The frustration of the engine stand ...

[Frag2000]

Something happens to me a LOT and it really grind my gears.

It seems that if you put an engine on the engine stand, you cannot highlight the part that the customer want to change.

Many time, I rebuilt complete engine there, to later on put it back in the car to have one the the piston or ring not being mark as done ... maybe because he wanted it to be fixed, but was in yellow condition, so I did not bother change it.

It happens to me a lot with rod, spark plugs and piston ... and it does mean a full part out all over again.

Do you have a trick to avoid it? If let's say a customer want 4 pistons replaced, but I do install 8 new one, will he pay for the 4 that he did not ask for? If yes, I would always replace all rods, pistons, rings, plugs ...

[dogwalker1]

No, the customer won't pay for any extra work you do that they did not request.

I find the engine stand is really not useful that for customer jobs, for the reason you state. I use it for my own restore/rebuilds only. I don't believe there is a trick to solve it.

[astrofelix59]

The trick, memory or a pencil and paper, when inspecting car and using the highlight, take note of which rings, pistons and plugs need changing, L 1-4, R 1-4 or whatever order you see fit, use the same order/starting place for each engine and it will become easier over time. With any manufacturing process, it's important to establish routines, saves a lot of time and mistakes, even lives in the real world.
Depends on the job and how much it's paying, if reasonable I may just change all the rings or plugs they are fairly cheap, if need to change 3 or 4, then the payout just those parts will cover the cost of the rest, with just a small dent in profit.
I slammed the last 20 story missions in a weekend, for them I wasn't trying to maximise profit, if job need one tie rod, bush, brake pad, etc. it got all, just for the balance. The moto of the shop, a safe customer is a repeat customer. A few near the end I went above and beyond, still made a little profit, as long as bank was higher than when I started, I was happy. All up made over 100k net on those jobs, might have squeezed another 10K sticking to the list.

Next day I fixed a junker and made more profit than all the missions combined.

[Smoke79]

On the customer's vehicle you have to look at the minimum % for parts to be ok with the customer, if it's 55% it only applies to the parts to be repaired that are listed, it doesn't matter what condition any other part is on the vehicle that's not on the customer's "list" if it's below 55% or even near the red zone but not on the customers list you don't need to repair it, nor will you get paid to repair it

[Smoke79]

Originally posted by astrofelix59:

The trick, memory or a pencil and paper, when inspecting car and using the highlight, take note of which rings, pistons and plugs need changing, L 1-4, R 1-4 or whatever order you see fit, use the same order/starting place for each engine and it will become easier over time. With any manufacturing process, it's important to establish routines, saves a lot of time and mistakes, even lives in the real world.
Depends on the job and how much it's paying, if reasonable I may just change all the rings or plugs they are fairly cheap, if need to change 3 or 4, then the payout just those parts will cover the cost of the rest, with just a small dent in profit.
I slammed the last 20 story missions in a weekend, for them I wasn't trying to maximise profit, if job need one tie rod, bush, brake pad, etc. it got all, just for the balance. The moto of the shop, a safe customer is a repeat customer. A few near the end I went above and beyond, still made a little profit, as long as bank was higher than when I started, I was happy. All up made over 100k net on those jobs, might have squeezed another 10K sticking to the list.

Next day I fixed a junker and made more profit than all the missions combined.

Right! I like for my customers vehicles to be nice and shiny when they leave the shop so if I have a 10K job I'll use the welder and repair the body parts or throw in a paint job so the vehicle looks like new Lol!

[astrofelix59]

Originally posted by Smoke79:

Right! I like for my customers vehicles to be nice and shiny when they leave the shop so if I have a 10K job I'll use the welder and repair the body parts or throw in a paint job so the vehicle looks like new Lol![/quote]
I play an "Olden times service and value" game, all jobs got wash, detail, battery and brake lathe, payout determined how much further I would go. (a few days out of nearly two years, I've given F U service, just to keep it real)

A couple of the story missions at the end, "kid crashes dads car while he's away" so anything I could repair got done list or not, all new consumables, cars average condition was 90%ish to begin with, didn't cost much extra still made profit, left things like fluid reservoirs just so it wasn't all brand spanking new.
Latter Dad shows up, impressed with kids honesty and responsibility wants to give kids car a spruce up and some tuning (cool Dad), got it to .01% of upper range, would have maxed it for the kid at no charge if allowed but I threw in 3.5% brake discs and a few other things. Faster, safer and doubled cars value, if that doesn't build customer loyalty nothing will.
A reputation system, 2-3X as many missions, interlinked with repeat customers would make that side of the game a little more interesting, really the two above were the only ones I had Fun with, the rest were just get it done because they are there.

On a side note, being over level 200 when doing the last 20 story missions, the payout from all the chests is really high, technically making payouts from the jobs 4-5X as much, plus ~50k each in blues and greens.

[Frag2000]

Originally posted by astrofelix59:

Originally posted by Smoke79:

On a side note, being over level 200 when doing the last 20 story missions, the payout from all the chests is really high, technically making payouts from the jobs 4-5X as much, plus ~50k each in blues and greens.

Ironically I could not stop thinking about a "Satisfaction" score that would be SO fun in the next version.

Example:

- As it is right now, if you forgot a bushing, the game will stop you to deliver the car. But with this feature, the customer would leave ... but would come back later, asking for a "FREE" fix, with other possible parts broken and the satisfaction score would go down.

- That kind of thing would make the game harder and more challenging. Would would double check to make sure everything is fine before delivery.

- The score would get affected by if you deliver the car clean, all aligned ...

- Would get affected by free part ...

... and so on. You get the idea.

The ole idea would be to put a satisfaction score (per customer) as well as a general reputation one. High and low score could trigger gifts, missions or even equipment.

The game is fun, but it is easy. This could make it super challenging.

[astrofelix59]

Rep/satisfaction pretty much the same thing, if the customer is happy your rep would be better. While I would also like greater complexity, I know it's difficult for the devs to balance for time poor players (majority base), probably take a few more iterations before they can get half the stuff I would like but a nudge and a hint here and there couldn't hurt.

[Meitzi]

My trick is just never use engine stand.
I didnt know it exist at first, so Im totally comfortable to work engine quite nicely when its inside car. You only need use lifter couple of times.

[H5N1]

I completely forgot that was a thing being a hard mode only player