Visual Entertainment and Technologies Forum

I just got back from the CFO's office, and the news isn't good.  Our straight-8 design costs have skyrocketed...

How to reproduce:

 - Start a 2nd Gear game in the year 1910, base city map (or any other).  Go to design an Inline 2 engine.  Note the rough cost.  Switch to Inline 4.  The cost is marginally higher.  Switch to Inline 8.  The cost is marginally higher.
 - Start a 2nd Gear game in the year 1911, base city map (or any other).  Go to design an Inline 2 engine.  It's quite a bit more expensive than 1910, but it's supposed to go up over time, right?  Switch to an Inline 4.  The cost roughly doubles over the Inline 2.  Switch to Inline 8.  The cost roughly doubles over Inline 4.

Expectation: Costs go up over time
Not expected: Increasing cylinders goes from a slight difference in cost to a proportional-to-cylinder-count cost in one year

Is this intentional?  It might be the pre-1911 years that are the aberration; I see that the 1911 behavior applies in 1995 as well.  Checked 1st Gear as well as 2nd Gear; the behavior appears to be the same.

Maybe I never noticed it before because it's my first game being a pure engine-design firm, rather than a vehicle-selling company, and with enough vehicle sales that impact of the increase in engine design costs become, if not a rounding error, low.  But when engine design costs are my primary expense, the sudden change is hard not to notice!

Could you upload both saves so I can compare the company skill values you have.

I believe there is an inflationary bump in the turn events files. I don't recall exactly what it is, but I will check the company data first.

Sure - they are the 1910 vs 1911 ones in my saves folder at https://ajtjp.com/software/GearCity/Saves/ . Separate saves and sites files, and each has a 1st Gear and 2nd Gear 1910 and 1911 save.

I checked the turn events but didn't find anything that jumped out at me, but I may not have been looking for the right thing.

I now believe this is probably intentional to decrease the odds of going broke before getting off the ground in the early years. Most likely several cost multipliers are significantly nerfed pre-1911 to help new players have a chance to earn some money.

I've also managed to make money with the new, higher costs. Some austerity measures were necessary, but thanks to the industry's expansion, it's once again profitable to develop engines.