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MrChips
Jun 10, 2005

FLIGHT SAFETY TIP: Fatties out first

Greetings, assholes contestants, and welcome to the second AI Automation Design Challenge - SA-GT 1975, taking place in an era when the men were manly (and the women were womanly), the cars were dangerous and the facial (and pubic) hair was bushy. In this thread you'll find the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, and the smell of virtual race gas!

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 (but should be coming in an early form in the next update). So how will we occupy ourselves? By building and racing some virtual GT cars, of course!

What's the plan, then?

Design a car (or two cars in two different classes) to conform to the rules below, submit the design to me, and when I have all the entries, we (well, I) take these cars out for a simulated 15 (and possibly 16) race season on some of the greatest historic race tracks and time trials from around the world. Whomever has the most points at the end of the season wins their class!

I Don't Know What I'm Doing!

Neither do I! :ssh: 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.

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MrChips
Jun 10, 2005

FLIGHT SAFETY TIP: Fatties out first

SA-GT 1975 Design Criteria




Fuel Economy Estimator Tool:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vKJyfj2Hwp0dLss1CHbuZtlWjbOKlkBf8ARjce8US7o/edit?usp=sharing



RULES

Chassis and Engine Revisions
Revisions are not permitted in-season.


Fuel Consumption
Fuel consumption is modelled based on in-game data, and fuel weight will be simulated in the race simulation.

Reliability

Chassis reliability calculations will be made based upon the following:
-Body Quality Points;
-Chassis design Quality Points;
-Gearbox Quality Points (additional weighting);
-Wheels and Tires Quality Points (additional weighting);
-Brakes Quality Points(additional weighting);
-Aerodynamics Quality Points;
-Suspension Quality Points (additional weighting); and
-Overall Reliability Rating, less Engine Reliability Rating and categories not counted (as mentioned below).

Engine reliability calculations will be made based upon the following;
-Bottom End Quality Points;
-Top End Quality Points;
-Induction Quality Points (turbocharged engines only, additional weighting);
-Fuel Preparation Quality Points (additonal weighting); and
-Exhaust Quality Points (additional weighting).

Exhaust Quality Points shall count for engine accessories not covered in other categories.

Quality Points in the following areas do not count towards reliability calculations or overall totals:
-Exterior fixtures;
-Interior; and
-Entertainment/Driver Assists.

Breakdown Simulation
Time to repair failures is calculated based on track position, speed penalty (if applicable), system affected and failure severity.

Tire Life Simulation
Tire life shall be calculated from a baseline durability, adjusted for Wheel and Tires Quality Points, weight distribution and all-up vehicle weight above the minimum empty class weight.

Pit Stop Simulation

Pit stop simulations will be calculated based as follows:
-Refueling - 6 liters per second;
-Tire Change - additional 60 seconds to Fuel Only stop; and
-Driver Change - additional 20 seconds to Fuel Only stop, no additional time to Fuel and Tires Stop.

Driver changes will be at the pit stop closest to the end of a two-hour stint.

In/Out lap times will be adjusted based on track data.

Race Season

The race season will be as follows:
Round 1 - Daytona Road Course, 24 hours;
Round 2 - Watkins Glen, 12 hours;
Round 3 - Road America, 6 hours;
TT 1 - Pikes Peak Hillclimb (2 runs)
Round 4 - Silverstone Circuit, 6 hours;
Round 5 - Brands Hatch GP, 6 hours;
Round 6 - Zolder, 6 hours;
Special Round - BRC Rally (9 stages);
Round 7 - Spa-Francorchamps, 12 hours;
Round 8 - Le Mans, 24 hours;
Round 9 - Pau Circuit, 6 hours
TT 2 - Freiburg-Shauinsland Hillclimb (2 runs)
Round 10 - Nordschleife, 24 hours;
Round 11 - Estoril, 6 hours;
Round 12 - Monza, 6 hours;
TT 3 - Trento-Bondone Hillclimb;
Round 13 - Hermanos Rodriguez, 6 hours
Round 14 - Mount Panorama, 12 hours;
Round 15 - Fuji Speedway, 6 hours; and
*Tentative Round 16 - Targa Florio, 24 hours.

Teams

A team shall consist of two cars of the same type. A constructor’s championship will be awarded to the team that acquires the largest number of points through the season. At the discretion of the Organiser, no entrant is allowed to enter more than one team. Each participant will be allowed to enter a team in no more than two classes.

