Vanilla Balance Mod Beta - Testers Wanted

[TheFlamingRed]

http://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/motorsport-manager-balance-mod-part-1.12965/

Make sure you down load all the parts!​

This mod has now been released. All the changes are listed in the above link. If a Forum Admin is reading this, if you could remove the "Testers Wanted" and change it to "Development Discussion" thread, it would be appreciated.

UPDATED TO WORK WITH 1.3​

Note: In attempts to fix the interviews and dilemmas, I have temporarily removed all non English languages from those two files. I hope to reinsert them into a later version (but when I do, they'll still be the vanilla text as I am unable to translate in any other language).

 

[TheFlamingRed]

So even if I have Driver1->100 / Driver2->100 / Team->100, unless my position isn't 3th or higher I will not get 5 Star Sponsors (Don't counting Helipad)?

You really don't want us to make money.

Well, I am sure the big sponsors don't want to be backing a team that's not winning
If you can steal a 2nd for a few races, grab that long term sponsor deal so you can benefit from it despite not being 2nd for very long!

 

[Beynasuh]

That sound logical. If you can it time right.

That also means your rating could go from 5 to almost 1 in just one race and that doesn't sound game friendly.

In aspect to gameplay longevity I would prefer the current marketability. Is there a problem with the current marketability system that you try to find a new system?

 

[TheFlamingRed]

That sound logical. If you can it time right.

That also means your rating could go from 5 to almost 1 in just one race and that doesn't sound game friendly.

In aspect to gameplay longevity I would prefer the current marketability. Is there a problem with the current marketability system that you try to find a new system?

Actually, going from 5 stars to 1 star is a very real thing - it happens as soon as you get promoted. Sp its best to get all kinds of good long term deals before you head up. But yeah, there's also the element that you can have a really lucky first race in a near backmarker car - and get an gamechanging sponsor deal before you return to your position. I feel it leads to some interesting scenarios.

What do you mean by current? As in Vanilla to Modded or Stars to Championship Points?

There's only two reasons why I went from Stars to Championship Position

• Championship position was my original idea. This is kinda the behjaviour I wanted originally. Stars was very much a "Oh, I can't seem to make that work (its an Int32 number and i needed a float) - so lets see what else I can use"
  
• It's otherwise only possible to get 5* sponsors in WMC. GT1 doesn't have very good star rating in comparison. (at least initially.... Like Fanbase, I don't know how it all moves over time).

How would you like to see it done?

 

[TheFlamingRed]

On another note - was talking to Coops discussing the Chairman expectations.

Looking at the code the Chairman sends you each year, it's based on your
- Last Years Finishing Position
- Two below that
- Two above that
Where applicable. And also rebalanced when promoted or demoted tiers.

I am thinking it should be turned into
- last Years Finishing Position
- one above that
- two above that.

That way, you cannot tell your Chairman that "we're going to do worse then last year" because the Chairman demands "PROGRESS!". Also, when promoted, 9th will be the minimum expectedtaion, because the Chairman demands "I DONT WANT TO BE DEMOTED AND SPEND MORE YEARS DOWN THERE WITH THISE OTHER SMELLY TEAMS!".

 

[Beynasuh]

I am thinking it should be turned into
- last Years Finishing Position
- one above that
- two above that.

Definitely sound better then Vanilla.

What do you mean by current? As in Vanilla to Modded or Stars to Championship Points?

Stars to Championship Points (it's not ideal I get it)

But:
Without Sponsors - no money / without money - no catching up in development / without development - team stays a backmarker (also while car is bad, drivers moral is lousy [to many and strong negative moral impacts; car opinion/dilemmas/traits] / so eventually championship position stays low / and here starts the circle.

It's not ultra hard to beat it obviously but it seems just to prolong the curse instead make it a challenge.

I thing the player needs something to hang on to it.

Anyway whatever you decide (it's your mod) I will still keep playing it (also loving it).

 

[TheFlamingRed]

Definitely sound better then Vanilla.



