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[FIXED]Big list of suggestions
#1
Before I post by big list of suggestions I've been looking at the component XML and I've noticed that a lot of engine layouts and gear box options have year="1890" (which I'm assuming is the date they are supposed to be available from) but you can't research most of them until 1901.

You'll see why I'm asking this below but tl;dr I was going to apply some of my following suggestions as a mod to this XML file and offer it for people to use but I'm wondering if there's something somewhere else that's restricting development of these things until 1901 or is it just a bug?

Any how, on to my list. I'm going to split this up into two parts, part 1 will be things that (I think) can be fixed by changing values in the component XML file and part 2 will be things that can't be. As above I intend to plan to have a go at making a mod applying all the XML changes I can but that may have to wait until Eric has made his modwiki available (I will play around with it before then but no promises of producing something useful).

Section 1 (XML modable things)

a) Available research at 1900 (start of game).
- Firstly, gearboxes are currently limited to max 3 gears at start of play but 4 should also be available. The Mercedes 35hp (which I will reference a few times in this post) had a 4 speed gearbox and it went on sale in 1901. For this to be possible (in game) research on that gearbox would need to commence in 1900.

- The following engine layouts should be available right off the bat: Single cylinder (as it is currently), Straight 2, V2, Flat 2 and Straight 4.
* The previously mentioned Mercedes 35hp was powered by a 5.9L Straight 4 and by extension, if it was possible to make straight 4's it's possible to make straight 2's (interestingly, the first ever use of a straight 3 that I can find is the 1956 Saab 93, so the availability of this layout might need to be pushed back).
* In 1889 Daimler-Maybach released their first vehicle, powered by a V2
* Karl Benz patented the flat twin in 1896

b) Old engines are too powerful
If you take a look at this thread by Arakash he points out that it isn't actually possible to make an engine with the same stats as the Model T and actually produce that low a horsepower number. Likewise, the Benz Velo had a 1L single producing 3.5hp but the lowest possible output I can get from a 1L single is 10hp. Lastly, a 5.9L Straight 4 will put out about 45hp, well over the 35hp the Mercedes linked above made.
If it is possible to alter the back end equations (as per section 2 a below) then some of this will be fixed on its own as these old engines were all fairly large capacity and very long stroke so would loose some RPM and therefore power from the equation change.
Failing this (or possible in addition to this) my suggested fix is to have different eras of "4 Stroke Gas" engine, similar to the different eras you have for electric. Three should be enough, "Early", "Mid" and "Modern" using the world wars as the change over dates as these were generally when technology advanced the quickest. I would say that "Modern" would keep the current petrol power and efficiency setting whilst early would be set somewhere around where 2 stroke is (giving 2 stroke a further downgrade in power along the way) and slotting "Mid" right in the middle.

c) Many of the engine weights and dimensions and other numbers of different engine layouts don't add up.
- A 1.5L Straight 8 is only a little longer and actually wider than a 1.5L V8 with identical settings!
- That same 1.5L Straight 8 costs nearly 4 times as much to build but less to R&D than a 1.5L Straight 2 (I would think roughly double for both would be fairer)
- Comparing the same Straight 8 and 2 again, the 8 makes less power (see section 2 A for more on this) but gets well under half the mpg of the 2 where in reality it would probably make more power, more torque and get only slightly worse milage than the twin (and definitely better mpg/hp)
Many of these issues can be fixed with some simple tweaking of the numbers in the XML files. I would also suggest getting rid of the "Single" engine layout and simply making a 1 cylinder option for the straight engine. The change in dimensions wont be much but it'll make balancing the engines against each other much easier.
Note: All of these comparisons are made with all sliders set to max with the exception of bore and stroke which are set as equal as possible while giving as close as possible volume and the weight slider which is set to minimum.


