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Do hired drivers keep on working when we play on TruckersMP?


Professor_1701

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Hi everyone, just joined tonight and looking forward to getting into the server.  Just wondering, I have 7 garages and over 20 employees and trucks, so do they keep working as normal while I am playing in the TruckersMP?  It's so nice to see those messages that my people are making me money as I drive around doing my own thing.  I want to keep buying garages and trucks, but really want to see how driving with a community is too. 

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They will work, but at slower pace compared to singleplayer, because the difference in time scale.

Accelerating time while resting or loading works differnetly in TruckersMP, it does not advance time for you, but it does for hired drivers.

Therefore, it's useful to keep fatigue simulation on and take rests regularly, just remember you can doze off and lose control just like in singleplayer, if you drive more than two hours overtime.

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OFFLINE, as in "single player"? Then yes, of course they will work. But only when the game is running. Before the changes I linked in my previous post, hired drivers' jobs would count depending on the server's time, so a week without playing and when you connected back, you got millions from the hired drivers. Not anymore.

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They will continue working.

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4 hours ago, FernandoCR [ESP] said:

OFFLINE, as in "single player"? Then yes, of course they will work. But only when the game is running. Before the changes I linked in my previous post, hired drivers' jobs would count depending on the server's time, so a week without playing and when you connected back, you got millions from the hired drivers. Not anymore.

Thanks for the discussion on how this works.  I bought and set up ATS back in around 2017 I think so I missed that gold rush of having the employees make money when the game is not running apparently.  I guess the only way to see the difference is get loaded up into TruckersMP and start running around and see how the messages come in.  I always keep fatigue on for the realism, and real fuel usage, but have been in the habit of keeping offenses turned off, and the air brake simulation turned off.  As soon as I finish this quick job to make the money to buy a new truck for a new employee, I will get this system installed and hope to see someone driving the Texas roads.

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That's what I told you, the map scale is ~1:20 and time scales up accordingly when out on the highways, but slows down to 1:3 in cities and truck stops.

TruckersMP changes time scale to 1:6 everywhere, so it's closer to 3 times slower overall than original game.

Resting will fast forward your hired drivers and will reduce time remaining for your own delivery (by 11 hours in ATS and 9 hours in ETS2), but the clock will actually not move forward, it's controlled by server. Weird, but that's how it is.

Remember, in TruckersMP,  you can drive almost 3 times farther before you need to rest, so you will hardly ever run out of time, even with urgent deliveries.

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On 3/25/2023 at 9:46 PM, Granite said:

That's what I told you, the map scale is ~1:20 and time scales up accordingly when out on the highways, but slows down to 1:3 in cities and truck stops.

TruckersMP changes time scale to 1:6 everywhere, so it's closer to 3 times slower overall than original game.

Resting will fast forward your hired drivers and will reduce time remaining for your own delivery (by 11 hours in ATS and 9 hours in ETS2), but the clock will actually not move forward, it's controlled by server. Weird, but that's how it is.

Remember, in TruckersMP,  you can drive almost 3 times farther before you need to rest, so you will hardly ever run out of time, even with urgent deliveries.

I noticed that about not having to rest ever too.  I did a delivery that I had to fuel up twice but never had to sleep once.  It is interesting for sure with the time changes.  One thing not good about it in ETS2 I noticed is the bank took two payments on my load during that long trip, but my drivers didn't even all earn, so I went in debt about 3000 euros until I cashed in the trip I was on.  I guess the only solution is to play solo every now and then to get them earning like they should (I only have 6 drivers in ETS2 so it's not a lot of earnings but in ATS I have over 25 now).  Appreciate the explanation and that you took the time to precisely measure this.

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46 minutes ago, Professor_1701 said:

I noticed that about not having to rest ever too.  I did a delivery that I had to fuel up twice but never had to sleep once.  It is interesting for sure with the time changes.  One thing not good about it in ETS2 I noticed is the bank took two payments on my load during that long trip, but my drivers didn't even all earn, so I went in debt about 3000 euros until I cashed in the trip I was on.  I guess the only solution is to play solo every now and then to get them earning like they should (I only have 6 drivers in ETS2 so it's not a lot of earnings but in ATS I have over 25 now).  Appreciate the explanation and that you took the time to precisely measure this.

