If you were the developer, what scale would you make the map?

[gaillard]

Porting...new game....engine change, etc. Their maps are a huge investment.

SCS Bus sim confirmed!
SCS Rigids Race Sim confirmed!
Call AP101, quick...

[justgettingold]

I too would like to see the map getting used in other projects. It would be nice to get an ATS-like North American train simulator. They will have to redo parts ofc, but their map really is a cow which can be milked for a very long time and there's nothing to be ashamed about. I hope they realize it. (But god forbid they make train tracks smooth as glass too).

[gaillard]

It will never happen, but with a high-speed train the map size will get another batch of opinions...

I vote for Taxi Simulator or PostEd simulator. Finally getting downtown for a reason.

[VTXcnME]

The East coast of this map at 1:20 scale look perfectly fine to me. viewtopic.php?p=1187772#p1187772 There won't be any trouble what so ever. Leaving things out is not trouble....its called 1:20 scale. Anything less than 1:1 will have things missing and not be enough for some people no matter what. Give an inch and some will take a mile.

If SCS went to 1:15, tomorrow. People would be yelling for 1:10 next week. Give 1:10 next week and people will be hollering for 1:5 next month. People will always want more. For this version of ATS, I hope SCS doesn't bother attempting another rescale. Complete the current map first before even thinking about a larger scale.

I will be shocked if Burlington, Montpelier, and Rutland all make Vermont. Burlington and Montpelier are way too close together, closer than Seattle Tacoma in Washington. And at least there it makes sense. In Vermont: Burlington/Montpelier is not a metroplex commericalized area that Seattle/Tacoma/Everett is. As someone who lives in that area, if those two are that close, it'd look absolutely stupid. They are two totally different cities. Likewise, I doubt Maryland gets Salisbury, Annapolis, Baltimore, and Hagarstown. Too close again at this scale, you'd go from one city to another with no open gaps in between (which there are IRL).

At the current scale, the extreme east coast will be crunched, there is no two ways around it. Rhode Island will get Providence and that's it, and at the current scale, basically the whole state will be the city.

As someone who lives here, I won't be using the "looks perfectly fine" sentiment until I can actually see what SCS plans to do. Right now, I hold very little in the way of hope they do my home area any justice at all. Not a dig, just a scale limitation. It is what it is. I'm not suggesting they will change, I know they can't. But the east coast (at least parts of it) are gonna look absolutely strange.

[flight50]

@VTXcnME I think you under estimate what they can do even at 1:20 scale. Honestly, I trust what ads678 did.

Burlington to Montpelier - 38.9 miles
Montpelier to Rutland - 66.8 miles
Rutland to Burlington - 68.5 miles

Currently in game
CDA to Spokane - 33.4 miles
Nampa to Boise - 20.1 miles
Portland to Vancouver - 9.4 miles

With the curvy roads up there in Vermont, SCS can go Reforma style a tad bit to extend roads. It'll all fit though. Just not super long distances in between.

With Texas, I bet we get both Dallas and Ft. Worth. They both are in the top 12 largest US cites. These will get huge cities compared to anything in Vermont. Not only that but DFW as a whole is the 4th largest metroplex in the US. There are a ton of small cities around DFW. If that all fits, Vermont and even Rhode Island is cool at 1:20 scale. I bet 2 cities fit in RI just like ads has. I have no idea how he did the map but its 1:20 scale drawn. Its not just a sketch. Its pretty legit as potential.

Dallas to Ft. Worth - 32.4 miles

Honestly speaking, this is why I keep saying that Texas is a template state. It host 6 of the US's largest cities. 3 are in the top 10. 2 in the top 15 and only one (El Paso) sitting at no. 22. Figure out Texas you they figure out the entire US. LA rebuild, San Diego rebuild, Phoenix rebuild, Chicago, NYC, Philly andddd adding San Jose. Texas can solve the top 10 mega cities.

Judge by Houston (4th largest US city) and then by DFW as a whole.
DFW - scale up by 15-20% and that could be NYC
DFW - LA by itself
Houston - scale up 10-15% and there is Chicago and Phoenix
Houston - scale down 10-15% and there is Philly and San Jose

^Now these are just examples of what could happen. The biggest issue is the I-95 corridor I agree but SCS can't scale up the game just for that stretch of issues. We'll see what they do.

[55sixxx]

The whole US East Coast will be similar to Eastern Germany with Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Dortmund and Köln... These four cities are fairly close to each other and in-game it's almost a milk run to go from one to the other... But if you don't do short jobs and only go for longer distances (In ATS I go for no less than 700 miles) the close proximity of the cities won't be a problem.

[flight50]

^I can agree with the long run logic. The minimum I have done is 100 miles to activate some events. Now I don't do this now but in the past I have. I stick to 300-800 miles the most. On occasions I will go up to 1200-1300 if I have time or feeling like saving and coming back later. I don't always get to come back for WoT jobs before expiring. I still complete them though.

[Trakaplex]

Personally, look at the northeast on ads's map, it's so missing. There's no I-395 in CT. No Worchester or Pittsfield. Colorado Springs to Denver in ads678's map is almost all of I-95 in Connecticut. Rhode Island will be so small it would only be about a 2.5 by 1 miler.

Porting...new game....engine change, etc. Their maps are a huge investment.

SCS Bus sim confirmed!
SCS Rigids Race Sim confirmed!
Call AP101, quick...

And please don't mention AP101 here...

[flight50]

Ads678's map is based on his opinion as well. Doesn't mean it's exact. Reason I mention....guideline.

[VTXcnME]

@flight50 Yes. I know they theoretically can fit at the current scale, but what's going to be missing the fact that between Montpelier and Burlington is nothing but tree lined roads. We're gonna have to agree to disagree on "looks perfectly fine" concept until I can see what SCS does with it. The current scale is not going to allow these towns to fit and still maintain the open tree lined feel that most of the northeast has. Once you are north of Boston/Lawrence/Worcester area, the density and sprawl of cities changes. 40 mile distance between two places, at game scale. Now you have to get all the prefabs and associated roads in place. 40 miles isn't a significant distance between Burlington and Montpelier. And look at I-89 in google maps, from Montpelier to Burlington. It's almost literally all trees between the two locations. So, yes. I have concerns. As someone who lives in this area, and drives those areas a lot, I have serious concerns as to what will actually fit once SCS starts mapping it. I want to be wrong. I really do, but I'm planning on an unmitigated disaster. It's easier to set my bar there, and anything better than that will be a good thing. Low expectations, low disappointments. At 1:20 there are a lot of parts in the northeast that are going to be TIGHT. With very little in the way of 'real feel' if they are going to have any kind of industry in the marked cities on the map.


Agree to disagree on how good the Northeast will look. I think the fan map that's been made is overly dense in a few places. It's gonna be tree walls everywhere. It's going to be oddly cut/tightly cornered roads to make the scale distances work. I'll defer to your working expertise of Texas and the Dallas/Fort Worth area, if you can give me a half ounce of credit for the northeast. I've lived here the better part of 43 years. Knowing the game scale, and what's here.... It's a wonderful dream, the fan map... but I think it's about 25% overly optimistic with how dense some places are.