Easter Egg:
Pressing the keys K,N, A & P simultaneously will produce an amusing sound.
Selecting Athlete Difficulty Levels:
When Building the Athletes you have a choice as to what skill level
each athlete should be at: Rookie, Average or Veteran. This choice
affects the points you get for clicking at the right Twitch Points
when competing in the decathlon, for example, the discus release point
or the long jump point. A rookie missing a twitch point by "x" amount
will get a better score than a veteran who also misses it by the same
amount. However, a veteran will score higher than a rookie if he or
she hits the twitch points right on.
If you have really good reflexes start off with veteran. Otherwise,
play it by ear and start off with rookie. Also, make sure you know
where all the twitch points are in all the events by checking out
Competing in Each Event.
Choosing Glide or Rotation for the Shot Put:
There are two methods used for the Shot Put, the glide and the
rotation methods. The glide consists of a linear movement across the
ring. The rotation involves a one turn rotation along a straight
line. You can choose which method your athletes use by selecting
the appropriate radio button in the Create Decathlon Athlete dialog
box (see Building the Athletes). Each method is equally useful,
though, so it shouldn't make any difference to your overall
performance.
Allocating Skill Points:
As explained in Building the Athletes you can custom create both
your own athlete and those you are competing against. To do so you
enter a locker and click on the Create button, bringing up the
Create Decathlon Athlete dialog box. You have a certain number of
Skill Points available to you, which you can use up by increasing
either of your Sprinting, Middle Distance, Weight Throwing, Jumping
and Coordination Skills. In general Sprinting will help you in the
100 Meter Dash and the 110 Meter Hurdles, Middle Distance in the
400 Meter and 1500 Meter Races, Weight Throwing in the Shot Put,
Discus and Javelin, Jumping in the Long Jump, High Jump and Pole
Vault, and Coordination will help you in every event. All events,
however, require some combination of different skills. For example,
the 110 Meter Hurdles will also require some jumping skills and
coordination as well as sprinting skills.
Skill points that you do not allocate to specific skill categories
such as Sprinting and Middle Distance are made available to your
athlete as endurance points, as shown in the endurance points
window. So you shouldn't necessarily allocate all of your skill
points to specific categories if you want your athlete to have
enough endurance to complete the decathlon (see Monitoring Your
Endurance). Your maximum endurance level is 100 points, if you
don't allocate any skill points at all to specific categories. You
may want to start off your athlete with 50 endurance points or so,
and then experiment to see what happens.
Training Your Athlete:
You can only train an athlete in the Season Mode. This mode is
selected by using the Game Season Mode menu command, which requires
you to choose how many decathlons comprise a season, ranging from
three to ten. The more decathlons you have in the season, the more
opportunity you have to train your athlete and improve his skills
and endurance.
At the end of every decathlon in the season, athletes will earn
additional skill points, depending upon their performance. If you do
nothing, these skill points will only enhance the athlete's endurance
(see Monitoring Your Endurance). You do, however, have the option of
adding some or all of these additional skill points to any athlete's
skill categories of Sprinting, Middle Distance, Weight Throwing,
Jumping and Coordination Skills. You can do this by re-entering the
locker room, opening an athlete's locker, and pressing the Train
button (see Allocating Skill Points). Note that you can only add to
the athlete's skill categories, you cannot reduce the points
already allocated to a skill category. You can also only train a
human controlled athlete: a computer controlled athlete will be
trained by the computer.
There are two important questions to be considered in this training
of an athlete. Firstly, what portion of these additional skill points
should be allocated to individual skill categories and what should
be left on the table as additional endurance for the athlete.
Secondly, how should the portion allocated to individual skill
categories be distributed between the different skill categories. To
make these decisions you should take a look at Reviewing Athlete
Performance.
If you or any of your friends are successful in training an excellent
athlete you should consider Trading Athlete Files with Other Players.
Trading Athlete Files with Other Players:
As explained in Building the Athletes you can save the athletes you
have custom created by clicking on the Save button in the lockers.
