Calling All Automation Players

"E. Julius" (soonerfrommi)
05/06/2015 at 16:30 • Filed to: Automation

Welcome to the first Oppositelock Automation design competition! The theme: Build A Better Miata! This post will contain the rules of the competition, and all submissions will be due in exactly one week from post time. Think you can design the best car on Oppo? Then read on!

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A Brief Introduction

Since this is the first competition, nothing is set in stone. I’m very interested in getting as much feedback as possible to determine what the community would like to see from future competitions, so please give it a try, and if there’s something you think should be changed, let me know! I apologize in advance for any unbalanced rules, poor competition design choices, or scheduling difficulties. There will be a poll for contestants at the end of the results post in one week, so make sure your voice is heard! Thank you for participating.

The Fun Rules

These are the rules that constrain your design. Every submission must conform to each of these rules, with no exceptions. Read them very carefully, and please triple check that no rules are being violated before you submit your design. Should you submit a design that doesn’t conform to the rules, it will still be presented in the results showcase, but it will have a big fat asterisk of shame next to it. If you are confused about any of the rules, or need some help knowing where to check within the game, please ask me!

Build A Better Miata!

What better way to kick off our Oppositelock Automation challenges than by improving on one of our most beloved cars? Your goal is to design a small, fun, affordable sports car for the 1990s. You can choose to improve upon the classic formula, add a high tech twist like forced induction, or go completely radical and start the 2.0L mid–engine V8 revolution. To approximate the constraints faced by real designers, your design must meet the following conditions:

Build year: 1989

Wheelbase: 6’7”—8’2” (the second shortest option in the filter box)

Body style no older than 1979 (click “last 10 years” button)

RWD or rear–biased AWD drivetrain

Total Cost: $6700 maximum

Average reliability: greater than 55

Street legal: this means headlights and taillights. There will be an appearance contest, so make it look pretty! Your design should include a tailpipe as well.

Loudness no greater than 60

Passes emissions: must have a catalytic converter

Uses Regular Unleaded gasoline (RON 91)

Uses Medium Compound Road Tires

No race intakes

Anything you design that meets these rules will be eligible for competition, so go nuts! Again, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.

The Boring Rules

These are the rules for how and when your design must be submitted, as well as how it will be evaluated for the competition. No less important than The Fun Rules, so please read on, and make sure you have the same diligence ensuring your design conforms to these rules as well.

RULE NUMBER 1: You absolutely must have the latest version of Automation. No exceptions. The game is still in development, so things are being rebalanced and calculations being reworked all the time. I know immediately after the Steam release, there was a period where the standalone version of the game lagged behind in updates. I believe they’re at parity now, but just to be sure, please tell me which version of the game you’re using when you submit your design so any issues that arise can be worked out.

Additional rules:

One submission per contestant

All submitted designs are final*. Tweak it right up to the deadline if you like, but no changes allowed once it’s been sent to me.

* If your design is found to be in violation of the design rules, I will give you ONE chance to resubmit your design before the deadline with only the offending parameter changed.

The deadline is one week after this post, to the minute. If you have a conflict at that time, send the design to me early.

Have fun!

The Competition

Submitted designs will be evaluated in at least three, most likely four, independent categories. The categories are as follows:

Lap time: Each car will be ranked according to how quickly it completes one lap of the airport (Top Gear) test track. The fastest car wins.

Audience Favorite: There will be a poll embedded in the results showcase where members of the larger Oppo community can vote on their favorite design. The design which receives the most votes wins.

Beauty Contest: Similar to the audience favorite, except the cars will be evaluated exclusively on appearance.

Score (possibly): A formula will be devised to calculate a score based on various attributes of the car in an attempt to mathematically determine which car best met the spirit of the challenge. The precise formula won’t be revealed until the end of the competition, to avoid putting contestants who were forced by schedule conflicts to complete their designs early at a disadvantage. HELP NEEDED: I may or may not have time to do this. If you think you can contribute by coming up with the formula or putting numbers into a spreadsheet, it would be greatly appreciated.

How To Submit Your Design

All designs should be submitted by emailing the .lua files to me (sail5670 at gmail dot com). I don’t check this email very often, so please comment on this post when you send it to me so I can get to it as early as possible. For reference, the .lua files are located in C:\…\My Documents\My Games\Automation\Cars (or Engines for engines). Please send me the .lua files for the car model, car trim, engine family, and engine. This should be four files in total.

If you are having difficulties with your .lua files, please get in touch with me. I will help you find them and send them, and if there’s really some terrible technical difficulty, we can work out something else.

Additional Details

If you have a name for your car (which you should!), include it in the reply or the email submission. If you have a company name, feel free to include that as well. Any additional details (company history, logo, etc.) are welcome and encouraged, and might seal the deal for audience favorite if you play your cards right. Please keep any text you wish to be included with your entry no longer than one concise paragraph.

