Trukz: WTF Google?!

So I've been Trukz-free for like a week now and what should happen? This stupid blog is now the second result on Google when you search for "trukz". Oh yes, it's true. In some strange, algorithmically-challenged way, me ending my Trukz association has been the best boon to my site since I got greenlighted on Fark.

How did it happen, hell if I know.

But hey, I'll ride the #2 wave for as long I can. In fact, maybe I'll just start posting under the Trukz label from now on, no matter the content. Yay me.

Or, perhaps a better option, would be to endlessly wax philosophical on the nature of games and their relation to my life. There, that'll work.

Trukz: Done

Malaga to Prague - 1027 miles to go (5 of estimated 29 legs)
FPs: 2; Rating: 64.89; Cash: $1340.73

Next leg: 110mph, ticketed ($1100, -.5 Rating)
NL: 109mph, ticketed ($440, -.5 Rating)
NL: 109mph
NL: 109mph, ticketed ($550, -.5 Rating)
NL: Refuel
NL: 109mph, ticketed ($330, -.5 Rating)

[time passes]

Malaga to Prague - 481 miles to go (11 of estimated 29 legs)
FPs: 7; Rating: 62.89; Cash: ($1804.73)

NL: 109mph, ticketed ($440, -.5 Rating)
NL: 109mph, ticketed ($275, -.5 Rating)
NL: 109mph, ticketed ($550, -.5 Rating)

Why am I being ticketed 7 out of 8 times I speed? Do the CB and Radar Detector do nothing? If anything, this is a good product review for those items as they are apparently useless as far as avoiding speeding tickets.

Currently:

Malaga to Prague - 154 miles to go (14 of estimated 29 legs)
FPs: 13; Rating: 61.39; Cash: ($3069.37)

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And that's it, I'm done with the game. Fun while it lasted, I suppose, but ultimately there's not enough to hold interest for the long-term. I think part of the problem for me is that there wasn't really a goal. That is, not a goal defined by the game. I had to create targets to reach myself and, once I reached them, set new ones.

I guess I just ran out of things I felt were worth achieving, mainly because the achievements no longer led to anything new. And when I think about it, I was just doing the exact same thing today as the first day I played, except my stats were a little better.

Trukz: Pretty much done, day 2 - UPDATE

Well, I'm pretty much tanking my driver here, if you haven't noticed, but I still want to run a contract. You know, do my company a solid. So I need to get to Prague and pick up some Electronics and deliver them to Dublin. My cash is running out faster than my luck, and my luck hasn't been so good lately.

Malaga to Prague - 1577 miles to go (0 of estimated 29 legs)
FPs: 4; Rating: 66.39; Cash: $3540.73

First leg: 110mph, ticketed ($550, -.5 Rating)
Next 2 legs: 110mph, no incident!
NL: 110mph, ticketed ($1100, -.5 Rating); 10 FPs

Gotta go one more leg to make this worth it:

NL: 110mph, ticketed ($550, -.5 Rating)

So, what am I left with? Not much after being ticketed 60% of the time. But hey, no crashes yet!

Miles to go: 1027; FPs: 12; Rating: 64.89; Cash: $1340.73

At the rate I'm burning through cash, I imagine I'll be out by tomorrow morning or afternoon. But please, do not cry for me.

Trukz: Pretty much done, day 2

Prague to Malaga - 1023 miles to go (7 of estimated 29 legs)
FPs: 3; Rating: 69.42; Cash: $6675.66

Next 2 legs: 111mph, no incident
NL: 110mph, ticketed ($330, -.5 Rating)
NL: 110mph, ticketed ($1100, -.5 Rating)
NL: 110mph, ticketed ($440, -.5 Rating)
NL: 110mph, ticketed ($1100, -.5 Rating)

Prague to Malaga - 361 miles to go (13 of 29 estimated legs)
FPs: 7; Rating: 67.42; Cash: $3705.66

NL: 110mph, ticketed ($1100, -.5 Rating); Crashed truck
NL: Repaired, took a quick rest
NL: 110mph, ticketed ($330, -.5 Rating); 10FPs
NL: 111mph, success!
NL: 29mph, route complete!

