06-28-2014, 01:07 AM
Often when playing a game with multiple marques I'll have a marque or two that focuses on really high priced vehicles, a marque or two that focuses on mid priced vehicles and a marque or two that focuses on really cheap vehicles. Something that I think would make managing this kind of game a lot easier would be the ability to select which marques are available for manufacture and sale at which factories and branches.
So for example, in London, there is a large population with lots of money, so you definitely want your expensive marques to have access to this market, however, you probably don't want your cheap cars undercutting you so you'd rather not have them there.
Conversely, Cairo has a decent population but they don't have much money. It wouldn't really be worth putting really high priced vehicles into this market because you wouldn't sell any anyway so you'd just be paying advertising fees for nothing. Your cheap marques on the other hand would flourish in this kind of market.
Currently, to do the above targeted selling you either have to "sell everywhere" whenever you bring out a new vehicle and then delete it from the branches you don't want to have it or selectively add it only to the branches that should have it. Some method of telling each of your branches which marques they can sell and which they can not would be great. Setting it up would probably be just as tedious as the above but you'd do it once and never have to touch it again (except to maybe modify it here and there as certain cities gain or loose wealth through the game).
This could also be used to determine which marque's the game should be applying marketing too in which cities.
A similar option for factories would be handy for different reasons. If you have 6 marques, each producing a dozen or so vehicles, you have a very long list of vehicles to scroll through when setting up and adjusting production for your factories. However, if you can tell the game that you only want to see certain marques at certain factories you can seriously reduce that list.
This could also be tied into the suggestion that someone else posted about factories loosing efficiency when they change production too much. Perhaps making more than one marque at a factory could impose an efficiency penalty as parts get confused and warehousing gets too complicated? Anyway, that's a secondary thought. Moving right along.
(Some people may be asking "Why would you want to limit which marques are made at your factories?". Well, other than reducing the size of the vehicle list you have to scroll through I can think of three reason. 1) Role playing 2) to match worker wages and skill with marque price and complexity 3) to keep your vehicles produced close to where the demand is.)
My first thought for how to execute this was simple check boxes, adding in a new check box each time you acquired a new marque but I don't think that'll work because there will always be someone that will have more marques than you have check boxes (General Motors anyone???). Honestly, I don't really have a better idea for how to execute this but I really think it'll make managing big games much much easier and can be tied into several other interesting mechanics. I'll keep thinking about it, if I come up with something better I'll share below.
So for example, in London, there is a large population with lots of money, so you definitely want your expensive marques to have access to this market, however, you probably don't want your cheap cars undercutting you so you'd rather not have them there.
Conversely, Cairo has a decent population but they don't have much money. It wouldn't really be worth putting really high priced vehicles into this market because you wouldn't sell any anyway so you'd just be paying advertising fees for nothing. Your cheap marques on the other hand would flourish in this kind of market.
Currently, to do the above targeted selling you either have to "sell everywhere" whenever you bring out a new vehicle and then delete it from the branches you don't want to have it or selectively add it only to the branches that should have it. Some method of telling each of your branches which marques they can sell and which they can not would be great. Setting it up would probably be just as tedious as the above but you'd do it once and never have to touch it again (except to maybe modify it here and there as certain cities gain or loose wealth through the game).
This could also be used to determine which marque's the game should be applying marketing too in which cities.
A similar option for factories would be handy for different reasons. If you have 6 marques, each producing a dozen or so vehicles, you have a very long list of vehicles to scroll through when setting up and adjusting production for your factories. However, if you can tell the game that you only want to see certain marques at certain factories you can seriously reduce that list.
This could also be tied into the suggestion that someone else posted about factories loosing efficiency when they change production too much. Perhaps making more than one marque at a factory could impose an efficiency penalty as parts get confused and warehousing gets too complicated? Anyway, that's a secondary thought. Moving right along.
(Some people may be asking "Why would you want to limit which marques are made at your factories?". Well, other than reducing the size of the vehicle list you have to scroll through I can think of three reason. 1) Role playing 2) to match worker wages and skill with marque price and complexity 3) to keep your vehicles produced close to where the demand is.)
My first thought for how to execute this was simple check boxes, adding in a new check box each time you acquired a new marque but I don't think that'll work because there will always be someone that will have more marques than you have check boxes (General Motors anyone???). Honestly, I don't really have a better idea for how to execute this but I really think it'll make managing big games much much easier and can be tied into several other interesting mechanics. I'll keep thinking about it, if I come up with something better I'll share below.