Second World War

[kiwityke]

When the war starts all production and sales stop everywhere in Europe then after Pearl Harbour they also stop in the USA.

Even with 1.1 billion in the bank I go bankrupt! It's totally unrealistic that all production and sales stop! I realise war contracts etc will sort this issue long term but short term, it's save ending.

Has anyone managed to survive the war?

[Riley⁧⁧⁧2142]

Very few companies did. Alot of people do go so you are not alone. It's geared to be as realistic as possible.

[houkins]

kiwityke, just close all factories and branchesand you will easily survive the war:) But, yes, it would be coo, if the game had the function "freeze" for factories, whan player spend a little amount of maney to maintain factory, but he is not able to produse something.

[kiwityke]

Only problem is have you seen the cost of the factories to rebuild them? My London factory got destroyed by the blitz, it's going to cost 400 million to replace and take until 1952 to rebuild if I start rebuilding in 1943!

It has really ruined my game. I very much doubt there were zero cars sold or made in the USA during the war!

The uk and France I can understand but the USA no way did they not produce any cars!

[Eric.B]

Originally posted by houkins:

kiwityke, just close all factories and branchesand you will easily survive the war:) But, yes, it would be coo, if the game had the function "freeze" for factories, whan player spend a little amount of maney to maintain factory, but he is not able to produse something.

There is has been "Idle Factories" and "Idle Branches" since 1.15.1 That pretty much freezes everything for you. I would go through and close branches though.

Originally posted by kiwityke:

Only problem is have you seen the cost of the factories to rebuild them? My London factory got destroyed by the blitz, it's going to cost 400 million to replace and take until 1952 to rebuild if I start rebuilding in 1943!

It has really ruined my game. I very much doubt there were zero cars sold or made in the USA during the war!

The uk and France I can understand but the USA no way did they not produce any cars!

There were zero cars sold or made in the USA during 1942-1945.

"A freezing order banned the sale of all new cars until a rationing program could be worked out. The rationing program was to be announced by Jan. 15, 1942 but it was postponed until an unannounced date in February."

Here is an example of Chrysler during WWII:
http://www.allpar.com/old/wartime.html

The same is pretty much true in all major countries involved in WWII.

As for factory damage. Lots of them were destroyed. My advice is to build a factory in a neutral country, in a country that is not effected by damage (No cities were bombed in the USA during WWII) or build a smaller factory quicker to cover production until a large one can be built.

[kiwityke]

Hey I had already built a factory in Mexico expecting Mexico to be neutral but sadly they joined and that's what tipped me into bankruptcy. I agree re the factory being destroyed I have no worries there at all. It was the no cars being sold, but it's obviously historically accurate.

Luckily I saved just before I built the mexican factory so I went back and replayed from there, just meant 15 years of game time was essentially meaningless.

[Swisspike]

I bitterly complained about the depression just ... crushing my company. It will crush my company on the next game, in 1929, and the NEXT game, in 1929. I love the game, but this design mechanic, of a static and unyielding, non-variable mechanic meant that I just stopped playing.

My current game, in 1928, I have 2 billion in the bank, six big factories, and an active branch in just about every city in the US.

...and I don't want to hit the turn, because I know what will happen. What will happen is the destruction of my carefully built game.

This is not fun. This will NEVER be fun, and the decision to keep this ALWAYS happening is arguably the worst design decision I have ever seen in a video game.

It doesn't surprise me at all that others are having this same issue.

Don't worry..you can always start another game, with the sure and certain knowledge that World War 2 will happen again, at the same time, with the same consequences.

It doesn't help that knowing that the depression or WW1 or WW2 is going to happen. Actions taken before the world events, to limit the damage OF those events seem gamey as hell. This is absolutely a show stopper....but...if I ever pick this game up again, I will sell all my stock, hoard all my cash, closed all my factories, and shutter my branches, and accept a ten year dead zone in my game.

This just ... baffles me, especially given the intelligence and skill of the programmer. I could design a simple progression, or semi-random economic model in five minutes, to be applied every year.

A game is supposed to be fun..are you all having fun in 1914, or 1929, or 1939?

[kiwityke]

I must admit I never had any problems at all in the great depression it was a minor blip. World War 2 however has sucked my joy out of the game a little. I have essentially just had 15 years of doing nothing waiting for the war to first arrive then end. Just trying to hoard cash, then rebuild factories, again waiting for that to happen.

[Ceeker]

I appreciate the realism, although it would be nice to have the option to switch to military production as per history. You should be able to stay afloat by making trucks and light offroad vehicles for the war effort (one of the compact sport utility models is clearly a Willys Jeep). This could possibly be handled by the contracts system?

Even in Axis countries, a lot of major car manufacturers did survive to the modern day, even in countries where the industry was devastated (eg Mitsubishi, Kawasaki, BMW, Mercedes...). Maybe a sizable cash injection for companies with a HQ in a war devastated area to reflect marshall plan subsidies or something?

[Ceeker]

Anyway, I remember Detroit having similar issues, this takes me back. :)

[kiwityke]

I think the plan is for the war contracts to take care of this in the long run. However in the short term the game is virtually unplayable through WW2, you just sit and watch $1.5 billion disappear!

[Eric.B]

As I've said numerous times, we will be getting both Random History and Military contracting. In fact I believe I told you directly Swisspike, that we will have randomized history at some point.

Contracting is slated for the 1.17 release. I have no ETA for randomized games because there are frankly much more important things to do first. So practice a little patience, don't rage quit, it'll be done eventually. Maybe play some 1950 games until then. Just don't start a company in Korea and Vietnam...

(On a side, it will take longer than 5minutes to make a randomized system. The game is heavily tied to the turnevents.xml file, a decent randomized system with realistic parameters would take more around 3-5 days full time programming.)

[kiwityke]

Hey Eric I didn't rage quit and I fully understand the issues. I just felt like rage quitting when I saw my lovely company disintigrate into nothingness, but it has recovered slowly.

[Eric.B]

No worries, I've begun working on something that'll make all topics in this thread moot. ;)

[El Doggo the Exhausted Pigeon]

oh? did you start on contracting?

[Swisspike]

turnevents.xml ... hmmmm..... :<)

For the record, I didn't rage quit. Rage quitting is emotion-based, with little regard for analysis or logic.

I made a considered, well-thought out decision that I simply would stop playing until this badly flawed game was fixed. No muss, no fuss, no rage..and with other 60 games on steam, no shortage of other excellent games to play.