9 Likes
I love capitalism.
2 Likes
i love big government getting too involved in the market
ROUND 6
IT'S A BEAUTIFUL WORLD WE LIVE IN
The round will be open until 11:59 PM UTC on May the 31st, 2026. The era is 1980 to 1986. Rules deliberation is closed. I am hoping to complete reviews within the span of about a month or so, but it could be two or more. Also, I will be taking worldbuilding questions for the submission period. Post your questions here in the thread and I’ll answer on Wednesdays and Sundays (Perth time). Try and keep it to no more than 2 worldbuilding questions waiting to be answered at a time, per person. Also, if you haven’t, feel free to join the Discord!
FOR IT'S THE END OF HISTORY...
WORLD NEWS
Well, this is a little bit, uh, awkward. Let’s jump into the elephant in the room. About two years ago, I decided to pull from real world historical conflicts and real world politics in order to inspire my worldbuilding for ALC. I believed that the history I was referencing was just history, and that the old wounds would not reopen and sanity would reign. That did not happen, and now I am left in an uncomfortable position. What can I write that is not uncomfortably political? The wounds are too fresh, the fears are still too present.
So… World news amounts to “the war ended and everything was resolved smoothly”, with little more than that. Araga and the Pact end up maintaining cordial relations with economic collaboration, nothing like that’s going to happen again any time soon. Please do not ask further questions and please do not send more military equipment because I don’t want to think about how it’s going to be used.
SINCE I LEFT YOU...
INTERNAL NEWS & TRENDS
Okay, but what about Araga’s internal situation? How’s that going? Everything there is going just great! This era is a time of rebuilding, of pivoting and of good feelings. The road network is lagging behind quite a bit, with the manufacturing sector moving towards high-tech, high-yield manufacturing. Given the overall culture of Araga, the increased productivity from this high-tech manufacturing will be channeled into higher wages and new positions will be found for the labour eliminated in the switchover. This synergises especially well with the focus on education for the returning veterans and with the increased centralisation. We do still see a small baby boom, mind you, that’s almost unavoidable.
In terms of art and culture to pull inspiration from, the answer there is a solid shrug. There’s a document I posted a while ago over on the ALC server that goes into more detail, and you can read it here, but the summary is that I can’t really put all the pieces together to come up with a convincing alternate arts scene. Most of the art that I like only exists in relation to the world and the industry, and it’s hard to remake that in a world where those don’t exist, and it’s also hard to write a concise slice of 1980 to 1986. Go ahead and pick anything, really, anything works. Expressionism, dada, pop art, pop music, hip-hop, metal, prog rock, whatever. I did make a fragment of music as an example of what might be doing well in Araga. This piece is an original arrangement of part of Lights In The Sky by Nine Inch Nails; both the original and this fragment are licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0, as is all forum content.
One note is that the drab and dull wartime period has seen customers once more craving bold paint schemes, but not just bright colours. Customers want bold metallic paints, two-tone designs and decals! Bold pearls and colour shifting paints are still a bit out of range for OEM material, mind you.
As a little worldbuilding tidbit, this decade is seeing a massive surge in sales of computers much like our world did at the time. Unlike our world, though, these computers first arrived to consumers through a military surplus bin and were capable of networked communication by default, because Araga used a lot of computers in the army and used them to communicate. This means that there’s already a formal, documented standard (something that didn’t exist IRL until 1995!) but that standard is not quite perfect for consumers. I won’t be getting y’all to make computers to that standard yet, mind you, but if you want to…
OK Computer
It’s ATX, but metric. Motherboards are 350mm by 300mm. One of the 350mm sides should be on the rear. When viewed from the rear, there should be 175mm on the left for the I/O, then a 25mm gap, then expansion slots spaced at 25mm apart and a minimum of 100mm tall. PSUs are 125mm by 125mm by 75mm, with the external cable on one of the rectangular sides and the internal cables opposite it. Drive bays are generally 150mm wide and 100mm tall (referred to as “Full 15”) but there are some other bays that are half this height at 50mm tall (referred to as “Half 15”). I won’t be too precise here, mind you, 3D is a whole thing. Try to avoid anachronisms and being too modern with your designs - glass windows, super high airflow and such is all right out. It doesn’t have to be a boring beige box, but there’s reasons why airflow wasn’t too common.
WHATAREYA?
REVIEW ETHOS & MARKET SEGMENTS
So, how this round is going to work is that I’ve split the market up into eight demographics, formed by splitting the existing market segments in two. Each segment has its own priorities, its own thoughts on reliability and its own budget numbers. Entrants may attempt to straddle several markets at once, but do note that some demographics are more or less open to this sort of thing. If an entry straddles multiple demographics, I will try to be charitable and blend the desires of the two demographics. A “premium-family” car will see a reduced lifetime and increased budget compared to a normal family car, but an increased mileage and tougher reliability compared to a normal premium car.
