Texas Discussion Thread

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oldmanclippy
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Re: Texas Discussion Thread

#4681 Post by oldmanclippy » 15 Aug 2022 14:14

flight50 wrote: 15 Aug 2022 01:56 After looking everything over, not bad. I'd be content with that road layout. The only road that I see missing that I hope makes the game is US-75 from Dallas to McAlester. At least North of town center Dallas to US-70 to a scenic Durant. Then go East or West from there. I like the overall density in both states though. Nicely done. If you got 85% or better accuracy, that would be sweet. Try discovering all that in a weekend, lol. I'm sure someone will but that's rushing thru the map big time.

I have no idea how I will discover Texas. Hard to do it in parts because of its shape and vastness. I think I'll discover all cities along the major interstates first. I wanna see the 6 mega cities asap. Then I'll branch out. First trip will be coming from Helena to Austin. That trip I know for sure. I think I'll take the lonnnng way in though.
I-15 to I-90 to I-25 and go t thru El Paso so that I can stick to interstates only. Then I'll try to knock out the Texas Triangle first.
Thanks, I think it will end up being pretty inaccurate but parts of it could be pretty close to reality. We'll have to see.

I'm sure my plan will change many times between now and Texas' release, but I'm thinking a good plan might be to park the night before in Las Cruces, then take I-10 through El Paso to US-90. Then take that all the way to San Antonio if possible and then I-10 to Houston where my HQ will most likely be. Once I'm in Houston, who knows, probably either head up to DFW or take jobs in east Texas.

Houston is the only city in Texas that I've actually been to, but that was over 10 years ago so should be fun seeing how much/little I recognize. I am thinking about maybe taking a weekend trip to San Antonio this fall however, so I might make that my HQ instead if that happens.

The way I do garages in ATS, is the following criteria:

a) one garage in each state capital
b) one garage in each state's largest city, if it is not the capital
c) one garage in each city that I have either been to IRL, passed by on the closest major road, or been in the airport

So for Texas I'll get garages in:
Austin - capital
Houston - visited there + largest city
Dallas - airport
Fort Worth - airport

At the moment, for Oklahoma I'll only be able to put a garage in Oklahoma City :lol: So Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana (3 garages each) and Texas (at least 4 garages assuming they don't leave Fort Worth out of the garage party) will have to make up for states in the future where I'll only be able to get 1 or 2 garages based on my criteria.
hangman005 wrote: 15 Aug 2022 13:53 @oldmanclippy Quite like that concept and the points @flight50 mentioned aswell. Probably the only change I'd make is shift OK/TX border and make I-40 and US83 the border. East of 83 and North of 40 can come with OK.
Thank you, I could see them ending I-40 at US-83 too, it just depends on how they want to handle it. It would definitely be nice to get more of I-40 past Amarillo. Having to wait until Oklahoma for that segment after having to wait so long for I-40 from Tucumcari to Amarillo would be a big tease.
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flight50
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Re: Texas Discussion Thread

#4682 Post by flight50 » 15 Aug 2022 16:05

hangman005 wrote: 15 Aug 2022 13:53 @oldmanclippy Quite like that concept and the points @flight50 mentioned aswell. Probably the only change I'd make is shift OK/TX border and make I-40 and US83 the border. East of 83 and North of 40 can come with OK.
Yes I actually did this on one of my personal concept maps. I think SCS should get us to Shamrock (I-40 @ US-83). That gives us an alternate route to US-287.

2 other things I've been looking at. US-70 in Oklahoma between I-35 and US-271. That could be omitted if US-82 is in. We can take US-82 to Paris, to McAlester to I-35 and back to US-82 without any marked city in that area. Its a road SCS could cut out if time is a factor.

The other one is US-385 South of the US-87 merger. It parallels pretty close to I-27 until South of US-62. It won't offer any cities along that stretch which means I-27 and US-87 can be the only route. That entire section could yield to I-27. South of US-62 I can see US-385 though. We have Midland/Odessa, Ft. Stockton and Presidio that can use US-385 effectively.

I think Texas could be that first state that really makes the detour function worth activating. But one state isn't good enough. The feature needs to be tweaked and to date, SCS hasn't modified anything despite feedback. Its too unrealistic to backtrack as far as the feature makes us. That's why I wish SCS made the feature timed so that eventually the event clears out on its own................just like real life. I think we should have that timed as an option though. We should be able to pick between wait it out and get off to find another route. Timed should adjust time accordingly. Like a 1-2 hr (ATS time) delay. It would be more fun if time management of your load was factored it.