 

If I am not mistaken, depending on the type of job you took, logging back in to Singleplayer with a job started in Multiplayer could leave you being too late for your delivery and facing financial and experience penalties.

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5 hours ago, Professor_1701 said:

I noticed that about not having to rest ever too.  I did a delivery that I had to fuel up twice but never had to sleep once.  It is interesting for sure with the time changes.  One thing not good about it in ETS2 I noticed is the bank took two payments on my load during that long trip, but my drivers didn't even all earn, so I went in debt about 3000 euros until I cashed in the trip I was on.  I guess the only solution is to play solo every now and then to get them earning like they should (I only have 6 drivers in ETS2 so it's not a lot of earnings but in ATS I have over 25 now).  Appreciate the explanation and that you took the time to precisely measure this.

You can be in debt for 5 days without cosequences, first, you will receive a reminder, then three warning starting on third day, after the final warning you have 24 hours to settle overdraft or the bank will impound some of your property, untill it's enough to pay the debt, starting with selling your garages, then the trucks and trailers, including snatching the one you are driving from under your butt. The only thing they won't touch is your headquarters. Keep in mind that you get full price back when selling garages, unlike trucks and trailers, which are only sold for 35% of buying price.

Anyway, it's unlikely to go bankrupt with how lucrative trucking job is in this game, you can even settle an overdraft by taking another loan (up to 500k total and up to 10 active loans), then repay that loan immediately with zero interest and reset the overdraft timer this way.

Remember you can set skills priorities for hired drivers individually in driver management, which can make a difference when starting up, later on, when you have steady income it's not neccessary.

 

7 hours ago, blabberbeak said:

If I am not mistaken, depending on the type of job you took, logging back in to Singleplayer with a job started in Multiplayer could leave you being too late for your delivery and facing financial and experience penalties.

That is not true anymore, it's been fixed a while ago.

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I have always just left drivers set to balanced when I hire them.  I tend to hire ones now that have at least some experience in 3 or more categories already, as opposed to ones that have just exp in one area, or none at all.  Not sure if this logic is sound, but I hired one guy that had like 3 exp in just one area, and turned out to be a loser never finding return work, so I fired him.  In ETS2 I still need to plan how to grow, I have one HQ with 5 bays, and a second garage with just 3 spots, so my income vs the bank notes is really not good.  I have the max of 500k euro out and whenever I get enough to pay off one of the notes, I refinance the lot of them for working capital, and then am in debt the full load again.  In ATS I have over a million dollars per week coming in, so the loan payments are not much, and I could just pay off the 500k dollars after a few cycles if I wanted to. 

 

What is a better strategy to grow?  I tried finding some youtube videos on how to grow, and got disgusted when one video was all about how to cheat the game 4 different ways to get rich quick.  Any advice you guys would share to make an honest living in game would be appreciated.

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This is how I allocate skill points when starting up fresh, for me as well as hired drivers:

  • Level 1 to 4 - Long Distance - this is the most important skill, not only it gives you more destinations, but also substantial bonus xp and money for distance, for now 4 points is enough for 1000km.
  • Level 5 - High Value Cargo - this skill allows to take more lucrative jobs (pretty much any low bed is either high value, fragile or both and there's much more), one point will suffice for now.
  • Level 6 - Fragile Cargo - same as bove, more jobs available, again, only one point is enough for now.
  • Level 7 to 12 - ADR - again, more jobs, these usually require high value or fragile cargo as well. You take ADR classes in any order for yourself, for example: 3, 2, 6, 4, 8, 1 would be my preffered order in ETS2, and 1, 3, 2, 4, 8, 6 in ATS, base on how common these jobs are. Hired drivers will take them in a given order, so just leave them until they get them all.
  • Level 13 to 14 - Juts in Time Delivery - first point gives you access to important (blue arrow) and second to urgent (red arrow) deliveries, these are on tighter schedule for bigger rewards. 
  • Level 15 to 16 - max out Long Distance.
  • At this point you have access to any type of job at any distance, you can set your hired drivers training to balanced and forget about them.
  • Level 17 to 30 - evenly max out High Value Cargo, Fragile Cargo and Just in Time skills, further skill points will give you bonus xp and money for these jobs.
  • Level 31 to 36 - Ecodriving (Fuel Economy) - leave this for last, this skill has no effect for you when using realistic fuel consumption, and while it still affects hired drivers, it's not significant enough.

