Разработчик: Strategic Designs Ltd.
Описание
Please note a later version of this game is now available on Steam: Starters Orders 7.
Build up your stables and your own string of race horses to compete in the big races around the globe. Breed new horses and take on legendary horses trained by AI trainers. Use your prize money to buy new horses at the sales and boost your funds by studying the form and betting on races.
Massive and accurate simulation includes hundreds of trainers and jockeys and thousands of horses. Choose from UK, North American, Irish or Australian racing modes. Choose also from flat or jumps game modes or a combination of both (jumps available for UK and Irish game modes only).
Take the reins and ride your own horses in full 3D including with optional Oculus Rift support for a true 'In the saddle' experience.
Realistic simulated races. Detailed form cards and race cards with accurate betting markets. Group races, claiming races, Handicap's, selling races, listed races and more.
Stewards enquiries, blocked runs, disqualifications, fallers, unseated rider, accurate handicapping, turf and dirt racing. A horse racing simulation created for racing enthusiasts by racing enthusiasts.
Note: Starters Orders 6 is a complex simulation aimed at racing enthusiasts. Please read the instructions (link on this store page) if you are stuck or visit the website forums.
Developed by Mark Loveday who has been creating sports management simulations since the early 90's.
Поддерживаемые языки: english
Системные требования
Windows
- OS *: Windows 7 or later
- Processor: 1.7 GHz Dual Core or Greater
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: 1GB DirectX 9.0c compatible graphics card (shader model 2)
- DirectX: Version 9.0
- Storage: 3 GB available space
- VR Support: Oculus PC. Keyboard or gamepad required
- Additional Notes: A GPU G3D mark of at least 1000 is required. You may need to turn race visual options to basic at this spec. If in doubt regarding your spec please visit and download and try out the free demo.
- OS *: Windows 7 or later
- Processor: Intel i3, i5 or i7 or equivalent.
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA® Geforce® GTX™ 460/ ATI Radeon™ HD 5770 or later.
- DirectX: Version 9.0
- Storage: 4 GB available space
- Additional Notes: In order to use the Oculus Rift mode you should have at least a Geforce 970 (or equivalent) video card. If in doubt regarding your spec please visit and download and try out the free demo.
Отзывы пользователей
Can be a grind, but rewarding once getting past the early stages. I really enjoyed it when wanting slow paced, easy relaxed game play, which is welcoming when playing intense PvP. Not for the casual horse fan though, knowing and loving racing is what will get you through the slog.
This is a brilliant representation of the sport of horseracing. Much better than ver 7. Get into breeding quick as you can and NEVER bet in handicaps and you'll be Vincent O Brian in no time.
Ive had a lot of enjoyment from this game, BUT! i dont know wtf has happened but it is now unplayable and keeps crashing
Edit: Worked out that my virus protection was stopping the game thinking it was a virus. No issues now and back to getting my race on!!
Once you get your first decent horse the whole game changes, gets much more exciting trying to build up to group 1 winners etc if you're like me and play UK calender. Breeding is a much better way controlling the quality of the horses in your yard, especially once you've got yourself at least one solid Male and Female breeder. Brilliant game, would recommend to any racing lovers that know even a little about the sport as you'll quickly learn more once you get in to the game.
This really is a great game, and not just for horse racing enthusiasts. Yes it helps if you have some horse racing knowledge but not essential at all. Some horse racing terminology and racing types, classes etc can be picked up easily by playing the game, are self explanatory or picked up with just a small amount of reading/googling terms unsure of.
Many dimensions to this game, the betting is fun but it's all about developing your stable, and horse breeding top winning horses, which may take some generations, or may not. Sell your old nags, keep the best and breed them (for a price) with the top stallions/mares you can afford. To do this, there's a range of statistics available. Manage your finances, level up facilities, breed horses... and you have the option to watch the races. If you are into other sports sims with lots of stats, where you develop a project and improve over time then I can highly recommend SO6.
There's a lot of potential to develop this game further and add some polish. For example integrating some of the mods made by the community into the core game, improving the UI etc. In my opinion this game has huge potential, with a bit more TLC the player base could expand significantly! From what I gather SO7 wasn't a giant leap forward but hopefully forthcoming titles in the series will be..? I hope so!
