Killrob’s “The Fastest Cars in the World” Challenge

[Killrob]

Hey guys!

I just finished off my massive 39 episode Let’s Play series and now it is time for something new, something a little bit more challenging, something more strong-themed, compact, and… crazy.

Let me introduce you to an open challenge that will require balls of steel, the patience of an Early Access buyer, and the Automation skills that balance the edge between ingenuity and insanity.

Well, not quite, there are three different difficulties so that more than a handful of people can play along. This is a challenge for everyone, but especially those who usually make cray-cray hyper cars in sandbox and then call the game easy. In this one there will be many difficult compromises that need to be made and no one even cares about your precious track times.

The Challenge

The background story is simple: you continue the legacy of the Düsenberg family (aka. Duesenberg), building crazy fast cars and only crazy fast cars. What would have happened if they did not go under and continued to produce the fastest road cars in the world? That is for you to find out and NOT go bankrupt in the process.

Challenge Announcement Video & My Campaign Setup

Automation: Fastest Car In The World Challenge Announcement

Here are the rules for the challenge:

I have extrapolated where the Düsenberg cars would have been if they had maintained their advantage over the competition in the decades to come, which is what YOU (and I) are going to recreate. The entire challenge comprises a play-through of the Lite Campaign starting in Fruinia with making only eight models during the entire campaign. The design years are indicated above.

The catch is that these models each need to have at least one trim that beats the Record Target Speed, for example 294 km/h for your second car you design in 1955. You are allowed to make other trims as part of that model too. Those are allowed to be less insane and probably will sell much better. The catch with those is that they still need to be at least as fast as the fastest car in the world during that decade, as indicated by the Trim Minimum Speed figures.

The problem for many will not be to reach the top speeds, but rather to do so while making competitive cars that hold the company afloat!

Challenge Timing & YouTube Schedule

My own attempt at this challenge will be on KillrobPlays where you find a new video in the series every third day starting on the 21. Feb 2017 at 05:00 AM New Zealand time, which translates to the 20. Feb 2017 at 17:00 CET or 11 AM in New York, so I’ll give you the -1 day times, as those are relevant to most of you:

16. Feb 2017, Episode 0: The Announcement Video & My Campaign Setup
20. Feb 2017, Episode 1: 1946 Design Year, Min: 214 km/h, Target to Beat: 258 km/h
23. Feb 2017, Episode 2: 1955 Design Year, Min: 246 km/h, Target to Beat: 294 km/h
26. Feb 2017, Episode 3: 1964 Design Year, Min: 280 km/h, Target to Beat: 295 km/h
1. Mar 2017, Episode 4: 1975 Design Year, Min: 281 km/h, Target to Beat: 325 km/h
4. Mar 2017, Episode 5: 1984 Design Year, Min: 325 km/h, Target to Beat: 386 km/h
7. Mar 2017, Episode 6: 1992 Design Year, Min: 386 km/h, Target to Beat: 414 km/h
10. Mar 2017, Episode 7: 2002 Design Year, Min: 414 km/h, Target to Beat: 431 km/h
13. Mar 2017, Episode 8: 2010 Design Year, Min: 431 km/h, Target to Beat: 450 km/h

Challenge Interaction

It is an informal challenge, there is no judging of entries or direct competition apart from loosely comparing high scores, pain, and suffering at the end. The main goal is to share the struggle and the story of your high speed run!

Build the next car before the episode goes live on my channel, i.e. build the first one before 20. Feb 2017 and hit the car sign-off button. Then share here in this thread what you’ve created and how your company is doing (financials & sales numbers) for everyone to see after my episode went live. Don’t forget which difficulty you chose and make a screenshot of your campaign setup screen! After sharing, you get to building the next car, hit sign-off and continue the cycle.

I encourage you to make your own build videos for this challenge and share them with the community.

Final Words

Can you bring the Düsenberg legacy back to life? Show us how you make the fastest cars in the world and thrived in this challenge. I hope you’ll enjoy this slightly odd challenge. If you have questions about the rules or procedure, feel free to ask below!

