I thought Steve continually cried about the number of runs for a handicap mark which wouldn't have fixed anything

But there's no guarantee that 1 handicap would have fixed the problem as the problem seems to be AI related rather than race eligibility. I imagine Mark got bored of reading the same thing over and over and got rid. Can't blame him really.

Thanks to this thread and especially QWSA measured responses and suggestions we have seen significant improvements to the gameplay and I have no doubt more to come.

There is a way to voice to opinion and offer opinions which Steve sadly couldn't grasp

What Steve suggested about 1 handicap for a rating is not related to what I am saying. Even where there are lots of opportunities in novices and maidens for horses with one run, there is a slight issue with a large number of horses having no runs, whereas others have lots of races.

I think the issue is maybe to do with the AI favouring horses that have previously had runs over those that haven't, leading to some having many runs and others none.

The 1 run for a handicap is not necessary and wouldn't have solved anything in my opinion. The suggestions in this thread have been geared towards adding realism to the game, having a rating after 1 run is a move towards less realism over the current 2 run rule.

Ok Steve we can all hope it improves

This may not be relevant, has this been tested with the allow small field feature disabled? Just wondering if it has any impact.

Greyhawk, its already happening. With some updates in recent patches the AI entries are greatly improved. I'm working on a schedule that is the best I've ever had in terms of AI entries thanks to the updates and some additional conditions added to races.

Mark, a couple of patches ago the issue of 2 year old group performers running in handicaps at the end of the year, and this has improved this, I am no longer seeing this happen, however I am seeing 2 year old group performers run in early season 3yo handicaps the following season, can this be addressed too as its essentially the same issue with group performers running in handicaps throughout the winter on the AW.

Also, I suggested the horse pool being skewed towards more male horses. Is this possible, perhaps a mechanism that allows the player to decide the spread, or just a fixed spread within the game? Would this be possible whilst still maintaining enough broodmares for breeding?

Would anyone else like to see more male horses than female horses in the game? I think it would reflect real life more as most open races are generally filled with majority male horses, and although I don't know the numbers, I would have thought there is an overwhelming bias towards male horses in the racehorse population.

Thank you

There has been progress with 3yos 0.144. Reducing female horses is not a good idea at the moment. It is likely to have a negative effect on a number of areas of the game and cause problems.

Ok, thanks Mark!

Can I ask what general area the changes to the 2yo and 3yo AI in the new patch are related to? Just so as we can know what to look out for and pay attention to?

Thanks

A very specific point I've noticed is that the condition '<CONDITIONS>maxruns=..' doesn't work when there is also another condition added to the race. I don't know if this is that conditions don't work when there are more than one condition on a race, or just a problem with this specific condition of max runs. I think its just this particular condition because the others seem to work even if there are more than one.

There is very little to choose from in the US schedule if your 2 yo win a race early. That is unfortunately. And I think it would be better to replace a lot of the sellers races in the US schedule.

Here are some screenshots of some races in the schedule I'm working on. I want to try to show how the AI race entries are really improving and becoming more and more realistic, I've been working on this schedule for a while, with the improvements that are coming with each patch, and have been working mostly on 2 year old races at the moment, and think I have them to a really realistic stage.

These are just some races that show the sort of fields I am getting. Ignore the silks for now as I have been working on them too.

https://ibb.co/gRSg4Xy
https://ibb.co/v4FC8cn
https://ibb.co/Lh3tZ6V
https://ibb.co/N9kQj83
https://ibb.co/yd3fHTH
https://ibb.co/0Mb8PkF

Its really great to see the game improving in this area. I still think there are a number of ways it can improve further. One notable one that has been mentioned is that there seems to be something in the game whereby the AI favours entering horses with more runs into feature races over horses with fewer runs, which leads to the problem of horses running too often, and a large number of horses not running at all.

I am getting horses into nurseries. Though 0-60 and 0-70 seem to have less runners, but its not because theres a problem with horses getting 2 runs, its a problem with the ratings, i think there are not many 2 year olds getting ratings this low, but once you get into 0-75 nurseries there is no problem at all in getting big fields.

I think horses that finish way down the fields in maidens and novices should get lower ratings than they currently do, and ratings should be dropped by more after bad runs in maidens and novices and handicaps than they currently are, this should fix it in as far as there being more horses rated below 60 and 70 to fill these handicaps, but there are plenty of horses rated in the high 60's and low 70's to fill lower class nurseries still, such as 0-75's.

Here are some more screenshots from 2 year old races, I'm really pleased with how they are looking now. Most of these are nurseries to show that you can get good fields in nurseries.

https://ibb.co/mqX5g8F
https://ibb.co/ft22DsC
https://ibb.co/H2FZnxm
https://ibb.co/4fhtBq4
https://ibb.co/sK6LSyP
https://ibb.co/1mBqST9
https://ibb.co/xgpgFXq
https://ibb.co/hVLfN99
https://ibb.co/j4HTLcx
https://ibb.co/SxBn6KR
https://ibb.co/dPPMjLp
https://ibb.co/McFph3G
https://ibb.co/S64RLq8
https://ibb.co/zfPwpN2

Mark, the conditions that can be added to races definitely don't seem to be working if there is more than one. Can this be fixed so that there is no limit to the number of conditions we can place on a race?

Thank you