As far as garages, I'd actually do one for DFW. I'd make it about the metroplex vs each city. I think a garage in the middle is best. On my heavier modded profile, that would be my home base. Right now I play my original ATS profile the most and HQ always changes to the capital city for me no matter the size. But once Texas comes, I'll probably play more of my heavier mod profile. Thats the profile I also apply ProMods to. I use to run Sierra Nevada there until they merged. But now that SCS has committed to rebuilding the base map, its only ProMods map mod I'll ever run.
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55sixxx
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Re: Texas Discussion Thread

#4683 Post by 55sixxx » 15 Aug 2022 16:12

Tbh, I wouldn't mind them adding the US-385 stretch that passes through that tiny bit of OK just to make it easy on us so we don't take big detours and even putting the welcome signs on the road (So we'll have OK but not really)... And I-40 will probably end with US-83. But other than that, the map concept is looking pretty solid @oldmanclippy.
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flight50
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Re: Texas Discussion Thread

#4684 Post by flight50 » 15 Aug 2022 16:25

Yeah I remember a debate about a year or so about about the Oklahoma panhandle connecting Lamar to Amarillo for Texas. I finally stop fighting once we didn't get any Idaho help connecting Grangeville to Salmon. When we got US-95 in Idaho with the actual Oregon dlc, apparently that was a one off.

Moving forward, it doesn't look like SCS will give us any free road connection outside the borders of a state they are actually doing. US-385/US-287 would be great but we'll have to wait til 2023. The good thing is that Montana came before Texas so Oklahoma should be the state that follows Texas. I'm 99.999999% confident in that happening. Giving us North/South Dakota, Louisiana, Kansas or Nebraska before Oklahoma makes zero sense.

Pavel just gave us direction on where he's going so that pretty much knocks out both Dakotas and Louisiana automatically. Kansas and Nebraska gives us a hideous gap between Texas. No way they do that. So its hard to believe that Oklahoma isn't next and hopefully that is a Jun/July 2023 state. So what oldmanclippy has, could be a reality a year from now. That is a lotttttt of roads. I-20, I-27, I-30, I-35, I-44 and I-44 will all be first timer interstates. I-40 and I-10 gets extension for several hundred miles. Then there are several new US highways that get to debut with a new column of states. New Mexico was 2017 and were we are in 2022 finally getting to start a new column of states that will bring lots of first timers. I-35 is the only interstate that goes border to border though.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how SCS addresses border post 2016-2017. Mapping is so different and Texas is bring Cargo Forwarding to the game. That should be interesting. I really thing SCS should implement this idea viewtopic.php?p=1716096#p1716096
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Re: Texas Discussion Thread

#4685 Post by hangman005 » 15 Aug 2022 16:47

They still need to improve the detour function in whole, and have lane closures that make sense. I haven't turned it off, but I do get frustrated with lanes highway lanes being closed needlessly. Better road density is needed, but it seems they introduced the feature but never got around to refining it.

Not sure what I'm doing with garages. I could buy them all but there's not too much utility. Lately my main use for them has been to grab a trailer from when I feel like a switch. They need to adjust the economy and maybe give more varierty and utility to the garages.
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VTXcnME
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Re: Texas Discussion Thread

#4686 Post by VTXcnME » 15 Aug 2022 16:58

@hangman005 I use my garages like the service centers as quick travel locations around the map. Especially during the cruising events when I can't get a backhaul to the state I need to be hauling loads for.

Otherwise, same as you, my garages are just depots to swap owned trailers around. The garages 100% need more functionality. I should be able to repair my trucks/trailers there as well as service centers.

The fact that once purchased they never cost you another cent is a little off as well. Ongoing maintenance and utility costs ought to be factored into ownership.
Trakaplex
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Re: Texas Discussion Thread

#4687 Post by Trakaplex » 15 Aug 2022 17:46

Page 469! That's my area code lol.

But honestly, I have a big complaint about the layout of the Panhandle. Judging by the devcam, it seems unusually desolate and empty. I-27 and US-83 can't be the only north to south road. I was thinking of US-385 fully. Vega would be a nice stop, a little east of an inaccessible Adrian. I heard lots of suggestions for Levelland, and Brownfield will have to be added to be the case. Lots of people like @Shiva think Lubbock would invade space, but even if Lubbock was scaled 3x, US-380 could be pushed more south with Brownfield in Seagraves' irl location. It's the same issue that caused SCS to cut off US-60 due to southern Albuquerque with its airport, something that could have been avoided when pushing Albuquerque more flat west to east, and Santa Fe more north. I took US-380 from Roswell to Post and US-84 down to Snyder multiple times, it would be a disappointment to not see that route in game. US-380 turns irrelevant until Breckenridge, so idc. Also I'd prefer US-183 over US-283, due to the connections and towns.

