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Suggestions/requests for the 2014 season
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?
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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124 comments
I think Women's races next year are almost a certainty and I agree on the smaller races, this year we've tried some new races but I think going forwards if races are consistently not providing information early enough they may get cut. I do enjoy the small early season stage races though like the Volta Algarve and Tour de Med.
I really liked your suggestion that we add the Tour Mediterranean and the Volta Algarve. As far as the smaller races that are hard to get info for, which might get cut, which are the ones that you are thinking of? I don't think I can see all the races we had this year so I'm not sure which ones you might be referring to that we might lose.
As far as the information you say is difficult to get, I think most of it has to do with the scoring, right? If it saves any of these smaller races, which I admittedly don't know which they are, maybe you could just score them like you do the Classics, no KOM, no PC, no Young Rider and giving the guys in the break 10 points at the half-way mark...
I'm ok with it! Nice to mix it up here and there
I hope you don't get rid of these next year. I really like those races a lot. I read through the thread you posted and didn't find any issues about info being hard to find except for a race I know nothing about (Le Samyn) where there was no information like the start list, the profiles etc... being available. Yeah, I agree, if you can't get the profile and a start list, it's not much fun preparing for the race... I also saw someone suggested adding San Luis. I hope we do!
I'm with you.
I like this idea. Can I suggest something that might be pretty cool to look at before this one gets rolled out? Dave, could we have a Roadcc Fantasy Cycling Top 20 or so for each of the stage classifications, Top 20, and their total points accrued, for Flat Finishes, Top 20, and their total points accrued, for High Mountains, by the way does that include High Mountain Summit Finishes, Top 20, and their total points accrued, for Medium Mountians? I think it'd be kind of cool to see the riders sorted out in place by how they did in each type of stage and their total points, if possible, by type of stage.
Good idea, that.
Gkam, does the Rankings page currently include the last points that were earned by the riders in the last competiton of 2013? Just wondering if those got included or if what we see on that page was the last Ranking before the last race...
I like this idea. Only Wig_Billy will kill us
Aside from this change, i wouldn't take too many major changes - you've pretty much got the best fantasy cycling game around imo.
Hear, hear.. yeah!
Bad idea.
Want to elaborate on that at all?
Yes, will it effect the scoring (or anything really) of anyone who does not partake in all of the races?
much less so than currently if you miss a smaller race
I like the idea and we should give it a go.
I do not have a problem with overlapping races, particularly if they are a stage race and one day races. Sometimes it is a bit of a pain if you cannot watch both races at the same time.
Wow. It looks like lots of female riders are being added to the TDU women's teams. How about that?
Hell, complicate things, why not? Do all of these... It really doesn't matter... The diehards will still compete in all the competitions possible...
I didn't know there was a woman's TDU
I was just trying to spark some debate, because the forum is quiet, so I stuck some females riders in the roster changes.
I'm in the process of loading woman riders in and changing all the teams around
I agree, I've really really enjoyed some of the small races this year like the Volta Algarve and I'd hate to see them cut entirely. That's part of the reason they're premium, so you have the option of playing them or not.
The problem is, not everyone wants to put all that planning and effort into picking a team every week as it sometimes feels in the spring.
That's why, for me, the best thing for the game would be to stop people feeling like they HAVE to play every race and let everyone choose what they WANT to play and what they want to skip.
Getting rid of the overall table might help, or even restricting it to a 'core' of races such as the standard races and abandoning the overall for premium races so premium players can skip a premium race and not feel like they're losing out.
I suppose my big issue against the captain idea is, if I'm honest, a gut reaction. I just don't see the need for it.
But if it's what the people want, then fair enough
2 pennorth on the calendar - I like having lots of races, the more the merrier. One of the big plusses of the fantasy game is the educational aspect - following the lesser-known races has vastly increased my knowledge of riders and teams, and has actually augmented my enjoyment of the sport as a result (as well as making me even angrier at Phil 'n' Paul's gaffes).
It's definitely an interesting idea, especially if you're forced to keep that rider in your team becuase you have to balance the positives of getting double points for someone like Froome in the mountains or Sagan on the flat against having 40 credits tied up in a rider for the entire race.
I haven't looked into it but based on a rough points score of 450 for Froome in the Tour having him as captain would double that (or, if it's just double stage points maybe add another 250-300) but how many points would you lose out on by not being able to have Cav or Sagan in your team on the flat? Cav scored maybe 350 points, Sagan up at 450 as well so that's potentially a lot of lost points.
