Thoughts after 70 hours of gameplay

[Ferretfuzz]

First of all, I wanted to thank you so much for everything you've done. I was the person who was wondering if there would be a Steam sale next week. After reading your courteous, informative response, and after putting 10 hours into the demo on your website, I decided to just go ahead and purchase it, since the quality was fantastic enough to make a few dollars meaningless. I've been singing high praises for this game everywhere, and I'll be writing a full review soon.

That being said, I have some random comments/questions/suggestions after 70 hours of playing, and will probably keep editing onto this over the next day or so.

First, are there factors that will help a car sell aside from type quality, price, and brand? I tried selling a car with 0 hp with a type quality of 44 (hey, I'm used to turn-based strategy. ;)), and couldn't sell any until I used an SQL editor to bump up the horsepower a bit, which implies there might be something customers are looking for not reflected in the type quality section.

Why does there seem to be a sales drop with all new models? My Ermine ST sedan, with a type quality of 40, sold 10,000 units a month. Then, I released the new model, with the same price/branches/etc., with a type quality of 54, and only sold 4,000, that month. I've noticed something similar with most of my new cars.
Which brings me to: it should be a little easier to replace vehicles. Currently, I have a system where i end model production one at a time in the RD area, and then go through the Mega Controller and try to set all the sliders back to where they were. Am I missing something? It would be really nice if, when selecting "new generation", there were a checkbox to "replace old generation upon release", at which point everything going for the old model, including pricing and whatnot, would transfer to the new one.

I absolutely love the music! BitQuake - Mashed Tube is my favorite. That being said, it would be nice if there were a few more songs.

There doesn't realy seem to be a solid "black" color, unless I'm really missing something. Tons of things don't seem to be paint-able, and having to click the color every time before painting something (that often isn't paintable) is both time-consuming and leads to the wrong paint being applied due to fault of memory.

It doesn't feel like the vehicle's body matters as much as it should, as far as type quality goes. I had a 230 hp sports car in 1912 - the Aucar designs and whatnot are open-cockpit, no doors, no seatbelt - that would be terrifying! The newer Aucar design should be more sleek and aerodynamic, not to mention more satisfying for the consumer. But, comparing that 1905 design to the much more modern 1915 design seemed to make... No difference. The lateral G and drag numbers weren't really any different, and the top speed, mpg, and overall type quality were absolutely the same. When designing a car, is the "ratings" button inaccurate, or something? It feels like at least one of the numbers should be different with such a dramatically different body type, even ignoring consumers probably wanting a 150 mph, 250 hp vehicle to have doors.

For making the body type matter a bit more, I have two ideas, with one more complicated than the other. (Though, I don't really mind it so much, either way; the overall gameplay is so fun!)

Less complicated: Body new-ness will have pre-set values in pre-set years. That open cockpit Aucar design will have a high score at its inception, and will have a low score by the time the new style rolls out. Little numbers near the "Base model" selection screen would help someone select the best body type.

More complicated: The AI will usually naturally choose the newest, most modern body types, and this is what pushes older ones into irrelevance. In a theoretical world, if everyone always went with the 1905 Aucar design, and no one changed body types, the 1905 Aucar build would retain a 100/100 "body type" score. The human changing to the newer body type would lower everyone else's scores. Whether or not the CPU transfers to a new model type will go by some sort of random seed, with certain companies more likely to innovate, and certain companies sticking with the older styles. Having an additional development fee for first-time builds on new model types, plus a few additional months of development, would help explain the AI's "decisions".


Anyway, that's it for now. I'm at 1916! I can't wait to see what else is in store!

[Ferretfuzz]

Two bugs/quirks: I can't really seem to rotate my taillights in a certain way that I need to. I might have to explain with pictures, but, I can't seem to set those original gold taillights flat against a curved trunk.
There's a weird factory glitch I've been able to replicate by accident several times. When selecting a vehicle model in the Mega Controller's factory menu, changing the number of lines/number of cars produced will, of course, produce the desired effect. However, if, without pressing /anything/ else, one then readjusts the lines/production again, it will apply an approximation of that change to whatever the top car on the factory list is, even though that top car wasn't selected, and its information wasn't displayed on the screen. Even more bizarre, all information for that top car's production the previous month will be erased from that menu! I can recreate this via screenshots, as well.

Overall, though, the game is incredibly bug-free and runs smoothly.

Edit: Just as a note, cheap, fuel efficient gearboxes seem a little OP, at the moment, at least up to 1915. I've designed almost every type of gearbox - cheap, expensive, fuel-efficient, performance-geared, etc... Like, I have 40 gearboxes, since I wanted to try some things, and, 90% of the time, the best gearbox possible is the Coriander15, which is extremely cheap, and focuses on fuel efficiency. Even on limosines and whatnot, unless it's a sports car or pick-up truck, no matter the engine its paired to (even with a ton of wasted torque), it always seems to net the highest score - or at least ties with it, often at a fraction the price. I can screenshot all the sliders and specs, if you'd like.
Also, I just managed to make a microcar in 1915 with 25 hp, that goes up to 59 mph, and gets 66 mpg! <3 Can't wait to see how it sells!

