Should SCS have a dedicated cargo team???

[plykkegaard]

It could be nice

[Carfreak200]

So I just skimmed through this thread and I have several questions that I hope one of the more experienced players can answer.

1) Why is box trailer cargo so basic? In my eyes, it's just a def file change. Set a name, weight, and possible pick-up and drop-off locations. So it seems like this is the easiest way to add diversity to the game. Even though it's a small detail, those details count.

2) Why are the open cargos already modeled for ETS2 not available in ATS? I understand that they would have to be added to various ATS trailers, but the assets are already modeled, so I feel that it would be fairly simple to implement.

3) There are several assets in the game that are loaded on scenery flatbeds but not available for real transport (ie: pallet stacks, porta-johns, skid loaders, other palleted stuff, etc). This would be the most complicated approach of my suggestions as the textures would need to be updated to be presentable. But again this doesn't seem like a very difficult thing to add for diversity.

So why are these suggestions not the case? Is it lack of knowledge, lack of resources, or is cargo just not a priority for them? These seem like very basic things to do to increase the cargo diversity in the game.

(P.S. I am not an SCS hater, I actually love SCS as a developer and I think the work they have done with the recent maps and trucks is All-Star work. The cargo is just severely lacking and it seems like a relatively easy fix. So I just don't understand the reasoning.)

[Tristman]

I think the cargo/industry just isn't really a priority for them (or hasn't been at least, as we already know we're getting a good amount of new stuff with Montana and Texas).

1. One argument that has been thrown around a lot is that just adding more companies and cargos would upset the cargo market balance, but I don't think that's a very strong argument. The game is currently dominated by empty pallets and used packaging jobs. So I don't think introducing more different cargos (visible or not) would really make that worse.
2. I think with Montana we will get some of the cargos already in ETS2 (landscape supplies), so it's not that they aren't transferring any cargo. It's just a slow process.
3. There is a huge thread for these that some of the people on this forum are adding to. I think it's a frequent complaint that a lot of these items could be added as possible cargo.

[Optional Features]

I'd like everything on the ground in a prefab available as cargo for a trailer. At this point, I don't even care if the models are low quality. It's variety, and it's badly needed.

[flight50]

@Carfreak200 1-3....your guess is as good as ours, lol. The same questions you asked is the exact reason this thread exist. There is very little cargo shared between the two game. What could happen is a cargo teams makes cargo for both games. You make a huge pool of cargo and apply what's applicable to each game. For the most part, it would be everything except certain pieces of equipment. Equipment varies per continent. But def files....I don't understand. They are the easiest to do. It just takes someone to do it which is why this thread and poll was started in the first place. Too many possibilities are not making ATS. Its the exact reason I took the liberty to post the things in my signature. Awareness is all that can be done. But a dedicated cargo team is the answer for 1-3 imho.

I say this a ton but the entire point of the game is to transport cargo.....period. Now how you use the game is up to you. Play how you like. But the game has to have a point and it does. But the focus is not on transporting cargo. Cargo is almost never ending. At the current rate, the US would be completed well before we get a serious cargo library. If I played ATS for 2-3 straight hrs a day for a month, I shouldn't see the same cargo more than twice in my opinion if I rotate thru every single trailer type available in the game.

[Optional Features]

I say this a ton but the entire point of the game is to transport cargo.....period. Now how you use the game is up to you. Play how you like. But the game has to have a point and it does. But the focus is not on transporting cargo. Cargo is almost never ending. At the current rate, the US would be completed well before we get a serious cargo library. If I played ATS for 2-3 straight hrs a day for a month, I shouldn't see the same cargo more than twice in my opinion if I rotate thru every single trailer type available in the game.

If they do a cargo pool with node-based loads, the number of cargo possibilities would be nearly limitless.

It's not just the lack of cargo, but the lack of cargo variety. Every time someone loads hay bales for example, they aren't identical to every load of hay before it. Sometimes they might be turned sideways: sometimes maybe there'a a larger load, but variety.

