Ok, I think the challenge is going to have major issues in its current state, so here’s what I suggest:
Set it up similar to the previous generations challenge with one major change. Instead of 1 car, companies can submit 1 car per category in as many categories as they want (could be just 1 total or 8 etc.). Each company gets an average score of their cars and a cumulative score of all of their cars instead of giving people 0s for not hitting markets they don’t want to build for.
What this does is not pressure people to stretch their lore into something they don’t want it to be and also allows people to relax when irl stuff comes up and they can’t chug out enough cars in a given time period. It also sets up two goals for people to aim for: quantity and/or quality (as opposed to who has the most free time).
A few weeks sounds like a much better window than 10-14 days. That gives you more time for reviews too.
Another interesting idea, and I don’t think it would take too much for me to track this.
BUT…
I’m not sure I’m explaining my intentions here clearly enough, so I guess I’ll have to reiterate and be (possibly rudely… I’m sorry…) blunt.
This competition is not for smaller or specialty manufacturers in any way, shape, or form.
I do not want anyone to change their lore in a significant way. I am not intending anyone to pressure anyone to do so. I would much rather someone build a whole new lore company from scratch than change their boutique company into a major manufacturer.
If the idea of playing a major manufacturer throughout time isn’t appealing or attractive to someone, this challenge is not for them!
Most importantly, I do not want to reward people for partial participation, which is what putting a null value in a missed category does. It changes the weighting of the remaining categories for that ONE person only, so they could make a perfect car in a low-weight category, and just not submit anything else, and win the round outright. That is 100% against the spirit of what I’m trying to do here.
I will CONSIDER changing the rule to give a severely cut value instead of a 0 (like, maybe, 40 or 50) for each missed submission, but ONLY if I don’t get enough full-line manufacturers to round out the competition.
As I stated a couple replies ago, I’m probably ditching 10-14 for 14+. Variable length so I can slow things down if it’s going too fast, or add extra time for the weeks that will require 4 submissions.
Oh not rewarding partial participation is part of the reason I suggested a cumulative score to go with the average score. Cumulative being the overall winner of the challenge just like campaign mode ingame would score it. I just think knowing how some people build cars, it’s very likely someone will get too busy for one or more submission periods over the course of a year or doesn’t want to use the limited selection of bodies we have to hit enough categories even though in lore it’s a big company. Then they would be instantly at a huge disadvantage and what’s the point of continuing on for months when a few 0s or low scores make it nearly impossible to have a shot at the challenge.
Again I don’t want to make the challenge something it isn’t, and I don’t mean to say people should be able to be a specialty manufacturer. I just think some room to do what you want for your company will keep the challenge from losing participants. I see huge potential here.
I get where you’re coming from there, but then having a cumulative score automatically penalizes anyone who is submitting regularly, but whose lore doesn’t start at 1946 and will be joining in later rounds. We had… 6? companies that fell into this category in the last competition.
As far as body shortages, the only time period I’m seeing a possible problem with that is the early 50’s. Would it alleviate your concerns if I changed the start year to the late 50’s instead? Skip basically the first post-war decade? Which, honesty, might give a little more realism back as most European and Asian manufacturers had to rebuild their production capacities, and that took time.
Ah true I forgot about that with companies starting later. With the bodies though, the game basically has enough to technically cover all markets but not enough for people to keep a somewhat consistent design language or a generations of a car that make sense (eg. most normal car bodies from the mid nineties onward are European premium/luxury sedans or there’s no good early crossover bodies like a RAV4 etc.). Probably splitting hairs I guess. Anyway I might want to join with a company I’ve been meaning to develop awhile but idk yet.
Oh and personally I think a 50s start is a good idea but up to you.
I think a 40s start would be good, as it is the very start of the game and it makes sense. There are also loads of 40s bodys so variety wouldnt be a problem
Personally I don’t care which year we start. I just want to build some cars and enjoy the designs that other people share and have some fun.
My company doesn’t have much submissions currently so this challenge is a good motivator to rework it and build a consistent catalogue of cars over time.
So. New start year 1956, 14+ days per round depending on condition, 3 cars most rounds with exceptions for a couple 4 car rounds.
And more of a plea than a rule, but please don’t wait until the last second every submission period to submit, if possible. Remember: I’m not grading looks unless you’re consistently putting in no effort. The usual CSR level of detail is unnecessary; you can always go back later after the competition and beautify it if you want.
I’m still considering the possibility of sister brands, sub brands, and import groups. I’m leaning more towards allowing all, but because this is lore, I want anyone still advocating for this to understand: If multiple people control the lore for the companies involved in an import group, your lore companies will forever be married to each other, because your lore threads will need to reflect the formation of the group and any pertinent mergers, etc.
With that in mind, I’d like to hear those who were interested in being in an import group and say whether or not you’re still interested with that stipulation attached.
Well, no feedback on the import groups. I guess I’ll start taking registrations and cross the bridge if we even come to it?
To register: PM me that you’re entering, with which company, what country they are based in, and the lore thread for it. If you’re using a new company, start a lore thread with a placeholder post and send me the thread. If you happen to want to register as a lore group, please PM me all of the above plus your partner(s), which company they are using, and their lore thread as well.
I reserve the right to stop registrations at any point. Deadline is Saturday, February 22nd, 20:00 UTC. Or whenever I decide we’re full up.
OK, I’ve received the first couple registrations. I’ve got some more work in on my tracking sheets and I am pleased to report that I will have a few more metrics for you as the competition goes along.
Round reliability: Every round, I will release a reliability ranking for that round, based on the average of each company’s submissions. This can help you flesh out more lore and do further RP opportunities in-thread, as your companies “win awards” and jockey for position.
End of Game best-of awards:
There will be “best of” awards for 5 general car categories, based on the totals for these individual categories over the years. The categories are as follows:
Small cars - “junior” cars, compacts, subcompacts, economy cars, small coupes, small wagons, etc. May include SUV’s after about 1993.
Intermediate cars - intermediates, mid-sized, family cars, wagons, etc. May include SUV’s after about 1993.
Large cars - “senior” cars, full-sized, wagons, etc. May include SUV’s after about 1993.
Light Trucks - “Utility” vehicles, pickups, vans, SUV’s prior to 1993, may include heavier SUV’s after 1993.
Performance - pony cars, muscle cars, sports cars, high performance models
Also, there will be an overall Reliability category winner at the end of the game.
sorry if its a bit late but i have an idea about design “judging.” every round nominate a few cars which have the best designs and give them a special mention. nothing that affects the scoring, just a small sentence about the best couple of designs. it would help give some motivation to do better designs.
Why not do it year by year, for example limiting it to two new cars and a face lift each round?
The idea would be to simulate the small changes that cars undergo each year to remain competitive in the market.
