Price: $3000
Description: This item is a complete replacement of the factory and production systems. The old system will remain as an optional system.
Currently, factories are defined by a capacity slider, a tech slider, the factory build year, and the recondition year. These variables give you the number of production lines and the number of vehicles produced in each line.
This bounty replaces the production line system in favor of 4 new variables. 1) The maximum number of different chassis models. 2) The maximum number of different vehicle models. 3) Total capacity production capacity of the factory. And 4) A retooling time/variable.
The new system greatly alters how you produce vehicles, making the system much more realistic. In the old system, you would adjust production lines and quality slider, frequently increasing and decreasing production. Switching and opening new production lines at other factories, etc, without any ramifications.
In the new system, you will assign a vehicle to a factory as early as halfway through the model's development. The chassis model will count toward the factory's maximum number of chassis models. The vehicle model will count against the factory's maximum number of vehicles models. If either of these variables is at the maximum, you can not produce there.
Next, you will assign the maximum number of vehicles you can produce at the factory for this model. The game will calculate how much capacity this will take. Once you have confirmed it, the factory will go into "tooling mode" to set up production for the vehicle. This is a costly and time-consuming procedure that could take months and cost a lot based on the retooling time variables. The tooling time will be exponential, giving an advantage to boutique manufacturers.
Once tooling for the factory is complete, the factory is ready for use. The factory will produce the maximum number of vehicles unless you lower production. However, you can not repropose assigned and tooled factory space without retooling it for another model. Likewise, you can not increase production beyond the maximum without tooling more factory capacity to your model. Tooling costs both time and money to set up.
The AI and Auto Production systems can be greatly simplified in this system, speeding up turn times.
Requirements: #20
Required By: #21
Concerns: This is an insanely complex bounty. Not because of the feature itself, but because I plan on keeping the old-style production system as an optional feature. I have not designed the game to handle two different production systems, and much of the old system is intertwined with the rest of the game.
So the bulk work will be separating the old system from the whole of the game, then allowing for this new system to work in its place. This arrangement can cause bugs and additional unforeseen headaches in both systems.
Keeping both systems is a requirement because completely removing the old system will make many users unhappy, especially those who are extremely opposed to inefficiencies or don't believe the sales predictor does a great job.
While on paper, this new concept sounds like less micromanagement for the player and more realistic in concept, it has not been playtested yet. The old system has 12 years of testing and is generally well-liked. This system addresses its flaws, both in realism and gameplay, but it will be hard going from a refined system to a fresh one.
Finally, because of the amount of work and the discount, there is a chance this item might cause a milestone delay if paired with additional discounted bounties. The amount of work this item requires does not match the bounty price because of the discount. If the community funds two or three of these discounted items simultaneously, or there is a delay because of issues, we may have to delay the next milestone. That would result in a pause in fundraising.
Eric's Opinion: This bounty is a huge undertaking. The current system is extremely unrealistic, so that makes it worth the effort.
Inventory becomes important as originally intended. In the current builds, very few people use them. Players who refuse to use the autoproduction system and obsess with optimal production slider management for hundreds of units will no longer have to adjust thousands of sliders. Instead, because there is a delay in adding or repurposing capacity, they will have to plan ahead or suffer optimization issues.
This feature opens up several other bounties, such as a sales prediction system (to help with planning) and component production/inventory. The concept also works very well with the proposed Backorder Feature bounty.
With fewer slider adjustments, the player should feel like there is less micromanagement. And the AI should also have fewer calculations for production. Those gains might be lost with additional tickets built off this system, like the components production bounty.
In any event, I have discounted this bounty. I believe it will add a bunch of realism to the game. It will also increase expenses and add more inefficiency to play styles. While at the same time, it will fix many unintended design issues with the game's production system.
Links: Older Bitbucket thread on the topic: https://bitbucket.org/EricBJones/gearcit...ory-system
Description: This item is a complete replacement of the factory and production systems. The old system will remain as an optional system.
Currently, factories are defined by a capacity slider, a tech slider, the factory build year, and the recondition year. These variables give you the number of production lines and the number of vehicles produced in each line.
This bounty replaces the production line system in favor of 4 new variables. 1) The maximum number of different chassis models. 2) The maximum number of different vehicle models. 3) Total capacity production capacity of the factory. And 4) A retooling time/variable.
The new system greatly alters how you produce vehicles, making the system much more realistic. In the old system, you would adjust production lines and quality slider, frequently increasing and decreasing production. Switching and opening new production lines at other factories, etc, without any ramifications.
In the new system, you will assign a vehicle to a factory as early as halfway through the model's development. The chassis model will count toward the factory's maximum number of chassis models. The vehicle model will count against the factory's maximum number of vehicles models. If either of these variables is at the maximum, you can not produce there.
Next, you will assign the maximum number of vehicles you can produce at the factory for this model. The game will calculate how much capacity this will take. Once you have confirmed it, the factory will go into "tooling mode" to set up production for the vehicle. This is a costly and time-consuming procedure that could take months and cost a lot based on the retooling time variables. The tooling time will be exponential, giving an advantage to boutique manufacturers.
Once tooling for the factory is complete, the factory is ready for use. The factory will produce the maximum number of vehicles unless you lower production. However, you can not repropose assigned and tooled factory space without retooling it for another model. Likewise, you can not increase production beyond the maximum without tooling more factory capacity to your model. Tooling costs both time and money to set up.
The AI and Auto Production systems can be greatly simplified in this system, speeding up turn times.
Requirements: #20
Required By: #21
Concerns: This is an insanely complex bounty. Not because of the feature itself, but because I plan on keeping the old-style production system as an optional feature. I have not designed the game to handle two different production systems, and much of the old system is intertwined with the rest of the game.
So the bulk work will be separating the old system from the whole of the game, then allowing for this new system to work in its place. This arrangement can cause bugs and additional unforeseen headaches in both systems.
Keeping both systems is a requirement because completely removing the old system will make many users unhappy, especially those who are extremely opposed to inefficiencies or don't believe the sales predictor does a great job.
While on paper, this new concept sounds like less micromanagement for the player and more realistic in concept, it has not been playtested yet. The old system has 12 years of testing and is generally well-liked. This system addresses its flaws, both in realism and gameplay, but it will be hard going from a refined system to a fresh one.
Finally, because of the amount of work and the discount, there is a chance this item might cause a milestone delay if paired with additional discounted bounties. The amount of work this item requires does not match the bounty price because of the discount. If the community funds two or three of these discounted items simultaneously, or there is a delay because of issues, we may have to delay the next milestone. That would result in a pause in fundraising.
Eric's Opinion: This bounty is a huge undertaking. The current system is extremely unrealistic, so that makes it worth the effort.
Inventory becomes important as originally intended. In the current builds, very few people use them. Players who refuse to use the autoproduction system and obsess with optimal production slider management for hundreds of units will no longer have to adjust thousands of sliders. Instead, because there is a delay in adding or repurposing capacity, they will have to plan ahead or suffer optimization issues.
This feature opens up several other bounties, such as a sales prediction system (to help with planning) and component production/inventory. The concept also works very well with the proposed Backorder Feature bounty.
With fewer slider adjustments, the player should feel like there is less micromanagement. And the AI should also have fewer calculations for production. Those gains might be lost with additional tickets built off this system, like the components production bounty.
In any event, I have discounted this bounty. I believe it will add a bunch of realism to the game. It will also increase expenses and add more inefficiency to play styles. While at the same time, it will fix many unintended design issues with the game's production system.
Links: Older Bitbucket thread on the topic: https://bitbucket.org/EricBJones/gearcit...ory-system
"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
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