Industrial spying

[Drake]

pininfarina isnt just a coachmaker, they also design for ferrari, who then build the "coaches" in their on prod. lines

on the tuning front: alpina ( http://www.alpina-automobiles.com/ )

they get the prototypes of bmw, after bmw is through testing them, bmw delivers the more or less complete cars they ordered to them (alpina has some special colors for the cars, and bmw paints those too....)

and iirc one of the US M-models isnt the same as in EU, but has the alpina engine.


spying isnt reverse engineering, and patents only help if the government of the country the copying one resides in cares.

some chinese car looks like the old X5, an austrian ropeway (sry, thats a dictionary translation) designer once was called to repair a ropeway of theirs in china, even they never built one there. they copyed the mounts and included the nametag of the original producer.


any toughts on counter measures? in the company, and/or with the governemnt.

Im well aware that Pinnifarina isn't just a Coachbuilder, All I am saying is it would be nice to have such companies that you could buy bodies from, or maybe even have them design a body for you.(not sure how well that would work though..)

There are many such companies, and atleast a few would be nice, others could possibly be modded in later.

I wonder how easy it would be to mod in new body designs for the game.. or any graphics type stuff.

Companies like Alpina could be represented in the game. The devs have confirmed that you will be able to buy whole car models and rebrand them. What they haven't confirmed is whether we will be able to modify them.. but I suspect we will.

I think relations between companys should play a big factor when it comes to tuning companies. Companies like Alpina don't just pop up overnight and I highly doubt BMW would send prototypes to a new company.. The more deals you make and such, the better relations get and unlocks more options and better deals.

IMO tuning companies should be left out for the release and added later.. There are much more important things to add to the game, and the player should be able to make his own anyways.. Plus since they will all be using models based on existing ones it should be quite easy to mod them into the game.

As for the counter measures for spying and the like.. If caught it should affect your companies public image, but moreso in the countries where the company you stole from reside.

Perhaps government fines if caught?

Maybe the player could hire security personel, and buy security buildings and security upgrades(keycard, fingerprint, etc.. They would be unlocked in certain years) to help prevent stealing.

Maybe random events if your engineers are poorly paid they might defect or sell secrets to competitors.

[Deus ex Machina]

i can agree with all u said

[Savoyard]

Quick note: someone mentioned the word 'Prestige'

Could these be some modifier/stat for your company? Maybe regional prestige? Sort of how well known you are, like reputation (but Prestige sounds better...).

[Drake]

Quick note: someone mentioned the word 'Prestige'

Could these be some modifier/stat for your company? Maybe regional prestige? Sort of how well known you are, like reputation (but Prestige sounds better...).

I was thinking something along the lines of "Public Image", and it being region specific.. Prestige would work too

Although Prestige might be better represented as a more overall company image. Kinda like how everyone in the world knows what a Ferrari is even if they have never seen one in person, or they don't sell many where they live.

[Daffyflyer]

It'll be pretty much as you say.

Prestige - What Ferrari and BMW etc have, class and desirability, performance
Reputation - What VW and Honda have, a reputation for making a good quality, good value product that does the job well.


Oh and those will be both per model, and averaged out for the company as a whole... sort of (still designing that bit!)

[CookieTheDog'sOwner]

Buying parts of competors/independend companies seems to be an intersting feature. I would manage it that way (I haven't to programme it of course and so I can get on your nervs with such suggestions )

1. . . .
2. independend companies and competors will have only limited capacity so that you can get in trouble if you need more, while your supplier is not able to provide
3. depending on the quantity that you and other companies buys of marked-sold parts it would be possible that production is stopped because of economic reasons . . .

Real-life example: the number of DeTomaso Panteras produced each year was limited to the number of transaxles ZF could supply.