Hire drivers that have some points in long distance,  high value and fragile cargo, ADR doesn't hurt either. Avoid ecodrivers, they will be lagging behind.

Buy garages in cities with lot of places to get and deliver jobs, at least 5 depots. Don't know which map expansions you own for ETS2, but there are some good options out there with 8 and more depots within a single city.

Diving your own truck is more profitable than quick jobs.

Take only 400k loan, it has lowest interest, repay remaining debt instantly whenever you have the cash and take another 400k loan.

What else, I din't find it hard to expand with the ridiculously generous payouts for jobs, actually I never hired a single driver for my TMP profiles where I have all the garages, every truck and trailer I want, except Promods, where I have 2 or 3 drivers and garages, but I don't use that much. I just like to drive not build an empire. With just a few drivers you will eventually end up drowning in money soon enough, keep in mind that more drivers you have, the more data is saved in your profile, which can increase lag during autosaving, as there is no way to turn that off.

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On 3/27/2023 at 4:26 PM, Granite said:

This is how I allocate skill points when starting up fresh, for me as well as hired drivers:

  • Level 1 to 4 - Long Distance - this is the most important skill, not only it gives you more destinations, but also substantial bonus xp and money for distance, for now 4 points is enough for 1000km.
  • Level 5 - High Value Cargo - this skill allows to take more lucrative jobs (pretty much any low bed is either high value, fragile or both and there's much more), one point will suffice for now.
  • Level 6 - Fragile Cargo - same as bove, more jobs available, again, only one point is enough for now.
  • Level 7 to 12 - ADR - again, more jobs, these usually require high value or fragile cargo as well. You take ADR classes in any order for yourself, for example: 3, 2, 6, 4, 8, 1 would be my preffered order in ETS2, and 1, 3, 2, 4, 8, 6 in ATS, base on how common these jobs are. Hired drivers will take them in a given order, so just leave them until they get them all.
  • Level 13 to 14 - Juts in Time Delivery - first point gives you access to important (blue arrow) and second to urgent (red arrow) deliveries, these are on tighter schedule for bigger rewards. 
  • Level 15 to 16 - max out Long Distance.
  • At this point you have access to any type of job at any distance, you can set your hired drivers training to balanced and forget about them.
  • Level 17 to 30 - evenly max out High Value Cargo, Fragile Cargo and Just in Time skills, further skill points will give you bonus xp and money for these jobs.
  • Level 31 to 36 - Ecodriving (Fuel Economy) - leave this for last, this skill has no effect for you when using realistic fuel consumption, and while it still affects hired drivers, it's not significant enough.

Hire drivers that have some points in long distance,  high value and fragile cargo, ADR doesn't hurt either. Avoid ecodrivers, they will be lagging behind.

Buy garages in cities with lot of places to get and deliver jobs, at least 5 depots. Don't know which map expansions you own for ETS2, but there are some good options out there with 8 and more depots within a single city.

Diving your own truck is more profitable than quick jobs.

Take only 400k loan, it has lowest interest, repay remaining debt instantly whenever you have the cash and take another 400k loan.

What else, I din't find it hard to expand with the ridiculously generous payouts for jobs, actually I never hired a single driver for my TMP profiles where I have all the garages, every truck and trailer I want, except Promods, where I have 2 or 3 drivers and garages, but I don't use that much. I just like to drive not build an empire. With just a few drivers you will eventually end up drowning in money soon enough, keep in mind that more drivers you have, the more data is saved in your profile, which can increase lag during autosaving, as there is no way to turn that off.