Bug: Anchorage, Alaska - part of the US in 1905, lol?

Note: It would be extremely helpful to have a "turn summary" for not just global sales, but for each user-created region, too. :) It would make managing production-sales much, much easier!

[Eric.B]

Originally posted by Ferretfuzz:

First of all, I wanted to thank you so much for everything you've done.

Quite the opposite, thank you for your kind words.

That being said, I have some random comments/questions/suggestions after 70 hours of playing, and will probably keep editing onto this over the next day or so.

Please add new posts to the thread, as I'm the type who tries to respond to things asap. Hopefully you don't add any more chunks to this post while I'm typing! :D

First, are there factors that will help a car sell aside from type quality, price, and brand? I tried selling a car with 0 hp with a type quality of 44 (hey, I'm used to turn-based strategy. ;)), and couldn't sell any until I used an SQL editor to bump up the horsepower a bit, which implies there might be something customers are looking for not reflected in the type quality section.

In this case, your 0hp engine probably moved the vehicle at 0mph. I don't know too many people who will buy a car that can't move... ;) You should receive a warning about this if you're in the advance designer.

Why does there seem to be a sales drop with all new models? My Ermine ST sedan, with a type quality of 40, sold 10,000 units a month. Then, I released the new model, with the same price/branches/etc., with a type quality of 54, and only sold 4,000, that month. I've noticed something similar with most of my new cars.

Where both of these vehicles for sale at the same time? Were they priced the same? There is quite a bit that factors into the sales. So I would need more information. Perhaps a save game.

Which brings me to: it should be a little easier to replace vehicles. Currently, I have a system where i end model production one at a time in the RD area, and then go through the Mega Controller and try to set all the sliders back to where they were. Am I missing something? It would be really nice if, when selecting "new generation", there were a checkbox to "replace old generation upon release", at which point everything going for the old model, including pricing and whatnot, would transfer to the new one.

As of right now, the best way to do it is to make your new generation. When it's finished, go to the MegaMenu, Autocommands, Replace Model. Then you can go to "End Production" there in the Autocommands and end the old model.

There is a replace function with the modified component refits. Bad oversite is why it hasn't been extended to the modify vehicle stuff... Ticketed it for v1.24

I absolutely love the music! BitQuake - Mashed Tube is my favorite. That being said, it would be nice if there were a few more songs.

I'll be buying more, but unoriginal, music after v1.22 mod tools. You'll also be able to add your own music if you so choose.

There doesn't realy seem to be a solid "black" color, unless I'm really missing something. Tons of things don't seem to be paint-able, and having to click the color every time before painting something (that often isn't paintable) is both time-consuming and leads to the wrong paint being applied due to fault of memory.

Both of these are already ticketed for v1.24/v1.25... The problem with black pants is that you lose complete detail of the vehicle, so I will have to come up with some sort of solution for that.

It doesn't feel like the vehicle's body matters as much as it should, as far as type quality goes. I had a 230 hp sports car in 1912 - the Aucar designs and whatnot are open-cockpit, no doors, no seatbelt - that would be terrifying!

And actually quite common in sports cars, even today... Here's is a 1950's BRM for example: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o7hg-dVbUPY/U9qzII2Sv-I/AAAAAAARod8/7-KphtwF0AI/s1600/BRM-V16-0.jpg and modern car, the Ariel Atoms can have as much as 500hp: http://images.cdn.autocar.co.uk/sites/autocar.co.uk/files/styles/gallery_slide/public/ariel-atom-front.jpg?itok=jNneRZs_

So in RL, doors don't matter too much in a pure sports car. ;) That being said, GC doesn't take into account doors. As the only doorless vehicles are in the early 1900s, and it's quite common in that period.

The newer Aucar design should be more sleek and aerodynamic, not to mention more satisfying for the consumer. But, comparing that 1905 design to the much more modern 1915 design seemed to make... No difference. The lateral G and drag numbers weren't really any different, and the top speed, mpg, and overall type quality were absolutely the same. When designing a car, is the "ratings" button inaccurate, or something?

The ratings button works perfectly fine. But your framing of the question is confusing me.

You made a car with the same body in 1905, 1912, and 1915? Or you made a body in 1912 and 1915 with a 1905 body?

Anyhoo, aerodynamic drag is effected by shape of the vehicle, the year you design the vehicle, and frontal surface area of the body. If memory serves me the Aucar body is a very low profile body. This would give it an advantage in aerodynamic drag calculations as bodies become bigger and more boxy. If comparing against the same body, you should notice a slow decline in aerodynamic drag assuming all other things (frontal surface area, height of the vehicle, etc.) are equal.


Lateral G is different. It's more dependent on your sliders than anything. I do believe higher drag causes higher grip. But I may be mistaken there.

If you're using all the same unaltered components, same body, same sliders, etc, you're not going to notice much change in things. Specially over 3 years.

However compared to the original vehicle, you will notice many ratings not tied to a spec, such as fuel economy, are higher on the new one than the old one. The exception being quality, which is dependent on your manufacturing as well.