Cheers guys!
/Killrob

Challenge Participant Videos on YouTube

@Killrob’s dev approach to the challenge (Insane Difficulty) [Score: 64687]
Episode 0, Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8

@Der_Bayer’s approach to victory: I6 supercars! (Insane Difficulty) [Score: 28066]
Episode 0, Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8

@Tycondero 's playthrough with Hollandia (Insane Difficulty)
Episode 0, Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5

@koolkei’s two attempts at … pain & greatness?! (Insane Difficulty) [Score: 17259]
Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4
Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8

@Weasel’s German language playthrough of the challenge (Insane Difficulty) [Score: 75308]
Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8

@Sillyworld’s series for the challenge (Insane Difficulty)
Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4

@Steel is joining in but a lil more hardcore… I4s only on (Insane Difficulty)
Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4

@NoahC is also giving it a shot, looking pretty rough already! (Insane Difficulty 2.35)
Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3

@nogard is joining in the fun as well (Hard Difficulty)
Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5

@pHanta comes late to the party but has a whole lot of videos lined up already [Score: 42464]
Playlist, No Commentary, Bonus Track Video

[koolkei]

oh yessssssss
this challenge is so youtube friendly… i WILL at least try to make a challenge series for this

[Killrob]

It will be amazing for YouTube all the popular search terms in it glad you’re joining in the fun!

[strop]

This is my kind of Tycoon challenge!

The problem is I have very little time right now, but it seems there’s no deadline of this challenge?

[Killrob]

No deadlines, you can play along with the flow, which would be optimal of course, but that would require you make one car every third day. Alternatively you can play this challenge whenever you like and tell the story of your leadership at Düsenberg anyway. Would be awesome if you joined in, making this challenge I thought this might be the challenge where it is strop we’ll all lose to xD

[Zabhawkin]

And I thought my CAFE challenge was rough

[strop]

Yes and no, definitely I can make the car fast, but my very brief attempts to make a company viable at difficulty 2x have been pretty abysmal

[koolkei]

yup. recorded first episode just because i wanted to try this.
fucking hardcore man… i managed it, but not profitable…

plus i encountered a slew of weird bugs i never had before…

[phale]

After giving it a shot in sandbox mode first, I’ve come to the conclusion that the 1982 car is basically impossible. There’s no body that is sufficiently aerodynamic enough in that year without going to older bodies (with a desirability penalty), or straight up cheat mods. Even still, I had to push 700+ hp with +15 aero and severe undercooling to get close to the target.

[Killrob]

That is a valid point, I think that needs to be shifted to 1984 instead! Thanks for pointing out.
Yeah, just tried it in sandbox, got 404 km/h first try using the 1984 body so that’s definitely possible, I shall update the graphic, too.

Edit: I’ll go over the figures of some of the years/speeds to make sure they are somewhat playable. The 70s model seems to need some treatment, too be assured though that the first three won’t change anymore in case people have started. They are tricky, but possible.

Edit 2: I’ve now revised a lot of the later speed requirements while staying true to the challenge I hope it’s not too much easy mode now thanks for bringing the issue(s) to my attention @phale

[strop]

Just seeking a quick guidance for people new to this mode and those not sure whether to go on alike… on insane difficulty, just how far from breaking even should one aim for by the time it’s time to build the next model?

[Killrob]

I played up to and including to the third model so far (the second one is TOUGH!!) but the first one should get you almost back to where you started, but doesn’t have to because you are reusing all the factories anyway and don’t need to expand much at all. By the time the second model is getting old you should be in good profit but that depends a lot on the economy, too. Cheers!

Edit: Maybe I should change that second car to a more reasonable top speed but it was entirely possible and even made a profit in the end, so I’m a bit undecided on that. I think it will cause many an early failure in the series. Lowering it to 280 km/h would be tough enough. I have recorded that episode already though haha

[findRED19]

I am definately going to attempt this, and make vids on it, but that means I might only get 1 car built ever week, or every other week. School & work comes first.

[Oskiinus]

Hypercar company… Sounds delicious for Youtube, however I don’t record anything xD

[SpaceOrion]

very interesting thing. a company that only makes cars that break speed records

[Der_Bayer]

I’m definitely taking part. The company will be DuesenBAM and the engine department will be limited to inline 6 engines.

I started with 2.00 difficulty (starting with $150M and market multipliers 1.0 each) and already recorded until 1964, now being at $166M. Most of the revenue has been made by “budget” trims so far, but I don’t know how to approach the 1964 car yet. 280 km/h is a lot and aerodynamic bodies are quite limited.

[Killrob]

I have no idea how you would complete this with I6s though haha, making it so much harder!
DuesenBAM ftw, looking forward to hearing of your exploits later on. Are you making quick build review videos for your channel, too? Cheers!

[Der_Bayer]

Yeah, I will record and comment quickly without too much effort and quality.

[Killrob]

Excellent. I think I’ll make a list of videos in the OP for each episode, so that we all can find the various players’ content.

[Slim_Jim]

I originally wanted to start a fictional car group based on Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg. I just never found the time to get started. This is much needed motivation lol. Looking forward to competing in this challenge! I’m in between classes right now, so I have some time to play again.