Wow this is quite a game plan and guess you have been playing a long time.  I am at level 42 now in ATS and maybe level 12 in ETS, and I hire drivers anywhere from .8 to 5.0 experience, depending if they already have 3 or more categories with exp.  I have avoided ones with 3 points in one category and none in the others, thinking they are too picky maybe?  I have a few drivers who are always bringing in 2 to 6k per trip, and others who have 1k, then a loss, then 1k, and I usually dump them.  I have a few in ATS that are bringing in 14k or more per run now, quite amazing.  Wish I could duplicate their profiles.  What is ADR by the way?  And what is that order you are talking about?  Oh one thing I almost forgot, I had one good driver who was starting to lose money, so I moved her to a different city and gave her a different truck, and she rebounded and is doing well again, maybe better than ever.  I don't scrimp on the driver's rides either, always go for the 13 speed with retarder and at least 450hp or more engine, and always give the extra mirrors for safety, and add a sleeper (sometimes add the sleeper after a few cycles when there is more cash). 

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4 hours ago, Professor_1701 said:

Wow this is quite a game plan and guess you have been playing a long time.  I am at level 42 now in ATS and maybe level 12 in ETS, and I hire drivers anywhere from .8 to 5.0 experience, depending if they already have 3 or more categories with exp.  I have avoided ones with 3 points in one category and none in the others, thinking they are too picky maybe?  I have a few drivers who are always bringing in 2 to 6k per trip, and others who have 1k, then a loss, then 1k, and I usually dump them.  I have a few in ATS that are bringing in 14k or more per run now, quite amazing.  Wish I could duplicate their profiles.

4 hours ago, Professor_1701 said:

Oh one thing I almost forgot, I had one good driver who was starting to lose money, so I moved her to a different city and gave her a different truck, and she rebounded and is doing well again, maybe better than ever.  I don't scrimp on the driver's rides either, always go for the 13 speed with retarder and at least 450hp or more engine, and always give the extra mirrors for safety, and add a sleeper (sometimes add the sleeper after a few cycles when there is more cash). 

Driver's rating does not directly translate to level, it represents how many skill points they have and in which skills and skill level, that includes player as a driver. I don't know exactly how the game rates each skill, equally or not, but you get the idea which I think is the best. When they have each skill like halfway filled, they will be around 5.0, with all skilled maxed, rating caps at 10.0 and doesn't increease anymore, no matter the level. You can count their level by counting how many skill points they have, beyond level 36, I don't know if they simply stop leveling or you are simply no longer notified, since there is no reason to care about that. Player as a driver can keep leveling infinitely, but there is no benefit in terms of rewards past level 36 when you get your last skill point, the level just reflects how much experience you've gained.

 

I tend to hire drivers with lowest rating, or only 2-3 skill points in most important skills (long distance is the king). The upside is I can level them up the way I want and they ask smaller wages initially (will automatically raise as they level up). The downside is they don't make much at first, but will gain additional skill points relatively quickly, since they need less experience than skilled drivers, that may be lacking skill points where it's most important.

They have 10% base chance to not find job on their return trip, that means a loss, because they still get salary and pay for maintenace and fuel, and also some chance to damage their cargo, which is deducted. Thsese decreases with level, but even high ranking drivers will return empty now and then.

The quality of trucks you give them affects their ability to find better jobs. You can't directly assign trailers to them in the same way as trucks, but they will use any trailers stored in their home garage that is set for public use, for small extra reward. If you don't want them to use any specific trailer, you can set it private in the trailer management screen.

I usually don't hire drivers until I have my own truck (and trailer if I want), which I get around level 20.  This can be done relatively quickly doing quick jobs and you probably don't even need loans for that. The reasons are level requirements for parts, like cabs, engines etc., I get the truck I want and don't change it afterwards, or only minimally, because the refunded parts are only worth 35% of what you originally paid, so you are losing a lot of money when upgrading a number of basic trucks. At level 20 you would have unlocked pretty much everything essential. Then I would get 400k loan and start hiring, you can get two drivers and give them 200k trucks.

 

4 hours ago, Professor_1701 said:

What is ADR by the way?  And what is that order you are talking about? 

ADR is European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (shortcut si from french), which basically regulates construction, equipment and operation of vehicles transporting dangerous cargo of multiple classes, like flamable liquids, flamable gases, toxic materials, radiocactive materials, etc. This is the first skill at the top, of course simplified for the game, some classes are grouped together, some are missing.