Section 2 (things that can not be fixed in XML/back end stuff)

a) Power and torque numbers are all out of whack.
Note: I originally had this in section 1 but after doing more research I've realised it's more back end than I originally thought so I moved it.....
Comparison of different engine layouts: I went and made a bunch of 1.5L engines with all the same settings to see how the different layouts changed things and the results don't quite sit right with me. My biggest issues are as follows:
Both power and torque reduced as an engine gained cylinders. I made most of the engines with square bore and stroke but to test if this was an effect of engine stroke being too big a factor in torque I made an inline 3 with the same stroke as the single and it still produced much less torque than the single.
I think some of this can be fixed by modding XML files but I think the back end equation needs to be changed to make everything work properly. Increasing an engines stroke needs to have a greater effect on slowing down max RPM for one and overall individual cylinder volume needs to have a much bigger effect on engine efficiency. I built a 6L V8 to compare to the 1.5L V8 and power was 3.65 times greater while torque was 3.75 times greater which highlights the fact that something needs adjusting as power of such a large engine should suffer much more than torque and both numbers should suffer more than they do. I would think x4 volume and identical settings would produce something more like x2.5-3 power and x3.5 torque. (Also of note, the 98mm stroke 6L V8 only revved 68RPM slower than the 62mm stroke 1.5L V8)

b) Bore and stoke limits should be higher.
Currently the bore and stroke limits of the game seem to be 128mm each (or roughly 5'). Some examples of important cars with bigger numbers than these limits are:
-The Benz Patent-Motorwagen (recognized as the first car ever) had a stroke of 160mm.
-The previously mentioned Mercedes 35hp (which didn't sell a lot but started a battle that rapidly accelerated automotive technology) had a 140mm stroke.
-The Blitzen Benz had a 200mm stroke and a 185mm bore.
- The Bugatti Type 41 Royale had a 130mm stroke
- The Bentley 4½ Litre had a 140mm stroke.
- (If you want to make trucks possible) The Kenworth T609 is powered by this engine with a bore of 137mm and a stroke of 169mm.
.... and there are many other examples.
I'm pretty sure the Blitzen Benz is easily the biggest (on a per cylinder basis) engine ever put into a car so if you can increase the bore and stroke limits up to those numbers people will be able to duplicate it and pretty much anything else ever made including many aircraft and tank engines and even some pretty chunky marine diesels.




Sorry for the wall of text. Perhaps I should have broken that up into two posts? Meh, too late now, I've been writing this for hours so I'm just posting it as it =)
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#2
Interesting post. I wouldn't be too worried about making a wall of text, you were clear and gave excellent examples for your points.

While you made excellent and varied points, the only part i think i can contribute to is the discussion on parts availability.
I discovered recently, mainly through testing, that some of the parts have a combination of a year of availability, and a skill requirement. ( i assume a design skill requirement)
The obvious example is the Ladder Frame,(release date 1903) which wasnt available in 1908 in one of my games if you hadn't designed a chassis yet.

Other ones i haven't tested, but have seen through editing save files:
Single, Straight, U V, Flat and H have same release year(1890), but different skill requirements.
The same seems to be true for all of the gearboxes, 2-8 gears are all available, but have different skill reqs.

(Edit: Rewrote this part)
I think it all used to be available at start in the last version, but i like the idea in the current version that you have to have some expertise to be able to design them.
Perhaps in the future we can have different game starts with different design skills, so:
- Your company are engine experts where you can design a variety of engines from the start
- Or your company is a Gearbox expert, who know how to make complex gearboxes from the start

(Edit: Rewrote this part)
Depending on whether it was some specific expertise or common knowledge, it could be edited down a bit i suppose.
Judging by your excellent examples, i figure you might be able to comment on whether these more complex arrangements or more cylinders were common at the time, or whether they were some kind of specialization.

