[FIXED]Modifying components

[Frankschtaldt]

This is both a question and a suggestion but more the latter which is why it's here.

Q. How does modifying components work now? It brings up a list of all of your components in the category you're looking at and when you click on one you get a message along the lines of "Our engineers estimate they can improve this part by xx% for $xxxxx.xx" but nothing seems to happen when you hit the button?

S. I suggest that it would be better if the component modification worked like making new model year and new trims of vehicles does. That way, if you wanted to make a hot version of a car alongside the normal one you could "modify" your engine by simply upgrading aspiration and fuel type (assuming that's how valve trains eventually get implemented) and maybe bump a few sliders up rather than having to design an entirely new engine.
The same thing would be handy for improving components before building a new model year of one of your cars.

[Arakash]

This is both a question and a suggestion but more the latter which is why it's here.

Q. How does modifying components work now? It brings up a list of all of your components in the category you're looking at and when you click on one you get a message along the lines of "Our engineers estimate they can improve this part by xx% for $xxxxx.xx" but nothing seems to happen when you hit the button?

S. I suggest that it would be better if the component modification worked like making new model year and new trims of vehicles does. That way, if you wanted to make a hot version of a car alongside the normal one you could "modify" your engine by simply upgrading aspiration and fuel type (assuming that's how valve trains eventually get implemented) and maybe bump a few sliders up rather than having to design an entirely new engine.
The same thing would be handy for improving components before building a new model year of one of your cars.

Im looking forward to hearing Eric explain/comment on this one.
Ive used modifying components before, when i hit that button you mention, it does change the required cash to modify it again if you exit the screen then come back. (or at least i think it does, it certainly changes it for next month)
Like several buttons in Gearcity, i assume it does its job but just doesn't immediately inform you that you've already pressed the button or give you confirmation/immediate feedback.

[Eric.B]

This is both a question and a suggestion but more the latter which is why it's here.

Q. How does modifying components work now? It brings up a list of all of your components in the category you're looking at and when you click on one you get a message along the lines of "Our engineers estimate they can improve this part by xx% for $xxxxx.xx" but nothing seems to happen when you hit the button?

S. I suggest that it would be better if the component modification worked like making new model year and new trims of vehicles does. That way, if you wanted to make a hot version of a car alongside the normal one you could "modify" your engine by simply upgrading aspiration and fuel type (assuming that's how valve trains eventually get implemented) and maybe bump a few sliders up rather than having to design an entirely new engine.
The same thing would be handy for improving components before building a new model year of one of your cars.

1) There are a certain amount of times a design can be refined by your design time. Each time you "modify" the component this cost will increase and the amount of improvement will decrease. Eventually this becomes a zero-sum game as the design will not be improvable thus you're better off just building a new design.

Ratings of said component will increase the amount shown. Costs are factored in at the end of turn.

S) Such an idea seems reasonable, but in reality how much different is it than just designing a new block? Adding an extra layer of buttons to click through seems like a bit much... The reason the trim/model year system is how it is, is because of the additional need to design the physical vehicle.

I think a better way to go about it would be to add a "clone existing component" button to the already suggested "Slider Summery" window. This reduces the work and gui for both you and me!

[Frankschtaldt]

1) There are a certain amount of times a design can be refined by your design time. Each time you "modify" the component this cost will increase and the amount of improvement will decrease. Eventually this becomes a zero-sum game as the design will not be improvable thus you're better off just building a new design.

Ratings of said component will increase the amount shown. Costs are factored in at the end of turn.

Okay, so I just tested it out to pay closer attention to what was happening and I was expecting a new part to be researched rather than just replacing the old one which is why I missed it.
Can I suggest that the cost of this needs some balancing? It charged me over $5 mill for the first upgrade of a 5 year old 4 cylinder engine that cost me $166k to research originally. I did gain some improvements to some of the ratings for doing it but hp torque and mpg didn't change at all.
Similarly outrageous prices were being ask for gearbox and chassis upgrading.

