Basics of car design.

[Immortall]

I think this topic will be useful to many.

Starting to play, starting to design their first cars, even on foreign engines and chassis, I was faced with the fact that I did not understand what I was doing.
Yes, I move the sliders, resulting in the rating I need, I can try to move them in such a way so as to get the maximum rating at the lowest cost. But I do not understand how to properly combine the engine, chassis and gearbox in order to achieve the optimal effect.

1. What is the first thing I need to design so that later it would be easier to design a suitable component?
Engine, chassis or gearbox?

2. How to avoid the problem "This vehicle is getting less than 75% optimal Brake Specific Fuel Consumption."? I had this problem most often.
I understand that it depends on the ratio of the mass and power of the car, though I do not understand the formula.
But it also depends on the ratio of gearbox and engine. And then I absolutely do not understand why one gearbox with very similar characteristics is suitable, and the other is not. How to make a gearbox that will fit most of my engines? How to properly develop it?

3. What is the principle for me to decide on the type of engine?
I understand that in the first 10-15 years of the game, I need 3 main types of engines:
 - The average engine for sedans, phaetons, a coupe that will be inexpensive but powerful enough so that there is no mistake with 75%, it must be probably not very big to fit in not big and not heavy chassis.
 - The engine of increased power for pickups, and possibly luxury sedans and coupe 2 * 2 size is not important, you need to achieve normal fuel consumption, and performance, so that on the basis of this engine I can fulfill military orders for pickups.
 - Powerful and efficient engine for sports and racing cars. This is probably the most difficult.
 
 - You can still design a very cheap engine that will be suitable for the most popular cars for selling cheap cars.

4. Types of engine. What types of engine is better to use in what circumstances? I'm still guided by an assistant for the design, which I specify the type of body. But I would like to choose the engine consciously and not at random.

5. Chassis. I think their types should be the most. Ideally, for each body type its own chassis.
As I understand it, the main thing I should strive for is that the chassis is suitable for the engine in size, and at the same time it is as light as possible.
At the same time, for each specific body, you need a chassis of a certain carrying capacity. It turns out, the chassis needs to be developed last?


6. Finally, the car itself. With the sliders here everything is more or less clear, we change them so as to achieve the desired rating for this body. Harder with the price.
Based on my modest experience, I argue that the more different models we have, the better. And that buyers of models in different price categories almost do not overlap. Based on this, I see the following picture.
At the very beginning of the game, we simply create a so-so car with a rating slightly better than the competition, as cheap as possible in production.
But in the future you need:
 - Create cars of different price categories, as at the selling price of $ 1,200, as I understand it, the buyers for 2000–2500 will not be interested. Price categories need at least two, and preferably three, to cover all the demographics.

[Eric.B]

Originally posted by Immortall:

I think this topic will be useful to many.

Starting to play, starting to design their first cars, even on foreign engines and chassis, I was faced with the fact that I did not understand what I was doing.
Yes, I move the sliders, resulting in the rating I need, I can try to move them in such a way so as to get the maximum rating at the lowest cost. But I do not understand how to properly combine the engine, chassis and gearbox in order to achieve the optimal effect.

I always suggest to use the assisted designer if you do not understand the concepts of the advanced designer. That is why such a feature is implemented. Beyond that, reading the descriptions and help buttons will go a long way into explaining what every slider does.

There are also many more available resources online. Mimicking real life designs is generally the best way to go about it.

A final note before I get into answering individual questions, there is no "optimal" designs. You need to know what you're goals are before you try design something. And you need to adjust the design to meet those goals.

1. What is the first thing I need to design so that later it would be easier to design a suitable component?
Engine, chassis or gearbox?

I planned for designs to be done in the order that it's listed in the drop down menu. Chassis, Engine, Gearbox, Vehicle. However, many users choose to do Engine, Chassis, Gearbox.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter what order you do it in. It's a personal choice.