Scoring

Points will be awarded to entrants by class as follows:

pre:
Position     6 Hour Race        12 Hour Race        24 Hour Race
1st           50 points          100 points          200 points
2nd           40 points           80 points          160 points
3rd           35 points           70 points          140 points
4th           32 points           64 points          128 points
5th           30 points           60 points          120 points
6th           28 points           56 points          102 points
7th           26 points           52 points          104 points
8th           24 points           48 points           96 points
9th           22 points           44 points           88 points
10th          20 points           40 points           80 points
11th          19 points           38 points           76 points
12th          18 points           36 points           72 points
13th          17 points           34 points           68 points
14th          16 points           32 points           64 points
15th          15 points           30 points           60 points
16th          14 points           28 points           56 points
17th          13 points           26 points           52 points
18th          12 points           24 points           48 points
19th          11 points           22 points           44 points
20th          10 points           20 points           40 points
21st           9 points           18 points           36 points
22nd           8 points           16 points           32 points
23rd           7 points           14 points           28 points
24th           6 points           12 points           24 points
25th +         5 points           10 points           20 points
All Time Trial (TT) events will be scored as 6-hour events, while the BRC Rally will be scored as a 12-hour event based on overall times, with the following points awards for each stage:

pre:
Rally Stage Winners
Position        Points
1st               5
2nd               4
3rd               3
4th               2
5th               1
Entrants must complete 70% of race winner’s distance to score points. All cars completing less than 70% distance will be scored as Not Classified (NC).

MrChips fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Oct 1, 2015

MrChips
Jun 10, 2005

FLIGHT SAFETY TIP: Fatties out first

Submission Guidelines

Each participant will be allowed to enter one car each in as many as two classes. Entries must be in the following format when viewed in Automation:




:siren::siren::siren:IMPORTANT NOTE: Due to the complexity of administering this challenge, this naming format MUST be followed or your entries will be disallowed! All entries must have unique names, as a) it adds flavour to the event and makes it easy for me to keep track of what’s what, and b) leaving your entry as “Car Model 1 - Car Trim 1” basically ensures that it won’t save or load properly (on account of Automation’s screwy save system).

Entry Instructions

So, you’ve built and tested your cars and now it’s time to send them off, here are the files you need:






Zip these four files up for each of your entries, then send them to AISheepGame@gmail.com (with “SA-GT 1975” in the subject line) no later than TBD.

IMPORTANT: Again, due to the complexity of this challenge, I will only accept one group of legal entries from each participant before the submission deadline, so make sure you’re happy with them before you send them in!

Scrutineering will work the same way as it did in SA-GTE; each participant will receive an email with the scrutineering reports for their cars. Teams with compliant entries will be frozen until the appropriate date in the timeline, while teams with non-compliant entries will be allowed one additional submission only - again, that’s due to the complexity of administering this challenge. Additionally, I will allow one revision after the first (and only) testing day, so if you have any changes you wish to submit, you have a chance to do so. Here’s the timeline:

October 2nd: Submissions open
October 20th: Submissions close; no new players will be accepted.
October 21st: Test Day for all cars; revision window opens.
October 25th: Revision window closes; all entrants designs are frozen after this.
October 26th: Season begins!

MrChips fucked around with this message at 20:24 on Oct 1, 2015

MustardFacial
Jun 20, 2011
George Russel's
Official Something Awful Account
Lifelong Tory Voter
Oh gently caress I totally forgot this was happening. You win this time TMR. Phoenix Racing will be back. we will not unveil our car until it is ready but I assure you it will be a revolution to the automotive industry.

bandman
Mar 17, 2008
I'll be downloading Automation when I get home. Been wanting to get in on the auto tycoon fun :coolfish:

SuperDucky
May 13, 2007

by exmarx
Definitely wanna get in this time.

No Road Atlanta? :(

Modus Man
Jun 8, 2004



Soiled Meat
Modus Motor Company is currently developing their Touring Class entry, the 1.5 Liter NA, 145hp Spinfire. Well that's an unfortunate name but the t-shirts have already been printed. Our main goal right now is to get the cost down to $7000 from it's current $7,900 without losing too much of that 145hp. Good luck assholes.

Tremek
Jun 10, 2005

My game is still broken. Is it virtually non-functional for others too? I can't open any car or engine right now.

