american truck simulator more enjoyable then ETS
Re: american truck simulator more enjoyable then ETS
never go to europe then ..
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plykkegaard
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Re: american truck simulator more enjoyable then ETS
"We don't go to Europe" 
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bobgrey1997
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Re: american truck simulator more enjoyable then ETS
Roundabouts are only good for moderate traffic.
For an intersection which has very little traffic, a roundabout is simply too large and expensive to be needed.
For higher traffic, roundabouts cause much more congestion then a properly timed traffic light.
Much of Europe has not learned this until it was too late, and is the very reason many roundabouts in Europe have traffic lights now.
American roundabouts are designed much more efficiently than those in Europe. The lane layout is set up so that it eventually forces you out of the roundabout. This is something SCS claims is impossible due to some false game limitations, but can be solved by a simple move of a single AI route on some of the roundabout prefabs. Lane changing is illegal on American roundabouts. This can done in-game by having the multi-lane roundabout segments set to prohibit lane changing (AI is already unable to change lanes on a prefab, so that handles about half of the modular roundabouts in ATS).
As for ATS itself, I'm an American "roadgeek" (for those who don't know what that means, I spend much of my time looking at and studying roads, signs, and other related subjects). I have memorized much of the US road network as well as almost the entirety of the US road standards. I like seeing games and other media based around roads put that information to use by portraying accurate roads, signage, and layout. SCS has been working toward that since the Rescale of ATS, and that is what makes this game so enjoyable to me. My main complaints right now are the above-mentioned roundabouts and freeway acceleration lanes, another issue SCS has a false claim for not doing, showing me that rather than trying to improve this aspect, they'd rather brush it off on a lie and ignore it. In the US, freeways are required to provide an acceleration lane after the onramp if the onramp is too steep or curved to allow traffic to accelerate up to the seed of the freeway traffic. Such lanes are practically non-existant in ATS, and none of the onramps are properly built to allow traffic to accelerate.
SCS claims such lanes can not fit due to scale reasons. While it is true that the average acceleration lane is at least a quarter mile (equal to 5 miles in the game), the average distance between exits is at least 1 mile (equal to 20 miles in the game). In the event that two exits are too close (in reality), the acceleration lane doubles as an exit lane for the next exit. This does cause some unwanted cross-merging between traffic entering and exiting the freeway, but it is far safer to have cross-merging traffic at similar speed than it is to force traffic going at most half the speed to merge into freeway traffic. After having SCS provide this false claim, I began hunting down every exit in the game to see how much room would be available for proper acceleration lanes. Unsurprisingly, every exit has enough room for at least nearly a quarter mile transfer lane (acceleration/exit lane combination) while most would allow for a perfectly proper acceleration lane without interfering with the next exit.
The lane merging and roundabout lane management are the source of every AI issue I've seen in the game. Fixing these would most likely solve the majority of AI issues many players are reporting.
Quality and accuracy of details is exactly why I play ATS so much (and based on this thread, is also why so many others play it). It's a shame to see SCS simply refuse to improve some details and attribute it to some lie rather than simply say something along the lines of "not a priority right now". Other than this, I have found ATS to be one of the most accurate games in terms of American road and city infrastructure, which is ironic considering the company is not American. I look forward to seeing the continued quality of upcoming DLCs.
Sorry for the rant.
For an intersection which has very little traffic, a roundabout is simply too large and expensive to be needed.
For higher traffic, roundabouts cause much more congestion then a properly timed traffic light.
Much of Europe has not learned this until it was too late, and is the very reason many roundabouts in Europe have traffic lights now.
American roundabouts are designed much more efficiently than those in Europe. The lane layout is set up so that it eventually forces you out of the roundabout. This is something SCS claims is impossible due to some false game limitations, but can be solved by a simple move of a single AI route on some of the roundabout prefabs. Lane changing is illegal on American roundabouts. This can done in-game by having the multi-lane roundabout segments set to prohibit lane changing (AI is already unable to change lanes on a prefab, so that handles about half of the modular roundabouts in ATS).
As for ATS itself, I'm an American "roadgeek" (for those who don't know what that means, I spend much of my time looking at and studying roads, signs, and other related subjects). I have memorized much of the US road network as well as almost the entirety of the US road standards. I like seeing games and other media based around roads put that information to use by portraying accurate roads, signage, and layout. SCS has been working toward that since the Rescale of ATS, and that is what makes this game so enjoyable to me. My main complaints right now are the above-mentioned roundabouts and freeway acceleration lanes, another issue SCS has a false claim for not doing, showing me that rather than trying to improve this aspect, they'd rather brush it off on a lie and ignore it. In the US, freeways are required to provide an acceleration lane after the onramp if the onramp is too steep or curved to allow traffic to accelerate up to the seed of the freeway traffic. Such lanes are practically non-existant in ATS, and none of the onramps are properly built to allow traffic to accelerate.
SCS claims such lanes can not fit due to scale reasons. While it is true that the average acceleration lane is at least a quarter mile (equal to 5 miles in the game), the average distance between exits is at least 1 mile (equal to 20 miles in the game). In the event that two exits are too close (in reality), the acceleration lane doubles as an exit lane for the next exit. This does cause some unwanted cross-merging between traffic entering and exiting the freeway, but it is far safer to have cross-merging traffic at similar speed than it is to force traffic going at most half the speed to merge into freeway traffic. After having SCS provide this false claim, I began hunting down every exit in the game to see how much room would be available for proper acceleration lanes. Unsurprisingly, every exit has enough room for at least nearly a quarter mile transfer lane (acceleration/exit lane combination) while most would allow for a perfectly proper acceleration lane without interfering with the next exit.
