Pitstopboss News Update - 31st July 2009

[VELOCIPEDE]

Pitstopboss News Update - 31st July 2009

Well, it's a big one all right and it will take a week at least for the dust to settle. I'm about to unleash the Alliance mode and a few other gameplay additions.

To make things nice and easy for me to remember what changed, here's the list:

* Added alliances to the game. You can now team up with 8 other managers and race against other alliances in special competitions. you can share setup info to help give you an edge over the competition. (for a few days, i will restrict the number of alliances, so I can test them out for any major bugs)

* Fixed a bug with whereby the wrong sets of tyres were accepted as normal (eg dry's in the wet under certain circumstances)

* Added lap charts to the analysis section of the game.

* Competitions now give Credits based on Constructor position. This will NOT come into affect for your current competitions that you are racing in.

* Competiton entry fees reduced to 1000cr this is all part of balancing the game economy so it is distributed more evenly rather than a few teams taking the whole prizefund

* Some competitions will now exclude Control Tyres so that people on these non branded sub-standard tyres don't become exploited.

* Added a new psb TruSkill system that will try and more accurately measure the skill of players - this will pave the way for better ranking and matching of opponents in competitions (it will take about a week or two to get enough data to make the calculations)

* Fixed a few bad links to the wiki

* Fixed a few bad links in the game

* Fixed a bug that sometimes took you to an error page when logging in

* Removed global points from sponsors.

* Added an indicator icon for showing if an item can be turned into a Dealership.

* Slightly reduced the renewal cost for contracts (approximately 10% less).

* Added a bit more granularity to the tyre temperature charts.

* Adjusted the weathersystem and there is less rain now.

* Holiday mode is now on holiday...permanantly! - You should now use the Stig instead.

Some of these updates may have a slight affect on laptimes - It should all equalize by the next round.

There are more updates are on the way, but this is a major step for me (getting the whole alliance system in)

There will be a seperate post about alliances soon, detailing all the features..

ADDENDUM

All current competitions will give prize funds based on driver finishing position.

All new cups you enter will do this based on Constructor position.

All new cups are now 1000cr to enter.

This is to create a fairer distribution of winnings, rather than a few teams taking all the winnings.

The total prizefund for fielding two drivers is approximately the same as it was before the update, but the distribution of wealth system is fairer. To sum it up in Formula one terms.... The old system was like Bernie Ecclestone's Medals system and the new system

is more of a FOTA system ie. fairer to the constructors.

2, 3 or 4 managers could win all the prize money practically in the old system.

The new system allows more teams to get their hands on prize money in each competition.

This has been slowly destabilizing the game economy, was a bug/feature for ages, but had to get fixed.

If you want to run one driver in a competition, there are some competions that allow that - and more will become available (or join an Alliance when they become fully online next week)