Design System - Your Ideas

Yup I had a 60% car so far with 8 races to go, my next season's car is only going to be 20%. I have a solution to cloning in my post here

My suggestion would be to either
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[*]Reduce Designing altogether and next season's car would use this equation: thisSeason*((nextSeason/100)+1) So that is you had 12% this Season, and 36% for next season, it would be 12*1.36 to equal next Season's result which in that case would be 16.32%.
[*]Another Option would be to not allow This Season to influence Next Season's designing result.
[*]Third Option would be to seperate This Season and Next Season into two different projects. Some Designers can be assigned to improve this season's car, and the rest can work on next season's car.
[*]A fourth option would be to induce a performance decrease depending on the current performance of the car during that season, then add Next Season on top of that. Say this equation, nextSeasonCar = (thisSeason*(1/3)+nextSeason)-10.
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[list=1]
[*]So say you had a 90% car this season and next season is a 30%. Then the result would be a 60% car.
[*]A 30% this Season and 50% next season would be: 50%
[*]A 100% this and 20% next would be 43.33%
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[*]A Final Option is to remove This season testing altogether.
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I'll save a massive post until more people have posted, and i have more to discuss with/against but a quick thing on cloning... its far too easy just now if
e.g.

I have a 20% car i i know who has a 100% car at the start of the season, i can go all out next season while spying everyday, after 7 races i will be close to 100% for next season at this point i change fully onto this season [by this point my car is 25% or so, 1 update to this i'm roughly 40%, then i clone all 7 parts and i have roughly 80-90% With 10 races to go in the season] i then gain 5% per update and ~10% for cloning so before the end of the season i will have 100% for both current and next year [and because ALMOST every league will have someone who goes for 100% the only "downfall" is how many races it takes to figure out who has the best car]

Compare this to someone who aims for say 65% every season, 1 season i will beat them every race [as i have 100%] the 2nd season i will beat them last 10 races of a season [as i have a 20% + better car]

Even reducing cloning down to say max 20% per part increase would still have people doing the above as no1 ever get relegated from elite [either because the league is not full, or they leave before the last race and aren't automatically relegated]

Another option is to overhaul altogether with instead of a number system a time display on how long would it take to research a new component such as physical, mechanical and software design can be created.
[list]
[*]There are 20 levels of ugprades per component
[*]At the end of each season, a total of 80 components will be made illegal out of the 140. This would be the ones performing the best overal.
[*]Each component addes or takes away a few points of one or many car attributes.
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Lets make a Mock between 3 Rear Wings.

Rear Wing A
[list]
[*]Downforce +2
[*]Speed -2
[*]Acceleration - 3
[*]Fast Corners +2
[*]Slow Corners +1
[*]Weight + 32
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Rear Wing B
[list]
[*]Downforce +1
[*]Speed - 1
[*]Acceleration +2
[*]Fast Corners +1
[*]Slow Corners + 2
[*]Weight + 22
[/list]
Rear Wing C
[list]
[*]Downforce +3
[*]Speed -2
[*]Acceleration +1
[*]Fast Corners +2
[*]Slow Corners +4
[*]DRS: +4 Speed, +3 Accelerate, - 10 Downforce
[*]Weight + 45
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Another component example:

Suspension A
[list]
[*]Downforce -2
[*]Speed +2
[*]Acceleration +4
[*]Fast Corners +4
[*]Slow Corners - 6
[*]Weight +36
[/list]

Suspension B
[list]
[*]Downforce -1
[*]Speed +1
[*]Acceleration +2
[*]Fast Corners +1
[*]Slow Corners - 2
[*]Weight +32
[/list]

Suspension C
[list]
[*]Downforce +2
[*]Speed -1
[*]Acceleration +4
[*]Fast Corners -2
[*]Slow Corners +3
[*]Weight +46
[/list]

^ I like this, maybe 3 or 4 different versions of a part [eg. rear wing] you choose which 1 you want to develop [or if u want to develop a lower level across 2] and with random rule changes every season ruling certain parts "illegal' say chassis b, rear wing a or even a level limit of say 15 for said parts etc [announced 4 or 5 races before the end of the season] means you will put more thought into what you do

