Re-balancing development pace effects

[Eric.B]

If the design slider is adjusted from the default such that the design takes 1.5x time, then maybe it should cost .5x the price. Using my example it was 1.25x time for .15x price. That's simply too much, imo.

Which is why I stated:

The project time is currently skew more heavily for later years. In 1990 for example you'd be adding 1-2 years extra time. (Can't look right now for exact amounts.)

I will probably end up switching this over to a linear amount of time * modifier based on year. In fact I believe there is already a ticket for it.

1) You're looking at early game years, which the design pace slider is semi-broken on right now.
2) I already said we will probably make it more linear. .15x price will probably take up 2x-3x time...

I appreciate the niche market, but the reality is it was difficult. TVRs, for example, were not built like a modern Bentley. They were basic designs and did have quality issues. With fewer units to amortize design cost over, even for major manufacturers like Ferrari, in reality it's an issue. The F355 the dashboards pealed and the wood trim cracked. Vector had cheap interiors and low-quality bodies. Perhaps some sliders shouldn't impact design cost (material quality) as much. That's maybe too nuanced.

Both TVR, and Ferrari are relatively cheap when it comes to materials used. They're not good examples of material qualities effecting design costs. None the less, F355 is a good example of why the design pace slider is the way it is.

Design costs are actually pegged against what normal consumer cars cost to develop where I could get information. For typical consumer cars these costs are higher due to a number of factors. However niche market designers typically are allowed to cut corners on testing, prototyping, etc to lower costs.

Designing the F355 engine in 1993 with 50% pace slider runs $75 Million. This is about right for a Ford engine or a Honda engine. But this is not how much Ferrari spent designing the 3.5 Dino.

At $75m you would have to sell 750 vehicles just to have the revenues match the costs of developing the engine. Rough on the paper estimate F355 design would cost $300m to design in the game assuming no development pace slider. At 100% market, you'd have to sell 6000 units...

Now unluckily for my example, f355 is one of the most sold Ferrari of all time. But none the less the break even costs for 50% slider would be around 8,000 units... Very high for a super car. In a market where most model sell <100 units and are successful.

At 0 development pace, the engine costs $11m. Which is a hell of a lot more closer to what a non-financed by Fiat Ferrari would spend on engine development. Rough paper estimate would put development costs of F355 at ~$50m. Requiring 100% markup sales of 1000 to break even. Which is much more reasonable for a supercar development costs.


Anyhoo as I pointed out above in #2, time and values are going to be changed.

The other part is the design scope (sliders) doesn't impact project cost nearly enough. The horrible design (all bars minimized) costs $1.1 million versus $1.56 million for all bars at 50% [excluding design pace].

If you read the "help" buttons for these, you will notice is engineering focus on tweaking the designs. This is after the fact things such as testing on a race track for performance. Or durability testing in long term testing. As such it is only a fraction of the overall "design" costs. It's not the actual design process of building prototypes, clay models, wind testing, cad, etc.

Perhaps a rarity bonus could help niche manufacturers further. Brand exclusivity definitely a real thing. If Toyota decided to produce a Rolls Royce competitor, I don't imagine it would be too successful.

This already exists in the multiple image ratings and prestige ratings in the game.

I don't see how such a bonus would help with development costs being too high for segments of the game that sell only a handful of cars.

Genesis and Mercedes sell 10s of thousands per model. Koenigsegg sells in the 10s per model... Design Pace slider is for Koenigsegg and Backyard Tool Shop designs. Not large company designs.