Euro Truck Simulator 2

JudgeDredd · October 21, 2012, 02:30:32 AM

So - I went and borrowed money from the bank. 400,000. Pay back 6,000 a day for 70 days.

I didn't realise it back then, but all costs are now mine. Fuel, rest etc etc. Also when you take a job of your own, you have to DRIVE to the location. Subsequently I find myself with a 900km drive to my start destination. So it seems it is similar to Air Hauler in that you have to get to your start point.

A word though - 900km isn't ACTUALLY 900km. I don't know what they use, but 1km ticks down quite fast.

So - I now have my own garage (shed). You can upgrade it to allow other drivers. You can then buy a truck for each new driver and get drivers from agencies (if you've passed any on your travels). It costs 180,000 to upgrade your business garage to 2 extra spaces. Then you'd have to buy a truck and hire a driver. I guess then you can select a job for your AI driver and have him do it whilst you go exploring

So far seems pretty complete. Lets hope I can keep the payments up!

JudgeDredd · October 21, 2012, 05:52:13 AM

Some more screenies

Sad Bugger Alert!

Grim.Reaper · October 21, 2012, 06:40:32 AM

JD, thanks for sharing all this, games seems really nice looking.....might be one to make my holiday sale list when it liekly will be a bit cheaper:)

Zulu1966 · October 21, 2012, 06:49:01 AM

Your making me want to get this game. I have enough of those :D. How big is the world ?

Staggerwing · October 21, 2012, 07:03:55 AM

Based on what you've seen in RL how accurately are the locales? Are there also major metro areas with high structure count and city traffic?

bob48 · October 21, 2012, 08:58:57 AM

Hey JD, at work, we're waiting for an overland shipment of 20 tonnes of aluminum sheets from Turkey which is now running a bit late - you're not contracted for that load are ya? :)

son_of_montfort · October 21, 2012, 09:59:17 AM

I messed with the Long Haul and there were a LOT of bugs and oddities. Now that one was released years ago and the Euro Trucker line was, IIRC, a better product. I'm always fascinated with these sorts of games, and for some reason I ordered Farming Simulator 2013 (I'll either really love it or really hate it). This one looks good too. I think I will try the demo.

Any French locations, or are they mostly in Germany?

JudgeDredd · October 21, 2012, 10:12:59 AM

nothing to do with me bob.

Staggerwing - not very detailed. There are nice differences in locale between countries as I I've already mentioned. I haven't been to anywhere I'd recognise so can't say definitely. However I do know cities don't seem to be very big at all. There's enough variety there to keep it interesting.

I don't know what it is...but something has made me put more than 8 hours into it. It's obviously got something. The career is cool. Lots of things to spend XPs on, different trucks, AI drivers, expand your garage/depot, damage, rest, refuel...it's all rather intriguing. In fact my daughter is playing it just now after spending an hour watching me...and she normally wants to go on WoW!

Zulu - pretty big. France, UK, Spain, Germany, Italy, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, Switzerland. Not ALL roads are there though.

I'll post a pic later when my daughter gets off!

JudgeDredd · October 21, 2012, 11:48:13 AM

Ok - what I would say is anyone wanting to buy this to drive round towns they do or don't know and see what they're like - don't. At least not if that is your intention.

You never seem to "go into" a city. Not the heart of it anyway. The screenshots below are of me driving from Amsterdam to the UK. As you can see in the UK ones, the signs etc are region specific (though I did see a 60mph sign in the game in the UK but have never seen one in real life - it's National Speed Limit, 50, 40, 30 and 20 - but I've never seen 60)

But as you can see from London - it's "an outline" and noticeable...but that's it. The actual place you are delivering to is on the edge and pretty much looks like most other places...but somehow different.

Anyway - for realism of locations - no - it's not there really. Also as you can see from the first map, it's not quite as extensive as I made out. Yes Italy is there but only northern. France and Spain are not. There are a fair few No Entry signs across roads which actually act as a barrier and stop you going through them. I guess these are there for add-ons. What's strange is they aren't just at "country" borders...they seem to be within countries that you have acess to as well.

Anyway - I guess all will become clear when they release add-ons.

