Sandbox engineering costs & feature unlocking

[Packbat]

I assume that engineering and tooling costs in sandbox mode is something that is planned, but it occurs to me that this would be a really elegant way to allow people to build engines and cars with technologies that haven't been unlocked yet for mass production. As of right now, a lot of engine reconstructions have to be done in later years than reality (e.g. mechanical fuel injection is unlocked in 1968, but certain Chevrolets - like the Bel Air - had it as a high-performance option as early as 1957), and this would be a way to allow that while pricing it appropriately.

[Microwave]

AFAIK, the mechanical injection (for example) may have been used in the mid 50s, but those companies would have had to pay million in R&D costs to get that technology. The way Automation works is the feature becomes unlocked around the time that it was becoming common on cars.

[Packbat]

Exactly. So if you're playing in sandbox mode and you want mechanical injection in 1957, the engineering costs include millions of dollars for "technology R&D" - but if you're building it in 1968, you just have the regular R&D cost like you would have for four-barrel carbs.

Edit: It would be really good for forum competition purposes, for example - you could set a limit on engineering+tooling costs and people could decide if they want to spend that on future tech or on upgrading present tech.

[Microwave]

Hmmm... I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to say here.

[Packbat]

Like, suppose it costs $1,000,000 to design an engine normally. (I'm 100% making up this number, btw.) If you're designing a mechanical fuel injection engine in 1968, maybe that's how much the engineering costs are. Engineering costs aren't a part of total costs - total costs is per-unit, engineering costs are per-design. If you build 100 engines, that's $10,000 per engine, but if you build 1,000,000 engines, it's $1 per engine.

If you're designing it in 1967, you have an additional line item in the engineering cost which is for getting that technology early. There would be a limit to how early it would be available - maybe 10-15 years before the default unlock date? - but if you're within that window, the option shows up with maybe some kind of highlighted background to say, "Yes, it's possible, but it will cost you." So in '67 that might be just another $100,000, but in earlier years it would be more - maybe $220,000 in '66, $360,000 in '65, and so forth, until to get it in 1957 you're paying millions.

But people do that for, say, race engines. And if they're doing it for a race engine then maybe they'll try a production model - after all, they've figured out how to make it work, so they might as well see if it pays off in production cars. (Which, in 1957, it kind of didn't, but hey - you try things and sometimes they work.) So giving the option in sandbox mode would give people a little more flexibility, which could make for more interesting competitions based on sandbox mode, frex.

[Microwave]

Ah, ok I think I get it now. Can't see it being implemented, though.

[Killrob]

With the next subproject we'll add engineering to the game where your company gains experience engineering certain parts, which cuts down on engineering time for repeated use of that part. So the mechanic you are describing will be in the game pretty soon in one way or another.