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''Automation'' is a SimulationGame by Camshaft Software, a group of independent developers from New Zealand, that was released on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} Early Access in March 2015. The basic premise is that you are starting a new automotive company and have to produce cars from 1946 through 2020. The game puts much of the focus on car designing freedom and realism. At the time of the Steam release, the only modes available were the Sandbox mode, which allows freeform design of cars and engines, and Scenarios, short challenges where the player must meet certain requirements within certain restrictions using the engine and car designer, but a Light Campaign mode has since been added.

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''Automation'' is a SimulationGame by Camshaft Software, a group of independent developers from New Zealand, that was released on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} Platform/{{Steam}} Early Access in March 2015. The basic premise is that you are starting a new automotive company and have to produce cars from 1946 through 2020. The game puts much of the focus on car designing freedom and realism. At the time of the Steam release, the only modes available were the Sandbox mode, which allows freeform design of cars and engines, and Scenarios, short challenges where the player must meet certain requirements within certain restrictions using the engine and car designer, but a Light Campaign mode has since been added.
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** Nitromethane fuel. You know, the stuff they use in Top Fuel dragsters. Despite its octane rating only being a little above [=E100=], it'll give any engine an insane power density[[labelnote:*]]as in "450 hp from a naturally aspirated 1000 cc engine" insane[[/labelnote]]... and an absolutely abysmal thermal efficiency. It also works surprisingly well with non-intercooled turbo setups.

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** Nitromethane fuel. You know, the stuff they use in Top Fuel dragsters. Despite its octane rating only being a little above [=E100=], it'll give any engine an insane power density[[labelnote:*]]as density[[note]]as in "450 hp from a naturally aspirated 1000 cc engine" insane[[/labelnote]]...insane[[/note]]... and an absolutely abysmal thermal efficiency. It also works surprisingly well with non-intercooled turbo setups.



* {{Fauxrrari}}: Roughly 95% of car bodies,[[labelnote:*]](a notable exception being the [[VideoGame/RidgeRacer Soldat Raggio]], which in 2005 was [[{{Defictionalization}} adapted into a real-life custom car based on a Honda NSX commissioned by Namco]])[[/labelnote]] whether vanilla or mods, are modelled after real-life cars, but usually have rather benign filenames. Some[[labelnote:*]]including the Koenigsegg CCX, Aston Martin [=V8=] Vantage, [=McLaren GT=], Chevrolet Lumina APV, Jeep Wrangler, and two generations of the 911[[/labelnote]] are more conspicuous than others.
* FictionalCountry: There are five in the existing campaign and sandbox mode: [[EverythingIsBigInTexas Gas]][[LandDownUnder mea]], [[{{UsefulNotes/Switzerland}} Het]][[GermanicDepressives vesia]], Fruinia,[[labelnote:*]]an amalgamation of Mediterranean and Western Europe[[/labelnote]] [[ArabOilSheikh Dalluha]], and [[CommieLand Arc]][[UsefulNotes/ThirdWorld hana]].

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* {{Fauxrrari}}: Roughly 95% of car bodies,[[labelnote:*]](a bodies,[[note]](a notable exception being the [[VideoGame/RidgeRacer Soldat Raggio]], which in 2005 was [[{{Defictionalization}} adapted into a real-life custom car based on a Honda NSX commissioned by Namco]])[[/labelnote]] Namco]])[[/note]] whether vanilla or mods, are modelled after real-life cars, but usually have rather benign filenames. Some[[labelnote:*]]including Some[[note]]including the Koenigsegg CCX, Aston Martin [=V8=] Vantage, [=McLaren GT=], Chevrolet Lumina APV, Jeep Wrangler, and two generations of the 911[[/labelnote]] 911[[/note]] are more conspicuous than others.
* FictionalCountry: There are five in the existing campaign and sandbox mode: [[EverythingIsBigInTexas Gas]][[LandDownUnder mea]], [[{{UsefulNotes/Switzerland}} Het]][[GermanicDepressives vesia]], Fruinia,[[labelnote:*]]an Fruinia,[[note]]an amalgamation of Mediterranean and Western Europe[[/labelnote]] Europe[[/note]] [[ArabOilSheikh Dalluha]], and [[CommieLand Arc]][[UsefulNotes/ThirdWorld hana]].
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added As Long as It Sounds Foreign