S) Such an idea seems reasonable, but in reality how much different is it than just designing a new block? Adding an extra layer of buttons to click through seems like a bit much... The reason the trim/model year system is how it is, is because of the additional need to design the physical vehicle.

I think a better way to go about it would be to add a "clone existing component" button to the already suggested "Slider Summery" window. This reduces the work and gui for both you and me!

That would be an acceptable compromise. However, only half of this request was about saving time. The other half was about not paying a full development cost for what is a very simple operation (Re the bolting on a blower example).
Having said that. With the cost of the upgrade system as it currently stands (see above) it would probably be cheaper to design the engine from scratch. =p

[Sarchez]

The way I see it, you're expanding it's lifetime by modifying it.

I think it's fine being more expensive than researching a new component, because you get the improvement instantly.

It's not uncommon that things are more expensive to improve, than to develop a new one (think aftermarket parts).

[Geredis]

S) Such an idea seems reasonable, but in reality how much different is it than just designing a new block? Adding an extra layer of buttons to click through seems like a bit much... The reason the trim/model year system is how it is, is because of the additional need to design the physical vehicle.

I think a better way to go about it would be to add a "clone existing component" button to the already suggested "Slider Summery" window. This reduces the work and gui for both you and me!

I think for upgrades it might work best if you were locked to the phsyical engine size. So length, width, layout, would be locked, everything else would get a limited slider that is locked by, say, 20-30% (in either direction) of your original design.

You could also directly modify (with minimal redesign cost) the tolerances of your engine, so you can decide that with an engine you really like that ends up going into an economy car, but originally designed for a luxury brand, you can reduce quality to help drive the price down, almost without limit. Likewise, you can increase quality for those mass-produced Everyman's Cars you're making to put into a luxury touring car or coup.

That said, in either case, you can only make changes so far in either direction before it's simply impossible to do so, or you're just better off making an entirely new engine to the specifications and waiting the extra time. I imagine that, with some exceptions, upgrades should primarily exist as a stop-gap of sorts, however, until you can properly make a purpose-built engine for whatever role you need it for.

I'd also rather see that upgrades end up taking 1-2 months instead of being so instant - perhaps that means you can lower the price slightly, but I like the idea of needing to pay such crazy prices...you can either throw money at the problem to fix an issue, or you can bide your time. Either work, in a sense, but you end up spending significant amounts of one or the other in order to come out better for it, which is how I think it should be. Money for upgrades, time for new designs, within reason for each but never so much of one as to exclude the necessity of paying anything with the other, as it currently is with the upgrade scheme.

[Frankschtaldt]

I think for upgrades it might work best if you were locked to the phsyical engine size. So length, width, layout, would be locked, everything else would get a limited slider that is locked by, say, 20-30% (in either direction) of your original design.

I don't think this accurately represents what can and has been done with updating parts to save development costs.

The Lamborghini V12 entered production in 1963 as a 3.5L enigne producing 201kW. It went through numerous upgrades until it's final use in the Murcielago as a 6.5L producing 471kW in 2010.

There are heaps of other examples of real world car manufacturers upgrading parts to save money on developing new ones and in the process gradually making something significantly bigger and better than what they started with.

[Eric.B]

So the modification system has been rewritten.

For components, you are given three choices of "tweaking" the design. This will increase the stats slightly. All stat changes are visible to the player. You also have the ability to "redesign" a component. This will load the exact component + sliders in the advance designer allowing you to create new versions of your old designs. There are currently no cost savings to this. In the future there may be, It's on the drawing board.

[Frankschtaldt]

What was the third option?
Unless I totally misread you, you only listed two.

Sounds excellent.

I'd say for future, the complete redesign option should only have small savings. Though it might make sense for it to have reasonable time saving?

[Eric.B]

What was the third option?
Unless I totally misread you, you only listed two.

Sounds excellent.

I'd say for future, the complete redesign option should only have small savings. Though it might make sense for it to have reasonable time saving?

You read me wrong, there are three grades of modification each doing a different amount of improvements.

In addition to this is the redesign option.


I may sometime in the distance future make it more like the car trim system. But currently this is how it's going to be for the next few months/year or so.