Texas Discussion Thread

[Xaagon]

Over grown vegetation on abandoned lot, old vacant business, abandon appliance outside......things need to look dirty and country in small towns. Everything is too perfect in ATS and its not that way in real life. Follow US-90 thru Valentine to see more.

Many parts of the US are full of towns like Valentine that reached their peak populations in the 1930s and have mostly been declining since. One example that SCS modeled as a scenic town is Wild Horse, CO on US-287. The SCS version looks lively, while in reality it's more of a ghost town. That said, ATS has more of a realistic dirty look than I can see in ETS2, though perhaps Europe doesn't have as much blight as North America.

I have kind of wondered with the remake of California would they dare to include rows of tents for all the folks living between the SellGoods lot and the Walbert distribution center...

[EthanE40]

^I can agree with that and that is a million dollar question. I am very curious about what happens outside of the Texas Triangle. But East of I-35, Marked or scenic we have:

• Texarkana

• Sulphur Springs

• Tyler

• Longview

• Nacogdoches

• Lufkin

• Houston

• Beaumont

• Victoria

• Galveston

• Corpus Christi

• McAllen

• Brownsville

• Hunstville

• Port Arthur

• College Station/Bryan

• Corsicana

• Paris

• Marshall

• Greenville

• Mt. Pleasant

• Livingston

• Jasper

• Athens

• Palestine

Cyan, I am quite sure they are marked. Pink, possibly scenic. If its not colored, I have no idea. It could go scenic or non existent.

I'm pretty confident in Lufkin being marked with Nacogdoches being scenic. Any important non-retail industry in Nacogdoches could just be marked as Lufkin.

Galveston could be scenic if the only industry they'll include there is the Port of Galveston, but if they also include all the oil refineries in Texas City then I think Galveston should be fine as marked.

Small east Texas towns with not much to them like Jasper, Athens, Greenville, and Palestine should just be scenic and nothing more.

Mt. Pleasant actually could be one of those small towns that gets marked though. There seems to be quite a bit of industry there like Priefert Manufacturing, as well as this plant: https://www.google.com/maps/@33.1026674 ... 312!8i6656

I have my doubts with Corsicana, but they seem to have a bit of industry there too, more so than I imagined. I don't see Collin Street Bakery making it in as an industry though (unfortunately). On the other hand though, Huntsville's basically just a college and prison town, with not much else outside of that besides usual retail suspects. Just add the Sam Houston statue and maybe a prison off the side of I-45 and we'll be good to go.

I still think Bryan will make it in. There's still quite a bit of industry there outside of the retail and college stuff (especially Sanderson Farms). Just make Bryan a mid-sized (maybe like Pocatello) marked city with College Station and A&M all being scenic. Plus it works if you wanna take TX-6 as a direct route from Houston to Waco. That said, who knows which of B/CS they'll make scenic or marked. I'd rather Bryan be marked with College Station as scenic, but it's possible they do it the other way around since College Station seems to be more well known and has a larger population (117K compared to Bryan's 86K).

I think Paris should be marked. Campbell Soups and Kimberly-Clark are both located there, plus a power plant and what looks like a steel fabricator plant (the latter of which was under construction in the latest Google Maps satellite image of the city), among other smaller industries. If it can't be included, then at least include the Eiffel Tower replica with the cowboy hat, even if it doesn't go in its correct location which unfortunately isn't along any major highways.

Those are just my thoughts though.

[flight50]

I just want new. New, new, new. Texas could come with a ton of companies that could be in ATS. I don't see the reason for not getting several new companies for both new and old industries. Texas could easily get 15-20 new companies but since its ATS, that more than likely doesn't happen because no one other than myself and a few others are not pushing the devs to do so. Although anything could happen, based on what we have been getting in ATS, we don't get more than a handful of new companies per dlc. Last I checked, that is only 4 fingers and a thumb.

[_Roger_]

How many companies really are there in the US? Europe is like 30 countries, it makes sense for there to be more companies there, especially since Europe's had a functioning economy for 1000 years, the first 900 of which doing business outside your own country would of been unheard of if not illigal. I know there's more regional companies in the US, but if you were say, constructing a skyscraper in New Mexico, then constructing one in Texas, would you really be using totally different companies for each one? Wouldn't you be using multinationals for at least a majority of stuff?

[flight50]

@_Roger_ How many companies? That's research I'll let you handle. I've done mine and you'll have to do the same but there is a ton. Europe has 50 countries just like the US has 50 states. Google searching will give you that answer countries/states. Its inexcusable for ATS to have so few companies right now though. If I am the only one thinking that fine, but I'm definitely not content with the lack of diversity. Once you do your research, you can come back here and you might understand where I am coming from. But I'll give you a hint. Look up Fortune 500. Look up top US companies. Look up top US trucking companies. Look up top US Food companies. Some list will repeat but you'll find 500+ companies. If you are thinking there are only 100-300 companies in the US, my city/town has that alone. We are talking about a country that is only smaller than Europe by a small margin. The US does not have the larger but that has no reflection on the mass amount of companies here. There is a ton space here in the US and companies use it. But when you look at North America as a continent, Europe as a continent is very small.