Stars to Championship Points (it's not ideal I get it)

But:
Without Sponsors - no money / without money - no catching up in development / without development - team stays a backmarker (also while car is bad, drivers moral is lousy [to many and strong negative moral impacts; car opinion/dilemmas/traits] / so eventually championship position stays low / and here starts the circle.

It's not ultra hard to beat it obviously but it seems just to prolong the curse instead make it a challenge.

I thing the player needs something to hang on to it.

Anyway whatever you decide (it's your mod) I will still keep playing it (also loving it).

I see what you mean

Well, next week I'll update the mod to the beta branch (as I assume it will auto update to main eventually unless all kinds of things are wrong with it). Then I'll begin an actual play through and see how it all fits together. The last test I did was 1.2g - but once again, things have changed lots.

If you have an idea of a fishhook let me know!

 

[BrianUK]

How would you like to see it done?

*whispers* Fanbase

 

[TheFlamingRed]

*Whispers* We don't know how that really changes yet... 1.2 everyone ended with 0.1... in 1.3 everyone may end up with 300 million

 

[Beynasuh]

I don't know how to make it work, but a system that would consider
- Drivers Marketability (or Driver Stars rating / actual rating not potential rating)
- Team Marketability
- Team Star Rating
- Fanbase (Just like Brian said )
- Team and Drivers actual and expected postions.

I am pretty sure that I don't wish too much, right (a car, a house and some cash would be nice too )

*Whispers* We don't know how that really changes yet... 1.2 everyone ended with 0.1... in 1.3 everyone may end up with 300 million

Well I have 1 Race + 1 Season to finish my 3th season ( take makes 12 races). And my report about fanbase and team stars will be ready then. whistling: I hope)

 

[BrianUK]

So, I tested the Improvability debuff, and it shoves the driver's Age related improvement rate to 0. However it seems to have no effect on the Ex-Driver buff, so I assume HQ building buffs are also untouched (although they are a percentage of the driver's improvement rate, so maybe they scale too). Therefore, in my next PT update (and I assume TFR's as I'm sure he'll include my updated PT mod), drivers with injury traits will have their improvement rate severely cut, and they will not benefit so much from being in the Reserve slot.

 

[Beynasuh]

And what about the moral impact? Anyway to cancel it?

 

[TheFlamingRed]

"I have a broken neck but I am really happy!"

Is still the easiest way.​

But actually, in Driver there is a
private readonly float moralePromotionBonus = 0.4f;
private readonly float moraleDemotionBonus = -0.4f;

Which I think is for the promtion and demotion to reserve. I could just lower them to 10% and let us be on the 'honour' system that we won't sub in our 'useless reserve with high marketability' for the 'Excellent driver with 0 marketability' drivers between races, and then switch back afterwards.

 

[Beynasuh]

That is good to know. Is there a possibility that the morale bonus (positive or negative) would only be effective as long as the promoted drivers star rating is higher than the demoted one.

So if the main driver would have 3 stars and the reserve 2 stars, promoting and demoting would cause a (-) morale bonus.
(Main driver is unhappy of demotion and the reserve feels under pressure of promotion / or something like that)

But if the main driver would have 2 stars and the reserve 3 stars, promoting and demoting would not cause a (-) morale bonus.
(Main driver accepts his condition [I can't race in this situation and risk further possible injures Boss], while reserve driver has a change to show his skills [I won't let you down Boss] / or something like that)

I don't think because an injury, all players would switch there main drivers with reserve. But if that injury would make them worse then the reserve, then it's a possibility. Also in normal conditions the main driver would be better than the reserve one (I doubt that anyone would let a better driver sit in reserve), changing them for marketability boost would give them a negative morale bonus (and with this system you could raise the negative morale bonus).

NOT: I don't know anything about programming (except Turbo Pascal - that's an old one ) but can you add new variables (for example Driver1LastMarketability, Driver2LastMarketability,TeamLastMarketability / the names are just hypothetical)?

 

[Coffer]

Would it not be possible to try and implement a dillema that triggers immediately after receiving the e-mail about the main driver getting sick or injured? Or change the e-mail itself into a dillema while still keeping the status change.

I am thinking it should be turned into
- last Years Finishing Position
- one above that
- two above that.

