Hi there.. bit of a novel, sorry 'bout that

Thought I'd firstly mention guys, I fully understand the hesitations of being able to control this idea.

I would like to put across my opinion on it, in the hope that people may want to discuss it

I know there are both the supporters and those against the idea, I think it would be great if breeding could be managed, as it would add realism, excitement and value.
I know it could be done.

Maybe as mentioned elsewhere, having a bloodstock manager and only the horses entered into the league are eligible for breeding.
It would add value to the cash that we use to bet with, maybe set a maximum amount of allowed pairings per Stallion/Mare per season.
For example;

All pairings are recorded by a bloodstock manager, who completes the mating.
Only league entered horses are allowed.
Maybe a limit to amount of horses allowed to be put in barn.
Limit to amount of pairings per horse
Player discretion as to who goes into barn and fee
all players don't have to take part
a limited period to send horse to stud i.e a week before beginning of season

It would make me want to build my cash and not lump 20k bets on and add lots of extra elements

I know it seems like it would be a mountain to organize and that people could take advantage. In my honest opinion I believe it will completely stamp out anyone who was wanting to cheat before from doing it again.
It's better to at least be able to see whats going on over the table

I know that people have swapped horses for the league previously and been caught, so it's went on in the past (who know's how far up in the hierarchy. I've heard a few stories).
Whats to say there aren't people doing/considering it right now, I'm pretty certain that any detection software isn't going to deter some. This would provide an outlet and maybe stop it all together.

I know I would love the idea of pairing my horse with another trainer for some cash, so he can get a slightly better line, then spending with another trainer improve my own. It sounds amazing.
If the current champion trainer likes the look of a rivals horse he could negotiate a fee when/if it goes to stud.. etc etc

If it ever was to be trialed of even implemented, there would obviously be a lot of extra work for the league. I for one, would be first in line to help.
Ultimately I honestly believe it would be successful.

Cheers for your time guys and I look forward to any responses

Would love to see this too, could never understand the objections to it that have been prevalent in the past.

Firstly money does not really mean much in the online league.

Secondly some trainers might not want to give out there horses that they have put a lot of work in to get them to the level they are at for someone to be on an almost equal par in the upload of a file. Not all trainers mind.

Thirdly directly linked to the second is that you would get clicks sharing there horses with there friends and not sharing with all the rest. This is the main one if a relatively new bunch of trainers are trading files they will not be on a par with the better trainers who are trading theres between themselves.

Not really got an opinion on the idea, im not to fussed i play to take part not really fussed how i do as the schedule caters for all what with the introduction of more handicaps now. Seems to be very involved i think i would just stick to my own horses personally.

It would have to be something like this but the league in it's current format wouldn't support it.

In my opinion SO6 has to pretty much be an online game. I.e you enter horses into races online in the same way as you currently do, race results are automatically generated and players compete for money/glory. A year season would be played out over a month and players would be able to retire their horses to a communal breeding barn and spend their earned money on stud fees etc.

I agree money doesn't mean much, that was kind of what I was getting at (that fact it's pretty useless) but my point was that it would have great significance if breeding was allowed.

I fully understand that 'cliques' may form. Hence the need for a bloodstock manager and only nominated eligible horses are allowed i.e they have been put forward at the beginning of the season. therefore they can't share unless it's nominated pre season and bred by the manager. This doesn't encourage people to cheat between themselves. Quite the opposite.

If they feel the need to go outside of a legal breeding program then they are obviously the definition of a cheater. If they use non nominated horses then they will be caught out just as now. If they would breed outside the program anyway, they are probably doing it now.

If you think about it, nobodies stopping these 'friends' sharing right now on MSN, and I know it has happened in the past and maybe still does on the sly. Detection software ? well if that's in place, there should be no problems.

Eligible breeding horses would have been nominated and documented. Any that weren't are banned. (but I ask the question why you would risk getting banned breeding with another on the sly? when that same trainer could do it through the books)

I appreciate the fact that the hours are spent on games to then not to want to give them away but you wouldn't have to give away your monsters you could nominate a less amazing horse to start off with

I mean initially I believe people need assuring that it will work and be regulated properly,
I've read some of the most informative and occasionally articulate debates/craic on this forum, so we make up an intelligent group.
I've witnessed first hand, the helping of new players just wanting to learn, even when they ask a million and one questions.. there are many helpful people here.

So I'd like to thank you guys. I know that it wont have full support, I just appreciate the intelligent reaction and not the 'shoot me down' I thought I may face.
even if it was not everybody's best horse (or even everybody taking part at first!) for people get into the idea.

If I was a top trainers I could see the benefits of breeding, equally as I can for a new trainer. I mean I enjoy playing for the league solo but it's the next level surely. It will add dimensions to the game online.

I get the feeling the a big hesitation is that it will be a wild 'free for all' but I'm suggesting the opposite. Regulation
People cheat. I've heard it direct that some top trainers used Hex Editor to re-name there best horses. Some have swapped game files..

So people go to strange lengths.
I'm not down with any of that..

