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Manticore8 -> Two Games In One (3/12/2014 4:06:06 AM)
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A great feature of this game is that there are two distinct but inseparable components to enjoy. Both are rich in detail if you take the time to observe what's going on around you as the owner of a stable of drivers, chariots, and horse teams. And that's a role that's easily overlooked...you not only fulfill a tactical role as an active charioteer racing in the various circuses around the world, but just as important if not more so, you are the guiding force in the background, you are a new but proud owner of a stable of three complete racing teams, making strategic decisions for your reputation and bank account of course.
This post mostly applies to managing your teams from within cities' Management screens. Later I'd like to detail some of the underlying strategic elements of this game including, the very important and often brutal and murderous task of tracking down and hunting rivals for fun and profit, travelling to circuses in a manner that gives you the best chance for winning for the most money; all dependent on your teams' experience on the track, and other assorted tidbits related to more of a world view from your perspective as stable owner.
Let's look at what's involved with managing your teams off track, speaking from my own experiences. Starting out your new ownership, you are assigned three teams of horses, the only items that can differ in quality from team to team at this time. Drivers and chariots all start out the same in qualities. So before the first race I assign the best horse team, (with the longest green health bars) to my top driver for our very first race. No matter the outcome of the race, let's assume this driver comes back to the stables with a slight yellow-bar wound, his chariot has a yellow and slight red damage bar on one wheel, and the horses have yellow, and more than a little red damage. As the stable's owner, I put the new #2 driver on top of the list trading places with the #1 wounded (yellow damage) driver. He'll be fine by the time the next race is over, and I want to concentrate on getting one driver as many first place victories as possible, so I already know he'll be good to go next race...no need to pay to heal him.
On to the chariot with yellow and a little red wheel damage. It will take two races before the wheel can be fully repaired, and since I have two good drivers for the next two races, I can let time do the chariot repair work at no cost to me. So this chariot sits out the next two races at the bottom of the list...not a problem.
The horses are in bad shape. They have yellow, plus enough red in their health bars that it will take three to five races to heal the team by letting them sit out that many races in a row. I probably can't afford to have them out for that many races so I might spend denarius for a vet to heal them a little now. If the red gets eliminated by his services, then that team will be ready after one to two races, which I can live with. Sometimes horse teams get so damaged though that they have to be mercifully sent to Pegasus Heaven. If a team has yellow and a LOT of red, and you plan on staying at the current circus, it may and it may not be advisable to spend money on healing. And if you plan to travel very soon, it might be best to sell the poor beasts off for fertilizer before leaving, cutting your financial losses. And besides, if your moving to a better circus, you'll likely will find better equipment there anyway. It's important to sell very beat up equipment before travelling, if you choose to do so, as you'll pay for every component you drag along with you.
I try to focus in on one driver's career, with the other two in support. So driver #1 races till he gets wounded, then #2 takes over till #1 gets well. If #1 is going to be out for two or more races, and #2 driver gets hurt, then #3 steps up till preferably #1 gets healthy, or #2 if need be. So I race #1 as much as possible, but I let the other two drive if necessary, and any upgrades they get is just icing on their cake. All which is why I'm extra careful with driver #1 because he will be the one to accumulate the most first place victories in the shortest time in his quest to be the best. I'm careful with the other two drivers, but they more or less are expendable, only filling in to give time for #1 to get back to action.
As far as the three expensive Services go, with some fair degree of success, and at some point, you should have more denarius than you'll know what to do with, as replacing equipment becomes hardly a problem when you're filthy rich and world famous. That's when I eventually spend to hire all three Services because you actually have nothing else to spend your hard earned money on (aside from easily affordable replacements) and they do cut repair expenses. Whether they are actually worth their cost against healing and repairing every turn is currently up for debate in other threads.
In a small nutshell, that's pretty much my philosophy regarding running my three teams from the grandstands just behind the Emperor's box, stylus, parchment racing form, and vino in hand.
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