Resources and GUI

[CritterKiller]

I found Automation through steam greenlight and downloaded the demo. Played it a bit and then preordered, I'v been playing this game exclusively for about a week now. There are a couple things that have been nagging at me.

One of my favorite things to do in game is to replicate real life engines. I would like to be able to type in the values for things like the bore, stroke, rpm, compression ratios, redlines, etc.... I'v found using the sliders is good for getting the value in the general area (sometimes) and the buttons for fine accuracy. But when I already have the value I'd like to be able to just punch it in, it would make things more efficient.

Also when renaming/changing the name of an engine you have to remove the whole thing, or atleast the part after the bit you'd like to change. For instance I have a 2.5 L I4 SOHC 8 valve Turbo engine. But then I change to a DOHC with 4 valves per cylinder. I have to remove the SOHC 8 Valve Turbo part to change it to DOHC 16 Valve Turbo. Earlier I found a thread that brought up a similar issue and someone on the dev team said that it would be addressed, however I can't find the thread again. And having a blinking vertical line in the text box would be great.

The final issue I have is it just doesn't seem like the information I need to understand most of the stuff is there. I bet it is there but the way it is presented just doesn't really make it click for me. I only have a very basic knowledge of internal combustion engines and so far I'v been able to complete most of the tutorial and easy scenarios with gold and silver ratings respectively, a few bronzes. As far as turbos go I don't even get them. I'd like to know why things are the way they are. I can kinda figure out how to do something, but I can't really go any further without knowing why. I'm not asking for a textbook on engine design. But maybe a pdf where all the information is in one place that I can have open while playing and use it as reference sheet. Where all the basic and absolutely critical info is on the first page or so, and then more detailed descriptions further on. I think something like that would be very helpful in helping players tackle the learning curve. Anyway where you can make the game more approachable for players who may have an interest but aren't real gearheads would be great. I'm sorry if I'm not explaining it well.

[Daffyflyer]

I have to remove the SOHC 8 Valve Turbo part to change it to DOHC 16 Valve Turbo. Earlier I found a thread that brought up a similar issue and someone on the dev team said that it would be addressed, however I can't find the thread again. And having a blinking vertical line in the text box would be great.

The final issue I have is it just doesn't seem like the information I need to understand most of the stuff is there. I bet it is there but the way it is presented just doesn't really make it click for me. I only have a very basic knowledge of internal combustion engines and so far I'v been able to complete most of the tutorial and easy scenarios with gold and silver ratings respectively, a few bronzes. As far as turbos go I don't even get them. I'd like to know why things are the way they are. I can kinda figure out how to do something, but I can't really go any further without knowing why. I'm not asking for a textbook on engine design. But maybe a pdf where all the information is in one place that I can have open while playing and use it as reference sheet. Where all the basic and absolutely critical info is on the first page or so, and then more detailed descriptions further on. I think something like that would be very helpful in helping players tackle the learning curve. Anyway where you can make the game more approachable for players who may have an interest but aren't real gearheads would be great. I'm sorry if I'm not explaining it well.

Ahh yes, that first problem still needs to be fixed, the cursor will be added when we finish changing to new text system at least. Unfortunately typing in values for everything isn't going to be very easy to do nicely, so that might not happen. I don't find there are too many things that are much trouble to set to real values except maybe Bore and Stroke.


I'd say that if you only have a basic knowledge of engines that watching all of the tutorial videos would be the first thing to do, as they cover things starting from quite a simple and basic level (teaching you the very basics of how an engine works) From there the text descriptions of parts cover things in a bit more depth but are a bit more technical. If you can think of any topics that aren't covered by either of those two things, let us know, because we aim to make it playable by people who don't have much knowledge to start with.

[Der Bayer]

I'd just like to add that I have a PDF for beginners in Automation pretty much ready (just a bit of polishing to do). It will be released when the official Multiplayer update is out. Maybe this will be what you are looking for.

Also, there is a button on the right next to the text box. Clicking on that will reset the engine name to the current configuration.

[CritterKiller]

Thank you for the quick reply. Not being able to enter in the values is something I can live with, just would be nice to do that. Maybe that is something for an after final release patch. And that is good news about the cursor.

I'll go through and watch the videos and read the text descriptions, I will probably take notes. I generally like to have information in one spot where I can just look at it, not have to click through menus. Also, need to check, but I'm not sure how to change torque values or affect the smoothness value. Think there are a couple other's just can't think of them. I'd like to make a high torque and low revving engine, not sure how to. I also just found the wiki, seems like there is a fair bit of work to be done with it. Nice to know it is there though, wikis are generally a great place to get well organized information. Looking forward to when more of the articles are written.

Edit: Der Bayer, that may be just what I am looking for, thank you.

[Drummerdude48]

the cursor will be added when we finish changing to new text system at least.

Let out a "wohoo!" at work when I read this (I'm pretty sure my workmates things I'm crazy now haha). I was totally unaware that you could change the car names up until yesterday because there was no cursor line.

The PDF is a great idea as I can imagine there will be a lot of people who like cars/have a small interest in engines/just plain love tycoon games but dont have much of a working knowledge on the IC engines. I know the end game will have everything in the tutorial videos but it's always nice to have the option of a PDF manual.