Kentucky Research

[Keman]

I just wanted to start this off by saying I may be biased (but I hope in a good way) when it comes to something like this as I have been in the Kentucky trucking industry my entire life in some form or fashion (all 36 years of it). As well as being a longtime fan of the game series (still have my 18 wheels of steel Haulin' CD!) Now I play exclusively in VR with a steering wheel and 18 speed shifter.

Kentucky - The Bluegrass State (Spoiler: the grass is actually green). The state that is known for 2 things Bourbon and Horses.


1. Map
I studied the current in game maps the best I could, keeping size in mind and tried to map out an ideal road system. Most of the major roadways just worked out. I attempted to supply some landmark and viewpoint ideas as well with it.

Link to Map of KY
Link to Map with additional roads
Link to original PSD (includes all layer toggleable map assets)

Landmark and Viewpoint notes -
Lincoln Boy Hood Home Cabin
Actual building you see out in front and to the left of the Log cabin
Fort Knox Gold safe basically a military base to protect the gold. (Top secret government contracts to deliver to here when?)
Louisville Slugger factory/Bat I wasn't sure about this one as it's tied to a brand.
Rickhouses These can be seen all over KY predominately in/outside of Bardstown and Frankfort.
Distillery Many of these in Bardstown, Frankfort, and Louisville. (Will have large buildings with many large tanks and rickhouses on the property).
Horse farm/park These will be mostly around the Lexington/Georgetown area.

Churchill Downs being a staple for Horse racing within the state I thought might be a place to have a viewpoint and when you view it you actually watched a short race run. (They do both day and night races so I thought it would work, could even have the winner be random each time!)

Included the steamboat Belle of Louisville but thought that might be a bit much to model just for something sitting out in the river by the bridge

I had also included the ARK Encounter on there as it's a very distinct landmark in KY and thought it might be wild to just be driving down ATS and see a gigantic Noa's Ark off the side of the road. but after thinking about how it's so religious and they actually have Dinosaurs on the ark claiming Humans lived at the same time as them. I thought maybe could leave that off >.>



2. Bardstown
This is the one city that might could be classified as a small town, but I would strongly argue against that. It's the Bourbon Capital of the world and home to 10+ distillery's which is a key point in trucking transportation amongst the state. Bardstown was called the “Most Beautiful Town in America" by Rand McNally and USA Today for a reason View down main street. It also includes one if not the best roundabouts in the state. Daytime Nighttime



3. KY Trucking
The big one here is the Spirits Industry, it and trucking in KY go hand in hand really. Both with food grade bulk tanks and 53ft vans. The Van Trailers would be doing both more local moves loaded with Barrels of whiskey to/from rickhouse/distilleries and mainly OTR to every state in the USA delivering case goods of spirits out to be distributed. These are mostly shipped from Bardstown, Frankfort, Owensboro, and Louisville.

This brings me to the next point along this same line. A piece of equipment I think could be added with KY. The Food Grade Hazmat Tank. You already have a food grade tank (which I love) used for milk/wine. However, a Hazmat variation (used for the high proof spirits) is slightly different. There are insulated versions that look 98% like the in game food grade tanker, the only difference being the valve setup on the back really. (Ones in game have a sanitary thread valve that is not useable for hazmat liquids) If you wanted to use the same tank for all bulk liquids, I think you would be fine and 99% of people wouldn't know a difference. However, I propose you could also add the skinless variation that is almost exclusively used for hazmat products. It's basically the same tank only it doesn't have the shiny metal wrap and insulation around the outside. So you can see the ribs and it has a more matte appearance.

Tank Image
Back Valve Also includes a small hydraulic pump used to open an internal valve.
alternative back box I thought it might be easier to model a trailer if you just used one that had an enclosed box as well.
Spoilered, because this trailer was actually added a few weeks after this post was made. As the "D shaped trailer". At least the insulated version was. Non insulated version could still be added but they would just serve the same purpose as far as the game is concerned. I would however say that I have never heard them referred to as a "D shaped tank" and if you introduce wine and spirits with KY as cargo chaging the name to "bulk hazmat tank" or something along the lines might be more appropriate. (you can also haul more than chemicals with them. Basically, most of the food grade liquids like juices, wines, vinegars. Just not Milk)


Some hypothetical lanes for loads could be like. Rum from the FL/LA (or any state) ports back to KY. Tequilla from Laredo TX(aka mexico) back to KY. Wine from California and NY back to KY. and then Vice versa of Spirits outbound from KY (Louisville, Bardstown, Frankfort, Owensboro).

