Breeding to a popular stud…

[Andrew Chillin]

lol its well written

[Xander Zone]

looking for a stud abuse i have 359 hens left to breed i wish There was a option to auto send 100 mare to a stud at a time !!

[Craig Mcgee]

Gopher it Xander. Mass production on a massive mission. lol

[Xander Zone]

i once breed 150 mare to one stud and it was the best thing i ever did !

[John Smith]

Stud fee on Fire Meet Gasoline is currently $5,000,000

I think I speak for Mr. Springer, even though I wasn't hired as a spokesman, "Breed Away! ...or not..."

[Lily Wilkins]

I've personally never been shut out of a popular stallion due to mass breeders. The owners of heavy-hitting studs seem to know how to price their stallion in a way that deters mass breeding. Perhaps that's the magic answer to the original question posed here? Raise your stallion's fee. When DMB was at $200,000 - $250,000 he would have slots open for days before they were filled, whereas earlier in his stud career, people were snipe-breeding every time Jon opened a slot for someone, because DMB was cheaper and more accessible.

Also, because real life was referenced earlier in the thread: Multiple real life studs covered 200+ mares this year, yet the SIM has imposed a cap of 120. You could extend your stallion's book three or four times, and still be in line with real life practices. Just some food for thought. Into Mischief covering 200+ mares a season doesn't seem to be cheapening the market for his offspring; they sell like hot cakes.

Ultimately this is a game, and people should be entitled to play however they like as long as they aren't directly sabotaging, bullying, ect.
If you want to "gradual release" slots and cap your own stallion's book because mass-breeders concern you, go for it. If I need a slot, I can message you and make a new friend Alternatively, if you want to leave your stallion's book wide open and keep extending slots because you like the extra income, go for it, money is pretty great!

[Xander Zone]

we have more mares in the sim by 100 times then there is in the real world i bet soi cant compare

[John Smith]

we have more mares in the sim by 100 times then there is in the real world i bet soi cant compare

Yes, I'd say your horse is guaranteed 10- 20k or so, even without bonuses such as state bred racing...

As for sires to abuse, Ill drop King of Fools to 8k and open slots for the "bulk buy." No walkoff gslam in pedigree https://www.simhorseracing.com/horse.ph ... ID=1307629

[John Smith]

hell...ill breed'em for you...you can mass send leases from those mares and all your "troubles" are over - no extra charge!

Ill send a lease for the 800k - 100 x 8k? let me know!

[Nicole Marie]

Also, because real life was referenced earlier in the thread: Multiple real life studs covered 200+ mares this year, yet the SIM has imposed a cap of 120. You could extend your stallion's book three or four times, and still be in line with real life practices. Just some food for thought. Into Mischief covering 200+ mares a season doesn't seem to be cheapening the market for his offspring; they sell like hot cakes.

And there are several stallions in Europe that bred well over 300 this year, and Golden Pal bred in the 290s in the U.S. (Into Mischief's book wasn't that wildly absurd this year at least by his own standards). Now do I like this in real life? No. I think it's terrible for the breed/genetic diversity, but that's neither here nor there because 1. the sim isn't real life but also 2. it still does happen in real life regardless of if I care for it.

[Gwen Morse]

It's weird to me that anyone would want to limit the studbook of one of their studs and lose money. I can't understand the why of someone would do that other than to just bully players they don't like or create unnecessary drama just for the fun of it.

If someone wants to explain a reason please do.

I don't have stallions worth fighting over, but different people like to play different ways. Why a stallion's book is limited or closed is no one's business but the owner.

Why do you consider it bullying to not have access to every stallion in the sim? There are always more (decent) stallions, even in smaller divisions. There is no TB division (the board this discussion is on) where there aren't options. That includes chasers.

If you're not satisfied with the player-bred choices, the Steward makes three kinds of stallions to increase diversity: Steward-bred colts who retire as studs, GP studs, and the 'real' studs she sells to players. If that's not enough for you then it's PEBKAC.

If Nick doesn't want to flood a particular division with foals out of her stallion(s) that's actually good. On the other side of Nick (who is in a position to turn people away) are all the stallion owners whose horses hypo a grade below hers and might see some extra business now.


PS - no shade on "other breed" owners as I know some of those divisions are tiny and don't have enough players to maintain a diverse stallion pool.

[Tim Matthews]

I *do* think it's dumb for owners to mindlessly breed horses to the same stallion just cause 'they're good', and if you're doing this, I will confidently pit my yearlings against yours every single time. I'll pit the yearlings from my formidable mares against the stock you breed from stars/blue hens and feel really good about that bet. Not every DMB was amazing, even though he had a ton of them. Not ever Just Victory was awesome, even though he had a lot of awesome ones. You still have to get your mare to the *right* stallion or your quality will suffer. I don't think you could find a single stallion in the game that I would be happy breeding 50 of my mares to, let alone more than that, and there are 809 mares in my barn (not all will be bred, obviously).

[...]

If you're not thoughtfully considering your options and matings, you're just not going to breed good horses, and then you'll get frustrated and leave, which is kind of its own self fulfilling prophecy (play stupid games, win stupid prizes).

I feel this on a very deep level, and this SHOULD be the correct way to play. I won't pretend I'm a smart breeder, but my typical style is to invest a reasonable amount of research and effort into at least my top 20-30% of mares. However, 3 seasons ago I thoughtlessly put $11m+ into Gen Ravenwood's pocket, pounding Valley of Fire from every direction of the DR gene pool for 100+ foals. I mostly did this because my recent crops had sucked and I got bored.