Like I said - I don't know what it is about the game - but it's had me playing it solid since I bought it yesterday!

son_of_montfort · October 21, 2012, 06:03:50 PM

Quote from: JudgeDredd on October 21, 2012, 11:48:13 AMYes Italy is there but only northern. France and Spain are not.

Er... I know the Hundred Years War may have messed things up, but I'm fairly certain that Paris, Dijon, Lyon, Lille, Reims, and Calais are in France... :P

Or can you not drive to those on the map?

As I suspected, it was going to be heavily Germany based (which is where the devs are, I think).

JD, do you use a special peripheral to drive (like a steering wheel) or are you content with a mouse, keyboard control (or perhaps a gamepad)?

JudgeDredd · October 22, 2012, 01:14:35 AM

Yeah - sorry about saying France wasn't there. I saw a big gaping hole on the west of the map and jumped in before I saw. But clearly there's large chunks missing. I mean - taking it literally, I'd guess in "Euro Truck Simulator" you may expect ALL of France, Italy, some of Spain, Portugal etc in there.

Like I said - DLCs?

I use a FF Steering Wheel. It's got a bit of an issue around the centre of axis and is a bit of a pain - especially overtaking other trucks where there's very little room. I noticed this "jerking" in another game a month or two ago, but with wheels from £60 to £300, I'm not in a position to replace it yet. Christmas is beckoning

son_of_montfort · October 22, 2012, 07:19:51 PM

In the demo, my XBOX 360 gamepad controls it quite well. Now I have it on fully automatic shifting, but I'm too much of a newb to up that yet anyway. I've always wanted a steering wheel, but I can't justify it for only a couple games.

The demo is inexplicably fun. I'm not sure I like the "get fined by ghost cops" for speeding and such or the lack of visible damage (I... er... accidentally rammed another truck on the road at 60 and other than his leering disapproving face, there wasn't anything visible done. Now my engine was fairly ruined and it would comically cut out frequently while driving down the road.

The management part is what really draws me to this. I could see very much enjoying having my own transit company.

JudgeDredd · October 23, 2012, 12:59:26 AM

Yeah. Your use of the word "inexplicably" is very apt here. It's not like the gameplay is visceral. It's not an ecxiting game. But even given that, I've played nothing but that since I bought it.

I now have an AI driver employed and a truck. I'm not sure how they operate as yet as I only made the deal last night.

As for fines, I've only been fined once for speeding, once for going through a red light, once for driving without my lights on (I didn't know what key to press) and loads of times for crashes.

Dissapointingly, it seems like you can only select from set logos and pictures...though I haven't looked around to see if that is indeed the case.

All I can say is so far this seems like a time pit!

jomni · October 23, 2012, 04:41:09 AM

I also bought this. Remember my review of Scania Truck Simulator in my blog? The driving part is exactly the same? This just adds more trucks and company management. A deeper game. But it can get boring at times (like real world driving on highways). Scania is more challenging. It penalizes you for speeding. ETS2 strangely does not as Judge observed. Also Scania's parking requests are more challenging as well with lots of obstacles. ETS2 parking locations are pretty standard.

I really like the "Pimp My Truck" features. It's like Need For Speed truck version.
I also like the driver fatigue and truck maintenance aspect.

I now have two other drivers and two cheap Italian trucks. They don't make as much money as you do. But they help in paying the bills in a small way.

Regarding the game world, it is scaled down so that a 4 hour drive can be done in 30 minutes or less. You are not really driving into the cities as the depos are located in the outskirts (realistically) but you can see prominent buildings in the background.

They have announced that the game is a platform for DLC. Hopefully we get to see the rest of France, Italy and other European countries.

JudgeDredd · October 23, 2012, 04:58:33 AM

It does fine you for speeding - but not at all often. I have been penalised once though. There must be a bug there - because the mechanism is there - it's just not seemingly fired very often.

Not only is ETS2 parking requirements standard, they also seem to be very lenient! I was actually wondering why I was able to park so lazily as I recalled having to park within a very strict area before - but that must've been when I tried Scania Truck.

In Scania Truck - are the roads more in keeping with real life then? Are the built up areas bigger? Strangely enough after 10 hours of driving, I haven't got bored of the roads...I know what you mean, but it hasn't hit me yet. I do wish there were bigger built up areas.