Featured Zone: The Alps

[JamYoung]

There are still three days, and I can't wait！！

[José_23]

An excellent route for an event.  

[chaotic-control]

I don't have high hopes for this, unfortunately.
The Alps, on Sim 1, is already a mess, either with people driving far too fast for the road itself (the classic mindset of going to a busy area but still needing to do 110km/h, or with all the 'cool kids' hauling locomotives, doing <10km/h, basically blocking.
And even with GM's clearly in the area, nothing is done. It is chaos.

A featured zone needs an area that is easily driven normally, but is then affected by changes such as lanes closures, smart signage etc, making it a unique experience, rather than slightly modifying an already slow road with some aesthetics.

 

How is adding restrictions to an already restricted area (the game literally tells you commercial trucking is not permitted) going to add fun to an already stale TMP experience??

 

If I'm going to check out the changes, it will most likely be on Sim 2, with hopefully a more respectful, conscientious group of people. The lack of TMP staff on Sim 2 moving a few custom vehicles, as will be the case on Sim 1, will, I'm sure, not really take anything away from the experience...

[Foobrother]

On 8/29/2024 at 12:09 AM, chaotic-control said:

I don't have high hopes for this, unfortunately.
The Alps, on Sim 1, is already a mess, either with people driving far too fast for the road itself (the classic mindset of going to a busy area but still needing to do 110km/h, or with all the 'cool kids' hauling locomotives, doing <10km/h, basically blocking.
And even with GM's clearly in the area, nothing is done. It is chaos.

A featured zone needs an area that is easily driven normally, but is then affected by changes such as lanes closures, smart signage etc, making it a unique experience, rather than slightly modifying an already slow road with some aesthetics.

 

How is adding restrictions to an already restricted area (the game literally tells you commercial trucking is not permitted) going to add fun to an already stale TMP experience??

 

If I'm going to check out the changes, it will most likely be on Sim 2, with hopefully a more respectful, conscientious group of people. The lack of TMP staff on Sim 2 moving a few custom vehicles, as will be the case on Sim 1, will, I'm sure, not really take anything away from the experience...

Completely agree with most of it.

It's true that the Alps is also a bit chaotic with some players racing and overtaking in random places. But it's nowhere near the madness of C-D!

Regarding your comments on the potential problems we would get by making an already slow road, even slower. As far as I know, most of the Featured Zone operations have had traffic jams. This one will probably be the same. But we can't confirm anything until it's live.

Finally while I agree that people should drive at a minimum speed (>20-30km/h) I'm completely happy to see some people climbing at 30km/h as it's actually something you see regularly in real life. Not many trucks would climb big hills like that at >50km/h! And I think it makes the driving/simulation more interesting for everyone:
- the slow driver needs to make sure he/she leaves space for people to overtake (even potentially stop at some parking area to let people pass).
- the fast driver needs to find the right moment to overtake safely.
Of course, that's A LOT to ask with all the kids around. But I wouldn't prevent driving slowly because of that.

[Bеаn]

On 8/29/2024 at 12:09 AM, chaotic-control said:

How is adding restrictions to an already restricted area (the game literally tells you commercial trucking is not permitted) going to add fun to an already stale TMP experience??

The previous featured zone was on the approach road to C-D and was complete chaos, so this is somewhat of an improvement. If this event is managed properly with proactive traffic control, I don't see it becoming a major issue. These events aren't intended to be traffic-free; they're meant to be in relatively high-traffic areas to give players something extra to see and experience.
 

On 8/29/2024 at 12:09 AM, chaotic-control said:

A featured zone needs an area that is easily driven normally, but is then affected by changes such as lanes closures, smart signage etc, making it a unique experience, rather than slightly modifying an already slow road with some aesthetics.

It has to be somewhere that's generally accessible, where people are likely to want to go, and so on. Personally, I think the Alps, despite presenting some challenges, isn't a bad location for an event like this. I'd imagine there will be some smart signage in place for the event, along with lane closures. That said, I don't want to be overly critical of something I haven't experienced yet; otherwise, I'd only be making unsubstantiated claims/predictions. 

