Ideas to improve player count in ATSMP

[Lowlander]

Does anyone have ideas as to how we could improve player count on ATSMP? It's criminally underused while the map size is not small, even though ETS2 is bigger I think? It's also not really an argument because ETS2MP is focused on C-D mostly despite the sheer map size. 

 

ATS is a beautiful game as well as ETS2. Just a different area and vibe. I wish more people would try it. 

[Microsoft Windows 11]

I don't like the ATS trucks, I'm sure a lot of people are like me

[Samderali]

There are two reasons why this happens:

 

The first is that, as we all know, crowds attract crowds. While there are many players in the cities of Calais and Duisburg, other players continue to come here.

 

Secondly, people want to visit the places they live and use the trucks they see. Considering these, unfortunately ATS will not be able to reach enough players.

[Sunstrider]

Pitch your ideas to a feedback ticket. As nothing won't happen here. Because ATS has been dead since 2017.

[P h o e n i x]

As has been said, crowds attract crowds.

 

Not only that though, the game really isn't particularly engaging when it comes to the driving.

 

The European trucks, having a much shorter wheelbase, makes them feel more "active" and require more input to keep them going where you want, while the American trucks feel like they are heavy and too large, with a long wheelbase making the handling feel somewhat dull (in comparison) and with the majority of the roads in ATS being interstates/motorways that are fairly straight and plain, especially in a lot of the western "introductory" states being desert, desert, and more desert.

 

Maybe there would be more players if SCS gave some more DLC states for free with the game that aren't mostly just desert.

Or, if they had more world of trucks events like the Big Sur event they had which caused chaos on one road there would be at least temporary gains in players.

 

Overall I don't think there's much that TruckersMP can do to get players onto ATS for more than a temporary gain.

[InsanoDeath]

I dont think there is any such way 

[Lowlander]

10 hours ago, P h o e n i x said:

 

 

The European trucks, having a much shorter wheelbase, makes them feel more "active" and require more input to keep them going where you want, while the American trucks feel like they are heavy and too large, with a long wheelbase making the handling feel somewhat dull (in comparison) and with the majority of the roads in ATS being interstates/motorways that are fairly straight and plain, especially in a lot of the western "introductory" states being desert, desert, and more desert.

 

I hadn't thought about this, very good points. Especially the first one in regards to truck handling. 

[Interstate Nomad]

Euro Truck Simulator 2 has been around longer, and consequently has established a larger and more active community.

 

American Truck Simulator provides a diverse range of landscapes, from the deserts of Arizona to the forests of Oregon.

It includes iconic trucks like Peterbilt and Kenworth, and distinct highway systems such as the Route 66.

And its level of detail and realism is second to none.

 

I love American Truck Simualtor for its immersive portrayal of the iconic american trucking experience.

 

To attract more players, the TruckersMP team and also VTCs could promote it more prominently by organizing regular events, like convoys,, truck driving championships, etc.

 

[L-DR@GO]

I also love ATS 

It's just sad everyone want to drive on CD

I think SCS or TMP needs to make a filling station close to a narrow raod and they should make it off road and put features to make it fun to drive there.

Make that route special and lovely sceneries that will give you chills.

 

SCS and TMP should always host events their 

I think drivers will like to go there.

[Lowlander]

Now that I think of it: Is there a 'central place' or road people like to drive mostly in ATS, like C-D in ETS2? Perhaps there could be made a topic or something where we could establish some general/default meetup place so that you know where the most players are or something like that. As  has been said earlier: Crowds attract crowds. 

[Interstate Nomad]

56 minutes ago, Lowlander said:

Now that I think of it: Is there a 'central place' or road people like to drive mostly in ATS, like C-D in ETS2? Perhaps there could be made a topic or something where we could establish some general/default meetup place so that you know where the most players are or something like that. As  has been said earlier: Crowds attract crowds. 

 

Las Vegas occationally has (or had) some more players, but nothing anywhere close to the player numbers of the infamous areas in Europe.

[L-DR@GO]

8 minutes ago, blabberbeak said:

 

Las Vegas occationally has (or had) some more players, but nothing anywhere close to the player numbers of the infamous areas in Europe.

Yeah true..

But, unlike CD 

We only meet at las Vegas

Once you go out from las Vegas it becomes a lone drive.