Please note: The typical budget range is across the whole life of the car! This will be explained further down below, but if you send something that uses the whole budget as the purchase price, people will be unable to pay for fuel and service costs! Also, it’s a typical range – being cheaper can be good, and being a bit more expensive can be fine too. Similarly, the reliability numbers are the lower bound – nobody will complain that their car is too reliable (although they may pick a less overbuilt car for less money). Note that the numbers for low-mileage segments (such as Super) generate high MTTF numbers; this is because 30 reliability gives a lot of time-based failures.
Oh, and before we get into the segments – I am not going to cross-reference stats with prior rounds due to the changes from Al Rilma, but I intend for future rounds to cross-reference and assess the used market (in the abstract). Let’s say that cars were poorly maintained during the war and are pretty degraded.
Segment 1: City
- Typical lifespan: 5 years (4.35 years of costs)
- Annual mileage: 5000 km
- Typical lifetime budget: 15-20 thousand AMU
- Expected reliability: 50 is considered acceptable, 55 is considered good
Araga may have highly dense cities with world-class public transit where you don’t strictly need a car to get around… but that doesn’t mean that people don’t want cars to get around. It’s easier to drive to the store for a week of groceries, and sometimes it’s nice being able to leave family gatherings whenever you want without having to wait around at a bus stop. These buyers want small cars that fit into tight spaces, ideally cute or chic ones at that. They don’t make many long journeys as they tend to live close to where they work. Drivability ranks right at the top here, along with fuel economy and range – they may not drive much, but they’d appreciate only visiting the station around once a month or so if you can swing it. Do keep the size low, of course.
Segment 2: Family
- Typical lifespan: 10 years (7.38 years of costs)
- Annual mileage: 15000 km
- Typical lifetime budget: 33-40 thousand AMU
- Expected reliability: 60 is considered acceptable, 70 is considered good
This is a segment that’s a little smaller than it could be, but still important. While many veterans opted to go to university and establish themselves in their careers, some started families pretty quickly. And wouldn’t you know it, these kids need to be carted all around to their extracurricular activities – sometimes with substantial amounts of equipment, or with friends. These buyers are looking for big, roomy cars to cart the kids around in, with five or more seats. They’re looking to drive these cars for a lot of time, and a lot of distance too. They value drivability and reliability, especially given that the kids might end up learning to drive in this car. Safety is at a premium too, and comfort would be appreciated. It’d be nice to keep the costs down, all those mouths to feed aren’t cheap.
Segment 3: Premium
- Typical lifespan: 3 years (2.8 years of costs)
- Annual mileage: 14000 km
- Typical lifetime budget: 30-40 thousand AMU
- Expected reliability: 45 is considered acceptable, 50 is considered good
This segment is filled with the newly-rich, those who have recently acquired cushy jobs and want to flaunt their wealth. They are yuppies cut from the same cloth as Patrick Bateman, spending money in the hopes that it might mark them as a better class of person. They want their cars to look new and expensive, they want other people to be impressed by them. Prestige is aim number one, with matters such as comfort being a secondary matter really. This group drives a lot because the aim of an expensive car is to be seen in such. The cars are generally obtained on hire purchase or short-term lease, cycled through quickly in a constant game of oneupmanship.
Segment 4: Luxury
- Typical lifespan: 6 years (5.05 years of costs)
- Annual mileage: 5000 km
- Typical lifetime budget: At least 60 thousand AMU
- Expected reliability: 45 is considered acceptable, 50 is considered good
Of course, the premium segment is looking to impress someone… and that someone is the luxury buyer, really. The sorts who sit right at the top of the tree, with the most expensive and luxurious of cars. They drive individual cars far less than the premium segment, partly because they possess several. They expect to hold onto their cars for longer than the premium segment does, because they aren’t concerned with appearance as much. They also value comfort above prestige, and they value drivability comparably less as many of them have professional drivers to handle the business of actually driving. This group has a strong preference towards at least two rows of seats, to separate the drivers from the passengers.