As for this, what about situations where you jump several places in the championship at the final race through luck and thus finish in a higher position than your team ought to have gotten? Happened to me in the vanilla game when I went from 9th to 4th in a single race because everyone from Firebird to myself and Octane were within 30 points and I got a 1-3 finish, and while that's less likely to happen in the mod, it's still a decent possibility. With this system I'd lose my job the following season.

I honestly see no reason whatsoever to change it. Chairmen may demand success, but certainly not all of them are blind to the idea of occasionally focusing on, say, rebuilding the team (easy example: Garuda loses the championship in S1, and the demoted team and Firebird MRT are both strong in S2). Having an option that's 2 places below is perfectly reasonable to me since the game already punishes you for it by giving you a lower budget. It gives you a realistic margin for error, whereas that proposed system forces you to progress year after year at the potential cost of long-term development, which is a bit too gamey to me.

 

[BrianUK]

I did suggest having a -1 option for this scenario. There was one season in an older version of the mod where I dropped from 3rd one year where I was only just best of the rest, to 7th the season after because I had to take a year of almost no development to restructure the team. I'm inclined to agree that having no fall back option is cruel. Every team IRL has a bad year where the results aren't there.

Although, to draw from the real world - a football team won the Premiership at odds of 5000:1, and the next season they hovered around relegation and they sacked the manager who took them to their only league win. Management is cruel, and they always want improvement, even if there is nowhere else to go, or the result was totallu unforeseen.

In Dilemma news: I have outlined about a dozen new dilemmas (5 for mechanics, 6 for designers, and 1 for drivers) which I will be writing up and testing over the weekend. Most of them will revolve around training courses to allow monetary investment in your team, and will reduce the frequency of the track practice dilemmas.

 

[Coffer]

Although, to draw from the real world - a football team won the Premiership at odds of 5000:1, and the next season they hovered around relegation and they sacked the manager who took them to their only league win.

To be fair, I don't follow football, but from what I've read from what various people were saying, the objective this year was really just to stabilize. Even accounting for ridiculous results like the one from the previous season, as cruel as the sacking was (and people do seem to be hating on the management a lot for the decision), this sounds like the equivalent of being 3+ positions down on any reasonably expected finish in MM. Plus, there are more factors going into football teams, especially in real life, compared to what goes into a team in this game specifically.

I agree that -1 is reasonable enough though. It might be too low in some cases, but at least it gives more leeway than -0.

 

[calvg]

Maybe new object targets could be

-1 (worse) on last years finish
+1 (better than) on last years position
+2 (better than) on last years position

 

[TheFlamingRed]

keep debating. As always, I am at work now till Sunday night - so come up with all sort of cool ideas

I'm slowly running out,

Sorry Bey, I think that level of complexity is probably not possible in that morale drop situation, (well, if it is, it's a significant amount of work where as I could just drop the morale hit).

Re: Chairman goals.... just realised I may be able to RNG it a bit, so sometimes the goals are meaner or more relaxed then others because I am sure none of you are worried about job security by my idea already.

But do remember that you can have a bad season and still keep that old Chairman happy enough. I've never had an issue being down a place or two by season end. Regular bad results upsets him far more.

 

[Coffer]

keep debating. As always, I am at work now till Sunday night - so come up with all sort of cool ideas

I'm slowly running out,

Sorry Bey, I think that level of complexity is probably not possible in that morale drop situation, (well, if it is, it's a significant amount of work where as I could just drop the morale hit).

Re: Chairman goals.... just realised I may be able to RNG it a bit, so sometimes the goals are meaner or more relaxed then others because I am sure none of you are worried about job security by my idea already.

But do remember that you can have a bad season and still keep that old Chairman happy enough. I've never had an issue being down a place or two by season end. Regular bad results upsets him far more.

Is there no mechanic in the game files that determines whether a chairman is more or less strict/demanding? You could potentially use that along with the RNG idea.

 

[TheFlamingRed]

Is there no mechanic in the game files that determines whether a chairman is more or less strict/demanding? You could potentially use that along with the RNG idea.

Actually, pressure is athing... Font know if it changed over time though