Would you be interested in a maintenance based DLC?

[george.earlslight]

As a followup to this post,
I think that the current maintenance system is lacking realism and playing incentive for the gamer.

While I find it extremely improbable that Giants totally reworks maintenance with a patch, it could be interesting to explore the probability of a maintenance themed DLC, along with various improvements on the system as a whole.

DLC items could include tow-trucks, tow chains, maintenance vans, repair shops items like lifts, welding machines, ISOBUS scanners, etc.

The maintenance system could be updated in the tune of the following:
- Remove the "damage" percentage and replace it with hours since last service. Farm schedule would be more realistic, performing maintenance once a year or so. Needing to perform maintenance multiple times in a year because of work hours, would be a sign that the farm needs to get more or bigger equipment.
- A farmer with a repair shop can service their equipment.
- If not properly serviced, instead of generic performance loss, equipment could randomly defect with a flat tyre, a blown turbo, a dropped tine, faulty hydraulics, all with appropriate game repercussions, like not being able to start a tractor, or loosing a rows on a cultivator.
- Random defect could happen even if properly serviced, but with a much lower probability and severity.
- Depending on the type of defect, you could service your equipment on the field, with a service truck, or just a toolbox. Otherwise you might need to tow to your shop or the dealership.
- Some painting could be performed with simple spray cans or farm owned paint sprayer, instead of a full paintjob.

I''m interested to read everyone's thoughts on this.

[blue_painted]

I liked this mod ...
https://www.farming-simulator.com/mod.p ... tle=fs2019
... on FS19

The way that maintenance took time was especially good, as that is a major factor in running a machine fleet. It was a bit too expensive for my play-style, and I preferred it before it completely replaced the base-game repairs. Then there were a couple of maintenance vans, which worked well because that's a very common sight in the UK: a broken down vehicle in a field with the specialist van parked nearby.

I also liked the vehicle breakdown in Seasons 17: I think the nearest Realimus were able to model was having the engine cut out and the start up to fail, but it had the effect of giving a choice and trade-off to make: do I push on with this combine that's limping and hope tog et done before the rain comes in, or do I hope the repair is fast and I can get back on the field before the rain?

[george.earlslight]

I liked this mod ...
https://www.farming-simulator.com/mod.p ... tle=fs2019
... on FS19

The way that maintenance took time was especially good, as that is a major factor in running a machine fleet. It was a bit too expensive for my play-style, and I preferred it before it completely replaced the base-game repairs. Then there were a couple of maintenance vans, which worked well because that's a very common sight in the UK: a broken down vehicle in a field with the specialist van parked nearby.

I also liked the vehicle breakdown in Seasons 17: I think the nearest Realimus were able to model was having the engine cut out and the start up to fail, but it had the effect of giving a choice and trade-off to make: do I push on with this combine that's limping and hope tog et done before the rain comes in, or do I hope the repair is fast and I can get back on the field before the rain?

I liked the idea behind the mod, it was in the right direction as far as realism goes, but it could only do as much as the game allowed mods to do.
Same as with the engine cuttoff in Seasons FS17.

I'd welcome any mod in FS22 that tries to bring more realism, but I'm also interested in what Giants could do if they wanted to.

[humbe]

Not sure how real I want maintenance to be. Tractors failing and stopping while working might end up terribly annoying. It's only a game anyhow. Though not negative to anything optional.

My main grips on maintenance is two-fold:

• You shouldn't be rewarded for repairing every few minutes. Repairing before ~30% damage or some level should be more expensive rather than cheaper.
• Repair intervals are way too frequent. You should at least be able to use up 3-4 tanks of fuel before you should repair. You should be using equipment pretty heavily for it to need repairing more than once a year.

I kind of like the damage factor, so damage can be something else than just operating time since last repair, which was the case in FS19.. However, they seem to lack implementing it to actually give close to proper damage to stuff. A plow raised on an idling tractor shouldn't be damaged, and a tractor just standing around with engine on should get very little damage, while seeding/harvesting in stones could apply some extra damage and hard field work adds wear. Maybe tractors could get more wear if the engine is working close to its limits due to demanding work.

Oh.. And if they make it more complex, document the factors so we don't have to playtest a ton to try and figure out what's what. Obviously it's hard to model real life perfectly, so there will be shortcomings.. And as models don't match real life we can't use common sense to know what's good, so then you need to give some good info of how it works and what is simplified. I haven't seen anything in docs that you need to repair often to keep it cheap for instance. Docs though mention harvesting in stones will damage your harvester, while in fact it doesn't.