Segment 5: Super
- Typical lifespan: 10 years (7.38 years of costs)
- Annual mileage: 2500 km
- Typical lifetime budget: At least 60 thousand AMU
- Expected reliability: 40 is considered acceptable, 50 is considered good
This is the other side of expensive cars, and where we start to get to the point where cars are more than a mere means of travel. These are the fastest, the most expensive and the coolest. These are the ones you see on posters in bedrooms, stuff like that. Sportiness and raw performance matter a lot, as do comfort and prestige – why spend massive amounts of money on an uncomfortable ride? The Phenix Helios and especially the Helios Turbo RX are the current benchmark, and this segment is hungry for more cars in a similar vein, with similarly aggressive futuristic styling. Many of these cars will spend most of their time in climate-controlled garages, being driven only on special occasions. A lot of the spending tokens you’ll get here are largely due to the halo effect rather than actual sales. This is also the demographic most open to cars which aren’t road-legal.
Some concepts have been going around of cars with seating for 3, consisting of a central driver’s seat in the front row with two seats behind and to the sides. Any entrants with this “1 / 2” seating arrangement may receive a bonus…
Segment 6: Sport
- Typical lifespan: 7 years (5.69 years of costs)
- Annual mileage: 9000 km
- Typical lifetime budget: 30-38 thousand AMU
- Expected reliability: 50 is considered acceptable, 60 is considered good
Of course, sport and fun aren’t just the purview of the rich, everyone can have a fun, sporty car. That’s what this segment is for. Sportiness still matters, yes, but raw performance is de-emphasised. Drivability matters a bit more, comfort and prestige matter a bit less. A fair portion of this segment is willing to do work on their own cars, so reliability matters a bit less too – but don’t be too unreliable here, they still won’t approve of it. These are meant to be approachable sports cars that regular people can buy and use. Muscle cars may also do well here, now that the displacement taxes are gone, but they’ll need to be compelling.
Notably, this segment will do particularly well if crossed over with other segments. Pure sports cars can work for sure, but so can hot hatches for the city demographic, souped-up family sedans and sporty trims of premium cars.
Segment 7: Offroad
- Typical lifespan: 6 years (5.05 years of costs)
- Annual mileage: 10000 km
- Typical lifetime budget: 27-33 thousand AMU
- Expected reliability: 60 is considered acceptable, 65 is considered good
Araga may be centralising and urbanising, but there’s still rural areas. With the road networks lagging behind, the market for proper, beefy offroaders is larger than ever. They want a lot of reliability (especially on the engine), a lot of range and a lot of offroad prowess. They’re not especially married to a specific body style though – this demographic includes people who need utes for work as well as folks who just live in rural areas where road reconstruction is lagging behind and roads aren’t great.
Segment 8: Utility
- Typical lifespan: 10 years (7.38 years of costs)
- Annual mileage: 17500 km
- Typical lifetime budget: 50-55 thousand AMU
- Expected reliability: 65 is considered acceptable, 70 is considered good
With Araga’s continued movement towards high-tech manufacturing, work vehicles are getting somewhat less important… but they’re still very much there, especially in the construction sector. There’s a lot of contstruction going on, after all. This segment is heavily biased towards vans and utes, but is pretty evenly split between the two. Some loads are best suited for vans, some loads are best suited for utes. Cargo capacity is back on the menu, as is utility itself – but note that I will be changing these slightly, see the “extra stats” section. Note that the government and the market are both heavily biased away from cars that attempt to straddle utility and other markets, except for utility and offroad.
COME AS YOU ARE
SUBMISSION RULES, NAMES
Let’s start with the technical side of things. I’m going to rein you in a little when it comes to submissions. You are allowed to submit:
- Up to three trims of one model. Name these ALC6A1, ALC6A2 and ALC6A3 as appropriate. These entries must be substantially similar.
– They must be in the same body family (but wheelbase variants are allowed).
– They need to use similar panels across all three (swapping from steel to partial alu/CF is allowed, as is steel to treated steel or partial to full alu). This goes for chassis materials too.
– They need to use the same chassis style (Ladder and HD Ladder go together, Monocoque and Partial Monocoque go together).
– Engine location and orientation must remain the same, as must front and rear suspension.
– They need to have the same model year.
– Different trims on the same model can have different target markets. You can have a sensible family wagon, a premium sedan and a sporty coupe all on the same model.
– When you submit your car, you need to tell me who the target market is for each trim – either one by one, or model-wide. I’ll guess if you don’t tell me. You can specify multiple targets for a given trim, but I won’t look fondly on misaimed cars like a single cab ute as a family car. - Up to two trims of a second model. Name these ALC6B1 and ALC6B2 as appropriate. The above rules apply there.
- Up to three related non-cars. Name these ALC6N1, ALC6N2 and ALC6N3 as appropriate.
– A non-car is anything that Automation can’t handle the stats for. Busses, big rigs, trains, go-karts stuff like that.
– As before, I want to avoid stuff that would be cross-shopped with normal cars, like three-wheelers and such.