This one has a steep learning curve, even for those familiar with the sport, but the payoff is worth the wait. The graphics are pretty simple but the meat of the game is in the stats, much like OOTP Baseball. If you're a fan of horseracing, you'll probably like this.
I read a large number of reviews before buying this game - positive and negative - and was disappointed once I bought it.
Good things:
It is very in depth and accurate with betting and racing in general.
It doesn't take up much memory so downloads quickly.
Several different modes of play so you can play from different perspectives.
The bad:
Overpriced for what it is.
Had several issues with it crashing and seemed buggy. I can't say for sure this couldn't be rectified as I didn't spend enough time on it to find out.
The typeface is ludicrously small. Like squint to see it small.
The tutuorial/help manual skips over most of the things that you actually need to have explained. Way too brief for this complex of a game.
More negatives than positives for this game.
Takes a little bit of patience to get established but is an addictive game once you are breeding your own horses and winning at the big festival meetings.
Really nice graphics and playability.
Just a couple of issues that do drive me mad; no option to pause during a race is a minor issue but seems obvious that this could be done.
Biggest issue is the feedback from the jockeys which is next to useless and best ignored. For example, I have just had a horse running in the 7F Dewhurst who was pipped on the line. The feedback said he will be better over a shorter trip (bred to stay over 1 mile, though) and the 7F trip was testing his stamina. Fair enough. Then he says I should go for the 2,000 Guineas in my next race - over 1 mile! The feedback often bears no resemblance to the actual race. For example, a horse can fall away and run out of stamina whilst the feedback says "we were just beginning to pick up at the end". No, we weren't.
The final issue is one I have encountered after playing for a good few months - namely, the saving facility is dodgy. Often, my game crashes and I have to resort to the backup option. This leads to me saving after every day of racing which is a bit of a nuisance.
Overall, though, a game I would recommend and looking forward to version 7.
After much more playing, I did buy version 7 which was not a good purchase and i have stopped playing it. The issue with the crashing has become terminal and even happens within races now which is infuriating and which is why I have changed my recommendation. Until this bug is fixed, I would not recommend this game.
Highly recommended. I wasn't expecting much from this game but it just kept on delivering (got it on sale and had never heard of it before then). For the price this is an incredible game. Race graphics are simple but that's all they need to be as the game is really all about the numbers. It's a fantastic product. I have a potato lap top and this runs like a dream, never had one single issue and I'm sure I've rattled up a decent number of hours on it. You will be rewarded for immersing yourself in the depth of the game - it can seem daunting at first but well worth the effort. 9.5/10. Just don't try and make it with the initial horses allocated to you - sell any grade 1's in particular with a reserve of half a million and buy lesser but capable horses.
+Quite comfotably the best Horse Racing game available to man, and in my eyes replaces Football Manager as the best PC sports game as well. Have done/and will continue to play hours and hours of Starters Orders until No.7 is out later this year.
-My only criticism is its failure to be available on the mac through stream. I have purchased this game for windows, however now i have a mac i am not able to play it on thereunless i decide to pay ANOTHER 35pounds to buy it separately from the app store. If it is compatible and available on the app store why is it not compatable and available on steam?
I'm recommending Starters Orders because it's the best horse racing simulator on the market. I suspect the rest of the review will sound somewhat negative so it's important to bear that in mind. If you're looking for a "Football Manager for horse racing," as Starters Orders is so often described, this is as close as you are going to get at the present moment.
Indeed, in some ways this is a throwback to the text-only games of yore. The majority of the action takes place ensconced at the training center of your farm, preparing your horses for upcoming races, participating in auctions, selecting sires and dams for breeding, and so on. The only non-text based aspect of the game are the races themselves, which, unless you are playing in jockey mode (I never do), will only be a video for you to watch.