[Granite [SVK]]

4 hours ago, blabberbeak said:

distinct highway systems such as the Route 66

It's not part of the US highway system anymore for almost 40 years. Nowadays, isolated sections of this road are tourist attractions known under the name "Historic Route 66".

 

2 hours ago, blabberbeak said:

Las Vegas occationally has (or had) some more players

That are just sitting there, doing nothing. Leave city and all there's only you and tumbleweeds again. 

[OtherGuy]

The main problem I see is the lack of events encouraging anyone to leave C-D road. Maybe I'm forgetting something, but I can't remember any SCS events that actually brought traffic to an area other than C-D and Las Vegas since Genoa Bridge (in ETS2) and Big Sur (in ATS).

 

(TLDR at the end)

 

I scrolled all the way through the SCS blog back to January of last year, and the following is every event in that time (counting backwards). Note that these are all great events, and I think they should keep running them, but here is why they don't work for generating traffic:

1. Haulin' Hearts - 6 Feb. 2024 to 18 Feb. 2024
   • You could complete the goal in either game, so there was no incentive to try the other game.
   • There was no restriction on where you could deliver, so you could complete the goal by only driving from Calais to Duisburg (or in and out of Las Vegas) 14 times.
   • This event began the day after the previous events ended, so there was no cooldown period.
2. Christmas Winterland - Originally 14 Dec. 2023 to 14 Jan. 2024, extended on 12 Jan. 2024 to 5 Feb. 2024
   • Winterland was accessed via portals which were available at all sleeping areas, meaning players were not attracted to a specific route. (However, the event was based on points awarded to each city, which did encourage players to drive in areas they otherwise would not.)
   • This event overlapped 2 other SCS events.
   • The extension of this event caused it to end the day before the next event began, so there was no cooldown period.
3. Cruising Kansas (ATS only) - Originally 30 Nov. 2023 to 28 Jan. 2024, extended on 12 Jan. 2024 to 5 Feb. 2024
   • This is a DLC-based event, limiting the number of participants. Also, it is based on all cities in the DLC, meaning players were not attracted to a specific route.
   • This event overlapped 2 other SCS events.
   • The extension of this event caused it to end the day before the next event began, so there was no cooldown period.
4. Cruising the Balkans (ETS2 only) - 19 Oct. 2023 to 19 Dec. 2023
   • This is a DLC-based event, limiting the number of participants. Also, it is based on all cities in the DLC, meaning players were not attracted to a specific route.
   • This event overlapped 3 other SCS events.
5. Happy Hauloween - 24 Oct. 2023 to 14 Nov. 2023
   • You could complete the goal in either game, so there was no incentive to try the other game.
   • There was no restriction on where you could deliver (except distance), so you could complete the goal by only driving from Calais to Duisburg (or in and out of Las Vegas) 13 times.
   • This event overlapped 1 other SCS event.
6. Cruising Oklahoma (ATS only) - 1 Aug. 2023 to 1 Oct. 2023
   • This is a DLC-based event, limiting the number of participants. Also, it is based on all cities in the DLC, meaning players were not attracted to a specific route.
7. Sweet Valentine - 7 Feb. 2023 to 19 Feb. 2023
   • Read the dates: There were no SCS events in March, April, May, June, or July.
   • You could complete the goal in either game, so there was no incentive to try the other game.
   • There was no restriction on where you could deliver (except distance), so you could complete the goal by only driving from Calais to Duisburg (or in and out of Las Vegas) 14 times.

 

While I'm here, below are my opinions on some of TruckersMP's 2023 events (counting backwards again):

