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Military Engine Contracting Suggestion (By request)
#1
In another thread, Frankschtaldt suggested that i share this in detail, so here it is.
Ill first point out that i dont know if any of this is practical to code/design, so the entire suggestion can be dismissed just on that basis if its necessary.

The idea is to use the current contracting system to simulate the government demand in various stages in history for components to put into military vehicles such as Tanks and jeeps etc, outside of the future fleet system.
Again we are just talking about components here(like engines), rather than the future system for vehicles.
While a lot of military applications of components, especially engines are probably beyond what gearcity can simulate, some look to be within the limits of Gearcity's current design.
Its still a fairly narrow field though, only support vehicles and early WW2 light tanks.

Ill start by giving some examples of the type of components (engines) that could be contracted to the government/military.

My first example:
Maybach was a German company which produced luxury cars as well as heavy duty engines around the 20's to the late 40's.
These guys ended up producing a wide variety of petrol engines for the German military, everything from half-track engines to tank engines.
Many are beyond the scope of Gearcity imo (20-30L tank engines), but ill list some smaller ones which seem more practical.
For e.g. the Petrol 100hp 6 cylinder water cooled engine which was used in the two major half-tracks of the german army, probably 20,000 of them produced in total.
They also produced similar engines for a bunch of other vehicles, everything from support to motorcycle half tracks. I'm not sure on an exact total, but it looks like over 100k over many different models of just the half-tracks.
They produced a number of tank engines, but many are too large for gearcity imo. Some, like the Petrol 100HP 6 Cylinder engine of the Panzer 2 seem to fit the criteria though. About 2k of these were made.

Another more obscure example:
A Czech company(ÄŒKD) seem to have produced light vehicles, especially motorbikes, but especially military vehicles, through the 30's.
One of the engines from one of their light tank designs, the Panzer 38(t) is another good example. Its engine was a another Petrol 6 Cylinder 120hp water cooled engine.
The tank as a whole was famous for its reliability, it was so reliable in fact, even after they stopped producing it, they kept converting the chassis/engine to other uses.
About 1500 of these were made originally, but perhaps reaching 4-5k over a few different models.

Later in the war tanks were heavier and faster with much larger engines, probably too large to be something simulated in Gearcity.

On the actual suggested mechanics.

My suggestion for how it would work is this:
- You could have company entities representing the various governments
- They would design/produce nothing themselves, but, like regular companies, buy engines and perhaps chassis/gearbox of other companies, limited to companies with a HQ in their nation. (using current contract mechanics)
- They would probably only contract high HP/Torque engines with a big focus on recently designed ones.
- Contracts in major wars would be short, but at peace could last for many years.
- The companies should produce vehicles which are consumed by the game engine rather than having the population buy it, based on a demand mechanic of some sort.

The hardest thing i think is coming up with a plausible demand mechanic.
It might make the entire thing really not worth the effort until the fleet system is implemented, i dont know.
Il suggest several basic factors which could form demand numbers
- Basic demand calculated by: Peace, minor or major war
- Low demand but little requirement for new models during peace, the reverse during war
- Loyalty towards certain producers/old designs
- Estimations based on historical numbers of vehicles and tanks produced.
- Degree of randomness involved
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#2
Most likely this will come with the fleeting code.

Essentially you'll have a list of demanders (government/fleets, whatever) upon selecting them you'll see the requirements of their demand and how many units they need/want. You have a fixed time to submit your proposal. If yours is selected then the contract runs its length and has a psudeo random chance of a possible renewal.

This will include mainly engines (military) and vehicles(government fleets, taxi's, etc).

Some of the suggestions will work in this system, so I will make note of it.
"great writers are indecent people, they live unfairly, saving the best part for paper.
good human beings save the world, so that bastards like me can keep creating art, become immortal.
if you read this after I am dead it means I made it." ― Charles Bukowski
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#3
(01-29-2014, 09:09 AM)Eric.B Wrote: Most likely this will come with the fleeting code.

Essentially you'll have a list of demanders (government/fleets, whatever) upon selecting them you'll see the requirements of their demand and how many units they need/want. You have a fixed time to submit your proposal. If yours is selected then the contract runs its length and has a psudeo random chance of a possible renewal.

This will include mainly engines (military) and vehicles(government fleets, taxi's, etc).

Some of the suggestions will work in this system, so I will make note of it.

Interesting to hear. Im looking forward to it.
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#4
Thanks Arakash. I like your ideas here.

You're right about engines getting too large by mid WWII. The famous Rolls Royce Merlin engine was a 27L V12 and the biggest the game can produce is a 20L V12. There were even bigger engines around right at the start of the war too! The Junkers Jumo 211 entered production in 1936 and powered some of Germanys most famous eaircraft and it was 35L!!!

I'd love to be able to make these monsters but I dare say that to make such engines possible would require a bit of an overhaul of the game.

But, as you point out, there is still plenty of scope of engines that can currently be made in the game to fit into the system.
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#5
(01-29-2014, 02:31 PM)Frankschtaldt Wrote: Thanks Arakash. I like your ideas here.

You're right about engines getting too large by mid WWII. The famous Rolls Royce Merlin engine was a 27L V12 and the biggest the game can produce is a 20L V12. There were even bigger engines around right at the start of the war too! The Junkers Jumo 211 entered production in 1936 and powered some of Germanys most famous eaircraft and it was 35L!!!

I'd love to be able to make these monsters but I dare say that to make such engines possible would require a bit of an overhaul of the game.

But, as you point out, there is still plenty of scope of engines that can currently be made in the game to fit into the system.

Those are some great examples, i wish i had of thought of them when writing my post Smile.
Those large engines are interesting arent they Smile, even if we just focus on petrol rather than diesel engines, some of them are really huge. The Maybach 20L engine i mentioned was from the 60ton Tiger tank, which i think was considered underpowered at 600-700hp.

That said, I avoided looking into aircraft engines, not only are a lot of them huge like you mention, a lot of them are also specifically designed for flying at altitude and high speed. I think the Merlin you mentioned had some sort of special Supercharger just for aircraft at high altitudes for example.

We agree on the scope of military engines, some of the larger ones may not be in for a while or take interface changes, but the smaller ones seem practical.

Anyway, im glad my post/suggestion was entertaining and somewhat useful Smile
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