Euro Truck Simulator is awesome!

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LanceLord

LanceLord
Un1k0rn said:
I bought it yesterday in the Steam Sales.

Oh my god this game is beautiful! I cannot get over how well made it is!

Within minutes I bought a ship-load of DLC for it. Don't regret it. Awesome game.

Highly recommend getting it before July 4th. [yesnod]
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I'm totally into economic/RP and sandbox simulation games (like The Sims, Trevor Chan's Capitalism II, Farming Simulator 19 SimCity etc). Been considering ETS for a while now. But I'm wondering how much of a challenge the devs opted to put into the game on the operational risk end? Like throwing random risk encounters/events on the trip like
  • vehicle accidents. Where you have to encounter/navigate around NPC traffic accidents. And it's a driving minigame challenge to do the best you can to minimize traffic delays to get to your destination on time?
  • vehicle O&M issues. Flat tires, overheated radiators, broken transmission etc. All of which add delays to delivery times. Can your character leave their truck and wait in say a motel or sleep in their truck until maintenance/mechanic arrives?
  • NPCs interacting with you to create accidents. Like swerving off their side of the road (because they are intoxicated/distracted/had to avoid another vehicle(s) etc)
  • Being pulled over by law enforcement for speeding, driving unsafely, traffic infractions like running stop signs/red lights etc
  • Being jailed by law enforcement for commiting vehicular manslaughter from an accident. Or fleeing the scene of an accident you were involved in/failed to report as an observer
  • dynamic traffic and NPC spawnings depending on time of day. Like rush hour commute when driving through densely populated areas like cities.
  • NPC schedules/events when driving on city streets. Like ped crossings, school zones, hospital zones etc.
  • Driving risk in residential and commercial city zones with street traffic peds. Like risk of hitting/killing a ped on a bike or who is crossing the street (via ped crossing or jaywalking)
  • Vandalism/theft of cargo to your truck from RNG generated NPC riots in cities due to RNG protest events
  • Are there economic/profit based penalties and bonuses for arriving at your destination late? Ahead of schedule?
  • Inclement weather risks. Snow/blizzards, rain/flooding, extreme heat (that could overheat truck etc etc) all which could impact timely schedule delivery
Basically, is ETS all about passive driving and enjoying the amazing scenery of the world around you? Or does it become more risky/challenging from an economic and operational perspective as you expand your trucking logistics empire, hire NPC drivers etc etc?

And this is a wet dream that will likely get booed at by devout ETS fan boys. But it would be great if SCS would give a nod to Giant's Farming Simulator 19. Where they add delivery of agarian produce & livestock from farms in a DLC. Let you select which farm(s) and produce you want to truck. Decide on which trucking equipment is best to tranpsort your farm load. Then drive to the farm(s) and pickup the produce/livestock. Add RNG challenges along the way like a risk of live stock dying, getting sick etc. Or shifting market economy driven by a stock market. So there is significant risk to your profit margins at the delivery end. The mutton/wheat you're shipping from say England may suddenly lose its value per head livestock or bushel when you arrive in France due to environmental, political and climate factors. Or human ones (like eating beef is no longer a cultural favorite). Or seasonal/harvest driven like delivery markets in France being too overly saturated with wheat so demand for wheat too low when you arrive. etc.

I guess what I'm really asking in all this babble is: how challenging of a driving sim is ETS to play?
 
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Vasea Azure

Vasea Azure
There are random road events that you can crank up or disable like accidents, road block, maintenance and so on.
Damage model is very simple and there are no visual damage models but you have to watch out for brake pressure, engine temp and fuel usage. You can try to drive with broken truck to the shop or call the help but repairs are instant.
Your driver needs to sleep from time to time as well.
No NPC "live" accidents happens.
You can turn on the penalties for speeding/crossing the lights but it will just instantly cash some of your money and thats it, no jail time.
No dynamic traffic.
No zones in cities (they are sadly very small) with random stiff walking pedestrians.
No vandalism/theft of cargo, but you can damage rented truck, trailer, cargo.
Yes, you get the bonus with on time delivery and penalty for being late.
There are weather conditions and rain will affect the driving. No snow yet but there are great free expansions like Russia map with ice/snow/blizzard.

So yeah at the moment its more of a passive driving sim with added basic economy/tycoon where you will purchase better trucks/truck parts, garages and hire NPC drivers to make money for you.
 

cpbtrading

cpbtrading
There are as said, random road events, plus npc's crashing (quite regular for me anyway), which means keeping an eye on traffic suddenly stopping.
I don't use the pedestrians, just not worth it, looks bad. My imagination can fill in the blanks.

A player can choose to have a large haulage empire or just go solo. I go solo, because it is a relaxing game, but relaxing to a point.. ;) I did the haulage business a few years back and didn't enjoy it much. I prefer just to go it alone.

Weather is random, but no snow in the vanilla game, but there are a couple of really nice winter mods, I would recommend these for every now and then. These mods replace rain with snow, it doesn't build up though, the snow on the ground remains the same all the time. Try setting the route to small roads, for imagination sake, for example there was a diversion, this can make the game very interesting.
Further to the winter mods, one changes traction, which makes it more difficult to drive, so quite realistic. However it doesn't seem to effect the npc's, so they go dashing by while your skidding all over the place, so you have to forgive that.

