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[WONT]All Bodies for All Vehicle Classes, With Modifiers for Suitability?
#1
Hey,

I was wondering if there were any plans to allow all vehicle bodies to be used in all vehicle classes.

As it stands, we only have 2-3 options per vehicle class, but nearly 30 different class options by my count. By consolidating them, I think we get a wider range of vehicles we can make.

Of course, not all vehicles will be suited to every class, so perhaps each body is given a Type rating (Passenger, Commercial, Industrial, etc) that serves as a modifier of the vehicle, so if you try and use a design that's supposed to be industrial in nature for a passenger vehicle, it probably won't work out all that well. Additionally, each body could have a predefined class as it does now (Sedan, Coup, Pickup, Van, etc) that is then modified by the chosen class of vehicle. Thus, while you COULD make a Pickup body and try and market it as a sports coup...you likely won't get very far with that at all and people will laugh or scratch their heads at how this body, designed as a rugged transporter, is supposed to be a small and sporty vehicle.

Of course, the penalties could be much smaller with similar vehicles - it'd be easier to extend a coup and call it a sedan, or shorten a sedan and take the back seats out to call it a coup, but that still wouldn't be without its issues.

Such issues could always be addressed of course by the sliders when you create the vehicle, so you can put additional resources into what could tentatively be called the Conversion Slider that helps re-purpose the body into the role you decide it should have if it is out of whack. Of course there's only so much you can do, so even if you max out the slider, that pickup will still confuse customers if marketed as a coup (once more, the extreme example, but accurate I suppose).

And to keep with the pickup analogy, of what COULD work with that, taking the early roofless pickup and chopping off all of the cargo area except for a tiny shelf, you could probably re-market that easily as a phaeton, or with the one with a roof add panels (I know, such modifications aren't really possible in the game as it stands, but for the sake of argument) and then come out with a van or small bus as the end result. Alternatively, that same, somewhat shortened, body, could probably do very well as an off-road racer with a few further modifications, like wider wheels or a better engine/gear box, so why not classify it as such after making those changes?

That said, such chimerical designs could be used as a way to get attention for your company. Such novelty designs might well be just the sort of boost your company needs to get people looking at the rest of your lines. That pickup-coup may not draw many sales, but people may well stop by the dealerships just to have a look...which moves other vehicles you're making.

It's a very rough idea that just came to me as I frowned at only really having 2 or 3 body choices when creating my last vehicle.

I know this would be a lot of work, and thus probably something for the not so near future, but it could add a lot of variety and make for some interesting aesthetic decisions at the least.
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#2
I think it's ok how it is now. Of course, creating new "classes" of cars might be fun, but I think it would be to complicated for me. I like the way it is now, as you can change lots of things when designing but you don't have to be an expert when creating a car design.

What we need of course are lots of more body types per vehicle class. But we are in a beta version and on the one hand I think Eric will have implemented much more body styles when the game is ready. One the other hand Eric has stated that it will be possible for users to add custom design.

As I am not an expert in "free designing" I hope that we then will have a forum thread where we can get or exchange new designs from other players!
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