Prague to Malaga - 0 miles to go (18 of 29 estimated legs)
FPs: 12; Rating: 66.39; Cash: $3540.73

I am sort of pissed that I bought both the CB and the Radar Detector yet almost half the time I was speeding, I got caught. Fifteen legs of actual driving and seven tickets! But I only crashed my truck three times which, when you're averaging 100+ mph, isn't so bad I suppose. Still, the $5500 in tickets was pretty hefty. Luckily I made back about $1500 for completing the trip on time.

Well, there's a company contract to start on this evening, so back to Prague I go!

Trukz: Pretty much done, day 1

I think I'm about done with Trukz now. I was just perusing my driver page and the items page and it just sort of occurred to me that there's nothing else to do. I have the best truck I can get, due to the recent additions; I have the best items available (that are of any use), so what's there to do?

But instead of just deleting my account I'm going to try something different. I have loads of cash and a good ranking (#94 of 16,689; 70.92 rating), so why not see how far I can either push my rank or (more likely) just hit 0 on the ol' driver rating and run out of money, leaving myself stranded somewhere in eastern Europe?

Can't hurt and, jeez, it's just a game. In fact, it's sort of freeing. Sure I'm part of a company, and I'll still run contract routes, but I'm going to trash my truck and rating every step of the way. WooO!

To begin, I've bought all the items on the Purchase page, except for chargers and gear ratios. And the frequent flier discount. I'm in Europe to stay!

So, here's the results of my first trip, Prague to Malaga (1577 miles). Estimated trip legs: 29. I'm at 5 FPs right now, so the full results won't be until tomorrow. But for tonight:

First leg: 111mph with no incident (well that's refreshing)
Next leg: 111mph with a ticket! And a loss of .5 ratings points. Oh noes! The ticket cost $1100, which is lame. I also crashed my truck, apparently. So after repairing I'm up to 8 FPs.
Next two legs: 111mph with no incident. RAWK! But now I'm at 10 FPs. Do I dare push it all the way to 11?
Next leg: Crashed truck. After repairs I'm at 12 FP, which is good for the night I think.

So how'd that go? Well, I covered 554 miles and used 7 FPs. That averages out to 79 miles per leg which, if you know the game, is actually pretty awesome. I mean, especially in Europe where every other leg seems to be through dense fog or heavy snow.

If I'd been playing normally I'd have only covered 300-400 miles due to weather and stopping at 10 FPs. But, since money is no object (until I run out), I can just bust out a quick rest every day and get back 2 more FPs no problem.

Also, I'm a third of the way through my trip miles-wise, but only a quarter of they way through the estimated trip legs. That has to count for something.

Wow, the game is much more fun when you don't give a fuck. Who would have thought?

Trukz: Tanked

Just a few days after I thought I was done talking about all the items in the game, another one gets added. But this one, unlike most of the others, is actually worth getting:

Extra Fuel Tank - $2,500.00 - Increases your trucks top fuel level +50 gallons. Fuel tank sells empty. If item is sold with fuel in tank that fuel will be removed with the fuel tank. Good until 1/26/2009. Item sells with truck.

An extra 50 gal. of fuel can mean over 500 extra miles of travel before having to fill up, depending on your mpg. That means less FPs spent on filling up, which means you can run more routes, which, ta-da, means more money and a higher efficiency rating.

Also, it gives you more time to think about refueling while on the road. I can't tell you how many times I've been caught out paying $2.95/gal to fill an empty tank because I thought "just one more leg and gas'll be cheap again." So that's another money-saver right there.

Keep in mind, though, the tank lasts for a year; so if you're going to be upgrading your truck a lot and you're not regularly swimming in money, you may want to just wait on it and stick with items that increase your fuel efficiency.

Trukz: Let's buy things (or not), pt 4

Aluminum Wheels - $2,600.00 - Decreases the weight of your truck thereby increasing your maximum legal haul weight +1,000 lbs over the legal limit. Good until 1/3/2009. Item sells with truck.

Anything that raises your haul weight over the legal limit without any negatives is usually a good thing. Aluminum wheels stay with for a year and that's enough time for them to make you back your money plus extra. It won't be much, but every little bit helps. I probably wouldn't get these right away, though, I'd wait until I'd purchased my second or third truck. Early on you can take that $2600 and really upgrade to something a bit better.

