Should SCS have a dedicated cargo team???

[Xaagon]

OK, I just joined the bandwagon on this and voted yes. Whether or not SCS actually creates a dedicated team just for cargo, we need more stuff to haul and we need to see more variety of stuff being hauled by the AI.

[Tails]

The traffic AI truckers don't seem to haul cargo from DLC packs like heavy cargo or even the forest machinery pack.

[flight50]

More things that SCS already modeled that could be in ATS at some point...

Wyoming's resent blog. Lowboy cargo. Places these engine truck chassis on lowboys. The axles in back (the arrow) they could perhaps be cargo as well.
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SCS only copied the short version from ETS2. This is the version that ATS should have had. The lowboys in ATS also extend. I don't know why we didn't get this version instead. The ST Chinook chopper uses the extend lowboy so its available in ATS too. This tower part or even longer should be very possible for ATS. The current tower is just too short and not realistic at all. Its actually way to small in diameter. Look at the ATS Special Transport link in my signature page 43.
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ATS should eventually get some type of quarry that does Limestone and these 3 models would work. Limestone is how we get concrete and there are concrete prefabs already. Limestone quarries are another missing middle man company in ATS.
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If we were lucky enough to get Bell Helicopter or Lockheed Martin in Ft. Worth Texas with the Texas dlc, this and the Chinook would have a place to manufacture and take parts to and from this facility. I am sure its a slim chance though. But the Texas dlc needs to go outside the box. We aren't getting much cargo at all for whatever reasons.
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Water chiller. This would go to large buildings that have huge hvac systems. Warehouses, distribution centers, manufacturing facilities.
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Seeds. Are there no farms in ATS that can use these?
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Drill. I'm not sure why this isn't part of cargo already. Especially with the oil/gas industry. For the oil/gas industry, we should be hauling equipment to sites. The drilles also are used in construction in the US to drill piers. I have these here
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Another variety for precast. these should be laid flat but the tapered one looks like a manhole. ATS has precast forms already but there is not a facility to make them. Fonterra is all over the US and would be a great add. There is one precast company in Wyoming that is of a different company (Vaughn Concrete Products) that is just South of I-80 in Cheyenne off I-180. This would work for a ATS precast company if Foterra is too much work but I am sure Wyoming is set in stone and this more than likely is not a part of the dlc.
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Bridge support - T beam
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Plant substrate. Easy to send to farms
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Trees. Doesn't have to be olive trees either but there are transports in the US for them. Orchids are all over the place in the US. I have a few examples of landscaping items here and trees is one.
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[howey]

@flight50 I can only hope they really do take into consideration of adding more freight like examples you have chosen above for Wyoming. I'm at the stage where I have lost 90% interest in both games and SCS due to the lack of features like this that have been talked about for years now but with no or limited process. Iberia to me is absolutely unreal with it's industry layout but I lost interest pretty quick in playing it due to no new cargo models in trailers that lack them to benefit the industry layout (only olive trees for dropside trailers)......

I giving SCS one last shot to turn it around to satisfy players like me and perhaps you that have been wanting new experiences with overall more vareity with industries and cargo to benefit them with 1.41,Wyoming and maybe 1.42 if that does release this year other wise if no changes have been made then unfortunately I'm done with playing and investing my money with maps and dlcs for a company that won't even put minimal effort to enhanced this side of it more to benefit each new states, industries and overall gameplay better for players to enjoy.

[flight50]

^As frustrating as it is I'll more than likely still be around. But I'm gonna always be here pointing stuff out til change does happen. I have no problem running my mouth about getting a better game experience. There are lots of aspect to cover but the main purpose of the game is getting lost. But I'm with you 100%. Each dlc should always keep paying customers engaged. Not enough new is happening. I understand feature take time to develop but at the current pace, we only get a new feature about 1-2 times a year. Limitation of manpower is a big reason I am sure.

I just like the game too much to leave it alone. To combat the frustrations though, I just seriously reduced my playing time to keep frustrations down. To be honest, I keep playing like I do because of Kriechbaum's sound mod. His sound seriously engages me into the game. In 2016 when I first got the game, I went from playing like 10-12 hrs a week to like playing 4-5 hrs....if that. I'm still here on the forum a lot more than actually playing. I do get burned out on repetitive and corridor driving. So I just don't play as much.

[SmokeyWolf]

@flight50 I might play a few days a month due to me working.

