Simple Challenge: 2018 City [Open to Feb. 28]

The Objective
Build a MY 2018 car that:

  1. is desirable for the in-game City demographic across all markets,
  2. meets in-game safety and emissions requirements across all markets,
  3. looks good and period-appropriate, and
  4. doesn’t rely on unbalanced/cheesy exploits to achieve its desirability.
Inspirations

Toyota Aygo
17385125034113447603119607188140

Citroen C1
17385126990823149964371814589176

Chevrolet Spark
17385127688127272126409412563055

Entry Deadline
2025-03-01T11:59:00Z (End of Day February 28, 2024, anywhere in the world)

Rules

  • Engine Variant and Car Trim must be set to 2018
  • Engine Family and Car Model must start with “SC - [your forum name] -”. For example: “SC - oldmanbuick -". Then the Engine Variant and Car Trim should be the actual name of your engine and car (e.g. “Ecotorque 1.8” and "Flint Dauntless Standard”.
  • Default +5 tech pool all around.
    This means your techpool should look exactly like this:
  • Car must meet all in-game emissions and safety standards in effect at the time for all markets.
  • You must post an “ad” in this forum thread before the deadline with at least one picture of your car and the name of the car. Additional photos, ad copy, lore, etc. is encouraged to add to the fun.
  • You must direct message your .car to me before the deadline.
  • No interior required, but it will provide an advantage if you make the finals.
  • No deliberate cheesing/ minmaxing/ exploits. Do not do anything deliberately intended to exploit some sort of loophole or imbalance in the game or that is wildly inconsistent with how any real world car would be made. (Examples: don’t have some things at -15 quality and others at +15 quality; if you’re building a cheap econobox with a basic interior, don’t throw in a luxury sound system that would never be in that kind of car just because you think it’s a good way to boost your comfort score; don’t use advanced trim settings to make your car look like something it isn’t). If you’re not sure if something crosses the line, ask.
  • Running on stable build.

Rule Violations

I will correct minor rule violations of it can be done simply (like clicking to change the variant/year or clicking the emissions optimization up), but I will not do any corrections that require re-engineering your car (for example, if you use too much techpool to unlock something and that feature is no longer available when the tech pool is reset, your entry will be “binned”).

No resubmissions will be allowed.

If you don’t follow the naming rule, you won’t automatically be eliminated, but there’s a risk that I will literally lose track of your car/engine if it’s not properly named

Scoring - Preliminary Round

Score=50% normalized desirability score in-game for target demographic at the “approximate cost” for the car; 50% design score.

Scores will be normalized relative to medians for each score (so a perfectly average car will have a 1.0). Short reviews with a picture pulled from your ad, the scores, a list of high/low points, and a sentence or two about the car will be released for each entry.

Design score will be on a 0-10 scale and only take into account the exterior. No specific lights/markers are required for compliance with any particular market, but it should look like something that might reasonably exist at the time in the real world. Overall aesthetic appeal as well as well-used detail will be taken into account. Scoring system is roughly: 10 - I love it; 8 - I like it; 6 - it’s OK; 4 - I don’t like it; 2 - I really don’t like it; 0 - is that a car? Odd numbers are if I’m on the fence between two sentiments.

The Preliminary round is a pure numbers game. The “no exploits” rule will not be checked at this stage, but you will not fare well if you break it.

Scoring - Final Round

Entries that score at least average in both engineering and design scores will be eligible for the finals. (I might allow some wiggle room depending on number of qualifying entries, or if an entry is a type standout in one category, and any exceptions made will be noted.)

Starting with the highest ranking qualifying preliminary scored entry, I will work my way down the list looking in detail at each car until there are 5 finalists (subject to change depending on number of entries). If I see in this review that you have violated the “no exploits” rule, your entry will be disqualified from the competition, and I will move on to the next highest-scoring entry to fill finalist slots.

I will be trying to make a holistic assessment of which of the finalists is the “best” car and will rank accordingly. An interior, if included, will work to your benefit. Stats not included in the in-game scoring and the appeal of the car to other market segments may be considered. There is no strict requirement for realism, but if you decide to limit yourself to realistic design choices for the era/segment (to the extent that I know what those are), it will count in your favor. A well-balanced design will be favored over something that dominates narrowly. A well-executed overall concept for the engineering/design will help.

Finalists will receive lengthier reviews.

About this Challenge

If folks like this, I have a plan to make this a monthly recurring challenge (so it’s there if you want it, but never pressing) with randomly selected year/market segment for each challenge, as it was for this round. The exception will be that the next random year will need to be at least 5 years from the past challenge, and the market segment is not one that would basically just call for a different trim/body style of the last round (e.g. family vs. family premium).

The goal is to make this a challenge that’s simple to enter and simple to score, but that will still reward effort and attention to detail. The plan is also to have quick turnaround on judging and between rounds.

Questions and comments on this idea are welcome!

