American Truck Simulator catch-all

A continuous streaming station of Art Bell? Awesome.

The coolest thing the game Prey did was having Art Bell record fake show segments for the game, with callers describing alien stuff that happened in the game. Almost worth playing just for that.

ATS is getting bigger

[W]e are, as a free future update, going to increase the scale of the game world of American Truck Simulator. This update will have many clear benefits for you, such as:
  • Upping the map scale from 1:35 to 1:20, meaning 75% longer roads outside the cities
  • Retouching the existing system of roads and intersections and revisiting the placement of cities and crossroads
  • Focusing on a better sense of scale and distance, more space for large vistas
  • Adjusting the timescale - meaning a slower day/night cycle and longer intervals between when the driver needs to rest and refuel
  • Revamping problematic junctions - no more Interstate intersections!
  • Revamping the driver experience system to more closely mirror ETS2's system
  • More room for densely populated areas in future map expansions

The new scale is equivalent to that of Euro Truck Simulator 2, so the flow of time in both games will be the same. There is also more room now to go back and improve some of the places that were compromised due to the limited scale and replace them with more realistic depictions.

The benefits are clear - you're going to get a free "take 2" on the West-coast states that you already have in the game, and roomier game world for future expansions. In addition, this expansion will come with new road segments to explore and updated technology for the old roads.

SCS asks for patience as this update will take months, but they say it's now or never for a major re-vamp like this, and this will make for a better ATS for a few more years. Their team has doubled in size since development on ATS began, and they're looking at creating two map design teams, so they can develop eastwards and northwards (yes!) simultaneously.

Man I am so happy about all of that. One of my favorite things about SCS is how they never seem to be satisfied; they've clearly been paying attention to feedback on ATS's limitations and I trust them to deliver when they make a statement like that.

I still really love this game even in its current state. Listening to Art Bell as I drive a truck across the high desert is such a weird confluence of memories of my youth and fantasies I didn't even know I had. It's so weird and so surreal.

<3 video games

Gravey wrote:

Retouching the existing system of roads and intersections and revisiting the placement of cities and crossroads

Yes please. Even taking shrunken-downness into account, the inaccuracies of California drive me up the wall.

More room for densely populated areas in future map expansions

FRESNO EXPANSION PACK PLZ

Revamping problematic junctions - no more Interstate intersections!

THANK THE GODS. This is my #1 problem with the game. Every time I see one of those I just shake my head in disbelief. It takes me right out of the game. I know it might be a small thing, but it really bugs me.

IMAGE(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LmUKGuolszU/V2qWr4JXDiI/AAAAAAAAB0U/EeD9dWpMuGQvWcKG6O9_3qbS4oNP1fONwCK4B/s1600/new_ats_rescale.jpg)

they're adding Santa Maria.

Nice to see the 1 and the 101 being split back out into separate highways in the central coast area.

Dammit, now I need to get a new driving wheel...

Probably picking this up during the steam sale. Having lived in Arizona, but not living there now, and having loved much of the northern Arizona highways, I can't wait to see how they translated them here.

Late to the party, but I'm in. Played 4 hours my first time and now going to bed at almost 2am. I'm REALLY going to hate my alarm in the morning.

fogrob wrote:

Late to the party, but I'm in. Played 4 hours my first time and now going to bed at almost 2am. I'm REALLY going to hate my alarm in the morning.

That's part of the simulation!

Ooh, that's out now? That was one of my major beefs with the game when I played earlier this year.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/RJqOAo0l.png)

Yeeap, that's bigger alright. This has been a huge project for SCS. I may have to take them off my GOTY Dishonorable Mentions.

I still don't see any highway signs!

Christmas Event in both American and Euro Truck Simulator

Deliver gifts to cites in both games to unlock a special truck paint job

That won't take long. Just copy-n-paste Arizona.

Them's fighting words. Arizona may suck politically, but it has a wide variety of amazing natural beauty. New Mexico does have a few nice spots, though.

Double trailers are coming

And I have enough trouble backing up with one. I can't even begin to figure out how that would work with two.

Part of California Highway 1 has been closed by a landslide and ATS is putting in an update to close the road in-game

They say they will reopen it when the real-world highway gets reopened.

