Texas Discussion Thread

[oldmanclippy]

@Shiva slightly smaller would be a better description. Plus HoR might be bigger than the blog screenshots have suggested so far. So HoR still has time to overtake Texas in sheer area.

There are many major differences that influence the workload/difficulty/pressure gap between Texas and Heart of Russia.

Texas brings completely new geographies, while HoR can reuse tons of assets from Beyond the Baltic Sea.

Texas has 6 major cities each with a detailed downtown area visible if not accessible from the main roads.

HoR has just Moscow which is laid out in a completely different way (ring roads will rule the day). Texas has many different geographic regions, while HoR has two or three that are all similar. Texas has pinewoods, gulf marshes, post-oak savannah, many types of prairie and plains, and of course desert. HoR has boreal taiga, broadleaf coniferous forests, and forest-steppe.

Language isn't as big of an issue as it could be since SCS has Russians working on HoR.

Texas could have upwards of 8 or even 9 (likely 7-8) connections with previous maps. HoR will likely only have 5 or 6.

Texas has a known extent, and any deviation from that extent will result in disappointment from the community, as the gaps in northwestern Wyoming and southeastern Washington showed. HoR's extent is unknown, so if SCS decides that they have run out of time then they can simply drop part of their plans so long as there wasn't evidence in a blog about them.

Texas is trying to be THE map that elevates the popularity of its base game to new heights. HoR is just another add-on to an already incredibly successful game that needs no additional boosting.

So my point is that Texas is a completely different beast than HoR. Not to discount the hard work and dedication that is being put into the latter, but from what little I know of how SCS makes map expansions HoR is a cake walk compared to Texas.

[flight50]

Texas is trying to be THE map that elevates the popularity of its base game to new heights. HoR is just another add-on to an already incredibly successful game that needs no additional boosting.

So my point is that Texas is a completely different beast than HoR. Not to discount the hard work and dedication that is being put into the latter, but from what little I know of how SCS makes map expansions HoR is a cake walk compared to Texas.

I actually agree with this....a lot. Texas means more to ATS than Russia may mean to ETS2. Just my opinion. Others could feel differently but this is my thought. ETS2 is already huge. Now the quality of all maps is not there but SCS is rebuilding the older parts. But someday, it all will be on par with the newer stuff. But the land mass is there for sure in ETS2 vs ATS. Texas should and could be a whole new ball game for ATS if its done with the mindset of developing ATS in regions.....and not one whole country. Right now, ATS is developed as a whole. That is where ATS is drowning. Texas and Kansas, I'm most interested in those because both starts a totally different region in the US. Will SCS treat each like new regions? Will it feel like new regions or more repetitive economy? I'm hoping for more diversity, but I'm only a voice. If Texas doesn't elevate ATS, I fear we'll only continue to get a repetitieve a delivery system which starts to get boring after awhile.

No doubt Texas will bring a few new companies and cargo. But is a few enough for a dlc of this size? In my opinion, no. Less than a dozen new companies would be a disappointment for me. Oregon got 11-12 iirc. Put aside Texas is where I live. That's not the point. I've been advocating for more ICC's for the past 2-3 years, well before Texas started to surface. I'm looking for that leap in ATS and I think Texas can set the pace with it starting a new region. That's my biggest issue with ATS currently. ICC diversity needs a different mindset for the South and the MidWest regions coming up in the next 2-3 years.

[Bedavd]

12 new companies with Texas is… steep. Even for someone who agrees that we desperately need new companies, that seems like a looooot to me.

Oregon came with 9 new companies, but that’s also due to the fact that the DLC introduced two completely new supply chains, wood and steel. Wood gave us Deepgrove, Page & Price, Heartwood, Olthon, and (to a less directly tied degree) Home Store. Steel gave us Avalanche and Steeler. The other two were 1-offs with Portland Air Cargo and Haddock Shipyard.

I hope just as much as you that we see some really solid supply chain reworks with TX. There has been talk of glass but I don’t remember if that was teased or just speculated, but that could bring 1 or 2 more companies.

Hopefully oil/gas will see some more fleshing out. Maybe we see a competitor to Gallon, easy route would to give Chemron or GP specific depots rather than making an entirely new company. Maybe we will be able to deliver at a Buc-ee’s parody. Chemical wise maybe we’ll see a shift from Chemso, I know Dow Chemical has a ton of operations around Houston so a new parody might be in order there for the world’s second biggest chemical manufacturer.

There will also likely be a handful of 1-offs. DFW airport is the 9th busiest cargo airport in the country. Houston is 18 but we did miss out on higher ranked airports such as SeaTac, Oakland, and LAX, but ABSOLUTELY the port of Houston needs to appear. It blows almost every other US port out of the water. So that’s at least 2 likely more coming.