Frequently Asked Questions and Info for New Entrants (click to expand)

How do I message my .car file?
You should be able to click on my profile picture, and an option to message will show up…if you have reached the necessary “trust level” to unlock direct messaging. If you are a new user on the forum, you will need to spend a certain amount of time reading posts, liking posts, etc. to unlock the needed “trust level.”

How do I find my emissions/Why do my stats show WES 0?
It’s a known glitch that the Statistics tab always shows “WES 0,” no matter what your actual emissions are. You also have to have your engine actually in the car to see emissions; nothing will show if you are just in the engine designer with the engine alone. The best place to see your emissions is probably going to the “Engine Variant” tab and clicking on the icon at the top showing exhaust coming from a car:

Where do I find my car’s approximate cost?
This can only be seen on the “Statistics” tab under the “Detail Stats” page. It is the number at the bottom of the right-most column. Note that the number at the top of the right column is the material costs only, which is also the dollar value you’ll see on other design screens. So in this example, the “approximate cost” is $32,300:

How do I export my .car file?
Go to the “Summary” tab and click the floppy disk/save icon as shown below. The file will show up in a file folder for Automation. For me, the file path is: C:\Users[username]\AppData\Local\AutomationGame\Saved\UserData\CarSaveExport
image

Make sure that your entry is put under “Sandbox” instead of a specific brand. If you have it under a brand, tech pool unlocks will apply the country modifier for that brand, which will not show up when the host imports the .car. In the worst case scenario, you might be using a technology that will not show as unlocked for the host. In the best case scenario, your car stats will be a bit worse than expected and/or your price will be a bit higher than expected when the host reviews it.

I’m kind of new at this and don’t really know what I’m doing, and there are some really good cars on these forums. Should I enter?
Yes! This challenge is specifically intended to be welcoming for new participants while also offering something for people who are more skilled and experienced. I’ve found personally that participating in challenges has been a great way to learn things and get better at the game.

3 Likes

Note edit to qualifying criteria for finals requiring average score in both engineering and design. I had meant to include this initially and just forgot.

… can you rise the year of the car, like above 2021?

Sorry, one of the points of this challenge is to have quick turnarounds between rounds, so the year and segment are randomly selected (I literally have a spreadsheet generating a random year and a random selection from a list of classes). Discussion and debate over the year/type of car is all well and good, but it’s just not something I plan to do in this challenge.

How much normalized desirability, then, will be required at minimum? Also, this applies not just to the City segment, but also the City Budget and City Eco demographics if I’m not mistaken.

There is no minimum, but I would think you would want it showing up green of some sort to be competitive.

And no, the score used in the preliminary round will be only for the City demographic. But if you can also make it appeal to other demographics–like City Eco or City Budget–that will count as a positive in final round scoring.

I was planning to open this challenge today, but since there’s been very little engagement, I am wondering if there is enough interest to make this challenge happen. If you could fill out this poll so I can have a gauge of whether it’s worth moving forward, I 'd appreciate it. It won’t show who’s voted what way, and you are of course welcome to enter (if this goes forward) no matter how or whether you answer the poll.

  • I am planning to make an entry
  • I might make an entry
  • I’ve seen this challenge exists, but it’s not for me
0 voters

If you’re not interested in participating because of some reason about how the challenge is structured, I’m appreciate any constructive criticism you might have whether posted here or by direct message.

Thanks!

1 Like

Well, it looks like there’s theoretically enough interest to have at least five finalists, and maybe some others will decide to participate. So let’s give this one a go and see what happens. Entries open.

Can you add inspirations?
also what do we put in trim name?

Corrected the naming rule. Engine Variant and Car Trim should be the actual name of your engine and car. I will post some inspirations.

How do I meet safety requirements?

Under “Demographic Desires”, are bars stretching in to the red a good thing or a bad thing. I honestly dont know how to interpret that chart.

Actually, if a bar stretches all the way to the red/orange zone in Demographic Desires (as shown in the Markets mode of the Overview tab), it means that the corresponding stat is very important for that particular demographic.

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Any specific numbers on techpool cost?

If not, whats a good number for a 2018 city car?

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For low-budget city cars made during this time, a combined engine + trim techpool budget of $50m should suffice.

This was in the rules:

Which means that this is incorrect:

As for this:

abg is right. The longer the bar, the more important the stat. For a city car, a smaller footprint is important, which is why there is a negative number circled in blue here:

I don’t actually know where you can see the standards in sandbox, but you will get the warning circled in red in the picture above if you are failing safety standards.

2 Likes

Alright cool, I get the techpool +5 bit, but what about the techpool cost? Are we to leave that alone too?

I don’t understand your question. Every tech area needs to be set to +5. There is no techpool cost or budget that is relevant here. This is exactly what your techpool should look ike:

2 Likes

I see I see I see, Im over here complicating simple shit lol. You just answered my question…

Thankyou, sorry about that.

There is a reason it’s called “Simple Challenge”! And no worries.

2 Likes