Equipment maintenance test

[rhino350wynn]

This evening when I get home I plan to test 2 scenarios that I’ve wondered about and recently saw someone else post about. If you’ve verified these (either does or doesn’t feel free to chime in.

Theories
1. Equipment get more expensive to maintain the older it gets.

2. Equipment health degradation accelerates as equipment get older.

To verify test 1 i have a tractor with 49 hours on it. I will run it fully repaired down to 90% and make note of repair cost. I will then buy a brand new tractor of the same type/setup and run it down to 90% then make note of the repair cost. Both will be repaired at the shop.

I have a tractor that has 49 hours on it to verify test 2 I will work a large field with the old tractor and a brand new seeder. Then reset and work the field with a brand new version of the same tractor and a new seeder of the same type. At the end the old tractor should have lower health.

Point out any variables I am not seeing that may affect the outcome please.

[brian_va]

If the field is sufficiently large, overlap on the seeder could become a factor as it would put more time on the equipment. If you use a helper, maybe monitor it to ensure it is constantly in motion and not stuck

[JPSGT40]

That way turns out to be too time consuming, tedious and subject to human inconsistency/error. I know because I already did a lot of these types of tests back when FS19 was first released. But with all the changes they made in the 1.2.0.1 update, and considering all the other stuff they "tweeked" and didn't bother to tell us about, it's a good time for someone to test these ideas again with fresh eyes.

It is faster and more accurate to do these tests via the vehicles.xml file. Obviously, make a backup copy of your entire SaveGame folder and set it aside before starting your tests.

age="15.000000" would indicate 15 days since purchased new. (This is always a whole number, but you should still keep the decimal point and all 6 digits after it even if they are just zeros.)
age="0.000000" would indicate item is newly purchased today and less than 1 day old.

operatingTime="324102.500000" would be 90.02 Work Hours on the HUD "odometer".
operatingTime="0.000000" would be brand spanking new virgin equipment.

Pay particular attention to the parameter <wearNode amount="0.000000"/>
This number is how "worn out" the item is, where "0.000000" is perfectly repaired condition and "1.000000" is the worst condition.

* Some equipment might have more than one wearnode parameter.

Many have multiple dirtNode parameters, so if you are also going to test the theory that dirt affects vehicles/equipment you'll want to either set those to "0.000000" (clean) or "1.000000" (maximum dirtiness).

As you can see, going this route gives you total control and also makes it possible to test vehicle age independently of its Work Hours, and vice versa, as well as other interesting combinations of factors, etc. You can also easily test the condition of the tractor vs. the condition of the equipment attached to it (e.g. "Is it the plow causing it to go so slow or just the tractor?")

Have fun, and don't rush through it.

[rhino350wynn]

I will start the first test now. First test will be to see if the amount of hours on a tractor has an affect on maintenance costs. As suggested above I will use the xml files to edit in 2 tractors, 1 with 0 hours and 50% health and 1 with 100 hours and 50% health. Both tractors will be 0 days old ( new as far as time owned is concerned)

Test 1 tractor John deer 7RSeries both with exactly 50% wear. Tractor 1 100hours - repair bill $1190. Tractor 2 0hours - repair bill $1190. No difference.

[rhino350wynn]

So scratch test 1 results. I ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up and just realized I didn’t change the hours on tractor 1. But had changed the age. So age makes no difference. I will check hours next. ARRGH. Lol

[rhino350wynn]

Ok so hours make no difference in repair bill either.

[rhino350wynn]

So that was a lot of experimenting and for the final question. Does the amount of hours equipment has on it affect how fast it wears out...the answer is no. Tractor 1 finished the field at 92.3% and cost 188 dollars to repair. Tractor 2 finished the field at (drumroll) 92.3% and in case you didn’t already guess cost 188 dollars to repair.

So in conclusion age nor hours has any affect in game. It’s just there for eye candy. Oh and hours affects resale value.

[chrisasnyder]

Thanks for the testing.

Another question would be does age or repair change the fuel consumption rate? However, based on your tests my guess would be nothing changes the fuel consumption rate.