Upgrading your Kei Truck

I wanted to spend some time going over the engine mechanics after a discord member expressed worry that the game isn't as simulated as they'd hoped.

Honcho's Steam description expresses:

"Take on the Keiretsu and reclaim your grandfather's rightful spot amongst Japan's financial elite. Use your bespoke kei truck to deliver packages, purchase real estate and expand your company to show them you're more than just another Sukeban."

After reading this, the member felt that the game probably wasn't for them, as we front load with taking on "Japan's financial elite". Our aim here with the text is to bring alive the world of Honcho with flavour text - whilst also making note of the mechanics. One of the mechanics hidden in this text is "Use your bespoke kei truck". So how bespoke are we going exactly?

Honcho's system designs is heavily inspired by games such as Diablo 2 and Path of Exile. In these games, you find loot to help improve your build. How this translates to Honcho is similar. When players start the game, they purchase their truck from the car auction. Once in the world, their first priority is addressing any issues with the truck they've purchased. Then players will want to make it a priority in upgrading and improving their truck through component acquisition & part repair. 

Car Auction

Trucks purchased from auction can be bought with a plethora of issues. It's on the player to spot these issues before purchase. The system is designed around how actual Japanese Car Auctions function. I think it's really great.

Players will want to first check the vehicle grading (1 through S/6). A grading of 1 show's a vehicle that has been in an accident or is just salvage that needs completely fixing. A grading of 4 shows a vehicle with a maximum mileage of 150,00km, with some potential scratches and minor repair required. A grading of 6 has a maximum mileage of 30,00km and is almost brand new. You get the idea.

Outside of mileage and grading, players will want to keep an eye on any discrepancies in the fault listing. Though this can sometimes be obscured by ink blotches thanks to hasty inspectors. In lieu of this, players can check the images for any noticeable defeats. For example, the below car clearly does not have a rear right wheel!

Sometimes, you'll get auction's where there's no picture, and the fault listing is obscured. These auctions are usually heavily discounted. Here, players will want to check for any discrepancies in the weight of the listing. A Daizo T360 with it's full stock components weighs 610kg, so this listing might actually be worth the gamble.

If you want to be safe in your purchase, then you'll want to pay more. Lucky for us, this auction has a really great deal on a near new grey Daizo with only 58km clocked! But why is it only grade 4? We'll only find out once we get it in the garage.

Component Acquisition & Part Repair

Once a player's vehicle is on the road, they'll want to start first addressing the issues and fantasising about how they're going to be upgrading their truck into one of legend.

Components in a poor state may develop faults to their parts. Tyres can get punctures, fuel tanks can leak and overall performance can degrade. Players will be required to acquire specific parts in order to make repairs. Alternatively, players who want to live the life of a kusahiro can opt to ignore these faults and use duct tape to keep their components from completely failing.

For those who yearn for a deeper connection with their kei truck, however, there is an entire world to get out and explore in order to acquire a whole magnitude of new components. Get your hands on a new engine and not only could you notice a nice performance boost, you'll have a beautiful new sound. Enhance this harmony with a new exhaust, or cheap out and remove the exhaust completely to run a "budget" sports setup. Just make sure to get a transmission with the best gear ration to complement this all.

We're early on with this, but we want to go really hog wild with how players can upgrade their trucks. V6s, a ridiculous array of flat bed choices, neon lights under the chassis, heck how about a motorbike engine? We want to fully tap the JDM for inspiration, so be sure to send us any ideas you have or how you'd like to upgrade your own truck.

New Poll

There's a new poll over on the discord. I couldn't decided whether players would prefer their vehicles odometer track the KM travelled by the truck, or by the engine. So I put it to a vote. The vote is still open, so just visit the discord to get involved.

 

Thanks again to all our early supporters. You're showing great trust in us, and we can't wait for you all to see it translated in-game.

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