Show Dilemma

[Nate]

That would work, but I guarantee Larissa won't be adding in those sorts of numbers. It would be an easy way, but it would also kind of undermine the points per start system we already have. It works fine as long as a horse has some kind of show records, but those horses that are just coming into the show rings are doing the mopping, not the ones that have been showing a little while.

[Totina]

The points per start system is dependent on how many entries there are in a show as well. A champion horse is leveling up more quickly in popular disciplines/levels and more slowly in less popular ones.

I am aware of that I have quite a few champion horses with good training in low levels but that is mostly because my focus is on disciplines where you can only enter one horse per show. Many of my horses have the same level but I can not compete often enough with all of them in order to make them level up quickly. This means that they are stuck on low levels while the training is not.

[Argent II]

Discipline books are intended to function like breed books.

I believe certifying horses in a discipline - like breed registering, but for sports - is supposed to be a thing. Based on the Discipline Book score, a horse could be given a star rating (1-5) that sorts it into competition tiers. Other games do something similar, sorting horses into competitive groups based on birth stats (these sims run on an accumulated stat point system). This won't stop players from maxing training/conditioning before showing, but it does break up the population of horses getting crushed and gives everyone a bit of a chance.

Of course the issue then shifts toward lack of entries.

[Totina]

I also want to add that the way the training system is working right now, you can own 180+ horses but can only train 1-10% of them efficiently for competitions, leaving each player with just a few horses for a selected number of disciplines to compete with.
This, I think, is part of the problem with shows that are not running even after the run date has passed. Most players wouldn't enter horses with no training even in lower levels to fill up all those unpopular shows.

[Totina]

Another theory I have about the unpopular shows not getting enough entries to run is the fact that the rankings show scores that is saved indefinitely. Players and horses who are not already at the top have little to nothing to earn from entering more disciplines than the selected few which the horses are bred for. And even the specialized disciplines are quite discouraging since you can "save" a champion horse on a second account and still compete and earn points to keep the rankings unreachable for others.

[Devolare]

Mostly in response to Totina--

I think that's a pretty accurate point. I think the logic around here is that if you don't train your horse it won't do well in the shows, which is true. A trained horse will outdo a non-trained horse any day. So most people feel it's best to just train them all the way up before even entering because they'll have to do it anyway to get the best results.

And yeah, the specialized disciplines have caused a bit of a lack of horses entering shows too. Especially if they're disciplines where you can only enter one horse at a time. I usually only take one horse at a time up the levels in those, since it'd only split the points between the horses (only 6 shows at level one means each horse only gets 3 instead of one horse getting all of them, if you have two horses).

[Argent II]

A trained horse will outdo a non-trained horse any day.

Unless you're breeding superior horses... even early on in my breeders' report project - this time last year, almost - I had untrained horses out scoring trained ones. *shrug*

I'm still hoping some sort of trainer-hiring system is worked out to allow players to train more horses, but I imagine the issues would remain unchanged, if magnified. Players would just excessively train more horses. Hiring "riders" to allow more show entries will be a thing.

Listing top horses and players by the week or month, as well as overall, would be great.

[Devolare]

Unless you're breeding superior horses... even early on in my breeders' report project - this time last year, almost - I had untrained horses out scoring trained ones. *shrug*

I was talking about in relation to the same horse (or one of everything the same the only difference is training). I imagine the untrained superior horse wouldn't be able to beat the trained version of itself, otherwise the whole training thing seems like a waste. xD

A thought just popped into my head... The only way I could see that the level thing being somewhat sorted out is due to the PPS. Since the PPS per level changes over time, after a while a level hierarchy may form. But as it stands right now, I think it isn't changing enough or quickly enough (I'm not sure which).

[Totina]

One way of getting champion horses out of the lowest levels could be a system to make a horse qualify for each discipline before being able to enter it in any shows. This qualification process could be similar to the local shows where the results are based on the overall quality of horses that are competing. This would ban trained champion horses from ever entering the lowest levels of any discipline.

[Argent II]

Since the PPS per level changes over time, after a while a level hierarchy may form. But as it stands right now, I think it isn't changing enough or quickly enough (I'm not sure which).

I previously suggested increasing the update rate, as I think it would help greatly.

One way of getting champion horses out of the lowest levels could be a system to make a horse qualify for each discipline before being able to enter it in any shows. This qualification process could be similar to the local shows where the results are based on the overall quality of horses that are competing. This would ban trained champion horses from ever entering the lowest levels of any discipline.

Wouldn't be difficult to qualify a horse without training, then train it before entering.