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* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: The "Mahiyitsu" sign at the top edge of a building facade in the Overpass photoscene.[[note]]"Yi" as a Japanese syllable is nonexistent, even in non-native loanwords (unlike, say, "vu" or "fo").[[/note]]

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* AlcoholIsGasoline: Averted. However, in the latest open-beta, there is Ethanol as an option for the fuel system with a RON of 130. Beyond that is a fuel called "[=DevMeth=]" with a RON of ''200'' which was obviously put in for testing purposes.
* TheAllegedCar: Easily made with cheap steel, postwar-era tech, and a negative quality factor on everything.
** Some mods [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this trope (or [[WhatAPieceOfJunk its opposite]]) deliberately, such as a four-wheeled Peel P50 body and faux rust decals.

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* AlcoholIsGasoline: Averted. However, E85 and E100 ethanol fuels are available to use in the latest open-beta, there is Ethanol as an option for the fuel system with a RON of 130. Beyond that is a fuel called "[=DevMeth=]" with a RON of ''200'' which was obviously put in for testing purposes.
engines.
* TheAllegedCar: Easily made with cheap steel, primitive postwar-era tech, and a negative quality factor on everything.
** Some mods [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this trope (or [[WhatAPieceOfJunk its opposite]]) deliberately, such as a four-wheeled Peel P50 body and faux rust materials and decals.



* {{Autosave}}: Any changes to a car or engine in the [=UE4=] version will be automatically saved, which proves useful when you're playing in the open beta and it crashes.

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* AntiFrustrationFeatures: Although the game is quite rough around the edges, thought has still been put into streamlining some parts of the experience.
**
{{Autosave}}: Any changes to a car or engine in the [=UE4=] version within the last few seconds will be automatically saved, which proves useful when you're playing in the open beta and it crashes.crashes.
** Reset buttons exist for both advanced trim settings and photoscene camera settings, for when you're not sure what the default settings were previously, or have fiddled with too many of them to even consider resetting them all one by one.
** For community challenges, a button was added that clones a car model and trim (as well as its engine family and variant), and gives them *all* new backend [=IDs=] so that the resulting car and engine don't conflict with others when the challenge host imports it into their car library.
** As of Light Campaign 4.2, the game can detect missing or uninstalled mods on cars, reducing the risk of parts of a livery being erased or builds going belly up thanks to missing mod bodies.[[note]]Almost literally, in fact, since a car loaded without a body will appear as a chassis that points towards the sky.[[/note]]
** Unsatisfied with the placement of a car's firewall, engine, or axles? In addition to allowing players to turn otherwise normal cars into monster trucks or silhouette racers, the advanced trim settings can also be used to tweak the chassis proportions, tire shape, engine position, and other things in small amounts to one's liking. They also don't affect stats (with the exception of the chassis track width setting, which can be exploited to give a car fatter tires than would normally be allowed).
** 4.2 also allows for the copying of all fixtures on a build, which is particularly useful for salvaging cars made on deprecated bodies.



** Turbo setups aimed for maximum power definitely count. Of course, they give you enormous amounts of power, but turbo lag makes said power difficult to use, and heat problems reduce the engine's reliability a lot.
*** Similarly, you can make high-revving naturally-aspirated engines approaching [[UsefulNotes/FormulaOne F1]] levels of performance, but they tend to take several years to develop as a result of how advanced they are.

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** Turbo setups aimed for maximum power definitely count. Of course, they give you enormous amounts of power, but turbo lag makes said power difficult to use, and heat problems can reduce the engine's reliability a lot.
*** Similarly, you can make high-revving naturally-aspirated engines approaching [[UsefulNotes/FormulaOne F1]] levels of performance, but they chug fuel and tend to take several years to develop as a result of how advanced they are.



** Automatic gearboxes. They can be sluggish, but not every driver can be bothered to [[DrivingStick upshift and downshift]] during commutes.