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Low Gear Ratio - $2,500.00 - Increases your trucks load limit +2,000 lbs. (not the legal load limit) Reduces the top speed of your truck -5 MPH. Good until 4/23/2008. Item sells with truck.
High Gear Ratio - $2,500.00 - Decreases your trucks load limit -2,000 lbs. (not the legal load limit) Increases the top speed of your truck +5 MPH. Good until 4/23/2008. Item sells with truck.

What are these all about? Twenty-five hundred dollars for a trade-off? Get there faster and make less money, or take longer to make a little less? Sorry, I don't see the value. So many items in the game seem to be poor substitutes for upgrading your truck. And now that there are more trucks in the game, there's no reason not to climb that ladder instead of throwing money away on improvements that don't really improve anything.

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Frequent Flyer Discounts - $750.00 - Provides a 25% discount on airline tickets across continents. Good until 3/24/2008. Item stays with driver.

Speaking of throwing your money away, is there any reason for having this "discount" in the game? Yeah I've complained about it before, but jesus, what's the point of a 25% discount on a flight when I have to sell my truck at a loss before traveling? I mean, maybe there are a lot of jet-setters in the game, not running routes, just flitting all over the map, but I doubt it.

Easy fix: allow drivers to have two trucks, one in Europe, one in the US. I would likely use the air travel option a lot more if that was the case. Sure, maybe you can only land back in the city you left from, but that'd be okay. It might even be profitable buying the discount.

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Double Trailer Endorsement - $10,000.00 - Allows you to drive routes with double trailers thereby increasing your maximum legal haul weight +5,000 lbs over the legal limit. Does not stack with other driver endorsements. Good until 9/26/2008. Item stays with driver.
Triple Trailer Endorsement - $25,000.00 - Allows you to drive routes with triple trailers thereby increasing your maximum legal haul weight +10,000 lbs over the legal limit. Does not stack with other driver endorsement. Good until 1/23/2009. Item stays with driver.
Oversized Load Endorsement - $50,000.00 - Allows you to drive oversized loads thereby increasing your maximum legal haul weight +15,000 lbs over the legal limit. Does not stack with other driver endorsements. Good until 1/22/2009. Item stays with driver.

Obviously these are the big money-making improvements in the game. Really insane return on your investment when you get the better endorsements. Quick example: I just started a 2000+ mile route yesterday that would have paid in the $5k range with a Double Trailer, but I'd been saving for the Oversized Load for a while and decided to make the switch before I left. New payout? Just over $7k. That's $2000 extra for about a day and half's worth of driving.

No, a route like that won't happen three times a week, but even three or four times a month would mean $70-96k extra per year. Minus the endorsement cost and that's still $25-46k pure profit. Combine that with the aluminum wheels (which I have) and there's no reason not to go for an endorsement.

Personally I skipped straight from Double to Oversized. By the time you've been playing for a while and have a nicer truck, maybe you're in a company that gets contracts, the money comes in a lot faster. When I hit $25k I thought "Well I could get a Triple Trailer, or just wait a week and a half and get the next size up." And since you really do need to keep the endorsements for a while to make any profit, may as well go for the best when you can.

Just be sure to have enough set aside when the time comes to re-buy so you aren't caught out.

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Well, that's it for the item reviews. I realize I don't suggest buying many of the items for purchase, but that's just me. Many of them are too expensive for what you get. And some don't seem to offer anything worthwhile, except for your own personal satisfaction. Which I guess is satisfying, for some people.

Trukz: Let's buy things (or not), pt 3

New Fuel Filter - $1,200.00 - Increases fuel economy +8%. Good until 2/22/2008. Item sells with truck.
New Fuel Injectors - $2,000.00 - Increases fuel economy +10%. Good until 3/20/2008. Item sells with truck.

These items both recently went up in price, probably because they were such good values. They still are and I would encourage anyone to make one or both of these an early purchase with a new truck. Greater fuel economy equals less money spent on gas and less FPs spent on filling up your tank. Take out a loan if you have to, you'll make back the interest.

