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Tips to get most traction/grip on steep unsurfaced climbs


Foobrother

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Hi all,

 

I quite like challenging myself and regularly try to climb steep roads on the Promods Kirkenes and Iceland hills. I try to have the biggest ratio between engine power vs cargo weight (smallest engine with the heaviest cargo possible). Before people complain: NO I'm not taking the Locomotive all the time and usually take smaller cargos ~30T-45T and almost never take the Scania 730 or Volvo 750. I'm usually more with other brands with ~500bhp engines.

But imagine you're stopped, stuck in traffic (can't reverse), and need to climb. In that scenario I would says that you have 3 possibilities:

  1. You have enough power and grip and you climb. Perfect!
  2. You seem to have enough power but don't have any grip. Your wheels are turning but you don't move. No grip. And if you try shifting to the next gear up you don't have enough power and it stalls.
  3. Your wheels are not even moving, even in 1st gear, and you basically don't have enough power: game over!

 

My question is mainly about number 2. Any tips to get more traction/grip in that scenario? What works best for you? I have tried several things but without much success. I guess this also greatly depends on your physics settings? Mine are very realistic and I play with a keyboard (full throttle or off the pedal only ?)

However if you want to share your tips for traction/grip in general please feel free as I'm sure it will benefit others!

 

Thanks,

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I'll start with a list of things I'm usually doing that work well most of the time:

  • Use the differential lock
  • Use a truck with 4x wheels or more
  • Not necessarily start on 1st gear as you might have too much power and loose grip
  • Turn the steering wheel on the left and right to catch more traction/grip

But all these don't necessarily work on the scenario 2 I described above ?

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I'd add that the best option in those cases would be to use any 12+2 transmissions available. The +2 are "crawler" gears and are used precisely for this purpose, to start moving in hard conditions like steep inclines,very heavy cargo or both. Another advice would be to use analogic devices, making it possible to gradually send power to the driven axles instead of 0-100%, this can be achieved with wheel/pedals sets, of course, but also with many cheap gamepads, using the triggers or one of the sticks as accelerate/brake controls.

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3 minutes ago, FernandoCR [ESP] said:

use any 12+2 transmissions available

Yes agree. Unfortunately several truck brands don't have these gearboxes available as far as I know ?

 

4 minutes ago, FernandoCR [ESP] said:

use analogic devices

Yes agree as well. Delivering power progressively should, in theory, help for traction/grip. That's why I mentioned I'm using a keyboard ?

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39 minutes ago, Foobrother said:

Yes agree. Unfortunately several truck brands don't have these gearboxes available as far as I know ?

All other truck brands that are not Volvo or Scania  each offer 16-speed transmission - that's even two extra gears. These are what you want and are equal to those 12+2 transmisions, with the similar gear ratios and high enough differential ratio perfect for heavy transports.

 

57 minutes ago, Foobrother said:

Yes agree as well. Delivering power progressively should, in theory, help for traction/grip. That's why I mentioned I'm using a keyboard 

You can try tapping the keys, to maintain optimal RPM - 1000 to 1500 where the torque is at maximum. You also want to switch to manual/sequential becasue automatic transmission will usually screw you over in these conditions. Just maintain the gear and RPM don't try to shift up, if it just crawls it's all good it won't go any faster in higher gear anyway.

 

Sometimes though, you will get stuck inevitably no matter what, there are several causes:

  • stopping on an incline, especailly on dirt roads, try not to stop when climbing, this may be impossible in Kirkenes because everyone will ignore your right of way - did you know that uphill traffic has right of way and downhill traffic should even pull off to let them pass.
  • wet surface, if it rains it's much more slippery, even worse on dirt roads - mud is worse than ice. I would advice to turn the rain off while driving on Kirkenes road.
  • vehicle physics, specifically, long trailers, especially 4+1 trailers with axle at the front and when extended, are prone to get stuck when the incline changes too abruptly, even with 8x4 tractor. Avoid long trailers with more than 3 axles, avoid extended trailers on Kirkenes road altogether.
  • certain company prefabs are just not friendly and poorly designed - look no further than Kirkenes quarry when you get to park on the highest level which is accessed by ridiculosly steep and short ramps, guaranteed to make you stuck with above mentioend trailers, this is even worse in ATS which recycles this prefab - I invite you to park 53 ft trailer with something that has a wheelbase like W900 over there.

I don't know what could work in the 2nd scenario, when wheels are turning but only skidding in place while on Kirkenes road, with angry mob behind you, constant threat from the front and no room to maneveur from side to side, which could help, because going zig-zag across the available width of the road lessens the incline slightly and could be just enough to get traction to stop wheels from skidding.

One thing that helps me, specifically on icy roads of Iceland, is to move the right side off of the road onto what seems like a slightly deeper layer of uncompacted snow, reverse if required, this will give you enough traction to get moving but you must keep the right side on the snow until you climb the incline.

Another thing that might help is to try playing with the newly added adjustable suspension height, if you are going below 50km/h it won't reset to default level height. This might allow you to shift more weight on drive axles and get traction, real trucks with multiple axles can transfer weight between axles to some extent to get grip when needed, lifting axles will not help you beacuse the game won't let you lift them when your load is above certain threshold.

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51 minutes ago, Granite said:

All other truck brands that are not Volvo or Scania  each offer 16-speed transmission - that's even two extra gears. These are what you want and are equal to those 12+2 transmisions, with the similar gear ratios and high enough differential ratio perfect for heavy transports.

OK, because of their special naming, I thought the C1/C2 gears were even better for climbing. But I'm not a professional. But you're right I always try to pick the gearbox with the most gears!