It is different form other skills in that you can choose any of the six classes independently in any order,  I was reffering to class numbers in the skill description where you can see what those symbols mean, they are ascending from left to right, but some numbers may be skipped, so 1, 3, 2, 4, 8, 6 means you pick them in order 1st, 3rd, 2nd, 4th, 6th, 5th from the left. This is becasue each of the six skill points gives you access to different cargo, bu you pick first those that appear more often than the rest.

The skill is is called Hazardous Cargo, or Hazmat Trasnportation Training in ATS, but it is the same thing.

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Ok I understand the Hazmat, I had that rating for real years ago when I drove big trucks.  We never hauled anything but insulated/refrigerated trailers, but you'd be surprised what can be classified Hazmat when you have enough of it all in one place (like a pallet load or truck full).  Didn't keep that rating current over the years because never needed it again, and it is a major hassle to keep it now with all kinds of security and yearly classes, etc. 

 

I am with only one account in ATS and one in ETS2 so if I ever think of a reason to start another account I will try exactly what you have laid out here.  I can try some of it in ETS now since I am still in the earlier game stages though.  I am glad to hear that I haven't been wasting money by giving my people good trucks and putting a mix of trailers in their garages.  I don't have any set to private because I've yet to head out with truck and trailer to take just freight (how do you do that actually?)  I suppose that pays the most per mile since it's all my equipment on the road, right?  I do check the trailer utilisation percentages to see if something is being used, and how much, and sometimes buy a second or third one for that garage to let others use them.  Container trailers, flat beds, low boys, and even the 4 poster logging / pipe trailers get used a lot more than I would have thought, even in the case of container ones, well away from the port cities.  I bought refer trailers for the Abq and Laredo garages since it's so hot there, and dry vans for Seattle and Kalispell and they are all getting used.  I wonder how much logic is built into the game by the devs, if they really have experience in the trucking industry like drivers and company owners do.  It's one thing to do road trips and figure out city scapes and roads, and use truck manufacturer data to build trucks and trailers in game, but the trucking business involves the broader economy which varies by area of the country.

 

Well going to finish a long run I'm on now with a new International LoneStar 8x4 pulling a huge load with a log loader from Oregon to Texas.  Doing it in solo but with TrucksBook for my VTC; I just have to have the AI traffic around to make it seem real right now.  Driving in the TMP is just not realistic with no traffic on the roads except the occasional other driver or convoy driving by.  Wish they could have both.  Also with 34 drivers, driving in solo is a huge winfall of money to buy myself some nice new trucks for myself, like the LoneStar--like you posted, the hired drivers turn over jobs more quickly in solo, and it is really noticeable in the bank account overflowing.

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17 hours ago, Professor_1701 said:

Ok I understand the Hazmat, I had that rating for real years ago when I drove big trucks.  We never hauled anything but insulated/refrigerated trailers, but you'd be surprised what can be classified Hazmat when you have enough of it all in one place (like a pallet load or truck full).  Didn't keep that rating current over the years because never needed it again, and it is a major hassle to keep it now with all kinds of security and yearly classes, etc. 

I get the idea, how about full van of safety matches? I'm no real trucker, but at least I learned something over the years playing these games as realistically as possible.

Of course it's made simpler for gameplay purposes, but you can transport hazmat cargo in variety of trailers, from tankers to container carriers, to simple dry vans. One of the best in ATS imo is class 1, which allows you to transport fireworks, but most importantly, dynamite, usually to and from quarries with any type of van, even refrigerated (I know, they should name it explosives, cause who uses dynamite for blasting nowadays), it's one of the best if not the best loads you can get for your reefer.

In ETS2, you can get most out of container carriers, but there is load for curtainsiders (fireworks) and refrigerated trailers (vaccines).

 

17 hours ago, Professor_1701 said:

I don't have any set to private because I've yet to head out with truck and trailer to take just freight (how do you do that actually?)  I suppose that pays the most per mile since it's all my equipment on the road, right?

When you purchase trailer, you put them in one of your garages. There doesn't seem to be a limit of how many trailers a garage can hold, unlike trucks. Just open "Trailer Manager", switch to table view, select the trailer you want, set it private so one of your employees won't steal it. You can transfer it to other garage, closer to you, it doesn't have to be stored in your home garge for you to use it. Then just press that "Use" button, if yor truck is parked within premises of the garage the trailer is stored in, it will be automatically hitched to your truck (you will end up being slightly teleported withing the exterior), if you are elsewhere and not on a job, the trailer will be parked in the yard of the garage, navigation will draw a route leading to it, and you have to fetch it. Alternatively, you can use tow services or quick travel function, and you will arrive with trailer already hitched.