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Geometry Charger - $10,000.00 - Increases maximum truck condition +15%. Good until 5/22/2008. Item sells with truck.
Inter Cooler - $7,000.00 - Improves charger items +5%. Good until 5/22/2008. Item sells with truck.
Super Charger - $6,500.00 - Increases maximum truck condition +10%. Good until 8/10/2008. Item sells with truck.
Turbo Charger - $4,000.00 - Increases maximum truck condition +5%. Good until 9/29/2008. Item sells with truck.

I can't think of one good reason you'd buy one of these over upgrading to a nicer ride.

Sure, you might have some items you'll lose if you sell, but then spending $10k on a 15% increase just locks you into that crappy truck for four more months. My awesome rig recently fell below 100% condition, but for only $5k I can rock an overhaul and get it right back on track.

I mean, is it just me or do the prices for the chargers just seem wayyy outta whack? Let's say for instance you currently drive a 1979 Ford 9000, which you bought at 75% of perfect condition for $4800. Throw a Geometry Charger ($10k) on there and you've raised the condition to 86%.

Now, for $15,500 you can get a 1998 International 8100, which comes to you at 90% condition with a 60 gallon increase in fuel capacity and a 10,000lb higher load limit. Sure that's probably an extreme example, and I understand that balancing all the stats in a game is difficult, but come on.

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UPDATE (that's apparently 3 days old): I don't check the game update log very often, but apparently the GPS display is now optional for all drivers. I switched to the basic display and it's definitely an improvement. Much nicer look now.

Trukz: Let's buy things (or not), pt 2

New Air Filter - $500.00 - Increases fuel economy +5%. Good until 2/17/2008. Item sells with truck.

This is a tough one because it really depends on your truck, how much you normally pay for gas, and the weather. See, I travel about 1353 miles a day and my truck gets around 10.66 mpg (with the filter). So, I burn through about 127 gallons of fuel a day. I buy fuel at $2.50/gal since I more often than not am able to buy fuel at a company terminal, where I don't lost FPs for filling up.

This costs me $317.52/day in fuel, on average, or $9657.99/mo. But, if I didn't have the filter, my fuel efficiency would only be 10.15 mpg. And that equals 133 gallons of fuel per day. At $2.50/gal that means it costs me $333.25/day, or $10136.39 per month. So what does the air filter save me? $478.40.

It's hard to say if that's a rip-off, though, because of how the weather affects your mpg. I can sometimes get over 11 mpg with a strong tailwind. In that case, the filter would be saving me $783.27/mo, if the tailwind persisted. So let's just take the average of the high and low savings and say the filter saves you $630.83/mo. Minus the $500 to buy it, of course, and you're left with an extra $130 to do with as you please.

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New Tires - $3,000.00 - Increases maximum truck condition +15%. Reduces chances of bad weather accidents -5%. Increases top speed in bad weather +5%. Good until 2/21/2008. Item sells with truck.

This is probably one of the best deals in the game, after the trailer endorsements. The extra mpg and speed you get from having a crap truck in better condition will make you back this money easily. On top of that, when you go to sell your truck, especially if it's a nicer one, the better the condition, the more you'll get. Definitely get tires when you can. Though I will say if you tear through trucks pretty easily, maybe wait until you get a truck that you know you'll hold onto for a few months, to make the purchase worth it.

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Fog Lights - $1,500.00 - Increases top speed in bad weather +5%. Reduces chances of bad weather accidents -10%. Good until 3/3/2008. Item sells with truck.

I don't trust the Fog Lights. I mean, if my top speed is 48mph in thick fog, how much good is another 2mph going to do me? Maybe a little, but $1500 worth of good? I just don't see it. On the other hand, if you tend to throw caution to the wind and go the legal limit or over no matter what the weather, $1500 is probably cheap for the insurance it brings.

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Warning Lights - $700.00 - Reduces chances of bad weather accidents -8%. Good until 4/21/2008. Item sells with truck.

Pretty much like Fog Lights except way cheaper and they don't affect your speed. Again, if you play safe then you probably don't need these. But if you think sliding on ice is a good way to conserve fuel, rock the Warning Lights.

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Four more down, and a good many to go. Tomorrow: fuel injectors & filters. Oh it's exciting stuff.