Anyone have an idea of how far out an update is?

ionn
Jan 23, 2004

Din morsa.
Grimey Drawer
I just got Automation to work under Parallels on my Mac, so I'm pretty much good to go. Crappy graphics performance, but the sucker works. Got a couple noob questions over the rules and their corresponding things in the game though (possibly covered in the previous thread, but I can't easily find what I'm looking for):

  • I can't find anywhere to set the fuel tank size. Is the weight stated just the empty weight (the one that has to be above the minimum weight for the class), and as much fuel as fits below the upper limit will just be added to the car when simulating the race?
  • For the Open class, is there actually a minimum engine displacement requirement, or is it just "if you're below this you're stupid, it's unlimited!"?
  • Does the "trim" stuff (8-tracks and seats and crap) and the prestige and other such values have any effect on the cars performance for this race, other than giving me some ballast when I'm underweight and providing the necessary safety level?
  • When I'm doing the tyre sizes, I'm often not allowed to do the width I want, even if I've increased the wheel diameter to get to the proper profile. I end up just clicking around at random and sometimes it's suddenly allowed, or the value I want just plops into place. I can't really see the correlation between the various values (including ride height and brake size). Wheel arches seems to have some kind of random effect, but it doesn't make sense to me. What else affects how wide/large tires I can fit? Is it just buggy as gently caress?
  • Is there a convenient way to see the total amount of quality points spent on a car? Something easier than going through all the screens and summing it up...
  • Is there some way to fit a decently sized engine into the only available mid-engine body for 1975? Transversal or longitudinal, I can only put a puny lawnmower-sized engine in it before it complains about it being too big. Are there some tricks I'm unaware of?

MrChips
Jun 10, 2005

FLIGHT SAFETY TIP: Fatties out first

ionn posted:

I just got Automation to work under Parallels on my Mac, so I'm pretty much good to go. Crappy graphics performance, but the sucker works. Got a couple noob questions over the rules and their corresponding things in the game though (possibly covered in the previous thread, but I can't easily find what I'm looking for):

  • I can't find anywhere to set the fuel tank size. Is the weight stated just the empty weight (the one that has to be above the minimum weight for the class), and as much fuel as fits below the upper limit will just be added to the car when simulating the race?
  • For the Open class, is there actually a minimum engine displacement requirement, or is it just "if you're below this you're stupid, it's unlimited!"?
  • Does the "trim" stuff (8-tracks and seats and crap) and the prestige and other such values have any effect on the cars performance for this race, other than giving me some ballast when I'm underweight and providing the necessary safety level?
  • When I'm doing the tyre sizes, I'm often not allowed to do the width I want, even if I've increased the wheel diameter to get to the proper profile. I end up just clicking around at random and sometimes it's suddenly allowed, or the value I want just plops into place. I can't really see the correlation between the various values (including ride height and brake size). Wheel arches seems to have some kind of random effect, but it doesn't make sense to me. What else affects how wide/large tires I can fit? Is it just buggy as gently caress?
  • Is there a convenient way to see the total amount of quality points spent on a car? Something easier than going through all the screens and summing it up...
  • Is there some way to fit a decently sized engine into the only available mid-engine body for 1975? Transversal or longitudinal, I can only put a puny lawnmower-sized engine in it before it complains about it being too big. Are there some tricks I'm unaware of?

First of all I'm surprised that you got this working on a Mac...good job!

To answer your questions in order:

  • Fuel tanks are simulated on my end. How it works is I take the maximum weight with fuel for your class, subtract your car's empty weight (which is the weight that that game generates for your car) and either use the difference as your fuel tank size or the maximum permitted fuel, whichever is smallest.
  • It's Open-class...do whatever you want! ;)
  • Trim has a miniscule effect on your car's speed, so I don't worry about it in the simulation. You (as in you, the participants) should worry about it because the weight the trim adds affects weight distribution differently than if you added the same weight by increasing your safety Quality Points (which is the best way to add/subtract a lot of weight from your car).
  • Increasing overall wheel diameter, wheel/tire Quality Points (which affects the minimum allowed tire profile) and decreasing rim size will get you most of the way to your desired tire width. Body choice and the size of your wheel flares also plays a big role too.
  • Unfortunately not. :saddowns:
  • Not really; about the only advice I can give is build a highly undersquare motor (meaning, small bore and long stroke). Of course that comes with other problems, but it's up to you to determine if it's worth it.

Riso
Oct 11, 2008

by merry exmarx

ionn posted:

I just got Automation to work under Parallels on my Mac, so I'm pretty much good to go. Crappy graphics performance, but the sucker works. Got a couple noob questions over the rules and their corresponding things in the game though (possibly covered in the previous thread, but I can't easily find what I'm looking for):


  • Is there some way to fit a decently sized engine into the only available mid-engine body for 1975? Transversal or longitudinal, I can only put a puny lawnmower-sized engine in it before it complains about it being too big. Are there some tricks I'm unaware of?

