Beginner's guide

[Kwak]

This was post by Klauser here https://velo-manager.forum-pro.fr/aide-f5/guide-du-debutant-t321.htm and it is very helpful at the beginning

Former version:

Spoiler:

Update: 2012-6-29
You will start in d6.First, check how many days are left.If you're close to the end of the season, be careful and try not to access the d5 right now.Don't make too many points, because there are inactive teams in d5 and usually the limit isn't respected.If you're already in d5, it is never too late to start with the plan.

Don't buy any shop until you're in d5 since the lower the division, the less they will give you, and you need the money to build a d5 level team at least.
Don't touch the staff either, everything has to stay local.You can buy equipment up to level 3, but at the end of every seasons you will lose one level, so make sure to sell everything and to buy again when the season starts.You lose less money that way.
At last, don't buy any rider until you've mastered the market prices and what kind of rider you gonna need.

First, you will have to be able to differentiate between a good and a bad rider.There are all kinds of races with different shapes (Green = Flat Red = Cobblestone Brown = Mountain Orange = Downhill Blue = Hills).You need to know what is important for a given race.
On a flat/cobblestone race, your flandrien will have to be good in cobblestone (manly) and be strong in endurance (+ resistance if the race is short).Flat also is important.It is the same with a climber, you will have to be strong in mountain and resistance, but an ok stamina and downhill (even flat) are big factors or else you won't be able to maximize a rider's true potential.

To help you, here are the characteristics you will need to focus on (the main speciality is always the most important) :

Attacker : Flat, stamina, resistance.
A rider only good in flat won't be of much use.But should he be strong somewhere else (hills, ITT, sprint...) he could become an important key inside your team.

Tour Rider : Mountain, ITT, Resistance, Stamina, Hills (+flat).
A rider tour has to have one main speciality (mountain usually), so he can shine in the GT.The strongest the division, the better you will have to be on hills, stamina and resistance if you want to pass.If your guy has a terrible weakness, like in flat, you won't be able to consider him a real Tour Rider so it would be wiser to stick with the guy's main speciality.

ITT : ITT, Resistance.
The hills or the pave will play if there are some, or else it will be the flat.The ITT is by far the most important, followed by the resistance.Everything else don't have to be trained.On a ITT with mountain, a climber will usually win.Down-hills, the downhill stat and the resistance will become majors.

Crossman: Agility and resistance.
The primary characteristics (on the profil) might play, but like in ITT those two are the key.

Flandrien : Cobblestone, stamina, flat and hills.
If there are too much hills, the punchers might have the priority.A flandrien that's real bad in resistance can still become strong.

Climber : Mountain, Resistance, Stamina.
The mountain and the resistant are by far the most important.A real good climber will have a good stamina to help him during the long races.Downhill is prominent, but a high resistance can be enough for that.

Puncher : Hills, Stamina, Resistance.
Hills comes first, then the stamina.Being strong in mountain or pave will help you in races having hills in them.

Sprinter : Sprint, Stamina, Flat, Resistance.
You will mainly have to be strong in sprint.You gotta be able to pass the flat without trouble of course so you can be fresh when the sprint begins.Sprinters are favourite at the omnium race, provided that their ITT is correct.A good stamina and resistance will help you passing the hills.Experience plays a big part.

An 18 years old will have a maximum of 68 in each given stats.One gains 0.04 every day everywhere until 23 years old (till 22).It means you will get 1.88 per season in every stats (47x0.04), 5 times, so that will be 9.4 points between 18 and 23 (without the stages).Then you add the personal training, that gives more if it is your speciality.

To summarize :
0.06(base), (0.04 speciality bonus)<75.6
0.05(base), (0.04 speciality bonus)<80
0.05(base), (0.03 speciality bonus)<85
0.05(base), (0.01 speciality bonus)<90
0.05(base), (0.00 speciality bonus)<92.6
0.04(base) <100
Don't forget to add the 0.04 bonus if the guys has less than 23.
The base is the amount of point you get at any time, without the 0.04 bonus for youngsters or the the speciality bonus.

Here are the stages :
Stage-----------+0.12--+0.08---+0.06
Mountain--------mo-----res-----dow
Cobblestone-------------cob-----fla------sta
Hills------------hil------sta-----res
ITT--------------itt-----res------fla
Flat-------------fla-----sta------hil
Sprint------------spr------fla------sta
Cyclo-cross-------agi-----res------mo
Form--------form+3---sta------res
Fitness-----------sta-----res------fla

As soon as you hit 23 only form and fitness stages will become available.A stage with no speciality will give you 0.57, 0.39 and 0.3

Your priority is to earn has much money as you can, riding in d6 and d5.So when you start, you will have to start buying d5 level guys, firing the ones that will become useless as you go on.Don't make the usual novice mistake consisting of selling your base guys.They can't sell usually because they are too weak.
Don't buy any youngster (you can't afford yet the staff necessary to train one effectively), and don't waste money right off the bat trying to get some with your scout.You will need to save all the money you can.
For the d6 and the d5 cheap and old riders will be the priority.For 400-500k you can build a team with around 12 guys that will be able to dominate the d6 and make a lot in d5.Set a price between 1k and 30k per racers, knowing you can go till maybe 150k for one or two leaders when you start making money.Even maybe more.
Now what should you buy.Simply check the market every day and make offers on guys that have around 70 in flat/sta/res.It will be better if they have one speciality (mountain, ITT, ...).It's as simple as that.The basics are important if you want to score everywhere.You might miss a lot of guys, but just keep trying everyday by bidding on everything you see, making weak offers.