[Trucker_Tommy]

I have to agree with most of the previous comments. I think more cargo needs to be bought to both games so a dedicated cargo team is a great idea. Getting more companies in game especially with the base map redo is vital. If ETS2 can add a variety of companies why can't ATS. With Annie we have a great number of new and reworked artworks to look forward to that will make the game even more realistic. I would also think the next major update to come should be a rework of the economy. It's drastically needed. I have around €1 billion in ETS2 and without a proper economy to spend money on what really is the point. I drive carefully and within the speed limits but why should I when a few speeding fine, not stopping at a weigh station when requested will not dent my money. I know others have said but the econony needs to be much more realistic and money should be better thought about in the sense that can I afford to buy something new for my truck. Whoops I better stay within the speed limit as I don't want unnecessary fines instead of as now money doesn't matter. This I belive is a feature that needs a massive overhaul now to make it a more hardcore simulator for people who want it. What difficulty of game do you want to play could be an option so everyone is accomodated.

Also slighly off topic but i'd bring in realistic taco's. Drive for 9 hrs rest in between and have it correct to a real life long distance lorry driver with fines if you break the law.

[flight50]

Hmmm. Good question about the economy. I think there should be economy levels associated with profiles. Novice, Intermediate and Hardcore. Each speaks for themselves. I'd put the current game in the Novice category. You grind early one but by the time you hit level 8-9, the money is starting to grow. By the mid teens, you can splurge a bit more. By mid 20s to maxing out your skillest, no point of even worrying about money. What economy mods do is what the preset economy levels should be. Obviously hardcore should be very painstaking. There should be tons of options with such an overhaul. I think there should even be an O/O career mode. In this mode, you don't get to hire drivers. The mode is clearly about you as a independent solo driver. If you don't want O/O mode, go to hardcore where you still get tons of options and hired drivers. Now this is my thought process for what I want. Everyone else will have their own for levels. No no right or wrongs here.

To get such an economy overhaul there are many categories to involve. Company management, truck management, cargo system, companies and industries. Yep you guess its, my good ole ICCs surfaces here. The game is getting away from ICC's. To bring it back, an overhaul is necessary. ATS is still relatively still small. A much better economy setup with much better planning will make things much much easier to change bigger adds later. Right now, the economy is all over the place. ICC's don't make sense or are missing that middle man I talk about a lot.

ICC's
I = Industries. ATS is still growing and not all states are in the game for this one to 100% be considered a huge issue. But there is a word called Planning. If you plan ahead and have a mindset of dlc's to come, you'll already know what things you want to add. Right now, I don't think the team goes much beyond thinking about the next 2-3 dlc's. What about what Pennsylvania brings to the table. What about Florida. Find out what industries you want in the game with those states. Will thoughts change over time? Yes of course but at least you give yourself a chance to implement many things leading up to (x) dlc. Lets say you know you want carpet as cargo. Well the carpet capital is in Dalton, Georgia. What should happen is the research team finds all the supporting depots to make up the carpet industry. Things in other states that contributes to Dalton's carpet companies. Is carpet a good cargo, heck yeah it is in my opinion. You can't haul bulk carpet around without a truck. Its also a cargo that people wouldn't consider but its different and cargo diversity is good. Where and who gets carget? Import, Export so shipping ports, trains and perhaps planes. Domestically, Home Store. Lowes if they create it. A National chain that would be great is Floor and Decor. I love this store as I go here for all my diy flooring projects. Make a Floor and Decor prefab and now you have another alternate to Home Store and Lowes. Floor and Decor concentrates on flooring which brings ceramic, vinyl and porcelain tiles, mortar and other associated materials that can share with hardware stores. While the other two concentrates on a ton of other hardware stuff. Anywho, you can also haul carpet to Olthon homes, rugs to Wallbert. Target, Sam's and Costco can join in here and they too can get rugs along with all the other bulk stuff they can get. There are also commercial businesses that can even get carpet if they are remodeling or brand new construction. So construction sites for buildings.

C=Companies (new). You all hear me talk a ton about these. This is when research should start looking at ATS as a National, Regional, State specific and even Continental approach. In the long run, this sets up the I (industries). If you know the companies you will be targeting, whether the thoughts change or not in the future, the better the plan, the better the future of dlc's can be in. Right now, ATS is horrible with new companies. 0-4 new companies per dlc's is horrible. ETS2 gets 15-20+ new companies with every new dlc's. What planning ahead are they doing that is not taking place in ATS. Is ETS2 based on regions? Guess what, the US has 4 regions so its can be regional as well. Can that same thought be applied to ATS then? In each of the 4 regions, ATS can have National, Regional and State specific companies. As a whole the US can have National and Continental companies. Per dlc's each state can have lets say 1-3 specific companies that may not be anywhere else in the entire nation. State specific companies can be held quite low. Regional should have the largest diversity. National and Continental should have a very solid 2-3 dozen companies to spread out across the US and North America. These prefabs can be your copy paste companies anywhere. But there must be variety in companies. Change the ATS culture on how companies are dealt with. Looking at the 4 regions below lets you prepare for ICC's well ahead of time.