Now you know why Lotus fit into that body pretty much only on a 2.2l I4.

ionn
Jan 23, 2004

Din morsa.
Grimey Drawer
Thanks, señor Chips.

After failing a while, the trick to getting it running wasn't too difficult in the end. I spent a lot of time trying to get experimental graphics stuff working in VirtualBox (that a rumour said would support Pixel Shader 3.0) but never got anywhere. Tried it out in Parallels instead, and it just worked (due to having much better graphics support). Crappy performance, but it works, and doesn't seem to be more buggy than it is for everyone else. And I guess the glorious graphics isn't why you play this anyway.

ionn
Jan 23, 2004

Din morsa.
Grimey Drawer
I eventually managed to get a not-entirely-horrible V6 in there. Probably going to be worse than an FR setup with a better engine though. I'm fully realise how not good I am at this.

extreme_accordion
Apr 9, 2009
Is it September already?

Victorian Hooray's are due to make the scene in style.

MrChips
Jun 10, 2005

FLIGHT SAFETY TIP: Fatties out first

Tremek posted:

My game is still broken. Is it virtually non-functional for others too? I can't open any car or engine right now.

Anyone have an idea of how far out an update is?

It sounds like we might be only a week or so away from a new beta release; hopefully they've fixed some of the issues we've been having. If it does come out soon, I will push back the timeline by a week or two so we can see if the beta is usable at all. Also, the rules will change a bit if we switch to the beta, as it has been confirmed that rear-engine cars are in the new version. :getin:

Kafouille
Nov 5, 2004

Think Fast !
A new challenge !

Sorry for being gone for the actual races of the last one, I got seriously busy at the time so when you announced the tire rule changes I given up on it as i didn't have time to rework the car. It was a surprise to see it win in the end, turns out that my strategy of concentrating on handling while everyone was obsessing over Le Mans times worked. Even if the excessive tire wear kinda killed me on the Ring.

Let's see if I can make some waves for KRG again :france:

Kafouille fucked around with this message at 21:00 on Sep 3, 2015

Duuk
Sep 4, 2006

Victorious, he returned to us, claiming that he had slain the drought where even Orlanth could not. The god-talkers were not sure what to make of this.

MrChips posted:

It sounds like we might be only a week or so away from a new beta release; hopefully they've fixed some of the issues we've been having. If it does come out soon, I will push back the timeline by a week or two so we can see if the beta is usable at all. Also, the rules will change a bit if we switch to the beta, as it has been confirmed that rear-engine cars are in the new version. :getin:

Fixes would be much appreciated. I'm sick and tired of the snip tool.

That said, I'd be a bit miffed if I had to throw out the builds I have - without seeing them "in action" - and start over from scratch due to changes in rules. I mean, I think they pack a pretty decent punch competition wise with the rules as they are.

I might be alone in this I guess. Ultimately the rules are the rules, whatever they'll end up as.

Top Hats Monthly
Jun 22, 2011


People are people so why should it be, that you and I should get along so awfully blink blink recall STOP IT YOU POSH LITTLE SHIT

MrChips posted:

It sounds like we might be only a week or so away from a new beta release; hopefully they've fixed some of the issues we've been having. If it does come out soon, I will push back the timeline by a week or two so we can see if the beta is usable at all. Also, the rules will change a bit if we switch to the beta, as it has been confirmed that rear-engine cars are in the new version. :getin:

I've heard "Week or two away" for like three weeks :saddowns:

MrChips
Jun 10, 2005

FLIGHT SAFETY TIP: Fatties out first

The rule change will only be to permit rear-engine cars, likely in all classes.

Also, it was two or three weeks as of the last dev update on the 23rd of August, so that puts the release window opening very shortly (I hope).

E: I think we also get turbo V6s this update too. Yet another reason why I hope the beta is in better working order than the current build.

MrChips fucked around with this message at 04:59 on Sep 4, 2015

MrChips
Jun 10, 2005

FLIGHT SAFETY TIP: Fatties out first

Dev Update today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKpYdOdJy3M

tl,dr: Beta is a week away or so, many bugs fixed including the save system (which they finally admitted was really bugged), a bit of UI cleanup, first taste of the tycoon mode, rear-engine cars, V6 turbos and longitudinal 4x4 drivetrain added. Old saves very likely to work in new version.

I am going to postpone the challenge until the open beta comes out.