To add to that: suspension, brakes, weather etc can be altered in the menu. However I would recommend a physics mod for the truck itself, plus a sound mod and also a truck speed/weight mod for npc trucks. Mods:
Advanced Physic's
Sound fixes
TT AI truck speed
Sisl interior bits
Jazzycats vehicles

Also there are weight mods which will give you set weights ie; 50, 60 80ton etc. I use a 50ton at the moment, with the truck physics mod, it works nicely.
 
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Old Duck

Old Duck
Joining this thread late. Does this sim do a good job of simulating Europe? As an American who wants to go back but may never have the chance, I might enjoy this game from the "tourist" aspect of it, if it's pretty accurate.
 

Vasea Azure

Vasea Azure
Its doing pretty good job depicting small scale Europe and its feel from the drivers perspective. Many times when playing I thought to myself - wait a minute, this bridge/scenery looks familiar, I was driving here IRL!
 

cpbtrading

cpbtrading
Yeah, it doesn't do a bad job of Europe..

That said, ATS does small town USA better.
In ETS2 unless you pick small roads as routes the driving is mainly all motorway/A road. Small town/villages in ETS2 are fairly good, Italy is great and the new beyond the Baltic sea is good too. They do update most map's when they have a new dlc, so that is a good sign of the devs constant support, which they do well.

But it's hard to say, it's 19 or 20-1 scale iirc, so there is plenty missing.. ;)

Russian mod is good too, worth installing that.
 

Fishy

Fishy
Kitfox said:
That's interesting that you can crank up the traffic, I didn't know you could do that.
How far do you go with it though? Can't say I'd find it much of a fun game recreating the A8 round Pforzheim on a Friday evening.

yUOW6tx.jpg
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That looks like a screenshot of Rotterdam with the multiplayer mod. :D
 

cpbtrading

cpbtrading
Kitfox said:
That's interesting that you can crank up the traffic, I didn't know you could do that.
How far do you go with it though? Can't say I'd find it much of a fun game recreating the A8 round Pforzheim on a Friday evening.
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I think the max is 5 or 6. But if you set much higher than 3, then towns will be very problamatic 'junctions'. But yes, you can alter 2, 2.5, 3 etc..
( I think it starts @ 0.5 easy low traffic )
 
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LanceLord

LanceLord
Vasea Azure said:
Its doing pretty good job depicting small scale Europe and its feel from the drivers perspective. Many times when playing I thought to myself - wait a minute, this bridge/scenery looks familiar, I was driving here IRL!
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As an avid ED space trucker who does frequent Hutton Orbital trips, transitioning to ETS 2 is very natural follow on. LOL.

Too bad SCS didn't go the GTA V route and use Google Earth/3D map technology. Driving around real 3D Google map based streets of France, the Rhine and through Tuscany Italy. That would've been awesome.
 

LanceLord

LanceLord
How immersive is the traveling/driving feature?

i.e. is sleeping an immersive feature? i.e. is it mandatory like limited by law to 10-12 hr driving time when doing OTR long distance trips? Especially when traveling between countries? Or is that a toggable feature that players typically ignore?

Also are you required to eat?
 

jasonbarron

jasonbarron
I was pretty tempted to buy American Truck Simulator the other day when it was on sale, but ultimately didn't because I wasn't sure how much fun these games would be without a wheel (which I don't have the space for in my teeny little shared office space). Any thoughts on whether this game controls well with an Xbox 360 wired controller?
 

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
jasonbarron said:
I was pretty tempted to buy American Truck Simulator the other day when it was on sale, but ultimately didn't because I wasn't sure how much fun these games would be without a wheel (which I don't have the space for in my teeny little shared office space). Any thoughts on whether this game controls well with an Xbox 360 wired controller?
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I play it on a keyboard and never had a problem. The KB inputs work in an exponential way with slow return to neutral, meaning that short keypress means small turn on the wheel and the longer you hold it the quicker the steering wheel turns, which ensures high precision but doesn't take ages to turn fully and you can keep it in any position by quick key presses.
Well, that a contorted way of saying that you don't need an analog controller to be precise.

I would be more worried about whether the game will be fun to you. Do you enjoy Elite's cargo delivery missions? Because that's what it is. Literally just that. There are fun challenges along the way, of course, but the gameplay is simply taking stuff from one place to another.
 

jasonbarron

jasonbarron
Chris Simon said:
I play it on a keyboard and never had a problem. The KB inputs work in an exponential way with slow return to neutral, meaning that short keypress means small turn on the wheel and the longer you hold it the quicker the steering wheel turns, which ensures high precision but doesn't take ages to turn fully and you can keep it in any position by quick key presses.
Well, that a contorted way of saying that you don't need an analog controller to be precise.

I would be more worried about whether the game will be fun to you. Do you enjoy Elite's cargo delivery missions? Because that's what it is. Literally just that. There are fun challenges along the way, of course, but the gameplay is simply taking stuff from one place to another.
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Uh, can I gank other truckers who are hauling stuff???
 

jasonbarron

jasonbarron
In all seriousness It sounds really relaxing in theory. I assume that it's more fun than trucking in ED because ED's systems are so bare bones and there's no scenery to speak of. I mean, supercruise makes sense I guess, but it's really not very fun for extended periods of time, and the inputs required to get from point A to Point B can be accomplished while watching Netflix. Am I incorrect in assuming there's a bit more challenge to keeping your truck on the road?
 
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