I'm thinking the Euro one since the environments are new to me for the
most part - only been to Europe three times before - but ATS is newer
and probably plays/looks nicer so I'm having a hard time picking one.

Help?

--
Of course I'm sorry that Mitch McConnell appears to have suffered a
medical incident. I’m not some kind of heartless monster like Mitch
McConnell, the epitome of "I got mine, fuck you."

On Sat, 5 Aug 2023 18:00:42 -0400, Metal Guru <MetalGuru@IsItYou.com>
wrote:

>I'm thinking the Euro one since the environments are new to me for the
>most part - only been to Europe three times before - but ATS is newer
>and probably plays/looks nicer so I'm having a hard time picking one.

Honestly, it's really determined by where you want to go and what
trucks you want to drive. In terms of production values, the games are
very similar and both are being constantly updated. I play both,
depending on what mood I'm in.

"Euro Truck Simulator 2" has a much larger landmass to explore and -
at least for now - much more varied terrain. There's a distinct
difference between driving in France versus UK versus Italy. The road
network tends to have narrower roads but they're generally laid out
better, which makes for smoother travel.

"American Truck Simulator" - which so far is only 13 of the states -
covers a lot of territory, so in terms of milage it probably equals
ETS2, but since much of that is empty space it seems smaller. The
highways tend to be wider (and you can travel stupidly fast on them
;-) but you'll be spending almost as much time on windy backroads
which are (IMHO) far less fun to drive. There's not much
differentiation between the states, partly because they share a
geographical area, but also because there's much less variety in
culture and architecture.

ETS2 uses cab-over engine trucks; ATS2 uses standard 'long-nose'
designs. Functionally, they drive pretty much the same; in game, it's
mostly a cosmetic difference. Trailers and cargos operate mostly the
same too. Cargo pick-up/drop-off points tend to be smaller (and harder
to drive/park) in ETS, but on the other hand, European gas stations
are much easier to pull up to.

ETS2 does have one major advantage over its American cousin: it has
much better mod support. In particular, the ProMods maps add huge
swathes of territory to the base game, greatly expanding Norway,
Sweden, Scotland, Ireland, Turkey, the Baltic states, the Balkans, and
parts of even Israel, Syria and Iraq. Oh, and Iceland too (which is
absolutely gorgeous). ATS doesn't have anything to match.

TL;DR: in ATS, you go really fast down the highway half the time, then
go really slowly on the side roads the other half. In ETS2, the
highways let you drive at an average speed and you only take to the
side roads near the beginning and end of the trip. Pick whichever one
sounds more fun to you. ;-)

On Sat, 05 Aug 2023 19:04:29 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Sat, 5 Aug 2023 18:00:42 -0400, Metal Guru <MetalGuru@IsItYou.com>
>wrote:
>
>>I'm thinking the Euro one since the environments are new to me for the
>>most part - only been to Europe three times before - but ATS is newer
>>and probably plays/looks nicer so I'm having a hard time picking one.

Addendum: the games almost demand that you buy some or all the map
expansions. The base games are functional, but the real joy of the
game is driving long-haul trips, and for that you need a big map. So
that $5 pricetag is misleading; you'll want to add at least two or
three expansion packs to make the journey worth it.

On 8/5/2023 7:04 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> On Sat, 5 Aug 2023 Metal Guru <MetalGuru@IsItYou.com> wrote:
>
>> I'm thinking the Euro one since the environments are new to me for the
>> most part - only been to Europe three times before - but ATS is newer
>> and probably plays/looks nicer so I'm having a hard time picking one.
>
> Honestly, it's really determined by where you want to go and what
> trucks you want to drive. In terms of production values, the games are
> very similar and both are being constantly updated. I play both,
> depending on what mood I'm in.
>
> TL;DR: in ATS, you go really fast down the highway half the time, then
> go really slowly on the side roads the other half. In ETS2, the
> highways let you drive at an average speed and you only take to the
> side roads near the beginning and end of the trip. Pick whichever one
> sounds more fun to you.

Thank you for the detailed reply, Spalls, after reading your impressions
I ended up getting ETS2. I had actually played the demo back in the day
and enjoyed it quite a bit but couldn't justify paying full price then,
but five bucks is too tempting to resist. Knowing myself I'll probably
snag ATS before the sale ends as well ;-)

--
I have sex daily, oh shit I meant dyslexia.

On 8/5/2023 7:33 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
> Addendum: the games almost demand that you buy some or all the map
> expansions. The base games are functional, but the real joy of the
> game is driving long-haul trips, and for that you need a big map. So
> that $5 pricetag is misleading; you'll want to add at least two or
> three expansion packs to make the journey worth it.

Ah, didn't see this post until just now but it's okay - I'll buy the
expansions next time they go on sale (which seems to happen quite often)
if I end up really liking the game :)

Thanks again for your help, though, I really appreciate it.

--
If I owned Texas and Hell, I’d rent out Texas and live in Hell.