None of that is necessarily a bad thing, bear in mind. The allure of a game like this isn't the action, exactly, although it can be surprisingly exciting watching one of your homebreds charge down the homestretch of a graded stakes race. Instead, the pleasure is in the puzzle of it all, piecing together the clues to outwit your fellow owners, identify undervalued bloodstock, chart campaigns for your runners, and so on. Much of that can be done in real life on pen and paper. So it is here as well.
As with any uncanny valley situation, it's the deviations from the areas of the game that come closest to being realistic that are the most grating. Players are offered the option of starting in any of four geographic locations, but all of the games are heavily anglocentric. Race meets last a handful of days at most and pop up at random throughout the calendar. Only two tracks conduct meets on any given day. 12+ furlong races are common. Betting is done with a bookmaker. And then there are the peculiarities that can't be chalked up to Englishness. Claiming races are largely replaced by "selling races" in which the horses running are entered into an auction following the race, not a sale at a set price before the race. Two year old racing begins on January 1. Yearlings are not available for sale. Auctions take place every single day.
The root of the problem may be that the game attempts to encompass *every* aspect of the sport. This would be daunting on any budget, but it's folly for a smaller developer. The betting and jockey portions of the game are weak (the latter is especially jarring, as even mobile games have progressed well past what Starters Orders displays). Overseas racing includes both the flats and the hunts. Every add-on like this creates its own complexities - and this for a game that can't manage a proper tutorial (or even elimination of typos from game text).
Lest this all sound too negative, it's worth pointing out what Starters Orders does so well. The calculations that go into the racing seem, from afar, to be impressive; you can tell from watching a race when a horse is running outside of his comfort zone or was compromised by a difficult trip. The breeding engine feels similarly sophisticated. The racing itself is reasonably realistic, though nits can be picked. Several mods are readily available, though none quite solves the problems identified above.
All in all, Starters Orders is a decent time sink. If you are a horse racing fan, you could do a whole lot worse. In fact, it's the closeness to being great that vexes. With a little focus, Starters Orders could indeed reach a status among horse racing fans like that held by Football Manager among footie fans. But there's still work to be done.
Starters Orders 6 is a great horse racing SIMULATION game. Don't expect the shiny visuals and arcade-style gameplay of the Gallop Racer series here. As others have stated, this is more or less the horse racing equivalent of the Football Manager series with lots of spreadsheet-style screens and menus... but if the thought of a realistic menu-based thoroughbred stable management simulator gets you even slightly moist, then you've found the right game.
What you'll like:
Breeding - Breeding your own horses in Starters Order 6 is as simple as selecting a stallion and mare from a long list of available candidates and telling them to GET IT ON. If you own both horses, it's free of charge, otherwise you'll have to pay a nominal fee based on the racing success of the stallion or mare that you select. Just like in real life, you never know what's gonna pop out later. You can breed as many or as few horses as you want in a racing season and provide all of them with new names when they become two year olds.
Auctions - You can buy and sell horses in auctions. Wanna buy that unproven two year old for $100K? Trying to sell off that ten year old with the bucked shins? There's a market for everyone in this game.
Stats - All horses have fractional and positional race charts with comments, odds, and on-demand race replays, career statistics, race history, top rating and earnings lists... and even a hall of fame for your best horses. There are seasonal awards given to the top jockey, top owner, and top horses in several categories as well.
Racing - Select from over 100 jockeys with just-edited-enough names like P. Napravnik or A. Velasquez and give him or her the ride on your horse in a race. You can provide your jockey with basic instructions and auto-play the race, or take control yourself in a first person view. A good selection of the North American ABC tracks are represented, and most graded races are named as you'd expect (The Kentucky Derby, etc.). You can even ship your horses around and race in other countries - notable races from Dubai, Hong Kong, Australia, England and Japan are all here.
Variability - Each horse has his or her own personality and traits. Some run better in the slop, some will fight like mad in the stretch, some will always find the trouble spots, some are more suited to a particular surface or track, some will just stand in the gate and never do anything. You never know what you're gonna get, but it always makes you want to play more, and more, and more...
Custom Races - You can export your horses and configure custom races for them. Throw up to 40 of your favorites in a four mile event and see how many actually finish the race. Pit your distance horses against each other in an Iowa sprint for $10 million dollars. Anything goes...
