Feature Unlock Dates - Open Beta Build 151204

Because the feature unlock dates are changing substantially in the new build, I went through and tried to find all the dates. Edit: the following is intended to record numbers in Build 151205 - as before, some may represent bugs, not features.

Note: I didn’t check features that weren’t represented in the changelog in some fashion - so there may be unlock dates below that were correct in 151127 and not in 151130.

Note 2015-11-30: Added production limits for chassis and body panel materials.

Note 2015-12-04: Updating safety option unlock dates going from 151130 to 151205 - again, didn’t check for other unlock-date changes, they may exist.

Note 2015-12-07: Adding note that minimum tyre profiles are at +0 Quality - increasing quality allows lower profile tyres.

Note 2015-12-17: Checked mid-engined unlock dates with modded 1965 bodies.

[size=150]Chassis[/size]

Chassis Type:
[ul]]1940: Ladder/:m]
]1951: Monocoque/:m][/ul]

Material:
[ul]]1940: Steel/:m]
]1940: Galvanized Steel/:m]
]1980: Corrosion Rest. Steel/:m]
]1988: Carbon Fibre (with Monocoque; No Mass Production)/:m]
]1997: AHS Steel/:m]
]2000: Glued Aluminium (with Monocoque; Limited Production)/:m]
]2015: Carbon Fibre (with Monocoque; Limited Production)/:m][/ul]

Engine Placement:
[ul]]1940: Front Longitudinal/:m]
]1940: Rear Longitudinal/:m]
]1962: Front Transverse/:m]
]: Mid Transverse/:m]
]: Mid Longitudinal/
:m][/ul]

  • Earliest mid-engined body available without mods is 1974. With modded bodies, both are available at least as early as 1965.

Front Suspension:
[ul]]1940: MacPherson Strut/:m]
]1940: Double Wishbone/:m]
]1990: Pushrod (with Rear Longitudinal, Mid Transverse, or Mid Longitudinal)/:m][/ul]

Rear Suspension:
[ul]]1940: Solid Axle Coil (with Front Transverse or Front Longitudinal)/:m]
]1940: Solid Axle Leaf (with Front Transverse or Front Longitudinal)/:m]
]1940: Semi Trailing Arm (with Front Transverse or Front Longitudinal)/:m]
]1940: MacPherson Strut (with Mid Transverse, Mid Longitudinal, or Rear Longitudinal)/:m]
]1940: Double Wishbone/:m]
]1962: Torsion Beam (with Front Transverse)/:m]
]1990: MultiLink (with Front Transverse or Front Longitudinal)/:m]
]1990: Pushrod (with Front Transverse, Front Longitudinal, Mid Transverse, or Mid Longitudinal)/:m][/ul]

Panel Material:
[ul]]1940: Steel/:m]
]1940: Aluminium (No Mass Production)/:m]
]1955: Fibre Glass (No Mass Production)/:m]
]1971: Fibre Glass (Limited Production)/:m]
]1980: Corrosion Rest. Steel/:m]
]1981: Aluminium (Limited Production)/:m]
]1985: Partial Alu/:m]
]1993: Carbon Fibre (No Mass Production)/:m]
]2006: Carbon Fibre (Limited Production)/:m]
]2011: Aluminium/:m][/ul]

[size=150]Body Type[/size]

Drive Type, Front Transverse:
[ul]]1962: Transverse FWD/:m]
]1990: Transverse AWD/:m][/ul]

Drive Type, Front Longitudinal:
[ul]]1940: Longitudinal RWD/:m]
]1940: Longitudinal 4x4/:m]
]1981: Longitudinal AWD/:m][/ul]

Drive Type, Rear Longitudinal:
[ul]]1940: Longitudinal RWD/:m][/ul]

Drive Type, Mid Transverse:
[ul]]: Transverse RWD/*:m]
]1990: Transverse AWD/:m][/ul]

Drive Type, Mid Longitudinal:
[ul]]: Longitudinal RWD/*:m]
]1985: Longitudinal AWD/:m][/ul]

