Minimum Stud Fees

[Danny Derby]

Are these still necessary? It's frustrating having stallions that I'm forced to price higher than they should be because they earned too much on track. Foal limits should mitigate any need for this to still exist.

[Xander Zone]

I agree with this in a sense as well I don’t think studs should be able to stands for 1k but maybe make 5k the lowest amount .

[Tammy Stawicki]

I would second this. If we wanted to prevent completely crazy fees like $1 we could maybe have a gamewide minimum say $500 for mixers and $2,500 for thoroughbreds. Mixers the limits based on earnings become particularly weird because of the dominance of the game created sires with no earnings. Colored Spotlights arguably one of the best paint sprint sires could go down to $500. Meanwhile, the horse I actually raced who has been nowhere near as successful at stud has to be at $2,500. It is challenging enough for those with a playerbred horse at stud to compete with the game created ones limiting the ability to competitively price them doesn't help.

[Dave Trainer]

That is the prime reason game created studs shouldn't be sold to players but should be either GP sires or steward owned and put up for sim $ by her.

There has to be a minimum fee of some description.

[Dylan Christensen]

I agree with this in a sense as well I don’t think studs should be able to stands for 1k but maybe make 5k the lowest amount .

Maybe $5k minimum for TBs but not mixers. I stand my guy for $3k and while I could stand him for more do not want to.

[Carole Hanson]

I’d like to keep Oxidized at his lowest $2,088 so a TB minimum of $5k isn’t ideal from my point of view. But sure I think the rules should be adjusted somehow.

[Danny Derby]

Bump. I'd really love to be able to lower the price on stallions no one is using but not being able to. Is this something that can be revisited?

[Laura Smith]

Yeah, I kinda think the foal limits more or less do the job that the minimum fees are intended to accomplish. A $1k or $2.5k flat minimum seems reasonable enough to me. With foal limits in place, we are no longer living in a world where 1500 Anointeds a year is a possibility.

Also, +1 to Dave's point. If these horses are being brought in to both remove money from the game and diversify bloodlines, they do both best if they are owned by the game.

[Tim Matthews]

Agreed

[Rebecca Rose Hepburn]

I agree with this. My stable is being hard hit for money this year with the purse drop, so getting a decent stud for cheaper is something high on my list.

On a different note, would anyone be interested in my making an anon player survey about how their gameplay is changing with the purse drops? I've noticed I'm in a kind of spiral where I'm a lot more hesitant to use unproven/low crop studs because I can't afford to spend as much money on stud fees as I used to.

[Dylan Christensen]

I agree with this. My stable is being hard hit for money this year with the purse drop, so getting a decent stud for cheaper is something high on my list.

On a different note, would anyone be interested in my making an anon player survey about how their gameplay is changing with the purse drops? I've noticed I'm in a kind of spiral where I'm a lot more hesitant to use unproven/low crop studs because I can't afford to spend as much money on stud fees as I used to.

The thing with purse drops is it is going to SUCK for a while, I think that’s why the Steward didn’t do it all at once but, eventually it will even out and the economy will be better than when we started. You just gotta play it smart and if you have to lease out a few mares you wouldn’t usually just go for it(I did just this).

[Danny Derby]

I agree with this. My stable is being hard hit for money this year with the purse drop, so getting a decent stud for cheaper is something high on my list.

On a different note, would anyone be interested in my making an anon player survey about how their gameplay is changing with the purse drops? I've noticed I'm in a kind of spiral where I'm a lot more hesitant to use unproven/low crop studs because I can't afford to spend as much money on stud fees as I used to.

Add the purse drop to the list of things I hate.

[Laura Ferguson]

I'd rather keep the minimum stud fee and drop the foal limit. You can always work around the minimum stud fee with rebates, etc.

[Tom Lin]

I just don't understand the purse drop thing at all, especially for mixers. It's not like there is a ton of money to race for in stakes already (outside of thoroughbreds). Unless the end goal is to bring the overall number of horses down. Less money to race for means less horses will race for it. Less horses will be bred. Without a significant increase in the number of races the gallop change will become moot. Lesser galloping horses will get pushed out of the game again. Can't see it how it helps newer players either - once and if they win their $25K maiden. I don't get it.

[Michael Looker]

Having higher purses for maidens encourages people to at least try to win a maiden with every horse they breed. So every horse bred gets to the races, and those which will jump from productive to freak after their first or second start get uncovered instead of being GP'd as yearlings.

It's the same reason as for having a maturity comment as part of the gallop comments, or the 5x increase in the fee to GP a young horse. Another "Don't give up on your horses too soon, at least give them a go in a maiden" kinda thing.

I think there may be some decent overlap between people who dump unraced horses and people who complain about not being able to get a good horse.

I'll admit I haven't looked too hard at what the purse changes are (beyond loving the richer maidens; I've had 19 winners from 36 runners this year, with three stakeswinners and 15 maiden winners). But if it means players having less money and having to be pickier about the mares they breed, that seems fine to me. If players start being more sensible about their breeding and mindful of the SIMconomy, then maybe we can have stud fees minimums and foal limits lifted sometime down the road.