It feels like at least one of the numbers should be different with such a dramatically different body type, even ignoring consumers probably wanting a 150 mph, 250 hp vehicle to have doors.

Depends on the bodies used, and the physical size. Do recall, we keep you in the normal specs of the design years.

Also having driven a doorless car before. It's loads of fun. ;)

Less complicated: Body new-ness will have pre-set values in pre-set years. That open cockpit Aucar design will have a high score at its inception, and will have a low score by the time the new style rolls out. Little numbers near the "Base model" selection screen would help someone select the best body type.

More complicated: The AI will usually naturally choose the newest, most modern body types, and this is what pushes older ones into irrelevance. In a theoretical world, if everyone always went with the 1905 Aucar design, and no one changed body types, the 1905 Aucar build would retain a 100/100 "body type" score. The human changing to the newer body type would lower everyone else's scores. Whether or not the CPU transfers to a new model type will go by some sort of random seed, with certain companies more likely to innovate, and certain companies sticking with the older styles. Having an additional development fee for first-time builds on new model types, plus a few additional months of development, would help explain the AI's "decisions".

The problem is we don't have money or resources to build enough new body artwork to force players to constantly build new bodies designs for ratings. We spread out the few car bodies we have to make it appear there is many, but there isn't. There is around 1 car body per type, per decade with some bodies spread out over multiple types to make it appear that there is more. If we were to tie body types specifically to a consumer buying, you would need multiple choices to choose from. As your system would force players to choose designs for ratings and not for personal preference. Which means we'd need more content to allow for personal preferences, because no one likes designing stuff they don't like. We'd also probably have to redesigned vehicle creation system as it becomes an almost mandatory part of the game. All of which costs lots of money. More than GC has made in EA sadly.

Not to mention, your method would make running a company similar to Morgan or Excalibur or any of the hundreds of other nostalgia manufacturers out there impossible...

Instead, you have what we have now. Your aerodynamic drag ratings are in a range for the year you design, based on the body you design. Body designs get removed from the new design system as they age, but remain in the new generation system in case you want to run a company like Morgan or Excalibur.

The AI will usually naturally choose the newest, most modern body types, and this is what pushes older ones into irrelevance.

Currently the AI doesn't design bodies. When premade vehicles are implemented in v1.24, we'll have them select among the premades.

Anyway, that's it for now. I'm at 1916! I can't wait to see what else is in store!

Glad you're enjoying the game! Keep the questions coming. :)

[Eric.B]

Originally posted by Ferretfuzz:

Two bugs/quirks: I can't really seem to rotate my taillights in a certain way that I need to. I might have to explain with pictures, but, I can't seem to set those original gold taillights flat against a curved trunk.

Picture would help.

There's a weird factory glitch I've been able to replicate by accident several times. When selecting a vehicle model in the Mega Controller's factory menu, changing the number of lines/number of cars produced will, of course, produce the desired effect. However, if, without pressing /anything/ else, one then readjusts the lines/production again, it will apply an approximation of that change to whatever the top car on the factory list is, even though that top car wasn't selected, and its information wasn't displayed on the screen. Even more bizarre, all information for that top car's production the previous month will be erased from that menu! I can recreate this via screenshots, as well.

Pictures will help me duplicate this one as well. I think I have what you're saying, but it's not doing it to me.

Edit: Just as a note, cheap, fuel efficient gearboxes seem a little OP, at the moment, at least up to 1915. I've designed almost every type of gearbox - cheap, expensive, fuel-efficient, performance-geared, etc... Like, I have 40 gearboxes, since I wanted to try some things, and, 90% of the time, the best gearbox possible is the Coriander15, which is extremely cheap, and focuses on fuel efficiency. Even on limosines and whatnot, unless it's a sports car or pick-up truck, no matter the engine its paired to (even with a ton of wasted torque), it always seems to net the highest score - or at least ties with it, often at a fraction the price. I can screenshot all the sliders and specs, if you'd like.
Also, I just managed to make a microcar in 1915 with 25 hp, that goes up to 59 mph, and gets 66 mpg! <3 Can't wait to see how it sells!

Some balancing is coming after the mod tools. ;)

Bug: Anchorage, Alaska - part of the US in 1905, lol?

US purchased Alaska from Russia on March 30, 1867 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Purchase

Wasn't made into a Territory until 1912ish, but operated as a district of the US from 1884. (Like Washington D.C.)

Note: It would be extremely helpful to have a "turn summary" for not just global sales, but for each user-created region, too. :) It would make managing production-sales much, much easier!

Hover over Sales, then click District Sales. Then click your district. :)

[Ferretfuzz]

Thank you for your expeditious response! <3

In this case, your 0hp engine probably moved the vehicle at 0mph. I don't know too many people who will buy a car that can't move... ;) You should receive a warning about this if you're in the advance designer.

I was in the simple one, aha. XD Yeah, I didn't realize customers had a minimum top speed they looked for in cars. It'd be nice to get a warning about it in the simple car designer, but, yeah, good on you for preventing that exploit. Very few simulators think of stuff like that, surprisingly.Do truck purchasers have a minimum torque requirement?

