Pennsylvania Discussion Thread

[rbsanford]

That'd be neat to see. I don't know all that much about the logistics of the Philadelphia area, but I assume the Walt Whitman Bridge would be more likely used by commercial vehicles, since it's in a more industrial area, and it's actually part of a freeway. The Ben Franklin Bridge has a really weird connection with I-95 and I-676 that involves surface roads, which would eat up space, but could further justify a small surface road network in Center City in the game (even if it's just an unmarked 6th Street down to Chestnut, up close to Indendence Hall, then back up Independence Mall E), or maybe even the mint as a job site (a reeeeeally long shot; the mint's loading docks are underground, and must be pretty interesting, but they would never let some owner-operator of any old truck company haul money for them).

[TruckingWolfUSA]

Coin loads would be really cool to see and I’d say that SCS has been leaning away from being strict on realism lately tbh

[Adamw123]

That'd be neat to see. I don't know all that much about the logistics of the Philadelphia area, but I assume the Walt Whitman Bridge would be more likely used by commercial vehicles, since it's in a more industrial area, and it's actually part of a freeway. The Ben Franklin Bridge has a really weird connection with I-95 and I-676 that involves surface roads, which would eat up space, but could further justify a small surface road network in Center City in the game (even if it's just an unmarked 6th Street down to Chestnut, up close to Indendence Hall, then back up Independence Mall E), or maybe even the mint as a job site (a reeeeeally long shot; the mint's loading docks are underground, and must be pretty interesting, but they would never let some owner-operator of any old truck company haul money for them).

Will be a skyscrapers of Philadelphia in ATS Pennsylvania DLC? Famous downtown will be great to drive through, just like in Chicago (Illinois DLC), and soon in Indianapolis (Indiana DLC). When will be New York DLC, SCS might add Manhattan, with famous Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, One World Trade Center, Central Park, and Brooklyn bridge, to the New York City.

[Madkine]

When will be New York DLC, SCS might add Manhattan, with famous Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, One World Trade Center, ... to the New York City.

Those 3 buildings are trademarked and thus very, very unlikely to be included.

[rbsanford]

They absolutely need to be in the game, though. They're the most iconic buildings in the city, as well as the country as a whole.

[Madkine]

From memory, other iconic buildings haven't been included for the same reason.

And hypothetical question, if it caused the DLC to double in price to pay for the licensing, would you still want them in the game?

[Tristman]

I assume they will alter the designs a little bit and include the buildings that way. I believe they also did this in Chicago with one of the buildings?

[disintegration7x]

Off topic for this thread btw but there will be fudged versions of the famous copyrighted buildings just like there always are. Not sure why we have to have to rediscover this every time lol.

Back to PA, I had totally forgotten about the mint- that would be a very unique depot! I think it being underground makes it slightly more likely as SCS are (rightly) proud of the tech they developed to make it work going back to the Terrastores in Missouri and might want to use it in more places.

Not to mention, there seems to be a lot of interest in getting the Independence Mall area, and that would actually give a reason for a truck to be in that part of town. But all of that brings us back to the Ben Franklin- I'm starting to think it's unavoidable.

So, in that case I'm thinking maybe shift Center City north-northwest quite a bit. Keep in mind IRL the city is longest on a SW-NE axis, and almost everything "above" Center City is residential sprawl, so that would the direction you could cheat it in.

Maybe Philly ends up being three "areas": Airport/refineries (imo should be kept as far south as possible- I'm talking right on the DE border); South Philly industry/waterfront (talked a little bit about that above); and Center City.

One idea for Center City would be to have the full length of Market Street as the main surface street (kinda think what they did with the new surface street in ABQ, but more compact). Coming from the west on 76, that would then be your only exit until the 95 junction. Starting at 30th Street station, Market Street then goes east around City Hall (where you could have a depot for PA Convention/Reading Terminal Market), and then you could have a couple blocks of 5th and 6th streets to give you the historical sights and mint before Market connects to 95 (that exit is currently closed IRL for construction, but ok). Since Market is two-way I don't think you'd need Chestnut/Walnut really. In this case 676/BFB would be scenery only. Your 95 exits would be, from the South: Airport, I-76/Packer Ave, Market St, I-276/PA Tpk.

[rbsanford]

I really like the idea of having all of Market through Center City (again, the city hall is an amazing building; it's even better on foot, where you can walk through the arched, cavernous halls connecting to the central courtyard), but connecting it with the 76 and the 95 would be tricky. For the former we'd need parts of Arch, 30th, and Schuylkill, but the latter is much more convoluted. It would be easier to have Market end at 6th, which hooks up with the 95 via the Vine Street Expy. at Franklin Square, so I'd peg that third I-95 exit as E22 (Vine Street Expy.); at that point it would make sense to just have the rest of the 676.

When it comes to skyscrapers, Philadelphia has some nice ones. They don't compare with NYC in terms of size or number, but the city's tallest buildings have crowns lit with LEDs, and the color changes based on whatever's being celebrated or recognized. There's the standard red-white-blue for Independence Day, the red-green-white for Christmas, etc., but a guy who gave me a ride out there told me that they glow green when the Eagles are playing, blue when it's the Phillies, and red when it's the 76ers. There's also this building with a giant scrolling electronic sign on top (IIRC, it showed time, temperature, PSAs, little messages, etc.).

[Adamw123]

I assume they will alter the designs a little bit and include the buildings that way. I believe they also did this in Chicago with one of the buildings?

Do you mean Willis Tower? It's model in Illinois DLC isn't similar to the real life model. If you compared this model to this real model, I think, that it's shape isn't realistic.