Texas Discussion Thread

[Wolfi]

What does that mean? Like, if you think about the fact that SCS has already announced Montana and Texas, which isn't news to anyone, it doesn't make sense that they cover those states' license plates. Hmmm...

Those plates aren't "covered". It's a placeholder license plate model. I assume those screenshots were taken before the trailers got officially registered in the traffic to get the regular plates.

[parasaurolophus67]

@SouthernMan What wolfi said, doesn't mean anything but a placeholder.

[flight50]

Let's get back to Texas, looks like it's still on route to be released this year

What Pavel mentioned earlier not to long ago is that Texas is a 2022 release. Of course anything can change but the chances just increased a lot with 1.45 and Montana being highlighted. Texas is ramping up blogs. Add those 2 together and Texas now gets 5-6 months to wrap it up. The last 3 months of the year I'd say that is testing time. So I give Texas (1.46) October early November in order to get Texas ready for the cruising Texas event and the Xmas event. The end of the year is always busy for SCS as they try to get things out before holidays.

If Texas joins Montana for 2022, that will easily keep us busy. Wyoming released in what...Sept of 2021. Now looks like Montana will come out in less than 12 months since that. So if that team moves on the Oklahoma or Louisiana, I bet we'd have it May/June perhaps if its a smaller state. If Texas or should I say when Texas releases, that team can do whatever the Montana team is not doing and that could be a late Summer early Fall dlc. Utah and Idaho where done in 8-9 months. If larger states can be done in that time, smaller dense states can go 8-9 months too. Maybe even 7-8 months but pushing it lower could end up buggy. I like what 2023 can bring though. Whatever ph3 for the rebuild also adds to the equation.

With the size of the ATS map team now, I think we are about to feel the map progression a bit more. We just need more to support the pace of the maps. So more done with the maps and more for gameplay. Each year brings new features. Whether small or large. Eventually we'll get some things added to enhance the game.

[SouthernMan]

What does that mean? Like, if you think about the fact that SCS has already announced Montana and Texas, which isn't news to anyone, it doesn't make sense that they cover those states' license plates. Hmmm...

Those plates aren't "covered". It's a placeholder license plate model. I assume those screenshots were taken before the trailers got officially registered in the traffic to get the regular plates.

Oh, it seems understandable. Thanks bud.

[Wolfi]

No problem - it's just one of those silly things that send people on a full imagination trip. Just like the tarp-covered Kenworths T680 randomly parked around the map

[SouthernMan]

No problem - it's just one of those silly things that send people on a full imagination trip. Just like the tarp-covered Kenworths T680 randomly parked around the map

Now this is true
I always see how people building a lot of expectations in these canvas covered trucks. It has become common

[oldmanclippy]

I'm still betting on a late winter or early spring 2023 release for Texas. If that forestry blog was any indication, they need all the time they can get. Maybe it and West Balkans will come out within a month of one another. Then we'd be back to the previous release cadence, just shifted forward a few months.

El Paso looked great in the blog, but I wonder how much further along it is compared to the other big cities? It's quite small compared to DFW, Houston, and San Antonio, so El Paso getting to a bloggable state faster is understandable. But I suspect that those big cities will be what determines when Texas is able to release. Landscape mapping and small town mapping can go much quicker. Big cities, and especially cities of this size which we haven't seen in ATS since the base map, take time.

Taking a guess, I think the earliest Texas could come is November, and the latest hopefully April. My money is on March. WB I bet will be December to March, money on February. But we have a lot of time both before and after Montana's release for new information to come out that will make certain release windows more likely than others.

Whenever it comes, I don't want it to be rushed. I want it to feel like Texas, and I want it to come with new companies, new non-deliverable companies, new industries, new prefabs for existing companies, new cargo, and hopefully new features. Rushing it out the door will compromise that. And this map has been in development for so long, that there's no point in rushing it anymore. Just get it out the door when it's finished. Montana and West Balkans will cover for it just fine in the meanwhile.

Then Oklahoma can get teased about 2 months after Montana comes. Maybe even earlier if they get a decent-sized preproduction team started on it before then. I assume that the Montana team will move to Oklahoma. That should be fun, Oklahoma is basically just a smaller, less geographically extreme Montana with more and bigger cities. It has wide open plains, good heavy industry, forests, and even some mountains. Not particularly rocky mountains mind you, but mountains none the less. I imagine they'll need to steal some experienced city mappers for Tulsa and OKC. Billings isn't exactly a metropolis But I am looking forward to seeing what they can do in a more densely populated setting compared to WY and MT, if they are indeed the team that will work Oklahoma.

And then a month or two after Texas releases, the real interesting reveal can come as to which state will be following Oklahoma. Oklahoma is as close a thing to a lock as we can get when no one has mentioned anything about it besides the existence of the public research thread. But after that, it's anyone's guess. Most likely LA, AR, or KS. Maybe ND/SD if they wanna turn expectations on their heads. Nebraska if they're feeling particularly violent. Canada or Mexico if they're feeling gutsy. But LA, AR, and KS are the real contenders.

[Marcello Julio]

Considering that the ETS2 map DLCs were released in early December, I see Texas releasing in the first or second week of December.

[oldmanclippy]

I could see Texas being ready for December. Given that we still have a lot of blogs to go, and given that we still don't really know when Montana is coming even though all indications are that it's coming earlier than expected in August or September potentially, I'm not particularly sure we've seen enough of Texas to say it's less than 6 months out. Maybe if we get more blogs pre-Montana. Who knows, maybe they're planning to blitz us with Texas blogs after Montana's release and get it out the door in November. I am a bit more cautious, which is why I think it will be closer to March than December. But I'd be glad to be wrong, as long as it isn't rushed.

[Trakaplex]

True. We are seeing more finished blogs with Montana, in the microsite. They are kicking up it there, because Montana's closer to release. I suspect September or October. For Texas, the second week of December. Pavel last year did say it "certainly was a 2022 project".