It might end up like the last one—a complete mess—but it could also turn out just fine. Only time will tell. We should give it some time before making negative comments about something that hasn't even happened yet or had a chance to prove itself.

2 hours ago, Foobrother said:

- the slow driver needs to make sure he/she leaves space for people to overtake (even potentially stop at some parking area to let people pass).
- the fast driver needs to find the right moment to overtake safely.
Of course, that's A LOT to ask with all the kids around. But I wouldn't prevent driving slowly because of that.

That's a level of simulation I fear most players aren't equipped to comprehend, let alone partake in. However, it would be good to see. 

[geagtluke]

Why not add this every week on different roads, mainly where players always drive. Not necessarily on such a scale, but just a small road repair, somewhere a detour, some kind of accident, a fire in a field ... I think this would diversify the gameplay.

[Bеаn]

1 hour ago, geagtluke said:

Why not add this every week on different roads, mainly where players always drive. Not necessarily on such a scale, but just a small road repair, somewhere a detour, some kind of accident, a fire in a field ... I think this would diversify the gameplay.

Time. It probably takes the add-on-team quite a while to create the modifications used in these events. Then there's the management of team members, ensuring enough event staff are present alongside enough moderators. It'd be a tall order to have events of any magnitude weekly. Perhaps, by-weekly or quarterly; alongside monthly convoys.    

[chaotic-control]

On 8/30/2024 at 10:29 AM, Foobrother said:

Finally while I agree that people should drive at a minimum speed (>20-30km/h) I'm completely happy to see some people climbing at 30km/h as it's actually something you see regularly in real life. Not many trucks would climb big hills like that at >50km/h!

 

I do agree with your sentiment here, however it just doesn't work on TMP.
The point I was trying to make is if the same people took locos to the featured zone they would cause massive tailbacks. Although by the looks of things now it's live, that's the least of anyone's worries...

 

 

On 8/30/2024 at 12:30 PM, Bеаn said:

These events aren't intended to be traffic-free; they're meant to be in relatively high-traffic areas to give players something extra to see and experience.

 

Of course there is going to be traffic, I wasn't expecting a free run, but there is already at least a 2 hour queue before you even get to the event zone, which is surely ridiculous.

 

On 8/30/2024 at 12:30 PM, Bеаn said:

I'd imagine there will be some smart signage in place for the event, along with lane closures. That said, I don't want to be overly critical of something I haven't experienced yet; otherwise, I'd only be making unsubstantiated claims/predictions.

 

In my experience from the previous Featured Zone and any Real Ops, the majority of people don't adhere to any smart signage, especially when it comes to speed.

As with being critical about something I hadn't experienced, see any recent TMP event.... It's all the same.

[Bеаn]

28 minutes ago, chaotic-control said:

Of course there is going to be traffic, I wasn't expecting a free run, but there is already at least a 2 hour queue before you even get to the event zone, which is surely ridiculous.

That, unfortunately, is just what happens with large events. The demand will undoubtedly die out within the next few days. Although, by then, I suspect that staff won't be in the area as much, moving about etc...

[seireinosyukufuku]

This is a nice event. Drove this place twice, but there are a lot of players.

[F.Maynard]

just a traffic jam with 300+ players, not funny.

[LuX.]

Love the one-way Alpine route! Took me nearly two hours to drive through it 

[Martin_v8]

Great work by all team involved! Can definitely understand why you did the Alps although I am not a huge fan of driving up a hill having to stop and start. All the people complaining about how busy it is isn’t that kind of the point?? I have also found the time you go online and drive the roots makes all the difference! I have been going on after 1 am in the UK and it’s only taken an hour to do the route which I think is perfectly reasonable! 
 

Although I had noticed a lot of issues were with players trying to haul really heavy cargo and struggling to get up the hill, especially when you are having to stop start, people with Triple trailers where getting stuck on some of the bends again just slowing traffic down even more. of course players should use their brain and only attempt the route with a suitable truck and cargo but this is TMP drivers don’t use their brain lol! Which is why for future events things like this should be made an official rule, which will just help the traffic flow a lot better. 
 