You can swap these files with other players to see what impact that has
on your performance. Bear in mind that in the Game Season Mode (see
Choosing the Practice, Single Decathlon or Season Modes) your athlete
will have additional skill points made available to it in its locker
after the successful completion of each decathlon in the season (see
Playing a Season of Decathlons). After multiple decathlon seasons you
will have an athlete you can be proud of and want to share with your
friends.
Reviewing Athlete Performance:
The key to success in the Game Season mode (see Choosing the Practice,
Single Decathlon, or Season Modes) lies in custom creating and training
over a number of decathlons an outstanding athlete. To achieve this
you need to regularly review your athlete's performance to see how it
could be improved.
The first area to look at is your athlete's endurance (see Monitoring
Your Endurance). Endurance is what gives your athlete the extra speed,
stamina and strength to do better in each event. It does replenish
itself at the end of the first day of the decathlon, ready for the
second day, but you could still be running out of it towards the end
of either of the two days of a Decathlon competition. Perhaps you
don't have enough of it in the first place, or perhaps you're
burning up too much of it in the early events. You can give yourself
more endurance by allocating less skill points to individual skill
categories (see Building the Athletes). Or you can burn up less
endurance by, say, accelerating less in the early events such as
the 100 Meter Dash on the first day or the 110 Meter Hurdles on the
second day.
The second area to look at is how your athlete is doing against its
opponents in the Game Season mode (see Choosing the Practice, Single
Decathlon, or Season Modes). You can do so by looking at the Athlete
Information window accessible via the View Athletes menu command.
This window shows you the skill values for all of the competing
athletes and allows you to view the personal records for each
athlete by clicking the relevant Details button. By comparing the
personal records to the skill values for each athlete you may learn
some valuable insights about creating better athletes for yourself.
The third area to look at is the bonus skill points that your
athlete earns in the Game Season mode for completing each individual
decathlon (see Playing a Season of Decathlons). Depending upon the
results of your analyses in the first and second areas you may want
to either let these bonus skill points pump up your endurance level,
or enter your locker room to allocate these points to specific skill
categories (see Building the Athletes), or some combination of the
two.
Tips on the 100 Meter Dash:
Build an athlete with excellent sprinting skills (see Allocating Skill
Points). But remember that the trade-off could be weaker performance
in other events.
Build or develop an athlete with excellent endurance (see Monitoring
Your Endurance) so that you can hold down your left mouse button for
longer and accelerate further into the race. But remember that tough
400 Meter Race later on today and the endurance that will require.
If you have an athlete with weaker sprinting skills than its
competitors (see Reviewing Athlete Performance), you may want to
conserve your endurance for other events you are better at.
Try and anticipate the starting gun to get off to a fast start.
Remember, though, that after three false starts you will be
disqualified.
Hold down the left mouse button long enough to accelerate ahead of
the pack and then release it.
Remember to click your right mouse button at the finish to lean
your athlete's body towards the tape and gain a little extra time.
Tips on the Long Jump:
Build an athlete with excellent jumping skills (see Allocating Skill
Points). But remember that the trade-off could be weaker performance
in other events.
Give your athlete a longer run-up to the take-off line by dragging
and dropping him further away from it. You'll burn up more endurance
(see Monitoring Your Endurance) but, potentially, you could jump
farther.
If you have an athlete with weaker jumping skills than its competitor
(see Reviewing Athlete Performance), you may want to conserve your
endurance for other events you are better at.
Try and jump as close to the take-off line as possible.
Play it safe initially by getting one good jump in at the lowest
endurance level to get some points up on the scoreboard. Jump early
before the take-off line to avoid any possibility of fouling. Then,
if you're good at the event, consider allocating more endurance to
subsequent jumps and jumping closer to the take-off line.
Remember to click your left mouse button on landing after jumping to
throw your athlete's balance forward and stop him from falling
backwards.