[Xaagon]

Just get on a highway and drive 10 miles or so, counting all the different company trucks you see. Realize that there are a lot more that are out there that you won't see. Now compare that to what's in ATS.

To try this out I got on google streetview for southbound I-25 going from North Academy to Garden of the Gods Road (4.2 miles) in Colorado Springs and here's what I saw in the northbound lanes:
Knight Refridgerated
King Soopers (a grocery chain)
American Furniture Warehouse
Estes
UPS with a double trailer
Blank White Trailer
Flatbed hauling what looks like some kind of construction material
Target
Cargo Express Freight
Empty Flatbed with step deck
Blank White Trailer
McLane
CR England
Knight
CR England
Western Flyer
Empty Flatbed with forklift mounted on the back (Home Depot logo on cab)

In the southbound direction the google streetview car passed one flatbed with some generic construction cargo on it, and this thing that paints lines on the roads:
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9294275 ... 384!8i8192

[flight50]

^Of that list, I recognize 7 that are national chains. In ATS Wallbert, Charge, USBB and Home Store are the only National chains in the game. Everything else is fictional for sure. You might be able to argue 2-3 more that could be National. But in just that short distance that Xaagon mentioned that's quite a few companies. Travel that whole city. Go to another city and see how many additional companies you see. Travel that entire state and see how many additional companies come. Once you do that entire state, now add 48 more to the mix and see how many come. There are national chains, regional chains and state specific companies. There's a ton. ATS could easily have half the companies ETS2 has. Without ETS2's base map, both games are pretty much the same size. ATS was started from scratch. ETS2 used 2 games to start with from the jump. You also have to realize that the US is a very truck driven country. Every product a store/company has was hauled by a truck at some point.

Just the other day, I counted 25 Logistics companies in ETS2 and that doesn't even include the new ones that came with Iberia. If you look at the top US truck carriers, you'll find at least 100. There could easily be 25 Logistic companies in all of ATS once its all said and done. But that won't happen. We only have SellGoods to date. If my math is correct, that is 25:1. Maybe I'm petty or something but I'm not sure how some can think ATS is fine where it is with companies and the way ICCs are for ATS. To me, that says that ATS is not worthy of variety, its not worthy of spending time on to provide economy diversity. My love for the game will not let me settle for such neglect and changes need to come to the thought process for ATS because the ATS economy is lagging behind.

As large as Texas is, it will be a little depressing if the number of new companies isn't at least more than what Oregon brought to the game. Considering Texas is twice Oregon's size and it being the 12th state coming to ATS, the amount of new pumps new life into the game. Its just not and entertaining exploring the same repeated companies without enough new one sprinkled into the equation. If Texas can't bring a decent amount of new companies, I don't think any dlc will unfortunately and that will be depressing for someone like myself that adores this game.

[Shiva]

More regional companies to ATS?
Similar to those that are in 2 or 3 countries in ETS2?
Altho in ATS that 2 to 3, might be more as 4 to 6 instead?

[flight50]

^Something is better than nothing, but we need more new companies. If they want to breakup the US into the major 4 US regions cool. I can accept companies moving in that direction per region. Texas starts the South region. Once Montana is in, we'll have all the Western region. Still, for 11 states to populate ATS, we'll still have less than 50 companies. In 2 dlc's, ETS2 is already at 50 companies. Montana would need to close out the West strong. Texas should bring in the South strong. There will still be national chains like the (4) I mentioned above but a lot more could have joined that list. Logistic companies, warehouses like Amazon(Congo), FedEx(PostEd) or Swift, JB Hunt or Werner, Kroger, Alberstons, Target, Lowes, Sam's, Costco, Ikea, Kohls etc....those companies could have been in the game along time ago as they are all National.

If Texas can make a new region of companies, all is good. But I'm afraid nothing will change because no one is pushing them to change. But we CAN NOT populate the rest of the game with the same companies at the pace we are going now. Will Texas present a new culture in ATS? These 4 regions are fairly distinct as well. Obviously the West, Midwest and South are the largest regions that can bring the most. Even if they had 50 companies each, that is still less than the 170+ that ETS2 has now. I'm sure Texas will add a few new companies, but it should get a lot more than just a few. The guess is that Texas will cost as much as an ETS2 map. If people feel like its just another map...more roads without much new, that is where the sad part comes in. By the time Texas comes, what new feature will be in place....dirt on trucks, improved weather, owned tankers, multi drop, splitting up doubles, rigids, licensed trailer, industry cargo pack for oil/gas or construction, drivers school....? This will be ATS's most expensive single state dlc and most people will want to get their money's worth besides just getting new roads. New industries, new companies and new cargoes comes with that territory.

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[Zeyadtarek952]

I agree really on everything @flight50 requests really, there should be more variety in ats especially
I observe where are the places I take loads from and deliver to with reefer like 8 of 10 loads are sellgoods and walbert, with Texas and wyoming there should be more really, plus scs also should work a little bit more on local deliveries Texas is very big state there must be more to do in there like multi drops more companies like what flight said and so

I can imagine from Texas size I think when it's released and I move my garage to there I might not go outside the state always like now in Utah, but really new companies will complete it