Kafouille
Nov 5, 2004

Think Fast !
So are people not working on cars or just being secretive ? That's no fun.

Currently working on a pair of Touring class cars, current Ring times top out at 8:16 with a NA V6 of all things. It's not even DOHC.

Riso
Oct 11, 2008

by merry exmarx
Wait what. A TOURING CAR with a 1.2-1.5L engine does the Ring in 8:16?

What the gently caress are you doing?

KozmoNaut
Apr 23, 2008

Happiness is a warm
Turbo Plasma Rifle


Kafouille posted:

So are people not working on cars or just being secretive ? That's no fun.

Personally, I'm waiting for the beta.

Duuk
Sep 4, 2006

Victorious, he returned to us, claiming that he had slain the drought where even Orlanth could not. The god-talkers were not sure what to make of this.

Kafouille posted:

So are people not working on cars or just being secretive ? That's no fun.

Currently working on a pair of Touring class cars, current Ring times top out at 8:16 with a NA V6 of all things. It's not even DOHC.

Well, the beta is a week away or more than that (dev update suggested it might get delayed a bit more), the release is a week behind that.

In addition to rear engined cars and turbo V6-s being added the dev update suggested cooling requirements for old cars will become more strict and who knows what else. Don't see the point in sweating away at something to find it's useless two weeks down the line. Personally I'd rather see this challenge run with the old lovely version and then start the next with the shiny fresh client with a (hopefully) working Save button. Also because I'm antsy to see my Howlers stacked up against other people's stuff in the sim.

That said, if your Touring is doing 8:16 on a 1.5 litre NA V6 you can just submit it and rest assured in your victory because what the gently caress.

In the off chance you meant 9:16 then I've seen NA Tourers go down to about 9 minutes flat. And Turbos will handily beat that.

Duuk fucked around with this message at 12:33 on Sep 6, 2015

Kafouille
Nov 5, 2004

Think Fast !

Riso posted:

Wait what. A TOURING CAR with a 1.2-1.5L engine does the Ring in 8:16?

What the gently caress are you doing?

My bad, Sportsman. My Touring is barely squeaking below 9:00 on another NA V6. Sportsman is also now managing 8:10 after fussing the gearing and suspension tunning

Kafouille fucked around with this message at 13:08 on Sep 6, 2015

Duuk
Sep 4, 2006

Victorious, he returned to us, claiming that he had slain the drought where even Orlanth could not. The god-talkers were not sure what to make of this.

Kafouille posted:

My bad, Sportsman. My Touring is barely squeaking below 9:00 on another NA V6. Sportsman is also now managing 8:10 after fussing the gearing and suspension tunning

8:10 is impressive. Thank you for the benchmark - you have made tinkering interesting, even if it's just to learn for the future.

Sounds like I'm either missing something critical or have picked the wrong body type again.

FYI, Turbo tourers in this thread, including my own, have put in lap times below 8:50. In my calculations at least, the fuel economy of the 1,5NA can't win that back.

Duuk fucked around with this message at 18:22 on Sep 6, 2015

Militant Lesbian
Oct 3, 2002
I'm personally wondering how many of the people posting ridiculously low times with cars have forgotten to change the car's year from 2015 to 1975. :v:

Duuk
Sep 4, 2006

Victorious, he returned to us, claiming that he had slain the drought where even Orlanth could not. The god-talkers were not sure what to make of this.

HotCanadianChick posted:

I'm personally wondering how many of the people posting ridiculously low times with cars have forgotten to change the car's year from 2015 to 1975. :v:

The somewhat unfortunate thing is, that there is always "the best" body type, which tends to be several seconds quicker than the others. I have been able to get several body types down below 8:20 for the Sportsman class and my favourite ran a 8:16 while looking awesome, so I was very happy with it. Also rather glad there were other bodies so close by.

The 8:10 body is, in hindsight, the obvious choice (although I might be missing something again and there could be another). It can't be that hard to get down to that time if I could do it with my little experience. Unfortunately it looks rather lumpy in my opinion so I might stick to Touring and Open unless the Beta brings a competitive Porsche-like.

wargames
Mar 16, 2008

official yospos cat censor

HotCanadianChick posted:

I'm personally wondering how many of the people posting ridiculously low times with cars have forgotten to change the car's year from 2015 to 1975. :v:

8:10 is 100% possible in 1975, keep messing around with the game, and get very very very good with suspension.

extreme_accordion
Apr 9, 2009
It's a little crazy what all those suspension tweaks and brake tweaks can do for you.
My current Touring entry is turning high 2:51 at RA and high 9:12 at the Green Hell.
I think I need to re-add my total quality points though.

