As reported in my ‘Pain‘ post, I’m going to start my companies in Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator from the beginning. I think I can also show a few tips and tricks about starting out along the way as my last build a company from scratch series was a very long time ago. I won’t be detailing settings by and large as they will vary between players according to their hardware set-up and that makes it pointless. It suffices to say that the game allows for just about any set-up you may have from office laptop to top of the range gamer pc with wheel and pedals. It will probably take the newbie a couple of false starts to find what settings seem to work best for their set-up. The only additional thing to bear in mind is that changes in the core game sometimes mean having to adjust your cherished settings to achieve what you want from the new version.
Starting out is always an exciting time. Like so many things in life, there is a thrill to discovering the virtual world you just entered. You will be surprised how it becomes a lot less virtual when you recognise a place you are driving through! Sometimes it’s just the name and other times it will be a landmark. The two aspects combine to provide a compelling experience. Your first action is to select where you will be based. In Europe, I am based in Montpellier in the south of France. In the USA, I have based myself this time in Ontario, Oregon. I did an explanatory post a few weeks back about how my companies differ in their operations. That’s something that the new player may develop over time once their company is growing but in the beginning it’s all about working towards buying your own truck.
Because you don’t own a truck yet, you have to take Quick Jobs. Here’s a sample for what’s available from Ontario…
…though that screenshot was taken after I’d done three jobs and I’d used my first Skill Point’s to increase the job distance I can do and to allow me to take high value cargoes. As you can see, there are a range of cargoes and several different truck types.
Doing Quick Jobs is a good time for the player to find out which trucks they like and which are less pleasant to drive. Most players start off with a pre-conceived notion of what truck they want to drive. From my own experience, that is something that changes over time in the game. You may start off wishing to drive a big Scania or Kenworth but somewhere along the way another truck finds its way into your favourites. In my own case, an initial dislike of DAF trucks has turned into a full-blown love affair😁 So use the journey from beginner to owner as a time to refine your view of the trucks that are available in game. Here’s a couple of trucks that I drove today in Euro Truck…
…and American Truck…
For the first time virtual trucker, there are now more than enough trucks in the game to provide a good variety of options but, for those wanting something different there are also mods available from a variety of sources. I will look at them later on.
I spoke about Skill Point’s earlier. General consensus is that you should apply these initially to three areas of improvement: Distance, High Value Cargo and Fragile Cargo as I have done in Euro Truck…
…In general these will provide the best way to increase your earnings and also the points you can gain per job. Just in Time Delivery will increase your earnings when you take an important or an urgent job – just remember that lateness costs money and the deductions build up exponentially. That’s why I don’t recommend using your points in that area early on. As for Ecodriving, that’s really not of any use to you when you’re driving someone else’ truck. If you want a bit of variety over the three options I’ve suggested, you could use a Skill Point to add an ADR ability – I’d suggest choosing Class 2 (Gases) or class 3 (Flammable Liquids) to start with. Both pay well and you get to drive some tankers 😎
I think that’s enough for this post – I’ll continue with some more tips on another day. To finish, here’s my almost virgin US map after 3 trips…
Images from Finchley 