Some suggestions for the car designing process

[Eric.B]

Sorry for the late reply,

I have played Detroit, Motor City, Automation and Gear City and I like the latter the best of them all, by a huge margin. Being a financial analyst by trade and freak of the automotive history (I even run a blog about it) I admire this game more than any other I have seen!!

I'm glad you're enjoying the game. Thank you for the praise!

First of all, the different carb/injection systems should definitely be included, as well as the valvetrain type.

You'll probably be interested in a mod freeman (I believe, my memory is fuzzy right now, 4am...) is working on. After mod tools are released in version 1.22, he'll hopefully release it. It includes different fuel systems and what have you if I do recall.

(only Wankel engines are missing so far, but I hope they are on the to-do-list)

Wankles do exist in the game, they're available about 10 years before their historical time. However you have to have high engine skill levels. I believe they're accessible in 1980 easy mode.

(... for me this stuff is for the mechanics in workshops and not for a company manager),

Completely agree with this point, which is why the game is designed the way it is. When I started this game I was working in the mechanical side of the auto industry (parts and repairs) the last thing I wanted to do when I got home was write code about the stuff I was doing in real life!

Suits and bean counters that run the auto industry (probably shouldn't use those terms because you're a finance guy! ) Are typically a few steps away from the actual engineering of the vehicle. Which is one major reason for the abstractness of the slider system compared to say Automation which is much more engineering focused. I wanted people to feel like they're running a GM. Not building a kit car (which is possible for most of us.)

but at least these things should be there.

Some of it may make it in, but for the most part the designer is "complete" minus some tweaking to numbers. Adding new types to existing subtypes is not difficult however. A lot of these will probably be left for the modding community since too many options is sometimes considered a bad thing. Modding them into the game is very easy. Finally some of these probably won't make it in, unless done hackishly by the modding community. I'll go through and say what I think.

Also air/water cooling could be nice, but it is less important than the fuel systems and valvetrain.

From what I've seen, fuel systems will/could be modded into fuel types. So instead of 4-stroke. You'll have Single-Barrel Carbureted Gasoline, Double-Barrel Carbureted Gasoline, and so forth.

Air/water cooling would/could probably be modded into blocks, so air cooled single, air cooled v, etc.

Neither of these will make it in officially. Because to do it correctly would require too long of a list for the normal user.

For gearboxes - the planetary and preselector types could perhaps be added, as they played an important role at certain stages of the automotive history (look at the Model T, for example).

Preselector probably will make it in officially. Dunno how I missed it. Planetary however probably won't, as my understanding is the Model T's gears would be classified as Non-synchronous transmission. Which is why you had to engage the brake to shift from lo to hi. Today planetary gears are typically used in Automatic transmissions. So I'm not sure if that style gear warrants any classification outside of those two already.

For the chassis - the suspension types are fine (even though I have not studied the modern types too much), but the brakes could be added for selection. Mechanical/hydraulic, rear-only/4-wheel, simplex/duplex drums and finally solid/vented disks. That's all, without tweaking the number of calipers and disk diameters, as the sliders do the job just fine.

These are abstracted in the braking, performance, and safety features of the game. I believe the modding community could implement it in suspension. (Possibly removing some of the lesser common types.) The proper way to handle it would be to add an entirely new subtype. Which sadly will not happen as the game is too far into development and it would require a significant amount of work to add another group.

At later stages of the games some electronic systems could be added: ABS, traction control, ESP, etc.

Once again, these are things I have abstracted away from the user. I believe these fall under the same category as "luxury items" such as choosing heaters and cd players in Detroit. While fun for a little while, you always end just just checking off all the boxes in the end as the tech becomes common. It's just easier to say, if you're safety ratings are all the way up in the 70s, you have ABS, if they're all the way down in 2010, you have ABS!

Also the emmission controls and regulations, especially in some markets, could be added.

This has came up in the past. It may work its way after the new map system is implemented (version 1.22.) However it may not be implemented due to the amount of real world data I would have to collect and the amount of time left for me to work on the game.

Bodies - for me there are less important, so the current system is OK. However, it would be nice to know that a new body type is coming.

This might be coming in the "Research Teams" part of RnD. I need some pictures of the vehicles however, and we're waiting for the artwork to be completed before we make premade vehicles which we will then use as our pictures.

Given that it is far from being completed yet, I would suggest the above additions - they are still possible, I guess, and would make the game so much better!! You are as near to perfection as I have seen so far, and there is really not much to do to reach it!!

Some of these would of been great to have a few months ago. As now most of the Car Development stuff is marked as complete. However you shouldn't fret too much, as I said the majority of what you want can be added in the matter of minutes with the mod tools (or xml if you want to dive into some code!)


Anyhoo, I hope that answers a few of your thoughts! Feel free to post anymore suggestions, questions, or comments! I'm all ears! Thanks again!