Vehicle Versioning

Production Line Game discussion
1

I have say my normal sedan, and a mid-range sedan, that has common and rare items. then I research a bunch of new techs and want to add them to the mid sedan. What I do is implement a versioning system. so Mk1/2/3 etc, by copying the current iteration. I don’t know if this is how you envisioned it being done, but it’s how I like to do it. It means I can control the costs of the less well equipped versions without affecting the new ones with all the extra mods. It also means I don’t get cars with Uninstalled Features, which I assume means better sales.

However there are some issues with this approach. I can’t copy the markup nor the name of the vehicle across, I would really appreciate if the markup migrated across because then the UI shows which techs are expected at the level the car should be at. Showing me which rare items I may want to add to the new version.
It would also be helpful if I could copy an existing car but change it’s body type. I have my well researched Mk3 mid-range sedan with all the good stuff, and I want a SUV with the same tech stack because it will save me time having to change the mark up, then adding the techs, then checking the markup is acceptable…

An alternatively to this is to allow the QA to feed back into the beginning of the manufacturing process. Missing tech (which was added after the car had passed the slot) seems to make the cars float around the sales room for a lot longer than usual? or is that my imagination. But in the scenario where i create a new version of the sedan with 3 extra ‘rare’ techs and one ‘extra rare’ tech, i want to also increase the markup, If i increase the markup up on my less interesting vehicle, it won’t sell as well…

I assume at some point if not already) the marketing dept will increase brand recognition by default and will get more people into your shop and help you sell more cars, even if you don’t have a current marketing campaign on? Because what this all comes down to is that I have cars in the showroom that don’t have some of the techs it’s supposed to, and is higher prices because those new techs are rare/extra rare.

Great work though, thoroughly enjoying the scenario mode!

2

Hi, thanks for the feedback. The marketing does already increase brand and showroom foot-traffic, but only when campaigns are actively running.
Regarding copying the name and markup over, that is definitely a good idea and something I can do, as its a fairly minor(i think) code change. I will make a note of it.
Copying an existing design to a different body style is definitely harder, but I’ll put it on my ideas list.

3

To build off this Idea. Would there be a way to make a Template of sorts? For example I would like to make a template for “Budget” cars, that I could easily apply to any new vehicle I make. So I make my Budget Sedan, save the template for “Budget”. Then once I unlock the Compact, I can simply just apply that template to that vehicle to make my Budget compact quickly, instead of writing down all the features I want on my Budget cars on a piece of paper then manually adding them to each new budget vehicle. I would make Templates for Budget, Budget Hybrid, Budget Electric, Then Mid Range, Expensive, Luxury. It would also include pricepoints in the template. Just thinking about things that would make my games more fun so I can focus on other things once I unlock all the vehicle types.

4

Definitely doable, but I worry about the complexity involved from a GUI point of view. Thats the real trick in these sorts of games, giving everyone the tools they want and need without overwhelming new players.