Thanks to Leonardo9613 and IRC regulars whose names I have forgotten for inspiration, and thanks to Lordred for a very clever job of Stupid High Resolution Helplining.
The Peppermint Automobile Company, founded 1980, was off to a brilliant start. The small front-wheel-drive Peppermint NE-1 was hardly a sophisticated vehicle - and its thin steel body panels were somewhat rust-prone - but low emissions and great fuel economy on regular unleaded fuel meant it sold quite well from the moment it was introduced in 1982.
In an attempt to expand upon this success, Peppermint decided to break into new markets in 1985 with the new NE-2 line: three upscale, prestigious, performance-oriented rear-wheel drive vehicles, powered by variants on a newer, bigger, and much more powerful engine. Unfortunately, midway through the development process, the team designing this lovely new engine quit en masse to go work for an aeroplane manufacturer, leaving Peppermint with three half-completed automobiles and no engines to power them.
Which is where you come in.
Peppermint Automobile Company is putting out a call for new engines to power its new line of vehicles. These engines must be efficient, environmentally friendly, and offer the right balance of low weight, reasonable cost, and high power to make the NE-2 as much of a resounding success as the NE-1.
[size=150]Build Specifications[/size]
For this competition, you will be downloading the Peppermint NE-2 (attached), importing it into your game, and replacing the engine, transmission, and rear diff for each trim you wish to power. Build rules are as follows:
[ul]
]1985 or earlier on all tabs./:m]
]Engine must fit in Peppermint NE-2 engine bay. (Don’t worry, it’s pretty big.)/:m]
]Unleaded fuel only./:m]
]Catalytic converter required./:m]
]No Race Tubular exhausts./:m]
]Reliability > 0./:m]
]Quality sliders and transmission tab settings unrestricted./:m][/ul]
All settings on all other tabs will remain unchanged except the aerodynamics and suspension tabs, which the Peppermint Automobile Company will be setting up as follows:
[ul]
]Engine cooling will be reduced to just over the minimum required (assuming sufficent cooling is available)./:m]
]The suspension will be adjusted using a preset (Normal for Standard, Comfort for Deluxe, and Sport for Sport)./:m]
]Any bottom-out in said suspension preset will be eliminated by raising the ride height./:m][/ul]
Packbat - Peppermint NE-2.zip (110 KB)
[size=150]Competition Categories and Scoring[/size]
Players will compete in three regular categories plus three combined categories.
The three regular categories correspond to the three trims of the NE-2: Standard, Deluxe, and Sport. In each of these categories, engines will be ranked from best to worst in each of four metrics:
[ul]
]Vehicle (not engine!) fuel economy./:m]
]Vehicle (not engine!) emissions./:m]
]Vehicle Competitiveness in two Gasmea markets per trim:
[list]]For Standard: Family Sport Premium and Muscle./:m]
]For Deluxe: Premium and GT./:m]
]For Sport: Sport and Convertible Sport./:m][/ul]/*:m][/list:u]
[size=85]* Note: C. Sport tends to be lower-scoring than the other categories.[/size]
Points will then be awarded for the engine’s rank in each metric based on the number of entries. If, for example, 10 people enter, the top engine in each metric gets 10, the second 9, the third 8, and so on. (In the case of a tie, all tied entries split the points. So if second and third were tied in the prior example, 8.5 points each.) Whichever engine gets the most points wins the category.
The first combined category is the Single-Supplier category. If you submit engines for all three categories, you will also be entered in this category. Your score will be the sum of the scores of your three engines.
The second combined category is the One-Block category. If you submit one engine family with variants for all three categories, you will also be entered in this category, and, again, your score will be the sum of the scores of all three engines (engine variants, in this case).
The third combined category is the In-House category. Peppermint Automobile Company may have lost their new engine team, but their old engine team is still around, refining the 1.2L inline-four that powered the NE-1 for the three-year model refresh, and they could be pulled off that project for this one if necessary. It’s a small block, but there’s a little room to increase displacement … and, of course, you can always add a honking big turbo. To enter this category, instead of making an all-new engine family, make three new variants in 1985 of the Peppermint 1.2, one for each trim, and set up the transmission as needed. (Remember to leave the 1982 “Electro” variant in the game, as removing it may cause Automation to change the engine family year.) Again, your score will be the sum of the scores for all three variants.
[size=150]Submission rules[/size]
Each player may submit one engine variant per trim, either on the same engine family or different engine familes. In your PM, you should include a .zip file with:
[ul]]The exported engine family or families./:m]
]One screenshot of the Transmission tab for each trim being powered./:m][/ul]
The deadline for all submissions is 11:59:59 p.m. EST on Monday, February 22nd.
Accepted Submissions:
[ul]
]cpufreak101/:m]
]conan/:m]
]HighOctaneLove/:m]
]Lordred/:m]
]Riso/:m]
]nerd/:m]
]07CobaltGirl/:m]
]VicVictory/:m]
]CadillacDave/:m]
]vmo/:m]
]Puffster/:m]
]koolkei/:m]
]MadamVastra/:m]
]Rossriders/:m]
]Simo4295/:m][/ul]
)