 

53 minutes ago, Granite said:

You can try tapping the keys, to maintain optimal RPM - 1000 to 1500 where the torque is at maximum

Yes found that it helps but tricky!

 

54 minutes ago, Granite said:

You also want to switch to manual/sequential becasue automatic transmission will usually screw you over in these conditions

I've never played on automatic. But I can easily imagine the automatic gearbox won't be ideal in these scenarios

 

55 minutes ago, Granite said:

Sometimes though, you will get stuck inevitably no matter what

Yep, that's exactly the situation I'm talking about.

 

56 minutes ago, Granite said:

did you know that uphill traffic has right of way and downhill traffic should even pull off to let them pass.

That would be soooo much easier if people were doing that! You could climb with even smaller engines if people would let you keep your momentum! But as you already know many people seem to only understand the word RACING and don't even have a sample of common sense, stopping in the middle of a turn etc...  And as soon as you stop to let someone pass they use their horn and complain you should go etc... ?

 

1 hour ago, Granite said:
  • vehicle physics, specifically, long trailers, especially 4+1 trailers with axle at the front and when extended, are prone to get stuck when the incline changes too abruptly, even with 8x4 tractor. Avoid long trailers with more than 3 axles, avoid extended trailers on Kirkenes road altogether.
  • certain company prefabs are just not friendly and poorly designed - look no further than Kirkenes quarry when you get to park on the highest level which is accessed by ridiculosly steep and short ramps, guaranteed to make you stuck with above mentioend trailers, this is even worse in ATS which recycles this prefab - I invite you to park 53 ft trailer with something that has a wheelbase like W900 over there.

Yes, there are trailers I just don't take if I'm going back from the quarry to the coast as I know I'll get stuck for sure. On the way in (to the quarry) I've always managed to pass everywhere with all trailers (even when I had big long 8*4 trucks). But as you said, parking at the top level of the quarry with these trailers is just not possible!

 

1 hour ago, Granite said:

I don't know what could work in the 2nd scenario, when wheels are turning but only skidding in place while on Kirkenes road, with angry mob behind you, constant threat from the front and no room to maneveur from side to side, which could help, because going zig-zag across the available width of the road lessens the incline slightly and could be just enough to get traction to stop wheels from skidding.

Yeah, normally if I get stuck and can't progress, I would simply reverse a bit to a portion less steep, and then would try again with more speed/momentum. But with everyone almost pushing you and having no patience it's super tricky and you have no chance to do that.

 

1 hour ago, Granite said:

One thing that helps me, specifically on icy roads of Iceland, is to move the right side off of the road onto what seems like a slightly deeper layer of uncompacted snow, reverse if required, this will give you enough traction to get moving but you must keep the right side on the snow until you climb the incline.

Interesting. Will try that next time (If I can reach the side of the road! ?)

 

1 hour ago, Granite said:

Another thing that might help is to try playing with the newly added adjustable suspension height, if you are going below 50km/h it won't reset to default level height. This might allow you to shift more weight on drive axles and get traction, real trucks with multiple axles can transfer weight between axles to some extent to get grip when needed, lifting axles will not help you beacuse the game won't let you lift them when your load is above certain threshold.

Good idea! Sounds logic but I'm not sure if the game physics are that sophisticated to pick up the weight transfer when you adjust the suspensions? But definitely something to try! 

 

Many thx @Granite very interesting feedback! ?

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When i'm going to carry heavy loads i use a 4X2 chassis because it will add weight to the truck's weight as other chassis are heavier in game. I tried this with my friend. I bought 4x2 520 hp scania and the room bought an 8x4 520 hp scania. We carried loads of the same ton in our city and i outstripped him by making a difference. 

I think it will have an effect on opening the differential power it definitely applies extra power to your truck and when you can't move forward in 1st gear on the slope it will force you to go

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5 hours ago, Aras. said:

When i'm going to carry heavy loads i use a 4X2 chassis because it will add weight to the truck's weight as other chassis are heavier in game. I tried this with my friend. I bought 4x2 520 hp scania and the room bought an 8x4 520 hp scania. We carried loads of the same ton in our city and i outstripped him by making a difference. 

I think it will have an effect on opening the differential power it definitely applies extra power to your truck and when you can't move forward in 1st gear on the slope it will force you to go

Maybe, if you are Need for Speed enthusiast playing with maxed out stability, brakes sensitivity and stiffest suspension.

 

If you are trying to simulate real thing you need that extra axle, preferably drive axle. With 6x4 you can pull anything, you have much more stability, because some of those loads have higher center of gravity despite being on low bed trailers, also braking with retarder or engine brake which only work drive axles makes a huge difference when you have 100% more axles, 8x4 is not really neccessary for anything else than "special transport" level of heavy. It's really a shame that SCS does try to follow legal limits for trailer axle loads, but not for truck axles, I hope one day we will have truck axle requitrements for heavier loads.

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If you shoot with low horsepower in 4×2 sachets, of course, you cannot achieve high tonnage, but as our friends above said, if you use 6×4 chassis, there will be no tonnage that you cannot pull. If you do it with low horsepower, I don't hope it will pull again.

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1 hour ago, Whiτe. said:

if you use 6×4 chassis, there will be no tonnage that you cannot pull. If you do it with low horsepower, I don't hope it will pull again.

Well, a couple of days ago using the Iveco with its 560bhp engine I managed to climb the Promods Kirkenes quarry road pulling the 61T locomotive. Had the chance to not be blocked on critical spots by other trucks ?

And I'm sure it's possible to do better.

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