1. Winter Island - December 2023 and January 2024 (I don't have exact dates)
   • I did not participate in this, but it looked like a fun event: It featured a good looking map (in my opinion, much better than Haulie Island, which uses outdated textures) that included a large-enough area with more than one road, attracting traffic similar to Genoa Bridge.
   • The map release also featured a photo contest event.
   • They could have included a delivery event similar to Winterland to encourage players to do more than just drive around.
   • This event overlapped at least 2 SCS events.
   • ETS2 only
2. Real Operations V15 - 25 November 2023
   • Good: Encourages realistic driving operations in otherwise-less-traveled regions.
   • Bad: Only happens on a separate event server.
   • Bad: Not accessible to many players as it only lasts 4 hours.
   • ETS2 only
3. The Big Pumpkin Pickup - 20 Oct. 2023 to 31 Oct. 2023
   • This was a great event: It brought traffic to a specific otherwise-less-traveled city (Rostock) for over a week.
   • However, this event overlapped 2 SCS events (but, to be fair, one of them was only announced after the TMP event started).
   • ETS2 only
4. Fruity Freight Fiesta - 5 June 2023 to 2 July 2023
   • This was more similar to a standard SCS event:
     • You could complete the goal in either game, so there was no incentive to try the other game.
     • There was no restriction on where you could deliver, so you could complete the goal by only driving from Calais to Duisburg (or in and out of Las Vegas) 5 times.
   • This event overlapped 1 other TruckersMP event.
5. Featured Zone (V1?) - 3 June 2023 to 2 July 2023
   • Similar to Real Operations but on the main servers.
   • Lasts longer than Real Operations.
   • Good concept, but why hasn't there been another edition?
   • This event overlapped 1 other TruckersMP event.
   • ETS2 only
6. TMP9 Freeroam - 1 May 2023 to 21 May 2023
   • I think there could have been an additional incentive to use the Freeroam server, such as a delivery challenge. Otherwise, people only really went there for chaos (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but still).
   • ETS2 only
7. Easter Egg Hunt - 9 April 2023
   • This is a DLC-based event, limiting the number of participants.
   • Only lasted 4 hours.
   • ETS2 only

 

Summary:

• SCS event scheduling causes player burnout by cramming multiple events in Q4 with zero events in Q2. TruckersMP is much better at spreading out their events over the whole year.
• SCS repeatedly uses a generic format for most events, consisting of a themed cargo and themed awards but nothing else special about the event. This format could work for 2-week long filler events each month, but instead they make these the only events outside of Christmas.
• Both SCS and TruckersMP fail to create events that properly encourage ATS traffic. TruckersMP in particular has a hard time even remembering ATS exists.
• The Big Pumpkin Pickup is a perfect example of what both SCS and TruckersMP should be doing regularly.
• What happened to Featured Zone?

[RavenSilva]

I haven't had the patience to play ATS on TruckersMP yet, a lot of us just prefer ETS2 because that's what we're used to, and it came out first.

[Interstate Nomad]

@OtherGuy,

 

I heartly thank you for providing the results of your detailed research.

 

The question remains on my mind:

What (new) in-game events or features would encourage players to invite more friends to join American Truck Simulator in TruckersMP?

 

I have following ideas:

• regular convoy events
• adding more diverse job types or special cargo deliveries
• having monthly or seasonal challenges where players compete for rewards based on factors like distance traveled, cargo delivered, or fuel efficiency
• enhance the customization options for trucks and trailers
• introduce dynamic events such as road closures, or extreme weather conditions that require players to work together to overcome challenges and earn rewards

Just thinking aloud.

[Snow Sheltie]

TruckersMP has done virtually nothing for creating what I'll dub "mod-official" events to encourage anyone to play ATS. I can't recall the last event I ever saw that was focused around ATS. The mod's a bastard stepchild that's been locked away in the basement and completely forgotten. For anyone with the extra states, fast-travel to the different cities and note just how many of those repair stations you travel to have full collision still enabled because nobody in the mod ever cared to make sure you don't get yeeted off the map because you fast-traveled into another player at the repair station.

 

For ATS itself, when the game did arrive and the multiplayer mod was released, there was a single road along the California coast that was the game's version of the C-D road. During one of SCS's early updates to ATS (to address a lot of concerns ATS fans had of the map), the road was removed and that subsequently killed off the multiplayer very quickly. Personally I don't get the appeal of the C-D road to so many ETS drivers. I despise it because I already deal with a bunch of that nonsense in real life for my job, I have absolutely no desire to replicate the experience in a video game.

 

You can definitely see that truck simulators is for some reason far more popular over in Europe and Asia than it is in the Americas. Personally I hate the looks of most of the European cabovers, especially the ones with what I dub the "frankenstein forehead" look on them. Quite frankly I dislike the Volvo VNL for similar reasons. I won't even get into real life reasons I dislike the truck, that's a story for another thread.