– I also want to avoid anything with a primary military application. Fighter planes, tanks and such are all out. - No more than five entries total. You do not have to use all your entries.
Use the techpool below – this is the result of last round’s lobbying:
Techpool
Aspiration,7.0
BottomEnd,7.0
Family,7.0
Exhaust,7.0
FuelSystem,7.0
TopEnd,8.0
Body,8.0
Chassis,7.0
Interior,7.0
DriverAssists,8.0
Safety,7.0
DriveTrain,7.0
Tyres,6.0
Brakes,6.0
Aerodynamics,8.0
Suspension,8.0
ModelBodyUnlock,8.0
The bonus for this round will not involve a conventional submission. See it at the bottom of this post.
Additionally, the following rules all apply:
- Don’t use the open wheel bodies. If you full-3D a car, make sure the 3Ded car fits inside the original body.
- Trim and variant years should be set between 1980 and 1986. Variant year must not be later than trim year. Earlier trim years will be assigned a marginal amount of additional spending tokens to make up for their worse stats. Model year is free.
- 70s or 80s safety and a positive ADPR is required.
- Race interiors, race tyres and loudness over 55 are not road-legal, but are valid if you want to make a track toy.
- Available fuels are E10, E70 and E100.
- Radial tyres are strongly dominant, and cross-plies are an oddity. Tyres need not end on a 5 though.
- The following Advanced Trim Settings must be set to zero for cars. Upon review, I have seen that some entrants have been setting restricted settings to other values. I will be binning any entrant who uses any of the following advanced trim settings, and I will be checking before importing. While I did not enforce this fully in the past and some entrants slipped past, I will be enforcing this now. In the interests of fairness, I will be giving one warning for entrants.
– Wheel offset, wheel width, wheel diameter, camber
– All tyre size settings
– Ride height, unless the two add to zero
– Wheelbase offset beyond 15 in either direction
– Body Z offset, engine scale, exhaust size
– If you think you need one of these, you may request a special dispensation in the first 2 weeks of subs.
EVERYTHING IN ITS RIGHT PLACE
FIXTURE RULES
I’ve decided to get rid of the Measurinator, in favour of a bit of a more vibes-based approach. The process for the V3 Measurinator entailed a lot of effort and it was too much. Instead, I’m giving a rough “expected size”, with a general vibes-based test. Note that lights which are highly inset will be expected to be larger. Additionally, all lights should be symmetrical. Finally, the rules no longer mandate pairs, just “this much within the outer thirds” – so light bars are legal. These also only apply to cars intended to be road-legal. As before, I will inform you if your car is legal.
- Headlights: Must have yellow or white glass with yellow or white illumination, must be mounted on the front. Hidden headlamps are allowed, but should be noted in the car submission and/or have the mechanism clearly visible/extended when submitted. Other lights may not be hidden.
- Turn signals: Must be orange when illuminated. Clear glass is allowed, as are tricks to have amber illumination behind other colours of glass – but said tricks must be explained in your submission. Must be visible on the front, rear, on the side towards the front and on the side towards the rear. Wraparound lights are allowed.
- Tail lights: Must have red glass and red illumination, must be distinct from the brake lights, must be mounted on the rear.
- Brake lights: Must have red glass and red illumination, must be distinct from the tail lights, must be mounted on the rear.
- Reversing lights: Must have white glass and white illumination, must be mounted on the rear.
- Area rules for lights:
– I will measure each light with the ruler cardinally aligned. I will measure illuminated areas, and combine multiple lights or approximate complex shapes as needed.
– Headlights are expected to have about 100 square cm or more in each outer third – 100 on the left and 100 on the right.
– Tail, brake and reverse lights are expected to have about 25 square cm or more in each outer third.
– Indicators are expected to have about 25 square cm or more in the outer thirds on the front, in the outer thirds on the rear and in the general vicinity of the wheels. - Mirrors: One on each side required, should be fairly visible from the driver’s sear.
- Gas cap: Must be mounted externally, placement is free but should make sense.
- Wipers: one wiper required on the front. Windshields are also required.
- License plate: Any unscaled EU-sized plate will be allowed. Must be mounted on front and rear. Some Aragan plates are in the Discord.
I GUESS I GOTTA ADJUST
ADDITIONAL STATS
At this point it wouldn’t be ALC without some custom stats. All the below stats can be seen in the calculator
Cost
In prior rounds, I experienced an overall issue with how to cost-compare cars. Is a car that costs 500 less to buy but 100 bucks more per year better? Well, now I’m going to provide some answers to that. I’ll be reviewing your car’s typical cost of ownership across its original owner’s lifetime, with the lifetime depending on the target market – a family minivan is going to be kept a lot longer than a showy, premium car. Total cost of ownership will be determined by the following:
- Purchase price (upfront) – determined by approx cost shown in the final summary’s statistics tab.
