Penalize Multiple Vehicle Designs In A Class

[StephenClark]

Currently the best way to dominate a competitive class like Sedans is to have a large number of designs in that class. This is currently done most cheaply via trims. However, if a bounty like 
#204 Reduce Trim Spam were adopted, mass designs could still be used through licensing/outsourcing, platform sharing, or simply designing many Sedans the normal way, reducing costs by slowing development speed. It seems very unrealistic to have 30 Sedan designs being sold for the same marque. 

Suggestion: the Penalize Multiple Vehicle Designs In A Class bounty will reduce the buyer rating of any design whose marque is selling more than one design in that class. The penalty should be mild when selling 2 designs, but rapidly increase as the number of designs increases. This would make #204 and #224 unnecessary.

[Eric.B]

A few things.

1) The trim system is designed to handle multiple engine and transmission options. It is common, especially in the 1960-1990s United States, to have 6 different engine choices and 3 different gearbox choices. Then there are several different interior trim levels. Until bounty #53 is funded, the trim system has to reflect this.

2) It is also common for companies to have multiple vehicle models in the same class. Pulling up Toyota USA's website, they have 11 Crossovers. Chevy has 7 Crossovers. And so forth. Manufacturers often have multiple models of the same class under the same badge.

The exploit with the trim system is that you get a money and time discount when making a trim. You can make multiple copies of the same design with no changes for maximum discount. The AI does not use the trim system because of performance issues with the game. Distinct models do not get a discount, therefore they're more balanced. The AI also makes multiple models within the same class, and they pay full price to do so.

To put it into perspective, you can make 20 no-change trims for the cost of a new model, giving you a 20 times cost advantage over the AI when you flood the market. That's why bounty #204 exists. It's not a problem with flooding a specific market. It's a problem with the discount system when making a trim.

[Eric.B]

I forgot to add.

The thing is with licensing and outsourcing is that it's unit costs are expensive than making it yourself. You will be undercut in price AND another AI company will be making good profits. That's the tradeoff there.

In any event we have balancing and restriction bounties already for licensing and outsourcing: https://www.ventdev.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=4090