Where both of these vehicles for sale at the same time? Were they priced the same? There is quite a bit that factors into the sales. So I would need more information. Perhaps a save game

I just found the solution! After fiddling with different actions and save files and such (I can't wait until I can uncheck "save upon quitting" ;) ), I discovered what was happening. So, I've been a bit lazy, and just ended production of the vehicle through the R&D department, and didn't bother with the mega menu. So, I got around 4,000 sales for my 1914 Ermine... And then 4,800 lost sales for the old 1910 Ermine!
I can get two things out of this: 1. sales do seem to have momentum, I think (is that correct?) It looks like it must take a few months for a new model to be established in the marketplace, since everything between the two Ermine's was the same except the new one had a 54/100 quality vs. a 40/100.
2. I really can't wait until there's an auto-replace option for new generations of cars! I have no idea how many sales I've missed. XD

he ratings button works perfectly fine. But your framing of the question is confusing me.

You made a car with the same body in 1905, 1912, and 1915? Or you made a body in 1912 and 1915 with a 1905 body?

Anyhoo, aerodynamic drag is effected by shape of the vehicle, the year you design the vehicle, and frontal surface area of the body. If memory serves me the Aucar body is a very low profile body. This would give it an advantage in aerodynamic drag calculations as bodies become bigger and more boxy. If comparing against the same body, you should notice a slow decline in aerodynamic drag assuming all other things (frontal surface area, height of the vehicle, etc.) are equal.


Lateral G is different. It's more dependent on your sliders than anything. I do believe higher drag causes higher grip. But I may be mistaken there.

If you're using all the same unaltered components, same body, same sliders, etc, you're not going to notice much change in things. Specially over 3 years.

However compared to the original vehicle, you will notice many ratings not tied to a spec, such as fuel economy, are higher on the new one than the old one. The exception being quality, which is dependent on your manufacturing as well.

After more testing, it seems most of the issue was natural error in my models. I used my 1905 Gazelle RC with the first possible sports body, and then I compared the 1915 Gazelle RC with the radically different ALBURN (my mistake, before) style. They had almost all the same stats. But, I just decided to create a sample Aucar body with a super crazy shape, and it had much different drag, top speed, etc. So, I just happened to create the same car twice, I guess, during testing. Still, it feels like the differences reflected in the "ratings" page aren't reflected in any of the star ratings well enough;

1915 Gazelle RC: 125 mph top speed, 0-60: 7.96, Drag coefficient: 0.781785
Type rating: 60

Worst possible Aucar: 105 mph top speed. 0-60: 8.2. Drag coeffecient: 0.83something
Type rating: 60

I'll be buying more, but unoriginal, music after v1.22 mod tools. You'll also be able to add your own music if you so choose.

Groupees sometimes has great royalty-free music bundle sales!

Also having driven a doorless car before. It's loads of fun. ;)

That does actually sound really fun. XD

US purchased Alaska from Russia on March 30, 1867 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Purchase

Wasn't made into a Territory until 1912ish, but operated as a district of the US from 1884. (Like Washington D.C.)

Oh, how embarrassing! I remembered its statehood year, and completely forgot it was purchased long before. ;_;

Hover over Sales, then click District Sales. Then click your district. :)

Ohhh my god, I didn't realize you could CLICK on those districts for more information! Ahhhhhh that could have saved me so much tiiiiime
XD




Other notes: the music cuts out whenever I tab away. I think I remember reading you mention that be some sort of quirk of Windows and Directx9?

Will motorcycles be added to the game? They're a different beast than cars, so, it's obviously understandable if they won't be. (Unless they are, and I just haven't gotten there, yet)

I'm sure you're aware of this, but, a lot of races are completely empty. Like, I've been in the Vanderbilt cup for three years, and I'm the only competitor. I've been winning the series with my 2hp Mouse, just for laughs. ;) (Profitable ones!)

How does winning races affect sales? Will a vehicle winning cause one's brand value to go up? Will it lead to cross-company sales? Will there also be a boost for the specific vehicle that wins the race?

Am... Am I the only one who can't rotate cars in the showroom? I've pressed, clicked, and dragged everything.

More touchscreen support would be nice, but, I have no idea how one would go about doing that. Right now, touching my Surface's screen highlights things, but, it doesn't seem to click anything, like it would on a webpage or most games. That's a super minor thing, since I'm sure only a few percent of people would care at all, but, still. XD Just having touchscreen feedback resulting in clicks, rather than highlighting, would do wonders.

Some of the contracts seem kind of off. Fleet full size sedans = 7,7 cubic feet of cargo space, for the minimum? Also, a few of them reward negative money if one manages to get them. :(

Any plans for Steam Cloud for saved game data?

I put around 15 hours into the demo before porting my save file and all associated data into the Steam version. Is, uh, my saved game going to suddenly end at 1930?

The game is also extremely sensitive to screen re-sizing. :( Like, if I change my Surface tablet into portrait mode, the game gets all distorted. I can also show screenshots of that.