- Fuel costs (per year):
– We aren’t using the ingame ones, because I can’t vary the ingame ones the way I want to.
– Divide your segment’s annual mileage by fuel economy in km/L to get annual fuel usage, then multiply by one of the below fuel costs:
– E10 Fuel: 1.80 AMU/L
– E70 Fuel: 1.10 AMU/L
– E100 Fuel: 0.75 AMU/L
– These prices represent a 1.90 AMU/L cost of regular petrol and a 0.75 AMU/L cost of ethanol – the price is high due to a lack of spending. - Vehicle taxation (upfront and per year):
– Cars will be taxed at 375 dollars per tonne of weight per year. This scales per gram.
– Utility buyers pay only 125 dollars per tonne per year provided that they only use the car for work with any personal use being occasional and accidental, and provided that the vehicle has a standard or basic interior with standard or basic entertainment and no more than 4 interior quality. This is inspired by Australia’s Fringe Benefits Tax.
– Entries passing WES6 will pay 200 dollars per year. This is doubled for each level worse than WES6 and halved for each level better, up until 25 dollars at WES9.
– Entries must pay 3x their annual taxes upon being purchased.
– These do not apply to cars which are not road-legal, and to non-cars. - Service costs (per year) – the number shown in the final summary’s statistics tab, not the number shown in detailed stats!
- Each year in the future counts 7% less. That’s the “years of costs” bit in the segments.
Insurance, resale value, interest rates on loans, net present value and such will not be taken into effect.
Safety
The authorities are currently happy with the safety of the cars that have been on the market, so the Aragan Driver Protection Rating (ADPR) just represents gradual updates due to new technologies. Points bonuses from stuff like engine placement and AWD will be considered in the lobbying after this round.
- 50%: “Safety Technologies” – this refers to the safety and driver assists tab.
– Basic 70s Safety gives you 0 points.
– Basic 80s or Standard 70s Safety scores you 10 points.
– Standard 80s or Advanced 70s Safety scores you 20 points.
– Advanced 80s Safety scores you 30 points.
– Advanced 90s Safety scores you 35 points.
– Each positive point of safety quality adds 2 points. Each negative point of safety quality subtracts 6.
– ABS scores you an additional 10 points, and Traction Control scores a further 10 points. This bonus will be reduced by 2 for each point of negative assists quality, to a minimum of 0 points.
– Centre high mounted stop lights will give an additional 5 points. These follow the standard rules for brake lights, must be horizontally centred, and must start within at least 6cm of the top of the rear window. In cars without rear windows, the CHMSL must be mounted in a suitable location. - 30%: “Body Rigidity” – this is to simulate that certain body types just do better in crashes.
– Monocoques (full or partial) get 30 points. Carbon fibre ones get an additional 5 points.
– Space Frames get 20 points.
– Heavy Duty Ladders get 10 points.
– Regular Ladders get 0 points.
– Fibreglass panels lose 10 points.
– Each point of negative chassis quality subtracts 2 points, while each point of positive quality adds 1 point. - 20%: “Driving Characteristics” – You start at 20 points, then lose them based on certain test failures. The tests are:
– Terminal Oversteer – any amount as shown under drivability in detailed stats loses 15 points.
– Insufficient highway performance – taking more than 17 seconds to go from 0-100km/h loses 10 points.
– Insufficient braking performance – Effective braking distance is your 100-0km/h braking distance, increased by your drivability brake fade. So, a car with 45m braking distance but 10% fade on front and 15% fade on rear has 56.25 meters effective distance. Effective braking over 55m loses 10 points.
– I reserve the right to issue further penalties.
Other Extra Stats
I’ve opted to keep range as part of this round, because I’m already making a calculator. I’ll revisit it after the round. You’ll get the same 3 Litres per square metre and 0.02 Litres per kg of mass as the tank size, and I’ll generally consider “once per fortnight” to be pretty good for most segments, while “more than once per week” is going to raise an eyebrow.
To try and rein in the massive cargo capacities, the cargo capacity will be capped to the lowest number out of the listed cargo capacity, the vehicle’s mass, or 3300kg minus the vehicle’s weight. A vehicle weighing 1000kg will have a maximum cargo capacity of 1000kg (as it is limited by the weight). One weighing 2000kg will have a maximum cargo capacity of 1300kg (as it is limited by the 3300kg gross maximum). The highest possible cargo capacity is 1650kg, for cars with a weight of 1650kg.