This game is way too structured.

[Ludo Diabolo]

I understand your point of view, it's not even the lack of variety of freight that bothers me, it's clearly where we have to load them or where we have to go to deliver them sometimes it doesn't make sense.

Delivered cattle in ATS to a supermarket lol the good joke , same for wood chips delivered this cargo in a supermarket or a gas station lol again .

[JoeAlex23]

For me the mayor problem with the cargo of owned trailers that needs to be fixed is that the game treats owned trailers as normal freight market trailers that we move from one company to another, i really don't mind the pick a trailer from Company A and drop the trailer at Company B from the freight market and let them handle how they unload it, but using my own trailer and having to treat it like it isn't mine really reeks me to no end.

The game should be able to identify what kind of trailer we are using and what will be the most realistic way to load or unload it depending on the company prefab and create more realistic jobs based on the trailer we use, for me personally that would improve the game a lot.

[flight50]

^Agreed. Which is why the pool of cargo ideas seriousmods mentioned before works well. Not only does a pool of cargo work well if we can pick and choose what and how to load trailers ourselves with some type of interactive setup, but it brings the most important part about hauling cargo.....weight. We should be able to overload, do less than load and max out a trailer if we choose. This makes the weigh stations and scales a part of the game now. To go deeper, now inspection stations and other check points come into play. The end of this, now prechecks and brake checks come into play. To build on that....now introduce brake fade as part of maintenance to make the brake check areas worth it.

Its seems like we might be getting somewhere with tire grip now. All the above plays into the favor of controlling weight. What I'd like to see is that pool of cargo get pulled into a mini pool. Each industry should have a mini pool. Example lets say the lumber industry. If there is like 20 cargoes all pertaining to Lumber under this mini pool, there are (x) amount of trailers that apply. So if there are 20 different cargoes for the Lumber industry and like 3-4 companies belonging to the Lumber industry, each depot could offer 3-5 cargoes that you can haul to or from another designation. That 3-5 cargoes that you can haul is dependent on the trailer you are attached to and that is what shows up on your job list. Currently, we have to attach a trailer to see the available loads first. What should happen is we see all the depots that we can haul for. But if there is a mini pool, there should already be options available for the trailer you have attached. Change trailers and another selection of cargo is available. I'm sure Cargo Market already works like this but it can be setup a bit differently so that people don't have to disconnect use another trailer just to take a load.

Someone mentioned a great idea some time ago. It was to see all the cargo in the game but only highlight the ones you can take based on the trailer you have attached. The rest is greyed out. I'm taking it a step further with a filter to sort by industry. So lets use the above situation with the Lumber industry again. You take those same 20 cargoes and populate them in the job menu. Based on the cargo that you can haul in that industry, you can only haul only so many with the current attached trailer. Whatever is highlighted, that is what applies to your trailer. But the ones you can not haul (unless you change trailers) is greyed out. This works very well and shows the entire mini pool of cargo...if you sort by industry. If not, you have a ton more pages to go thru. Kind of like Freight Market unless you sort. Its also a great way to see the entire library for the game or per industry. There could be 500+ cargoes in the game but you only see ones available to haul with your current trailer by the way you sort.

So the more overall cargo added to the man pool, that allows more cargo to get added to the mini pool of cargo.

[Ludo Diabolo]

I totally agree with both of you, it's high time that the heart of the game "transport" "logistics" gets some love, because the game is really starting to lose its flavour for me.

It's nice to travel through new states and see new landscapes, but it's not enough to make me start the game when I see the core game is totally inadequate.

One thing that would be great too, but more realistic on ETS2, because as an EU driver I know what I'm talking about, is to be able to load our trailer, and make 2 or 3 customers (2 or 3 shops) that would also be realistic, because in the transport sometimes we deliver full, sometimes we deliver 3 customers with one trailer.