Little disappointed, you don’t get any achievement or anything for taking part! 
 

Although I personally enjoy the events where you have to take multiple cargo to a specific destination (Like Delivering TMP to build HQ). it is such a shame because you literally could of had an event prior to this one where players had to deliver construction equipment to the city of Innsbruck in preparation for this event. 

[N8One]

Another great event from TMP Team. Awesome!

[Guest Uncle Boony]

People trying to drive through mountain areas with triple trailers and the heaviest load they could find. Yep, some people playing on TMP are a "special" kind of smart.

[Foobrother]

On 8/31/2024 at 7:57 PM, chaotic-control said:

however it just doesn't work on TMP.
The point I was trying to make is if the same people took locos to the featured zone they would cause massive tailbacks. Although by the looks of things now it's live, that's the least of anyone's worries...

Yes I agree with you. Featured Zone + idiots is even worse. However, these events are usually quite well monitored by the GM team and bad drivers are very quickly kicked/banned.

 

I personally joined the event last evening and here is my feedback:

• While there were some bad drivers driving recklessly or, as you mentioned, with too big/heavy trailers. These were quickly kicked/banned by multiple staff members (I saw 4 of them in the featured zone area)
• There were queues, actually the whole climb was a traffic jam. But I was expecting something like that since it was similar during previous events.
• Doing it on that road is a great idea I think, the sceneries are amazing (you can see the other drivers below/above you) and it gives a lot of opportunities for nice road works scenes.
• However what disappointed me was the lack of complexity of the event road (compared to the normal road). I could see a lot of nice work done to have construction work elements on the closed side of the road with many construction building/excavators (even saw a staff member driving one of them!) etc... But in terms of road (for truck drivers) it was just one line closed and a single lane for everyone. There was no switch from one lane to another (because of some work in front) or some overtaking areas, nor parking spots to let people pass etc... Ideally, I would have like to see separate paths/lines like we had in past events, to avoid some work area in the middle of the road. Or maybe some patches or gravel road with speed bumps before to make people slow down when arriving on it. Maybe some more complex narrower areas where people have to slow down to pass properly. Maybe some temporary traffic lights to let one lane pass and then the other etc...
• Like mentioned above, it would have been nice to get some special deliveries to the construction area (with maybe some special event only cargos) and a badge for people participating to it. But not a massive deal for me.
• In the end, it's better than nothing imho.

 

Yes it can be frustrating to be in a traffic jam for 1h or 2h, but this is a short period event and nobody is forcing people to use that road during that period.

[IDMooseMan]

Foobrother stated my concerns. I thought perhaps I missed something about this event and was unsure what I should be doing. No deliveries to the affected areas? No special loads related to the events? No personal/community goals to accomplish? Would like to have these available during a "Special" event. Badges, etc., are nice to obtain. They show additional participation on the server, above and beyond simply "driving".

 

Trolls and reckless drivers are always present in multiplayer games. They do detract from the overall experience and immersion of the game. The GM team did a great job of dealing with them.

 

I did become disconnected from the server, and after 10 minutes or so, I was not automatically reconnected as the message stated.

[Area_Of_Defect]

Awsome sauce, need more of these things

[_NightFuze_]

What dlc’s do you need to go here?

[LuX.]

33 minutes ago, nightfuzexd said:

What dlc’s do you need to go here?

You don’t need any 

[MrCivilis]

Whole idea is amazing, I love the way it is is being reported. Hope to see more “Featured Zones” in the near future

[Asuser]

Nice event! Have to drive slowly. Better drive in early morning, because the traffic is not so overwhelming. 

[Nikok1415]

When will Phase 2 be finished?

 

[Foobrother]

On 9/8/2024 at 11:20 AM, Nikok1415 said:

When will Phase 2 be finished?

 

Good point! If I understood correctly, the event is supposed to last 2 weeks (ending this Friday, 13th). Which means that we already passed the first week. Not sure if or when they will enable the phase 3 

[Theodore Kaczynski]

Bruh... still no Phase 3... Isnt this event supposed to end on 13th Sep??