CARographics - Autoverse History, one car at a time [CLOSED]

[AndiD]

CARographics - Autoverse History, one car at a time

A bespectacled, bearded guy in his 30s in a dress shirt with a bow tie appears in front of several well-filled bookcases. He starts to speak slowly and carefully into the camera with an unmistakable Swiss accent.

Introduction

Gruezi, my name is Dr Simon Pfeifer of the Hetvesian Institute of World History. In the past, history records have focused on important events and people. Today, we are introducing a new focus for recording our history: cars. As cars have become commonplace in our society over the past decades, we believe that such a shift in focus is appropriate to capture important facets of history that otherwise may have gone undocumented.

On this channel, we are looking for short accounts on how certain cars played a key role during events in the history of Gasmea, Archana, Fruinia, Dalluha and of course our own beautiful Hetvesia. We are particularly looking for unique and local events that otherwise might not have made it into the history records.

Rules

For your contributions, we therefore kindly ask you to follow these rules:

1. Write up a short report on an interesting historic event where a particular car played a notable role. Historic events that deserve to be remembered come in all flavours between funny, tragic or simply hilarious. They can have taken place in the realms of politics, industry, science, sports, crime, media, society etc. or were just part of local everyday life. They may have affected a place or even a region to a greater or a lesser extent, or may just be notable or notorious for their peculiarity.
2. The event needs to have taken place somewhere in the Automationverse (!) world between 1946 and 2020.
3. The report can be written from a neutral observer’s point of view but it can also give one or more specific persons’ account(s) from their own perspective, and leave the reader to draw their own conclusions.
4. Illustrate your report with one or more pictures with the car [these can be e.g. Automation photo scenes, shots from BeamNG or even RL photos with your car photoshopped in]. The car should be roughly appropriate for the region and era - but there may also be exceptions to that rule for story purposes, of course.
5. Feel free to include links where the car model has appeared before in this forum (e.g. as a part of a challenge or a review). This would be then your contribution to keeping track of our own history.
6. There can be more than one submission per person, but only a single submission per person will be included in the popular vote (see below). Indicate this submission below the headline before the challenge closes. If you have not indicated your preferred submission by that time, I will take the one you posted chronologically first for the poll.

Your focus should be less on grand historical events - there are plenty of records and reports about these already in the Automationverse history books. The map is huge and diverse, so there will be plenty of other interesting things that might have happened on a smaller scale. Some of the map descriptions in the #gameworld Discord channel from earlier this year or in the Cyclist (demo) stage descriptions can give further inspirations. Of course you can also take inspirations from past RL events (or anything else, for that matter).

The focus should also be less on car or engine models but more on specific cars that are interesting. For instance, it may be well known that the Mara Pchla jeeps played a crucial role in the war and that the descendants of its engine powered certain Archanan delivery vans that were popular in Fruinia until the late 1970s - but this is not really interesting from a historic event perspective. If there were a truly memorable event in Fruinia in, say, 1979, however, where such a van played a pivotal role - that could be interesting to write up for this challenge. The background on the car would simply be a short part of the background of the event.

Some inspirations about what the different parts of the Automationverse are like:

• The stickied official WIP map and the discussions in the Discord #gameworld channel
• The cycling race descriptions in The Cyclist: Tactics
• carlover’s work on creating the Automationverse capitals in Cities:Skylines
• The GT79 challenge thread contains a number of fitting pictures for several regions
• If you know other sources, please post them below.
  
  

Gameworld lore bits from the map reveal on Discord earlier this year

@Killrob

Dalluha:
The glorious capital Basara dominates this small eastern kingdom, situated at the foot of the rocky ridgeline that is separating it from Archana. Beyond the capital there are just small coastal towns that offer stunning beaches, luxury hotels, and year-round tourist activities. The massive salt flats to the west host the largest speed and drag racing event in the world, which tends to attract tourists who prefer speed over beaches.

