Pro Cycling Manager - anyone played it

[Tuarts]

Question for DT and anyone else, but is PCM 10 better to play than '09? Or should I stick to 09?

Can't believe the size of the '11 PCM (for '10) db...

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

any news on the 12 pcm yet? have learned all the tricks in the book in this game now and need something new

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

any news on the 12 pcm yet? have learned all the tricks in the book in this game now and need something new

there's a lot of news... see pcm.daily.com

completely new ingame interface, you can tell a rider which position he should sit in now, so easier than the old system where you had to do it manually. Same with the follow button. You can also observe the gap to a rider of your choice. Sprint trains should be easier to form now..
They change the algorithms for the type of rider, the stats of scouted riders are better and now there is a chance of finding someone like Sagan who can do geat things in their 1st year. (previously scouted riders were crap and it took years to grow them).
The whole management has a lot changes as well, you can now recon stages. The whole training camp idea has been revamped. The algorithms which decide a riders season goals have changed.
3 divisions have been implemented like in real life and the real life participation rules have been applied, same for promotion/relegation i reckon... Well too much to name all here

 

[Parrulo]

there's a lot of news... see pcm.daily.com

completely new ingame interface, you can tell a rider which position he should sit in now, so easier than the old system where you had to do it manually. Same with the follow button. You can also observe the gap to a rider of your choice. Sprint trains should be easier to form now..
They change the algorithms for the type of rider, the stats of scouted riders are better and now there is a chance of finding someone like Sagan who can do geat things in their 1st year. (previously scouted riders were crap and it took years to grow them).
The whole management has a lot changes as well, you can now recon stages. The whole training camp idea has been revamped. The algorithms which decide a riders season goals have changed.
3 divisions have been implemented like in real life and the real life participation rules have been applied, same for promotion/relegation i reckon... Well too much to name all here

sounds like are really stepping it up!!!!

can you give more detail on the bold part? i didn't quit get it also what kind of effect on a riders performance can reckoning a stage have?

 

[Tuarts]

Is there a way in one of the editors or files to change who the AI picks to ride in a race? So say you want to race a GT and you want certain riders for Astana riding but not others who the AI may pick is there a feature to automatically make them pick one rider over another?

 

[Caruut]

Are you familiar with any of the editors?

I think if you go to DYN_cyclist, there should be a column that says they are registered in a particular race. You'll probably have to check the race ID and cross-reference it or something. One of the PCM forums would be a much better place to ask this question though.

http://www.pcmdaily.com

 

[Caruut]

sounds like are really stepping it up!!!!

can you give more detail on the bold part? i didn't quit get it also what kind of effect on a riders performance can reckoning a stage have?

I believe that you now have to pre-register the riders for races.

 

[dlwssonic]

Anyone having problems with your riders not peaking for their races??

 

[Parrulo]

Anyone having problems with your riders not peaking for their races??

not really, peaking is extremely easy on PCM, i have more then once hit the mountains in the giro with all my mountain doms at 99 of shape, the guys for the flat either come from the classics or and youngsters so their shape is never as good

 

[The Hitch]

Was doing mur de bretagne stage, was called downstairs urgently, and by the time i came back, stage had played out and rujano (i am androni) had lost 6 minutes

Tour over already.

 

[Caruut]

You have to make sure that they're on the right fitness schedule. I have all my riders on an individual custom schedule tailored to their season goals.

One of my protected riders is Greg van Avarmaet. For him, his main season goal is the Ronde van Vlaanderen, so I go to edit schedules and click the 1st week of April until it's dark green (the max form). Since I also want him to be in pretty good shape for MSR (March week 3), this is good. Now for him to play any kind of role in MSR, I want him to be in about 90 shape, so at least 10 or so days of racing before MSR is vital, and then pretty much fit in another 10 between then and the Ronde. From there, depending on how heavily I want to race the rest of the season, I will either put Paris-Roubaix dark green, or leave it light green.

My two summer season options for him are:

1) Peak for nationals and TdF.
OR
2) Peak for Vuelta and WC.

For option 1, race the traditional Tour build up races, and have max green for the first week of the tour, as he's a sprinter. Then the week of nats and the last two weeks of the Tour should be light green.

For option 2, race some Vuelta build-up races, and keep form light green over the Vuelta, hitting dark green for the week of the WCs.

Press 'evaluate' while editing schedules to see what fatigue will be like - there is not much point peaking for a race if you've trained so hard you can barely ride.

