Emaulligu's Mechanized Ventures

[Emaulligu]

Vanilla makes a comeback !
Update 1.40 looks great, no doubt about that, however it once again threatens old mods from extinction, following the merciless law of evolution. Mods that are too broken or unattended die. Then, there's also the case of me being bored of hauling box trailers, no matter how many I have. They all look the same. You know what's fun ? Dirt, and hauling heavy cargos.
In that state of mind, my first attempt was to turn my old F16 into a heavy duty truck. Attempt that, I'm forced to admit, didn't go too well for the poor Volvo. Even fitted with a 6x4 chassis, the truck swung and was a disaster to drive. The engine was slightly underpowered too, but that wasn't my main concern. Besides, it's nothing a few lines of XML can't solve. But the driving ? If the truck doesn't want to, you can't help that. I guess it was just an attempt to make the little F16 live a little longer, and who knows, he may return someday. But for now, I had to put it away and think of something else.
The game was on sale this whole week, and I know the main reason I never got around using the vanilla trucks was the lack of customisation. Bought the tuning packs for Mercedes, Volvo and Scania and started working with these. At least Mercedes and Volvo. Scania was more a compatibility thing with RJL but since I can't drive it for now, it'll wait. Also I won't give in to the Scania bias. Go drive something else, people.
Made a small experiment with a Mercedes MP3, didn't go as well as expected, the truck is a bit showy and doesn't look as good as I imagined.
Then I had a final shot with the Volvo. The FH2009 is nice, but it feels a bit too in-between. The new FH, now that's something. I remember my starting hours, when I was looking at the vanilla trucks, thinking the low cab of the FH2012 was just a square. A bit, mean square, with sharp lines. Low center of gravity thanks to the low cab, strongest engine in the entire game. Yeah, that'll do. Drove it around for a bit with my lowbed trailer and loved it, so I felt involved enough to do a skin for it, and now I'm showing it. Except for the skin, this Volvo is 100% vanilla, which is strangely a relief, knowing you won't have to bother with updating it and worrying it won't be kept up to date. I guess it makes it the strongest truck I've had, and it's a Volvo. What a coincidence...
So yes, expect to see more of this Volvo soon, maybe even 1.40 open beta if I get rid of all those soon-to-be-outdated mods cluttering my profile.

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[Emaulligu]

Test of strength
I decided to challenge myself and my Volvo, and picked up a set of industrial air conditioners in Napoli due in Calvi. Starting from Italy, crossing all of Sardinia to unload in Corsica. 11 tons of cargo, and the lowbed remained retracted. So I suppose this wasn't the ultimate test, but it was good enough. Corsica is a really challenging place to drive in, even more with longer trailers. Everything went well and I'm quite happy about it. The air conditioners will be ready for this summer !
Those roads sure are fun.
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Had to pull over to make sure the cargo was still in place.
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Drove more tonight, a few deliveries for which I don't have screenshots, and did a Venice-Kristiansand trip for a total of 1800 kilometers in one go. Time flies when you're busy chatting with friends at the same time. Those shots were taken when passing Hamburg. Sunsets are still pretty good, even in 1.39. I realized I might not go for 1.40 beta, I'm just too busy progressing on my WoT distance achievements. There's no hurry for that. I can always drive and enjoy sunsets anyway.
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[Emaulligu]

More screenshots
Not much of a narrative story today, sorry. Been off to UK for the first time and drove around, picking up all the heavy cargo I could find.

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[dreamcatcher]

Nice start and welcome!

[Emaulligu]

@dreamcatcher Thank you !

[Emaulligu]

Those aren't my best screenshots but that's all I have for now. I won't be playing as much from now on, so it may be a bit until the next post.

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[Emaulligu]

What's next ?
Did a few more deliveries with my lowbed, and I even got one of my shots featured in the Editor's Pick section !
After that, I thought the lowbed deserved a little rest, and I wanted to try out my latest acquisition, the Krone DLC. So I bought a Krone container carrier, 2x20ft version. Found some fuel tanks to haul thanks to my ADR training, as well as some apples and used plastics. Bit of everything really. Going to 40+ tons of cargo to 10-ish tons does quite a change !
Then I purchased the extra-lowbed trailer, just to try it, already knowing I would hate it. I hated it before its rework in the last updates, and I still hate it now. The fact that all the trailer axles steer makes it jolt left and right violently when taking turns, as well as making it difficult to park properly. When I return to heavy cargo, I'll make sure not to use this one again. But that's for next time. As long as I can drive and get more kilometers on my truck and my WoT profile, I'm happy !