Tips on the Shot Put:
Build an athlete with excellent weight throwing skills (see Allocating
Skill Points). But remember that the trade-off could be weaker
performance in other events.
Give your athlete a longer run-up to the stopboard by dragging and
dropping him further away from it. You'll burn up more endurance
(see Monitoring Your Endurance) but, potentially, you could throw
farther.
If you have an athlete with weaker weight throwing skills than its
competitors (see Reviewing Athlete Performance), you may want to
conserve your endurance for other events that you are better at.
Try and throw as close to the stopboard as possible.
Play it safe initially by getting one good throw in at the lowest
endurance level to get some points up on the scoreboard. Throw early
before the stopboard to avoid any possibility of fouling. Then, if
you're good at the event, consider allocating more endurance to the
two subsequent throws and throwing closer to the stopboard.
Tips on the High Jump:
Build an athlete with excellent jumping skills (see Allocating Skill
Points). But remember that the trade-off could be weaker performance
in other events.
Give your athlete a longer run-up to the jump-off point by dragging
and dropping him further away from it. You'll burn up more endurance
(see Monitoring Your Endurance) but, potentially, you could jump
higher.
If you have an athlete with weaker jumping skills than its
competitors (see Reviewing Athlete Performance), you may want to
conserve your endurance for the next event, the 400 Meter Race.
Try and jump as close to the jump-off point line as possible.
Remember also to click again on the left mouse button to lift your
athlete's legs over the bar.
Try and rack up some points early on by jumping over an easy height
with the lowest endurance level to rack up some scorepoints on the
scoreboard. Then try a higher height you think you can make at the
lowest endurance level. If you have trouble, try more endurance.
Think about limiting the number of jumps you do, as each jump costs
you some endurance that you may need in the next event, the 400 Meter
Race. You may want to consider using the menu item Retire from Event
if you feel your previous best jump is adaquate.
Remember, once you have fouled three times you are out of the event,
as you don't have the opportunity to fall back to an easier height.
Tips on the 400 Meter Race:
Build an athlete with excellent middle distance skills (see Allocating
Skill Points). But remember that the trade-off could be weaker
performance in other events.
Build or develop an athlete with excellent endurance (see Monitoring
Your Endurance) so that you can accelerate and maintain your speed
for longer by tapping on your left mouse button.
Remember that the 400 Meters is the last event of the first day of
the decathlon. You can burn up all of your endurance as it will be
refreshed to its original starting value tomorrow morning. Study the
use of your Stride Meter to see how you can achieve this.
If your athlete has excellent middle distance skills, think about
conserving more of your endurance in the four earlier events for
this race.
Make sure you don't run out of endurance before the end of the race,
otherwise your performance will collapse.
Tips on the 110 Meter Hurdles:
Build an athlete with excellent sprinting and jumping skills (see
Allocating Skill Points). But remember that the trade-off could be
weaker performance in other events.
Build or develop an athlete with excellent endurance (see Monitoring
Your Endurance) so that you can hold down your left mouse button for
longer and accelerate farther into the race. But remember that tough
1500 Meter Race later on today and the endurance that will need.
If you have an athlete with weaker sprinting and jumping skills than
its competitors (see Reviewing Athlete Performance), you may want to
conserve your endurance for the four last events of the Decathlon.
Try and anticipate the starting gun to get off to a fast start.
Remember, though, that after three false starts you will be
disqualified.
Hold down the left mouse button long enough to accelerate ahead of
the pack and then release it.
Remember to click on your right mouse button to jump the hurdles.
The performance penalty for attempting to jump a hurdle and knocking
it over is less than that for just running through the hurdle.
Remember to click on your right mouse button at the finish to lean
your athlete's body towards the tape and thereby gain a little extra
time.
Tips on the Discus:
Build an athlete with excellent weight throwing skills (see Allocating
Skill Points). But remember that the trade-off could be weaker
performance in other events.