Trukz: Let's buy things (or not), pt 1

There's a bunch of stuff to buy in the game, and they each have their relative merits, but I want to break down the usefulness of each one. So if you're considering buying something, hopefully this'll help you out.

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CB Radio - $300.00 - Enables CB Radio chat in-game. Reduced chances of speeding and cargo overweight tickets -10%. Good until 1/20/2009. Item stays with driver.

Now, I don't find the CB useful at all. I used to have one, but the channels are all basically like a constantly updating series of YouTube comments. I would suggest if you want to talk about the game, find a forum.

Plus, how long are you really on the site? It's not like you're actually driving anywhere. There's no boredom of the road going on. Unless you're really a truck driver playing the game. And in that case, you should probably be keeping your eyes on the road.

The ticket reduction benefit is nice, but I tend to play safe and don't speed. I play mainly for my rating, and I'm fairly certain you lose rating points when you get a ticket. So if you're a risk-taker and aren't worried about your rating/cash flow, knock yourself out. But then, you'll probably get bored of playing pretty quickly.

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GPS Navigation - $500.00 - Enables maps on the route dashboard for the majority of the cities in the game. May slow down page load on slower computers and connections. Good until 1/20/2009. Item stays with driver.

An utterly cosmetic addition to the game. My first problem with it is that it sits there on the screen without you even having bought it. Worse even is that it takes up so much room that you have to scroll a bunch to see your info table. And then, of course, when you click to travel your next leg, the page refreshes right back to the top.

Yeah, my complaints are pissy and petty, but when you're clicking 9 or 10 times in a row, it gets annoying quickly. My advice: steer clear. See what I did there? Steer clear. Hahahaa.

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Radar Detector - $800.00 - Reduced chances of speeding tickets -20%. Tickets +10% more expensive. Good until 1/20/2009. Item stays with driver.

Same as the CB; only worth it if you're set on taking risks. I would add "Chance of quitting the game within a week +25%" to the description. And jeez it costs $800? Early in the game you could almost get a new truck with that (with trade-in).

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Tool Box - $1,200.00 - Decreases cost of repairs -5%. Good until 1/20/2009. Item stays with driver.

You know, this may be useful for some drivers, but I sort of doubt it. If you break down a lot, it may well be worth the money. I rarely break down for some reason, so I never think about buying it. And according to my math, you'd have to have $24,020 worth of repairs within a year in order for the Tool Box to be worth the price (and give you a handsome $1 profit).

So, unless you're extremely prone to costly breakdowns or you're into carrying past your load limit repeatedly into Alaska, I'd give this a pass.

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Well, that's it for the first four items. So far, nothing worth buying. But I promise next time there'll be something you can throw money at.

Trukz: Add it up

So like I said last time, there's all these new trucks in the game and all the old trucks have had their stats adjusted. The load limit addition is interesting but, since my truck was grandfathered in and has a huge limit now, it doesn't really interest me. But still, it's worth talking about a little.

Honestly, once you get past the first page or so of trucks in the truck lot, the limit doesn't mean much anymore. It's not like people driving the 1998 International 8100 have an Oversized Load Endorsement or anything. And if someone does, I'm sorry. No, you should be focusing on top speed in the early stages. If you can't even hit the speed limit, you shouldn't be worrying about how much you can carry.

A couple of new items for purchase have been added (Low/High Gear Ratio) which can augment or decrease your load limit, while alternately lowering or raising your top speed accordingly. That is, higher load means lower top speed and vice versa. Even if I had a crappy truck I don't know that I'd go for either one. Sure you could make a little more money with a higher limit, or go a little faster while carrying less, but I don't see either one making up for the $2500 cost within the three months you own them.

Plus, you'd really only be getting those early in the game, and I'd be more focused on ditching my crappy ride than picking up a couple extra pounds of seafood. May as well take that $2500 and, I don't know, buy stock or something.

The smartest thing I did in the game was to keep saving for a better truck and only have the bare minimum items each time. For me, that's fresh tires and anything that increases fuel economy. Fuel economy is especially important in Europe because of the higher fuel costs. Additionally, fuel economy saves not only money, but time. Less FPs spent on filling up means getting to your destination faster.

At the point I am now, I'm just saving the for the Oversized Load and then after that, I don't know what. Maybe get a toolbox.