So basically, make sure you have you training schedule hitting the right form at the right points, and also make sure that you're fitting in enough race days (can be as easy as a prologue or as hard as a MTF). Then finally, keep under 60 race days. Max racing fitness decreases by half a point for each race day over 60. In practice, this means that you really shouldn't have a race leader with more than about 65 race days.

To sum up, plan ahead!

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Was doing mur de bretagne stage, was called downstairs urgently, and by the time i came back, stage had played out and rujano (i am androni) had lost 6 minutes

Tour over already.

Bloomin' real life

 

[The Hitch]

there's a lot of news... see pcm.daily.com

completely new ingame interface, you can tell a rider which position he should sit in now, so easier than the old system where you had to do it manually. Same with the follow button. You can also observe the gap to a rider of your choice. Sprint trains should be easier to form now..
They change the algorithms for the type of rider, the stats of scouted riders are better and now there is a chance of finding someone like Sagan who can do geat things in their 1st year. (previously scouted riders were crap and it took years to grow them).
The whole management has a lot changes as well, you can now recon stages. The whole training camp idea has been revamped. The algorithms which decide a riders season goals have changed.
3 divisions have been implemented like in real life and the real life participation rules have been applied, same for promotion/relegation i reckon... Well too much to name all here

is contador going to be in ? Actually since I've never managed a full season i don't know if riders who are banned at the start come back.

 

[Froome19]

is contador going to be in ? Actually since I've never managed a full season i don't know if riders who are banned at the start come back.

I dont know about in the normal DBs but they are pretty awful. The pcm daily one used to make the banned riders serve out their ban, yet that caused an error which resulted in the game crashing if you clicked on the profile of a banned riders. So instead they now just make the banned riders free agents who come back the next season by sigining with new teams. I personally cant really resists signing some of them before the season starts yet of course that kills my wage bill and i need to release riders as well.

 

[will10]

In the current PCMdaily DB, Contador is contracted to Saxo but doesn't race before his ban is up. I don't know what the plan is for PCM12 but I'd hope a similarly elegant solution is possible.

 

[Caruut]

In the current PCMdaily DB, Contador is contracted to Saxo but doesn't race before his ban is up. I don't know what the plan is for PCM12 but I'd hope a similarly elegant solution is possible.

Have seen people putting in injuries that last until the ban is up.

 

[The Hitch]

Heres a "what would you do scenario".

I am in the Tour of Austria and have the 2nd and 3rd best climbers in the race- who are about equal, but the first best climber has proved capable of dropping both on previous stages.

The profile is 20k mountain climb, 20k descent, 20 climb again and 20k descent to the finish.

No other riders are in contention for gc but they do make it quite far on stages to help reel in attacks.

Where would you attack?

 

[Gloin22]

If you want to win - keep with the bets GC guy until the decent and attack on decent until half red is gone and then dot reasonably. That should prove you win the stage easily. OF course on last mountain before descent protect the 1st guy with 2nd and use dot to stay with your opponents.

Or if you want fun way just create havoc on first moutnain and try to do some splits. Use your 2nd best guy on dot to create splits in the peleton and on last moutnain begin early with your best guy and dot. He might succeed or not, this is more risky.

Dont attack, it's a waste of energy. Dot on the moutnains. Attack ondecent and use dot to pace him.

 

[Tuarts]

Well PCM 10 is certainly different.

Normal is rather easy in comparison to previous version. My playing ability was always on the edge of Normal/Hard so I guess I'll just stay on Hard for the version . Not sure what sprinting was like pre-patches but in 07, 09 was usually always a strugglefest getting trains right, finding the right wheel whereas now it seems you can get a 3-4 man train happening easy. I've also seen "slingshot" sprints by the AI which I'm not quite sure what it is caused by but certainly leaves a wtf moment when someone (usually a good sprinter) suddenly zooms past in a sprint from the middle of the pack.

I love what PCMdaily and it may be the bane of increasing knowledge of cycling and riders, but their databases seem way out of whack, Rabobank (in 2011db) for example seem almost godlike, did you have anything to do with their rides DT? Graeme Brown is 3 SP off Cavendish, crazy.

Still, the work they do is great and there's a ton of info on the site for editing and creating of your own so can't question enthusiasm or dedication.

 

[Gloin22]

Well PCM 10 is certainly different.

Normal is rather easy in comparison to previous version. My playing ability was always on the edge of Normal/Hard so I guess I'll just stay on Hard for the version . Not sure what sprinting was like pre-patches but in 07, 09 was usually always a strugglefest getting trains right, finding the right wheel whereas now it seems you can get a 3-4 man train happening easy. I've also seen "slingshot" sprints by the AI which I'm not quite sure what it is caused by but certainly leaves a wtf moment when someone (usually a good sprinter) suddenly zooms past in a sprint from the middle of the pack.

