ETS2

[jskibo]

OK, so I had some time on my hands.....

.....so I was bored this weekend.  Needed a break from wiring my overhead and really waiting on a few more parts so even if I finished, I couldn't close it up and play.

I was doing some reading on the AVSIM forums and ran across a review of games on Youtube by some British whack job that talks entirely too much in his reviews and generally doesn't understand how to play the games he reviews.  After watching his DCS and FSX reviews I came across one for "Euro Truck Simulator 2".  While he's an idiot, he did point out there was a demo that let you play for a good bit of time......Easy 500MB DL.

So I grabbed the demo and figured I would give it a shot.  First thing was it had some stretching on my three 40" monitors, so I grabbed a FOV mod and it improved a lot.  Made me feel like I was sitting in the cab of a truck, except with a keyboard on my lap and no hookers or NoDoze nearby.

The game is obviously set in Europe and allows you to drive a variety of European trucks around a reduced scale map of some of Europe (Eastern Europe expansion coming soon....So the Russian Mob can attack your truck I guess).  The scale is such that at 90km it takes slightly over 2 sec to travel 1km.  This helps as most missions can be completed in 20-30 minutes versus the actual time to drive from Warsaw to Calais.

The game has a bit of strategy, role playing and sim mixed in together.  For anyone that was a fan of railroad tycoon, or empire building type games, you may find it entertaining and there's enough there to keep some interest for a while.  You pick a city to start your new business and you are given a 1 stall run down garage.  You don't have enough cash to buy a truck, so you start by whoring yourself out looking for companies needing a driver to pull their load.  As a Quick mission driver, all expenses are paid by your employer (tolls, fuel, fines, repairs) so the dollars (err, euros) offered for the job are what you would earn if you complete it successfully.  You'll need to either do a lot of these missions (8-10 depending on how you level up) or wait until you complete a couple missions and the bank offers to lend you money (@18% interest) before you will have enough to get a truck, a very basic truck.

Truck dealers are all over the map in different cities.  You will actually have to run across one before its line of truck are available for you to purchase, so at first you will be limited to a random dealer the game will offer you via email in game.  After that you will find large and small dealers across the map as you visit more cities.  The large dealers offer a larger variety of truck options versus the smaller ones.  There's MAN, Volvo, Scania, Majestic (Mercedes), DAF, IVECO? And Renault.  All require different levels to be able to access better options, like transmissions and bigger engines.  Some upgrades actually help you in game (the Volvo 750HP engine pulls much better than the DAF 310HP you would have to choose to start with ), others are just bling (mirrors, lightbars, etc....) so choose wisely when you have little funds.

As you complete missions you gain money and skill points.  Skills allow you to gain access to higher paying jobs as well as getting bonuses for completing them at the higher level.  Skills are ADR (the hazardous cargo), Fragile, High Value, Just In Time, Eco Driving, and distance.  At first you are limited to offers under 250km, as you increase you distance skill points you will increase your range until level 5 when you can drive all across Europe.  It seems to help get a balance going at first since when you buy your first truck you will drive to a destination and then need a return cargo from there back home or to another area else you waste funds driving empty.  This is more critical when you hire other drivers as they will only drive to a destination and back, no multi leg routes, so if they go Frankfurt to Milan and in Milan there is no cargo they can carry back to Frankfurt, they will drive back empty and that will cost you.

Once you have a truck and do a few runs the bank will offer you a larger credit line.  With that you can upgrade your garage and add other drivers, but they will need trucks to, so spend wisely (you can always field upgrade the trucks a bit later).  You will get drivers with a few skill points but will have to manage their upgrading of skills as well (or choose balanced and the AI will add one to each then repeat over time).  Over time you can acquire garages in different cities to help grow your empire. Other than your first garage, which starts with one slot and expands to 3 then 5 when you pay, the others you purchase start with three slots, and expand to 5 for $100k euro.  Plan your locations wisely, new short haul drivers stuck in your Warsaw garage won't have much cargo to haul, but in Amsterdam, Calais or Newcastle they will have a lot.  As they improve you can move drivers around your bases to where they work best.  Nothing happens quickly though so from a empire building strategy you'll be playing a while to get that first garage set up and the loan paid off.  After a couple game weeks you're drivers should be covering your loan payments and a little more each day.

The physics of the game are pretty good.  It's no F1 2012, but you have to manage your speed on curves and hills.  Braking feels like you're trying to stop 20T behind you.  Wait to late and you'll smash the car in front of you.  There are fines for speeding, wrong lane (yep I drove on the right in the UK a couple times), blowing a yellow or red and crashing.  The amounts vary by country, just like the gas prices....Lux will cost you 1.18 a liter, UK is like 1.50.  Be wise and fill up in the right place.  The ferry and Chunnell are in the game, but you will either drive on a rail car or into a ferry location and that's all you see until the other side.  Does save time as Europort to Newcastle gets you to the Scottish cities much quick than Calais and a drive will.  There are some cool little touches like the drivers who will flash their highbeams at you if yours are on, mine always are as night is darkkkkkk.  The rain on the windshield is pretty realistic as well (wish FSX did it that well).  Oh, and lights on with wipers or you will get a fine.

Graphics are pretty decent and the scenery looks nice as you are driving, I turned HDR off as in bright sun the road gets washed out..  Its varied by country and location as are the road signs and such.  Don't expect to see all of London or Munich.  The game will give you a few square blocks of an industrial center in each city and a couple landmark buildings in the distance (did you really want to sit in London traffic anyway?).  In those areas are all the terminals offering jobs of expecting your cargo as well as repair shops, hotels (no hookers, I checked) and employment agencies...

I was hooked in 30 minutes.  Not because it's the greatest sim ever, but it's a relaxing time waster with some goals not easily achieved in 20 hours of playing.  I grabbed my Porsche GT3 Fanatec wheel from storage along with my Clubsport pedals, both of which I asked my wife for two years ago Christmas as I was sure Auto Racing online would be my next great accomplishment......It wasn't as I sucked and found the iRacing folks to have a larger than normal pool of Wankers and Tools as compared to other online experiences, so I played some Rally Sport and Dirt3 offline, go bored and shelved my gear.  I'm up to level 16 now and have two bases and one loan outstanding for $287k.  I've taken to buy a new truck, doing 4 or 5 runs to pay it off, hiring a driver and giving him that truck then doing some freelance work to build half the money I need for a new truck.  I'm seeing loads of $20k+ for long haul freelance and up to $40k for owner operator work now that I am at a better level.  My better drivers are pulling in $2500 a day and my loan payment is $5700 so it seems to be working now.  I have a base in Rotterdam and Frankfurt with two drivers in each and looking to grow shortly.  Finally got a Volvo truck with a 750HP engine and no more 20 sec to get up an off ramp.

Is it a dumb game....maybe, but I'm sure some folks feel that way about cockpits and flight sims too....

At $39 I probably would have not bothered, but at $29 on Amazon DL (and reportedly been in the $16 range before, might be worth a spot on the HD if you enjoy driving and strategy mixed with business / empire growing.....

For me its fun time waster game with enough strategy to keep me interested.  Every time I say, "Ok, last run for the night" I get just enough funds to end up doing, just one more to achieve the next goal.  The free demo plays long enough to let you get a feel for the game so give it a try.....