The results were absurdly good - much better than if I had carefully curated each breeding. Even some "bad" crosses from ugly formidables gave me serious value. I've already made back more than my initial investment from sales/leases alone, and I've got a ton of freaks/stakes/hens that I wouldn't have had otherwise. Unfortunately, this exercise validated my concern that at least for normal, non-elite mares, reasearch and effort can only help around the margins, and even then, it's occasional. It's almost always better to just mindlessly play the odds.

Last year, I resumed my measured, targeted approach to breeding and got absolutely killed. My best mares suffered in particular, with a precious few exceptions. We'll see how this year turns out - I only bred 4 to VOF and I don't even really like those crosses. I was very careful with my top mares, and my intuition is that I'm going to get crushed again. Who knows; maybe it's just a skill issue on my part, but it doesn't help to see a number of other players breeding worse stock with consistently far better outcomes.

Anyway, all this is why LARGE BARN is a cheat code in this game. You can breed insane numbers for super cheap with no thought involved and absolutely steamroll everone else. Danny had a great idea a while back to simply limit the number of foals that a player can breed from a single stud in a year. I don't know why that's not a more popular proposal.

For those confused about why we're even talking about this - the SIM has an interest in realism. In general, it's more fun to play a game that is closer to real life. It should NOT be the case that you constantly pump volume and then get into the Hall of Fame, but it just is. I admire those who protect their stud's books, because they are earnestly abiding by the intent of the game.

[Andrew James]

I was going to try and add commentary to this thread but then read Eric's post and I have nothing new to add. That's exactly how I feel.

[John Smith]

I *do* think it's dumb for owners to mindlessly breed horses to the same stallion just cause 'they're good', and if you're doing this, I will confidently pit my yearlings against yours every single time. I'll pit the yearlings from my formidable mares against the stock you breed from stars/blue hens and feel really good about that bet. Not every DMB was amazing, even though he had a ton of them. Not ever Just Victory was awesome, even though he had a lot of awesome ones. You still have to get your mare to the *right* stallion or your quality will suffer. I don't think you could find a single stallion in the game that I would be happy breeding 50 of my mares to, let alone more than that, and there are 809 mares in my barn (not all will be bred, obviously).

[...]

If you're not thoughtfully considering your options and matings, you're just not going to breed good horses, and then you'll get frustrated and leave, which is kind of its own self fulfilling prophecy (play stupid games, win stupid prizes).

I feel this on a very deep level, and this SHOULD be the correct way to play. I won't pretend I'm a smart breeder, but my typical style is to invest a reasonable amount of research and effort into at least my top 20-30% of mares. However, 3 seasons ago I thoughtlessly put $11m+ into Gen Ravenwood's pocket, pounding Valley of Fire from every direction of the DR gene pool for 100+ foals. I mostly did this because my recent crops had sucked and I got bored.

The results were absurdly good - much better than if I had carefully curated each breeding. Even some "bad" crosses from ugly formidables gave me serious value. I've already made back more than my initial investment from sales/leases alone, and I've got a ton of freaks/stakes/hens that I wouldn't have had otherwise. Unfortunately, this exercise validated my concern that at least for normal, non-elite mares, reasearch and effort can only help around the margins, and even then, it's occasional. It's almost always better to just mindlessly play the odds.

Last year, I resumed my measured, targeted approach to breeding and got absolutely killed. My best mares suffered in particular, with a precious few exceptions. We'll see how this year turns out - I only bred 4 to VOF and I don't even really like those crosses. I was very careful with my top mares, and my intuition is that I'm going to get crushed again. Who knows; maybe it's just a skill issue on my part, but it doesn't help to see a number of other players breeding worse stock with consistently far better outcomes.

Anyway, all this is why LARGE BARN is a cheat code in this game. You can breed insane numbers for super cheap with no thought involved and absolutely steamroll everone else. Danny had a great idea a while back to simply limit the number of foals that a player can breed from a single stud in a year. I don't know why that's not a more popular proposal.

For those confused about why we're even talking about this - the SIM has an interest in realism. In general, it's more fun to play a game that is closer to real life. It should NOT be the case that you constantly pump volume and then get into the Hall of Fame, but it just is. I admire those who protect their stud's books, because they are earnestly abiding by the intent of the game.

But we are picking and choosing... if one were to breed 100 mares to any variation of sires, how many actually make it to the track in real life, much less cashing a check? According to this article, maybe +/- 65%? https://theconversation.com/breeding-th ... ner-121087

Not to mention the countless other factors...talk about frustration and leaving the SIM...I just don't think stallion protection is a top need, or is it? What am I missing that makes this so needed? There are plenty of sires to choose from for the year and fees work reasonably well as a filter.

I feel something late scratches are needed more. Wonder if we could get post stats on various surface/distances? I mean intuitively I would scratch any horse from say the 11 post going a mile on anything but alas they are doomed to run and wait another 2/3 weeks for another reasonable shot at winning. I guess I am assuming these are all "round" tracks and have been coded with that in mind? IN short, racing realism is more attainable than breeding realism. simhorseracing.com not simhorsebreeding.com

[John Smith]

Maybe the SIM could start at 65% injury or "doom" rate for yearlings...35 out of 100 foals one breeds make it to training barn..