@Killrob

Archana:
The Hinterlands are a large, sparsely populated, and pretty dry part of the world which until recently has attracted only a few sturdy individuals who could deal with the isolation felt as soon as the first ridgeline is crossed into a different world. The roads are in poor condition and the few towns are mostly focused on mining operations. To the north is a lone city, being one of the primary trade hubs in the north, Yartaz has flourished despite the lack of infrastructure.

The ancient city of Mara and various fishing and agricultural villages and towns surround the massive lake which is the lifeblood of the otherwise dry region. All with the imperial capital [KRONAGRAD] ever looming in the distance.

The massive central-Archanan basin with its dry climate. Straying away from the east-west trade route which Novobeskov sits on, the only city keeping up with the flow of time in this region, one quickly realizes the generally poor infrastructure, the manhole-sized potholes, and the welcoming, friendly population living off the little the land offers them. Main supply route

@Killrob

Fruinia:
A truly stunning piece of the world, with historic cities just north of one of the biggest volcanic areas of the world. Left mostly unscathed in the last major eruption in 1731, where a pyroclastic blast shook the region and formed a large crater lake, the regional capital Marena today is a lakeside tourism gem.

The buzzing and beautiful capital of Fruinia hosts one of the most sought after and prestigious universities in the world. If it is for its advances in the sciences, or for its very pleasant climate and infamous student life is debatable. [Terso]

The easternmost and oldest reaches of the Southern Alps have been eroded by time. Remote villages and valleys, with goats and beautiful views more numerous than the human population, make for a perfect retreat from the busy life in the coastal cities. Everything moves a bit slower in the backcountry… [Port de Imen]

A region of the world with a rich history moved by war, Calides watches over the coastal areas and the south-eastern tip of the southern alps with its historic network of castles and fortifications. A tourist favorite for sure, especially the fortress island Illa Gastella. [Calides]

The Fruinian heartlands, Pierona is the landscape people think of when visualizing the country. Meranio and Doriana are the hubs of a region featuring endless orchards, beautiful river valleys lined with small towns, high-country meadows, and a laid-back general attitude towards life.

@Killrob

Gasmea:
Along a rough and treacherous coast, small fishing villages defy the elements. There is one larger city [Eastport] that stands tall as a haven along the windswept coast.

A great mosaik of fields, pastures, and hedgerows for hundreds of kilometers, stretching from the foothills of the alps towering far to the south to the sheer endless expanse to the north. This region of the world has become a major producer of crops and livestock. [Great Plains around Ellisbury]

On top of the Great Lakes with the last shippable port, sits the proud capital of the nation, at the northern tip of the most prolific industrialized region of the world. [Harford]

The historic city of Willburg, with its namesake keep towering above the Albe river, is known for its quality industrial engineering and fine craftsmanship. It is an economic hotspot along the west-eastern trade route that stretches the continent. To the north, the stunning Albe valley with its high cliffs and famous vineyards, leads the river out of the valley along the Gasmean-Archanan border out to sea.

Welcome to the North - rural serenity half of the year, and mostly miserable the other half. Meadows and farms stretching as far as the eye can see, end abruptly at endless, mostly-empty beaches in North Gasmea, and more dramatic, cliffed shorelines around Highport. The world’s largest river flows to sea in Seaby, carrying plenty of shipped goods and sediments along this important trade route.

The central parts of the Great Plains, framed by ranges of hills to the east and west, only have a few smaller cities that act as agricultural hubs of the region. There is very little to see here apart from its two massive rivers flowing north, extensive farming operations on the rich soils, and plenty of bored teenagers who want to just get away from life in Pigton.