Modding - You can add your own custom races to a schedule (want the Pegasus Cup in there?), or create a custom track, etc. The SO6 forums are a great resource for modding guides, and it's not too tough once you get the hang of it.
What might annoy you:
Graphics - They're fairly simple for 2017, but they get the job done. Just don't expect anything too cutting edge here and you'll be fine. They remind me of horseracegame.com or the 3D race predictions on the NBC racing telecasts (if you've seen those)
Race Commentary - It's a little strange at times - "The leader is last!" or "The leader is the leader..." OK... whatever. Don't worry, you can shut it off if it bothers you.
Money Management - It's important to manage your money (especially early in the game). You'll probably have to win a few bets or take out a few loans to stay afloat. As your stable grows and your horses start winning the money aspect will become less of a concern until you can almost forget about it completely.
Breeding Prospects - The breeding system is great, and very easy to use. However, it would be even better if the computer owners' stallions and mares carried over to future seasons. Sometimes you'll find a top horse to breed to, only to find that he or she is removed from the game the following season, so remember to get as many offspring as you can, while you can.
No Online Play - There's no built-in online play. Hopefully future Starters Orders games will make this a reality. I think there's leagues on the forums, but I've never used them.
Final Verdict
Don't buy Starters Orders 6 for the jockey mode. It won't justify the price and will leave you disappointed. If you like sports management sims (Football Manager, OOTP, etc) and have an interest in horse racing... you'll probably really enjoy it. It's challenging, rewarding, and very well-made. I bought it at $19.99 shortly after release. I'd still definitely recommend it at the current price of $34.99.
+Mods are available to make the game more realistic (jockeys, courses, horses, trainers, etc.)
+Best horse racing simulator out there (I guess that's something)
+Exciting game when you're breeding horses
-Lags a lot, and I don't even get lag on GTA V (FX-6350, RX480 and 8GB RAM)
-Unbearable commentating. "The leader - Is - The leader - Number 8 - Has fallen - Is the leader"
-No easily accessible editor.
Overall, as a huge horse racing fan I give this game a 7/10 but from outside that sphere this game could probably scrape 3/10. Recommended for horse racing fans but only if you install mods, otherwise stay away from this one.
I'm not a horse racing guy, but do love simulation games. I consider Football Manager to be the gold standard of sports sim games and Starters Orders is pretty close to that standard. It's really deep and can be addicting once you get the hang of the mechanics of the game. For me, learning those mechanics on top of having to educate myself on the sport of horse racing was a bit of a chore, but worth it in the end.
I'm by no means an expert, but have learned enough to build a solid stable with breeding facilities. If you want to create your own stable and have a career that spans hundreds of years (keeping track of your horse racing world stats), you can do that. If you want to control your races by being the jockey (VR supported), you can do that. If you just want to bet on races, you can do that. If you want to spend time breeding high potential horses and slowly export them into a supersave to start your horse racing career you can do that (it also tracks your breeding lineage which I think is pretty cool).
Once you learn the basics of horse racing, race types, season scheduling and get a handle on all of the stats and pre-race considerations, you will be on your way to hundreds of hours of enjoyment. All of the data you need to build a successful horse racing dynasty is in-game. The manual is fairly detailed, but if you're new to horse racing, you will need to look at some other sources online.
I've watched a fair amount of youtube videos but found GRaiders videos the most helpful because he was new to horse racing and this game- so while at times it was a little painful to watch, you'll find that many of the questions you have about the game unfold as he plays. Most of those questions are answered which gives you a nice foundation of knowlege to start with.
I think that this game is well worth 30 bucks and am happy with my purchase.
