Bad Day in the Office

I’ve mentioned before the vagaries of the AI traffic in Euro-Truck Sim and American Truck Sim. I thought I’d share with you that day from hell when the AI was definitely out to get me 😉

It started out with the search for a job from Bordeaux after I dropped off a previous load there. Steam has a number of approved challenges for Euro-Truck Sim and I was hoping to clear out a couple of those assuming the right job popped up. What did pop up was a heavy-haul job to shift a transformer in the game jobs rather than the world of trucks jobs. I have shifted 7 out of 8 varieties of heavy haul loads and the only one I need is the transformer but the issue with this job was that it came from the game rather than from the World of Trucks jobs. That meant I would need to get to the collection site very quick.

The initial problem was that the collection site was a very long distance away requiring a drive along single carriageway roads at speed just to have a chance of collecting the load. I hit a 50km limit on the run with minimal warning and, as if choreographed, there was an member of the Gendarmerie going the other way to give me a €1100 fine – it’s amazing how they seem to be able to be in the right place isn’t it 😉

I continued along the road at 75kmph – below the French speed limit – towards the depot only to have a car going the other way hit me in a junction. I was already in the junction and travelling at speed when he just decided he’d turn left. He probably hit the rear wheel – if I’d have been doing 85kmph he’d have missed!!! Very frustrating!  I get to the collection point only to find that the transformer cargo has gone 😦

So, I pick up a load of Almonds going to Clermont Ferrand. Coming out of the pick-up I reach the T-Junction and look for a gap in the traffic. A Jeep Wrangler gives way and a fellow trucker in a Volvo stops to let me out too. So I pull out only for the Wrangler driver to pull forwards into me! €400 fine – how the hell is that my fault…

All of these have done damage to my truck too – which is very frustrating! Up until now none of these are my fault but as we approach Clermont a van pulls out from a slip-road into my path and doesn’t accelerate. I hit him! More damage to the truck  That one I will take on the chin – I spent too long thinking ‘is he really going to do that’ rather than just slamming the brakes on!

That run cost me €4391 maintenance and €1900 in fines. The irony is that the cargo and trailer came through unscathed! There are times when you realise that driving in the real world is not as bad as it could be!

My Volvo FH16 hauls an undamaged load of Almonds… with a 750HP engine she should be shifting locomotives, bulldozers or transformers… which is where we came in 😉