To be available in an opt-in Beta on Steam, SCS Software are officially bringing online multiplayer to both of their truck sims with Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator. These massively popular games should need no introduction, mixing together business management with long-haul trucking to create something weirdly good.
With the new 1.41 Beta becoming available (Seems ATS is first), SCS are now introducing the Convoy game mode. Which will also bring with it time and weather options for the photo mode, quick travel, a California reskin for ATS and new icons in the map legend. The Convoy mode lets players make a private session to drive with other truckers. Progress doesn't need to stick, as if things went terribly wrong it will let you restore your game to before the Convoy game started.
This is only the first iteration, so absolutely expect issues. Some of what's implemented right now includes:
- Any player can host and create their own private sessions for up to 8 people
- Ability to haul the same contracts/jobs together from the same company and to the same destination
- Synchronized AI traffic
- Synchronized time and weather
- Synchronized paint jobs, truck accessories, cabin accessories, and more
- Ability to communicate with other drivers via CB radio broadcast (X key), quick replies (Q key), or text chat (Y key)
However there's notably a lot missing. Mods won't work, weather isn't fully synced, other players truck sounds are a "work-in-progress" and the list goes on. You get the idea, it's an open experimental beta - so jump in at your own risk and backup any profiles first.
For the full details see the forum post.
Where to buy the games:
American Truck Simulator from Humble Store and Steam.
Euro Truck Simulator 2 from Humble Store and Steam.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
That said, I don't doubt this could prove to be a very popular addition.
Sure, distances and times are heavily compressed, scale-wise, but they do their best to include and model landmarks, natural features, etc. so if you know the area for real, you can drive it in the sim and be able to recognize where you are. Definitely not 1:1 like, say, the way the GTA series tries to model NY and LA, but bridges, mountain passes, rest stops, etc. are amazing.
Very much a game to play when you want something chill (time pressures and wild AI drivers aside). Kind of like a good flight simulator in the same sightseeing way.
I'll pass on the multiplayer. For me, these games are almost meditative. I play them to relax, first and foremost. Random strangers on the roads would be counterproductive at best.That's called road rage ;-).
I only hope this do not disrupt the single player mode, because if there is a thing that can corrupt a company, is multiplayer cash.
As someone who only plays single-player ETS2, I'm a bit confused. Isn't World of Trucks their multiplayer server? If memory serves me well, I remember seeing some screenshots of multiple human-driven trucks on the same map, so what am I missing?
It wasn't yet. For the past couple of years it just served contracts and special events, but no multiplayer in a sense of letting people actually drive in the same world. However, it has always been the vision to make that happen once they can figure out how to practically do that.
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