Vehicle reliability, breakdowns, maintenance, and improvements for mechanics

[mj2002]

Detailed Description

 

Before you comment on this, please consider the system as a whole instead of only specific parts! Thanks!

 

Vehicles are not endlessly reliable, and I suggest we introduce a system that simulates this, whilst at the same time putting some more focus on vehicle maintenance at mechanics garages, rather than just style modding and performance upgrades. The idea is not for players to be faced with broken down vehicles every other day that won't move, but introduce an interesting system that encourages players to seek out mechanics garages for maintenance and repairs more frequently that now.

 

Basics

 

- Keep the existing maintenance model, but cut the mileage conditions in half, or in three. So Every 750 or 500 miles, instead of 1500 miles.

- Introduce a hidden reliability variable per vehicle, influenced primarily by mileage, but perhaps also by modifications to the vehicle's engine, transmission, and turbo.

- Introduce a base reliability value per vehicle model (higher on newer vehicles, lower on older and high performance vehicles)

- Introduce a low breakdown chance per mile driven based on a vehicle's current hidden reliability variable

- Breakdowns can cause a few different effects, and sometimes can involve a complete engine disable

- No possible breakdowns for the first 100 miles since purchase, or first 100 miles since repairs or maintenance

 

These basics should create an environment where there's a small chance to have your vehicle break down after it has been driven for 100 miles, and until it receives regular maintenance, or is subject to repairs after a breakdown. If the vehicle model is newer, than the chance will be lower, if the vehicle is older, or has performance upgrades, the chance will be slightly higher.

 

Breakdowns

 

A breakdown will be indicated by an adjusted engine sound that starts to appear. The engine sounds should already be available in the game. If you crash a car hard enough, you will hear the engine rattle. A breakdown does not necessarily cut the engine out and leaves the character unable to continue. Instead, the nature of a breakdown will be a random selection of 1 or 2 effects:

 

• Fuel consumption tripled
• Reduced braking power
• Reduced engine power
• Reduced acceleration
• Reduced handling (driving as if the road was wet, perhaps?)
• Disabling of all performance improvements (except for suspension) if applicable
• One or more brake lights disabled
• One or more headlights and reverse lights disabled
• Engine completely disabled
• Top speed reduced by 30%

 

Roughly speaking, you'd have a 20% chance of the engine being completely disabled in a breakdown that could occur once every 100 - 300 miles driven, depending on the reliability of the vehicle and last time since repairs/maintenance was done. All the other options allow the player to continue driving, albeit with some problems and a crappy engine sound. Values are all subject to change!

 

 

Repairs

 

A breakdown status can be removed by on-duty mechanics at the garage menu using the same way that 'repairs' (not maintenance) are currently done. This removes any breakdown condition applied to the vehicle, removes the damaged engine sound, and undoes any disabled engine or performance components. This repair action restores the reliability variable to its base value, as if the vehicle was new. 

 

• Change the price of vehicle repairs from a flat fee of $500 to a value of 2-5% of a vehicle's retail value. Value subject to change!

 

Each repair action reduces a vehicle's base reliability value by a small percentage. Meaning it becomes very slightly less effective if you repair a vehicle many times. The defects will still be removed, and the car will still be immune from breakdowns in the first 100 miles.

 

Maintenance

 

Vehicle maintenance right now is basically non-existent, because the interval between a vehicle needing maintenance is 1500 miles. Only a small percentage of normal vehicles reach the first 1500 miles marker, barely any reach 3000. Vehicles with high mileage are usually limited to EMS/LEO, trucks, etc. The maintenance intervals should be reduced from every 1500 miles to every 750 or 500 miles. The costs can remain unchanged. Performing maintenance restores a vehicle's reliability to its base value (minus any penalties from previous repairs).

 

Restoration

 

For car enthusiasts, a vehicle restoration can be considered on top of maintenance and repairs. This action can also be performed at a mechanics garage, but disabled the vehicle's engine for 24 or 48 hours. This action costs 10% of a vehicle's retail value, but improves the base reliability of a vehicle. This can make even an older car be more reliable compared to when it is bought new. Naturally, a restoration project removes any breakdown conditions. Values are obviously subject to change!

 

 

Relevant Commands/Items

 

- A menu option for on-duty mechanics to check a vehicle's hidden reliability variable (%).

- A universal command to check the details of a vehicle's breakdown condition, revealing the two negative effects. A vehicle's /hood must be opened for this command to work, and the vehicle must be unlocked. Command available to any player, no ownership or keys required.

 

How will it benefit the server?

 

• Create a roleplay opportunity for vehicle recovery
• Shift more focus to repair roleplay when it comes to mechanics, which is realistic.
• Introduce reliability problems for vehicles with high mileage, which is realistic.
• Reduce the value of vehicles more significantly as mileage increases, right now vehicles barely depreciate in value
• A small reward for players choosing reliable vehicles instead of choosing high performance vehicles, which is currently absent

 

Some considerations

- Do not enable this system for bicycles, aircraft, boats, and other miscellaneous vehicle types, or at least it'll have to be revised quite a bit.

