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SIM 6.5 is Coming in Year 44!

Original article written by Regina Moore posted 8 years 0 weeks ago

After being originally scheduled for Year 43, the new SIM 6.5 was pushed back to the beginning of Year 44. That will be in April, when we'll have a three week between game years, rather than the more common two weeks.

What can we expect to see?


SIM 6.0 LEFTOVERS
Shortly after SIM 6.0 was unveiled at the beginning of Year 41, I wrote an article (http://www.simhorseracing.com/featurerace/article.php?ArticleID=13403) reviewing all the many, many new features. Yet, after all those new toys, there was a section on still more stuff that was supposed to be included in SIM 6.0, but didn't make it. For that article, I asked The Steward to comment on those things that were left out. Recently, I asked her about these improvements again, and if we could expect them for SIM 6.5. Here's her old and new comments about those particular items:

Morning Line (including changing odds as bets are made) - THEN: "It will be packaged in with 6.5, which is more likely the start of 43." NOW: "We understand the math behind it and know what we would do to implement it, but the admin that be’s is not convinced it is at all necessary. Sometimes I get overruled on what is important." I myself don't bet, but I know some players are going to be really disappointed that this isn't going to be implemented.

Internal Fractions (some call them "splits") - THEN: "What happened with internal fractions is that the computer doesn’t think like horse racing people with their poles all being at spaces around the track and you just time the quarters. It was thinking in terms of a quarter of the race, half the race, and 3/4s of the race, which is great for a mile, but anything else the fractions look wonky and not like real fractions. So for a two-mile race the opening quarter was :46 seconds and I was like wut? Just need time to reprogram that so it understands." NOW: "We haven’t even begun to touch this one, so it will be a 7.0 thing likely."

Unsoundness - THEN: "This was a big thing in the old SIM, where unsoundness was hereditary and if you had an unsound horse, you couldn’t race it every other week, it had to be every three weeks. Now every other week with one three week break is pretty standard, and there’s no punishment for working all your yearlings before week 5 other than the injury money you pay. This is definitely coming back." NOW: "It’s backkkkkkkk."

New Character -THEN: "He/she won't be around until 6.5 -- you guys will just make fun of him/her anyway!" NOW: "We still haven’t decided if we’re using a new character or an old one."


GALLOPS
After gallops opened for Year 42, there was a sort of mass hysteria from players over how poorly their new yearlings galloped, versus how certain the players felt that they had bred good foals that should have galloped better. In a later "Ask Em Anything" audio segment (produced by player Scott Eiland), The Steward said that gallops would be "going away" and that, in her opinion, Year 43 couldn't get here fast enough for that to happen. After some semi-hysteria over the idea of losing gallops, The Steward emphasized that she'd said they were only "partially" going away. In any event, with SIM 6.5 being pushed back from Year 43 to Year 44, gallops have remained the same for the current year.

Now, in the most recent "Ask Em Anything" recording, there were a series of questions related to rest for horses. Included in The Steward's answers was the statement, "In Year 44, we have a system to tell you when your horse needs extra rest, so that's coming soon.... There's a new button you can press on every one of your horses to find out more information about them." She later explained that this new ability was "in lieu of gallop comments... but some gallop comments are still there, but there's also fitness comments."

She later clarified this new aspect, saying, "You're getting new tools that will help you determine the current fitness of your horse, and when you achieve optimum fitness, then you will be able to know where your horse fits." So, my interpretation of this (which still might be premature) is that we'll have to get our horses fit, before we can be certain of their talent level. I do encourage all interested players to listen to the segment themselves (see forum thread http://www.simhorseracing.com/simforum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=38084), in order to form their own opinions on what was said.


EQUIPMENT
In Year 40, The Steward had subtly mentioned that something was going to change with equipment in SIM 6.0. However, this ended up not being implemented. When I asked her about it recently, she said, "The equipment thing was/is tied to the new character, and has not yet been built, but it could happen, there is still time!"


NEW ENTRY UPGRADE
In the recent "Ask Em Anything" segment, The Steward said that (based upon a player suggestion) when one goes to enter their horse, they will be able to see races for the next three weeks, even though they can still only enter for the upcoming two weeks. This way, it's easier for a player to decide to just wait another week to enter their horse in an ideal race. This should be to everyone's benefit. (Em's direct comment on this was: " It’s pretty, I like it!")


So, to summarize the major changes, as I interpret them:
--There will be an unsoundness factor that is hereditary, and can affect how much rest a horse needs between races.
--There will be a new fitness tool, that dovetails with how gallops will be used.
--There *might* be some changes to the equipment aspect, that would tie to the new character (if there is one).
--Though players will still only be able to enter in races for the upcoming two weeks, they will be able to see races for the third week out.

We'll still have to wait until April before we get to play with the new toys!




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