This also means that utility is back on the menu. Towing capacity will be ignored (because I still don’t trust it). I’ll note down your starting points from “Size & Weight” and your total utility multiplier, then move your suspension around until your load capacity is at the cap given by its weight and note down your points from “Load Capacity” to get a “Modified Utility” stat. Note that I won’t be noting any changes to modifiers, such as to brake fade. This stat is not in the calculator, as it requires some fiddling with the car to calculate.
In short – you’re allowed to submit a car with excess load capacity if it’s needed for offroad and handling reasons, but you won’t gain utility from the load capacity.
TRY TO SPEAK AS CLEARLY AS YOU CAN
SUBMISSION-PHASE LOBBYING
Along with your entries for this round, the government has additional questions. Feel free to answer all or none of them. Your opinions will be considered for voting in the full lobbying round.
- Should any other equipment be incentivised in the ADPR? AWD, engine position, etc. Similarly, should any other penalties or bonuses for driving characteristics be added?
- Should there be any changes to fixture rules?
- Should there be any new taxes, or tax breaks? The current taxes will not be removed this round, only weakened or strengthened. The utility break is on the chopping block though.
- Should new drivers be restricted in terms of power, size, weight or any other metric? This will likely shift desires in the family and city demographics.
12 Likes
COMMERCIAL FOR LEVI
BONUS ROUND: ADVERTS
For this round’s bonus, I will be reviewing adverts… With a certain definition of adverts.
For an advert to count, it needs to be something that stands alone as a singular piece of material which could conceivably advertise your car in the decade. Single images representing adverts placed in newspapers or magazines are allowed, as are PDF brochures and videos if you are so inclined. Anything which uses a ton of CSS and such is right out – this is the 80s, folks, HTML doesn’t exist yet.
You are allowed to include a submission statement with your post. This might include stuff like:
- What specific format it used – newspaper, magazine, billboard, etc
- Any specifics of where and when it ran – a big sporting event, a niche magazine, stuff like that
- A transcript of any copy on the advert
- Any particular elements you want to draw attention to
Some things that I will be judging your advert on are:
- How well does it catch the eye from a distance?
- How easy is it to identify the product being sold?
- How well does it sell the overall product and its key features?
- How legible is the text? Contrast, placement, stuff like that – yes, some period adverts sucked for this; I still want clear text.
I’ll be accepting adverts submitted along with your .cars along with adverts posted here in the thread.
Oh, and one more thing (as another post because the main post is literally at the character limit) - at the top of this thread is a post that collects most of the worldbuilding that’s happened for the challenge. Answers to worldbuilding questions will go there, along with answer posts.
Changelog:
24/04/26:
- Loosened ATS rules around wheelbase and tyre material
- Clarified some language
- Banned open wheel bodies, included rules to require full-3D cars to fit entirely inside the base car - this will be enforced by checking reported length, width and height against ingame measurements.
- Fixed the calculator:
– Fixed the lookups being incorrect for some segments - why does VLookup assume sorted lists by default?
– Fixed tank size - why are litres case insensitive in convert() while gallons are?
– Fixed fuel-up frequency being calculated wrong with imperial measurements
03/05/26:
- Added a missing rule that chassis material must follow the same restrictions as panel material.
05/05/26:
- Applied a 7% inflation adjustment due to complaints about fuel costs, following a poll
- Moved price ranges accordingly; broadened them too.
- Moved the bonus round to this post due to the character limit.
3 Likes
So just to check on one point it’s $375 per 1000kg for taxes on cars? But actually worked out per gram, so the weight in kg multiplied by 0.375?
This is correct, yes.
Right. This is awesome.
Lots of rules, though. Which leads to lots of questions.
Note on ''Wold News'' Politics
Gonna stay brief and vague here, because I do appreciate and agree with the concern here, but also, I do worry you might be kicking yourself too much on this. History always repeats itself, and you focus too much on it you could could draw an uncomfortable parallel anywhere you wanted at any time. At a point, it’s also best to remember that fictional stories are fictional, and focus on just making your story the best it can be.
So, rather than you grouping us like in past rounds, we’re meant to tell you what market segment(s) an entry is meant for?
And what happens if you think our entry is better suited for a different market than what we asked for? Do you just roast it, or do you re-categorize it to some extent where it should be? (I could easily see some cases where someone might overlap segments and not realize it)
So does this mean “we need to have 3 mounted lights, even if they wrap around” or “it needs to be visible from 3 sides, and if you can do it with 2 wraparounds that’s fine.”
So these are questions you want us to answer when we submit, and not right now, right?
