Auto Modify

[Thor446]

So the ratings are declining while designing in late game? I have not noticed that. If so then this is a bug.

If I design a part, in a few years, the rating will drop to a low level. That's before the 15 year age penalty mark that you mentioned below. For example, if I push out an engine rated 75, in just a few years, its rated 20-30 overall.

The reasons for the age penalty is:

1) It's realistic. Very few people go into a dealership looking to buy old technology/vehicle designs. I don't believe there are many people going to a dealerships now looking for new car with a hand-cranked car and a carburetor. (Excluding lawn mowers of course.)

2) Prevents someone from building an engine/chassis/gearbox/vehicle in 1900 and then using it for the rest of the game. This used to happen before the age penalty was introduced. It doesn't matter how much the ratings declined, you could still sell a 1900 model in 2010 if the AI bankrupt or you bought them out.

3) Just because we don't have a 7-figure budget like Automation doesn't mean things like "cast iron heads" etc are not simulated. They're just abstracted through things like the material slider. In any case you designed something in 1930s with top sliders, you're using cast iron, if it's 1970 and you're using top sliders, you're making something aluminum.

I'm not talking about using a 1900 model in 2010, and I know that the game does simulate better parts in later years, but I mean I'm finding myself have to redesign a part every 3-5 years, which takes 10 months to research, then I have to take even more time to redesign the car it's going in.

Sounds to me more like spamming of the modification system. Thus why it's taking up all your time. It's not designed to be used over and over and over all at once. It's more to prolong the life of the component. A once per year thing. Perhaps I should put some sort of time limit on it.

This is what the modification system is for. Your engineers making new, improved versions of older parts.

The reason for the drop is that technology changes over time. New technology (or improvements on old technology) typically makes older technology less reliable. A 1980s fuel injector is the same part as a 1990s fuel injector, however the 1990s injector is much more reliable.

These changes are not automatically applied to old engines. We want you to build/modify/redesign your engines, creating new versions of them even if they're in the same family. Much how it's done in real life.

What I mean is, the modification system only boosts the ratings by a tiny amount, not enough to put out a more reliable part. After a few years, if that part drops to an overall rating of 20-30, it usually has 3 star reliability, and I try to release all of my parts with 4-5 star dependability, and if I try to modify it, I can never return to that, no matter how much I spend.

Age penalty is designed for this. We give you 15 years penalty free.

What exactly does the age penalty do then, drop the ratings? Because like I said above, my parts all drop massively in rating after just a few years, there's no way it's 15. If it were 15 years, this wouldn't be a problem at all, but I'm having to modify the parts every 3-4 years, and if I redesign them, it takes another 10 or so months to make a new one.

F150 getting 3.5 stars sounds about right. How would you compare it to a Ford Pinto and a Ford F650?

Would it be possible to add a sort of class system to cars? So if you choose a pickup, you can choose light duty, medium, etc, and that way you can max out all the stars you want, and not be having to tow a ridiculous 32,000 pounds for your mass produced flagship model? It just triggers me to have to get any less than 5 stars