At the moment at game start companies in gearcity seem to be terrible at everything and have to work their way up Tongue
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#3
Hmmmm, firstly, my apologies. This should have been posted in the suggestions section. I started it here because it was going to be a list of mods I was going to do but it became something else and I forgot to move it =/

Thanks Arakash, I figured it must have been something like that but wasn't sure. That Mercedes 35hp was the first car to carry that name (Though other more experienced people were involved) so it should be possible to make a few more engine layouts if you choose a sufficiently advanced major city as your starting point.

Eric has pointed me to his XML editor of choice so I'll be doing up a mod aimed at section 1 over the weekend and I'll share it when it's done.

With regards to section 2 I'd really really love to see some of the equations the game uses behind the scenes to work out it's engine stats and car speeds etc. Though, that might be asking a bit much I guess =P

Just read this:
(01-30-2014, 10:31 AM)Eric.B Wrote: Combining valvetrain with layouts would be no problem.

Valves would be a little more work as I would have to add AI selection code and more balancing. (It's enough to break the game like it's broke now! )

Considering the fact most DOHC's engines are 4 valves, and a good number of SOHC are 2 valves, I think adding this extra layer of detail is a little much.

So valvetrain configuration will probably make its way into the game (combined with engine layout) but don't expect valve numbers or fuel delivery systems.

in this thread.

Might try an include that in my mod. Who knows, it could actually do away with the need for different eras of Gas.
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#4
I've started working on my mod. It's very trial and error atm so it's slow going but I'll get there.

I think I have a pretty good idea of what the back end equations look like but some things don't behave how I'd expect them too. For example, I'm struggling with engines of equal volume still losing power, weight and development cost as they gain more cylinders.

I'd really love to see those equations. Though, to be honest, if I got to take a peak at them I'm pretty sure I'd be offering suggestions for alterations to them.... Though I didn't know how welcome that would be LOL
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#5
(01-31-2014, 07:43 AM)Frankschtaldt Wrote: I've started working on my mod. It's very trial and error atm so it's slow going but I'll get there.

I think I have a pretty good idea of what the back end equations look like but some things don't behave how I'd expect them too. For example, I'm struggling with engines of equal volume still losing power, weight and development cost as they gain more cylinders.

I'd really love to see those equations. Though, to be honest, if I got to take a peak at them I'm pretty sure I'd be offering suggestions for alterations to them.... Though I didn't know how welcome that would be LOL
Well good luck with it.

Some things are really surprisingly complex ive found.
Especially the depth in the way sales are calculated. I was a little shocked when it was described to me at the time tbh lol. There was even more variables involved than the long list i already had in another sales test post id written.
I even heard Eric say it used to be even more complex, but the game ran too slow.

Personally im looking forward to the modding wiki thing that Eric has mentioned hes going to produce eventually. It will make the process much more manageable and easier imo.
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#6
Quote:You'll see why I'm asking this below but tl;dr I was going to apply some of my following suggestions as a mod to this XML file and offer it for people to use but I'm wondering if there's something somewhere else that's restricting development of these things until 1901 or is it just a bug?

The design skills restricts what can be used, I think it's called SkillReq in the xml file.
The company's skill in that field has to be higher than the SkillReq before they can use it... Over the years this Skillreq will decrease...

Quote:irstly, gearboxes are currently limited to max 3 gears at start of play but 4 should also be available. The Mercedes 35hp (which I will reference a few times in this post) had a 4 speed gearbox and it went on sale in 1901. For this to be possible (in game) research on that gearbox would need to commence in 1900.
Mursadies will start with a high enough design skill to build such gearboxes. AI skill points and behaviour points are currently not released. Right now they'll all set the same. But larger companies will have this advantage when I finalize the AI.

Quote:- The following engine layouts should be available right off the bat: Single cylinder (as it is currently), Straight 2, V2, Flat 2 and Straight 4.
These should all be available assuming high enough design skill. The "Easy" mode design skills should probably be given a slight boost to allow these...

