Starters Orders Touch Horse Racing
Release date: Jul 12, 2024
Developers: Strategic Designs Ltd.
Publishers: Strategic Designs Ltd.
Genres: Indie, Racing, Simulation, Sports, Strategy
Categories: Single-player, Steam Achievements, Family Sharing
Supported languages: English

Starters Orders Touch coming to the PC! A brand new GUI and improved game play and the most advanced simulation engine to date cement Starters Orders as the No.1. horse racing management series. Latest features include: New 2D horse and jockey animations and textures. Silks up to 126 from 30. Brand new easy to use GUI designed for both mobile and desktop platforms. Drag and drop race entry etc. Multiple race commentary voices available (mobile only). Global stable for player bred horses. Don't lose you player bred horses! Big schedule for Mobile (reflects desktop standard size with 2/3 meetings per day). Non feature race schedule and sim realism improvements. Japanese and French game modes. New bets (win and place): Pre-race Doubles, Trebles, Trixie, Yankee and Lucky 15 multiple options. Global staff added. Hire staff in a number of roles which have a positive effect on the running of the stables. There is a global pool of staff and both players and AI trainers will hire staff from this pool. Staff may move between employers and have a number of individual parameters (some dynamic) and roles which affect the running of the stables and in some cases provide options to delegate tasks. New legends added with improved game integration and editor (not confirmed). Legends now also on mobile. French style race and horse ratings option added (via trainer menu). Schedules and races updated. Hardcore mode. This is the SO7 breeding model. Turning OFF now attempts to compromise between the realistic breeding model progression difficulty introduced in SO7 and the older breeding model (pre SO7) which provided less of a challenge. Easy mode will be default on mobile. Updated trainers and jockeys. Trainer and jockey portraits used throughout. The game uses default AI generated faces but these can replaced (on all platforms) via an editor. Editor for trainer and jockey names. Improved trainer AI regarding race entries and horse career progression. Fewer unraced horses and better, more realistic fields. Graded Novice and Juvenile feature races. Gallop invite option. Player may invite certain non owned horses to gallop trials (for a fee). Auto training option related to Assistant trainer (staff). Option to set globally or for individual horse(s) added. Breeding with Legends allowed. May be removed! Breeding fees are very high. Improved race sequence generation code. Race realism and jockey AI improved. Improved pace code + more jockey awareness of relative pace vs competition. Jockey AI pace improvements relating mainly to feature races resulting in less upsets due to poor pace. Simplified auction with single, easy to use auction option. Improved horse championship/rankings data. Various ranking options. Top horses and categories reworked and notifications added for various category changes (notifications can be turned off). Configurable notifications for top horse categories, trainer, jockeys, stallions, gallop winners. New yearling 'score' at birth may give indication as to future potential. Stud fees now updated to consider dynamic AEI rankings. New player score added. Score bonuses awarded throughout the game. Leader boards may be available depending on platform. Occasional newspaper style summaries pre big group races (race menu). Listed Handicaps gone. Premiere handicaps introduced. G3 Jumps handicaps also now Premiere Handicaps (as BHA rule changes). Jockey new params. Fitness (may fluctuate due to profile parameters) and strength. Both parameters may affect riding usually in the finish. Jockey icon flashes during race when jockey is tired. Jockeys may have mild injuries and fitness setbacks. Horse maturity model improvements. Recent jockey and trainer stats for current racecourse displayed on race menu. Form hints for fancied runners (favourite) based on Collateral Form. Improved global weather realism. Notifications for notable newly retired horses (group 1 winners). Sales highlight notifications for key horses in today’s sales. Meters/furlongs and decimal/fraction options during game and meters used correctly in form descriptions. Trainer only mode (AI owners present). Xlarge game mode (boosts game size, horse pools and increases max meetings per day). Legendary horse editor. Combined schedules (UK and Ire). 

Press reviews: “Starter's Orders Is the Horse Racing Simulation Consoles Are Not Providing!” 9 – Operation Sports.