Confessions of an Automationeer, part 121: A Dip in the (Tech) Pool

Confessions of an Automationeer, part 121: A Dip in the (Tech) Pool

We have already discussed the recently introduced Automation sandbox tech pool, a feature that can be used to accelerate the development of specific components, thereby ensuring earlier availability of certain items in that category. This requires the use of positive tech pool points, of which you can assign up to 15 for any given component. Speaking of components, the tech pool chart lists a total of 16: 6 for the engine (block/head, bottom end, top end, turbocharger, fuel system, and exhaust) and 10 for the car (body, chassis, drivetrain, wheels/tires, brakes, aerodynamics, interior, safety, assists, and suspension).

A glued aluminum chassis shouldn't be available in 1999...

For example, a glued aluminum chassis is normally available only from 2000 onwards. However, with the use of the tech pool, you can select it at an earlier year than usual. Taking the 15-point limit into account, it is possible to have this option as early as 1985. Granted, this is highly unrealistic, but the fact is that you no longer have to wait as long in-game as before to utilize this expensive weight-saving technology for a sandbox build.

...unless, of course, you advance the chassis tech pool by 1 year.

But what about using the tech pool to have the opposite effect by adding negative points? This could actually serve a purpose in-game by simulating the effects of a company introducing a specific item later than the usual industry standard. And whereas positive tech pool points reduce production units, engineering time and overall cost, negative tech pool points will increase all of those. 

There is a catch, however: The most recent in-game year for a car and its engine is 2020, so in theory, using the negative tech pool to delay the availability of any item to after 2020 will effectively make that item impossible to use. To give another example, the luxury HUD-based infotainment system is only available from 2017 onwards, so using a negative tech pool value of -4 for the interior would prevent it from being selected at all, even if the trim year is set to 2020.

Taking all of the above into account, if negative tech pool points are ever implemented in Automation, it would introduce the possibility of a third scenario: assigning positive points to some components and negative points to others. This is intriguing, to say the least, since a company could, in theory, be ahead of the industry standard in some areas and behind in others. As such, simultaneous use of positive and positive tech pool points would be the only way to simulate this situation.

This brings us to the concept of a net tech pool, which would be the sum of all tech pool points across all categories. The resulting value would determine how far ahead or behind the industry standard a company would be overall. For any given car, its overall net tech pool value would be the sum of the net tech pools for the trim and engine; if this value is negative, then its manufacturer is generally playing catch-up research-wise, but if this value is positive, then its manufacturer is generally on (or ahead of) the cutting edge of research.

In short, implementing negative tech pool values would open up a whole new set of possibilities, from merely simulating a company lagging behind research trends, to offsetting positive tech pool points elsewhere in fan-made challenges that allow tech pool adjustments within a set net tech pool limit.