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dave atkinson.
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August 26, 2013 at 5:30 pm #19702
drheaton
Autumn is here, the Vuelta has started and we're beginning to think about the World Championships. That means that it's the traditional time for me to open up a 'suggestion' and 'request' thread where you can outline how you'd like the game to change for next season and what you think has worked particularly well this year.
Despite the fact that I'm now involved in a small way with running the game (namely, updating start lists and results) as in previous years this is very much unofficial and just a place for everyone to get together and bounce some ideas around. Nothing may come of them but Dave has always been great at incorporating good ideas from the community where possible.
For reference, you can find the 2012 and 2013 threads here:
"Suggestions for the 2013 season"
So, what do you think has worked well this year and what would you like to see change?
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I’m personally unsure on the
I’m personally unsure on the Captain idea.The way it was initially phrased is that you pick a captain and he’s fixed within your team for the entire race. That’s an interesting concept because, as much as double points for Froome would have been great during the Tour would you really have wanted to keep him in your team throughout the race? Would those 40 credits have been put to better use by being able to bring in sprinters for the flat stages? Would double points for a GC/climber be worth what you’re losing on the flat stages by having credits locked up in someone who won’t score? That poses an interesting tactical dilemma.
On the other hand, just nominating one rider to get double points for a stage wouldn’t, for me, make much difference. Most people would pick an obvious choice and if you went for a risky rider then you’re screwed even more than now if it doesn’t pay off. It also puts us into the realms of one rider being worth nearly 200 points if he’s your captain and gets in a high scoring/stage winning break. I don’t like the idea of one rider being able to score that highly, it adds too big a random element to the scoring for my tastes.
Then again, if everyone else likes the captain idea I’m sure I’ll learn to live with it 😀
Stumps
The captain idea was just a
The captain idea was just a floater for people to express their thoughts. Yes picking Sagan for the last usa race was a dead cert however there are other races where the outcome is not set in stone and as DrH said a 100 point lead cant usually be caught but pick the right captain and you can close that down quite quickly.Anyway it was just a thought thats all.
As for more races then its a big no from me, there are already a lot of races and to fit more in then you will have to drop some of the lesser ones which tends to defeat the purpose.
abudhabiChris wrote:I would
abudhabiChris wrote:I would still like to see more variability in pricing based on supply and demand.If you take the gamble and put a low-cost dark horse in your team who does well then you should get the payoff by being able to sell him at a profit a few days later when everyone else starts picking him.
The surplus is banked to your overall budget. Equally if you jump on the bandwagon or stick to safe, percentage picks then you risk buying high and selling low if your rider doesn’t perform as expected.
It could operate within windows to avoid a disadvantage to people who come to the game just for the Tour, for example.
This sounds very much like the system in place two or three years ago where riders values varied based on popularity and form.
It was a fun system but had a few problems. The main one was that it effectively meant that whoever did well in the first few days already had a two or three credit advantage over most other players giving them a near insurmountable advantage.
I know that in the current system it’s near impossible to catch someone 100 points ahead of you unless they mess up but also giving that person a budget advantage would make it totally impossible.
I like the current system where rider values vary with form but are fixed for each competition. That means a rider like Quintana is priced according to his form and ability rather than being a fixed price from the start of the year. I think the current system is a good compromise.
KirinChris
Agree with the comments from
Agree with the comments from drheaton about the need for consistency in races and selection times, especially in the spring races.I’m not particularly keen to see more races, men or women. I think there are possibly a few too many already. The key to what races to include is whether they will have previews and team/rider information on the various news sites and rider info lists, so that should be obvious from previous seasons.
On the pricing yes it was difficult in the Tour but it is the same for everyone.
Liked the transfers carry over and accumulation. But would like to have a rider crash or injury withdrawal as an extra pick.
Badges – mildly amusing but not a key feature for me.
However I would still like to see more variability in pricing based on supply and demand.
If you take the gamble and put a low-cost dark horse in your team who does well then you should get the payoff by being able to sell him at a profit a few days later when everyone else starts picking him.
The surplus is banked to your overall budget. Equally if you jump on the bandwagon or stick to safe, percentage picks then you risk buying high and selling low if your rider doesn’t perform as expected.
It could operate within windows to avoid a disadvantage to people who come to the game just for the Tour, for example.
backflipbedlem
chrisdstripes wrote:Badges
chrisdstripes wrote:Badges are fun – it would be nice if we could see at-a-glance what the highest number was for each badge (eg if I have 10 “high roller” badges and I click on that, it would tell me that the most anyone has is, say, 27 – so I can see how good or otherwise my total is). Or I guess I could just look at Wig_Billy’s profile!