Keep in mind that trailer combinations are purchased and treated like one trailer and can't be used separately, there are also limitations where they can be used based on US state laws or individual EU country laws and this is reflected in the game, you can store them and use them only where it is allowed.  

 

Let's say that taking a job with your own trailer pays 100% reward. If you take identical job (same mass and every other condition) with your own truck, but trailer provided by the shipper, then it's 90% reward. If you do the same with quick job, it's only 67%

Hired drivers without trailers are same as you doing quick jobs, so 67%, with trailer it's 77% in ATS, but only 70% in ETS2 (there is this difference for some reason).

 

17 hours ago, Professor_1701 said:

I do check the trailer utilisation percentages to see if something is being used, and how much, and sometimes buy a second or third one for that garage to let others use them.  Container trailers, flat beds, low boys, and even the 4 poster logging / pipe trailers get used a lot more than I would have thought, even in the case of container ones, well away from the port cities.  I bought refer trailers for the Abq and Laredo garages since it's so hot there, and dry vans for Seattle and Kalispell and they are all getting used.  I wonder how much logic is built into the game by the devs, if they really have experience in the trucking industry like drivers and company owners do.  It's one thing to do road trips and figure out city scapes and roads, and use truck manufacturer data to build trucks and trailers in game, but the trucking business involves the broader economy which varies by area of the country.

Well, for me it's a matter of realism and consistency, becasue that's how it usually is, you haul your own trailer and the truck is  also usually tailored for the job, there are no all-purpose trucks used for everything imaginable, 8x4 trucks are not used to haul standard loads and 4x2 trucks don't haul 50t bulldozers, so, I like to roleplay most of the time, using one trailer and matching truck for a period of time or until I reach certain mileage. This way I can get used to the truck and the trailer and not having to adapt on every job. 

Of course you probably make most money by using just your truck, otherwise you miss out on other lucrative jobs that are not available for the trailer you have at the moment, becasue it will obviously limit your options.

You can check these links to see whats possible to transport with different trailers (in the upcoming update, there will be ownable gas tanks and also livestock for ETS2😞

https://truck-simulator.fandom.com/wiki/American_Truck_Simulator_Cargo_types

https://truck-simulator.fandom.com/wiki/Euro_Truck_Simulator_2_Cargo_types

There are trailers which are very specialized, like loggers, hoppers or livestocks and you may struggle to find job with them nearby, and then you will find job with vans practically anywhere. It's up to you which you want to use, but with that amount of hired drivers your bank account will be overflowing in no time, so that making less money will be of little consequence.

 

The economy, or I shoud say supply chains are obviosly not as complex as real life, but the developers are still imroving to make it more believable, especially newer map expansions are better, they are also slowly rebulding old parts of the map as well, and you can find more logical stuff there, like local industry, some even unique to an area, or a city.

There is still alot of nonsense in the freight market, there are too many general logistic companies and you get to ship to them a lot of stuff that doesn't make sense, like backing lowboys, tankers or tippers into a loading bay, or just basically anything that isn't van with doors in the back. I think it's a bit better with owned trailer, let's hope things like that will eventually disappaer, there is stil la lot to improve.

 

17 hours ago, Professor_1701 said:

Well going to finish a long run I'm on now with a new International LoneStar 8x4 pulling a huge load with a log loader from Oregon to Texas.  Doing it in solo but with TrucksBook for my VTC; I just have to have the AI traffic around to make it seem real right now.  Driving in the TMP is just not realistic with no traffic on the roads except the occasional other driver or convoy driving by.  Wish they could have both.  Also with 34 drivers, driving in solo is a huge winfall of money to buy myself some nice new trucks for myself, like the LoneStar--like you posted, the hired drivers turn over jobs more quickly in solo, and it is really noticeable in the bank account overflowing.

I don't play on TMP anymore, I've made new singleplayer profile for each game, have some mods, including map, traffic, sound and trucks.

