Several questions

[Eric.B]

Sorry to bother you, but got some more:

No worries, it's no bother.

1. You mean I'm losing points per factory? I have 9 of 'em to lower my distribution costs. 4,5 is a lot. What's the reasoning behind this? More factories doesn't mean lower quality. Best-quality windows in my country are produced by a company that has 4 factories.

I'm not sure what you mean by "points." Are you talking about vehicle quality? If so, this is tied specifically to quality/quantity sliders, and not the number of factories or the total production numbers.

If you're talking about company image, this is based upon vehicle quality ratings, and not the number of factories you have or the total production numbers.

2. Every generation every 5 years doesnt sound good, at least not for the 1920s - new cars with new technologies are entering markets too often, I' trying a new gen every 3 years.

It's just a rule of thumb you can of course make a new generation every year, or wait every 50 years. It's up to you. However at 5 years you start getting some very little design age related penalties.

While you may be able to point out companies such as Peugeot who replaced new model years every 3 years. I can equally point to companies like Ford who used Model T for 18 years, and Model TT for 10.

3. Does 'manufacturing methods' (or something similar) from the design menu affect my production rate? Those make it possible for me to save a lot per unit.

These are automatically assumed in the game when build/rebuild
factories and designing new vehicles. When you build/rebuild a factory, the production numbers will automatically produce more per production line (at the same slider level.) And when you design a new vehicle, it takes into account the new techniques and cost saves.

As for picking specific manufacturing practices, that dives a bit too deep into production.

4. If I have 2 vans - one that is larger and one that is smaller, can those co-exist on the market, sharing it? I mean there are some people who want a larger van and those who want a smaller one - those are two different markets.

Yes and No. Yes, the two vans can exist in co-exist in the market, and focus on two different demographics. However they will still cannibalize each other sales.

If there are 100 people looking for a van. And the only option is a large van, then 80 of the 100 people will buy that large van. Because they need a van.

Now let's say you introduce a small van. So now you have a large van and a small van. There are still 100 people looking for a van. That doesn't change. But the large van might sell 45, and the small van will sell 45. So now 90 vans have been sold to the 100 customers, but your large van sales fell 44%.

With that in mind, you should keep a monopoly of one model for as long as possible. When competition enters the market, that is when you want to diversify your offering.

5. How does investing in vehicle RnD help me? Faster vehicle designing? Better quality?

6. How does torque work here? In Automation, you have a graph showing torque at different levels - is torque here the peak torque?

Everything shown is peak. So yes, you are shown peak torque.

7. Is a car with a newer body more attractive to customers than an older one? Do bodies from the same time differ in attractiveness?

No, car bodies only influence aerodynamic drag and related ratings/specs and physical dimensions and related ratings and specs.

We don't enforce a body/sales restriction in case someone wants to make retro cars (via the new generation system) like Cobras or Morgans.

8. How about servicing cars? If I'm not mistaken, there is no such thing here - you can make a very unreliable car and there are no service costs. Are those planned to be included in the future?

Warranties and parts revenues are included in the game. Check the revenues/expense reports.

However servicing costs are not, because the majority of dealerships are franchise. IE separate companies not owned or operated by your company.

9. Is it possible to sell cars in the Soviet Union as a western nation? How is Soviet Block depicted? Do they have their own brands?
10. Let's say I'm an Israeli car manufacturer, is it possible for me to sell cars in Syria or other Arab nations with embargo?

Currently trade restrictions are not implemented and will probably not be implemented unless we make an expansion or have extended development on the game. The main issue is the sheer amount of data and changes to trade laws and restrictions between the many countries. It was a bit too much data to research and implemented at the time I wrote the city code.

There is a ticket however in the v1.25 branch to look into some way to restrict sales in the Eastern Bloc. Most likely through limited conflict tags.