Oh also a GPS system has been added to the game. It's purely cosmetic and doesn't increase your ability to get to your destination, but it's a neat idea. I mean, I'm not going to purchase it or anything, but I appreciate the work that went into it.

Though, it does sort of busy-up the interface. You know, it makes the action buttons less obvious and the new alerts I think are too big. They push everything down the page even further. Now, if I could click on the GPS device and use it for progressing along my path/refueling/resting/etc. that'd be cool. But this is just some giant semi-useless picture of an item that I didn't even opt into buying.

Which reminds me, on the "View My Driver" screen I don't need to be told that I don't have a CB. I get it. It's been six months and I don't want it. It's just a little thing, but it's annoying.

So that's all the new stuff. Oh, and fuel injectors cost more now. Awesome.

(KingMountain - 66.59 - #92)

Trukz: European style

So the other week, Trukz added in a load of European cities to coincide with the current North American setup. If the only reason you're reading this is because you already play the game, I don't need to explain it. If, on the other hand, you're bored at work and got here by googling Bob Seger lyrics here's a quick overview:

You can only drive between cities on the same continent, but you are allowed to "fly" to a city on another continent and drive routes there. The only catch is that you have to sell your truck before you leave and buy a new one when you arrive.

Now, to offset the costs of jetting across the Atlantic, the game offers a "Frequent Flyer Discount" for $500 which gives you a 25% discount on flights. Which is great, except when you sell your truck you lose tons of money. Sure saving $100 flying to Berlin is nice, but I just lost $4000 on my ride!

No, I agree with the people who want to be able to have one truck for each continent. I switched, and I'm not going back. Especially since now additional trucks have been added.

Yup, there's new trucks. The only problem is that all the trucks had their stats scaled down to allow for the new additions. I drive a 2008 Kenworth T660 that I bought for 95k. At the time it was the second best in the game, now it's #5. But luckily if you bought before the switch, you get to keep the original stats. Woo!

Oh WTF I just checked the page and now there's load limits! And now the best truck is the

2009 Western Star 4964

It's costs $115k and has a 300 gallon tank, which is better than mine by 45 gal. Which roughly translates to 450 miles extra before a fill up. But, on the other hand, my company (OODA Europe) has enough terminals that I rarely have to use FPs to refuel.

So what's my goal now? I'm a couple of days away from getting a Triple Trailer, but my original goal was to get the best truck with an Oversized Load endorsement. Well now I don't know what to think.

Jeez. Well now I'm confused. Okay, I'll think about this and figure something out tomorrow.

Trukz: Not as bad as I made it out to be

I realize my last entry about Trukz sort of made it out to be a pointless, useless game. An utter waste of time and energy. A couple of people wrote me after that and wondered why, if it was so very inane, did I (and they) continue to play?

I know having said "I still can't see the point of it" and "I have to wonder sometimes whether I'm a dedicated driver or just rising up through attrition" might have made it seem I'm not into the game, and at the time I said those things they were true, but recently that's change slightly.

Basically what happened was that my company began to get contracts. In the game, contracts are special orders where your company has a fixed time in which to make deliveries of a particular item to a particular city. For example, right now my company (Owner Operator Drivers Assoc.) has a contract to deliver 101 loads of steel to Anchorage, Alaska.

If the company succeeds they get a load of money, if they fail they get penalized. For the current contract, if we make it the company gets around $5k and if we fail the company loses around $12k. Also, those routes (if you drive them) pay better than normal deliveries. I'm making $2 per mile driving from Las Vegas to Anchorage right now, $5482 total, which is way more than I could make on any normal delivery of that distance.

The fun part about contracts is that they, well, give you something to do. There's a goal involved. Too much of the game otherwise is fairly lonely and without purpose. Contracts at least allow you to focus on something and work towards an end. Even better is that the huge money you make from driving contract routes allows you to advance much faster than normal.

Do a few contract routes and that triple trailer endorsement doesn't seem so unattainable. Hell, I just bought warning lights because I knew I'd be driving in Alaska. A few weeks ago I would have punched myself for even thinking about doing something like that.

But now $700 isn't such a big deal. I'll get that back making a U-turn.