Top Hats Monthly
Jun 22, 2011


People are people so why should it be, that you and I should get along so awfully blink blink recall STOP IT YOU POSH LITTLE SHIT
I would be pretty gosh darned annoyed if they made another delay

Duuk
Sep 4, 2006

Victorious, he returned to us, claiming that he had slain the drought where even Orlanth could not. The god-talkers were not sure what to make of this.
Well, I'm sure there's 1,5-2 more seconds in there somewhere - possibly even more I suppose - but I can't be bothered to find out:


On the bright side the stuff I learned from this exercise made my Tourer about half a second faster around the Ring :unsmith: and I have yet to apply the Treatment to my Open car.

Duuk fucked around with this message at 21:50 on Sep 8, 2015

MrChips
Jun 10, 2005

FLIGHT SAFETY TIP: Fatties out first

Just aa friendly reminder guys, submissions are closed until the beta releases. Also please make sure you follow the submission guidelines in the third post, regarding the naming of your car(s). It might not seem like a big deal, but with potentially 60+ entries in this challenge, it's going to be a big job to keep it organised.

MrChips
Jun 10, 2005

FLIGHT SAFETY TIP: Fatties out first

In case anyone was wondering, I am putting the downtime in the challenge to good use. In the last few days I have:

  • Modeled a few additional tracks (Trento-Bondone, Zolder and Pau - remaining are Brands Hatch GP, Old Mount Panorama, Hermanos Rodriguez, Old Fuji, Freiburg-Shauinsland and old Estoril);
  • Come up with a seemingly adequate mathematical, non-Automation-based simulation of Targa Florio based on historical lap time data (so it's on motherfuckers!);
  • Made a pretty major change to tire modeling; the weight of the car (including the effect of variable fuel weight) as well as weight distribution are now taken into account;
  • Beat some sense into the reliability calculations; made them much more unforgiving of low QP values and reweighted some categories;
  • Added an overheating simulation;
  • extended the non-mechanical accident calculations beyond the existing Pastor Maldonado Simulator, and
  • precisely gently caress-all on either of my own entries into the challenge. :v:

Duuk
Sep 4, 2006

Victorious, he returned to us, claiming that he had slain the drought where even Orlanth could not. The god-talkers were not sure what to make of this.

MrChips posted:

In case anyone was wondering, I am putting the downtime in the challenge to good use. In the last few days I have:

  • Modeled a few additional tracks (Trento-Bondone, Zolder and Pau - remaining are Brands Hatch GP, Old Mount Panorama, Hermanos Rodriguez, Old Fuji, Freiburg-Shauinsland and old Estoril);
  • Come up with a seemingly adequate mathematical, non-Automation-based simulation of Targa Florio based on historical lap time data (so it's on motherfuckers!);
  • Made a pretty major change to tire modeling; the weight of the car (including the effect of variable fuel weight) as well as weight distribution are now taken into account;
  • Beat some sense into the reliability calculations; made them much more unforgiving of low QP values and reweighted some categories;
  • Added an overheating simulation;
  • extended the non-mechanical accident calculations beyond the existing Pastor Maldonado Simulator, and
  • precisely gently caress-all on either of my own entries into the challenge. :v:

Thank you for all the hard work you're putting in. This is an awesome event.

I'm trying to get a better sense of how the reliability calculations work. Could you help out?

Do I understand it correctly that the base reliability targets are 30 for the engine, 60-engine for rest of car, which means if you have 60 total but 32 in engine, you are slightly in trouble with just 28 rest-of-car reliability?
And then, the ~30 reliability score determines whether something breaks and IF it does then the quality points determine which part of it craps out and maybe how badly? So you can risk having some negative quality points if your overall is high enough but you know if something goes bad it could be that much more severe?

I'm asking first and foremost because sometimes the choices are pretty polar.
For example, if you put mechanical injection on an engine, you will be paying out of your rear end for the privilege, but you will be getting a good reliability figure and lots of power. You will also not have very much money left for quality points.
On the other hand when you fill the engine bay flush with carburettors your reliability will be poo poo and you will get slightly less power with slightly worse fuel economy out of the gate, but you will have literally thousands of monies to pump into QPs - and after doing that you seem to be more or less on par with mechanical injection. Much closer at least. Maybe even enough cash left for a few points elsewhere.
If quality points had an effect on whether things break this would put the inherently less reliable system ahead of the other one, just by virtue that you can and need to stuff it with quality points to bring it to the target reliability. Which would seem to dilute the choice.