[size=150]Engine Block[/size]

Engine Block:
[ul]]1940: Inline 4/:m]
]1940: Inline 6/:m]
]1940: V8 Crossplane/:m]
]1940: V8 Flatplane/:m]
]1940: V12/:m]
]1960: V6/:m][/ul]

Block Material:
[ul]]1940: Cast Iron/:m]
]1960: Aluminium/:m]
]1996: AlSi/:m]
]2005: Magnesium/:m][/ul]

Head and Valves:
[ul]]1940: Push Rod/:m]
]1940: Direct Acting OHC/:m]
]1940: Overhead Cam (2, 3, 4 valves/cyl)/:m]
]1940: Dual Overhead Cam (2, 4 valves/cyl)/:m]
]1989: Dual Overhead Cam (5 valves/cyl)/:m]
]2000: Modern OHV/:m][/ul]

Head Material:
[ul]]1940: Cast Iron/:m]
]1950: Aluminium/:m]
]1996: AlSi/:m][/ul]

VVL:
[ul]]1940: None/:m]
]1994: VVL (all engines except Push Rod, Modern OHV, and DOHC 5 valves/cyl)/:m][/ul]

[size=150]Bottom End[/size]

Crank:
[ul]]1940: Cast Iron/:m]
]1956: Forged Steel/:m]
]1986: Billet Steel/:m][/ul]

Conrods:
[ul]]1940: Cast/:m]
]1940: Heavy Duty Cast/:m]
]1956: Forged H Beam/:m]
]1967: I Beam Steel/:m]
]1997: I Beam Titanium/:m][/ul]

Pistons:
[ul]]1940: Cast/:m]
]1940: Heavy Cast Piston/:m]
]1956: Forged/:m]
]1970: Hypereutectic Cast/:m]
]1991: Low Friction Cast/:m]
]1991: Lightweight Forged/:m][/ul]

[size=150]Top End[/size]

VVT:
[ul]]1940: None/:m]
]1988: VVT (Direct Acting OHC or SOHC)/:m]
]1988: VVT - Intake (DOHC)/:m]
]1992: VVT - All Cams (DOHC)/:m][/ul]

[size=150]Aspiration[/size]

Type:
[ul]]1940: Naturally Aspirated/:m]
]1975: Turbo Charger (not V12 yet)/:m][/ul]

Setup:
[ul]]1975: Single Turbo (I4, I6)/:m]
]1975: Twin Turbo (V6, V8, V8FP)/:m][/ul]
[ul]]1975: Journal Bearing/:m]
]1980: Ball Bearing/:m][/ul]

(Note: I haven’t been thorough on this tab - there may be other year-dependencies hiding somewhere I haven’t found.)

[size=150]Intake[/size]

Fuel System (Carburettor):
[ul]]1940: Single Barrel/:m]
]1940: Single Barrel Eco/:m]
]1948: 2 Barrel/:m]
]1954: DCOE/:m]
]1959: 4 Barrel/:m][/ul]

Fuel System (Injection):
[ul]]1968: Mechanical Injection/:m]
]1982: Single Point EFI/:m]
]1982: Multi Point EFI/:m]
]2001: Direct Injection/:m][/ul]

Fuel Type:
[ul]]1940: Regular Leaded/:m]
]1940: Super Leaded/:m]
]1960: Low Quality/:m]
]1970: Regular/:m]
]1985: Premium/:m]
]1990: Super/:m]
]1995: Ultimate/:m][/ul]

[size=150]Exhaust[/size]

Headers:
[ul]]1940: Cast Log/:m]
]1940: Short Cast/:m]
]1940: Tubular/:m]
]1940: Long Tubular/:m]
]1940: Race Tubular/:m][/ul]

Muffler Bypass:
[ul]]1940: No Valve/:m]
]1999: Bypass Valves/:m][/ul]

Catalytic Converter (unleaded only):
[ul]]1940: None/:m]
]1972: Two-way/:m]
]1978: Three-way/:m]
]1984: High Flow Three-way/:m][/ul]