Trukz - Day 58

I've been playing the online game Trukz now for nearly two months and I still don't know what to think. On the one hand it doesn't take much time to play (I play for maybe fifteen minutes a day, total) and it's somewhat engaging. On the other hand, I still can't see the point of it, unless you can find a deeper meaning in clicking a "Next leg" button sixteen or so times a day. It may not matter if there's a point, and I'm starting to think that's how you have to think to enjoy it.

As I explained when I first started playing, Trukz is an online trucking simulation where you basically have a truck and drive loads from city to city. You make money by delivering loads on time and carrying the most lucrative loads you can. You can join a company, which gives you better money-making opportunities yet has a more rigid driving schedule, or go it alone and do what you please. In the end there's not much of a difference since you're just clicking a button to advance to the next leg of the journey anyways, wherever you may be going.

Of course there are improvements you can buy: better trucks, extra trailers, super chargers, CB radio, fuel injectors, etc. Basically stuff to increase your efficiency at making deliveries. The exception is the CB radio which is used for in-game chat. But since no one is ever on long enough to carry a conversation, and with no profile information to help you figure out if someone would be worth talking to, it's essentially useless.

There are offsite forums available, and maybe those are a little more hoppin', but they're personally not useful to me outside of maybe some game-related info I wasn't aware of.

No, the main thing of the game to me, and this is because I get a little OCD with this sort of thing, is the rankings. Each time you complete a delivery your Driver Rating goes up a little bit depending on how far you went (but getting speeding tickets will knock your rating down, so obey the limits!). Right now my rating is 21.57 and I'm ranked 173 of 8793 drivers. That sounds good, but I've noticed recently that the total number of drivers is steadily decreasing.

On the home page of the site they say something like "14,570 Truckers Simulated to Date", which is true in a way, except almost 6000 of those 14,570 are not "active" drivers; I think that's shorthand for "quit the game". I have to wonder sometimes whether I'm a dedicated driver or just rising up through attrition.

I don't know at what point I'll be over playing it; probably when my ranking is maxed out and I'm just keeping up with everyone above me. Or maybe when I get the best truck and the best improvements, driving the best routes. I have a feeling, though, that my ranking will max out before I make enough money to afford all the top items.

Now, I could start a company in the game and that would raise the level of excitement somewhat. But it also raises the level of commitment (managing routes/drivers/buying terminals) and I'm not looking to be a manager. Plus, if everyone in the game started a company, who would they hire?

I know it sounds like I'm putting the game down, and I suppose I sort of am, but I am happy with the fact that it's never fallen below my expectations. I think a lot of people join and think it's going to be a wild ride: driving all night, poppin' speed pills, running people off the road, all that fun stuff real truckers get to do. But it's not that. The game is essentially quite lonely and requires a constant low level of commitment for you to get anything out of it.

So if you're the type of person who likes feeling alone and can't be bothered to do anything about it, I can wholeheartedly recommend this game.

On a long and lonesome highway, east of Omaha...

Lately, between not posting and thinking about what I should do about that I've started playing this new game I found off of (Total)Fark: Trukz. It's basically a semi(ha!)-real-time truck driving simulation. That's right, a game based on hauling loads.

It's actually pretty cool if you like mostly text-based, stats-driven games. This post is pretty cool as well if you like hyphenated words.

You pick a city to start in, buy a truck, pick a destination and off you go. The driving part of the game mainly consists of you clicking through the legs of your journey until your driver is too tired to continue. You then have to wait to play again (in real time) until yer dude is okay to go.

He's right, you know.

You can push him, of course, as I did on my first trip (had to get those mobile homes to St Louis!), which ended up with him falling asleep at the wheel and wrecking. A man's got to know his limitations.

When you've finished your trip you get paid, then you pick a new destination, a new load and it all starts over.

I've glossed over some stuff of course; you have to keep track of fuel, you can upgrade your truck (like with a CB radio which allows in-game chat), join a company, buy stock, etc. It seems they update the features fairly regularly, so I guess it's somewhat new.

I don't know, I might get tired of it eventually, but it's something you don't have to devote hours of your day to. In fact, if you time it right, yer driver can go to bed when you do and you can send him on his way before you go to work.

It's like having a new friend that'll get all of your Black Dog references.