 

Quote

The European trucks, having a much shorter wheelbase, makes them feel more "active" and require more input to keep them going where you want, while the American trucks feel like they are heavy and too large, with a long wheelbase making the handling feel somewhat dull (in comparison) and with the majority of the roads in ATS being interstates/motorways that are fairly straight and plain, especially in a lot of the western "introductory" states being desert, desert, and more desert.

The Cookie-cutter layout of the base ETS game is worse. You see one city and one road, you've seen them all. The basegame of ATS has a greater variety of road networks and unique locations in comparison but the idea of starting the game in California and Nevada instead of somewhere on the east coast was probably a poor decision. The only places I like in ETS's base game now are the areas that SCS has reworked since each city now has a truly unique layout to them and the updates to the road networks around those cities were much-needed. Likewise, try to find videos and pictures of the northern California area in ATS before and after the rework and the ATS rework is quite a faithful emulation of areas and routes the Semis would be using and delivering to in real life.

 

I've grown to enjoy empty roads in ATSMP, mainly because I drive a semi for a living and it's just nice to be able to play out the fantasy of driving down the freeway without worry of steering wheel holders or 4-wheelers ruining my day. Given how it seems the average ETS player seems hell-bent on some sort of speedrun challenge to get a ban as fast as they can, they could stay on ETS for all I care.

[Stones8000]

Events that TruckersMP runs on ETS2, such as the pumpkin farm for Halloween and the Winter island, should also be implemented on ATS if we want to bring the community back from the dead. HOWEVER: There should be events that are ATS-exclusive, as if you can do both games, most people will opt to use ETS2.

[Zhang Cheng]

ETS2: I like the trucks in the game, as well as the modification. ATS: I like the road where the scenery is still true. Both games have their own advantages and advantages. Although I will play both games, I will be more inclined to ETS2.

[dragonslayingmaster1000]

Well TruckersMP could do ATS exclusive events of course, which they do real operations, convoys, etc. but that only brings players to ATS for one day.

 

There has been some times where the main ATS servers were populated but mostly just because of SCS events/DLCs, I can give a few examples (I'm going to just copy paste this from another post I made in the past to make it easy):

 

Feb 2016 (ATS Release): Not much knowledge on what areas were highly populated because I started playing truck sims in Nov 2017. I believe California route 1 was one of the more popular roads. There are plenty of videos on ATSMP from the early days around the first month or two of release.

 

June-July 2018 (Operation Big Sur): This was an event by SCS where you had to deliver to repair a landslide and it was very chaotic with hundreds of players on one road, there's plenty of videos out there on that event.

 

June-July 2019 (Washington DLC release): Player counts only around 600-800 for a few weeks but this was another situation where there was a popular long logging road to the east of Bellingham, it was a tight road to maneuver with lots of turns (similar to Kirkenes quarry in ETS2 Promods) and maybe 60+ players at a time so there were lots of traffic jams. Good amount of videos on this one too.

 

Dec 2020 (Promods Canada support in TMP) - Player counts over 1000 for at least a month but unlike previous popular periods that I mentioned players were more spread out throughout Canada but because the map is quite small you could see players all the time. There was a lot of hype for this one combined with the fact that covid was around at the time so more players on of course.

 

I think I got most of them but let me know if I missed any big player spikes.

 

2021 and beyond there wasn't any significant player counts due to convoy mode by SCS being released and player counts dropped by over 50% overall.

 

If you're wondering here's where I got the historical player counts https://stats.truckersmp.com/ . At the bottom of the page you can see it and you can filter all servers except for ATS by clicking on all the other servers.

[Crimzin]

I'm just started, really like what you have done with the massive player counts on your servers, very unique, I have found most people to be friendly or just busy making money in game which is cool.

I would say it's something you could do to bring more people, events or whatever.

The numbers sort of show that,

30K people playing ETS2, 10% on your servers.
5K people playing ATS, less than 1.5% on your servers.

So its not a ATS issue, Its not an issue at all IMO as any single group bringing 10% of a large player base to 3rd party servers is a big achievement in itself and really not that common.

My first time trying to join the ATS servers, I thought you needed all the DLC and ProMods to join, that could be a ME thing tho. But it is there at the bottom saying promods and a error / popup when you don't have it, I just went back to ETS2 servers, just putting that out there, not saying its the reason just something to add other than "More Events".