Anyway thanks for the honest thoughts hackett, dicey anubisrich, appreciated

Great idea and would like to see it implemented but not gonna happen anytime soon. I hope Mark does something to help the league because SO5 hasn't done anything at all for it. It's like he ignored this part of the game which is a shame. I've always thought that the league kept people interesed in the game where most people get bored with it after a few months. Without the league I would have stopped playing SO4 a long time ago. With no change to SO5, it's hard to keep playing.

Back to your idea...

1) Too much work involved. You will need someone to volunteer alot of their time just sorting out every week.
2) Last season, Steve was doing the handicap ratings and quit mid season. It created a lot of problems with ratings. If the bloodstock manager quits mid season then more problems.

3) What happens to the foals born as 2yo they are unraced. What do you do? 2yo's would need to be born with their stats near full potential otherwise they will suck badly.

4) When the 2yo's are born what happens? Do you send it back to the owners so that they can be trialled in CK?

5) From my testing, if you breed 2 champions together, you have a 1/10 chance of getting something similar to the parents. What if the foal sux can I upload something different? or am I stuck with the nag?

6) Again.... way too much work involved

(Sorting out who want what horse with what mare at what price for which owner.Keeping tabs of how many times its bred, updating trainer's cash)

Gotta agree with most of this. As an idea its fine, but actually being able to put it into practice would require so much time. It would be like a full time job no doubt.

Like Rich said though, the only way anything like this could happen is if a main platform of the game was online to start with.

My personal philosophy on the league though is that it should be for each individual trainer to breed his own runners otherwise it all become a bit pointless. I wouldnt get as much pride out of seeing my horse win if I knew that most of it was mainly due to breeding with one of Scatter's or Thunder's etc wonderhorses. Yes I might have a chance of winning a G1 but it would be a lot less satisfying than doing it myself. I think the online league would lose its appeal over the course of time.

haha good question in terms of unraced 2yo's, in respect to what you do with the 2yo is send it to the owner as is untested. On uploading it, you would be left with the choice once you had paid for it and received it.

I agree with what you've said in terms of work. Don't fully understand how the platform could be 'online' though

I love the idea of it

muchos appreciation

Couldn't agree more with Rich, future games in the series need to be more of an online game, it really would make the game outstanding!

All of Thundersparks highlighted issues with your idea are the exact problems you would face. Its a great idea but not plausible within the parameters of the game.

I also agree with Thunderspark about so5 as a game itself and this is something i mentioned over on the general discussion, it is too similar to so4 and all it does for the league is make trainers start again, using the same buying/trialling/breeding techniques as so4. 2 weeks game time was all it got from me, i think it was nothing more than a facelift with some nice default schedules.

same ryan, dissappointed with so5, its just so4 with bit better graphics and buttons changed and the trainer mode is useless at this stage.

played for a couple of weeks but became really boring and laborious, havent played it for a while now, would have to play through the pain barrier to get anything decent for the league.

I used tommy p's graphics in so4 and 5 so there hasnt even been an improvement with that!!

other than the interface makeover the only great improvement was in the default schedules but obv so4 mods meant that you could have a great schedule for that game

so all it really did in terms of the league was make all the trainers go back to square 1 in terms of putting all the hours in for breeding - i'd be half tempted to continue running a so4 league!!! I think the league is going to suffer massively because of the lack of improvement in so5 - the trainers needed something fresh to keep the enthusiasm going whereas they have to overcome the same obstacles they did with so5

I cannot see trainers like Hemz, Thunderspark, Scatters putting the effort in again to have top stables - I know two of those trainers I mentioned are not even likely to be around. I have stopped playing so5 and actually dont have it installed on my laptop anymore and I would even go as far as to say i would have asked for a refund if I had not won the game in DB's competition.

Good luck to the trainers who do put in loads of hours to get a good stable - I know the likes of pjr and KeithBeaky put a lot of work into improving their so4 stables, credit to you if you can be bothered to do it again.

IMO, some absolute must improvements are adding an 'export all' button or some kind of multiple export option, making game and ck performance slightly more consistent (if I have a nhc horse who falls 1 time in a 40 race career, I do not expect him to fall 3/5 in the ck)!!! Also there is no reason to not be able to offer money to buy any horse in the game and also for top horses to stay in the barn for more than one season - once you become a top trainer there shouldnt be 60 rated horses in the barn as it is a waste of time and space.

Hit the nail on the head there ry.

The game is a joke. Take nothing away from Mark, but it's SO4. There is nothing new to it, played it for 2 weeks then got bored our of my brains.

there is no way i will be putting the time i put into so4 working on my website & a project with coolmore is on the cards and will be time consuming

also i just dont think right nowi have the motivation to go through all that again i had a really good crack at so4 last season but was
already well behind established trainers a mile behind infact i think i did real well to get near them this time but took up so many hours and was so tedious its a massive effort to be competitive trainers need inprovements to make the whole process less tedious the transfer system in so4 was
a massive breakthrough but there are no major breakthroughs in so5 for lge trainers

i have to say i am loving playing so5 and will prob compete but only putting very little time into it