######################################################################################### # # # Motor City: History Experience Part II© Manual - English Translation # # -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- # # Source: the-classic-fun.gnw.de/ga...ch_ger.zip # # -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- # # Translated by: Nidhøgg (ICQ: 20087434) on August 25th 2001 # # Originally for: Home Of The Underdogs (HOTU) - www.theunderdogs.org # # -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- # # Motor City and the original manual are property of and copyrighted by Max Design. # # The english translation is property of and copyrighted by me, Nidhøgg. =P # # Feel free to distribute it as long as you give me credit for having done this. =) # # -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- # # Cheers and thanks go out to bill22 for having found the german manual first, and # # to Babylon Ltd. for having created such a nifty tool with the Babylon Translator. # # # ######################################################################################## MOTOR CITY Manual ================= Game Start ---------- After you have started the game, an intro appears which tunes you in on the happenings in the game. You may cancel it anytime by clicking on any mouse button. In the following start screen you are able to set up diverse preferences, check the highscore list, load a saved game, watch the intro again and - last but not least - of course also start the game. Should still anything get in the way of having unclouded joy in playing the game, you're also able to return to DOS from here. Players and Company Names ------------------------- With the buttons and you get to the Name menu. Here you enter your player name. Your future company can also be given an inspiring name. Up to two human players may play. With the buttons or you are able to choose if your opponent is a human or should be a computer adversary. Should no player made of flesh and blood be available, then the button won't help either. The computer opponent is not to be underestimated though. Country Choice -------------- In the Name menu you also decide in what country your company office should be. Click on the country flag to skip through the available countries. This does definitely have an influence on the further gameplay. Load an Old Game ---------------- With you may load a saved game. Choose the desired game in the Saved Games menu and click on the button . Highscore List -------------- Click on to check out the scores of the best players. Of course you should do all that is possible to be listed up here at the very top. Difficulty ---------- Not every player has the same demands on the difficulty of a game. Thus you may determine the desired level yourself. Start the Game -------------- Now we can finally begin. Click on and a short moment later you are right in the midst of the gameplay. End the Game ------------ You only wanted to see the intro? With you are released from the game. Game Goal --------- The game of the goal is easy to explain, but only hard to achieve. Mankind strives for higher matters, and you as a car maker should strive to become the greatest automobile manufacturer of the year 1929. How well you are placed in the race for supremacy in the car production you may not only find in the balance sheet, but also at the election of Car Manufacurer of the Year. This yearly scheduled election is a good means to control in regular intervals the progress of your firm compared to the concurring companies. Good things need a while. A car company also needs time to develop. Thus you should not be frustrated when you are still completely left out in this election at the start of the game. Communication ------------- In the course of the game you will quite often have to communicate with other persons in the game. For example you want to make clear to your staff manager that you only want to see the personnel data and not fire a hundred people. You will also have to have the one or other - more or less pleasant - discussion with the nice mister from the local bank. Except for the number inputs, this will always happen in the same, easy to understand way. Each time you have several options available as either question, order or answer. You only have to click on the according line. Should you have to handle numbers, you are able to use a stylish cash register as an input device. Type in the desired number and acknowledge it with the OK key. Wrong numbers may be simply deleted by the CL key. Factory Grounds --------------- At the beginning of the game you will find here a rather empty factory ground. Here you can set up new buildings, dismantle old or no longer needed buildings, visit the bank, end rounds, install new production lines and enter buildings. Since many types of buildings are usable for several usage purposes, the current usage purpose is described as soon as you move the mouse cursor over a building. Overview Map ------------ Since the whole factory ground is bigger than a screen (40 x 20 fields), only a part is seen. When you reach the borders of the screen with your mouse cursor, the screen will be scrolled block by block. You see the ground as a whole minimized in the overview map. Built-upon blocks are symbolized by filled rectangles. The current area part is indicated by a [larger] rectangle. Specially hasty people may use this map as a quick area choice. Click therefore on the map to center the screen on this point. Furthermore you can see by means of the map the name of your company, in case you didn't memorize it, as well as the current date and the amount of your company capital. Pop-up Menu ----------- When you click on the right mouse button, a pop-up menu appears. With the help of this menu you will be able to execute following actions: Set Up Store: Newly erected buildings have no usage purpose. With this menu point you may appoint a building as a depot. Click therefore on the desired building. Build Hall: You can erect new buildings. In a selection window you can choose between different buildings. You receive informations about build time, price, usage option and space. With you confirm the construction order for the building. Should none of the buildings conform