Ideally i'd like to see this season & next season development totally seperate

This season you start with the car you designed and at x point/races throughout the season you can fit upgraded parts [e.g. every 4 races] upto maximum 15% increase or so, or using a level 1-20 approach like above 3or4 [ or being able to keep your development for further seasons provided said part is still "legal"]

For next season have it set up via either designers/budget [and being able to spy/clone from peoples next seasons car]

I'll be the 1 to bring it up, but money has to be involved at some point, the more you spend the better car you get [as in real life] if you can make 50million+ profit a season why not be able to spend that on designing a better car [thus encouraging people with lower profits to negotiate better sponspor/supplier deals etc]

EDIT: Money either upto a set maximum £, or a % of your profit in the previous season

Give Lyons a medal for that idea.

Multiple parts that have their own advantages/disadvantages brings another realm of strategy to play. It has to be intricate though, not so you end with one obvious choice for Monza, the part that is all speed advantage, or one obvious part for Monaco, the part that is all downforce & grip advantage

Also, with the above listed A/B/C parts for lets say the rear wing for example, managers would have to decide which one of those three they want to improve on more. Let's say I focus solely on Part B - a Speed advantage part, I am amazing at Monza but will really struggle at say Hungary because my A part (which for arguments sake is the increased grip package) is not that good.

That is the idea behind the weight stat Ryan, For Monza you'd want acceleration and Speed, but some parts maybe very heavy to increase speed. so sometimes your car could be much more heavier and would result in a loss of overall speed. Also a higher speed car with little downforce would be very unstable.
Also just to specify, only Rear Wing C out of that selection would have DRS, but ofcourse, most rear wing designs would have DRS after level 4.

IMO an average designer with a massive budget will make a better car than a good designer with a small budget [although the 2 of them will have to be linked somehow e.g. assuming 1-20 on parts each level of "chief designer" gives u a maximum of 1/2point (with money making the last 10) or 3/4(money making the last 5)
(assuming rounding up and using the examples of 1/2 & 3/4 points with extra cash spend giving you upto a maximum of 10 or 5 extra])

So a lv 1 designer gets you max 1(11) or 1(6)  [figures in () is the total highest level including money spent]
lv 10 gets you max 5(15) or 8(13)
lv 20 gets you max 10(20) or 15(20)

then you need to figure out how much each extra "point" would cost in monetary e.g. 1m per point per part [doesnt exactly price everyone out, but also doesnt allow someone to create a 100% car until level 20

Maybe even have designers have different skills so e.g. they can create a +2 level front wing but -1 suspension & -1 chassis or make a better highspeed car and worse "street circuit"

EDIT: LOL we replied at the same time

We've just been hired to be his problem solving team..

Starting Values are determined by the components gives and takes, increasing those values into next season would be larger than this season's very small upgrades.
The increase in values would be done by Designer Level and skills contributed to the Chief Designer and Analysis given by the Technical Director. Lets put this into a phase listing
[list=1]
[*]A problem with Component A, causing issues that make Attribute A, needs to be improved for result F.
[*]Technical Director and Drivers forward the information in asking for more Attribute Y and Less Attribute X.
[*]Chief Designer and Design team them work on the Component A and make the alterations.
[*]The Design is completed and Component B is tested during the next race practice session.
[*]The Test results come back to what the new design has done to attributes Y and X and Z (Z being other attributes)
[*]If the result is unhappy, then repeat Step 2 to 6. If the design works then component B is commissioned.
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The Designing emphasis is limited by the team's finances. So that if 'THAT IS THE BEST PIECE EVAR' but you got to research that design or buy it from a stronger team.

Edit:

Another reason that this system works is that it can be used to balance the advantages and disadvantages of the driver. A driver maybe really good at overtaking and speed but is poor on managing his tire grip. Such things as more downforce and less speed from the rear and front wings would cover for those weaknesses. Thus making a balance for the Car and Driver.

An idea I've been mulling over is that we should be able to put designers into developing the car in certain ways. For example, my sidepods are aero efficient, but the cooling isn't good, and therefore my engine takes more wear, so maybe I want to put designers into developing the sidepods to increase the cooling benefit.