As far as overheating, are you in the clear if you're slightly above the required area?

MrChips
Jun 10, 2005

FLIGHT SAFETY TIP: Fatties out first

Duuk posted:

Thank you for all the hard work you're putting in. This is an awesome event.

I'm trying to get a better sense of how the reliability calculations work. Could you help out?

Do I understand it correctly that the base reliability targets are 30 for the engine, 60-engine for rest of car, which means if you have 60 total but 32 in engine, you are slightly in trouble with just 28 rest-of-car reliability?
And then, the ~30 reliability score determines whether something breaks and IF it does then the quality points determine which part of it craps out and maybe how badly? So you can risk having some negative quality points if your overall is high enough but you know if something goes bad it could be that much more severe?

I'm asking first and foremost because sometimes the choices are pretty polar.
For example, if you put mechanical injection on an engine, you will be paying out of your rear end for the privilege, but you will be getting a good reliability figure and lots of power. You will also not have very much money left for quality points.
On the other hand when you fill the engine bay flush with carburettors your reliability will be poo poo and you will get slightly less power with slightly worse fuel economy out of the gate, but you will have literally thousands of monies to pump into QPs - and after doing that you seem to be more or less on par with mechanical injection. Much closer at least. Maybe even enough cash left for a few points elsewhere.
If quality points had an effect on whether things break this would put the inherently less reliable system ahead of the other one, just by virtue that you can and need to stuff it with quality points to bring it to the target reliability. Which would seem to dilute the choice.

As far as overheating, are you in the clear if you're slightly above the required area?

Reliability works largely like this:

The calculated reliability from the game serves as your base score. Then, I take the QP values for each category and compare them to the Max QPs for the class, divided by the total QP categories (11 for NA cars, 12 for turbo cars). So for example, the average value for a turbo Touring car would be 40 divided by 12, giving a value of 3.333. Any QPs over that in a given category add to your base score; any below subtract from it. It should also be noted that several categories (as noted in the rules) are multiplied (by factors as high as 2) to increase their importance. Chassis reliability is calculated the same, except the base score is the overall reliability less engine reliability and a small value that results from the categories (such as interior) that are not counted in the QP allowance.

At this point, the model combines these two calculated scores and compares them to the target reliability set in the rules (30 for engines and 60 overall), as well as the expected breakdown rate per hour (set right now at a uniform 1% per hour); a car with better than target reliability gets a smaller number, while a car with worse than target reliability gets a larger one. The result of this comparison becomes a trigger score; for each lap, a random number is generated. If the random number is lower than the target score, you have an incident. Another RNG then rolls to determine the affected system (which is compared to a table generated for each car, using the same QP comparison as before to determine how likely each system is to experience a failure), and another one determines the severity of the failure, which determines a) track position when the failure occurs, b) if the car can continue to its next pit stop or if it needs to stop immediately, c) if the damage slows the car down at all (either until repairs are done or on a permanent basis) and d) how long the repairs will take.

Accidents are now handled in a similar way, except its a lot less complicated; an RNG fires every lap after the first lap to determine if you have an accident, which is compared to the base accident rate per hour (which is currently set at 0.7% per hour). Again, a RNG for severity, just like for mechanical failures.

As for overheating, the square of the ratio between cooling provided divided by cooling needed determines your overheat trigger. Currently it is maybe a bit on the sensitive side - I ran a sample car on a simulated 24-hour Nordschliefe race and with the car 0.5% short of its cooling needs, it overheated four times and lost three hours on track. A car with only 50% cooling won't ever leave the starting line.

Hopefully that's cleared up reliability for you somewhat.

wargames
Mar 16, 2008

official yospos cat censor
https://twitter.com/AutomationGame/status/642179414307020802

Finger Prince
Jan 5, 2007


this sounds pretty cool so last night I downloaded it on Steam and messed around on it. Built a big limousine barge, and an attempt at meeting the challenge criteria for the Touring Class, only to find the car grossly overweight. Still, gonna give it a try! Also, I don't know what the gently caress I am doing either! I wish there was a little more freedom in how you can bend the body panels. You can't really make the CRX look anything but like a CRX.

Duuk
Sep 4, 2006

Victorious, he returned to us, claiming that he had slain the drought where even Orlanth could not. The god-talkers were not sure what to make of this.

