Should I buy PCM 2018?

[Dee-Jay]

I've owned all the PCM games since 2012.

I think the biggest (most annoying) faults have been in AI:

- Versions where riders from other teams cooperate and sacrifice themselves purely to stop the player's rider from winning (2014-15?)
- Where GC contender teams would sit up and leave a breakaway to win by so much time that the winner takes an unbeatable GC lead. (2014-15?)
- Where GC candidates all ride as a group to about 50m from the end of a mountain stage and try and sprint to win - no longer attacks (2016 and 2017 to a lesser extent).

Everything apart from the 3D race could do with more depth and immersion, but I can overlook that for now.

So, have they done good job on AI? Or should I stick with PCM2017?

[ryancrunchi]

I don't remember how AI behaved in older versions. The last version I played a lot was 2014.
But I can explain some recurrent situations I saw in 2018.

1 - Breakaways are more difficult to take back. In the sense where the breakaway mates will ride harder the closer to the finish line they are. But you will notice that this behavior is somewhat "scripted". At the beginning of the race, a breakaway is created. They will ride at 85-100% until they get 2'30 on the peloton and then ride at 55-65%. When the peloton let the breakaway go, it will ride at like 45-55%. At 1/3 of the race the peloton will ride at 65-70% to take the breakaway back. Breakaway still at 60-65%. At 2/3, the peloton will ride at 80-90%. When they get the breakaway at 2'30, the breakaway will ride at 80-90%. Near the finish (under 10-20km) breakaway and peloton will ride at 90-99%. This is the scenario you will have 95% of the time, either flat, hill or mountain races.
The main difference I saw here from older versions is that, now, the AI won't hesitate to ride at 99% if needed. This was caped at 85-90% before.

This behavior has 2 consequences :
a - If the breakaway has a numerous rider (more than 10, which happens sometimes), it has more chances to win.
b - The peloton will ride harder and the teammates riding may exhaust if the race has some difficulties. With a stage race, the teammates will get more and more tired. The breakaway has more chances to win.

2 - The formation of the breakaway is pretty easy to understand. If there is too much riders (let's say more than 12-15 on average), the peloton will chase. If there is a dangerous rider, the peloton will chase. If a team has failed to put a rider in the breakaway and want to do so, they will chase. In this last case, there is a bug sometimes, where all the teammates are attacking to take the breakaway but not making a break with the peloton (1/10 races).

3 - Special cases in Grand Tour. Some really good rider can go in a breakaway without the peloton chasing (Thomas, Yates, Pinot, Quitana or any other...). This happens in mountain stages if the rider is far at GC (more than 15-20 minutes). A breakaway in GT can go really big in mountain stages (I saw a breakaway of 45+ riders in Tour de France) and has a lot of chance to win. You will never be able to take a breakaway if you are a GC contender.
These big breakaways in GT will make them fight for the jersey, especially mountain one. This means GC leader will (almost) never fight for mountain points. This make it easier to take the breakaway and fight for mountain jersey. But you will fight with good riders too.

4 - I've always seen GC leaders attacking in the last climb. If they finish in group this is because all riders have caught up each other during attacks. I've noticed that when a leader has enough red bar and yellow bar, he will attacks. At 2-3km from finish line, they ride at 85-90% and the weakers will let off, taking 1 or 2 minutes.

5 - In hill races, there are less finish in groups of 50 sprinting. But it happens when there is not a lot of hills. The hills will tired the riders all race along. If the difficulties are only at the end, there will be attacks but a chance that it finishes in group.

6 - I don't know if sprints have changed since 2017. But I'm speaking always compared to 2014 version. Sprints are really driven by the red bar. When you have no red anymore, the rider will loose like 5-10km/h in a second. You should start your sprint really carefully, not to early, not to late. I saw some sprinters started at 2km, making a break with the peleton but loosing all at 300-500m. In flat sprints, a sprinter's red bar lasts about 1km. In downhill sprints, you can start earlier like 1.3km. In uphill sprints, you should start really late, like 500-700m.


Conclusion
This is a good AI but can be improved, as always. Overall the part I call "scripted" when peloton wants to get back on breakaways. I feel the effort being always the same at the same race point. I think the biggest problems are in management parts (calendar, tiredness, R&D, budget for negociations...).
If the 2017 version has the same behaviors, stay on 2017. If, like me, you didn't play since 2014, there are a lot of improvements and realism added, especially in GT and breakaways, IMHO.

[Dee-Jay]

Thanks for for the response.

I watched a few videos on youtube, but it's always difficult to tell how good the newest game is. Over the last 6 years they tend to fix or improve 1 or 2 areas and not touch (or even make worse) some others. If they can really fix the AI once and for all, it will be a big moment in the series, though.

[ryancrunchi]

I think the AI is good enough to play hours. As I think, the problems are in management with some basic bugs. The new negociation system needs improvements. For example your budget for negociation would be infinite, but if you can't make enough money to pay riders, it's up to you. Also, a new rider will take care that if you offer him an amount that would overpass your budget he will be more reluctant. Small things that gives you more control on your manager career.

In pro cyclist 3D races, there are more bugs. For example, you know you can win the stage, but you can only control 1 or 2 teammates. And often the controlables teammates are always switching from controlable to uncontrolable all race long... so you can't get protected the right way. This is the biggest problem in pro cyclist 3D.