Muffler:
[ul]]1940: None/:m]
]1940: Baffled/:m]
]1950: Reverse Flow/:m]
]1968: Straight Through/:m][/ul]

[size=150]Drivetrain[/size]

Gearbox:
[ul]]1940: Manual/:m]
]1950: Automatic (Torque Converter)/:m]
]2000: Sequential (Single Clutch)/:m]
]2006: Sequential (Double Clutch)/:m][/ul]

Ratios (Manual):
[ul]]1940: 2 (last year 1990)/:m]
]1940: 3 (last year 2000)/:m]
]1940: 4/:m]
]1965: 5/:m]
]1995: 6/:m]
]2012: 7/:m][/ul]

Ratios (Automatic):
[ul]]1950: 2 (last year 1990)/:m]
]1960: 3 (last year 2000)/:m]
]1975: 4/:m]
]1995: 5/:m]
]2003: 6/:m]
]2006: 7/:m]
]2011: 8/:m]
]2015: 9/:m][/ul]

Ratios (Sequential):
[ul]]2000: 3 (last year 2000)/:m]
]2000: 4/:m]
]2000: 5/:m]
]2000: 6/:m]
]2012: 7/:m][/ul]

Differentials:
[ul]]1940: Open/:m]
]1940: Manual Locker/:m]
]1950: Automatic Locker/:m]
]1981: Geared LSD/:m]
]1985: Viscous LSD/:m]
]2001: Electric LSD/:m][/ul]

[size=150]Wheel[/size]

Minimum +0-Quality Profile:
[ul]]1940: 105/:m]
]1941: 100/:m]
]1945: 95/:m]
]1949: 90/:m]
]1953: 85/:m]
]1957: 80/:m]
]1960: 75/:m]
]1964: 70/:m]
]1968: 65/:m]
]1972: 60/:m]
]1976: 55/:m]
]1980: 50/:m]
]1983: 45/:m]
]1987: 40/:m]
]1991: 35/:m]
]1995: 30/:m]
]1999: 25/:m]
]2003: 20/:m]
]2006: 15/:m][/ul]

Rim Material:
[ul]]1940: Steel/:m]
]1961: Magnesium/:m]
]1970: Alloy/:m]
]2015: Carbon Fibre/:m][/ul]

[size=150]Brakes[/size]

Brakes:
[ul]]1940: Drum (SLS)/:m]
]1952: Drum (2LS) (front only)/:m]
]1959: Solid Disc/:m]
]1975: Vented Disc/:m]
]2008: Carbon Ceramic/:m][/ul]

Disc Brake Pistons:
[ul]]1959: 1 Piston/:m]
]1965: 2 Piston/:m]
]1976: 3 Piston/:m]
]1990: 4 Piston/:m]
]1999: 6 Piston/:m][/ul]

[size=150]Aerodynamics[/size]

Undertray:
[ul]]1940: None/:m]
]1940: Offroad Skidtray/:m]
]1960: Semi Clad/:m]
]1975: Fully Clad/:m]
]1994: Downforce/:m][/ul]

Active Wings:
[ul]]1940: None/:m]
]1993: Active Wing/:m][/ul]

Active Cooling:
[ul]]1940: None/:m]
]1993: Cooling Flaps/:m][/ul]

[size=150]Fittings[/size]