with your ideas, you may cancel with . After an issued construction order you have to choose the location of the new building. For that the mouse cursor changes into a broken up rectangle in the size of the needed space. Click on the desired place on the map. At this place appears now the foundation of the building. Only after the required construction time will it be usable to you. Tear Down Hall: If you want to break down a building, choose this option. Following click on the building to be torn down and already you have space again for new constructions. To The Bank: This menu point leads you to the place where the money is home - in a bank. End Of Round: With this you terminate a game round. There is no time limit. New Production: You may give a production hall a new construction order. In a menu window you pick the new production. Office ------ You enter your office by the factory grounds. It is the central control point for many of your actions. You may switch from your office to the staff manager, check your balance, confirm sales, erect and manage new branches, set up preferences, start a new game and consult the encyclopedia (only in the CD-ROM version [which is available at HOTU]). These actions are performed by clicking on the respective objects in your office. If your mouse pointer is over an object which is connected with an action, the name of the possible action will appear above the mouse pointer. Newspaper: The newspaper is only usable after the first press release. This first appears in the year 1908. Of course you can leave your office again to go back to the factory grounds. Account Book ------------ The balance sheet presents itself to you in form of an account book. By clicking on the arrow buttons in the lower right part of the pages, you browse through the book. You receive informations about your financial status and your accounts. Game Options ------------ In the options menu [DRAW2] you are able to switch on/off music and sound effects. Click on the related box. Load and Save ------------- To save a game, click on an entry in the Saved Games menu. Give it a name and and click on the save button. To load a game, click on an entry and then on the load button. End the game ------------ To leave the game, choose . Do not forget to save the current game before that if you want to continue at this point later. Start a New Game ---------------- Should you think that a complete reset is the best, choose the upper drawer in your office [DRAW1]. A click in this ark, and you may begin anew. Encyclopedia ------------ In addition to this manual, a multi-media encyclopedia as orientation help is available to you. Handling the Encyclopedia ------------------------- Next page: To browse forward one page, click on the right arrow button (->). Previous page: To browse back one page, click on the left arrow button (<-). To the index: With this button (X) you get to the index. Play movie: On some pages you may view a movie for a topic. This button (|->) only appears when a movie is available. You may stop the movie by clicking with your right mouse button. Warehouses ---------- Ordered and self constructed parts are stored in warehouses. You may obtain an overview, or also acquire offers for the purchase of assembly parts. Purchase of Components ---------------------- Especially at the beginning of the game you will mainly manufacture your cars with imported parts. The warehouse man is also responsible for the purchase of production parts. Through him you may also acquire offers for diverse components. The offers are stored in the Offer Drawer (see chapter "Research Department") and may now be purchased for the production. Expect to experience delivery problems from time to time though. The warehouse man also informs you about the actual inventory with a data sheet. Complementarily can be added that a new article may be included in the warehouse by simply clicking on a field labeled "empty". Ordering happens by clicking on the field with the actual stock. Research Department ------------------- Right at the start of the game you should build a research department. Without this, pretty much nothing at all works. You surely don't want to build cars out of assembly parts made by a foreign producer for all the time. The research department is responsible for the development of your own production parts. But also for the production of cars from assembly parts you will need the help of this department. Develop Prototypes ------------------ To produce a car, you first have to develop and create a prototype. For that you open in the file- card box the drawer labeled and choose an empty sheet. Now you may compile in a dialogue with your technician a prototype out of the already available assembly parts. Thereby you choose in order a chassis, engine, body and so on. Of course you may only use parts you have either developed yourself or for which purchase offers have arrived. The technician will inform you if this car is worthy in his opinion, and also about the anticipated production costs. Now you may either listen to improvement suggestions or get your way and indorse the prototype. With that you give the assignment to the construction of a test car. After a while, the car will stand in front of you in all its pride and you may proceed to the testing track, if you are so inclined. The prototype is now available for mass production. Test-runs --------- On your testing area you may try out your prototypes in practice. That way you gain valuable knowledge about high speeds, steering, driving conduct, durability and breaking behavior. Steering: Mouse movements left-right Accelerate: With your left mouse button Brake: With your right mouse button Next gear: Spacebar Previous gear: Return/Enter key To be able to make a first test-run with the new car, it is necessary to once leave the data sheet with the completely assembled car. With that a complete check is performed on the car. From the next re-entry into the data sheet on, the test-run may be directly invoked. Research Priority ----------------- Development of prototypes is available as soon as you erect a research department. Preconditioned that assembly parts are available. Two company technicians are delivered along so to speak. For the research