Several questions

[Eric.B]

I'm new to the game and I have quite some questions. It seems really fun and really immersive and I really want to learn the most about it.

Welcome! Glad your enjoying the game.

1. In my first game I did quite well, my cheap 1HP phaeton was the most popular car in the world for many years, and I followed it with 1HP pickup, coupe, compact, which were quite popular too. Pickup eventually was 2nd most popular in the world. Is it plausible? I think that cars were a bit better in 1900s - mine was the most popular for many years. Is it the best strategy? It certainly seems so.

Depending on how many years it was, it would not be uncommon to find 1hp engines in a multitude of vehicles. One problem you might face in the game is lack of competition. How many AI were you playing against? How many markets did you have a monopoly in? If you're the only pickup truck for sale, then customers will have no choice but to buy your truck. Then it wouldn't matter if you're only selling a 1hp vehicle in 1903.

Eventually you're 1hp vehicles won't cut it even if you have a monopoly. Customers have a minimum top speed requirement and it goes up every year. With 1hp, you're pushing maybe 10? 15mph? Depending on weight and aerodrag.

But yes, being super cheap is a good strategy. Especially for early game years. Think about it, nearly every luxury and successful supercar company in the world are owned by mass producing companies. There is a reason for this.

In any event, some things are planned in v1.22 that should prevent the issue you were having. We'll be having older companies already established in the game world (thus no more monopolies in large markets.) Some optional smaller game maps (Thus more AI getting into your markets.) And some improvements to AI vehicle designs.

2. What's with locomotive and ship engines? I can never get steam engine to be that powerful. What's the catch?

You probably do not have enough design skills. It's also much easier to do with diesel. 1903 is when diesel engines started overtaking steam boiler engines in both ship and locomotive engines. Combine that fuel type with whatever largest amount of cylinder banks you can produce and you'll probably be able to hit some of those contract numbers.

Note contracting is going to be redesigned in v1.23.

3. The game starts to get quite hard in the 1920s. I've introduced several cars in 1919 and 1920, which were quickly the most popular in the world or at least North America, and I even managed to expand to Europe a bit. However, after about 2-3 years I have to sell my cars very closely to my costs and I'm now losing money, despite making 3 million profit just several months ago. Is it because I am pulling the production slider all the way towards quantity and never to quality except for expensive cars? Does it have any long term effect? I think my cars are still quite competitive in terms of price and quality but instead of 4.000 per month I am now selling 1.500. Also, do customers become more and more demanding over time, they certainly seem so now.

Quality rating will certainly effect sales if it keeps going down (on the right hand side you see the effect of the slider on the vehicle's quality rating.) But there is also other factors at play. For starters, is $4,000 per vehicle within the 5x per capita range? If not, you're limiting your customer base to only the most wealthy of customers. If you are on testing build, you can click the graph button next to your vehicle sale price to see how many customers can afford your vehicle each month.

Do you have more competition now than before? You're coming off of WW1, so many European companies have been idle for the last few years. By 1920 they're starting to roll out new models. Where as if you're a US based company, you never had to shutdown due to the war effort. Also note, early 20s is a slight dip in the market, it should pick up toward the late 20s and crash in the 30s.

4. Is there any way to see how successful my marketing is? Sometimes after increasing marketing I can even double my sales and sometimes not.

Check the reports. If you're on Testing builds, it's under Reports 1, Marketing Efficiency. Default build, I don't quite remember where, but it should be something similar, reports, marketing efficiency.

Marketing works more against taking sales from AI companies than it does generating new customers out of the air. Which may explain why it works great sometimes, but not others.

5. Shouldn't there be more military contracts during the war? Currently there doesn't seem to be much more than usual and some by occupied country - like Danish Air Force or Danish Army. Also, Argentinian Air Force is ordering plane engines by the thousands in 1916, shouldn't British or Americans order them, not a 3rd world nation (at the time).