Entertainment:
[ul]]1940: None/:m]
]1940: Luxury AM Radio (last year 1954)/:m]
]1945: Premium AM Radio (last year 1971)/:m]
]1950: Standard AM Radio (last year 1973)/:m]
]1954: Basic AM Radio (last year 1975)/:m]
]1955: Phonograph (last year 1969)/:m]
]1970: Luxury 8 Track (last year 1981)/:m]
]1972: Premium 8 Track (last year 1983)/:m]
]1974: Standard 8 Track (last year 1985)/:m]
]1976: Basic 8 Track (last year 1987)/:m]
]1982: Luxury Cassette (last year 1991)/:m]
]1984: Premium Cassette (last year 1993)/:m]
]1986: Standard Cassette (last year 1997)/:m]
]1988: Basic Cassette (last year 2000)/:m]
]1992: Luxury CD (last year 2002)/:m]
]1994: Premium CD (last year 2004)/:m]
]1998: Standard CD (last year 2011)/:m]
]2001: Basic CD (last year 2012)/:m]
]2003: Luxury SatNav (last year 2009)/:m]
]2005: Premium SatNav (last year 2010)/:m]
]2010: Luxury Infotainment (last year 2016)/:m]
]2011: Premium Infotainment (last year 2018)/:m]
]2012: Standard Infotainment/:m]
]2013: Basic Infotainment/:m]
]2017: Luxury HUD/:m]
]2019: Premium HUD/:m][/ul]

Driver Assists:
[ul]]1955: Power Steering/:m]
]1985: Antilock Braking System/:m]
]1989: Traction Control*/*:m]
]1997: Electronic Stability/:m][/ul]

** Requires electronic fuel injection. (Thanks for the tip, TrackpadUser!)

Safety:
[ul]]1940: None/:m]
]1940: Advanced 40s (last year 1949)/:m]
]1945: Standard 40s (last year 1954)/:m]
]1950: Advanced 50s (last year 1960)/:m]
]1955: Standard 50s (last year 1964)/:m]
]1961: Advanced 60s (last year 1969)/:m]
]1965: Standard 60s (last year 1974)/:m]
]1968: Basic 60s (last year 1977)/:m]
]1970: Advanced 70s (last year 1979)/:m]
]1975: Standard 70s (last year 1984)/:m]
]1978: Basic 70s (last year 1987)/:m]
]1980: Advanced 80s (last year 1989)/:m]
]1985: Standard 80s (last year 1993)/:m]
]1988: Basic 80s (last year 1997)/:m]
]1990: Advanced 90s (last year 1999)/:m]
]1994: Standard 90s (last year 2004)/:m]
]1998: Basic 90s (last year 2007)/:m]
]2000: Advanced 00s (last year 2009)/:m]
]2005: Standard 00s (last year 2014)/:m]
]2008: Basic 00s (last year 2017)/:m]
]2010: Advanced 10s (last year 2019)/:m]
]2015: Standard 10s/:m]
]2018: Basic 10s/:m]
]2020: Advanced 20s/:m][/ul]

[size=150]Suspension[/size]

Springs:
[ul]]1940: Standard/:m]
]1955: Progressive/:m]
]1965: Hydropneumatic/:m]
]1982: Air**/*:m]
]1995: Active Sport/:m]
]1995: Active Comfort/:m][/ul]

*** Not always available; as far as I can determine from my experiments, Air Suspension has a suspension geometry prerequisite depending on engine placement:
[ul]]For a front-engined car: front double-wishbone suspension./:m]
]For a rear-engined or mid-engined car: front and rear double-wishbone or pushrod./:m][/ul]

Dampers:
[ul]]1940: Twin-Tube/:m]
]1966: Gas Mono-Tube/:m]
]1987: Adaptive/:m]
]1995: Semi Active/:m][/ul]

Sway Bars:
[ul]]1940: Passive/:m]
]1995: Semi Active/:m]
]2000: Offroad/:m]
]2005: Active/:m][/ul]

1 Like

Cool for the EFI, but some things just don’t look right.
Transversal in 1962 ? Come on, don’t tell me you don’t know the Mini !
No aluminium until 1985 and 2005 ? But Maserati used it back in the fifties (yeah, that’s the missing Hand Made Alu, but Rolls-Royce have been doing it too) and i’m pretty sure Aluminium chassis have been made before 85.
Not to mention the Pushrods…
Brakes : Porsche has been using ceramic brakes on the sportier 911s for years. Much before 2005. Maybe not carbon-ceramic, but that may be something worth adding for the period.
MacPherson struts have been patented in 1947/1949 (GM/Ford)…
Luxury CD seems to be coming a bit late. CDs have been around since like 1984. Can’t we push it like 2 to 5 years earlier ?

