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I'm Glad I Found You
Original article written by James Baker posted 8 years 1 week agoToday marks my first month playing the sim. I started out training my horses too much which involved costly injuries. Since then random injuries occur but they aren't as serious... the occasional general soreness can be tolerated. I went from blindly buying dollar horses to using the new player tool, found at www.magicravenranch.com, to help select better horses. I'm still looking for bargains, but now I'm finding horses that have enough talent to succeed. I've made the natural progession from a no-nothing beginner to just a beginner. The game forces you to get better as costly injuries will encourage proper training.
It's important to understand the payout structure. Recently I had a horse in a three horse race in Canada with a guaranteed $1200 payout and I saw an opening for a larger payout in California in what would be a four horse race. I waited and planned to move the horse to California if another horse didn't enter the race. One horse did enter and the guaranteed payout dwindled to $1500.. It was more but when factoring in the entry fee and cost to ship, it made sense to stay put. The payout structure works like this 50 percent for first place, 22 percent for second place, 10 percent for third place, 7 percent for fourth place and 2 percent for a fifth place finish. Strictly from a monetary standpoint it makes sense to enter a four horse stake's race because the prize money is greater than the entry fee.
I don't like to move my horses too far away from home. I think it's better/more cost effective to keep a horse within it's region. If you ship a horse half way around the world you're dealing with high shipping cost and generally the earnings won't cover the cost of shipping. You have to factor in all costs and see if it makes sense.
The game rewards longevity... I was frustrated at first, but now I understand this. Your stable twenty sim years from now will be better than the one you assembled in the first four weeks. Jack Meyer called this game, "The Texas Holdem" of sim horse racing... and it's just that. I've played other sims where I put forth effort and saw success almost immediately. This game is much more like entering college as a freshman, everything is different and the classes are harder than what you were use to. I like the complexity of it and it's the difficulty that makes this fun. I look forward to picking up my five horses every day because it's another step to getting better.
I look forward to the next step in progressing as a player and that's breeding. It's something I'm going to be cautious with and plan to ask a lot of questions about, but I've really been looking forward to it.
It's hard to believe it's been a month since I started. My daughter was playing Attack on Titan and her character was riding a horse... I said out loud, "I'm going to find a horse racing sim." I'm glad I found you.