The lane merging and roundabout lane management are the source of every AI issue I've seen in the game. Fixing these would most likely solve the majority of AI issues many players are reporting.
Quality and accuracy of details is exactly why I play ATS so much (and based on this thread, is also why so many others play it). It's a shame to see SCS simply refuse to improve some details and attribute it to some lie rather than simply say something along the lines of "not a priority right now". Other than this, I have found ATS to be one of the most accurate games in terms of American road and city infrastructure, which is ironic considering the company is not American. I look forward to seeing the continued quality of upcoming DLCs.
Sorry for the rant.
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Vinnie Terranova
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Re: american truck simulator more enjoyable then ETS
About roundabouts: there are different types of roundabouts. The normal roundabouts have just one lane, and especially for truckers can be a real nightmare. Then there are roundabouts with more than one lane, which can also be a nightmare if you have to change lane. But not all roundabouts are bad.
There are the so called turbo-roundabouts, with more than one lane. You have to choose the right lane before you enter the roundabout, because on the roundabout you are not allowed to change lane. It's safer than a normal double lane roundabout.
And then there are the dogbone-roundabouts, which are way better than normal intersections.
There are the so called turbo-roundabouts, with more than one lane. You have to choose the right lane before you enter the roundabout, because on the roundabout you are not allowed to change lane. It's safer than a normal double lane roundabout.
And then there are the dogbone-roundabouts, which are way better than normal intersections.
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supersobes
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Re: american truck simulator more enjoyable then ETS
Another things about roundabouts that a lot of people don't realize is that they are actually built specifically to accommodate trucks. A lot of people think it's a bad thing to drive the trailer axles over the concrete in the center island. Contrary to that belief, that concrete was actually built specifically for trucks to drag their rear axles over. This stamped concreate is called a truck apron, and it is actually more resistant to the wear and tear caused by trucks making sharp maneuvers than the asphalt is. If you use the truck aprons the way that they are supposed to be used, roundabouts become a lot less annoying because you don't have to take the turns as sharp and you can proceed through the roundabout at a higher speed than you would if you were meticulously trying to keep all the axles on the asphalt. It makes truck drivers' lives a lot easier while still maintaining the benefits of having a roundabout.
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Re: american truck simulator more enjoyable then ETS
I've been playing ATS for a long time, since THE first 18WS game. ATS is many times better than ETS.This game has a more realistic map, especially the city.
Only 2 States a year for this game is a very long time.
Only 2 States a year for this game is a very long time.
Re: american truck simulator more enjoyable then ETS
Stay away from Milton Keynes if you don't like roundabouts.
There are websites devoted to find the ugliest roundabout of them all, people submits photos from their cities in search of the biggest aberration.
There are websites devoted to find the ugliest roundabout of them all, people submits photos from their cities in search of the biggest aberration.
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Vinnie Terranova
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Re: american truck simulator more enjoyable then ETS
And especially stay away from Swindon or even worse: Hemel Hemstead...
Re: american truck simulator more enjoyable then ETS
I think the worst roundabouts I've ever seen are on UK soil, they can get infamously tiny. Luckily drivers in the UK are generally easy going.
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In Spain we have our fair share of roundabout aberrations, in 2013 an architect created a blog called roundabout nation, it was devoted to some urbanistic disasters that the last economic crisis provoked.
On topic, I've had the chance to drive on both sides of the pond and, in general, driving in the States is quite straightforward and satisfactory, big roads for bigger vehicles, grid towns and the whole wild west to explore, that's something you don't find in Europe where a high city density and a similar continental climate makes pretty much everything look alike (in terms of nature, not as in artificial elements). It's not about ETS2 vs ATS, IRL driving a truck in America is a far more rewarding experience than it may be in Europe. SCS just represent reality, obviously ATS is newer and fresher than vanilla ETS2, but that's no one's fault.
Me personally I like roundabouts, when the traffic flows steadily you save time (unlike in the US where you need to stop at a traffic light constantly).
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In Spain we have our fair share of roundabout aberrations, in 2013 an architect created a blog called roundabout nation, it was devoted to some urbanistic disasters that the last economic crisis provoked.
On topic, I've had the chance to drive on both sides of the pond and, in general, driving in the States is quite straightforward and satisfactory, big roads for bigger vehicles, grid towns and the whole wild west to explore, that's something you don't find in Europe where a high city density and a similar continental climate makes pretty much everything look alike (in terms of nature, not as in artificial elements). It's not about ETS2 vs ATS, IRL driving a truck in America is a far more rewarding experience than it may be in Europe. SCS just represent reality, obviously ATS is newer and fresher than vanilla ETS2, but that's no one's fault.
Me personally I like roundabouts, when the traffic flows steadily you save time (unlike in the US where you need to stop at a traffic light constantly).
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supersobes
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Re: american truck simulator more enjoyable then ETS
Since they're just pavement markings without any physical barriers or islands, I've seen videos of drivers driving straight through those mini roundabouts that they have in the UK as if it was a normal intersection. They actually look like they used to be regular intersections that someone later decided should be a roundabout. A four way stop would be much better for such situations, but those don't seem to exist outside of the United States and Canada. To be honest, I can't blame the drivers for driving over them. Unless you have a pretty small car with a very nimble turning radius, there's really no point in going around the "roundabout," especially on a low traffic road.