IMAGE(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1zadEp1VAhE/WW8mqs1oy4I/AAAAAAAAAjI/2Ot-rvztd5EW1ZNHbJ2C_J3vTy0VmhFMACLcBGAs/s0/Landslide_001.jpg)

That's crazy.

I heard about that landslide.

Original projections had the coastal highway closed for months upon months, but cleanup seems to be moving quickly.

New Mexico DLC came out a few days ago for anyone still playing.

-edit-
If you are interested in this and already have some of the other DLC, be sure to check the new "Enchanted" bundle they added. They will pro-rate the bundle based on items you already own but still throw in the 30% discount of choosing the bundle. So if you already own the other items you can get it for $8.39 instead of $12.

ARISE THREAD!

I've been playing this a lot recently. There have been a lot of updates since the last activity in this thread!

We now have Utah, Oregon, and Washington, and Colorado and Idaho are coming soon. I don't recall when, but the International LoneStar was added, and the latest Mack truck will be released imminently. Still not nearly as many models to choose from as ETS2, but it's getting much better.

My trucking empire spans the western states, and it has not been without drama. I had to shut down my Las Vegas garage because one of the drivers got pregnant, two of the others both claimed to be the father, and the remaining two took sides. I had to let them all go. I don't have time for that kind of drama.

I had to hire five newbies to replace them. I suppose I could have spread them out among my other garages (I have one in each state), but I kept them together. Teamwork makes the dream work!

And recently spotted this photo... this is some good parenting!

IMAGE(https://i.redd.it/gudbv4s3tev41.jpg)

Now available...

That is awesome! Saw it on Reddit, cool to see its someone here.

I also fell in love with these types of sims, it all started with a Farming Sim sale. I used to not understand how they could be fun, still can’t quite explain it. Lately I’ve been enjoying ATS the most but I realize my 100 hours are amateur numbers. So great to just chill out, throw the podcast on, drive, and build my empire.

Loving the new Mack and can’t wait for Idaho! These devs are fantastic as well.

I bought this probably a year or more ago, along with the Oregon expansion. Today I finally spent some time playing. Just did two quick jobs, still getting my head wrapped around it, but I immediately liked it. Hilariously failed my first attempt at delivering after arriving at a destination, but doesn't seem to be a big deal. Looking forward to chilling out and exploring what this game has to offer.

Yeah got this when it first came out and could not get in to it despite loving Euro Truck. So didn't play it for more than an hour. But kept buying the dlc areas when they went on sale and recently started playing it again. Have 36 hours in it now (vs 106 for Euro) and can't wait for the Idaho dlc this week.

I do have to say I don't like the American trucks as much as the Euro ones. Particularly the starting trucks where the hood is taking up so much visual space. In Euro Truck the engine is below the cab so you have great visibility. Thankfully the second tier trucks you sit higher up and the hood isn't taking up as much visual space.

Game definitely has come a long way since it first came out. All the traffic weirdness has been removed. Oregon and Washington are fantastic areas, particularly up north next to Canada and along the coast (very woodsy). Also think some of the rustic towns are a lot better designed and visually appealing than the Euro Truck ones - even though I like those too. Can't say I'm big on the desert but it is lovely driving there during sunset or sunrise.

Only 38% explored the map so far (imagine that will go down on Thursday with Idaho expansion) and still finding little nooks. Even came across a ferry you can take the other day in a remove northern area. And have to get a closer look at Vegas with it being redone today. Looks like they added a bypass as I had a haul that went right past Vegas on a highway where before it would have taken me right through it.

Growing up in New England I can't wait for them to do those areas. But that's going to be forever from now. Drooling at thought of the visuals for Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard. Although that also probably means heavy traffic and a lot of lights.

Idaho is here, along with a new event on worldoftrucks.com!

BadKen wrote:

Idaho is here, along with a new event on worldoftrucks.com!

Very cool that they released it with an event, excited to log some miles this weekend. I’m sure it’s a marketing thing, but you earn cool stuff with the event and most ATS fans are grabbing the DLC anyway.

I haven’t fired the game up in a bit so I’m also looking forward to how the new graphics updates look in VR.