I own races horses in RL and even though this game is a far cry from real life, it is very entertaining. On those long nights sitting in the office in the foaling barn waiting for a mare to foal, I thoughly enjoy playing this game. It is a fun way to pass the time. I like playing the owner game because of the simplified bredding consept and trying to target specific distances with the offspring but I think I am more enetrtained by the trainer game and trying to make good with the horses that clients send to you and hoping that after an Open House, I can attract clients with better horses. It is very possible in the Owner game to have a stable full of super horses by the time your 3rd crop of foals hit the track but with the Trainer game, it can be difficult to draw in those Super horses to sweep the all important Grade 1 races to boost income so you can rise through the trainer standings. I have won almost all the big G1 races but after playing many seasons in both the trainer and owner games, one G1 still eludes me, the Melborne Cup. The aquisition of that 2 mile monster than can win that race just seems to evade me. I will win that race one day but until then, I will just keep playing.
requires
1 thought, critical thinking
2 planning
3 patience
4 reading comprehension
5/6mouse and keyboard
7 recommended: pen and paper, or notepad
bonus: love horse race, horses (not bronie)
does not require
-1 nvidia 1080
-2 gsync
-3 super pc
-4 frend(s) , no multiplayer
grade 7 - 4............ SCORE : 3+7=10 - 4 = A+ (great for scholar/intellectual, horse lovers)
I think the game is niche. You must like either management sims a lot, or know something about horse racing and like sims some. I am in the latter, so I sink so, so many hours into planning. That makes this game a fantastic investment for entertainment for cost. So, if you get into it, it will be an excellent game. I can see it not grabbing everyone though. The document in the base directory is a must read, and it really helps to browse through the usual questions on the game's site forum.
I wasn't sure what to expect with this game. I like horses, and managerial/tycoon-like games. I know nothing about horse racing.
At first, I was disappointed by the graphics and turned off by all the lingo and acronyms, and I had to google a lot of the horse racing terms in order to make sense of the game. There's no hand-holding or walkthrough here. With that out of the way, the game starts to get interesting. Essentially, this game is based on decision-making, weighing gains/risks, and money management.. and it's addicting.
If you're looking for a horse racing simulator, you can choose to do that too, but you'll probably find it a bit repetitive, and would rather skip past that part to get results faster and continue to build up your horses over a campaign of races.
For those that are confused with the lingo, the most important statistic is the horse's RTG (rating). In order to increase the chances of winning races, enter horses in races where they are closer to the top end of RTG. You can view the RTG of other contestants when you enter a race, and decide whether your horse is competitive. Handicap races are the easiest way to build this up. Buying young, cheap horses that had a bad first race or two, building some RTG and selling them is a great way to make profit and progress your stables early on.
I got this game on sale for $30, which (to me) is a lot for a game that isn't pretty or flashy, and is really difficult to learn for someone who isn't familiar with horse racing. Once you get past the learning curve, it becomes a very engaging managerial/decision-making game that you'll get the itch to load up several times a day for juuuuuust another race or ten.
Bought this in the summer sale. Spent more for it than I do for most games--in fact, cleaned out the rest of my available Summer Sale funds to get it because Hey! Horse racing game!
Felt a little remorseful, like maybe I could have waited until it went on a better sale like I do with most stuff. Started it up to see if I'd even like it---maybe it would suck or I wouldn't like it THAT much and could get a refund.
9 hours of playtime later--all in less than 24 hours, I might add--here I am, writing this review.
Exciting? No, not really, but if you think managing things and betting on horse races and trying to build up to Something from Virtually Nothing by way of some good decision-making and a whole lot of luck, this is for you.
This is going to be one of my go-to games, never uninstalled, for a long, long, time.
One of the few Horse Racing games on Steam. So far enjoying it. It is like the Football Manager of Horse Racing :)
Ok, after over a week playing it you can tell by the time I have put on this game that I really enjoy it.
Now dont get me wrong it can get frustrating with some things. For instance the outdated overview screen can be confusing especially for someone that doesn't follow horse racing very closely. Neverthelless after a few seasons of playing you get what everything means and how important upgrading your barn, stables etc is.
This game has it all, it really will keep you playing for a very long time and although it looks simple it is actually very challenging especially if you are like me and dont use or do any cheats or easy ways of making cash.
worth it all! get the game.
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Дополнительная информация
| Разработчик | Strategic Designs Ltd. |
| Платформы | Windows |
| Ограничение возраста | Нет |
| Дата релиза | 24.01.2025 |
| Отзывы пользователей | 75% положительных (73) |