MrChips posted:

Reliability works largely like this:

The calculated reliability from the game serves as your base score. Then, I take the QP values for each category and compare them to the Max QPs for the class, divided by the total QP categories (11 for NA cars, 12 for turbo cars). So for example, the average value for a turbo Touring car would be 40 divided by 12, giving a value of 3.333. Any QPs over that in a given category add to your base score; any below subtract from it. It should also be noted that several categories (as noted in the rules) are multiplied (by factors as high as 2) to increase their importance. Chassis reliability is calculated the same, except the base score is the overall reliability less engine reliability and a small value that results from the categories (such as interior) that are not counted in the QP allowance.

At this point, the model combines these two calculated scores and compares them to the target reliability set in the rules (30 for engines and 60 overall), as well as the expected breakdown rate per hour (set right now at a uniform 1% per hour); a car with better than target reliability gets a smaller number, while a car with worse than target reliability gets a larger one. The result of this comparison becomes a trigger score; for each lap, a random number is generated. If the random number is lower than the target score, you have an incident. Another RNG then rolls to determine the affected system (which is compared to a table generated for each car, using the same QP comparison as before to determine how likely each system is to experience a failure), and another one determines the severity of the failure, which determines a) track position when the failure occurs, b) if the car can continue to its next pit stop or if it needs to stop immediately, c) if the damage slows the car down at all (either until repairs are done or on a permanent basis) and d) how long the repairs will take.

Accidents are now handled in a similar way, except its a lot less complicated; an RNG fires every lap after the first lap to determine if you have an accident, which is compared to the base accident rate per hour (which is currently set at 0.7% per hour). Again, a RNG for severity, just like for mechanical failures.

As for overheating, the square of the ratio between cooling provided divided by cooling needed determines your overheat trigger. Currently it is maybe a bit on the sensitive side - I ran a sample car on a simulated 24-hour Nordschliefe race and with the car 0.5% short of its cooling needs, it overheated four times and lost three hours on track. A car with only 50% cooling won't ever leave the starting line.

Hopefully that's cleared up reliability for you somewhat.

Thank you for the thorough write-up, I think I've got a reasonably good grip on it now.

Is the baseline point of the system something you'd be willing to discuss?

What I'm getting at ties into the example of injection/carbs I brought earlier, but let's get a bit more specific. My current Tourer offering is fuel injected with an engine reliability of 32 and overall 60. It runs the Ring in around 8:48 and uses a grand total of 22 Quality Points. There are a couple of negative QP in Body but nowhere else. The total price is precisely 47 cents below the limit price.

Now, the reliability model suggests that if I want the car to stay "on par" reliability wise, I need to have 3.33 QP in each category on average in addition to the basic 30/60 targets. Considering the price, this would require some changes in the technology used and seems to lean rather in favour of carbs (which will both allow and require more money spent on QP). I could save money on other things of course, the idea is that I would have to lean towards a narrower range of cheaper technologies in order to save money for generic quality points. What I'm a bit worried about is that at the end this may funnel the most successful designs towards one set of features. Basically, lead to less variety among the competitors. Which would be a shame, I think.

I am guessing the system more or less expects you to not reach the targets every time and a good enough lap time might make up for making GBS threads out cylinders every couple of races. It's a game of risk. It'd just suck if you had to have those QP to be able to compete - considering the complexity of the simulation you've built I don't think you'd let that be the case but I just figured I'd throw out the thought below.



There could be a small dead spot in the middle of the quality point scale, allowing people to choose whether to go for the reliability bonus and inherent positive effect of the QPs or spend the money elsewhere - presumably on funky more expensive technologies. Alternately, the bonus could be smaller but start at zero qp, since the game itself uses zero as the baseline.

Alternately, if you're not susceptible to suggestion, could you please provide a baseline in-game reliability number with 0 QP in all categories that would put you on par with the 30/60 + 3.33QP baseline?

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Liquid Communism
Mar 9, 2004


Out here, everything hurts.




Duuk posted:

The somewhat unfortunate thing is, that there is always "the best" body type, which tends to be several seconds quicker than the others. I have been able to get several body types down below 8:20 for the Sportsman class and my favourite ran a 8:16 while looking awesome, so I was very happy with it. Also rather glad there were other bodies so close by.

The 8:10 body is, in hindsight, the obvious choice (although I might be missing something again and there could be another). It can't be that hard to get down to that time if I could do it with my little experience. Unfortunately it looks rather lumpy in my opinion so I might stick to Touring and Open unless the Beta brings a competitive Porsche-like.

Yeah, it bugs me a bit. We lose out on a lot of variety by there being bodies that are legitimately the best.

It doesn't stop me from entering slow, terrible things out of sheer amusement value, though.

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