Yea I like the idea of a leaderboard for each badge, that way it gives you an incentive to move up those as well.Possibly a badge for top 5/6 riders in a stage, like Wig_Billy had the other day, double podium.
chrisdstripes
I really like it as it is –
I really like it as it is – the values can be a bit haphazard as previously discussed but loads of suggestions have been made on previous threads (mine included) and don’t need revisiting. I reckon with the values, we should trust you guys to decide how to alter things (if at all) and just play the game accordingly.Badges are fun – it would be nice if we could see at-a-glance what the highest number was for each badge (eg if I have 10 “high roller” badges and I click on that, it would tell me that the most anyone has is, say, 27 – so I can see how good or otherwise my total is). Or I guess I could just look at Wig_Billy’s profile!
Agree with Ghedebrav, never been keen on the “captain” idea for fantasy games.
A small number of women’s races would be good, as long as you can be sure of being able to get all the relevant info in time. Personally I wouldn’t want to see many more races though – I’d like the option to go for a high overall placing by playing every race (as I have this year) without having to commit even more time to it! Adding more races could push more people to start only playing selective races, which might backfire longer-term. Or it might not! I’d just be wary of it, thats all.
No other suggestions – its a great game, well-designed website and committed volunteers helping to run it. Got to be happy with that. 🙂
Here is some previous
Here is some previous discussion on badgeshttp://road.cc/content/forum/83457-achievements-understanding
Personally I really like the ‘Bookend’ badge idea.
TERatcliffe26
In terms of south american
In terms of south american races, I think the one that stands out is the Tour de San Luis which runs alongside TDU, and attracts some really big namesAgain Langkawai would be the obvious one
The only problem with both of these is the extra riders teams that would need adding
Ghedebrav
I’ve really enjoyed the game
I’ve really enjoyed the game so far (playing premium). Slight downers were the aforementioned squad-pickin’ difficulty in the TdF (though it’s made Murilo Fischer a damned site more famous than he would otherwise have been) and the odd bit of deadline confusion.As to the calendar, I’m happy to see flexibility on what’s in/out, though I’ve generally enjoyed everything (And it was great to have the Strade Bianchi and Roma Maxima in there, two races I would’ve missed otherwise) – the scheduling and race choice has been pretty much spot on. If it were up to me, I’d like to see a race from Africa or South America, or even something like Langkawi – but I’m probably in a minority there.
WHAT ABOUT ACTUAL SUGGESTIONS THEN?
1. Another row of badges would be cool. 20k, zero points on a stage, TT stage win etc. and maybe one ridiculously hard-to-achieve one (like having all nine riders finish top ten). Maybe a Rule #5 badge for when two or more of your riders abandon a stage?
2. As mentioned elsewhere, a women’s race, an African race and a South American race would all be great.
3. Can I make a vote *against* the captain idea? For example, in the US Pro challenge recently, everyone would’ve just made Peter Sagan captain and scored ridiculous amounts of points. But really, I’ve never liked the idea in Fantasy Football either.
4. That’s it. The mechanics of the game are great and work very well, and frankly I wouldn’t change them at all.
Being a new player since the
Being a new player since the Giro, I’ve found the game dynamic to work really well, the inclusion of the badges is a nice touch and gives people something to aim for, but can see that once you’ve got them they lose their novelty a bit. So would really like some more badges to aim for, possibly some Grand Tour specific ones.
Also like the idea of linking badges with jerseys. Being a budget cyclist I’m always desperate for freebies! 😉Don’t think a double point captain would work. Or rather like not having captain picks dictate league position, as it so often does with the football.
Overall really love this game, much better than fantasy football.
Gkam84
sm wrote:1. Mobile app. You
sm wrote:1. Mobile app. You know it makes sense!Its in the works, I’m still working on a format before putting it to Dave and the Road.cc team, because it may cost a little to put together :B
Agree to a degree with Gkam
Agree to a degree with Gkam on the number of races, my take is that its should be the WT races + Tour of Britain, the two American races, a couple of the early races where is a big gap (tour of med, tour of algarve) + a couple of the bigger 2nd tier classics.As for the rest, more badges would be good to keep interest throughout the year.
In the main I think it has worked pretty well, and after the classics blip has been pretty much smooth sailing
Stumps
Only one change from me, a
Only one change from me, a captain scenario like fantasy footie.Pick your captain for the start of a race and you keep him throughout and he scores double points for you in each stage whether its a one dayer or a stage race.
All in all i’ve enjoyed this season a lot even though i haven’t done to well.
sm
The game is great. Two
The game is great. Two requests, one big, one small.
1. Mobile app. You know it makes sense!
2. Big warning if you are playing purist and are making transfers in the middle of the spring classics and get confused about the unlimited transfer windows. Almost lost my purist status!I have to say that the pricing in Vuelta made picking a team harder and more enjoyable as a result of having more choice.
Agreed, some women’s races
Agreed, some women’s races would be good. Regarding non-world tour races I’m not sure, I really enjoyed some of the early ones like the Tour de Med and Tour of the Algarve, just a case of getting the right balance.There are plenty of big gaps in the world tour calendar and plenty of big non-world tour races there to fill those gaps, just a case of using the right races at the right time.
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