Base Map Rebuild (CA, NV, AZ) General Discussion Thread

[SmokeyWolf]

I don't run Cali often but once the rebuild gets started I plan on running more Cali. I wish they would of done SoCal first.

[flight50]

South California is way too complicated and they don't have the manpower for it. Not to mention, Northern California connects to a higher quality dlc map. So I think I understand the reasons they started where they did. I-80, I-40, I-15 and I-10 redone will be awesome upgrades but the Southern portion.......is just too much for right now. I-5, CA-1, US-101 and CA-99 pretty much comes right off th bat since they run North and South. The devs need as much help on California as they can get if they want to tackle the South. By the time they are ready though, that team should be much larger.

[BattlePeasant]

I want more boring, unremarkable country roads. I don't believe this is the US. I know there are many roads in the US. No need for scenic views, make more roads among the fields and several farms on them.

[flight50]

Actually a lot of those roads are in the US. They are called FM - farm to market and CM - country to market roads. There is also RM - ranch to market roads. Maybe California and Texas gets a few to try out. They are two of the higher producing agriculture states in the US. They are not your typical truck roads but I agree for agriculture, these roads could be a thing. Where there is tons of space in these states that are blocked off, a few remote farms, quarries, logging or mining depots can take place. Obviously not all applications fit everywhere. The devs have to provide the proper depot based on the environment.

[Marcello Julio]

Racertoft just said in his interview stream that he's on the California rework team!

[flight50]

I was in and out of the stream and I missed that part. Thanks Marcello. If he is doing California roads, that will be awesome. Its surely going to get a huge facelift on roads then. Being from ProMods helps because they use more tricks up their sleeves to get stuff to fit, while SCS sometimes is a little more shy about getting stuff to fit. We'll see how California goes. The Colorado team did some amazing work road and city wise. If that is what we can expect from California, Nevada and Arizona, that will be awesome. Colorado has some of the best roads in all of ATS. Per square miles, its has the best grouping of best roads in ATS.

[Marcello Julio]

You're welcome @flight50

[Bedavd]

That's great to hear a mapping veteran is on California. I was worried it would be mostly newbies, not that they'd necessarily be bad, just that I wouldn't know what to expect. As mentioned before, California, Nevada, and Arizona are the face of ATS. They need to shine brightly if SCS wants to convince people to even think about putting more money into the game. I'm pretty confident about the rework now! Hope we might see a blog showing off more progress soon.

[flight50]

Agreed that the base map is the face of ATS. That deciding factor determines if new people stick with the game and support the dlc's or not. ATS is not world wide accepted like ETS2 is. ATS is spotty and more selective which the result of a smaller player base. The biggest reason is not the base map though because ATS's base map is still better than ETS2's. But the biggest reason is trucks and maps. Not enough map and at the time, not enough trucks.

Now the excuse for trucks is that there are no cabovers. True, there are no current in production in NA for the NA market. But, the easiest solution is to go after a classic truck. K100, FLB or Pete 362. The 4x2 now will help with turn radius but people will still disapprove of bonnents still. Some people just hate conventional no matter what.

So if you want more audience, fix the base map for sure. SCS can control that, but they can not control what trucking companies allow. Fix what you can, try solutions for what you can't at least.

[Felk]

Actually I feel better driving a conventional ingame than a cabover. Returned yesterday for a few runs in ETS and dang, was a bit harsh to take out the rust after months only in ATS.

Really expect at least a new city (Chico) and Yreka replacing Hornbrook with that nonsensical road work delivery. Also I-5 North of Sacramento, with the end of that 3rd lane and that parallel road that also doesn't make any sense. Maybe marking Weed with a few prefabs could be nice. Northern California is more sparcely populated, but it doesn't mean it's empty like what is at ATS right now.