There is also no sign for Muleshoe, with US-70 through Plainview east to Vernon. This is something they could have done. US-70, US-82, US-380, and US-180 all parallel each other, but they can't just have one of them. This was the issue to US-191/US-287/US-89 through Montana. They had to cut two of them. US-89 could have easily went up to Livingston and they could easily cut or snuck east of the grade to add US-287 up to Helena.

I think Simon's team is definitely paying too much attention to the east, because of its importance. If they left anything out of I-35 for example, there will be a fiery load screaming. Someone in one of SCS's YouTube shorts threatened to uninstall ATS if I-14 and Fort Hood weren't added. This is kinda extreme ngl. But still, Texas is a big team. So they could rush to add these Panhandle routes until the DLC's release. There are about 3-4 months remaining, and I think they could do what Davido's team did for US-191 to Yellowstone from Moran Junction.
Last edited by Trakaplex on 16 Aug 2022 00:55, edited 1 time in total.
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flight50
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Re: Texas Discussion Thread

#4688 Post by flight50 » 15 Aug 2022 19:49

Even if Fort Hood is added along with I-14, its nothing more than a scenic town. If we are lucky, we could get a remote depot in Killeen or Temple from Waco or Austin. Other than that, its a military town in which we don't have a military industry so no point in making a big fuss about Fort Hood.

As far as I-35, it will be just like I-80 Wyoming but much worse. Several cities close to each other but they are huge. There are 2 mega cities along that route in San Antonio and Austin. There are 2 huge cities on that route in Austin and Ft. Worth and then there are 2 midsized/large cities in Laredo and Waco. There's nothing else that fits outside of scenic to be marked. That stretch of road can't be overly urban either because its only continuous urban in the city's surroundings themselves. In between them its fairly rural for the most part. So if a person wants to make a childish threat to uninstall ATS, let'em. They'll end up reinstalling it once they get out their feelings, complain about it but still keep playing, lol. Such threats is such as small percentage of the community that it doesn't do much. SCS already got their money from that person. That person is only hurting themselves from a laid back chill game.

Now I will say that if Texas doesn't at least top Montana's ICC's, then I'll be a bit upset myself, but I won't uninstall the game. Texas more than likely won't blow Montana's ICC's out the water. It could be fairly equal or just above. Now should it yes imho, but it won't. As much as I'd want to stop supporting the game for a poor ICC effort, I'd be fooling myself. Now what I could do is take a chill pill and not comment on here about Texas for awhile until I get out my feelings. More than likely once I discover quite a bit of the state before commenting. For such a long tenured project, I'd expect more for 3.5-4 year effort. Texas to me is riding on the cities, road network and ICC's. I don't doubt the quality. I think they will be solid. I haven't found many game breaking bugs myself since Utah actually. That was the last dlc in which I noticed several. Could also be that I just stopped looking. I see some minor ones every now and then but I know how low priority some bugs are so I never report them anymore. I only report obvious errors.
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Re: Texas Discussion Thread

#4689 Post by Ryley03d » 15 Aug 2022 21:59

For me: Start from Las Cruses and dive the full 880
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rbsanford
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Re: Texas Discussion Thread

#4690 Post by rbsanford » 16 Aug 2022 01:26

I'll also start at Las Cruces, but I'll be driving I-10 as far east as it'll take me. Then I'll go around the Gulf to the Rio Grande and follow that up to Laredo, then take I-35 as far north as possible. After that, I guess I'll just go where the wind takes me.

I can't imagine many people would get so salty about population density along I-35. Getting upset about I-80 is understandable, because that highway is mostly rural and desolate IRL, and the cities along it are very small, as far as cities go, and the scale issues made the highway seem more populated. I-35 in Texas, mainly between San Antonio and Denton, is more populated than I-80 in Wyoming, so the scale putting the cities closer together than they are IRL shouldn't be as much of a problem, I don't think.
The Journeys of Zephyr of the American West

Handy maps and diagrams.

Furthermore, I consider that I-80 across Nevada must be redone next.
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