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C=Cargo. Enough can not be said about this for ATS. I understand that in the beginning, the ATS team was small and not experienced enough to know North American trucking. We are now 5 years into ATS and the game keeps getting better and better.............outside of ICCs. Cargo, cargo, cargo. Its lacking and in a huge way. Empty packaging and pallets......not going to get it done. I see this cargo like 35%-40% of the time and that is way too high. There is sooo much cargo missing. So much can be shared between the games. Remember not everyone owns and plays both games equally. So who cares if the cargo is recycled between the two games. That content already created so use it. Same with items used as props on the map. If its on a prefab just sitting there, how did it get there? Make it cargo and lets haul it there too. ATS suffers the most when it comes to cargo. The most hurt category are flatbeds. We are missing stepdecks and curtain sider trailers as they are forms of flatbeds as well. Even lowboys have gotten a decent assortment of visible cargo but there is still a lot more room for additional models there too. Yes I understand the vehicle is slammed and low on numbers but that is exactly the point of the title of this thread. Asset guys can easily make cargo. The vehicle team just needs to put it on trailers. Strap it down and make it cargo. Programming sets it all up in the economy. Between 3d models and def files, ATS should have at least 30%-50% more cargo than what it has now. By the time 50% or 75% of the US is done, the cargo should be close to even more than doubled now imho. If you want to create diversity in industries and companies, cargoes is how you can set that tone. Example, all cargo for Home Store/Lowes or even Walmart/Target can be shared in ATS. But there can be specific cargo that one or the other does not have. This is real life. The same applies to every industry and every competitor company in North America. There are tons shared but there are also exclusives.

[howey]

Yeah a big part of this thread is also into relation of the economy system itself, i agree the whole economy needs to be readjusted or overhauled to start from scratch to accomodate the variety of players that like to run the game to there own degree. As both of you mentioned in which i have also mentioned in the past is having at least 3 economy modes to choose from. Novice as the system with have now, Intermediate for players that like like a challenge with lower load rates, higher fuel, maintenance costs, fines etc and Professional with ultra realistic features at least regarding the economy side of it for people like us that want a more realistic experience.

Now i have been reading that SCS is creating another MP mode that could be relating to the hardcore feature that has been mentioned by SCS in the past. If this is true then it does look promising that the economy itself will hopefully get the revamp that a few of us having been wanting for quite awhile. Only downside so far that is hasn't mentioned the SP side of it which i much rather have the hardcore feature for. Just have to see what SCS says about it later down the track.

Going back to cargo itself i am concerned that we haven't seen no new cargo for 1.41 or Wyoming at this stage from the blog pictures or info in which in honesty will piss me off hardcore. Because that would mean we haven't seen anything made from scratch that i can recall of since Washington 2 years ago in that case which is really piss poor effort. Like you guys said you really can't expand industries unless you adapt the cargo for it and that mean's making more cargo to benefit the industries more. It's that simple!!!!!!!!.

[flight50]

As far as MP and SP....the new MP is really SP as well. Everything we can do in MP, we can do in SP (except play with others) and everything we can do in SP, we can do in MP plus some. Its awesome how they intergraded the two and that is why SCS MP will be sooooo popular now. They did their homework big time and it will pay off better than what many gave SCS credit for. They hired the right people to bring this feature. Yesterdays stream was great at explaining everything. So I don't think WoT with have any effect on SP not getting the overhaul as well. One thing for sure is that SCS MP will take the game to another level over time.

Yeah we can go round and round with cargo. I don't know what else to do besides keep talking about it. I do think that something will give eventually though. Its a priority thing. We as a community want and want and want. But there are thousands and thousand of us. Only a small department at SCS that can do cargo. The odds are against them so I try to relax but at the same time, speak up. The biggest part that upsets me about cargo are the def file cargoes. They are the absolute easiest to do. I can understand the low manpower to make 3d models and all but I honestly don't understand the lack of non 3d models. There are ETS2 def files that work as well in ATS. If there is someone like Annie that can do pics of cargo on pallets, ATS can double the cargo for vans, tankers, hoppers and sliding tarps. Any trailer that does not require a physical 3d model can get def file out the wazoo. The time it takes to double ATS cargo with def files could be the same about of time it takes to make half a dozen 3d models. The easy solution now is to at least create a ton of def file cargoes for ATS. By the time Texas arrives and no significant amount of new cargo comes to ATS, that won't be good. I sure hope they have something up their sleeves. Texas starts a new region and its huge. Sometimes has to pull people into Texas if it will cost $17.99.