Well now is the tough part.You must find the good tactic as soon as possible to make money.If you want an easy ride, just join the chat in our forum when there's someone and try to ask about them.If you followed the guide, you have to score.I you don't, it means the tactic is bad.Don't hesitate to try every possible moves asap.All I can tell is you gotta make the least efforts possible.For example, always use at least 60x3.Don't start making efforts before the t4.If you think a rider has to make efforts prior to the t4, it means he's obviously too weak for the race anyway, so no use trying.More-so, a sprinter has to relax until the t5 if he want to be really fast at the end.And don't make too much effort during a tour or else you recuperation between the races will be too low and it will be ugly in races.In ITTs and cross you can be a lot more aggressive (a hell lot).
Set the resting limit around 87.Never less.Novices usually put 50 and quit the game even before realising why they had terrible results.You need a good form and a good health to score, even in d6.

While you're getting better with your tactics, start observing juniors.Don't observe the strongest ones since the big boys will be on them and they will be too expensive.Try to think smart.
At the end of the first season you can try to put a few bids on some juniors, so you can try to get one for cheap before selling him for an higher price and make a few easy bucks.The most expensive ones are always the climbers, followed by the punchers/flandrien and the rest.You can try the same with the international scout for 10 days or so, but usually you're just gonna lose money.But having a little star that you can sell for 5 millions is always a possibility, and a free ride to heaven.

At some point you will finally be in d4.Now is the time to build a team for the future (if you made easy money in d6 and d5 of course).Just so you know, it is possible to maintain in d4 with only one guy if his stamina and res are above 162 and if he has one strong speciality.But 2 or 3 strong guys can maintain you too.They gotta be way stronger than in d5, with 800k you can make it.Thanks to your experience in d6 and d5 it should be easy.Make sure to sell or fire the useless guys you had in d5 before you start in d4.You can pm me (team : Akumetsu) for advices about who you need in d4.

Go in your staff and take the international Recruiter.You gotta find youngsters where you can (scout, juniors, market).Don't promote them with the recruiter for more than 12 days or so, cuz as days are passing they lose value with all the lost trainings.Bad youngs will have to be fired, don't waste your time selling.As soon as you get your first young, take the international coach and the national doctor.
In the transfers market, you will have to make bids around 10-200k on every 18 years old you see, focusing on what might become your training speciality (climber, sprinter, etc...).I recommend Puncher or Flandrien.You won't be able to buy any star, only medium riders.A star cost too much for a beginner.One step at a time, your first generation is a stepping stone toward a brighter future.

Between the juniors, the scout and the market, try to get at least 7 or 8 youngs, knowing you won't need a lot of guys to maintain in d4.The resting limit for a 18 years old has to be 50.

If you made enough money you should buy at least 11 or 12 youngs, with 3 spot for old riders.You don't have to buy all the youngs in one go, you can split it in 2 or 3 seasons.I would say to maintain in d4 as long as possible (watch out with your money, keep some in case you might get in the red, like 750k and make the top 15 bonus every seasons).You can launch them when they hit 24, but you can do it before or after, this is your call.This guide is just one of the possible way to go.

About those youngs.Specialization is important, but as you know the bonus is shrinking as the stat progresses, so keep that in made, that way you can plan ahead and try to share the speciality as much as possible among the guys.
Try not to train a weakness too much.For example, if a guys has 68 mountain, 68 resistance and 58 flat; If you train his flat a whole season instead of mountain, you will lose a little less than 4 points in mountain.That means at the end, his true level will be around 62 flat, 64 mountain and 68 resistance (it isn't entirely true, but you should see the point here, a 55 flat with 68 ITT won't have a future).
You could always buy youngs that have all the same speciality, then later sell some of them and with the money buy other youngs with different speciality that you couldn't train yourself without the said speciality bonus.


There are other possibilities, like selling the youngs when they are 23, then with the money build a really strong team or just use the money you won earlier to go in d3, but the level is high here, and even if you manage to go in d2 it will be too tough, almost impossible to each the d1.And as time goes on you will lose money and won't be able to start building a real team.You can set for like 8 olds + 7 youngs that gradually replace the olds and so on.Some guys adopted that tactic, but that way you will never have a full team ready at the same time.

[Hill Hound]

Thanks Kwak (and Klauser)! This is a great guide!