[FIXED]Training staff

[Serben]

I haven't played much due to the bugs and crashes (i'm wiating for a more stable/bug free version) so i don't know if this is already in the game or being planned, but i would like to suggest that you add a feature to train your staff so that even if you set up a factory in a low wage country with low quality workers you can train them to become more skilled.

[MrX_ua]

What bugs/crashes? I dont think I've seen you post 1 crash log really.. Make sure you patch to 1.01 version and report if you get crashes and tell us if you see bugs please.. This is the only way to make sure people will get to enjoy the game, not bug reporting in the end ...

[Eric.B]

i would like to suggest that you add a feature to train your staff so that even if you set up a factory in a low wage country with low quality workers you can train them to become more skilled.

This could be possible, but I'm not sure how it would affect game play. I'll look into it when i redesign the build factory/branch stuff.

What bugs/crashes? I dont think I've seen you post 1 crash log really.. Make sure you patch to 1.01 version and report if you get crashes and tell us if you see bugs please.. This is the only way to make sure people will get to enjoy the game, not bug reporting in the end ...

Well I don't know about crashing bugs (only a few of them remain) but gameplay bugs are all over the game. Of course most of them are minor fluff stuff, but still. I understand where he's coming from.

[Serben]

i don't know how to post a crash log but currently when i try to install the game my antivirus (avast) says that gnuplot.exe is infected with a virus and refuses to install it (i'm guessing this is a false positive) and when i try to start the game it crashes (probably because gnuplot is missing). for some strange reason though this didn't happen a few weeks ago when i installed the original unpatched beta.

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i would like to suggest that you add a feature to train your staff so that even if you set up a factory in a low wage country with low quality workers you can train them to become more skilled.

This could be possible, but I'm not sure how it would affect game play. I'll look into it when i redesign the build factory/branch stuff.

if you don't want to unbalance the game and make it overpowered you could always make it take a while to train them. maybe 6 months up to several years depending on how skilled they are at the start and how much you want to train them. you could just make the time it takes to train them linear. so if they have the lowest possible skill and you want to train them to the highest possible skill it would take maybe a year or two. and you would still have to pay their wages during that time in addition to paying for the training itself. that way it wouldn't be insanely overpowered but it would still let you set up high quality manufacturing in low wage and low skill countries.

[Eric.B]

i don't know how to post a crash log but currently when i try to install the game my antivirus (avast) says that gnuplot.exe is infected with a virus and refuses to install it (i'm guessing this is a false positive) and when i try to start the game it crashes (probably because gnuplot is missing). for some strange reason though this didn't happen a few weeks ago when i installed the original unpatched beta.

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i would like to suggest that you add a feature to train your staff so that even if you set up a factory in a low wage country with low quality workers you can train them to become more skilled.

This could be possible, but I'm not sure how it would affect game play. I'll look into it when i redesign the build factory/branch stuff.

if you don't want to unbalance the game and make it overpowered you could always make it take a while to train them. maybe 6 months up to several years depending on how skilled they are at the start and how much you want to train them. you could just make the time it takes to train them linear. so if they have the lowest possible skill and you want to train them to the highest possible skill it would take maybe a year or two. and you would still have to pay their wages during that time in addition to paying for the training itself. that way it wouldn't be insanely overpowered but it would still let you set up high quality manufacturing in low wage and low skill countries.

It seems like your bug is from this:
http://www.ventdev.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=381

When you had the original version it probably blacklisted gnuplot when you opened a chart, thus it won't let you install the patch because gnuplot is blacklisted.

I'm going to open a ticket with the avast people and hopefully get this fixed.





I may add a training system, much like we have "retool" in factories. It won't raise the skills of the city (because that's more than just training), but it would increase manufacturing production of workers. Anyhoo we'll see when I get there.


The main thing is, there has to be a way to prevent massive outsourcing until at least the 1960s.

[Serben]

The main thing is, there has to be a way to prevent massive outsourcing until at least the 1960s.

well, you could do it like the real world. make it so that at the start of the game all the countries have huge trade barriers/tariffs/trade restrictions that make it unprofitable and very difficult to establish manufacturing in any country other than the one you start in or where your HQ is based. Then as globalism expands and the global economy opens up the restrictions and tariffs ease and you can start setting up factories in low wage countries. And if you want to speed up this process you could bribe (or "lobby", wink wink) a few politicians here and there. this also gives me a few new ideas. if you don't already have or plan to add these features you could also add unions who will start strikes at your factories and disrupt your business if you don't pay your workers enough. then you could bribe union bosses to talk the strikers down or bribe politicians to break the strike and bust the unions in the name of free enterprise and safeguarding market stability, like any true capitalist pig worth his salt

[Eric.B]

Originally I was going to have trade restrictions (specially for soviet bloc nations) but the amount of data and finding all the information would prove difficult and tedious. Specially without hardcoding this information into the game.

I have bounced around the idea of tariffs rates to limit importing.

Unions are in the game, as well as strikes, and lobbying (which effects taxes,building cost, and union strike demands)

In anycase, when I get around to redesigning the factory/branch building code I'll see if a slider for "training" that gives a minor increasing skill boost over time will effect the balance of gameplay. Perhaps I'll try a tariff system to see if that will counteract it.

[Serben]

awesome. can't wait for the final version to come out. i've been waiting for a game like this since the old "motor city" and "detroit" days.

[Eric.B]

I haven't put in a slider however I have added an increase to city skill based upon the amount of automotive employees in the city. The greater percentage of automotive employees to city population the faster the growth rates will increase thus effecting sales income and production.

[Serben]

great to hear. is this feature in the current version (1.09) or will it be in the next version?

[Eric.B]

It'll be in the upcoming version, 1.10. I'm still tweaking the numbers because in some cases it becomes too powerful in others it's not powerful enough.

The changes are minor, generally a half percent boost a year in growth until growth rate hits 10%