American Truck Simulator has launched! (Linux, Mac, Windows)

jomni · February 08, 2016, 02:15:25 AM

Quote from: Huw the Poo on February 08, 2016, 01:46:58 AM
Jomni, I agree, the speed limits are up and down like a whore's drawers sometimes. When you start getting pulled into weighbridges the limit drops to 20, so be careful of that!

Damn! Thanks for the warning. I always compare to Europe. In ETS2, at least you get ample warning about the speed limits per section. There are signs everywhere.

jomni · February 08, 2016, 05:20:44 AM

Hard parking.

Staggerwing · February 08, 2016, 06:58:05 AM

Quote from: Huw the Poo on February 08, 2016, 01:46:58 AM

Jomni, I agree, the speed limits are up and down like a whore's drawers sometimes. When you start getting pulled into weighbridges the limit drops to 20, so be careful of that!

I can't say about the West Coast but here in my part of the East Coast, especially in the older cities and towns, it's common to see sudden speed changes due to old roads with sharp corners and hilly sections, or even places where the small towns have reacted to local residents complaining about traffic speeds in front of their homes. These spots almost never have a warning sign before the actual sign posting the limit.

JasonPratt · February 08, 2016, 01:04:12 PM

^^ True everywhere in the US I've ever been (though no farther west than Dallas), whether as far north as New Hampshire or as south as Miami.

I'd never set up my factory to force trucks to do insane things like that, though. I'd say it seems gamey (in the sense that the designers are screwing with you), but I know places are that thoughtless in real life, too.

W8taminute · February 09, 2016, 06:55:34 AM

Ok that speed limit thing is kind of turning me off to the game now. Are the speed traps and fines frequent enough to be irritating to the gameplay experience? In ETS2 I could drive as fast as my rig would let me on the highway and there was always proper warning to slow down when near big cities.

jomni · February 09, 2016, 07:00:46 AM

Quote from: W8taminute on February 09, 2016, 06:55:34 AM
Ok that speed limit thing is kind of turning me off to the game now. Are the speed traps and fines frequent enough to be irritating to the gameplay experience? In ETS2 I could drive as fast as my rig would let me on the highway and there was always proper warning to slow down when near big cities.

I get fined for every job. Really have to get used to it.

Huw the Poo · February 09, 2016, 07:20:00 AM

I haven't been fined in the last few runs. It's just something you have to get used to; when you go through towns the limit will change, and various other times you soon learn to spot. As long as you keep your eye on your satnav you should be fine.

The reason I kept being caught out at the beginning is that it's quite different to ETS2. Now that I'm used to ATS it isn't really a problem.

W8taminute · February 09, 2016, 05:49:49 PM

Good to hear guys.

Huw the Poo · February 10, 2016, 10:17:38 AM

Demo now available. It's limited to California and by the number of jobs you can do, but is otherwise exactly the same as the full game.

jomni · February 10, 2016, 05:56:41 PM

Did you guys check out the radio? I tuned into Truckers FM. I have yet to put in custom URLS for The stations.

Huw the Poo · February 10, 2016, 06:12:07 PM

I just put a symlink in the music directory pointing at my collection, although I have no idea how the in-game radio orders the tracks; it groups albums together but the tracklisting within an album seems random, which is a bit annoying.

For internet radio, I already have my favourite channels set up in Amarok so I just play that in the background before launching the game.

Still, having an in-game radio is pretty bloody awesome innit?

glen55 · February 10, 2016, 08:08:36 PM

I read that you can listen to internet stations and they play the actual news on the hour, every hour. Which is pretty damn immersive for a trucker game. . . .

Grim.Reaper · February 15, 2016, 04:51:45 PM

Patch released with new truck added....looks like they are adjusting the offenses...

•Player has more time to react to changes in speed limit before it is enforced by the police.

•Tweaked police offence probabilities for 'no lights' and 'speeding'

•Added option for disabling traffic offense

•Added reduction of fines based on player's level

Huw the Poo · February 15, 2016, 05:41:58 PM

Yeah the fines now scale with player level, which should make a lot of people happy. Also apparently you can now turn right at a red light as long as you indicate. I didn't even know that was a thing...

SCS are clearly paying careful attention to player feedback. :)

W8taminute · February 15, 2016, 09:19:42 PM

Quote from: Huw the Poo on February 15, 2016, 05:41:58 PM
Yeah the fines now scale with player level, which should make a lot of people happy. Also apparently you can now turn right at a red light as long as you indicate. I didn't even know that was a thing...

SCS are clearly paying careful attention to player feedback. :)

Many states here in the US have a road rule which allows motorists to turn right even if the light is red provided you come to a complete stop first. Do they have this kind of rule on European roads?