On 06/08/2023 00:04, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

> "Euro Truck Simulator 2" has a much larger landmass to explore and -
> at least for now - much more varied terrain. There's a distinct
> difference between driving in France versus UK versus Italy. The road
> network tends to have narrower roads but they're generally laid out
> better, which makes for smoother travel.
>

Well I hope it simulates the UK Port of Dover with several hours waiting
in a traffic jam followed by several hours waiting to clear customs!

Move on, move on ... nothing to see here. Any suggestion that leaving
the customs union will in anyway effect customs checks is just doom
mongering. The British are just so special that the EU won't apply to
the rules to us that it applies to other third countries. You'd be
speaking German if it wasn't for us!

On Saturday, August 5, 2023 at 5:00:47 PM UTC-5, Metal Guru wrote:
> I'm thinking the Euro one since the environments are new to me for the
> most part - only been to Europe three times before - but ATS is newer
> and probably plays/looks nicer so I'm having a hard time picking one.
>
> Help?

Euro is the one that was the most hyped of the two. I bought it as a gift for my cousin but never tried it because I'm content with GTA IV.

On Sat, 05 Aug 2023 19:33:36 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Sat, 05 Aug 2023 19:04:29 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
><spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>On Sat, 5 Aug 2023 18:00:42 -0400, Metal Guru <MetalGuru@IsItYou.com>
>>wrote:
>>
>>>I'm thinking the Euro one since the environments are new to me for the
>>>most part - only been to Europe three times before - but ATS is newer
>>>and probably plays/looks nicer so I'm having a hard time picking one.
>
>Addendum: the games almost demand that you buy some or all the map
>expansions. The base games are functional, but the real joy of the
>game is driving long-haul trips, and for that you need a big map. So
>that $5 pricetag is misleading; you'll want to add at least two or
>three expansion packs to make the journey worth it.

Addendum to my addendum:

One of the 'problems' I have with ETS2 is that I haven't played the
base game - which is to say, the core game plus expansions - for
/years/. I always play the game with the ProMods map add-on (
https://promods.net/ ) which adds a /huge/ amount of content. It not
only expands the world map into regions not yet covered by the main
expansions, but adds numerous cities, towns and a greatly expanded
road network to regions covered in the official maps.

The aforementioned 'problem' is there is no clear delineation between
what is official content and what is part of the ProMods content,
because the latter is everywhere. So the question is: would I actually
enjoy playing ETS2 as much without the fan-made add-on? Or would I
prefer ATS?

I honestly can't say. And it makes me doubt my recommendation.

But the combined package is terrific.

(Of course, at this point you've already made your choice, Metal Guru,
so any warning about my potential bias may be a bit late... but I
wanted to mention it anyway ;-)

On 8/7/2023 8:26 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

> Addendum to my addendum:
>
> One of the 'problems' I have with ETS2 is that I haven't played the
> base game - which is to say, the core game plus expansions - for
> /years/. I always play the game with the ProMods map add-on (
> https://promods.net/ ) which adds a /huge/ amount of content. It not
> only expands the world map into regions not yet covered by the main
> expansions, but adds numerous cities, towns and a greatly expanded
> road network to regions covered in the official maps.

These mods look incredible, thanks for the heads up. I haven't spent
much time on that site but apparently promods need all DLC's to work so
it's something I'll keep in mind for the future. I have only bought the
base ETS2 game and won't be able to play the game until the end of the
month :(

Thanks again, Spalls!

--
A man goes into the doctor and says "I think I have hearing problems"
Doctor: Can you describe the symptoms? Man: Sure! Homer's fat and Marge
has blue hair.

On Tue, 8 Aug 2023 12:44:22 -0400, Metal Guru <MetalGuru@IsItYou.com>
wrote:

>On 8/7/2023 8:26 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
>> Addendum to my addendum:
>>
>> One of the 'problems' I have with ETS2 is that I haven't played the
>> base game - which is to say, the core game plus expansions - for
>> /years/. I always play the game with the ProMods map add-on (
>> https://promods.net/ ) which adds a /huge/ amount of content. It not
>> only expands the world map into regions not yet covered by the main
>> expansions, but adds numerous cities, towns and a greatly expanded
>> road network to regions covered in the official maps.
>
>These mods look incredible, thanks for the heads up. I haven't spent
>much time on that site but apparently promods need all DLC's to work so
>it's something I'll keep in mind for the future. I have only bought the
>base ETS2 game and won't be able to play the game until the end of the
>month :(

The other 'problem' with the ProMods expansion is that it is extremely
dependent on your having the proper version of the game. ETS2 (and
ATS) upgrade fairly frequently, with a new 'major version' coming out
every two or three months. Unfortunately, that breaks the ProMods map,
so - as a player - you need to make a choice: upgrade and go without
the expansion for the week or three it takes for the ProMods team to
catch up, or stick with the older version of the base game so you can
play the mod, but miss out on any upgrades.

Which isn't to throw any shade on the ProMods team; that they've kept
updating their mod for so long is impressive, and they're doing it for
free. Neither can I really criticize SCS Software - the developers of
ETS2/ATS - for continuing to support the program.

It's just a bit annoying to be stuck on this upgrade treadmill all the
time. I wish there was a better solution.