With this patch we're wrapping up the V1.4 milestone. This update brings one very important fix to career progression (XP not being calculated correctly among the team), an equally important fix to team leader AI behavior, as well as new UI that lets you take a close look at other teams and their riders between stages to see how they are faring.
A very large change that at first might seem small is a change to slipstream on easy flat and downhill terrain. Both the slipstream bonus as well as the maximum slipstream values have been increased for that terrain. This has all kinds of consequences, like non-flat proficient riders hiding in P3 not being wasted before they even get to a final climb, escape groups being more viable in general and having better chances at winning, sprinters being better in general because groups are more sticky (on easy terrain), etc.
Big slipstream on easy terrain makes riding in the peloton a breeze.
Another thing that was problematic in terms of balance were that ITTs and TTTs didn't quite matter enough. A little too short and too boring because of it. Going one less than max move most of the time is not challenging in any way. With longer ITTs and TTTs, more foresight is required in handling resources, and larger time gaps are possible for specialists. This also makes weird extreme E/t and A/t builds less powerful.
Patch 1.4.9 Fixes & Improvements
- Added UI switch to see the recovery status and prestige gain of AI teams in between stages by switching to their team view. This allows you to closely track AI teams and their riders.
- Rebalanced slightly the attribute bonuses of specialization choices
- Rebalanced terrain slipstream values, improving slipstream in flat and downhill terrain
- Rebalanced the average length of prologues (+), ITTs (+++), and TTTs (++)
- Rebalanced Downhill 3 specialization points
- Tweaked AI race choice / planning logic for empty races in career mode
- Updated and tweaked tutorials to adapt to new balance
- Fixed team XP sharing not calculating correctly
- Fixed single races set to amateur starting with a peloton without any resources
- Fixed tutorial riders missing their country of origin and age information
- Fixed peloton not being able to recover energy (for real this time ;)
- Fixed AI behavior that made leaders / favorites drop behind the peloton and not catch up again
- Fixed instance where riders being able to catch up when they shouldn't have the option
- Fixed not being able to see list of favorites for the next stage during a rest day
- Fixed display of sponsor prestige requirement not being consistent across screens
- Fixed rider tooltip not showing the correct recovery % values between stages
- Fixed minor UI alignment issue of peloton Energy / Attack display
We're now going back to slowly working on the next bigger milestone update unless something demands a quick fix. We'll keep you updated!
Cheers!