Hitting the Auto Finish Button

[Harmor]

I simply put hate the drugged horses (that's it) event - yes it does affect AI aurigas, but not only does it make the race completely tedious, but it unncessarily adds random chance to what is supposedly a STRATEGY game. Imo, it's the sorta stuff that has no place in a game like this, ever, and to me is a bad design decision.

Aside from that, because I don't think a new thread is needed for this question: Can someone tell me where I could possibly buy seriously, and I mean seriously fast horses? I'm at Circus Maximus by now (with one win there so far), but I'm having a hard time in most races there because my 16k horses (2x hearts and 1x arrow) usually can't keep up with others. I'm fine with my qvadriga and aurigas, but I want better horses - but where do I go look for them?

[SteveD64]

I'm playing the purple faction and I don't think fast horses can be bought. My chariots are the finest that ancient craftsmen can make however. I've won three times at Maximus.

[Harmor]

Oh right - I play as the purple faction as well. Seems I'm stuck with the horses I have I guess - gotta keep trying, then ^^.

[NZgunner]

This is the way I see it.

Appearance money is for finishing the race, auto-finish is there to prevent the tedium of having to crawl around the track in a damaged chariot or a two-horse team, which everyone could easily do but just isn't fun.

So I'm fine with appearance money after using auto-finish.

But fame should be related to the entertainment value provided by your team - suffering or dealing out damage is part of what the fans come to see, as is finishing at the front.

So fame should be tied to your degree of involvement in the race (finishing position and damage) - and an auto-finish should reduce the fame from that race as your auriga can be assumed to be driving the rest of the race in such a conservative way that it provides no further entertainment value.

[nats]

ORIGINAL: Harmor

Oh right - I play as the purple faction as well. Seems I'm stuck with the horses I have I guess - gotta keep trying, then ^^.

Yeha the purple faction has heavy chariots so I dont think it has access to the fastest horses. You probably need the Aurata faction (yellow).

[Manticore8]

ORIGINAL: nzgunner

This is the way I see it.

Appearance money is for finishing the race, auto-finish is there to prevent the tedium of having to crawl around the track in a damaged chariot or a two-horse team, which everyone could easily do but just isn't fun.

So I'm fine with appearance money after using auto-finish.

But fame should be related to the entertainment value provided by your team - suffering or dealing out damage is part of what the fans come to see, as is finishing at the front.

So fame should be tied to your degree of involvement in the race (finishing position and damage) - and an auto-finish should reduce the fame from that race as your auriga can be assumed to be driving the rest of the race in such a conservative way that it provides no further entertainment value.

Excellent suggestions here which would certainly satisfy my desire to take away a little shine from Auto Finishing, but which aren't too drastic.

Turnopia, any comments about all this please?

[Niessuh]

Well, I prefer not to punish players for hitting it. As I said at the other thread, your team have to complete at least one lap and not being dragged or stunned in order to have the option. It assumes that, for the remainder of the race, you brake if necessary, avoid danger at all cost and just finish the race. In that situation you could do this instead of hitting the autofinish, so this is just a time saving method. I prefer that players do not have to take the punishment of finishing an already lost race. Anyways the fame gained from finishing a race is minimum compared to winning or any podium position.

[NZgunner]

ORIGINAL: Turnopia
Anyways the fame gained from finishing a race is minimum compared to winning or any podium position.

Then maybe you could think about reworking the fame system - from what you are saying here it is pretty one dimensional and it would be easy to make it more complex.

You only have to take your cue from modern sport where both results and the manner in which they are achieved contribute to the popularity of team. The citizens of the Roman Empire went to see chariot racing for the drama and excitement, and a lot of that came through clashes and crashes.

You've got almost everything there you need to allocate fame on a more sophisticated basis, placing and damage/injuries received, all that might be missing is the ability to calculate damage done by a particular team/auriga.

[Zap]

patch 1.20 did nothing to improve this. I just started using auto finish. Before when I had to finish races limping to the finish and worse. I would eventually loose my team to lack of money. With auto finish I have more money than I ever did. Auto finish gave me second place prizes when I was running last. So auto finish gives better money prizes then one deserves. Hoping this will be addressed in a future patch.

[76mm]

ORIGINAL: Zap
Auto finish gave me second place prizes when I was running last.

I've never seen this, and use auto-finish all the time. This is new, under the latest patch?

[Zap]

reading what was done in the patch. there is no reference to the auto finish button

[76mm]

reading what was done in the patch. there is no reference to the auto finish button

heh, maybe only two chariots survived the race?

[nats]

I think you must be imagining that. All it does is give you the money for finishing the race, it doesnt award you place money. I have on one occasion used it when I was assured of a place and lost that place money. I admit I dont know if you get some place money if only 3 or less chariots finish and you hit autofinish. That would make sense.

[Zap]

not sure, though 1 auto finish I received 1280 denarii another 1800 and yet another 640. So I noticed that with auto finish I am remaining financially in good condition. Without auto finish I usually run out of money. So pressing the auto button is a cheat

[76mm]

ORIGINAL: Zap
So pressing the auto button is a cheat

You realize that you receive different amounts for different races, right?

I don't consider using auto-finish to be a cheat at all, rather it saves a lot of tedium circling the track when you have no chance of winning. In all of these races I'm confident I could finish in last place if I wanted to, but why wouldn't I save myself the time and tedium of doing so?

[Zap]

ORIGINAL: 76mm

ORIGINAL: Zap
So pressing the auto button is a cheat

You realize that you receive different amounts for different races, right?

I don't consider using auto-finish to be a cheat at all, rather it saves a lot of tedium circling the track when you have no chance of winning. In all of these races I'm confident I could finish in last place if I wanted to, but why wouldn't I save myself the time and tedium of doing so?

I should say that i'm not completely against it. just noting that because of the auto button i'm doing much better than without it. And yes there are different prizes but when i'm running last and I get the prize money of 2 or third place, seems too much. but I am fully in agreement with you on the tedious nature of running the rest of the race when you or(your chariot) disabled

[76mm]

ORIGINAL: Zap
...just noting that because of the auto button i'm doing much better than without it. And yes there are different prizes but when i'm running last and I get the prize money of 2 or third place, seems too much.

With all due respect, I can't believe that you're getting the prize money of 2nd or 3rd place when you hit auto-finish--if so, you're only only one to report this.

From everything I've seen, if you hit auto-finish, you finish last, period, so you're not any better off from using it, other than saving a bunch of time.

[CaptCarnage]

With 3 or 2 horses left and forced to hold the brake all the time to save my chariot, it becomes a bit tedious.
Autofinish is a blast at that point, because it is easy to finish by yourself but just a drag.

[Zap]

ORIGINAL: 76mm

ORIGINAL: Zap
...just noting that because of the auto button i'm doing much better than without it. And yes there are different prizes but when i'm running last and I get the prize money of 2 or third place, seems too much.

With all due respect, I can't believe that you're getting the prize money of 2nd or 3rd place when you hit auto-finish--if so, you're only only one to report this.

From everything I've seen, if you hit auto-finish, you finish last, period, so you're not any better off from using it, other than saving a bunch of time.

After I saw this I went back and did 3 auto finishes in the city of sienna. 2 resultswere 1119 denarii and the third 489 denarii. Different results but maybe that is because of the number of charioteers?

[nats]

ORIGINAL: Zap

After I saw this I went back and did 3 auto finishes in the city of sienna. 2 resultswere 1119 denarii and the third 489 denarii. Different results but maybe that is because of the number of charioteers?

You get different size pots for different grades of race and different sized fields.