Otherwise, pictures of the events I described before will arrive later! Thank you!

[Eric.B]

Do truck purchasers have a minimum torque requirement?

No, but power is one of the main focus in selling trucks. And the power rating is almost entirely tied to the torque spec. So more torque + competition in the market = better sales for you over competition if prices are near the same.

1. sales do seem to have momentum, I think (is that correct?) It looks like it must take a few months for a new model to be established in the marketplace, since everything between the two Ermine's was the same except the new one had a 54/100 quality vs. a 40/100.

A couple of factors play into this, such as the vehicle image rating, which slowly grows over time if the quality ratings are good. (New generations inherit some, but not all the previous model's vehicle image.)

2. I really can't wait until there's an auto-replace option for new generations of cars! I have no idea how many sales I've missed. XD

if you use the method I mention, you shouldn't have any issues. :)

Oh, how embarrassing! I remembered its statehood year, and completely forgot it was purchased long before. ;_;

No worries, people question the ownership of cities now and then. New map system coming out in v1.22 though. Not sure if Alaska will make it into either of the maps i"m planning off the bat, but it will still be in the "Classic" map.

Ohhh my god, I didn't realize you could CLICK on those districts for more information! Ahhhhhh that could have saved me so much tiiiiime
XD

If it looks like a link (underlined,) then it's a link. The reports are webpages stored on your computer. :)

Other notes: the music cuts out whenever I tab away. I think I remember reading you mention that be some sort of quirk of Windows and Directx9?

The quirk with DirectX has to do with Window's handling of the GPU state. In the case you're mentioning, when the window is completely unfocused, we turn off rendering so we don't burn up your GPU, use your CPU cycles, etc. When you come back, the music isn't restarted. It should start playing the next time you enter another room or end the turn.

Will motorcycles be added to the game? They're a different beast than cars, so, it's obviously understandable if they won't be. (Unless they are, and I just haven't gotten there, yet)

Planned for the expansion after the game is finished, if we're able to fund development of the expansion. (Unlikely, but we're going to at least try to do some sort of fund raiser to get a few vehicle types, including motorcycles, into the game.) If the expansion isn't funded, they can always be modded in with the v1.22 mod tools if someone is able to make the artwork for them.

I'm sure you're aware of this, but, a lot of races are completely empty. Like, I've been in the Vanderbilt cup for three years, and I'm the only competitor. I've been winning the series with my 2hp Mouse, just for laughs. ;) (Profitable ones!)

Companies wait until they're profitable before they starting doing stuff like racing. And it's hard, specially for the AI to turn a profit early game. This should be fixed/improved with AI establishment in v1.21.1 coming out on the 20th.

How does winning races affect sales? Will a vehicle winning cause one's brand value to go up? Will it lead to cross-company sales? Will there also be a boost for the specific vehicle that wins the race?

It increases your global image as well as racing image. Global image effects sales of all vehicles, racing image effects sales proportional to performance importance rating of a vehicle type. (So more for sports cars, less for micro cars for instance.)

Am... Am I the only one who can't rotate cars in the showroom? I've pressed, clicked, and dragged everything.

Right click and hold the mouse and rotate? Should be the same as RnD.

More touchscreen support would be nice, but, I have no idea how one would go about doing that. Right now, touching my Surface's screen highlights things, but, it doesn't seem to click anything, like it would on a webpage or most games. That's a super minor thing, since I'm sure only a few percent of people would care at all, but, still. XD Just having touchscreen feedback resulting in clicks, rather than highlighting, would do wonders.

Our input system is circa 2006. So touch screen support probably isn't coming. Be happy you have what you get, I have to emulate a mouse to play on my windows 8 tablet. Makes it almost unplayable.

Some of the contracts seem kind of off. Fleet full size sedans = 7,7 cubic feet of cargo space, for the minimum? Also, a few of them reward negative money if one manages to get them. :(

Contracts are getting a complete overhaul in v1.23

Any plans for Steam Cloud for saved game data?

Going to look into it for v1.25, our save games are quite big, but I believe we might be able to compress them for cloud save.

I put around 15 hours into the demo before porting my save file and all associated data into the Steam version. Is, uh, my saved game going to suddenly end at 1930?

Sorta, the save game from the demo isn't transferable to the full game at this point. As the Demo is missing the data entry for late game stuff. You can continue on past 1930, but you won't be getting any new car bodies, which means no new car designs after 1940 something.

The game is also extremely sensitive to screen re-sizing. :( Like, if I change my Surface tablet into portrait mode, the game gets all distorted. I can also show screenshots of that.

Yeah, resizing isn't supported with our GUI. Specially moving from landscape to portrait as portrait is probably smaller than our minimum resolution. As such, resizing the window is disabled in the game. You've got a hack work around though with the Windows Tablet flipping stuff. I'm not sure of the fix for this is, as my Windows Tablet isn't really powerful enough and can't really play due to the aforementioned mouse issue. And I'm not sure this bug effects enough people to warrant the amount of time it'll probably take to fix it... Lock your screen before playing! ;)

Otherwise, pictures of the events I described before will arrive later! Thank you!