Finally, on cars vs. non cars; this might merit more discussion in the discord, but I had been doing a chassis-cab-uplift-type build; either submitting the bare chassis cab itself, and/or a cab with an installed uplift (not unlike what I did in round 2).
Seeing as they’re in kind of a gray area here, would either of these qualify as a car, a non-car, or a please-don’t-submit-that-I-don’t-want-to-deal-with-it-car?
Going one by one:
I do worry you might be kicking yourself too much on this.
A lot of it is about my own personal comfort. I don’t feel comfortable continuing the story I started, given how it overlaps with some real events.
Rather than you grouping us like in past rounds, we’re meant to tell you what market segment(s) an entry is meant for?
Correct, you’re meant to tell me. This is to try and make things easier, as well as to enable the new cost system. I’ll gently move cars if I think they’re in the wrong class but a decent attempt was made - bumping a family car up to premium is understandable, bumping a utility car across to super will get some gentle ribbing.
So does this mean “we need to have 3 mounted lights, even if they wrap around” or “it needs to be visible from 3 sides, and if you can do it with 2 wraparounds that’s fine.”
You actually need lights in four points; I’ll edit this to make it more clear. You need lights on the front, rear, on the side towards the front and on the side towards the rear. You can do this with 4 lights, or with 2 wraparounds, either is acceptable.
So these are questions you want us to answer when we submit, and not right now, right?
Yes, because I only want to get answers from folks who have submitted to the round.
Seeing as they’re in kind of a gray area here, would either of these qualify as a car, a non-car, or a please-don’t-submit-that-I-don’t-want-to-deal-with-it-car?
Saturn already submitted these sorts of things. It’s a non-car. The ones with upfits are both beyond the game’s weight limits, and the base is the sort of thing that relies on stuff the game doesn’t judge for judging.
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These are good answers. :D
One more that’s spawned from this, though; would it be possible to submit non-car and car versions of the same vehicle? (say, if I wanted to submit a Ford Transit chassis cab, and also just a regular Transit van?)
Yes, but it’d use up a car model and your “must be related/similar” non-car slot.
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In terms of train networks and station layouts, do major Aragan stations lean more into the European/Canadian standard of redundancy over efficiency, or the Japanese standard of having more sectorised lines that are not easy to navigate between in the event of one of them being unusable? This also leads into the question of what Araga’s general quality of work is, whether they value redundancy and the ability to make mistakes over maximum efficiency?
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Time or the first crop of worldbuilding questions. First up though, a rules note.
The calculator had another error that I didn’t find, and all ADPR scores were 20 points lower than they should have been. This has been fixed.
As for further questions:
From @AndiD on Discord: “What’s the current view of the other continent from the Araga perspective? The standard RL (or Archana)-socialist jokes don’t really apply 1:1 after all…”
Answer
The perception of last round’s Wara pair was “cheap, ordinary, competent budget sedans”. They’re not especially exciting, but they’re reliable and practical cars… and I think that’s the perspective there would be of the overall country. The socialist states here aren’t brutally oppressive, they aren’t facing massive shortages, but they also aren’t furnishing their people with exceptional luxuries. More broadly, it’s positive despite some ideological disagreements, buoyed by the east helping out in various ways during the war and some positive steps towards disarmament.
Of course, if your lore needs it, there’s plenty of countries that can accommodate different levels of production and opinions, including the independent one… But I’d want to steer away from “this car is from a horrific, repressive regime”. In short: A step above the perception of the Yugo and Trabant (because you did well), but not a large step.
From @Edsel on Discord: “So, just how bad are the roads, still? Yeah, the country’s got a lot of money to repair things, but surely it’s still gonna take time to repair all the potholes and damage even in the more densely packed areas, right?”
Answer
Only in 1980, or perhaps 81. For the vast majority of the era, the roads in urban areas and the major highways are at least cleared and relatively smooth, if not perfect. Take a look at Berlin and Nuremberg in 1947 to see how quickly roads get cleared. They’re one of the first things to be brought back up to scratch, because it is difficult to rebuild when you cannot easily get cars in.And while I could simulate that with a slight preference towards more offroad in 1980 and 81… It would be a bunch of extra complexity to have desires shift within a round.
It’s pretty dang bad in rural areas and minor thoroughfares though, thanks to a lack of investment. It’ll be bad the whole round.
From @Edsel on Discord: Also, related to [a rules question on ADPR]; is public interest safety actually as high as it was during the safety scare years, or has it shifted at all?
Answer
It’s a couple of points down from where it was before, but the populace does expect safe cars. Do note that this varies a bit by demographic, with family valuing it most.
