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Of all the accolades that can be appended to you, perhaps this is the most meaningful when driving in American Truck Sim or Euro Truck for that matter. It says simply that you’ve reached Level 40. Although it’s mainly only a measure of how many hours you were prepared to put into the particular game-save because it’s based on the experience points in the game to earn the status, the speed with which you get there is affected by accidents, damage to cargo and late deliveries. For players who go out to break the law, have fun colliding with other vehicles or lack the planning skills to ensure that their deliveries arrive on time, it will take longer to achieve.

In some ways though I’m reminded of the Roger Miller song – I certainly feel like I’ve been a Trailer for sale or rent! The reason for that is the other challenges in the games – the World of Trucks challenges. These span both games so you can choose the US or Europe to do them. The ones that caught my attention were the ‘do this in this amount of time’ challenges. There are 4 of them currently. The first was a cinch – do 5 consecutive jobs over 1000km in length… I got that instantly because I love a long job and I’d already achieved the requirements 🙂 There is another that requires you to deliver 100t of cargo in 1 hour with all jobs over 100km – I have yet to try that one. The third is called Punctual Perfectionist and needs you to complete 3 contracts over 300km in length perfectly (No damage and on time) – the catch is that none of them should take more than 25mins. It took me 2 attempts that failed before I realised that the time starts at accepting the contract not when you couple up to the trailer! I’ve done it and it’s a good challenge as you have to run hard but safe. The last challenge requires you to shift 1000t of cargo in a rolling 7 day period. It is a grind-fest in which all journeys have to be over 250km to count. The added complication is that World of Trucks Contracts never have more than around 21t loads. So, as each day passes, the work you did before drops off the amount you have achieved. I have just completed this one and I’m resting (as are my trucks!) It was hard work starting slowly on Monday last week and slowly building the number of contracts each day until today when I was left with around 120,000 Kg to shift in a single day to complete. As long as I completed by around 17:00 I knew I wouldn’t lose anything that I had added the previous Monday. But it was a grind with maximum loads over medium distances – not my favourite type of driving. I’m glad I’ve done it but – yes… I do feel a bit of a Trailer for Rent!

The sad thing is that having achieved King of The Road in American Truck I will have to start from the ground up again when the map rescale releases. That will not be long now – it’s in open beta via Steam. As expressed in a previous post, this represents such a game change that I don’t think I could continue with my current game-save. I will be re-evaluating how I wish to play the game following the release to live but it is a slightly sad time as I will be saying farewell to my personal trucks and deciding which ones will reappear as I can afford them in the new game. Purple Rain has already had a respray into a more conservative silver-grey as I assess her suitability and Autumn Gal will probably appear much as she is. The issue for both these trucks is whether they will be compatible with the new code (there are changes to things other than the map). Rolled Gold and Nightshade should both be fine as they are SCS vehicles. I know that more is promised with the changes for the Peterbilt 389, so Nightshade will benefit from these. One of the background changes looks to improve the realism of all the stock trucks which will be a good thing  So, I have some concerns but overall, having seen some of the future in videos by beta players, any truck issues will be minor compared with the massive gains in the scenery and the attempt to bring the game closer to reality. I’ve seen the future and I’m looking forward to it – though a more comfortable chair may be needed for the longer journey times (already in hand!).