Quote:b) Old engines are too powerful
c) Many of the engine weights and dimensions and other numbers of different engine layouts don't add up.
a) Power and torque numbers are all out of whack.
b) Bore and stoke limits should be higher.
I'm looking into all specs for vehicles as soon I'm done playing with the AI designing system. (Which is almost finished) Some of this stuff breaks as I add layers of more complexity to the system. Hopefully I can get all the specs finalized in this or the next build...


Thanks for the list of information. The major issue is writing formulas that work in 1900 as well in 1999... But we'll get there.

Smile
"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
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#7
(01-31-2014, 02:08 PM)Eric.B Wrote: The design skills restricts what can be used, I think it's called SkillReq in the xml file.
The company's skill in that field has to be higher than the SkillReq before they can use it... Over the years this Skillreq will decrease...
Quote:Mursadies will start with a high enough design skill to build such gearboxes. AI skill points and behaviour points are currently not released. Right now they'll all set the same. But larger companies will have this advantage when I finalize the AI.
Quote:These should all be available assuming high enough design skill. The "Easy" mode design skills should probably be given a slight boost to allow these...

Everything is working pretty much as you expected =)
After making the original post I went back and made an easy game as part of my mod testing and found a whole bunch of stuff was available in easy mode that wasn't available in normal.
Can I suggest that at least 2 cylinder engines be made available in normal? That way there'll be smaller steps between easy -> normal -> hard

Quote:I'm looking into all specs for vehicles as soon I'm done playing with the AI designing system. (Which is almost finished) Some of this stuff breaks as I add layers of more complexity to the system. Hopefully I can get all the specs finalized in this or the next build...

My mod solves these issues by combining valve train with fuel type (as per the other thread) So side valve and sleeve valve engines loose a decent amount of power when compared to OHV, OHC and DOHC. I've also included a "4 Stroke - Early" which is even weaker and is meant to account for all of the really strange and inefficient valve systems that were used in the early days.

I've also downrated Diesel quite a lot because it was WAY too strong. I plan on making OHV, OHC and DOHC Diesel variants at a later stage.

Quote:Thanks for the list of information. The major issue is writing formulas that work in 1900 as well in 1999... But we'll get there.

Smile

As per previous post. I'd be more than happy to make suggestions if you'd like the input =)
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#8
All right, checking over old forum posts for the 1.18 fixin' of the engine specs. I double checked all of these, here's the results.

(01-30-2014, 04:12 AM)Frankschtaldt Wrote: a) Available research at 1900 (start of game).
Still need to starting years and skill ratings, but I won't hold the rest of this thread back for that.

Quote:b) Old engines are too powerful
[quote]
The weakest engine you can make is 0 HP @ 213RPM, 8nm (6ft-lbs) Torque at 149rpms...

^,~


[quote]c) Many of the engine weights and dimensions and other numbers of different engine layouts don't add up.
Stroke/bore changes have fixed many issues with power.

Exponential sliders make smaller engines more expensive if you try maxing out sliders, thus forcing you to bump up the cylinder count.

I made a minor adjustment to length and double checked against real numbers. Straight 8's aren't common anymore, but the one I could get data for, 1950s Buick Straight 8 had a length of 34" a year 2000 2L I4 from GM has a block length of 23 inches. Both engines have a bore of low 80mm range. Increasing the bore will in effect get the Straight 8's numbers closer to double the i4's.

Quote:a) Power and torque numbers are all out of whack.
This should be fixed for 1.18. Although HP rating might be little low in some cases. I was within 10% of realistic numbers for 90% tested engines.

Quote:b) Bore and stoke limits should be higher.
This should already be fixed. I double checked just in case, max in 1900 is 184x184mm. It decreases over time however.



Anyhoo I think I covered everything mentioned in this thread. Marking it as fixed for 1.18! Smile
"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
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#9
Sweet! Super keen to try this build out!
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#10
Oh yes. 1.18 is probably the update I've been looking forward to the most thus far Smile
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