These are the default years that the game says the technology became widely available, not when it first appeared. Once the campaign mode becomes available you can R&D the tech up to 15 years earlier.

You’ll be able to unlock things early with R&D in the tycoon.

Oh right, I forgot that. But transverse was still getting used in the late 1940s, way out of reach of the game’s 15y R&D. Same goes for Hand Made Alu, at least 1957. Don’t remember when it appeared in-game before it… well, disappeared. :smiley:
And that doesn’t explain the McPhersons…
Tech Pool should really be added to sandbox mode. And I hope you’ll be able to pay for Tech Points (advanced supplier brands for brakes and tires, patent buying…).

Thanks for the update, but why in the world did Modern OHV get moved back to 2000? 1990-91 makes a lot more sense, TBH; this is mainly because General Motors’s Chevrolet division had come out with the ZR-1 engine block the year prior(1989), and the 350 CI motor in general, at least when it came to the versions installed for Corvette and Camaro, was able to rev fairly highly(6,000+ RPM!), and so, too, was the 347ci motor that succeeded it(particularly for use in the C5 Corvettes above all) in 1997.

And if 1990 may seem too early, I think somewhere between 1992-96 would also work.

1 Like

The 1989 zr1 was a DOHC that Chevy built with the help of Cosworth, the MOHV roughly aligns with the replacement of the GM gen II LT1 with the all new generation III GM small block and the LS1, while it did first appear in 1995 it wasn’t till 99-2000 that I really moved from the corvette and was put in basically ever car in the gm family that could house it.

If you take in the in-game R&D, then it is available as early as 1985. Seems acceptable to me. After all, this is pretty advanced technology. BTW, would someone care to explain what’s the technical difference ? ^^’

For what it’s worth, in my 2000 test (inline-fours, cast-iron, SPFI, mostly default numbers), a +5 Push Rod engine was similar to a -10 Modern OHV engine outside of tooling costs.

+5 Push Rod:
[ul]]113 hp @ 5500 RPM/:m]
]Torque: 174 Nm @ 2900 RPM/:m]
]Smoothness: 52.7/:m]
]Economy: 525.1 g/kWh @ 2700 RPM/:m]
]Reliability: 68.8/:m]
]Weight: 121.2 kg/:m]
]Service Costs: $732.98/yr/:m]
]Production Units: 27.0/:m]
]Material Cost: $681.99/:m]
]Engineering Time: 72.85/:m]
]Engineering Costs: M$4.37/:m]
]Tooling Cost: M$95.39/:m][/ul]
-10 Modern OHV:
[ul]]Power: 114 hp @ 5800 RPM/:m]
]Torque: 168 Nm @ 3400 RPM/:m]
]Economy: 429.1 g/kWh @ 2900 RPM/:m]
]Smoothness: 52.7/:m]
]Reliability: 64.6/:m]
]Weight: 126.6 kg/:m]
]Service Costs: $732.98/yr/:m]
]Production Units: 25.2/:m]
]Material Cost: $821.07/:m]
]Engineering Time: 72.63/:m]
]Engineering Costs: M$4.36/:m]
]Tooling Cost: M$65.22/:m][/ul]

Oh, yeah! I’d forgotten about the ZR-1 being a DOHC at the moment, for whatever reason. :stuck_out_tongue: So thanks for correcting me on that. :slight_smile:

Updated list to account for reported changes between Build 151127 and 151130.

We can go back even farther - Citroen started FF in the late thirties, although it was front-drive with a longitudinal engine (Traction Avant), and SAAB has been front engine/front drive since the 40s without looking back. Hell, American Cords had a front-driven tank of a car in the 1920s.

Personally, I don’t feel that FF should ever be locked, that should be there from day one - the only reason I could see the devs not putting that out up front might be game balance.

[quote=“ArnRno”]

We can go back even farther - Citroen started FF in the late thirties, although it was front-drive with a longitudinal engine (Traction Avant), and SAAB has been front engine/front drive since the 40s without looking back. Hell, American Cords had a front-driven tank of a car in the 1920s.