Rolling hills and rivers, with rich soils and lots of sun, this pretty piece of the world has a lot to offer to anyone who visits. It is known for its great wines, food, and lively cities. [Chapelle, Vineau-les-Bains]

The industrial heartlands of Gasmea, surrounding Lake Hepping. Connected to the sea and global commerce via the Cleres river, this region has become the home of manufacturing over the centuries. Busy harbors and bleak city skylines surround the lake. [Crafton, Winley, Springvale]

The highlands, a beautiful boggy mess with poor accessibility. Not that it matters, because what would you want to do there anyway apart from photography and studying the rare plants growing in the region’s unique climate? A little exception is the small town of Wairua, hosting the famous Automation HQ and its test track at the hydropower dam that satisfies most of the region’s energy needs. [Oakridge]

@Killrob

Hetvesia:
Idyllic and spectacular, the valleys of the western part of the Southern Alps harbor tidy cities, sleepy towns, and sprawling skiing meccas. [Karlstadt am Strand]

In the heart of the Southern Alps, under ski-lift dotted slopes, rests the glacial lake called Riemsee as one of the most overused postcard locations of the world. It is busy all year round, but retains the calming nature. At least on the roads that might be due to natural selection, as cyclists slowly grind up the climbs and motorists question their sanity behind them. [Ober-Altdorf]

Between the deepest ocean trench and some of the highest mountains in the world lies a seemingly dormant supervolcano in majestic surroundings. The south of Hetvesia is an alluring place: looking at the high mountains while lying on one of the numerous little beaches of the varied coastline, meadows and farmland right to the foot of the mountains, and people who don’t mind a hint of sulfur in the morning air. The stereotypical mountain-valley villages and cities are as pretty as action tourists would find them boring. [Friedheim am Meer, Ungenstadt]

Sheltered by the surrounding mountains and with access to the sea via its shippable river, Berlau has grown from an ancient hamlet to the proud city and cultural hub it is today. The picturesque and fertile lands help its industrious and steadfast people to thrive. They may not seem to move fast or act quickly, but get things done right the first time. [Berlau]

@Killrob

Vianta:
The largest island in the world is a little world in of itself, with seaside port cities and fishing towns, high coastal cliffs, and beautiful remote beaches. A favorite for campervan road trips. Everything is paced just a little slower on Vianta.

Winning

There will be a popular vote after the challenge where everyone can vote on their favourite event and their favourite car. Depending on the number of turnouts, there may also be different categories for the poll. However, this challenge is more for telling a good story around a car than for outright winning.

Submission

No need to submit CAR files to anyone or worry about ET, PU, laptimes or drivability scores etc. Instead, worry about imagining an interesting event (and car, or vice versa), crafting a good story around it and posting it here, together with one or more images.

Submission deadline: Saturday, 2021-08-28 AOE (anywhere on Earth)

This challenge is inspired by, among others, Knugcab's Trafikjournalen series on this forum and essentially is a cross between the YT channels The History Guy and Biographics / Geographics / Megaprojects with a dash of Regular Car Reviews (without the fart jokes ofc). So, feel free to also take inspiration from all of these, and others.

[Tzuyu_main]

Does there exist a comprehensive lore of the Automation world and its countries anywhere? I am aware that there’s bits of information scattered throughout the #game-world channel for specific regions or towns, but I’m not quite sure if this is easily accessible or searchable.

We already know what each country is supposed to represent in terms of economy, culture, climate, etc., and while this is already a good bit of information to go off, I think it would be helpful to have a timeline with really major events provided somewhere so that there’s some kind of foundation we can build off and expand upon. But if the intention is to have a free-for-all “anything goes” kind of deal then I think this is fine too.

Nonetheless, having experienced the worldbuilding and creative writing talent some people here have demonstrated I think this is going to be pretty fun.

[AndiD]

I think there is no one-stop stop for all the lore that’s been thrown out there in the past… but I just remembered copying Killrob’s teaser bits during the Discord map reveal, and I haven’t seen those pop up anywhere else. Found them and added them to the original post.

And since we don’t know anything about the grand events in the history, and it’s hard to speculate without any context, I emphasised the local events that wouldn’t make it into any history books anyway.

[AndiD]

Ok, the challenge is now open for submissions. Looking forward to your interesting cars and stories!

[AndiD]

Ok, closing this challenge for the time being. Maybe it wasn’t the best timing, given the announced delay for LC4.2.

I might try again after everyone will have had their chance to play around with the new turbos and stuff (including the new in-game map) and the dust has generally settled after the LC4.2 release…