If your car or engine has a particular angle that you find most flattering, feel free to send me a screenshot to use in the showcase. Otherwise I’ll just find a decent looking one myself and throw it on there.

Conclusion

If you know you’d like to compete already, reply to this post. If you’re not sure, I will be accepting submissions at any time throughout the next week, so no hurry to make a decision. Any and all questions, comments, or critiques are welcome. I look forward to seeing your submissions, and may the best car win!

DISCUSSION (36)

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > E. Julius
05/06/2015 at 16:45

Time to write down the rules and get cracking!

Saf1 > E. Julius
05/06/2015 at 16:49

OMG I NEED THIS GAME...still not started work yet.

E. Julius > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback
05/06/2015 at 16:52

Nice!

E. Julius > Saf1
05/06/2015 at 16:53

You’re welcome to join if you pick it up. Not sure if the demo would be compatible with the rules, but it could be worth investigating.

Camshaft Chris: Skyline/McLaren/Porsche Fanboy > E. Julius
05/06/2015 at 16:59

I keep meaning to get this game but haven’t yet. Maybe tonight...

Saf1 > E. Julius
05/06/2015 at 17:01

Cool, I’ll try for the next contest (I don’t hate the MX-5 but certainly don’t want to spend time making 1)

MultiplaOrgasms > E. Julius
05/06/2015 at 17:01

Pretty sure I had something similar built already. Lets see if I can be bothered to tweak it and enter the competition.

Rainbow > E. Julius
05/06/2015 at 17:02

Does it need to be a legitimate copy of the game? The demo sucked, so I’m currently getting a.... more in-depth demo to try it out. Just curious if I’ll still be able to send you files and they’ll be compatible and stuff. Not sure why they wouldn’t, but you never know.

E. Julius > Saf1
05/06/2015 at 17:03

Well you could attempt to right everything Mazda did wrong. Twin turbo V8?

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > E. Julius
05/06/2015 at 17:03

Not gonna have a lot of time to do this so I gotta get started as soon as possible.

E. Julius > Rainbow
05/06/2015 at 17:06

As long as the version you’re using is the most up to date version, it should work. The last update was a big one though, so if you’re out of date I could see some potential compatibility issues.

Rainbow > E. Julius
05/06/2015 at 17:06

When was the last update? The only torrent I could find was uploaded in March, so I’m probably SOL.

E. Julius > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback
05/06/2015 at 17:08

I’m really interested to see what everybody comes up with, as I have no idea what skill level most people are at. I did a couple competitions on the automation forums, but the people on there didn’t like to talk much so it wasn’t much fun. I think our little community will have a much better time with it.

E. Julius > Rainbow
05/06/2015 at 17:09

I think the last big update was sometime in March, so that very well could be the correct version. It’s possible there have been a few small patches since then, but I think your odds are still pretty good if you use that. Do you have a version number?

Rainbow > E. Julius
05/06/2015 at 17:12

Build 150315, if that means anything. So it’s not current, but it might be current enough.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > E. Julius
05/06/2015 at 17:15

I think mine will be pretty good ;)

E. Julius > Rainbow
05/06/2015 at 17:16

Yeah that might work. If you want you can try it out, whip something up real quick and send it over to me so I can test it. Make sure there’s an eligible body, because I know they’ve added a lot in recent updates.

Rainbow > E. Julius
05/06/2015 at 17:20

Yeah, I’ll probably just mess around with it regardless. I’ll only submit anything if I can actually figure it out. In the demo at least, I could never build a working engine.

E. Julius > Rainbow
05/06/2015 at 17:21

Sounds good. If you want any tips let me know.

Saf1 > E. Julius
05/06/2015 at 17:25

That’s the thing I don’t disagree in essence with the Mazda’s fans, it’s truly a landmark car because it got many things very right. But I don’t have a love for it. I haven’t owned a car yet and I just hope my 1st will be an MR2, though have been warned against! I think most of this love for it from the others comes from having owned 1. But I am not tempted for it myself in the least and already I am so unmotivated lately there’s no way I’m redesigning a car I don’t feel anything for. But GODDAMN WOULD I LOVE TO MAKE A DIABLO GT WIth blueprinted torlon engine and other plastics/cf for wheels and gears!!!!!!! The purists would sneer...until I hit the scales ;) I know that a car that size can <1000kg...though not much of the original would be left at all :D EDIT to get it to weigh under a tonne actually pretty much nothing that wasn’t in cf (and even those would need revision) would go...would literally be a racecar somehow for the road...GT2, GT-1 or GTR then, GT’s perfect anyway apart from the weight (1460-1530kg depending on source and measurement mode)

E. Julius > Camshaft Chris: Skyline/McLaren/Porsche Fanboy
05/06/2015 at 17:30

If you decide to join the competition, you’re welcome to make your submission any time in the next week.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > E. Julius
05/06/2015 at 17:43

The cost cutting right now is real....