Who would bother to play chess if the rules weren't documented, and every game your opponent surprised you with a move you didn't know was legal?

[rmab79]

The maintance can be improved with something as simple as a timer, with an amount of time different for each vehicle, and when that timer expires begin the performance problems (reduced speed, ...) and the expensives repairs.

Inside the maintance time window (countfown of X working hour) the maintance cost should be plain.

[mackintosh]

Nope, I have zero interest in maintenance at all. Sorry.

[blue_painted]

Nope, I have zero interest in maintenance at all. Sorry.

So implemented as a mod or switchable would be ideal.

[SimulatedFarmer]

I’d like building maintenance, but suppose that would take a lot of new logistics.

[DEERE318]

The maintenance could use some TLC DLC.
There could be a small list of items that gradually degrade over time, like tires, suspension, gear boxes, lubrication and so on.
Degradation could be slowed when not using the equipment, and slowed even more if stored indoors.
Being able to repair/maintain individual parts based on what you can afford.

IMO, a gameplay improvement DLC is the better value. This could also include some rescue vehicles like you said, tow-trucks, tow chains, maintenance vans and so on.
This would cater to a lot of people, those who want gameplay improved, and those that want vehicles.

[chedly_farms]

I would take any mod/ DLC with Maintenance trucks to do repair work to machines while in the field. I like that idea of added realism.

[Crashmac]

Personally Im a casual player so I wouldnt want to invest too much time in "wrenchin' " however right now maintenance is kind of pointless, I would like some consequence to no maintaining your vehicle like seasons for Fs17, where is becomes unreliable, won't start, shuts off randomly etc. Right now I run my plowing/cultivating tractors with no maintenance because nothing is affected by having their condition in the red or at 0%. FWIW I'm somewhere in the middle I want maintenance but I don't want a "mechanic simulator".

[humbe]

Personally Im a casual player so I wouldnt want to invest too much time in "wrenchin' " however right now maintenance is kind of pointless, I would like some consequence to no maintaining your vehicle like seasons for Fs17, where is becomes unreliable, won't start, shuts off randomly etc. Right now I run my plowing/cultivating tractors with no maintenance because nothing is affected by having their condition in the red or at 0%. FWIW I'm somewhere in the middle I want maintenance but I don't want a "mechanic simulator".

Yupp.. No reason there shouldn't be many layers.. And I agree there should be more effect of getting towards and to 0% maintenance state..

You could have the option of just renting somebody to handle it, and you'll just get all your vehicles and equipment repaired, but pay 20% extra or something.

Then there could be todays handling, but just change the mechanics so you don't need to repair that often, and aren't given incentives for having to repair as often as possible. Which could come with an alternative for mechanic to come to you instead of other way around.

And then you could have more advanced handling where stuff broke so you could have crisis.. And maybe a split model where you could do a quick fix to get going, and do simple maintenance yourself on the farm, but more advanced maintenance had to be done at a repair shop, and possibly took some time to do and wasn't instant. Non-instant repair would also give a reason to have more than one tractor.

As to whether I want a maintenance DLC, the answer would be yes if it was just an extra DLC, but this is real life, so it's likely a DLC instead of something else, and I can think of a few more exciting ideas for a DLC.

[paul_c]

Maintenance in the base game is way too simple and meaningless, plus its unbalanced in that the costs/frequency are off whack. HOWEVER any maintenance mod would make the game harder, so I'm not sure if I'd go for it....purely on a personal basis though.

Obviously, there should be a period of time where maintenance doesn't need to be done, eg 10h or 50h after the last service. But you could also put in a "random" breakdown aspect. Maybe different for different manufacturers LOL?

There are so many data values which could be modelled into the maintenance/repair aspect, for example, collisions with buildings or other vehicles, power needed for an implement, speed its driven at (eg slowing down to say 85% of top operating speed would reward you), etc etc

[Ro4dKi11]

I've wanted a mobile service unit to take to the field to repair since 17

[Rasping rabbit]

Do I think that maintenance needs work? Yes.

Do I want Giants to spend valuable development time to make a DLC that introduces things to stop me actually farming? No.

Especially not as it would no doubt be at the cost of a DLC that added extra features or machinery to the game.