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** Automatic gearboxes. They can be sluggish, but not every driver can be bothered to [[DrivingStick upshift and downshift]] during commutes.commutes, and they're smoother than automanuals or dual-clutches.



** Front-wheel drive. It's less responsive when driven hard, but much less prone to oversteer than rear-wheel drive and less complex than all-wheel drive.

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** Front-wheel drive. It's less responsive when driven hard, hard (and weight transfer puts it at quite the disadvantage under hard acceleration), but much less prone to oversteer than rear-wheel drive and less complex than all-wheel drive.



* ContextSensitiveButton: Depending on what's selected, the "clone trim" button in the Car Designer menu can also be used to clone entire models and all of their respective trim levels. This can be used to make cars that have the same exterior but different chassis (such as race cars adapted from road cars).
* CoolButInefficient: V16 engines. Note that in this case, it's less a matter of fuel economy and more of complexity and size--many [[RealLife real-world]] automakers prefer [=V12s=] over [=V16s=] for both performance and luxury applications.[[note]]Aside from the Cizeta-Moroder [=V16T=], [=V16s=] haven't been used in production cars since the early [='30s=], but automotive [=V16s=] have persisted in the form of prototype designs, concept car engines, and even racing engines.[[/note]] Today, such engines are instead mostly used in trains or boats, where the sheer size of such engines necessitates more cylinders in order to reduce vibration to an acceptable level.
* CoolCar: Popular car bodies around which to design said Cool Cars include those of supercars like the [=McLaren MP4-12C=] (as shown in the image above) and Koenigsegg CCX, sports cars like the Mitsubishi [=3000GT=][[note]](sometimes mistaken for a Mazda [=RX-7=] FD)[[/note]] and Jaguar E-Type, and even [[LoopholeAbuse/RealLifeSports race car-derived road cars]] like the Dauer 962.

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* ContextSensitiveButton: Depending on what's selected, the "clone trim" button in the Car Designer menu can also be used to clone entire models and all of their respective trim levels. This can be used to make cars that have the same exterior but different chassis or engine layout (such as race cars adapted from road cars).
* CoolButInefficient: CoolButInefficient:
**
V16 engines. Note that in this case, it's less a matter of fuel economy and more of complexity and size--many [[RealLife real-world]] automakers prefer [=V12s=] over [=V16s=] for both performance and luxury applications.[[note]]Aside from the Cizeta-Moroder [=V16T=], [=V16s=] haven't been used in production cars since the early [='30s=], but automotive [=V16s=] have persisted in the form of prototype designs, concept car engines, and even racing engines.[[/note]] Today, such engines are instead mostly used in trains or boats, where the sheer size of such engines necessitates more cylinders in order to reduce vibration to an acceptable level.
** Nitromethane fuel. You know, the stuff they use in Top Fuel dragsters. Despite its octane rating only being a little above [=E100=], it'll give any engine an insane power density[[labelnote:*]]as in "450 hp from a naturally aspirated 1000 cc engine" insane[[/labelnote]]... and an absolutely abysmal thermal efficiency. It also works surprisingly well with non-intercooled turbo setups.
* CoolCar: Popular car bodies around which to design said Cool Cars include those of supercars like the [=McLaren MP4-12C=] (as shown in the image above) GT=] and Koenigsegg CCX, sports cars like the Mitsubishi [=3000GT=][[note]](sometimes mistaken for a Mazda [=RX-7=] FD)[[/note]] and Jaguar E-Type, and even [[LoopholeAbuse/RealLifeSports race car-derived road cars]] like the Dauer 962.



* CreatorProvincialism: The Automation Test Track is located in an indeterminate area of UsefulNotes/{{New Zealand}} (at least as far as [[VideoGame/BeamNG Beam]] is concerned). This applies to the fictional Light Campaign world as well, with the ATT being located near the town of Wairua[[note]]whose name is Māori for "spirit"[[/note]] in Gasmea (a country that serves as an amalgamation of North America, Australia, and NZ, among others).
* CripplingOverspecialization: The Toyota C-HR body, due to its unique shape (and an awkward rear end that doesn't quite match that of the real car).

