When you first arrive on the Sim doorstep, as a new player innocent to the whims of the game but someone willing to learn, you might find yourself in a chat room or a game forum receiving advice as to how you might breed a horse in order to contend in the game. If you’re the ambitious type, you might well be told to pick big-name sires of which you could buy shares, and adhere to the maxim “Breed the best to the best and hope for the best.” If you’re just randomly trying out the game for the first time without much in the way of breeding knowledge, you may be advised to just play around with sires and breed cheaply, just to get a sense of how breeding works in order to get a hold of the rules of the game.<\/p>\n
But if you’re new to the Sim, know a little of horse racing but not in any great hurry to develop into the king of all horseflesh, and wanting to casually dabble in breeding horses for your enjoyment, you might be advised to find some of your favorites on the track right now, and just breed some duplicates of those pedigrees, to get a sense of how the game and real life might, or might not, tie together. If you’re in the Sim as a new player to have fun, this would appear to be a common trail to blaze, in order to get your feet wet.<\/p>\n
Now, there have been many a discussion in the Sim’s chatrooms and on the message boards that debate Sim racing as it compares to the real world of horse racing. Between time, pedigrees and speed figures, not to mention the old Sim maxim regarding the racing of horses “What are they gonna do, die?”, the debate has raged for a number of years about just how a real-world approach works, or does not work, within the context of the Sim itself.<\/p>\n
For those who might not be aware of the Sim history involved, it underwent an overhaul a few years ago, designed to make the game more efficient to manage, easier to play and easier to breed horses. Breeding horses in the older form of the game involved high levels of competition for the top sires, with a set quota of sires available for acquisition each week, and for a maximum price of 500 credits or BP per share, reset every Sunday. Players bought shares on a first-come, first-served basis, without reserving a bid price on any share. You more or less refreshed your screen every Sunday night or Monday morning and tried to get the best sires before anyone else, because you otherwise were out of luck for another week. Of course, at present, you’re currently competing against other players more on a financial basis, with no set prices to limit you—you can bid against other players and let the market dictate. So, that typically prevents a new player without deep pockets from competing for big names in the sire book to breed the best of the best, at least right off.\u00a0 As for picking random sires to use, that leads to horses of varying quality, most of which, frankly, stink.<\/p>\n
But a new player using some of his favorite horses as models for breeding, well, there’s someone for whom breeding can be a bit productive, as a way to pick up pointers, earn points from modestly-bred horses without breaking the bank or rummaging through the bargain basement. Let’s be clear: copying, say, American Pharoah or Zenyatta would likely carry a hefty price tag for a new player who is not ready to invest a large sum of cash for the privilege. But to copy your favorite hard-knocking claimer to try and earn your way up to an American Pharoah shouldn’t require too much fortitude.<\/p>\n
It’s not the road often taken for players, newbies or veterans, because it requires no glorious bank accounts, has little glamour associated with it, is rarely part of the “breed the best to the best” philosophy that prevails under most Sim breeding, particularly for the vets. Yet modest breeding, in one or more of the three positions of sire, dam-sire, and dam’s dam-sire, can contain a mix of these modest categories with the occasional blue-blooded sire star from yesteryear under ordinary circumstances. You’re as likely to see an A.P. Jet in one of those slots as you would an A.P. Indy. Most horses have to some degree some modest breeding involved in each section of the pedigree. And copying your favorite hard-knocking claimer can be both productive and kinda cool, if just to see how the Sim might contend with reality.<\/p>\n
And here we are. I opened a new stable, a habit that’s hard to break, designed to play out the notion of simulating some gutsy veteran horses on the track through the prism of the Sim. I chose some of the names that I was familiar with on the only racing circuit I follow regularly, New York, and, provided they weren’t too costly to duplicate (200 BP\/credits or more total) or too famous, I jumped in and created “clones”. The idea: can you copy a real-life horse on a small scale and receive something approximating success, in exchange? Can you get BP-enriched this way? Can you at least enjoy yourself?<\/p>\n
The horses…well, for the time being, just so I can get started, I’ll keep the names to myself. But they include the following:
\nA daughter of Value Plus who has earned over $225,000;
\nAn active, 10-time winning daughter of Mass Media;
\nAn honest son of Closing Argument who picked up over $120,000 before his untimely passing in 2014;
\nAn active son of B L’s Appeal who has picked up well over $300,000;
\nAn active, stakes-caliber son of Frost Giant;
\nA 4-time winning daughter of Teuflesberg;
\nAn honest, 4-time winning son of Noonmark;
\nA multiple graded-placed son of Stephen Got Even;
\nA stakes-winning son of Intidab;
\nA restricted stakes-winning son of Cuvee.
\nThey all have workman pedigrees, none of any specific great achievement, though a couple of these might sit on the edge of glory. Now, the question is: can I do anything with these horses that may prove the idea of duplicating some of your favorite local horses has some merit for a player? I intend to find out, and will endeavor to update you in a little while on my progress. Let’s see what I’ve got under the hood first.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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