- Adjust the variables, or disable the system entirely, for EMS, LEO, trucking system vehicles, etc.

 

Edited April 1, 2023 by mj2002

[Paenymion]

Would be awesome imo.  A few thoughts:  I would not let player mechanics view the hidden reliability percent though, that would be metagamed imo.  Also against disabling the system for FD and LEOs.  They should (and actually ICly do) maintain their vehicles just as everyone does.  Imo a breakdown should be quite rare IF the car is young AND it's maintained regularly.  You should only start getting problems if it's old and/or you never take it to a garage.  Not a super fan of adding more breakdowns to modded cars either, I think people will hate that because people who do mod their cars tend to care for them quite intensely, way more than an average person looks after their generic unmodded car.

[pateuvasiliu]

17 minutes ago, Paenymion said:

Also against disabling the system for FD and LEOs.  They should (and actually ICly do) maintain their vehicles just as everyone does

Doesn't work when you have a lot of LEO/FD players but not a lot of cars. If I was the only one using my Scout the 1500 miles wouldn't be an issue but it's usually several people using it in a week. 1500 miles is nothing. 500 miles? You could do half of that in a single patrol based on how many pursuits you get into. PD cars would need maintenance every few days, it would be terrible, half the fleet would always be broken down and LEO roleplay would be crippled.

Just this week we had half the K-9 Fleet needing maintenance. It's not a type of RP people usually enjoy, so the work piles up until it becomes a major issue.

 

If anything I think maintenance should be entirely removed. It's an annoying minigame. You know how people oppose thirst/hunger systems because they become annoyances you NEED to do, instead of WANT to do? That's maintenance. It's basically a hunger system for cars. Time to get rid of it.

 

However, there should be some car damage system, cause people flip their cars and then keep driving all the time. 

Edited April 1, 2023 by pateuvasiliu

[MarcoEL]

Hell yeahhh, we need that one +1

[mj2002]

13 minutes ago, Paenymion said:

Would be awesome imo.  A few thoughts:  I would not let player mechanics view the hidden reliability percent though, that would be metagamed imo.  Also against disabling the system for FD and LEOs.  They should (and actually ICly do) maintain their vehicles just as everyone does.  Imo a breakdown should be quite rare IF the car is young AND it's maintained regularly.  You should only start getting problems if it's old and/or you never take it to a garage.  Not a super fan of adding more breakdowns to modded cars either, I think people will hate that because people who do mod their cars tend to care for them quite intensely, way more than an average person looks after their generic unmodded car.

 

Hey, thanks for your reply! A few answers:

 

The hidden reliability percentage is only hidden because it requires a skilled mechanic to reveal. They can (sort of realistically, I'm taking a few liberties here) judge a car's condition after an inspection. Once a mechanic reveals this, they can just tell this to the owner of the vehicle. It doesn't need to be metagamed, because it can be considered IC.

 

Because LEO/EMS and trucks gain considerably more mileage than other vehicles, I figured that would be logical to at least adjust the parameters for them. On the other hand, it could also provide roleplay to the motorpool. I'm not experienced enough to judge this, perhaps others have input here.

 

I understand that people may not like the idea of reducing reliability on modded cars, but its not unrealistic. When you change something to the core mechanics of a vehicle, you're often introducing parts that are different than what the car came with from the factory. This can have effects on other components which weren't designed with these changes in mind. Is it always the case? Obviously not. However, I think you'll be hard-pressed to find evidence that modified cars are more reliable. In fact, the opposite is likely. In GTAW, modifications do not have any negative effects, other than the initial costs. This is demonstrated by the fact that an extremely unrealistic percentage of vehicles are performance modified, compared to real life. This little concept doesn't ruin anyone's fun, but provides ever so slightly more balance to this issue.

[mj2002]

19 minutes ago, pateuvasiliu said:

Doesn't work when you have a lot of LEO/FD players but not a lot of cars.

This is perhaps an IC issue, right?

[pateuvasiliu]

1 hour ago, mj2002 said:

This is perhaps an IC issue, right?

It's an IC issue that can't be solved as far as I know. If this change went through LEO RP would be unplayable since half the fleet would be on maintenance permanently. 500 miles is nothing for a LEO car, it gets filled in 2 days.

Edited April 1, 2023 by pateuvasiliu

[Jai.]

Awesome suggestion MJ, full support from me.

 

LEO/FD shouldn't be disabled but maybe occur less frequent just due to the fact most of the vehicles are in the tens of thousands of miles, and realistically these vehicles would be maintained to a high standard anyhow, but the change of breaking down during a pursuit sounds like a very nice implementation from an LEO role player my side.

 

+1

[TommyX]

+1

[Toxic-san]

Add that to aircrafts too.