General ARM rules
Previous ARM
Background
Gather round, gather round, and hear the story of Gia Holbrook! Late 20s, too much money and not enough to use it on…
During the pandemic, Gia worked with some friends to create a piece of software. What it is is irrelevant here, but what happened to it is. See, a big-name VC firm or a big tech company or something came knocking. Gia was diametrically opposed to the idea on some variety of concerns… But her friends weren’t. It was big enough that a rift opened up between her and the friends she had worked with, until an offer came in. They were offering to buy her out of the software, out of all of it. She’d walk away completely, with enough money to never work another day. Was it really worth fighting for, with that offer on the table? Gia could see the writing on the wall, she knew she’d have a tough time staying around with the agreement… So she took the money, never having to work again.
But what do you do with that much money? That’s the question that faced Gia as she went back to her small one-bedroom flat… And saw her old beat-up 1979 AMM Sarek off-roader. Obviously some of the money would be sensible, but maybe a new car could be good. Of course, that’s what she thought before a celebration involving loud music and hot coffee. The more she partied, the more dumb ideas popped into her mind. A Mad Max poster on the wall, a copy of NFS Underground on the shelf… Why not get stupid with her money?
A couple of weeks passed. Meetings with lawyers, realtors, setting up the boring, practical things, like a massive chunk of money in incredibly dull government funds… And the more she saw her Sarek, the more she wanted to have fun with it. So, having fun is what she intends to do.
Rules, Cost Factors
Basic Rules
- Maximum price: 65000 AMU
- The base car is actually a 1979 model, but all years on this one should be set to 2020, to represent basic modernisation. I have already done this, because everyone having to spam the “advance 10 years” button doesn’t make the challenge more fun.
- Techpool should remain at the default “5 everywhere” allocation, as it currently is.
- The stock chassis type and material (corrosion-resistant ladder) must be maintained.
– In addition, the stock panels (aluminium) must be retained as well. This is a deviation from normal ARM rules. - No V16s, for balance.
- 100 RON unleaded fuel is legal. Lower RON may be used, but will have no benefit.
Advanced Trim Settings
- Where an effect can be accomplished via engineering (i.e. without use of advanced trim settings), you may not use advanced trim settings to do this. That includes:
– Wheel diameter, wheel width, camber
– Tyre diameter, tread width
– Ride Height except where both values add to zero (i.e. squatting a car with +5 front and -5 rear is fine, squatting with +10 front and 0 rear is not)
– Chassis track width - For clarification, if you’ve maxed out the engineering and want to go even further (massive wheels, super ride height, etc), the previous rule does not apply as you can’t use engineering there. You should still push the engineering as far as you can first, and get as close as you can.
- Wheelbase offset should remain reasonable.
Morphs
The following morphs are classed as “difficult morphs” - see the section on cost penalties for what that means. Each morph is listed with its base value.
- UpperWindow: 0.3
- LowerWindow: 1
- FrontLower: 0
- RearLower: 1
Other requirements
-
The restomodded car merely needs to be statistically superior to the original in judged stats. If a stat isn’t being judged (practicality, utility, etc), it simply does not exist.The restomod should only make sensible compromises to the original. Making a non-judged stat like practicality worse is fine. Making 2-star stats worse than the original is probably fine too (especially given how the 2-star stats are particularly high on the base car). Making the car less drivable or safe than the original is almost certainly not fine. - Entries must be road-legal. Owing to the nature of the challenge, I am going to enumerate what that means:
– The final product must have headlights, taillights, indicators, etc.
– The final product must have mirrors, wipers, license plate, etc. Mirrors should provide reasonable visibility, license plate should be visible front and back
– The final product must have a 3-way catalytic converter and may not have an engine loudness above 50.
– Entries must have road-legal dimensions, specifically (based on Australian laws):
— Total length no greater than 12.5m.
— Width no greater than 2.5m.
— Height no more than 3.8m (the height of a bridge that used to be near where I live).
— Small components must not stick out unrealistically far from the car.
Cost Penalties
The following cost penalties may apply:
- Changing suspension type: $1000 per axle
- Total engine swap: $3000
- Changes to engine head only: $1500
- Gearbox swap: Free
- Swapping to another body style in the same family: $1000
- For each of the four “difficult morphs” you change, you will incur an additional $1000 cost.
- Using 3D to do stuff that has a similar effect to those last two will have the same cost.
<End of rules>
Priorities
⚝⚝⚝⚝⚝⚝:
- Interesting concept: Sure, you can stick to just making a car… But a car with a novel idea behind it will do better.
⚝⚝⚝⚝⚝:
- Initial impression: When viewed from a distance, how good does it look?
- Comfort: The existing Sarek makes a lot of compromises in terms of comfort. The interior is average, solid axles are not particularly comfortable… And that is complaint number one with it, really.
- Drivability: Gia doesn’t want to hire someone to drive for her. She still wants to do stuff herself, so she cares about the driving dynamics.
⚝⚝⚝⚝
- Coherence: Does the carpet match the drapes? Does an ultra-refined, whisper-silent turbo i6 really belong in a Mad Max car?
- Safety: You can’t take it with you, after all. The last thing Gia wants is a premature death.
⚝⚝⚝:
- Detailed aesthetics, execution: Try to avoid automation jank, but it happens. If I look closely and see a lot of stuff that feels sloppy, you’ll lose marks here.
- Interior design: Interiors are optional, but will definitely help here. However, take care to minimise the amount of underlying structures I can spot. If I can see your chassis or exhaust piping, I won’t be happy.
⚝⚝:
- Reliability: Gia would really like being able to actually use the new car fairly regularly, if possible.
- Offroad: Truth be told, these modifications will probably make it not particularly great on the tracks… But being able to go places would be useful…
⚝:
- Fuel economy: She may not care much about running costs, but she does care about how often she has to stop for fuel.
Not Considered:
- Prestige: This car is largely for Gia’s own enjoyment. Prestige is all about what other people think.
- Service costs, value: Lol. Lmao.
<End of priorities>
A note before getting into inspirations, these are placed into two groups, representing different directions you can take… But if you’re doing something wild and weird, you’re probably on the right track. More groups may be added as needed.
Logistics
First off, make sure you clone the model and engine family. The game has a nice easy button to do this.
Second of all, I am going to allow for rules deliberation until 11:59 PM UTC on Friday the 4th of August. During this period, you may ask up to two questions about Gia publicly here in the thread, and you can submit up to two potrential inspirations which will be judged as hot or not. Some may be added to the post as well. I’ll try to have the answers and opinions up by Sunday.
After this period, you may ask up to two questions in private until 72 hours before the challenge closes. I will make sure to answer at least 48 hours before the challenge closes.
The challenge will close on at 11:59 PM UTC the 27th of August. I understand that this is a touch longer than most other ARMs, but I am asking for something a touch more involved here, I hope everyone understands.
Finally, the base car is here: ARM25_-_YourNameHere_-_Clone_This_Car.car
