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 SA-GTE is over; SA-GT 1970 will start September 1st!Greetings, So, What Is It? Automation Website posted:Automation is a car company tycoon game in which you design and build cars from scratch. It is you who designs everything from the very core that is the engine, over the chassis, to the suspension and the car's looks. Several games have tried this before... but were able to merely scratch the surface. Go ahead, build your dream-car company, or simply aim to dominate the world markets with your superior design skills! Well, there's this vidya game made by Camshaft Software called Automation (Get it here on Steam) or at AutomationGame.com that is basically a car company tycoon game, except this one is made by a team of serious car guys/gals, just like you and I! Unlike most tycoon-style games that kind of gloss over nitty-gritty details about the products you make, Automation has a very in-depth engine and car designer; in fact, it's kind of the defining feature of the game. Want to build your automotive empire on trucks and SUVs? Sure you can do that. Just build an engine:  Design a chassis and body to put it in:  And send it around the track for fun!  (yes, that 5700-pound hunk of metal is lapping the former Top Gear test track faster than an E9x M3) Want to be a boutique manufacturer of fast little sports cars? You can do that too:  So, what is it? OH WILL SOMEONE PUNCH HIM OUT! Anyways, you'll notice I haven't made much mention of the tycoon side of the game...that's because Automation is still in early access, and as such the actual tycoon part of the game is non-existent. So how will we occupy ourselves? By building and racing some GT cars, of course! What's the plan, then? You build a car to conform to the rules (seen below), submit the design to me, and when I have all the entries, we (well, I) take these cars out for a simulated 12-race season on some of the greatest race tracks around the world. Whomever has the most points at the end of the season wins! I Don't Know What I'm Doing! Neither do I!  Just do the best you can at building a fast car that complies with the rules in the next post, then follow the submission guidelines in the third post.
MrChips fucked around with this message at 05:16 on Jul 23, 2015 |
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Jun 2, 2015 06:33
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Preliminary SA-GT  Rules, Season Schedule TBD. Fuel economy estimation: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vKJyfj2Hwp0dLss1CHbuZtlWjbOKlkBf8ARjce8US7o/edit?usp=sharing MrChips fucked around with this message at 02:08 on Aug 22, 2015 |
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Jun 2, 2015 06:34
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FINAL SA-GTE CONSTRUCTOR'S CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS (Click for larger):
MrChips fucked around with this message at 05:17 on Jul 23, 2015 |
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Jun 2, 2015 06:34
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I'm interested, but $30 is a lot to drop on what was, when last I tried it, a tech demo. Has Automation come far enough to be interesting as a game rather than just something to cobble together some stats for this?
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Jun 2, 2015 09:40
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I'm in the same boat, I'd love to try it, but it was still largely the same feature set (able to design engines and chassis but none of the tycoon or economic parts of the game) when I first saw it five or so years ago. The utter lack of apparent progress in such a large time does not give me a lot of confidence that it will ever be finished at this rate.
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Jun 2, 2015 10:18
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I'm in!
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Jun 2, 2015 15:49
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HotCanadianChick posted:I'm in the same boat, I'd love to try it, but it was still largely the same feature set (able to design engines and chassis but none of the tycoon or economic parts of the game) when I first saw it five or so years ago. The utter lack of apparent progress in such a large time does not give me a lot of confidence that it will ever be finished at this rate. Looking at the page, I'm not too hopeful. From the May release : "We are getting closer to a new public version release of the game with many of the flow changes done and working and the naturally aspirated V6 engines having their most difficult to make parts done." So 3+ years of 'development' in and they still haven't got basic engine types working in game, much less the actual game portion of the sim side feature-complete? I know they're trying for a detailed simulation here, but that doesn't leave me a good feeling.
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Jun 2, 2015 17:17
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Liquid Communism posted:Looking at the page, I'm not too hopeful. HotCanadianChick posted:I'm in the same boat, I'd love to try it, but it was still largely the same feature set (able to design engines and chassis but none of the tycoon or economic parts of the game) when I first saw it five or so years ago. The utter lack of apparent progress in such a large time does not give me a lot of confidence that it will ever be finished at this rate. All valid concerns. Automation has taken a long time to develop, and a goodly part of why it has comes down to the task being far larger and far more complicated than the devs had anticipated. Essentially, they've had to rewrite pretty much everything they've done twice over now (which doesn't do much for timelines), but the net result is that they are now making considerable progress on the economic/tycoon side of the game, and have put in place the pieces that will make adding future content, such as additional engines, bodies and whatnot, a lot simpler. Supposedly, a closed beta of the economic side should be starting in the next few months. I'm not going to sit here and say "you have to buy this or you're an idiot"; $30 is not an inconsiderable amount of money to spend on something that isn't finished yet (and all the poo poo that's gone down with early access would make me hesitate had I not bought in a long time ago), but I can assure you that progress is being made in spite of appearances otherwise. I just thought that for those of us that do already own Automation (or those on the fence about buying it), this might be a bit of fun to tide us over until we get more content.
