Paul Jeffrey
Premium
…Then SCS Software are the developers for you! Check out the new trailer ownership previews for American and European Truck Simulator....
Be honest with yourselves for a moment, how many times have you sat at home and idly wondered what it would be like to own and customise your very own truck trailer? I'm sure if this statement applies to you then news of the next big development for American Truck Simulator and European Truck Simulation 2 is a very special occasion, and if like me, you've never really had much opinion either way on the subject, then you can still sit back and be impressed by the continual development and search for realism that SCS Software seemingly never seem to fail to reach with their two flagship trucking simulations.
With a desire to bring fresh new gameplay features to the two titles, SCS Software have recently revealed some very interesting previews around a new trailer ownership feature coming to ATS and ETS 2 in the near future. Designed to add a greater richness of depth within the career mode of both games, the development team are working on the final touches to allow players the often requested opportunity of purchasing their own trailers within the game, and all the customisation and hauling opportunities that this presents.
After much development, the new feature is currently under testing in the open beta of the title, and looks set to form part of the upcoming 1.32 game update. SCS themselves revealed more on the new feature recently, which can be read in full below:
Some hints about an upcoming major new feature of our truck sim games have already been spotted by the fan community, and it's time to finally start talking about it openly. Trailer ownership has been requested for years, and it's coming at last, as a major part of the upcoming 1.32 update both for Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator.
Trailer ownership may not necessarily have the same meaning for everybody, different people may have slightly different ideas of what it should include and how far it should go in depicting reality. In our games with lots of different systems, layered on top of each other, we had to figure out a way to add the feature without breaking the existing gameplay loop which has been very much ok for the majority of the millions of players who tried the game over the years, while bringing enough of a change for people eager for more depth. The core feature set had to be created in a reasonable timeframe so that the bulk of the implementation and testing can fit inside a period between two game updates. In reality, the work has been going on for over a year, employing a big cross-discipline team here, as there is a huge number of changes to gameplay logic and economy, camera work, user interface screens, there are tons of new models, artwork, textures, and paint jobs.
We had to decide on what is essential and concentrate on this core. In the upcoming update, there are still some elements left where we see an opportunity to go deeper eventually. Some trailer classes have not been refurbished yet so that they have not been made available for trailer ownership, this will have to wait for a future update, too. We are hopeful that the new feature will be accepted positively especially by the hardcore part of the truck sim players, as we have created not just a fully-fledged equivalent to the existing truck upgrade shop, but there's so much more included.
A new, separate configuration section in the form of trailer upgrade shop will let you build, configure, tune and paint your owned trailers. You can choose from multiple chassis, trailer types, and paint jobs and you’ll be able to tune your trailer with many different parts, of course, the wheels are customizable as well. Company paint jobs available in ETS2 will offer the right options for your new trailer to fit into your company's visual style. From now on your AI drivers are able to choose fitting trailers from your trailer pool and use them!
In a nutshell, we have refrigerated, insulated, curtain siders and dry cargo trailers for both games coming in the update as ready to be owned. Moreover, ETS2 will host moving floor trailer variants. For European trailer configuration, you can choose from single, double or also the newly available b-double. American Truck Simulator will host 28, 45, 48 or 53 feet trailer versions in double, triple or even Rocky Mountain double configurations - these will be based on the geographic location of your garage to comply with the law in each US state. Flatbeds will be available for both ETS2 and ATS. Addition to ATS trailers are also flatbeds with a rolling tarp system (equivalent to European curtain sider). You can see there will be many trailer lengths and types combinations to haul cargoes of all sizes. We added one more fitting feature: ADR (HAZMAT) cargoes will „spawn“ appropriate warning sign on your trailer.
The new addition of trailer ownership logically means big changes to the in-game economy. It will be much more cargo-focused, but Quick jobs and Freight market will stay around as simpler and satisfying options to get into the game. A whole new Cargo Market screen will let you search for deliveries on your own trailer. Yes, we had to create a LOT of new cargo visualizations for this new feature.
How awesome is that!?!?
American Truck Simulator and European Truck Simulator 2 are available to purchase for PC right now. Additional DLC packs for both games can be picked up from the respective Steam store page.
Like to go big rigging across the highways of the USA? Fancy sharing your experiences with your fellow community members and taking in all the latest news regarding both games? Well join up with our European Truck Sim 2 and American Truck Sim sub forums and get involved with the community today!
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Do you think this is a good addition to ETS2 / ATS? Looking forward to the new feature? What do you like most about ATS / ETS2? Let us know in the comments section below!
Do you think this is a good addition to ETS2 / ATS? Looking forward to the new feature? What do you like most about ATS / ETS2? Let us know in the comments section below!
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