on own assembly parts new engineers have to be hired though. Developing Parts ---------------- To avoid rendering your car factory into a pure assembly plant, you should also develop own parts. That costs time and money, but in the long run it'll mostly pay out. The newly developed assembly parts will be stored as files in the Spareparts drawer. They are from now on available for parts production. File-card Box ------------- Plans for production-ready prototypes, assembly parts and race cars are stored in the file-card box. Parts from delivery companies also land as file cards in the Spareparts drawer if an offer from the company is submitted. The file cards inform you about performance and production- resp. purchase costs of assembly parts. Staff Manager ------------- To be able to produce, you naturally also need a work force. The staff management is handled in a dialogue with your staff manager. Staff Recruitment/Dismissal --------------------------- With staff recruitment or dismissal you choose how many unskilled or skilled workers and engineers you want to recruit or dismiss. The necessity of such measures may be extracted from the staff details. Staff Details ------------- The staff manager will present you with the current staff details. By means of these you may create an overview of the staff situation and staff costs in your company. You see the salary schemes and accomplished work hours for the three job groups. These values may be adapted to your according ideas. Of course salary and work hours will have an influence on the motivation and productivity of the workers. Hired personnel has to be allocated to the respective departments. The line at the end of the first third under the salary bar indicates the minimum wage which has to be paid to avoid a veritable mass resignation wave. Production ---------- Production happens in the factory halls. Those are the core of your car company. Adequate care should be spent at the planning and managing of this. New Production -------------- New factory halls have to be outfitted with machines before the production may begin. Therefore choose the option "New Production" in the pop-up menu [on the Factory Grounds]. In a dialogue you now decide which parts should be produced in this factory hall. Now it is also necessary to appoint a certain part or a car that should be produced. Only one product may be manufactured in a factory at once. Allocate Staff -------------- The available personnel has to be allocated to the single departments. This happens in the factory halls themselves. Require for this the staff data from the hall foreman. Now you can allocate the needed work force to the department. You have the choice between skilled and unskilled workers. You will be informed about how many workers of each group in the department are needed at the most and how many have already been allocated to this department. Furthermore you may adjust the work pace of your employees. Shift Production ---------------- In the dialogue with the hall foreman it is also possible to shift the production of one hall to another one. All the machines will be moved to the new hall, the old one is empty again. Target Warehouse ---------------- The single parts should preferably be transported without a big detour through the factory. Therefore you decide into which warehouse the finished products from a factory hall should be brought. Sales ----- Of course you also want to sell your cars. The sale takes place over independent dealers which order directly from you or through your sales branches. The orders are stored in the account book and there processed by you. Open up Branches ---------------- There are only few dealers who will also order from you over greater distances. Therefore you should attempt to also attend the smaller remote dealers far off. For that you open up branches. These may be spread all over Europe. The branches watch after the dealers in their proximity. To erect a branch, go to your office and click on the european map. A card of Europe with the most important cities appears [Even Luxembourg is shown! The small spot between Reims and Frankfurt! =)]. Already erected branches of yours will be marked with a small flag. Click on a city and an info window comes up which tells you about construction costs, expenses and construction time of a branch in this city. If you want to build a branch, acknowledge with . Managing Branches ----------------- From time to time you should also control your branches. Because you will have to take care yourself of advertisement or dealer discounts in each branch. For branch-management click on the european map on a branch. You receive informations about the sold models, the unit price, amount of sold units and gross revenues. Since you are not the only car manufacturer, you will also be informed about the current market shares of your company. Advertisement ------------- To adjust the advertisement for a branch, click the button . The level of the advertisement budget and the type of advertisement media will have to picked by you in each branch individually. Dealer Discount --------------- The discount is a percentaged price reduction of the final sales price for dealers. It may be adjusted in each branch individually. By these means it is possible to make the sale of your cars more attractive to dealers. You should pay heed to a healthy price balance. Final Sales Price ----------------- The final sales price is valid for one country at a time. To change the price, simply click on the price of the desired model. Each branch automatically shows the country-specific final sales price minus the accorded discount for this branch. Thus the price of cars may be individually specified in different branches. Tips and Tricks for the Game ---------------------------- Importance of Halls: Loading Point: Cuts delivery times for components from 7 to 3 days. Bigger Administration resp. Research Department: Small image growth. Advertisement Budget: The budget should be between 6 and 10 percent of the monthly turnover in this branch. Car Races: The first car race will take place in 1902. The required budget for a competitive race car will naturally increase in the course of time with the increased technical possibilities. *** THE END ***