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* CreatorProvincialism: The Automation Test Track is located in an indeterminate area of UsefulNotes/{{New Zealand}} (at least as far as [[VideoGame/BeamNG Beam]] is concerned). This applies to the fictional Light Campaign world as well, though, with the ATT being located near the town of Wairua[[note]]whose name is Māori for "spirit"[[/note]] in Gasmea (a country that serves as an amalgamation of North America, Australia, and NZ, among others).
* CripplingOverspecialization: The old Toyota C-HR body, due to its unique shape (and an awkward rear end that doesn't didn't quite match that of the real car).



** With turbochargers, you could make the engine powerful enough that output heat exceeds cooling capabilities--or simply starts to melt the block. With the Light Campaign 4.2 update, [[UnexpectedlyRealisticGameplay the turbos themselves]] can now also either melt or disintegrate from spinning too fast.
* {{Fauxrrari}}: Roughly 95% of car bodies,[[labelnote:*]](a notable exception being the [[VideoGame/RidgeRacer Soldat Raggio]], which in 2005 was [[{{Defictionalization}} adapted into a real-life custom car based on a Honda NSX commissioned by Namco]])[[/labelnote]] whether vanilla or mods, are modelled after real-life cars, but usually have rather benign filenames. Some[[labelnote:*]]including the Koenigsegg CCX, Aston Martin [=V8=] Vantage, [=McLaren MP4-12C=], Chevrolet Lumina APV, Jeep Wrangler, and two generations of the 911[[/labelnote]] are more conspicuous than others.
* FictionalCountry: There are five in the existing campaign and sandbox mode: [[EverythingIsBigInTexas Gas]][[LandDownUnder mea]], [[{{UsefulNotes/Switzerland}} Hetvesia]], Fruinia,[[labelnote:*]]an amalgamation of Mediterranean and Western Europe[[/labelnote]] [[ArabOilSheikh Dalluha]], and [[CommieLand Arc]][[UsefulNotes/ThirdWorld hana]].

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** With turbochargers, you could make the engine powerful enough that output heat exceeds cooling capabilities--or simply starts to melt the block. With the Light Campaign 4.2 update, [[UnexpectedlyRealisticGameplay the turbos themselves]] can now also either melt (as can the exhaust headers), or they can disintegrate from spinning too fast.
* {{Fauxrrari}}: Roughly 95% of car bodies,[[labelnote:*]](a notable exception being the [[VideoGame/RidgeRacer Soldat Raggio]], which in 2005 was [[{{Defictionalization}} adapted into a real-life custom car based on a Honda NSX commissioned by Namco]])[[/labelnote]] whether vanilla or mods, are modelled after real-life cars, but usually have rather benign filenames. Some[[labelnote:*]]including the Koenigsegg CCX, Aston Martin [=V8=] Vantage, [=McLaren MP4-12C=], GT=], Chevrolet Lumina APV, Jeep Wrangler, and two generations of the 911[[/labelnote]] are more conspicuous than others.
* FictionalCountry: There are five in the existing campaign and sandbox mode: [[EverythingIsBigInTexas Gas]][[LandDownUnder mea]], [[{{UsefulNotes/Switzerland}} Hetvesia]], Het]][[GermanicDepressives vesia]], Fruinia,[[labelnote:*]]an amalgamation of Mediterranean and Western Europe[[/labelnote]] [[ArabOilSheikh Dalluha]], and [[CommieLand Arc]][[UsefulNotes/ThirdWorld hana]].



*** [[TronLines glowing light strips]] (deprecated with the Light Campaign 4.1 update, which made glowing lights vanilla)

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*** formerly, [[TronLines glowing light strips]] (deprecated with the Light Campaign 4.1 update, which made glowing lights vanilla)



* {{Itasha}}: A relatively recent addition to the Workshop.

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* {{Itasha}}: A relatively recent addition to the Workshop.It's been done before.



* MinmaxersDelight: The quality sliders in the Car Designer,[[note]]being a sandbox mode, all costs and production limitations, except for unlock years, are practically ignored[[/note]] to the extent that abusing them is known as "quality spam" among some players.