No worries, I have plenty of stuff to do for the time being.

[Ferretfuzz]

What upcoming changes will affect save files going forward? If I want to start a new game, should I probably wait until 1.22? Will upcoming AI changes go into old save files? Just, like, wondering if I should give the game a break for a couple of weeks, and then come back for 1.22, or if that's unnecessary, aha. XD (Not that I can seem to give it a break; I can't stop playing! XD)

[Eric.B]

Originally posted by Ferretfuzz:

What upcoming changes will affect save files going forward? If I want to start a new game, should I probably wait until 1.22? Will upcoming AI changes go into old save files? Just, like, wondering if I should give the game a break for a couple of weeks, and then come back for 1.22, or if that's unnecessary, aha. XD (Not that I can seem to give it a break; I can't stop playing! XD)

The game has multiple versions. The version you are on is Default build. There will be no changes to Default Build for another 2 or 3 months until v1.22 is ready. Default is currently on v1.21

Testing build is also currently on v1.21, however it will be updated to v1.21.1 on the 20th. You have to opt-into Testing build to play Testing Build. Directions are here: http://ventdev.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=2594 Testing build gets updated once a month. Which means your save game gets broken about once a month. Save games are not compatible between any versions.

You will always get a notification both in game and in the Steam announcements a few days before an update. Case in point Testing build users have a 10 day window to finish their games or switch back to Default build. You're always given the option of two major versions older than Default, IE v1.20 and v1.19, which means if you follow Default build, you can effectively play the same save game for 9 months if you downgrade to older versions after the updates.

[Ferretfuzz]

Hey! Here with another round of questions and updates.
50 hours into my game on medium difficulty, things are going great! By 1917, I controlled over 90% of the world's vehicle market (and I try to play ethically, so, no buying out/killing competitors). It's 1922, now, and my market share has dipped to 50% due to my European rivals bounding back after the war, but, I'm still making $60,000,000 a month, with $2,000,000 in the bank. ;)

Just some questions and comments from this play-through....

1. What affects the vehicle image ratings, as opposed to the company image ratings? How do they affect sales? (Referring to the values seen in the R+D department screens)

2. Approximately 2-5 months before a new generation of a model is released, sales for the outgoing model drop dramatically. While this is probably extraordinarily realistic, are there any plans to implement a system to, essentially, withhold marketing/leaks pertaining to the new vehicle until a certain time? For example, for my van, I could opt not to mention the incoming model until 2 months before release, which would prevent the dramatic drop in "specific rating" the older van received before the new model replaced it (its specific rating went from 50 to 40 in three months - ouch!) This would, of course, come at the expense of initial sales for the new model, and information may still wind up being leaked to the press, anyway, especially for popular models/close to the release date. Otherwise, when designing a new model with 60-70 or so specific quality, the outgoing model's own specifical quality is destroyed over the 10 months.

3. I've been gathering all the typos in the vehicle modeler. I keep meaning to actually send them. XD There aren't very many; just an isolated "ign vs. ing" here and there, generally.

4. Are there any plans to implement a localized bonus for vehicle designs involving the inclusion of a roof? I noticed while designing a compact car (I think) in 1921 that, no matter what design I selected, the one with the best drag, highest specific quality, etc., was always the rather outdated, open-cockpit model, as opposed to any of the newer designs available. all of which involved a closed cockpit. Living in Wisconsin, where winters can get as frigid as -30 degrees, this higher-rated open-cockpit vehicle would be absolutely undriveable for much of the year, whereas the other designs would be useful almost year-round. So, is there any way for more northern territories to prefer this closed designs?

5. There's a bit of a glitch in the Mega Controller; during World War 1, for example, any region with a "halted economy" is inaccessible through it. The controller claims all factories in the region have been shut down due to the war effort, but, that simply isn't accurate.

6. Will there be any way to "replace" contracted vehicles when the system is redesigned in 1.23? Some of these contracts go on for, like, 10 years, but, I make a new generation every 2.5-5 years. It's really annoying to keep producing a more expensive, inferior model when the company would probably prefer the newer, better model anyway.

7. This may be only my experience, but, the increase in new component prices hits strangely hard in the year 1920. By "redesigning" my components every five years, the cost of the new component always went down significantly, even before mass production. For example, my large chassis went from $170.00 to $130.00 to $90. Suddenly, the redesigned chassis is $160, always without modifications or references to mass production cost decreases. Such a sudden spike in costs!

8. Note: Every car I produce uses one of two chassis; one is the average for a sedan, and one is the largest possible. Currently, the cargo ratings and the lack of "driveability" bonuses mean the best sedans invariably require the much larger chassis. Thus, my mid-size and full-size sedans always wind up the same size, because the more "normal" variant would be a significant detriment to sales.

9. I'd definitely appreciate some way of accessing the "reports" while in the Mega Controller.

10. How does a branch's condition affect sales? Will a branch at 80% only sell 80% as much as a full reconditioned branch?

