader
Key 2 : leader
Key 3 : protected rider
Key 4 : protected rider
So mostly 1 to 4 is sort by importance.
At the beginning of the race I select all four to be on key 1 and select maintain 80. ( it is easier this way) when time get hotter I put back only the main leader/sprinter on key 1.
Key 5 is always the escape.
Key 6 is the rescue team (if my leader fall) could be useful for relay as well.
If a sprint finish is expected key 1 to 4 is becoming my train ( combined with the mouse button this is pretty easy to manage.) If I have a leader to protect I put him at the end of my train following my sprinter and I forget about him.
Feel free to comment, add suggestions and criticized if needed
Edit : when I prepare my train about 40k ahead of the sprint I put all rider in the train. On the second order square I put dot 80 to 99 from the first to the last rider ( sprinter) the I select back the first square ( left) . This way when I use the mouse button it works. If you don’t do that you will only change the second order button and that won’t work. I lunch my sprinter about 1.2 my lead out about 2 third rider about 5 and fourth rider about 8k at 99.
Edited by Patb095 on 02-08-2019 17:46
MacC wrote:
Do you win any sprints that way? I find in PCM 2019 the sprint starts far later
Not all of them because I don’t pause but I’m always in good position (top 5) if I have a good sprinter obviously.
I know that 2019 has changed and that’s why I didn’t buy it. I wasn’t expecting that much from the new team of developers. ( not enough time to get the hang of it )
MartijnVDD wrote:
When I leave people on automatic, they usually start chasing their teammate in the breakaway or fetch water bottles right before a big climb...
I always send a guy manually for water bottles before a climb. I put 4 rider on maintain position and everything else’s on automatic.
I always do 2 leader in the strategy screen ( or sprinter + leader)
1 leader with 2 teammates ( 1 domestic and a good climber) that way the domestic always protect first the leader until he gets dropped. Same for the second leader.
The trick is to plan ahead, if you know the cycling strategy it is a very predictive game.
).
