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[fleabag]

Originally Posted by Strobe

Feel free to comment and discuss this game here. Also, if you have any useful tips or tricks don't hesitate to share them with the others! Thanks!

Review and Download (if available)

I tried to run it and it rebooted my computer!

[The Fifth Horseman]

Then you're doing something wrong, because it's not doing that for anyone else.

[oozubek]

hi,

is there any manual still around? underdog has no more and could not find any link in the forums.

thnx in advance.

[dosraider]

The manual is still on HotU:

[CaleyM]

I had to google motorcity.txt to find that. It is on hotud.org as opposed to homeoftheunderdogs.com.

[daffyflyer]

Im part of a team making a spiritual successor/sequel to this game.

Www.automationgame.com

[Canek]

Ohhh looks great, I'll be looking forward to play it.

Originally Posted by rbfowler9

Hey there,


....I price my cars usually 2.5X the building costs for small cars, 3X for middle-ranged cars and 5X for luxury limousines. It's 1906 now and I grossed about $40m last year, selling about 1500 cars a month, being 1100 small cars, 350 middle-ranged cars and 150 limos - I sell only one of each model at a time.
Also, I have lots of branches across all countries (5+), and I offer a 20% discount for dealers in each region. Still, I spend no more than $3k on advertising.


Seeya
Fowler

Sorry for my bad english, but i have to say it: Your method to find the cournot point is suboptimal.

With your method "2.5x the building costs for small cars....3x medium..." you can easily generate a loss, cause you dont pay attention to the overall costs.
If your fixed costs are too high, you can generate a loss, even when you sell a small car at 5x the production costs.



=========================
example for the optimal car price:
=========================

Lets say you have e.g. 4 factories, each produces 210 cars/month.
Every factory has 900 workers.
Every worker earns 50$/month.
Each factory has building occupancy expenses of 4000$.(= even if you fire all workers and the factory is still open it generates costs)

Overall costs of labor/month:
----------------------------
4 x 900 x 50$ + 4 x 4000$ = 3600 x 50$ + 16.000$ = 196.000$
.
.
Labor costs for 1 car:
---------------------------
196.000$ / 840 cars = 233 $
======================
.
.
.
Costs for parts for one car:
--------------------------
car engine:...200 $
chasis:........150 $
car body:.....300$
--------------------------
all parts:......650$
.
.
.
.
You have also e.g. 7 selling shops in england, 7 in germany, 10 in france, 5 in italy and 5 in austria.
The rent costs in england are 7500$ for each shop, 3800$ in germany and 5000$ for each shop in italy, france and austria.
You also advertise in every shop with 2000$.

So the distribution costs/month are:
-------------------------------------------
germany:....7 x (3800$ + 2000$) = 40.600$
england:.....7 x (7500$ + 2000$) = 66.500$
france:.....10 x (5000$ + 2000$) = 70.000$
italy:.........5 x (5000$ + 2000$) = 35.000$
austria:......5 x (5000$ + 2000$) = 35.000$
-------------------------------------------
..............................................247. 100$

distribution costs for 1 car:
-----------------------------
247.100$ / 840 cars = 294 $
=======================



soooo in the end ... ONE car cost you exact:

650$....for parts
294$....for labor
252$....for distribution (inc. advertising)
==============================
1196 $ per car
============


So if give every shop a sales discount of 20%, you have to sell your cars
at least at 1495$ to not make a loss. (1495$ - 20% = 1196$)


To max. your profit its very important to find the optimal profit margin.
I have done a little research after i bought every sales shop in europe.
At that time I had 2 models (both small cars) lets say model "A" and model "B".


Profitmargin:..................20%................ .30%..............50%
sales volume of car A:....1718.................695...............522
sales volume of car B:....1598.................1258..............459
turnover:..................6.487.000.......4.283.0 00........2.450.000
profit:......................2.438.000.......1.900 .000........1.650.000


So... a profitmargin of 20% will give you the most profit...but ONLY if:
- you own all sales shops in europe
- you have the production capacity for 1718 cars model "A" and 1598 cars model "B" (=30 Factories)
- you avertise in every sales shop with 5%-10% of your local turnover


I dont remember my costs for model "A" and "B", but lets say the overall costs for one model "A" were as mentioned (in the example before) 1196$.

So the perfect price for model "A" would be:

1196$ + 20% (profitmargin) = 1435$
1435$ (=price without sales discount of 20%)

so:

1435$ / 80 x 100 = 1794$

that means:
1794$ - 20% (sales discount) = 1435$ which is our perfect price inc a profit margin of 20%

Sorry for my bad english, and for the long explanation but i hope everybody gets ist.

greetings

dos-junkie

sorry I made a mistake here the correct numbers:
=======================================


soooo in the end ... ONE car cost you exact:

650$....for parts
233$....for labor
294$....for distribution (inc. advertising)
==============================
1177 $ per car
============


So if give every shop a sales discount of 20%, you have to sell your cars
at least at 1495$ to not make a loss. (1471$ - 20% = 1177$)


To max. your profit its very important to find the optimal profit margin.
I have done a little research after i bought every sales shop in europe.
At that time I had 2 models (both small cars) lets say model "A" and model "B".


Profitmargin:..................20%................ .30%..............50%
sales volume of car A:....1718.................695...............522
sales volume of car B:....1598.................1258..............459
turnover:..................6.487.000.......4.283.0 00........2.450.000
profit:......................2.438.000.......1.900 .000........1.650.000


So... a profitmargin of 20% will give you the most profit...but ONLY if:
- you own all sales shops in europe
- you have the production capacity for 1718 cars model "A" and 1598 cars model "B" (=30 Factories)
- you avertise in every sales shop with 5%-10% of your local turnover


I dont remember my costs for model "A" and "B", but lets say the overall costs for one model "A" were as mentioned (in the example before) 1177$.

So the perfect price for model "A" would be:

1177$ + 20% (profitmargin) = 1412$
1412$ (=price without sales discount of 20%)

so:

1412$ / 80 x 100 = 1765$

that means:
1765$ - 20% (sales discount) = 1412$ which is our perfect price inc a profit margin of 20%

Sorry for my bad english, and for the long explanation but i hope everybody gets ist.

greetings

dos-junkie [/quote]

perhaps i'm missing something here:

I start i build a factory and a research facility i go to the warehouse and get prototype plans for 5hp open top small car,

I then take the drawings out of the draw and start production.

along the way hiring the workers obviously.

when i start production it tells me i have no parts but i can't make parts just off the prototype plans.

i don't get how i actually produce a car


any help greatly appreciated

thanks
Ben