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Jun 2, 2015 23:16
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I may be down for this, I'd be very interested to see if I could get a working V4 engine in this thing.
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Jun 3, 2015 02:53
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i bought and played this extensively back before V8s were added. i'll have to get back into it to kick everybody's rear end at this
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Jun 3, 2015 03:41
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I am disappointed that it seems like a V6 is not an option. I WANT MY TURBO PUSHROD BUICK! Are we allowed to take negative points? I don't seem to be losing much power by having -15 in exhaust 
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Jun 3, 2015 17:44
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I'm feeling pretty chipper about my 2.2 Flatplane Twin Turbo V8. Going to have to find a new chassis though, as I can't get big enough tyres on.
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Jun 3, 2015 20:02
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IOwnCalculus posted:I am disappointed that it seems like a V6 is not an option. I WANT MY TURBO PUSHROD BUICK! The next update will have V6s in it; might even be out before the submission deadline! Also, MrChips posted:
You could go Alternators by Lucas by putting negative points into your exhaust, but your car might not might not make the first hour of the race without repairs.
MrChips fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Jun 3, 2015 |
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Jun 3, 2015 21:49
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Definitely getting in on this terrible car design game. Do we get points for offensive ugliness? It's a shame there's no way in the game to paint your car with anything other than a single color.
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Jun 3, 2015 23:58
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Just to confirm, do you mean ultimate 100 or super 98 fuel?
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Jun 4, 2015 19:46
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Just got this last night. I'm obsessed with trying to get a turbo pushrod V8 to run at 12,000 rpm with the max displacement.
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Jun 4, 2015 19:48
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My entry was progressing well last night but then all of a sudden I designed a different engine that is on the efficiency side of the power vs. efficiency curve and now I don't know which will be better. I'm not about to run my cars through the simulation either because a) that's cheating and b) I don't actually have it on my computer anymore; it's on a USB stick in a sealed envelope. stump posted:Just to confirm, do you mean ultimate 100 or super 98 fuel? I got my numbers wrong; I meant Ultimate fuel, 95 AKI/100 RON. Changed in the rules. Speaking of rule changes, I made a slight alteration to the naturally-aspirated engine rules for balance; they are now allowed the full 40 Quality Points across all engine categories.
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Jun 4, 2015 20:36
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Working on my submission Hope you like turbo lag.
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Jun 6, 2015 00:55
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Alright, the first submission has arrived and not surprisingly, it's mine! (Click for big)  CMW Motorsports M-GT6/TB Layout: Front-engine, rear-wheel drive Engine: 3.1L turbocharged OHV inline-6 Power: 740+ bhp @ 8400 RPM Torque: 450+ ft-lb @ 7300 RPM Transmission: 6-speed single-clutch sequential Weight: 1100 kilograms (2425 lb) Weight Distribution: 52F/48R
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Jun 6, 2015 05:02
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I think I finally hit on something with the engine today. Probably going to fiddle with it tomorrow and detune it for reliability. No clue what I'm going to do for the car though.
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Jun 6, 2015 05:59
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Here are the tracks we will be running; extract them to your My Games\Automation\Tracks folder. To find them in-game, click on the Custom Tracks button on the Test Track screen. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-TdAZAcHwLARk42b0xaaDJ3eGs/edit?usp=docslist_api
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Jun 6, 2015 16:04
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This looks fun. Is it cheaper than $29.99 anywhere?
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Jun 6, 2015 16:47
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Tremek posted:This looks fun. Is it cheaper than $29.99 anywhere? At the moment, no, but the Steam Sale starts next week (supposedly) so it might go on discount sometime then.
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Jun 6, 2015 16:58
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Submitted my entry. Does anyone else have a problem with Automotion arbitrarily recalculating stats? I lost 20 horsepower somehow when I loaded up my motor this morning even though everything was where I'd left it the night before 
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Jun 6, 2015 18:51
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Going to reinstall this game and join the championship.
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Jun 6, 2015 21:42
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I'm still fiddling with this, and fighting the urge to put out a full-size Estate Wagon. 
