Poll: Which area should SCS add to ETS2 after Iberia?

[Komen]

Here's my predictions for future map DLCs
2021: Ireland (If cardinal pattern continues) + UK upgrades
2022: Western Balkans: As the map DLCs are getting bigger each year all of Western Balkans and Greece could be included in one DLC
2023: Far East (Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine) possibly parts of Russia
2024: Northern Lights (Norway, Sweden, Finland) possibly Iceland and parts of Russia.
I know they may expand more into the European part of Russia but I can't really predict which areas in the region they will do so I will just leave it at that. I also don't see the rest of Turkey or parts of Northern Africa being done as they aren't in Europe.

[Shiva]

@IvanKuz
Release years? no clue!
Not that bad, but I do think that Western Balkans will include Greece.
"Northern Lights" and "Road to the Barents Sea" It could be split that way between them, yes.
Or they could leave Troms og Finnmark to the latter DLC.
And the latter DLC's east border? it could be so that Lake Onega would be the border.
Belarus as standalone? not so sure.
Ukraine that soon? I suspect it will come after "Road to Moscow"

I do disagree with the years a bit.
But nice work anyway

[dahaka]

@IvanKuz So, you want to add countries like Albania and Montenegro and exclude Greece for later? In my 5 years as a trucker, the only place I've ever seen an Albanian truck is in Greece (and obviously Albania, but I haven't been there). I've seen like two trucks from Montenegro. Plus you can't realistically bridge the gap with those countries, because trucks don't go through non-EU countries to sail to Italy. They always sail from Greece. Even Turks who are not part of the EU sail from Greece. Why on earth would anyone go through customs and border crossings to sail from Albania? Greece has to come with the rest of the Balkans. It's been delayed long enough.

[IvanKuz]

@jackalnxt, @2113770961, @dahaka
I understand that Greece might be a more demanded area than Yugoslavia, and in an earlier version of this map I even had Greece come out first. However, doing so would leave a huge hole in the map, and I'd like to think that SCS would want to avoid that. If Greece comes first, it would only be connected to the rest of the map via the already hellish road network of RTTBS on one side and by ferry on the other, which would make it a rather inconvenient destination. The fact that additional connections would go through non-EU countries has little bearing on the game: border crossings are not as complicated in the game as they are IRL and the in-game GPS doesn't care. And of course everyone is going to say how their country needs to come out as soon as possible! But patience is key.

As for Greece and the rest of the Balkans coming out as a single DLC, it is certainly a possibility, but I already explained why I don't think it is a good idea. This hypothetical DLC is already a whopping 8 countries to work on even without Greece, and even though each of them isn't that big, this already means creating a lot of various new prefabs, signs, license plates and so on. Adding Greece would mean corners would have to be cut and Greece itself will get less attention. Which is why I don't want them to be one DLC. At best I can imagine Greece DLC following the Yugoslavia DLC immediately.

@phylip25 I thought about it. Yeah, I can definitely imagine some parts of Kazakhstan coming alongside nearby parts of Russia, assuming that the DLCs ever get that far east. I wouldn't hold my breath for it though.

@Shiva Thank you, I was expecting your comment
I drew the borders of the two northern expansions the way I did because I wanted to add a theoretical "Road to Arkhangelsk" to "Road to Murmansk". But yes, I can easily imagine the whole area being divided into a different amount of DLCs and with very different borders.
I left Belarus as a standalone DLC because I think putting it together with either "Road to Moscow" or Urkaine would make too huge a DLC. Ukraine is an especially tricky subject, it is too huge to come as one complete DLC immediately, and yet I believe it needs to come before "Road to Moscow" to avoid a C-shaped piece of the map forcing player to make bizarre detours. Perhaps if it comes in two parts, Belarus could be grouped together with its western half.

I also don't see the rest of Turkey or parts of Northern Africa being done as they aren't in Europe.

I don't find this to be a very convincing argument. After all, borders between continents are ultimately just lines on the map, not impenetrable physical walls. Trucks cross them all the time. And anyway, I'm pretty sure that the devs have said that they are not excluding the possibility of expanding beyond the borders of the European continent one day.

[Komen]

@IvanKuz Well if SCS wanted to expand Turkey and add a few Western Asia countries and also expand on Africa then a Asia and Africa Truck Simulator would be the go. I'm not against the idea of SCS expanding beyond Europe and I'm fine with it if they end up expanding beyond Europe but I think it would be more sufficient if they were in different games.

[dahaka]

That is where you are wrong. You see if SCS started a new game, lets say "African Truck Simulator" they would have to get licenses for all the trucks again, and they would be the exact same trucks used in ETS2, since there aren't really any African truck manufacturers. We would probably lose all the older trucks, and only have the current generations of them. Then there is another problem, which is who is going to buy the game. It would take years to make enough content for a game like that, and I'm only talking about the northern African countries. It is much better to just add the northern African countries to the game, and you already have a much better chance of selling them, to people who already got a lot of content but want to expand it.

[tobrago]

It is realistic that after Iberia, the SCS will start the Western Balkans, including Greece. This route through the Western Balkans is the main connection.

[krmarci]

My predictions:
2021: Ireland, Iceland (& maybe Belarus): the three countries combined are still smaller than the Western Balkans including Greece
2022: Western Balkans
2023: Ukraine
2024: rest of Norway & Sweden
After that, the cardinal directions method really breaks down, so it's impossible to tell. Rest of Finland, Karelia and Murmansk Oblast will probably be combined. The number of DLCs we will get in Russia will depend on how well they sell. Turkey and the Caucasian countries are a big question mark, as they are geographically in Asia.

edit: I now see that this is basically the same as Komen.413's idea.

[Shiva]

IvanKuz, yep, I'm evil
Will be interesting to see where and how SCS makes the next DLC's after Iberia.
The Road to Moscow I imagine, yeah, it would be quite big, not as big as Iberia, but bigger than Black Sea.
Your idea about Belarus and western part of Ukraine? And maybe even with Moldavia? plausible. Altho, that could be close to the size of Road to Moscow I envision?
I do believe that SCS would do Greece justice, even if it comes with a west Balkans DLC.

Regarding Arhangelsk? Maybe a.. Road to Ural Mountains DLC?

Parts of Asia and maybe even parts of Africa? I say possible.

[Komen]

I know I have said that the rest of Turkey and a few Western Asia countries (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan) should be in a Asia Truck Simulator but the thing is once SCS has completed all of Russia then the map would just seem really empty around the Black sea area so I guess I could say that take back some of the statements I have said and it would be cool to see some of Kazakhstan in the game in the long distant future as well. I still don't know about Northern Africa though but other than making a whole new game of Africa Truck Simulator then I suppose it wouldn't hurt having Northern Africa in ETS2, I remember when TruckSim Maps had a map mod for Northern Africa I was close to installing the mod back in 2014 because of how unique it looked from watching a few videos of the map mod.