11. Do people have preferences for engine types? Like, are there people in the game who really want a steam/rotary engine? Otherwise, they don't seem to be particularly competitive.

12. How does adding lines affect overall manufacturing costs? If I'm using 13 lines at a factory, and six lines remain unused, would it cost me anything to produce the same number of cars using all 19 lines?

I think that's it, for now. I absolutely adore this game, and can't wait for future updates! I didn't mention some of the balancing issues, since I know the game will receive a complete rebalancing at a later date, but, it'll definitely help increase the difficulty of monopolizing the car market. ;) I hit the 90% market share using 2 chassis, 3 engines (+ 1 engine used only in my sports car), and one drivetrain. It seems to be the most profitable and the most effective way of dominating markets quickly, since, especially for the drivetrain, there's a certain way of producing components that always seems to be more efficient/less expensive than any other way.

[Ferretfuzz]

13. How does water affect distribution costs? I'm afraid of expanding into New Zealand since overseas shipping might be expensive.

14. The soundtrack is extraordinary, by the way.

[Eric.B]

Originally posted by Ferretfuzz:

13. How does water affect distribution costs? I'm afraid of expanding into New Zealand since overseas shipping might be expensive.

It doesn't. It's purely as the crow flies calculations.

14. The soundtrack is extraordinary, by the way.

I'll be sure to let the folks who made our original music know. I will be buying some more music for v1.22.

[Eric.B]

Originally posted by Ferretfuzz:

1. What affects the vehicle image ratings, as opposed to the company image ratings? How do they affect sales? (Referring to the values seen in the R+D department screens)

Quality of the vehicles being produced, marketing budget, and overall ratings of the vehicle.
It effects sales the same way image ratings effect sales. It is calculated into the "buyer rating" which is used to compare your vehicle to your competition's. The less competition you have in a market, the less it matters.

2. Approximately 2-5 months before a new generation of a model is released, sales for the outgoing model drop dramatically. While this is probably extraordinarily realistic, are there any plans to implement a system to, essentially, withhold marketing/leaks pertaining to the new vehicle until a certain time?

No plans for this.

3. I've been gathering all the typos in the vehicle modeler. I keep meaning to actually send them. XD There aren't very many; just an isolated "ign vs. ing" here and there, generally.

If it's the labels for the sliders used to change the body meshes appearance, there is nothing I can do about those. If it's anywhere else in the game, feel free to upload the list, and I'll fix it.

4. Are there any plans to implement a localized bonus for vehicle designs involving the inclusion of a roof? I noticed while designing a compact car (I think) in 1921 that, no matter what design I selected, the one with the best drag, highest specific quality, etc., was always the rather outdated, open-cockpit model, as opposed to any of the newer designs available.

Old body models are removed from selection over time as they become obsolete unless you enabled all body models at start or modded the game.

As for roofless vehicles being "obsolete" in 1920, that's not the case. Roofless (as in no hard roof, and at most very limited weather covering) vehicles were popular well into the 1930s. (Across many different vehicle styles, brands, and price ranges.) Example: 1928 Ford Model A roofless Pickup Truck: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/1928_Ford_Model_A_76A_Open_Cab.jpg

It wouldn't be until convertibles technology improved around 1940 before completely roofless vehicles would be displayed.

all of which involved a closed cockpit. Living in Wisconsin, where winters can get as frigid as -30 degrees, this higher-rated open-cockpit vehicle would be absolutely undriveable for much of the year, whereas the other designs would be useful almost year-round. So, is there any way for more northern territories to prefer this closed designs?

No. As of right now, consumers don't even care if vehicles have tires on them! I think that's a higher priority when it comes to the cosmetics of the car. Remember, outside of aerodynamic drag and dimensions, the designer system is cosmetic. If you want to only sell hard top cars in cold places, nothing is stopping you. But I'm not going to force people to use the vehicle designer based on the climate of the cities they want to sell in. The game is detailed, but not that detailed. ;)

That being said, you'd be surprised at the number of phaetons, roadsters,etc that sold even in the far north, in the 1920s. Also remember, driving habits are completely different now from then. Very few people would be driving their vehicles in -30F winters in 1920. Unlike today's suburban commuters, urban populations typically lived around their employment, easily in walking distance. Rural populations also didn't have much work to do in winter, being that crops don't grow in -30F winters...

On top of this road clearing technologies were rudimentary at best. So it really doesn't matter if you owned a hard top or a softtop vehicle. It was covered in snow anyway.

1917 Phaeton in Boston Streets[s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com]
Another topless vehicle in 1922 Washington DC.[c8.alamy.com]
Model T (sold until the mid 20s) had winterizing kits.[2.bp.blogspot.com]
Read about em. :)[arago.si.edu]

5. There's a bit of a glitch in the Mega Controller; during World War 1, for example, any region with a "halted economy" is inaccessible through it. The controller claims all factories in the region have been shut down due to the war effort, but, that simply isn't accurate.

Which version of the game are you playing? I believe this was fixed in v1.21.1

6. Will there be any way to "replace" contracted vehicles when the system is redesigned in 1.23? Some of these contracts go on for, like, 10 years, but, I make a new generation every 2.5-5 years. It's really annoying to keep producing a more expensive, inferior model when the company would probably prefer the newer, better model anyway.