The idea is similar to what David suggested earlier, but perhaps we then get cars that overall might be quicker in a straight line, good in fast corner, good in slower corners, or maybe are aggressive or easy on their tyres. So if that was the case, and my car was easy on its tyres, I'd probably be faster at tracks like Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, where the tyres heat up quite a lot, but at tracks like Monaco, I'd struggle to get heat into the tyres.

I think the problem with this idea is that it is very basic, and needs developing, and it doesn't really solve the problem of this season/next season. 

Another thing I've thought about is that perhaps, as I think I may have mentioned before, we should have certain parts that are more effective than others. So let's say that we have the parts we have now, maybe in sections, if that makes sense, so we have:

Front wing, rear wing, diffuser, sidepods, engine cover, barge boards, nose, suspension etc. 

These, and probably more, can be split into sections, in which will all start at level 1. We can then choose to develop parts, but what we don't know is what the most important parts will be. Perhaps our designers will give us clues as to what the best parts to develop will be, and the higher the level of designer, the more effective they are at choosing what to develop successfully. So then, for the next three seasons, we develop our cars at a slow rate, and can only reach the level that our chief designer is at?

Then when the three seasons are up, the designs are reset, and the parts that are most important to develop will change.

It would give great variation to who is quickest, and it wouldn't necessarily mean that you are quick everywhere. Perhaps then, if we go more in depth, we can still develop how we want to build our car in terms of how the tyres should react at temperatures, and the drag to downforce ratio. Also, we could maybe change our kers system, and choose whether we want a more powerful kers system, that doesn't last as long, or the other way around.

This post was written quickly, so if there are things that are difficult to understand, then I'll try to re-iterate my point ;)

Indeed, if we were to go to my suggestion, we would probably have to add more car parts. Such as Braking System, engine cover, nose cover etc.

Something else I want to throw in that kinda relates to this
To balance out teams, this is how it should juggle their talents of a team.

Team Budgeting. 100% of Team Budget goes into 4 tiers:
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[*]Design Development - Sets the overall max of Car and Component Design
[*]Team Diplomacy - Sets the negociation skills when communicating with Drivers, Suppliers and Sponsors.
[*]Driver Development - Focus on the driver's training and comfort
[*]Savings - Budget is kept and stored for other purposes.
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That's quite good. I think if you add technical department in there as well, which involves how quick and efficient your pit stops are. So, if you haven't put a lot of time, effort and money into the department then your crew will be slow, and make more mistakes.

You should be able to set the team Budget ammount aswell. All this ofcourse is for general equipment, such as computers etc for Design, Phones and email and travel for Team Diplomacy, Driving development for like equipment and food menus etc, and for technical department, for like Tire Gun and other tools. So it wouldn't be huge but you can set the ammount for team. This generally for team comfort and morale aswell as a slight boost to their performance through said comfort and morale.

@Jack certainly for this season this would bring a lot more thought into when you develop upgrades, as opposed to just every 2 days

How do you sort out between this/next season though? or are they going to be totally different [entity's] for want of a better word

This would definitely be a huge step forward to the current design system, especially if it can be combined with the previous ideas.

Also, just to add to what David was saying, perhaps if we're updating team equipment and such, then maybe we should be able to upgrade facilities too? We already have our headquarters, so why not add certain departments within the HQ to be able to build a better team. We could upgrade a better design department, which can in turn build better cars. We already have some things in place that are like this, but it might be worth a thought. It's a little off-topic, but I'm sure it can be linked.
And perhaps we should decide where our HQ is located, and maybe it would cost more to ship all of your parts from the UK to Australia, than it would to Silverstone?

I think shipping parts etc internationally is already covered in Traveling expenses.
On another note, I got to stop typing 'ugprade"

Also I can see everyone basing their HQ's in the UK, Germany, Italy or their own countries.

Problem is we are thinking with a development cap, generally their shouldn't be one, the designs etc should continue to upgrade as we go.

However as for balancing the lower teams, spying can be replaced by buying tech from another team. And use spying as a method of learning what they've done to their car to accelerate your own development. After which both teams will be very close together, that it will be down to tire and fuel management.

Development should be fast at the start, then slow, and always be improvable. At a very high level, the only way you could improve on a component is to make it lighter, by 100 grams etc.