[AEC] Arbitrary Engineering Challenge #4 [CLOSED]

Last time, on AEC…

Reminder - This is an engineering challenge, not how pretty you can make it.

It’s 1994 and the cease fire is holding… for now. 15 months seems to be a record, but no one is going to look a gift cannon in the barrel.

Amazingly, tourists are indeed starting to flock to our country, in numbers greater than we anticipated. Perhaps it’s our cheap hotels or horribly devalued currency, but whatever the case, we’re grateful.

So how do we take advantage of this? Courier services, of course!

An intrepid company (“entirely coincidentally” owned by a couple high-level cabinet members) has gained exclusive rights to delivery services in our three largest cities. They will serve as meal delivery vehicles, or conveyances for “personal valets” who are at the disposal of wealthier tourists for the duration of their stay. Of course, it’s difficult to tell what the profit margin on such a venture is, so these vehicles need to be as cheap as possible, and the drivers as expendable as possible. Or was it the other way around?

Meh, whatever. If war breaks out again, they’ll likely be used as barricades to slow down enemies. Assuming they don’t have tanks.

Alas the Air Force still has a stranglehold on all of the aluminium, so there can be no alloys or partial alu panels this time around. And the ECU ban is still, very much, in place.

Requirements
Has exactly 2 seats
Trim and variation are 1994 or earlier.
Noise below 35
Trim emissions below 1800
Safety can’t be “none”

Scoring
20% - Drivability – Valets aren’t exactly known as the best drivers. Best not to make it worse for them.
20% - Cost to build – We like cheap……quite a lot!
15% - Fuel economy – Regular unleaded or worse. As usual, LQ fuel will get a bonus.
15% - Utility – While the loads may not be huge, that’s really the point of these vehicles to begin with.
15% - Reliability – Have you ever eaten cold squirrel haggis? You don’t want to.
10% - Service costs – Lower costs means higher margins. Economics 101.
5% - Comfort – Honestly we don’t think this is important, but some of our advisors have said that a ride that’s not spine-breaking might keep some valets from joining the Rebels the next time… er… if another civil war breaks out.

Banned items
VVT/VVL
Any fuel except Regular Unleaded or Low Quality
Leaded Fuel (Seriously, did you not read the last line?)
Aluminum heads, blocks and panels…including partial!
Alloy and mag wheels
Tubular Headers
EFI
Advanced Auto
DOHC
If Mech Injection is used, TC, ESC, and Speed Limiter use is banned, as these are ECU controlled.
Adaptive Damper
Air/Hydro Springs
MEME BODIES AND/OR FURRY MODS

Naming convention
Model - AEC4 – YourUsernameHere
Trim – Company name and model
Family – AEC4 – YourUsernameHere
Variant – Whatever you want

Entries must be submitted by PM.

There will be a suggestion period open until 7pm PDT on Friday Mar 27 (48 hours from now).

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Sunday July 5, 4:00PM PDT (UTC-8)

10 Likes

So basically something like a jeep delivery? Or like the Mini mokes they use down in the Caribbean? Interesting idea for a challenge for sure

There are a number of ways this could be done. I’m hoping to see a wide variety of entries. RIght now just looking for a little input to see if there’s anything I should change before I open the floodgates.

1 Like

Can you add ab arbitrary rule that states that Bogliq is the automatic wnner no matter how bad my entrant really is? :laughing::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::thinking::innocent::nerd_face:

Chance of Bogliq winning… 0%. :wink:

3 Likes

Unless it’s blue…then it’s got a 0.01% chance! :rofl:

4 Likes

i wonder why ecus would be banned kinda weird

Interesting that are talking out loud about our glorious country’s rules…we’re watching you!

:rofl:

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I’m guessing electronics are some form of imperialist theft?

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Someone hasn’t read AEC 1-3 I see. :rofl:

See? This capitalist dog gets it!

4 Likes

:thinking:

Still never sure if it’s appropriate to enter a contest I designed. I am intrigued on how this will go.

Which build are these cars going to be on?

Also, I personally recommend not allowing semis and the firetruck due to… exploits.

1 Like

i agree no meme bodies

It’s only an issue if you’re involved in the judging process. AEC is now open source, lol!

I’d plan on 4.0, unless @VicVictory wants a really compact submissions phase… :rocket::checkered_flag::triumph:

1 Like

Yeah, I’ll definitely add a no meme bodies bit. And HOL is right, I believe I’m going to wait for 4.0 stable before opening the submissions. The window just looks too short otherwise.

I’ll also agree that Admiral_Obvious can enter his own car since he’s not in charge of the round.

1 Like

Any word on when the release is going public? I’m running my own little challenge on discord and wondering whether I should make the deadline the 5th or the 10th

I’d recommend going with the 10th of April, or even later, because the mods are all going to be incompatible with the new 4.0 build so people will need more time to adapt their designs to the stock fixture package offerings…

Watch this video!!!

The above link will give you all the details you need :grin:

Meme mods (including furry mods) ought to be banned as well.

Should you include a metric for giving vehicles with more cargo space better scores? Theoretically they could make more deliveries with fewer trips if they could hold more. Just a thought. I’m not sure how you would score that along with the other metrics though.

Or simply make a minimum cargo capacity requirement lol.

Is that not covered in the utility scores?

As there are multiple ways of going about this, and the vast majority of tourists aren’t going to be ordering sheets of plywood or sheetrock, I decided to go the route that I am. I built a few mules and found consistent enough scoring with widely varied bodies to satisfy me.

3 Likes