No, it wouldn't make sense. IF I pay for a F16 fighters, I want F16 fighters. Don't try to give me an F18, as it's not what I agreed to buy.

You might want to say, "But the F18 is better!" It might very well be. But then i'd (As the buyer of items) would have to buy parts for two different aircraft (raising my costs), I'd have to train two sets of employees (raising my costs), and I'd have two different machines giving two different results (making it difficult to plan)... Contracts are Contracts for a reason. Soon as you change something, you're breaking the contract.

If you don't want to be stuck in a contract for long term, then don't sign long term contracts.


That being said, in v1.23, you'll be able to fulfill the contract as quick as you're able to, as long as you ship at least the minimum number of units.

7. This may be only my experience, but, the increase in new component prices hits strangely hard in the year 1920. By "redesigning" my components every five years, the cost of the new component always went down significantly, even before mass production. For example, my large chassis went from $170.00 to $130.00 to $90. Suddenly, the redesigned chassis is $160, always without modifications or references to mass production cost decreases. Such a sudden spike in costs!

Need the exact turn to look at the vehicle inflation rates (or if you're on Testing build you can look your self with the mod tools.) That being said, are you using the exact same components? Are the sliders exactly the same? My thought is that they're not. Vehicle prices don't start to increase until the late 1920s. Early 1920s should be the lowest they go, before it constantly goes up slowly.

9. I'd definitely appreciate some way of accessing the "reports" while in the Mega Controller.

Use hotkeys. You can find a list of them by clicking Help in the upper right hand corner and then clicking "Hotkeys"

10. How does a branch's condition affect sales? Will a branch at 80% only sell 80% as much as a full reconditioned branch?

It's not directly 1:1 like that, nor is it linear, but yes, that is the idea.

11. Do people have preferences for engine types? Like, are there people in the game who really want a steam/rotary engine? Otherwise, they don't seem to be particularly competitive.

There is a popularity value for fuel types. There is not one for engine type. So in your case, Steam engine would effect sales (since steam is a fuel type.) where as rotary would not. How many normal people do you know even know what type of engine they have in their vehicle. When I was working in the customer service side of the automotive industry, about half didn't know what year their car was, and around a fifth didn't know what model of car they drive.... With that in mind, no, X or V layout won't matter, so long as it starts and goes. ;) (It does matter when it comes to effecting other stats, which the customers will notice.)

I hit the 90% market share

How many AI were you playing against though? Which map? And which difficulty level?

[Eric.B]

12. How does adding lines affect overall manufacturing costs? If I'm using 13 lines at a factory, and six lines remain unused, would it cost me anything to produce the same number of cars using all 19 lines?

I believe in testing build it tells you how much each line costs to use.

Factory Cost are based on how many lines you use. In this case, 2/21 (~10%) would be your base costs. So right now your costs are 15/21 (~71%). If you fill all the lines you'll be paying 100% of the costs.

[Ferretfuzz]

1. Thanks! That makes sense. I figured that was the case, but, I couldn't find much information on it anywhere.

2. Understandable.

3. Fair enough. There are typos in the magazine and newspaper columns, as well, but, I think you mentioned on your forums either that you planned on outsourcing it to anyone interested, or just re-doing the articles, or something - it's been a while. If you still want corrections, et cetera, though, I can certainly send them. Anything I can do to contribute to GearCity's success is fine with me.

4.a. I meant the body was the most antiquated one there, not that it was obsolete due to its lack of a roof - poor phrasing on my part.

4.b.. Haha, true, true. I keep forgetting how different the world was, back in this time. While I technically feel Midwesterners would prefer a free roof (since adding one didn't seem to affect cost much - though, I didn't test that factor), the cosmetic items impacting vehicle performance does sound like a much more amicable aspect of the game to work on. Thank you for the links, too - fun reads!

5. After writing this post, I decided to browse the forums; indeed, it is something patched in the testing build. In fact, most of the glitches/errors I was going to report seem to have been corrected, so, kudos.

6. True. While I still feel one should be able to proffer some sort of arrangement, since, if I owned a car rental service, I'd much prefer a 2017 Malibu over the 2013 with rear seats the size of pincushions, the proposed change for build 1.23 is, honestly, a better solution.

7. I'm absolutely certain. I compared every facet of the designs. Each redesign led to cheaper components through 1919, with a spike at 1920. I ensured all sliders remained the same.

8. Maybe there could be some sort of "oversize" penalty? Or, perhaps larger chassis will lead to greater performance decreases as time progresses, solving the issue without intervention.

9. Oh, right, hotkeys. I'll try that.

11. Oh my gosh, I couldn't imagine! I forget there are people who genuinely don't care about discovering anything about their vehicles.


I was against 100 AI, on medium. I just played a standard map. At the time, I was in America, Europe, and Argentina - I hadn't yet moved into Australia.

12. Oh! That makes sense.

As always, thank you for your prompt, informative responses!