Montana Discussion Thread

[SenseFM]

The pictures shown in the Glacier National Park blog post look great. When Montana releases, the last stretch of the US Rockies will be added to the game. It may be the last occasion we'll see mountains of such elevation in a long time... Well, not that long if US-50 east of Sacramento is planned for future California reworks.

I'm still pretty amazed about how fast the development of Montana has felt, at least for me, given that it is the third largest state in area of the lower 48. It's true that it's a pretty sparsely populated state, but Wyoming was even more depopulated and smaller in area, and it took its time to release. Kudos to the devs in charge of the DLC!

[oldmanclippy]

Montana brings so much in terms of adding to the bigger picture:

Connects CDA with Sheridan via I-90. Turning a 1071 mile trip into 619 miles.

CDA to Salmon, 718 miles to 301 miles.

Perhaps most crucially, it connects the PNW with the Mountain West. Right now, WA and OR feel separate from WY/CO/UT, with ID (really just I-84) being the awkward connection between them. But with Montana, that region is now boxed up, with I-90 and I-15 being extended to support more diversified routes through the region. It really opens up that entire part of the map and for the first time ATS will have a massive well-connected region that is all of a reasonably high standard of quality. Even ETS2 doesn't have that at the moment so it's gonna be really exciting. This will be the moment where ATS becomes truly more than the sum of its parts and the contiguous nature of ATS's map development will show its true advantages. Sure, NE/SD/ND will add a lot of value to the map shape, but Montana will have already laid the ground work. So they aren't as urgently needed as Montana. We can afford for SCS to take their time to get to those states and instead focus on a southeast and southern midwest approach if that's what they end up doing.

We'll have a similar but less severe problem with New Mexico and Texas only being connected to the PNW/MW monolith via I-25, but Kansas will act as a wider bridge between the regions. Kansas will definitely be the next Montana, connecting Denver with OKC and DFW more directly via I-70 and I-35. Fortunately I-29 isn't important for connecting say Montana with KS/OK/TX, so we won't be waiting for MO and IA to fix that.

[SouthernMan]

Yeah, I know this isn't news to many, but it's still nice to share(I also don't know if anyone has shared it before):
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[Louno Trucker]

the welcome signs seem to be made up from scratch

here are the real ones:

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[Kistk3]

That last blog about Glacier National Park, it is the most, if not the main reason Montana is the state I was waiting for since the game release. Each state has his own beauties and features. But Montana is something else IMO. Imagine now on the future if some old areas of the map the mountains get some refresh with that same quality. Have a great week everyone.

[SouthernMan]

the welcome signs seem to be made up from scratch

Definitely, yeah. And they look pretty cool, though.

[SouthernMan]

That last blog about Glacier National Park, it is the most, if not the main reason Montana is the state I was waiting for since the game release. Each state has his own beauties and features. But Montana is something else IMO. Imagine now on the future if some old areas of the map the mountains get some refresh with that same quality. Have a great week everyone.

100% agreed! I have to say I'm more excited for Montana than I am for Texas. Montana has beautiful scenery, etc, etc. Have a great week too.

[Louno Trucker]

the welcome signs seem to be made up from scratch

Definitely, yeah. And they look pretty cool, though.

Personally I don't see why SCS decided to make these welcome signs themselves, so far we still have the authentic welcome signs for every country, especially since they are easily found on the net.

[SouthernMan]

@Louno Trucker Well, you have a point. I also don't understand why. But, as I always say, there must probably be a reason for this (or not).

Routes:
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[Louno Trucker]

it seems to exist so much, thank you @SouthernMan