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Jun 6, 2015 22:26
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I tried making a pickup at first, but for some drat reason I can't get the rear tires over 285 section, so I can't put the power down worth a gently caress.
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Jun 7, 2015 00:26
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Can a team enter two cars with the same chassis, but different engine builds?
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Jun 7, 2015 06:59
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Propaganda Bob posted:Working on my submission Did somebody say turbo lag?  Also your lost HP problem might actually be a saving problem. Did you recheck where all your settings were when you reloaded? Currently there's a saving bug in automation where sometimes it doesn't save changes to an engine design unless you specifically go to the test tab and use the big test button there to test your engine after making changes. The developers have promised a fix for it in the next patch which is supposed to be out last month and will probably be out by August.
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Jun 7, 2015 17:23
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Oh hah, was already working on a car that fits into this when I saw this thread. Now to perfect it... Also, for those on the fence, just remember that this is a 3 person team working on this game, and even the back-end engine was started from scratch. As for what is in/out/planned: http://automationgame.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=137
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Jun 7, 2015 18:14
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What's terrible is I find myself wincing as my virtual engine winds out to max RPM like I do listening to a real dyno.
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Jun 7, 2015 18:32
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I think we should standardise wheel rim diameter. Apart from that, I am not good at this game and my naturally aspirated V8's are so far 100bhp behind your drat turbos and I have no idea how this aero poo poo works.
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Jun 7, 2015 19:52
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 Every turbo engine here. Somewhat settled on the engine, swithering on hp vs mpg. Was settled on my chassis, then built an amazing MR chassis forgetting about the weight penalty.
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Jun 7, 2015 19:59
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After seeing engines posted here, I'm doing something wrong. I can't avoid valve float.
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Jun 7, 2015 21:20
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Downloading this now. The game seems a bit pricey but this looks like fun. Do the tracks have elevation? FatCow fucked around with this message at 21:26 on Jun 7, 2015 |
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Jun 7, 2015 21:22
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I remember this game from when it was first started yeeears ago now, got bored of that early version pretty quickly but fired it up last night to "try some things" for this and welp that evening disappeared FAST. Also I'm making tiny efficient cars so all these V8s are scaring me 
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Jun 7, 2015 21:25
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Bentai posted:After seeing engines posted here, I'm doing something wrong. I can't avoid valve float. Increase quality, lower rpm or increase CAM.
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Jun 7, 2015 21:30
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Bentai posted:Can a team enter two cars with the same chassis, but different engine builds? Nope; two cars, same build. That's done to give you a level of redundancy and to more accurately reflect how actual race teams work. Riso posted:I think we should standardise wheel rim diameter. Wheel rim diameter is left open because beyond a certain point, it becomes a direct penalty rather than a benefit - each increase in rim size adds weight with little or no performance benefit. The same can be said about brakes as well; over a certain size (which varies from car to car), it becomes more of a penalty than a benefit. It's up to you, the entrants, to figure out where that point is  On the issue of fuel economy - I found out that the number generated by the game in the car summary section is not particularly accurate for our purposes. That in-game number is based on a road-car duty cycle, so the number it generates reflects low-speed, low-duty cycle driving, and needed a huge amount of fudge factor to make a realistic calculation for a race car based on the testing I did beforehand. Instead, I have taken the efficiency number from the engine screen (the grams/kilowatt-hour or whatever moon units you non-metric types are using) and from that, using the track models provided, I have been able to calculate how much fuel each car should use per lap. The net result is that with this rule set and my fuel economy model, naturally-aspirated cars have the potential for a fairly significant fuel economy advantage, as they can run higher compression ratios, leaner mixtures (fuel charge cooling appears to be modeled in the engine simulation  ) and often higher ignition advances.In many cases, the power penalty (and it isn't as significant after I re-balanced the Quality Points) and subsequent lap time penalty can be offset by fewer fuel stops, which add a significant time penalty. FatCow posted:Do the tracks have elevation? The tracks model elevation change, but not elevation above sea level as far as I can tell. Riso posted:Increase quality, lower rpm or increase CAM. Bore/stroke plays a big role in valve size as well, which is the single biggest factor in whether your valves float and decide to violently meet their roommates face-to-face. MrChips fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Jun 7, 2015 |
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Jun 7, 2015 21:36
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Do all the "LSD" differentials count as electric or does it explicitly mean the electric lsd?
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Jun 7, 2015 22:21
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I should read the rules
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Jun 7, 2015 22:31
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