Montana Discussion Thread

[HubercikBercik]

According to the microsite of blogs, there are still 10 to go. As noted, we have Open Beta, achievements and a lot of other stuff coming up for DLC. Montana is getting closer, however there are still some blogs left. What will SCS do? Will it "spam" the posts, will it merge them, or will it correct some?

Everything looks like Montana will be out in late July/early August. I am very puzzled by the issue of blogs that we see on the microsite

[oldmanclippy]

Yeah the amount of blogs remaining is decently high when considering that this will be a 1.45 DLC in all likelihood. But we don't really have any good comparisons, as Wyoming was a weird case as it was internally delayed, and Colorado and prior were before SCS decided to do more pre-release blogs. So we're in new territory.

I'm sure this is exactly the kind of speculation that SCS feared when they were deciding whether or not to go forward with the blog topic section of the microsite

[Tristman]

I think some of the blogs are definitely coming, others might be more like filler blogs.
Not sure what "Big in Montana" is, but the Gameplay Video, Helena and Road Network I think will definitely appear. Perhaps Lewis and Clark Expedition as well, but that might overlap with areas we've already seen in blogs?
Yellowstone would be what, the road from where we can go currently to West Yellowstone? I don't think it would add much to what we already know, other than showing off some beautiful scenery. Weigh stations, landmarks and nature in general all sound like filler to me.
That leaves Airports, not sure what they will show other than Great Falls airport which we already have seen in two blogs.

[HubercikBercik]

Big in Montana - New Special Transport routes

[Trenero]

and we can discard that some of the blog will be for the week of the launch and week after, to keep the launch interesting in time

[Vinnie Terranova]

Big in Montana - New Special Transport routes

I don't need a blog about new Special Transport routes in Montana. I need a blog about new Special Transport cargo.

[oldmanclippy]

Yeah the Yellowstone blog is still confusing me. With US-89 absent from 1.45 and US-212 having very little room, I'm not sure what they're gonna blog about. Because they lengthened the distance between Moran and Old Faithful, there isn't a lot of room in-game between that and West Yellowstone. Then US-191 skirts back into the park for a very brief stretch that will be a blip at most at 1:20 scale. So perhaps US-89 will be coming and it's just not in the beta? Otherwise there's not much to blog about there.

[Shiva]

When did SCS lengthen Moran and Old Faithful?
It is Jackson that pushes Moran to north.

[Kistk3]

Yeah the Yellowstone blog is still confusing me. With US-89 absent from 1.45 and US-212 having very little room, I'm not sure what they're gonna blog about. Because they lengthened the distance between Moran and Old Faithful, there isn't a lot of room in-game between that and West Yellowstone. Then US-191 skirts back into the park for a very brief stretch that will be a blip at most at 1:20 scale. So perhaps US-89 will be coming and it's just not in the beta? Otherwise there's not much to blog about there.

Maybe we'll get a surprise with that blog, who knows... only SCS

[rbsanford]

@Shiva I think what he's talking about is the length of the road in Grand Teton National Park. I think only a couple key points needed to be hit: Jackson Lake and the crossing of the Snake, but more was added with not much being included. Yellowstone has a lot going on in a relatively small area, so to highlight the key points of the park in the game, the space in that part of the map will have to be used wisely.

I'm betting the plan for Yellowstone will be to include at least two highways leading into the park from Montana, just so it won't be a spur, and have the Montana part of the park's road network reach as far south as Old Faithful, where there would be a viewpoint (it would make sense to have one for Yellowstone, and I was surprised that Wyoming didn't bring one). There's actually a lot of landmarks in this area that would make for good blog material, assuming they'll be in the game, which is assuming there will be space; this includes Old Faithful and its inn (turn around on that streetview), the Lower Geyser Basin, the Three Brothers Mountains, the Golden Gate, Mammoth Hot Springs, and the Roosevelt Arch, and this isn't even getting into the Beartooth Highway (it was implied in a previous blog post, where the town of Laurel was mentioned as having a road leading to Yellowstone, which is Beartooth; so it's not confirmed, apparently, but I wouldn't rule it out just yet). But again, even though Yellowstone is enormous as far as national parks go, it's a very small part of ATS, and space there can't afford to be wasted.

Yellowstone could always just go under the Nature blog, like with Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado's nature post. Landmarks and Lewis & Clark could also probably be combined, as could Road Network and Weigh Stations. Remember the disclaimer in the upcoming news section: "Some topics might be added, changed, scratched, or join with others, according to our needs." Nothing is set in stone there.