It's interesting but also full of pitfalls. What happens if you picked Wiggins as your Giro captain? Are you forced to keep him in your team even after he withdraws? Can you re-allocate your captain if your original one drops out?
Personally, depending on the implementation, I'd be tempted to pick a cheap guy as my captain so I get potentially double points if he gets in the break or features on any stage finishes, then I'd use my free credits to put together a better team on each stage than I would be able to if I had 40 credits locked up in my captain.
Sorry to harp on about it but the capt idea was to keep the same rider as capt throughout the race so for instance you pick Froome for the TdF then on the flat stages where he comes in the peloton you get no points but on the mountain stages he can score double if he's in the points and like Cav on the mountains he is likely not to score in the top 20.
Basically its down to working out who you think will score regularly in the stages throughout a race. In the one dayers its a bit easier just picking Spartacus but it works much better in the multiple stage races.
A few extra badges would be great(especially like the 20,000 one).
Jerseys is a great idea for the Grand Tours
I imagine the percentage of people who regularly keep up to date with their team throughout a whole GT is low - due to time/life constraints.
A great medium between the involvement of having a purist team and having to change your team every day would be too focus on one jersey and know you can bank transfers on the flat days and not have to log in for a while because you are focusing on the KOM jersey - and vice versa.
also a great option of interest for day 2 onwards when you realise you aren't gonna win the thing and stage hunting is more hit and miss.
Just one complication the captain idea could cause especially changing on a daily basis, is people forgetting to change it, as its an added emphasis to need to come on each day even if they don't wish to make transfers etc. For me its one thing forgetting to make transfers, thats part and parcel of it, you still have a team if don't make transfers, but its another thing when you have your team set up with say froome and Cav and one day you have froome (captain) then next days its flat so you would put Cav as captain, but as you didn't need to make transfers or whatever, or chose to as you couldn't get on, you could almost be double whammy by not getting to change your captain.
The difference with cycling compared to say football where the captain idea is implemented is that with cycling you can have 21 stages in 21 days with multiple different stage types and puts emphasis on you remembering to change it, whereas with football you change it every week (every game), however if you have Van Persie as your captain and forget to change him it is still likely he will be playing and could still score high points, whereas its unlikely forgetting to change J-Rod on a mountain stage to say Cav on flat stage will yield J-Rod winning (or high placing) the flat stage and offsetting no change in captain.
I think generally the specifics of cycling don't lend themselves quite to a captain idea as football, in football anyone of your 11 players can do well and score high points (so any player who plays that weekend could do well), with the opposition coming into play, whereas with cycling the terrain is more dictatory and thus you know the category of riders more likely to score well on such a stage and just reduces the potential pool of riders as captain and thus seeing many people pick the same captain.
Again my views may not be echoed, i just see it as an added complication that wouldn't actually change the overall winner, but actually just further the gap between top and bottom. (also in football the amount of points awarded per game for certain aspects are much lower than you see in cycling, lending for easier making up of ground through the captain idea, and not too much lost if you get it wrong)
I agree with everything you've said but this point for me is the most important.
Whenever you change the rules or scoring with a view to 'giving people a chance to catch someone ahead of them' as some people think the Captain idea will allow everyone seems to forget that the person out in front will ALSO be making captain picks and by the virtue of them being in front of you (therefore having made better picks in the race to date) they're likely to have also made better captain picks and therefore be even further ahead.
It's just natural that after 18 of 21 grand tour stages that someone who has made consistently better picks than you will be ahead of you.
It's also perfectly fair that if someone has built a 200 points lead on you over 18 stages of a grand your that you really shouldn't be able to easily close that gap in the remaining three.
In real cycling if someone gains a 5 minute advantage after 18 stages you wouldn't expect it to be easy for someone to overhaul them. In fantasy cycling it's just the same. If someone has out performed you consistently enough to lead you by 200+ points is it fair that you can pull that lead back on one stage?
Need to get rid of the 10 points for last rider to finish. It is an improvement on points for last on GC, but is now just mainly down to luck.
Increase points from 5 to 10 for team mates of the stage winner.
No points for young jersey.
Maybe unlimited transfers for purist teams between all races. It was impossible to pick a team for some of the early season Italian races when the teams weren't the same never mind the riders.
I played the premium game this year and would like to see more space between races. There were times this year when it was a bit of chore to play because of a stack up in races. Picking fewer riders in the smaller races might help this.
Having said that, don't tinker with the game too much. This year's format was very good, nice interface and I liked the medals and rider info boxes.
An Android app would be great.
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