Give your athlete a longer run-up to the discus circle by dragging and
dropping him further away from it. You'll burn up more endurance (see
Monitoring Your Endurance) but, potentially, you could throw farther.
If you have an athlete with weaker weight throwing skills than its
competitors (see Reviewing Athlete Performance), you may want to
conserve your endurance for the last three events of the decathlon.
Try and throw as close to the discus circle as possible. But remember,
after three fouls you'll be disqualified.
Play it safe initially by getting one good throw in at the lowest
endurance level to get some points up on the scoreboard. Throw early
before the discus circle to avoid any possibility of fouling. Then,
if you're good at the event, consider allocating more endurance to
the two subsequent throws and throwing closer to the stopboard.
Tips on the Pole Vault:
Build an athlete with excellent jumping skills (see Allocating Skill
Points). But remember that the trade-off could be weaker performance
in other events.
Give your athlete a longer run-up to the take-off point by dragging
and dropping him further away from it. You'll burn up more endurance
(see Monitoring Your Endurance) but, potentially, you could vault
higher.
If you have an athlete with weaker jumping skills than its competitors
(see Reviewing Athlete Performance), you may want to conserve your
endurance for the final two events of the Decathlon, the Javelin and
the 1500 Meter Race.
Try and vault as close to the take-off point line as possible.
Remember also to click again on the left mouse button to lift your
athlete's legs over the cross bar.
Try and rack up some points early on by vaulting over an easy height
with the lowest endurance level to rack up some scorepoints on the
scoreboard. Then try a higher height you think you can make at the
lowest endurance level. If you have trouble, try more endurance.
Think about limiting the number of vaults you do, as each vault
costs you some endurance that you may need in the next two events.
You may want to consider using the menu item Retire from Event if you
feel your previous best jump is adaquate.
Remember, once you have missed three times at the same height you are
out of the event, as you don't have the opportunity to fall back to
an easier height.
Tips on the Javelin:
Build an athlete with excellent weight throwing skills (see Allocating
Skill Points). But remember that the trade-off could be weaker
performance in other events.
Give your athlete a longer run-up to the foul line by dragging and
dropping him further away from it. You'll burn up more endurance (see
Monitoring Your Endurance) but, potentially, you could throw farther.
If you have an athlete with weaker weight throwing skills than its
competitors (see Reviewing Athlete Performance), you may want to
conserve your endurance for the grueling final event of the Decathlon,
the 1500 Meter Race.
Try and throw as close to the foul line as possible. But remember,
after three fouls you'll be disqualified.
Note that you have to click on the left mouse button to throw the
javelin before you see the foul line. A shaded area on the run-up
lane indicates the throwing zone and will give early warning of the
approaching foul line.
Play it safe initially by getting one good throw in at the lowest
endurance level to get some points up on the scoreboard. Throw early
before the foul line to avoid any possibility of fouling. Then, if
you're good at the event, consider allocating more endurance to the
two subsequent throws and throwing closer to the foul line.
Tips on the 1500 Meter Race:
Build an athlete with excellent middle distance skills (see Allocating
Skill Points). But remember that the trade-off could be weaker
performance in other events.
Build or develop an athlete with excellent endurance (see Monitoring
Your Endurance) so that you can accelerate and maintain your speed
for longer by tapping on your left mouse button.
Remember that the 1500 Meters is the last event of the decathlon and
your last opportunity to rack up points. You can therefore burn up
all of your endurance. Study the use of your Stride Meter to see how
you can achieve this.
If your athlete has excellent middle distance skills, think about
conserving more of your endurance in the four earlier events for this
race.
Make sure you don't run out of endurance before the end of the race,
otherwise your performance will collapse.
Don't forget to use your right mouse button to change lanes and pass
athletes in front of you after you have rounded the first bend.
Listen for the bell indicating you have one lap remaining to run
( Bell Lap ).
Occasionally look at the decreasing distance number on the status bar
to see how much distance you have remaining to run. This could be
very useful in pacing yourself.