I love what PCMdaily and it may be the bane of increasing knowledge of cycling and riders, but their databases seem way out of whack, Rabobank (in 2011db) for example seem almost godlike, did you have anything to do with their rides DT? Graeme Brown is 3 SP off Cavendish, crazy.

Still, the work they do is great and there's a ton of info on the site for editing and creating of your own so can't question enthusiasm or dedication.

I'd agree with that. If the stage was 10 km long he would have great sprint, he has **** hill, flat and stamina stats making it for him almost impossible to use his speed over any longer or stages with even tiny hills.

 

[will10]

Well PCM 10 is certainly different.

Normal is rather easy in comparison to previous version. My playing ability was always on the edge of Normal/Hard so I guess I'll just stay on Hard for the version . Not sure what sprinting was like pre-patches but in 07, 09 was usually always a strugglefest getting trains right, finding the right wheel whereas now it seems you can get a 3-4 man train happening easy. I've also seen "slingshot" sprints by the AI which I'm not quite sure what it is caused by but certainly leaves a wtf moment when someone (usually a good sprinter) suddenly zooms past in a sprint from the middle of the pack.

I love what PCMdaily and it may be the bane of increasing knowledge of cycling and riders, but their databases seem way out of whack, Rabobank (in 2011db) for example seem almost godlike, did you have anything to do with their rides DT? Graeme Brown is 3 SP off Cavendish, crazy.

Still, the work they do is great and there's a ton of info on the site for editing and creating of your own so can't question enthusiasm or dedication.

You shouldn't look blindly at the sprint stat, the secondary stats are equally important. Chris Hoy would have 85/85 sprint/acceleration but his secondary stats would prevent him from reaching the sprint at a Tour stage with anything to give. You won't see Graeme Brown beating Cavendish in a 3d race

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Well PCM 10 is certainly different.

Normal is rather easy in comparison to previous version. My playing ability was always on the edge of Normal/Hard so I guess I'll just stay on Hard for the version . Not sure what sprinting was like pre-patches but in 07, 09 was usually always a strugglefest getting trains right, finding the right wheel whereas now it seems you can get a 3-4 man train happening easy. I've also seen "slingshot" sprints by the AI which I'm not quite sure what it is caused by but certainly leaves a wtf moment when someone (usually a good sprinter) suddenly zooms past in a sprint from the middle of the pack.

I love what PCMdaily and it may be the bane of increasing knowledge of cycling and riders, but their databases seem way out of whack, Rabobank (in 2011db) for example seem almost godlike, did you have anything to do with their rides DT? Graeme Brown is 3 SP off Cavendish, crazy.

Still, the work they do is great and there's a ton of info on the site for editing and creating of your own so can't question enthusiasm or dedication.

I did barely any DB work for PCM Daily since PCM 2009 and I certainly didn't rate Graeme Brown that high in any version
Actually, PCM 09 is the last time i did stats work for Daily.
In 2010 and 2011 I've done some minor notes for Full Cycling Manager DB, but not much (just some help with small teams)

 

[Gloin22]

Checking it now Brown has only 76 in SPR while Cav has 84 so big margin AS well as what will10 and I pointed out earlier. Resistance, Stamina, Flat and Hills are equally as imporant for a sprinter as the sprint stat.

 

[Tuarts]

Graeme Brown was just one simple, example. I'm not going to list them all nor am I going to play the game listing all the things I think wrong with the DB. He's list at 77SP + 80SP in this db, remember its PCM'10 with pcmdaily's '11 db. I know what other stats have an effect on sprinting but the 2 main ones are sprinting and acceleration, which is why I pointed them out. Really, as I said in the post its more likely just my knowledge now that means I can make these comments, I certainly didn't have the same cycling know-how in '07 and sometimes with these games it can frustrate you, which is why I don't play FM as the team I'm a fan of.

 

[maltiv]

Graeme Brown was just one simple, example. I'm not going to list them all nor am I going to play the game listing all the things I think wrong with the DB. He's list at 77SP + 80SP in this db, remember its PCM'10 with pcmdaily's '11 db. I know what other stats have an effect on sprinting but the 2 main ones are sprinting and acceleration, which is why I pointed them out. Really, as I said in the post its more likely just my knowledge now that means I can make these comments, I certainly didn't have the same cycling know-how in '07 and sometimes with these games it can frustrate you, which is why I don't play FM as the team I'm a fan of.

You can just edit the stats yourself, you know. I usually do that when it's obvious that the stats are wrong (for example, I recently improved De Gendt's mountain stats...)