Answer
After considering this a fair bit and looking at the actual map I made, Araga’s rail network leans towards redundancy rather than outright efficiency. Take a look at it, lots of places are located on junctions. Those which aren’t are still generally fairly well-placed for contingencies. This has a lot of benefits, especially with a hostile power just to the west.
For the quality of work more broadly, the focus is on ensuring a high-quality output rather than peak efficiency. Plans are made and targets are set such that they can tolerate faults and permit changes in circumstances.
Lastly, a reminder - feel free to ask more worldbuilding questions, I will answer them on Sunday.
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Hopefully the last calculator update - the calculator wasn’t taking fuel costs into account when deciding the total cost of the car. This has been adjusted and updated.
What track gauge does Araga use? Does it use different track gauges for intercity and urban trains? How much of the network is electrified? How advanced are the commuter and intercity trains currently running in Araga?
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Are chassis material ignored here, even with the addition of Carbon Fibre monocoque?
Answering the questions now:
The panel rule is supposed to apply to the chassis material as well, editing this now.
I did request only two questions, but I can group this into two broad answers. First of all, there’s no rigidly defined track gauge; use whatever you want. There’s probably a variance between intercity and urban trains with dual gauge track, but I’m not enforcing anything. The network is fully electrified and highly advanced by 1980s standards, due to the substantial investment.
From @Danicoptero on Discord:
any major purpose built tracks? or do they mostly race on public roads? any popular series? what type of cars (or bikes) are the most popular for racing in Araga?
Another case of more than two, but I’ve enjoyed answeringt this so… Yes, major purpose-built tracks exist. but some are undergoing renovations after being damaged during the war. I haven’t done any designs yet, but stuff like the Atun Automotive Autodrome (the “Big A”), the Grens-Krets Circuit, the North Point Motor Sport Park… Pick a city and you can have a circuit there. As for popular series, there’s three (thanks to the retcon of Araga getting much larger at the start of ALC4):
- Global Open Super Series: Commonly referred to as Open Cars or Series Cars, this is the world’s premier open-wheel series. High power, high prices, with only 10 races per season and only one race in a given country in each year. Araga hosts one race, as do Windon and Elefthera; the other races are scattered around minor nations.
- World Touring Championship: The top-tier short-format series for highly-modified road-based cars. This is single-class racing, based on coupes and sedans but with extensive modifications. It’s a punishing circuit that rewards consistency, with 28 races across the span of a year. The races are laid out similar to NASCAR, with consecutive races forming a pretty simple route along a country - but switching across the pond to the Pact or heading to Windon partway through. The pace is a step below the purpose-built uber-expensive Global Cars, but the volume of races helps the series be more accessible and the unique value of week-to-week consistency helps differentiate the series.
- Endurance Challenge International: The last of the three is for endurance racing. This is a multi-class format with 12 races, currently ranging from slightly pared-back WTC cars to near-stock road cars. The most prestigious endurance race is the (non-championship) Auria Golden 60 - a gruelling, punishing race which starts at 7 AM on Friday and ends at 7 PM on Sunday. The championship itself hosts two 24 hour races; one in Araga, one in Elefthera. It’s the slowest of the three, yes, but it has a unique challenge.
These three racing series all see plenty of popularity, all roughly equal with no one series dominating. They’re all televised and broadcast in some manner, although ECI races generally only see hourly updates during other programming with full-length home video releases available as a special order (sometimes spread across multiple tapes). There are also a wide variety of series at the grassroots level, generally filled with sporty but affordable coupes and hatchbacks (the regular Helios, the Hikaru Katana, the Kyrios Nike) - Superlites and Helios Turbos are generally a bit more expensive than most grassroots racers. Other cars are there too, of course. That grassroots level is how things stood before the war, of course, it’s a perfect time for things to change as owners look to replace their prewar cars. A sufficiently affordable open-wheeler or a magical performance sedan could easily slip onto the circuits.
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Any chance you can put the end submission date in brackets in the title or something? I’ll be honest and say I can’t even find it in the huge posts above
Done! It’s at the top of the Round 6 post (the round ends on May 31, at 11:59 PM UTC), but I’ve also edited it into the title.
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Several folks have complained over on the Discord about the balancing around the fuels and how E10 leads to very high fuel costs without enough of a bonus from range - especially for long-lived, high-mileage demographics. Having seen these, I figured I’d give one final chance at a rules change - but with a poll. Your options are to keep it as-is, to adjust for inflation (this will be a 20-35% discount to the annual cost component of your car’s cost for family and utility, 10-20% for offroad) or to bring down the cost of gasoline to reduce the gap between the two.
Fuel changes?
- Keep fuels as they are
- Apply an adjustment for inflation
- Bring the cost of Ethanol and Gasoline closer together
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voters
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