Your nation needs to be in "Total War" for them to generate military contracts. When that occurs they order from companies in their nation and not internationally. If you are at peace or limit conflict, then you will still see other peace/limited nation's military contracts. So it sounds like your HQ is in a limited or peaceful nation during WW1. So many military contracts weren't generated for you. You can check war status by going to the world map, clicking maps, then clicking conflicts.

6. Is there any way to make car as successful as Model T? So far I could never get more cars sold than several hundred thousands.

Sure can. Most of the early game is built around two vehicles. Oldsmobile Curved Dash and Ford Model T. You should be able to match Model T's sales numbers. But it takes some skills.

7. I've read that 95% of car companies went bankrupt between 1900 and 1915, does the game model this, it didn't seem to, really.

Roughly 2000 car companies went bankrupt between 1900-1920 in the US alone. The game only has 300 of the more successful companies A-H right now. So the amount of competition in the early game years isn't anywhere near what it should be. This will improve when people start releasing AI mods, and I tweak the maps somewhat. As of right now. If you ran a non-player interactive simulation of the game. About 75% of the in game companies go out of business or are merged into larger companies.

8. I've tried to manufacture cars with steam and electric engines - both sell very poorly, why? Those were quite popular in 1900s and even early 1910s.

Because I haven't entered the manual fuel popularity adjustments into the turnevents.xml file. This will come after v1.22 mod tools. That being said, Steam sales should be in line with what they were historically. The fuel popularity is dynamic, so the more of a fuel type you build, the more popular it should become.

9. How does the transportation cost change over time? I tried to open a factory in Brazil, but the costs of delivering cars to USA were too large.

It's based on the fuel price rate and a modifier based on distance. As well as the two city's ratings. It will increase over time, but less so than inflation.

10. Are there any guides I could use? Or recent Let's Plays?

Check youtube (sort by date.) I saw someone with a hard level playthrough on v1.20.3 (or .4) some time ago.

11. Also, how important things like fuel efficiency or quality are in the 1910s and 1920s? My very inefficient and low quality cars were a huge hit until the 1910s when I shifted to a bit better ones, but those didn't seem to be selling as well as some of the cheapest ones on the market. I think that 1km/l is much worse to use than 9km/l - why would anyone use the first one?

Remember, you are compared to your competition, not to your idea of what is a good car. What is the competition selling?
Also in 1910, the average household is making $400. 80% of the population is making less than $800. At $2,000 only 1% of the population can afford it.
If there are 100 people buying a car. And there are only 2 cars available, Model A being $400, and Model B being $2000. Model A will have 50 potential customers where as Model B will have 1 potential customer.

Of those 50 people able to buy Model A, 49 would be unable to afford Model B, so they don't even think about buying it. They can't afford it. So they won't care about comparing the fuel economy of the two. It's not a factor.

That's a gross simplification of what's going on. But that's why your cheap 1km/l model is outselling your 9km/l model. Also you have to consider the type of vehicle it is. If you're in the advance designer, it should show you how important each rating is for the car type.

1. Are there any plans for 3d engine models? Or 3d interiors?

For the former, not unless we're able to raise about $500,000 post release.
For the later, no.

2. Are there any plans to make this game moddable?

The game is already moddable via xml files. v1.22 is focused on mod tools and mod loading.

3. Will we ever get options to customize the interior to some degree, like in Automation - by adding radio, or cassette player?

I am completely against adding hundreds of checkboxes for optional equipment in vehicles that become common place in every vehicle 5-10 years after they're introduced.
So no. These are abstracted in various design sliders for vehicles.

Also, reporting a bug - Stuttgart is not 25 km south of Berlin in real world ;-)

Map redesign is coming in v1.22, it will fix various little bugs in the map system.

Also, also, is there any way to switch the car magazine to how it looked before? I really don't like its current look.

Assuming you're on Testing Build, no. The magazine is going to be browser based from here on out. Is there anything specific you dislike?