Forum topic: Reduction In Development Plans Does Not Work

#24 by Daniel Stevens
how can we make other teams worse? nothing is relative anymore like the old pitwall.

What I meant is that there is a limit to what the best a car can be as to stop the lap times becoming ridiculously quick in later seasons. So instead of allowing the top cars to get quicker, this system artificially knocks the cars back a bit to give the same effect that a team has researched/produced a part better than anything else seen and the other teams will lose ground.

#25 by Dan 'Ross Brawn... Mills
However, the constant weekly drops...

They are not constant weekly drops though. Frank has said that the most that teams can drop is a couple of levels over the season and that is if you have a top part.

The relative drops I believe are fine. A part rated 100 and suffers a 20% hit will mean it will be at 80. A part rated at 50 and suffers the same 20% loss means that it is now at 40. The lower rated part has gained 10 points on the better part over the same period. It makes the top teams have to spend more because their drops are bigger. Besides, with the new system of development, you can't just throw money at it like you could in PW1.

The idea of smaller percentage of drops in lower divisions is only going to aid sandbagging as teams can gain the developmental advantages in the bottom tiers and just maintain it at the higher tiers, something that was prevalent in PW1 and has been pretty much eliminated from this game.

The idea of the drop occurring at the same point each season is also not going to provide the right effect. At the moment, the hit can occur at any time as we can't see the actual value of the part and how close to the rating boundaries it is, so we could end up with our part dropping one week and another team's doesn't and it changes the order of the pack. If the hits all occurred at the same time, then it won't shake up the order as much and people can plan for the hit so no-one will gain/lose anything.

Adam, I think I'm right in saying that not all Superb parts are equal. If the actual value of Superb is 90+ then a part with 99 will be much faster than a part with 90.

And an Excellent part with 89 will only be marginally worse than a Superb 90 part. There's no big drop-off between ratings....

That sounds right James yes.

except its not a drop for only superb parts - that would make sense to me although a bit unfair as it forces those with superb to do some development.

But it is not like this.

I agree we can't have different % degradation for lower teams as that will encourage sandbagging which has so far gone which is nice.

Its a drop for all parts yep. Thats realistic though so i dont see the problem... what might be the case is that bad parts drop slower than superb parts perhaps? That would make sense.

#31 by James Ford
Adam, I think I'm right in saying that not all Superb parts are equal. If the actual value of Superb is 90+ then a part with 99 will be much faster than a part with 90.

And an Excellent part with 89 will only be marginally worse than a Superb 90 part. There's no big drop-off between ratings....

I'm struggling to find where I disagreed with this? As you say, there are several increments in one level. I think that is part of the problem when people say that there part/research has dropped quickly. It means that they were only just above the boundary, not that it has made a massive drop.

My point is - this was implemented to stop those with the top parts just evo'ing next season parts and continuing with a top tier car without having to spend much on development. - if it affects every part regardless of the quality (which is fair) it however reduces the penalty on those teams with the top parts effectively just increasing the cost of development for lower teams. I want this game to succeed and for new players to not leave after one season of frustration when they spend a fortune improving 3 or 4 parts to then see the other 5 drop!

Adam, it was the below statement that I thought was incorrect. Since the actual rating drops at a steady rate, there would be no swapping of the order and the rating boundaries are inconsequential and just a display feature.

Perhaps I misinterpreted what you were saying?

[quote]At the moment, the hit can occur at any time as we can't see the actual value of the part and how close to the rating boundaries it is, so we could end up with our part dropping one week and another team's doesn't and it changes the order of the pack.[/quote]

@Daniel: I am not sure where you are getting your information from when it comes to development.

Development cost are equal across the board for all Managers so doesn't favor strong or weak managers.

The key to this new development change is to effectively manager your Staff (Head, Juniors); Research levels and Development levels. (Repeat)

Since the Head designer, Junior designs base the potential of the parts (Blue prints) it simple adds more value to having an All Superb Designer with very Strong Junior staff working on your designs but they are only effective based on the research levels and time working together.

Since I am not playing any more the basis of the new system is very simple:

Research like hell until research levels are maxed, get the best designer money can buy & design an amazing car with high potential continue developing such design until potential is reached.

All this change has done is forced everyone to balance research levels more closely with development of new parts or old parts and develop new parts every season or two!!

I have had the same parts for almost 4 season simple making them stronger.

Firstly, Sorry to see you go as you have been an asset to pitwall and the community in general, especially as you have just made it to Div 1 your absence will be noticed. I look forward to your return when you are able to.

I don't think you realise what i mean by this punishing the lower teams more by way of a drop on parts that are not superb when not developed for a time.

Lower teams don't have the budget or even staff or space to develop every part on their car continuously. Because of this they will focus on some parts but then see the other ones drop! - i think this is unfair.