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[Anna K]

I just had some tunes playing while reading thru this thread and I see some points here and there making me go "Huh, glad I'm not the only one!".

In ATS I have a bit more fun driving - hard to find much motivation to drive in ETS2. Been switching vanilla and modded trucks since the game released and got all the DLCs (PC Gamer DLC being exception) and I'm still not a 100% on which freaking truck I actually want! Now decided to just drive near-vanilla trucks with very little mods added to it, to keep it easy when updating to newer game versions .. I would absolutely love having a gigantic fleet of modded trucks but the continuous evolution of the game kinda kills that for me. If I knew how to mod, sure - I'd tackle the issue but man, I tried Blender and everything that comes with it. NOPE - wasn't for me, goodbye Blender. Now trying to go bit easier with just planning out a company to keep myself busy and in both games. We'll see how long that'll last ..

Just as long as my "exclusively Daimler and Krone" thing lasted .. I just like the way a tanker looks on the small Volvo cab and my Range T? Eh, I just wanted to drive it and have a Krone flatbed!
While at the same time trying to have a truck in each "transport category" to plan out my company more .. now realizing I'm gonna have to make at least 5 (or more) division paintjobs .. per regional division.

Yikes.

Not too long ago I tried my hand on the heavy haul sector and tapped out pretty quickly because I was like "not enough cargo to keep the flow going, reee" but I guess running empty is a thing that happens too .. that and reading your story here makes me want to give the heavy fellers another go. Especially since I'm gonna turn my 49x into a long log hauling beast of DEATH .. ok, maybe not that but at least a logger! [/cringe] Maybe I could attach a Scwarzmuller to an MAN 8x4 .. Hmm, no idea.

ANYWAY, interesting to find out where your story goes next!

Oh and don't worry about nobody commenting, this side of the forum is as alive as the 2 guilds I joined and left in ESO. Dead af.
I get more reactions to my shots in my Discord server which has the insane amount of .. 1 .. person in it aside from myself.
Sooner or later you get the bland "Nice pics" or "Cool trucks" .. It's uh - something at least? xD

Just keep drivin' and ignore it all.

[Emaulligu]

@AnnaKlintenitz Thanks for the comment and glad to know you read a bit around here. Can't say likewise, I just took threads on the go, won't read the 100 pages of yours, hope you won't mind haha.
Took me a while to find a truck I like in ETS but now I have my Volvo, enough open trailers to keep some variety, and I often catch myself looking at the odometer to see how much I've driven and how much more I could drive with it. The long-term goal is of course the WoT million kilometers achievement, and then someday I'd love to reach the million with a single truck, why not ? The Volvo is a good truck by itself, and since it's vanilla, it'll last forever.

I miss my W900 too, might roll back to 1.39 and start driving in 'Murica again.

Heavy cargos are my jam, I just find myself playing whatever the heaviest character is, applies to Team Fortress, Warframe, and now ETS and ATS too.
The sole reason I installed the GTM's W900B was the 8x4 chassis lol. Now we have ownable lowbeds and I can finally do dedicated heavy duty combos.
Would use a 8x4 in ETS but I don't like the obligation to run the biggest cab to have an 8x4 (MAN being the only brand that escapes the rule), aerodynamics don't matter so I'd rather have something low and bulky instead.

Guess I'll see ya around then !

[Anna K]

No worries, my thread is like a bowl of spaghetti: a complete chaotic mess of 'what on earth is going on here?' .. I delete my older shots pretty quickly so it's a very 'did you see it? no? too bad!' and 'just check the latest' type of deal.
I also don't write stories as I go, it's just "here's me trip o' the day, that's all".

Initially my plan with my Actros 3 was a million km too but it'll be a slooow endeavor if I'm gonna drive a bajillion trucks for my company. It'd be cool to reach, indeed.

When it comes to "heavy characters", does a Nord character with a tank build (in ESO) count?
I was just thinking of how little time I've spent doing the 'special transport' DLC stuff .. I always liked the fact it's like a little 'mission' you can do with your own truck tho I somehow never ended up spending much time in it.
OK, where's the nearest MAN dealer? I need an 8x4, dang it!

Anyway, not gonna turn this screenshot thread into a text one so I'll shut me trap now.