Pitwall news

This morning the website was down due to a network upgrade in the data center. Around 10:30 the problems were solved and the website was available again. The hourupdates need to be caught up, and that what will be done this morning.

A rather significant change is coming to Pitwall this week. The persons contracts negotiations system is something that is quite important to the game, and it's something that I feel is not developed enough yet, mainly due to seeing many teams being able to offer 0,- salaries and fees to drivers. This is something I intend to change, and since it wasn't something that was clearly intended to be like this the change will be immediate.

In the negotiations phase there will be more flexibility whereas the person demands rely more on their power position (similarly as to how the sponsors negotiate). A minimum number of races clause will be added to the negotiations, to prevent persons being stuck in an inactive team. Finally in the negotiations process the feedback will also be changed so that it makes much more sense. This means that there will be less, but more relevant feedback.

Right now we're in a system where the head staff is the leader, and you're able to hire additional persons and employ them. This will change as well by introducing a tier structure that allows the creation of junior positions (for example: 1 head designer, and 2 junior designers). In the facilities page you might have seen "staff space", this is the total number of persons you can assign in a staff position. Every team will have a minimum of 5 staff spaces as that comes with HQ1. Every upgrade to a higher HQ tier gives 2 additional spaces. The staff module also gives an additional 2 staff spaces. Every staff space allows a person to work, and all those persons that can't be assigned to a position will not be able to be employed in any development/production/negotiations. Needless to say, this will have an effect on their morale.

Finally an important change is that in real life it happens very often that prima donna sport stars feel they're underpaid. This will also be introduced in Pitwall. Persons who feel they're underpaid will complain, and the more they feel they're underpaid the unhappier they will be. Persons in your own team will allow negotiations at any time, unless they want to leave the team. So contracts can be improved generally at any time.

These changes are planned to be introduced this week, and it should result in a more structured and more fair contracts system.