E. Julius > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback
05/06/2015 at 17:52

Muahahaha! If you’re wondering how I came up with the cost figure, I recreated the NA Miata as closely as I could within the game, and then added about 10% to that figure to give everybody a little wiggle room. So what you create should be approximately the same cost (to manufacture anyways) as the Miata.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > E. Julius
05/06/2015 at 17:55

That’s what I tried to do and its nearly 100% more than your cost figure. Ugh!

E. Julius > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback
05/06/2015 at 17:56

Really? If the difference is that big I’ll have to go check it again. Let me fire it up and see what I can come up with.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > E. Julius
05/06/2015 at 18:01

Right now its at like $14,240 for total cost. Engine material cost is ~$2500 so somehow the body and trim at 0 quality is translating to nearly $12k.

EDIT: Now got it down to $7,354.90 by lowering some engine part quality. Shave like half the cost by doing that.

E. Julius > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback
05/06/2015 at 18:12

Yeah I was thinking the quality sliders were the main culprit. I threw something together real quick and didn’t tune it at all, but all the parts are there and I got $6160

Kinja'd!!!

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > E. Julius
05/06/2015 at 18:14

My last one was around that cost, it was lighter though! ;) I’ll probably e-mail it over tonight. What is it that I need to e-mail? Just like everything car, engine, and stuff like that?

E. Julius > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback
05/06/2015 at 19:18

Yep. It should be four .lua files, which correspond to the four things you name in the design process (model, trim, engine family, engine).

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > E. Julius
05/06/2015 at 21:22

Alright, cool, think I’ve got it. I just sent my entry in.

After figuring out how Windows 8 works and figuring out Outlook. Damn new computers!

E. Julius > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback
05/06/2015 at 21:33

Ha I need a new computer! I’m already up waaaay too late, so I’ll give it a look tomorrow and see if it works.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > E. Julius
05/06/2015 at 21:37

Alright cool!

It was a birth day present and I just got it Sunday night and it’s my first experience using W8 after like 5 years w W7.

Firewrx234 > E. Julius
05/06/2015 at 21:40

I'm excited! This should be fun!

E. Julius > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback
05/07/2015 at 07:42

Nice! I started using W8 at work last summer, and I quite liked it. Makes me feel all the more confident switching from a Mac to a home built PC. By the way I got your file and loaded it up—everything works perfectly so you're all set. Good luck!

Rainbow > E. Julius
05/07/2015 at 11:32

I did build one that worked (barely) but it cost like $27,000. How do you know the price before the end? It only seemed to tell me the material cost for a couple of things, but not much.

E. Julius > Rainbow
05/07/2015 at 11:48

If you have a type component selected (geared LSD for example), hovering your mouse over a different component (such as viscous LSD) should bring up a floating tooltip displaying the differences in cost. At least, there is in the most recent version. $27k is pretty high though. Are you using the quality sliders? If you are, reset them all to zero (middle position), and focus on getting a working car like that. Then once you’ve got something functioning, you can tweak it from there to optimize performance.

If you’re having trouble getting an engine working, some tips:

If the failure is due to valve float, upgrading your valve train (SOHC to DOHC for example), increasing valve train quality slider, and reducing redline will all help

If the failure is due to knock lower your compression ratio to the lowest setting. From there, adjust everything else that affects the minimum necessary octane until it’s at an optimal point. If you don’t care about fuel economy, my usual procedure is make the fuel air mixture as rich as you can go without reducing power (usually ~13 for FI engines). Then adjust your camshafts until you get the power/torque curve shape you want. Then adjust ignition timing to the point of maximum torque. After all that, start raising your compression until you get your engine to the RON number of the fuel you selected (91 for regular octane). This won’t be the most fuel efficient, and it won’t be perfectly optimized, but it’s a good way to squeeze most of the available power from a given displace.

Also remember your exhaust diameter affects your engine! If it’s too narrow it will needlessly increase your engines minimum RON and and effectively steal power. Too big though and that will reduce power as well. For every engine there is pretty much one, maybe two exhaust diameter settings that will yield optimum power. For a 2.0L engine with a single exhaust, it’s usually 1.75”, but play with a couple around there and see what gives you the best numbers

If things like pistons, rods, and crankshafts are failing, upgrade the components to stronger ones. Sometimes though there’s just not a component strong enough to take what you’re throwing at it, and you have to reduce redline RPM or torque. This only happens with really high output engines though.

Hopefully that was helpful. If you have any more specific questions, I’d be happy to answer them.