2. How to avoid the problem "This vehicle is getting less than 75% optimal Brake Specific Fuel Consumption."? I had this problem most often.
I understand that it depends on the ratio of the mass and power of the car, though I do not understand the formula.

This warning means that your engine is too weak for the weight of your vehicle. To remove this warning, you need to use a more powerful engine (with more torque) or make the vehicle lighter.

That being said, unless you're playing in the 1970s and later, fuel economy matters very little for most vehicle types. The warning does not effect sales. In many cases, it may be smarter to make more fuel efficient engine, and live with the warning, until engine designs are capable of running optimally.

But it also depends on the ratio of gearbox and engine. And then I absolutely do not understand why one gearbox with very similar characteristics is suitable, and the other is not. How to make a gearbox that will fit most of my engines? How to properly develop it?

You can change the gear ratio of the gearbox to improve torque output. That will in turn make a weaker engine a little more powerful and it could clear out the warning. But I would advise you to ignore the warning in early game years.

If your engine is powerful enough, the gearbox can improve fuel economy by moving the gear ratio sliders toward fuel economy, and by adding more gears.

3. What is the principle for me to decide on the type of engine?

If you're trying to min/max designs, you look at the ratings the subcomponents provide, and look at the ratings that are important for the vehicle type. Select the components that have the highest effect toward the most important ratings for the vehicle type.

Alternatively, you can look up real vehicles online, and match the sub-components, dimensions, and try to get close to the specs.

 - The average engine for sedans, phaetons, a coupe that will be inexpensive but powerful enough so that there is no mistake with 75%, it must be probably not very big to fit in not big and not heavy chassis.

The 75% warning has no effect on vehicle sales, it just means the vehicle design gets 25% less fuel economy than what the engine is rated for.

 - The engine of increased power for pickups, and possibly luxury sedans and coupe 2 * 2 size is not important, you need to achieve normal fuel consumption, and performance, so that on the basis of this engine I can fulfill military orders for pickups.

Fuel consumption is generally not important for these vehicle types.

4. Types of engine. What types of engine is better to use in what circumstances? I'm still guided by an assistant for the design, which I specify the type of body. But I would like to choose the engine consciously and not at random.

Read the first part of the answer above, or alternative, look up the specs of real engines and vehicles online. Be sure to select cars from the correct era.

5. Chassis. I think their types should be the most. Ideally, for each body type its own chassis.
As I understand it, the main thing I should strive for is that the chassis is suitable for the engine in size, and at the same time it is as light as possible.
At the same time, for each specific body, you need a chassis of a certain carrying capacity. It turns out, the chassis needs to be developed last?

If you wish to design the chassis last, that is your choice. I like to develop the chassis first.

Lightness isn't always the best quality. For instance, in a truck you would want a heaver chassis, to improve strength.

6. Finally, the car itself. With the sliders here everything is more or less clear, we change them so as to achieve the desired rating for this body. Harder with the price.
Based on my modest experience, I argue that the more different models we have, the better. And that buyers of models in different price categories almost do not overlap. Based on this, I see the following picture.
At the very beginning of the game, we simply create a so-so car with a rating slightly better than the competition, as cheap as possible in production.
But in the future you need:
 - Create cars of different price categories, as at the selling price of $ 1,200, as I understand it, the buyers for 2000–2500 will not be interested. Price categories need at least two, and preferably three, to cover all the demographics.

Not sure where the question is in this. You run the company as you choose to run the company. There is really no "optimal" strategy. If you're just trying to be the biggest company in the world, and put everyone out of business, saturating the market as many of everything as possible and undercutting the price is a good monopolistic practice to break the market.

But you need to define what you're trying to do before bringing it up. If you're trying to run a luxury car company, like Rolls Royce or Duesenburg, making so-so cars at the start of the game is not a good idea.

[Immortall]

I carefully read your answer, thank you for answering questions in such detail to users!
You are the most responsive developer I have ever spoken to!
A lot of things became clear to me, and I had an interesting idea - try to repeat the path of one of the large companies creating cars as similar as possible to those historically created, with the same engine at least :)

Sorry to bother you with questions, but the game you created is very interesting, I don’t remember when I was so passionate last time!