There’s for sure a lot to come, even just with 1-offs, but to me, 12 minimum just seems like a really big ask for a state that I’m sure is already stealing a lot of resources. There are more supply chains that can be added but I don’t think SCS is going to dump all of them out for us with one DLC.

[flight50]

I don't think 12 is steep at all. Not when each ETS2 dlc's gets 15+ per new region and each is the same size or smaller than Texas. Is Texas not starting a new region? The dlc's in ETS2 are considered new regions. The map building bounces around. In ATS, its adjacent to a previous dlc so far. Texas is totally a new region. 9..11/12 new companies, whatever the number is, lol. 9 with Oregon makes 12 with Texas even more feasible imho.

Glass was blogged on the Texas Landmarks and Prefabs blog. So its not speculated, its real. We could definitely get (2) depot types there. One for building materials and one for vehicles. Actually, I'd add one more...packaging and manufacturing. There is glass for storage, beverages, housewares and decor. If SCS ever gives us a recycling industry, glass can go there too. But I'd combine glass, metal and paper though. All that, shouldn't fall under one company imo, but in ATS, that is exactly what could happen.

Oil and gas is where Texas should make the biggest mark with new companies. There is no Exxon, Shell, Conoco Phillips nor Valero in ATS. These are the biggest names in the industry and they are all in the Gulf. Look at the Texas coast line and each of those along with Chevron, Citgo and 1-2 others and we need more than just new depots for GP and Chemron. All the oil pipe lines connect to Texas and Louisiana. So those major companies should come to Texas to start it off. That's a quick 4-5 right there. I doubt it happens though. Then you take the gas industry. Nothing there. No gas canister cargoes. Natural gas is big here in Texas. Natural gas is piped but other gases are canistered. Natural gas should spark a deeper energy industry. We have coal, oil, wind but no natural gas nor solar plants. Then take the bio chemicals which in some cases can be by products from something else. This would be the Chemso/Dow you mention. But you can't forget about BASF, Lyondell Basell nor DuPont. Those are big names and ATS should have 2-3 Chemical plants. Just Chemso doesn't work. No diversity.

I'd expect a few one offs for sure. Typically those would be the airports or docks. I agree there is more supply chains to come and no SCS will not dump it all for Texas. Texas is just huge and can house a lot. Texas start a new region. So the more it adds, the entire South region benefits.

There are several companies I think the South region can pull off. Between Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland.....I think they all should get a dose of new companies as regional companies. Everything doesn't have to come with Texas and it won't. But if you look at the amount of companies that started off ATS.....that populated the entire West. We shouldn't settle for the exact same company name to populate each and every state. The US doesn't work like that. We are in the South now with only one Western state to go. Montana can easily get all the same companies in the game to date, but Texas needs to start on a different foot. The West is the West, let it be. I don't see why the South can't start a clean slate. That just doesn't compute to me. Sun Crops (fruits/vegetables), Bushnell (livestock/dairy), Bitumen (road works), Plaster & Son's (building construction), Sea Horizon (yachts), Deepgrove (Lumber Jill), Car Dealership (anything), Farmers Barn (Tractor Supply), Global Mills (Kraft), Page & Price (Kimberley Clark) and Sell Good (anything). These are the easiest to duplicate the exact same prefabs even. Newer prefabs is more welcomed but the Coastline Mining/NAMIQ work around is welcomed to get new company names going. SCS doesn't have to worry about older dlc's having new companies from these mentioned. The naming can be anything and made for the South region. Wallbert, Home Store, USBB and Charged are national. Those go everywhere. There should be more national companies coming to. I mention Lowe's, Target, Sam's, Costco and Kolh's a lot. Now these have to go everywhere but the longer ATS goes without them, the less national diversity there is.

[oldmanclippy]

12 shouldn't be a lot to ask, but based on post-Oregon ATS it is a lot to ask. I think they can pull it off though. They've shown that they're capable, now they just need to show that they're willing to up the number of companies and industries. I am still confident that SCS understands the importance of Texas between Pavel and others' comments on the matter. So I'm still in the optimistic phase of Texas hype with regards to ICCs.

[flight50]

now they just need to show that they're willing to up the number of companies and industries.

This. This is what concerns me. As new regions, I don't see the issue. But nationally, its harder so I give them that. That I can buy. At the same time, they should really find a way to even get more nationally. No matter what, just not a lot of diversity.

[angrybirdseller]

Realistic looking at 4-5 new companies and 3-4 new industry prefabs.

The manufacturing will vary by region or state as John Deer makes farm equipment in Illinios and Iowa, and Toro makes lawn and irrigation equipment in Minnesota. Ethanol processing is big in Minnesota and Iowa along with Illinois and Indiana.

New industrial chains and companies will be added.

Still, USA alot more standardization at retail and commercial sectors than EU. Home Depot all 50 states along with Canada and Mexico same with Sam's club too.