I went hardcore and reduced the income to 10% using the variable in the config file (g_income_factor 0.1). At level 34 in ATS,  have my own truck and trailer and 200k loan to pay, in ETS2 only level 11 and doing quick jobs. The problem with this is that using that variable to lower income below certain percentage causes hired drivers to generate only loses (and huge ones at that), the reason is the maintanace an fuel costs, which are set really high, are not modified accordingly. So, I made a small mod for myself and reduced those costs based on some testing of my own repair costs (only wear and tear), average consumption and average diesel prices, and reduced jobs payouts by 95%. Also increased loans duration (5 times longer) to reduce unreasonably high installments. I will be testing these, but it will take a long time before I will be able to afford hiring, now that with quick jobs in ETS2 I get like 1,7€ per km at best at the moment, have to be really picky which job to take.

 

 

 

 


 

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There are some things that are Hazmat even if one box is on the truck, and others that you need a couple pallets of to become regulated.  Like I said, it is a thing you have to take yearly refresher classes on because it is complicated, but truthfully, your dispatcher sets it up and just tells you what placard you need, at least at the company I worked for.  We never did pickups, so there was no danger of accidentally mixing things either.  Certain things can never be mixed in the same trailer, and some things can only be carried in limited quantities so not too much can happen if the truck crashes or if someone is out to cause trouble.  I doubt if you can have a full 53' trailer full of dynamite or fireworks in real life, just because that quantity could be devastating if there was a crash.  One of the biggest things to know about hauling hazmat, you have to take certain routes that avoid tunnels and city centers (again, the dispatcher tells you the route to drive in my experience).  Here's a link to the US Federal rules if you want to check it out more (and see why they don't pay me enough to want any part of it): https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/sites/fmcsa.dot.gov/files/docs/Hazardous_Materials_Markings_Labeling_and_Placarding_Guide_508CLN.pdf

 

I started doing cargo loads now with some trailers in ATS solo mode, and it is pretty neat.  The part about it wasting an hour of your on duty time is optimistic at best; most times it takes that long to get up to the dock with everyone waiting in queue.  I was hauling some really heavy equipment with my new Kenworth W900 with the 625hp King of the Hill motor, 18spd/retarder trans, and 8x6 drivetrain (only medium frame with the smaller sleeper to keep it a bit shorter), and the longest lowboy combo with 36 wheels all its own (so with my rig, a 50 wheeler)!  When you lock the diffs, you get a six wheel drive that can't be stopped.  I set that trailer to private, even though the hired help would probably never touch it anyway.  Tough part of getting that loaded is to get it maneuvered under the freight crane in the spot they give you.  It's a challenge to make turns but what a joy when you look in the right mirror and the last wheel is less than a foot from the curb and doesn't hit it.  Bought a 53' reefer trailer with the third axle that can be lifted out of the way for easier turning and for light loads.  Used that to take a load of dynamite for the first time, and it was neat with the class 1 placard on the trailer door.  After the run was done, I figured I would not take that anymore because in real life, what nut would want that behind them as they take a snooze in the sleeper?  Let alone want to drive it on the pot hole filled American highways. 

 

I'm surprised you changed the game files to earn less money.  That is the one thing there is never enough of for me.  But you are right, nobody makes that kind of money for real because if they did, the trucking industry would not be begging for drivers.  The company I signed on with years ago sent me a plane ticket to move to where they are located.  They have huge signing bonuses in some cases if you have exp, and if you never drove anything but a car they will train you for the Commercial Driver's License, as long as you agree to work for them about a year (otherwise you owe them for the driving school).  I don't drive anymore commercially but the way they are now offering so much, and automatic transmission trucks in most cases now too, I am keeping my eyes open and who knows.  I hurt my knee so doing the gears and clutch is not something I want again, so if they would give me a snazzy new Volvo that you have 2 pedals and all the creature comforts, I would consider it.

 

So anyway I'm just playing in solo now to build up the drivers' earnings quicker and build my ATS empire.  If my VTC has an event like a convoy, I'll go into TMP, but not going to use it too much right now otherwise.  Have you tried the in game Convoys?  That is with the AI traffic and then up to 8 members per server it seems?  Wonder if then the hired drivers earn faster like in solo, so I don't have to sacrifice money to drive with friends.

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