Originally posted by Eric.B:

Not sure where the question is in this. You run the company as you choose to run the company. There is really no "optimal" strategy. If you're just trying to be the biggest company in the world, and put everyone out of business, saturating the market as many of everything as possible and undercutting the price is a good monopolistic practice to break the market.

But you need to define what you're trying to do before bringing it up. If you're trying to run a luxury car company, like Rolls Royce or Duesenburg, making so-so cars at the start of the game is not a good idea.

At the expense of the optimal strategy, I saw your answers to one user, in another topic. For me, as for him, it is unusual that you don’t necessarily have to be the largest company that tends to be a monopoly, and you can simply exist in a small niche, while remaining profitable.

It seems to me that scaling gives indisputable advantages, and only by selling a really large number of cars can you minimize production costs for a model, which will bring more profit, allow you to invest more in affiliates, marketing, lobbying, which will allow you to further increase profits, and eventually , a large company with a large number of sales force out competitors.
Or something I do not understand?


However, maybe in the next installment I will try to play a company that produces fewer cars. But for such a company, I see a problem in sales. The cost of maintaining branches does not change.
I will have to spend much less money on the construction of factories, my unit costs for factories will be lower, and the profit from each car sold is much higher. But the cost of a network of branches will remain. An interesting idea, really!

[Eric.B]

It seems to me that scaling gives indisputable advantages, and only by selling a really large number of cars can you minimize production costs for a model, which will bring more profit, allow you to invest more in affiliates, marketing, lobbying, which will allow you to further increase profits, and eventually , a large company with a large number of sales force out competitors.
Or something I do not understand?

Being able to scale up production generally drives down your costs per unit, thus allows you more room to lower prices. It is true in the game as it is in the real world.


I would also suggest bouncing up a difficulty level. I am not sure what level you're playing on, but perhaps Hard or Nightmare may give you a bit more of a challenge if you plan on trying to be the largest company there is.

[Immortall]

Originally posted by Eric.B:

Being able to scale up production generally drives down your costs per unit, thus allows you more room to lower prices. It is true in the game as it is in the real world.

Yes, that is why I am not sure whether it will succeed to play for a company that will not seek to grab the maximum market share.

Originally posted by Eric.B:

I would also suggest bouncing up a difficulty level. I am not sure what level you're playing on, but perhaps Hard or Nightmare may give you a bit more of a challenge if you plan on trying to be the largest company there is.

I play on normal difficulty.
On account of a higher ... I'm not sure I want this. The higher the complexity, the more micromanagement is needed. I spent a few years playing each month moving the production sliders in factories, and I was a little tired of it :)
But this micro-management allowed me to be a very profitable company in the years 1900-1908 and sell frankly bad cars at high prices.

To be even more efficient, I need to sell my much better cars. But in my next game I don’t want to produce 30 models :) I want to produce 3-4 body types, 2-3 models each, and in my next game I would prefer to focus on engineering.

[xt6wagon]

I design the engine first as I like to wrap the chassis around the engine.

[Immortall]

Originally posted by xt6wagon:

I design the engine first as I like to wrap the chassis around the engine.

I have already more or less understood the design ...
I design two engines (one low-cost, $ 300 in 1916), 27 kW, another assistant, for a more expensive car line, $ 400, 50 kW.

Accordingly, I get for $ 160 and $ 230.

And then I'm already designing the chassis. I designed 6 different cars under different types of cars, but in the end it turned out that they were all better. Although I tried to do my best to drive sports cars and phaetons.

The cars sponsored by me are really selling much better than licensed ones.
I have a budget price for cars of 800 + - $, I sell for 1800, a comfortable series - materials 850, I sell for $ 2000, a luxury series materials 1100-1200, I sell going for $ 2500, maybe more, I will look at the demand.