[Xaagon]

Texas is huge. We should get a relatively large number of new companies. I'm not sure why SCS is resistant to this if they are adding 15+ to each ETS2 DLC. Adding 12 to Texas would be a good way to make up lost ground. I think most ATS players understand that Texas is big with industry and adding a dozen new companies here wouldn't set our expectations too high for following states. Personally I think ATS would be fantastic if each new DLC consistently brought four new companies. Maybe they are going for the regional strategy after all?

PS - I'm still waiting for Farmers Barn logos to appear on trailers.

[Marcello Julio]

I hope that IKA Bohag comes with Texas

[flight50]

Personally I think ATS would be fantastic if each new DLC consistently brought four new companies. Maybe they are going for the regional strategy after all?

PS - I'm still waiting for Farmers Barn logos to appear on trailers.

Ikr. Excluding Texas, I think the minimum should be 3-5 new companies per dlc. Lots of one offs per state. We could easily get 2-3 one offs per state. SCS should start chipping away at regional and national companies though. Even just one national company a year is better than not doing anything. Get in one then work your way up to 2 national chains a year. There is only so many that can be done. But a solid 12-15 for all of ATS is not asking for a lot. I give credit for 4 of them thus far. National companies can get integrated over the course of an entire year to other states where they exist. That should give enough time to phase it it. I surely hope they are going for the regional strategy at the least. We'll find out with Texas.

Farmer's Barn.... you too, lol. I totally agree. I did these skins a year ago but I think they are still valid. We should at least have something like this. In the US, most trailer skins are simple. We don't need much. I can't understand why this one doesn't have a trailer. All new companies should have one if they have a dock imho. Hopefully with Annie on board full time in ATS, maybe they allow her to double back and give us a trailer.

@Marcello Julio Yeahhhh, that would be awesome. If we don't get it with Texas, maybe we can get it with the California reskin. If we get it with California, it can be a base map depot. California did start it all for ATS. There's enough Ikea's nation wide to benefit from that prefab. We need something to compete with Heartwood.....just like we need something to compete with every single other company in the game. Excluding ports, rail stations and airports, we just don't have a lot diversity in the Specialization category compared to ETS2. Lots of one offs per specialization. Only a few specializations are the same. I'd like to see 3-4 companies at least for each specialization in ATS. That's not asking for too much imho compared to ETS2.

Logistics, Construction, Retail, agriculture and oil/gas are your 4+ specializations that can be much deeper in ATS. No reason why Logistics should only have just SellGoods. There's a ton of them here in the US. Construction...there are about 3-4 nation wide but tons of one offs per state/region. Retail is probably the hardest. Its the one that has national, regional, state and continental input. These are the ones that I say at least one a year at the least is okay. Agriculture. This one is easily....easily regional. SunCrops and Bushnell should come to and end with Montana. That's the West. Texas should introduce a new pair for agriculture. Heck copy the same exact prefabs, change the color scheme and give it a new company. Copy all the same cargoes......done. Oil/Gas for Texas is the meal ticket in Texas. It should get expanded upon. That should be the most fleshed out industry in Texas just ahead of agriculture. There can be a lot of reused prefabs with new names but SCS should also sprinkle in quite a few new prefabs as well. If I had my choice, I'd at least go for a 50/50 split of using old prefabs vs new prefabs. This includes both new and old companies. I'm not advocating Texas get 70%+ new prefabs or some high number. But I do think effort should be applied to economy for Texas if its suppose to be this huge dlc. Maybe people buy it without hesitation. If you can make people spend their last 20 bucks to make sure they have Texas, that is type of dlc I want. I can scrape pennies for a week but give me Texas. If my stress level can go down and I have a super fun time, I can eat cheap for a week or two. I can get by without gas for a week as I can just tell the boss, I need to work from home for the week....but I need Texas. If the presentation for Texas can make more people think like that....that is the dev team I want to see producing Texas. The ICC side of the economy to be more specific is the boost I want to see for Texas. Company management for the economy it a whole other ball game. That's worthy of a solo game overhaul. It too is needed to help offset money for immersion and innovation purposes. Many people want to have more control over their company. This could be how VTC go hand in hand. Especially with Convoy now.

I talk about ICCs a lot because I think the potential to blow the doors off ATS is there with more diversity. ATS is slowing trying to come out the shadows of ETS2 but the limitations just doesn't help it. I want nothing less than SCS's valid effort to push ATS in the direction that is more innovative and immersive to a wider range of audience. Whether this is ICC, company management, 3+ maps a year, more trucks, tuning packs, tire/accessories, license trailers, more industry trailer dlc packs, etc. Find every avenue to get more people buying and supporting the game. The reigns are still on for ATS and I'd like to see ATS run with more in mind for all players.