A few last notes on shipping goods within KY would be using horse trailers for that industry with Louisville/Lexington. There being a Ford plant in Louisville and the Corvette plant/museum in Bowling Green. UPS is also stationed out of Louisville. Then eastern Kentucky is full of coal mines. As well corn shipments into the distilleries could also be a nice touch.

I know Kentucky is a long way off, I had just been into the game recently and thought it would be a fun little thing to do and supply some notes on my thoughts about possibilities with the state. I figured every little bit can help when it comes to that time. I am always open to any questions if anyone had any in the future. might be easier to reach me on the discord though. KEMAN#0001

[Brothergun]

I'm just copying and pasting my own thread (viewtopic.php?t=322772) but I thought it'd be a good idea to put it here if SCS wants some ideas for Kentucky

My Kentucky/Tennessee Prediction Map

[ external image ]

Guaranteed Cities (Cities that'll most likely be in the game)

Louisville
Lexington
Bowling Green
Paducah
Hopkinsville
Ashland
Owensboro

Cities that might get in, but could get cut in favor of others or other reasons (i.e. scaling, too close to another city, etc.)

Florence (could end up being merged into Cincinnati)
Somerset/London (one of them might be cut/reduced to scenic town because of being too close to each other)
Hazard
Pikeville
Middlesboro (could get cut for being too small or being too close to Knoxville and Kingsport)
Elizabethtown (very likely to be cut due to it being too close to Louisville, but might get in due to the SKON Battery Plant and being home to the Wetsern Kentucky Parkway, I-65, and Bluegrass Parkway)
Frankfort (Could very likely get in due it being the state capitol of Kentucky, but could be a scenic town due to it lacking in industries)

Scenic Towns

Mayfield
Russellville
Wickliffe
Nicholasville
Henderson
Prestonsburg
Paintsville
Louisa
Covington
Newport
Radcliff/Fort Knox
Fulton
Bardstown
Paris
Georgetown
La Grange
Harlan
Salyersville
Winchester
Smiths Grove
Glendale

Industries

SKON Battery Plant (Glendale)
GM Corvette Plant (Bowling Green)
Grand Rivers Quarry (Lake City)
AppHarvest (Somerset)
Toyota Assembly Plant (Georgetown)
UPS Worldport (Louisville)
GE Appliance Park (Louisville)
Ford Truck Plant (Louisville)
Amazon World Hub (Florence)
Catlettsburg Refinery (Catlettsburg)
Coal Mines (Eastern KY)
Agriculture (Western and South-Central KY)

Areas of Interests

Cumberland Falls (Corbin)
Falls of the Ohio (Louisville)
Spaghetti Junction (Louisville)
Louisville Water Tower Park (Louisville)
National Corvette Museum (Bowling Green)
Jefferson Davis State Historic Site (Fairview)
Land Between the Lakes
Mammoth Cave National Park
Cumberland Gap (Middlesboro)
The Kentucky Castle (Lexington)
Eiffel Tower (Paris)
Fort Campbell (Hopkinsville)
Fort Knox/US Bullion Depository
Beaver Dam Rest Stop (Beaver Dam)
Heaven Hill Distillery (Bardstown)
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site (Hodgenville)
The Mint Gaming Hall Kentucky Downs (Franklin)
Kentucky Speedway (Sparta)
Kentucky State Capitol (Frankfort)
Lake Cumberland
Florence Y'all Water Tower (Florence)
Reservoir Hill Park Water Tower (Bowling Green)

[Brothergun]

I also made this map as both a prediction and research map for both KY and TN, maybe this could help any mappers or anyone on the development for a KY (and TN) DLC

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewe ... 000001&z=7

[Jmhub1896]

Going to sound really biased here.

Really hope Maysville, KY (my hometown) is included in some fashion. If it is a marked city, we have: a coal fired power plant (East Kentucky Power), a huge scrap cardboard bale recycler and cardboard paper roll producer (International Paper), a Pepsi plant, 4-5 other factories.

Maysville is 60 miles from I-64/I-75 Lexington, KY, 60 miles from I-275/I-471 in the Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati, OH area, 60 miles from I-64 in Grayson, KY and to top it off, US-62 and US-68 are major truck routes in Ohio that converge just north of Ripley, OH and run with US-52 and then split from US-52 and cross the Ohio River on the William Harsha bridge in Aberdeen, OH to Maysville, KY.

Now I don’t care so much about downtown Maysville as there’s really no industries downtowns and is not important to game play. But if you look around the US-68 and KY-8 area just to the west of the bridge there will be IP and EKP and if you look around KY9 and US68 you’ll find 2 “industrial parks” with multiple businesses. Maysville is a busy trucking area. I hope to sway yall to include it in the game. If not I completely understand. If you’d like more information, please reach out.