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* MinmaxersDelight: MinmaxersDelight:
**
The quality sliders in the Car Designer,[[note]]being a sandbox mode, all costs and production limitations, except for unlock years, are practically ignored[[/note]] to the extent that abusing them is known as "quality spam" among some players.players.
** Techpool, which serves as the game's approximation of a company's R&D expertise in specific areas, makes quality cheaper. Without at least a few points in some areas by the late 20th century, expect the build quality and price point of a vehicle to be... rather questionable, but as with quality, too much techpool in several areas is an invitation for a car to be labelled as minmax.



* NeonCity: The Cyberville mod photoscene.

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* NeonCity: The Cyberville [[{{Cyberpunk}} Cyber]]ville mod photoscene.



* NotTheIntendedUse: According to one of the lead devs, what is labelled as a "sequential" gearbox[[note]](implying a dog-clutch gearbox, or "dogbox", as used in race cars)[[/note]] is actually an automated manual[[note]](a manual transmission with a single automated clutch, which takes considerably longer to shift than a dogbox)[[/note]]. Countless players mistook the latter for the former, but in their defense, said "sequentials" function as such in Beam exports, with blink-of-an-eye shifts befitting those of high-performance cars.
* RiceBurner: As of Light Campaign 4.2, you can now properly stance and slam cars, as well as put stretched tires on them. [[DeadpanSnarker Wonderful]].

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* NotTheIntendedUse: According to one of the lead devs, what is used to be labelled as a "sequential" gearbox[[note]](implying a dog-clutch gearbox, or "dogbox", as used in race cars)[[/note]] is actually an automated manual[[note]](a manual transmission with a single automated clutch, which takes considerably longer to shift than a dogbox)[[/note]]. Countless players mistook the latter for the former, but in their defense, said "sequentials" function as such in Beam exports, with blink-of-an-eye shifts befitting those of high-performance cars.
* RiceBurner: As of Light Campaign 4.2, you can now properly stance and slam cars, as well as put stretched tires on them.them and give them fartcan sounds and crackle tunes. [[DeadpanSnarker Wonderful]].



** You can test your engines and play with the throttle on a dyno to listen to the engine sound. Also, revving an engine hard enough on the dyno causes the exhaust manifolds to [[PowerGlows glow red-hot]].

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** You can test your engines and play with the throttle on a dyno to listen to the engine sound. Also, depending on the setup, revving an engine hard enough on the dyno causes the exhaust manifolds to [[PowerGlows glow red-hot]].



** Some mod fixtures allow you to add absurd levels of detail to your cars, among them front splitter struts, intercoolers, windshield washer nozzles, and keyholes.

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** Some mod fixtures allow you to add absurd levels of detail to your cars, among them front splitter struts, intercoolers, detailed interior audio head units and gauges, windshield washer nozzles, and keyholes.
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* {{Fauxrrari}}: Roughly 95% of car bodies,[[labelnote:*]](a notable exception being the [[VideoGame/RidgeRacer Soldat Raggio]], which in turn was [[{{Defictionalization}} adapted into a real-life custom car based on a Honda NSX]])[[/labelnote]] whether vanilla or mods, are modelled after real-life cars, but usually have rather benign filenames. Some[[labelnote:*]]including the Koenigsegg CCX, Aston Martin [=V8=] Vantage, [=McLaren MP4-12C=], Chevrolet Lumina APV, Jeep Wrangler, and two generations of the 911[[/labelnote]] are more conspicuous than others.

to:

* {{Fauxrrari}}: Roughly 95% of car bodies,[[labelnote:*]](a notable exception being the [[VideoGame/RidgeRacer Soldat Raggio]], which in turn 2005 was [[{{Defictionalization}} adapted into a real-life custom car based on a Honda NSX]])[[/labelnote]] NSX commissioned by Namco]])[[/labelnote]] whether vanilla or mods, are modelled after real-life cars, but usually have rather benign filenames. Some[[labelnote:*]]including the Koenigsegg CCX, Aston Martin [=V8=] Vantage, [=McLaren MP4-12C=], Chevrolet Lumina APV, Jeep Wrangler, and two generations of the 911[[/labelnote]] are more conspicuous than others.

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