Personally, I don’t feel that FF should ever be locked, that should be there from day one - the only reason I could see the devs not putting that out up front might be game balance.[/quote]

Longditudinal FWD is a very different beast though, as far as I’m aware it’s not until at least the late 50s that a well packaged Transverse FWD layout actually started being a thing (besides the SAAB 92 etc, but it appears to only have been able to be packaged in the engine bay properly because the engine was incredibly short)

As usual, you will of course be able to research to get earlier access to tech, so you will be able to unlock it pre 1960s, but I really don’t think you can call Transverse FWD at all a well developed and commonly available technology in the 40s/early 50s.

(So sorry for the rant, I got away from myself)
I don’t disagree with you entirely, Mr. Flyer, nor do I fully agree with you, either.
Yes, longitudinal front drive is different tech for sure, but seeing as that is slated to be in the final version of the game I figured I may as well mention it. I hopped over to wiki and some other links since my last reply, and to be honest, I’m more than a little surprised that transverse FF ended up beating out long. FF in the real world - nearly a million Traction Avants were sold, and Citroen’s 2CV sold nearly four million units over its run, so maybe if TFF never becomes available from the start, then here’s one vote for LFF being available in the 40s.

I know the game is very far from done, and things will only keep changing, but I still think the TFF tech should be there from the get-go. Sure, SAAB 92 had a tiny motor, okay, well, we can build tiny motors. Maybe the 92 wasn’t amazing, but they stuck with it, and made the 93, and etc., they got better, they made the 99, they made the 900 (seriously one of the best FF cars EVER, but it’s LFF), they made the 9-3… The first step to being good at something, is being bad at something. I realize now how off topic I am, but I still think it’s all worth saying. Would the BMC have ever made the Mini if SAAB hadn’t have made the 92 first? Maybe, maybe not… Probably so, though.

Anyway - my main point is that the tech was there, it was - yes, SAAB wasn’t the whole world, but SAAB’s whole world was FF, and it worked (if I remember right, SAAB never had rear-driven cars). Our companies in Automation in 1946 aren’t going to be Chevrolet, they aren’t going to be Ford, they are going to be what we imagine them to be. No matter what you want to categorize Automation, this is, at the end of the day, a role-playing game, with us playing the role of any auto manufacturer we want to be - I’m not saying we should have MPFI in the 60s or those stupid pushrods suspensions on a pickup in 1973 - I just think that if we want to play as a weird little Swedish guy who has a dream of building a little front-drive coupe in 1946, well, I’d like to be able to do that, regardless of how shit that first car might be.

…and then maybe one day we can sell out and GM will ruin us.

Yeah, but how do we simulate the fact that transverse FWD engine setups have become much more compact and well packaged, and the fact that you’d be unlikely to be able to fit a decent sized 4 cylinder etc in a very early transverse setup? Every picture I can find of a 40s transverse FWD setup has a huge gearbox compared to more modern ones (and the Mini’s gears in sump setup)

We just can’t cover every possible use of technology, and have to just represent what was commonly available at various times, and then let the player research ahead to access technology early if they want to build cutting edge cars. There are all sort of edge cases we can’t reasonably replicate, for example the 300SL Gullwing having mechanical DIRECT injection in the 50s.

The only way we could make it available earlier is by just setting the unlock date to the 40s, but that’d just allow everyone to build transverse FWD cars in the 40s, which is not at all realistic, only very few companies managed to build anything at all practical and transverse FWD before the Mini really.

I can understand the desire to replicate every possible real world car manufacturer, but it’s kind of impossible while maintaining a sane amount of choices and tycoon gameplay that works as it should.

1 Like

Could you do some trickery with the gearbox size? Have massive transverse boxes to start with, gradually getting smaller with time / research?

Edit: although i’d love to see bottom mounted / sump gearboxes :wink:

Maaaaybe… worth pondering, but probably quite difficult.