My thoughts regarding American Wilds.

Starting off with the good, the scout vehicles are great. Cool add on's, they are fast, powerful, and the F-150, Blazer, and Hummer was great choices. Also keeping with the good, the Skidder and the Forwarder are awesome vehicles as well.

Now, onto the not so good. The Freightliner, Bision, and the LTL9000. Now I get it, they are road haulers and not meant for serious offroad use. However I don't think they needed to be as bad as you guys made them. I mean hell these things are worse offroad then the C-65115. Why? You touch a tiny bit of mud with these trucks and your stuck. In real life while these trucks certainly can't go down through bogs of climb up the sides of cliffs, they can at least get in and out of lumber loading stations. But the American Wilds versions of these trucks can't even get down a groomed trail without being towed. I think they are a little bit to bad offroad personally.

Now the Western Star, this truck seems to be alright but not all to amazing. I'd say it's best compared to a B-131. It's 6X6 and it'll get you where you need to go, though it'll do so slowly. But compared to a B-255 or a C-375, the Western Star is seriously lacking.

And lastly default vehicles. You guys made the new maps way to easy for people who don't own the American Wilds dlc. Having only brought the dlc recently, I spent some time playing online and joining other peoples sessions who had the new maps. And for default vehicles the game spawned in trucks like the B-131, B-255, and C-375. The latter two, made these maps ridiculous easy. For people who don't own the dlc, here is what I think there defaults should of been.

  • B-131 (weakest of the 6X6's, fills in for the Western Star)
  • C-65115 (no 6X6, is required for long logs, fills in for the Freightliner, LTL9000, and Bison.)
  • K-700 (is needed for getting logs out of the swamp and loading the trucks, replaces the Skidder and Forwarder.)

Having this selection of vehicles would mean players who don't own the dlc would have roughly the same gameplay experience as people who does own the dlc. But giving us the B-255 and C-375 was a huge mistake. Those trucks you lock in 6X6 and they'll both go down in the swap no problem at all. They also come with crane addons. You literally just got your truck, drove down into the swap, loaded up your lumber, drove out of the swap, went to the mill and boom done. Made the maps super super easy. So yea, terrible selection of default vehicles there guys. You should of thought things out a little better then that.

Overall I enjoy American Wilds, the new maps are absolutely beautiful and the new scout vehicles are amazing. The Western Star isn't amazing but it isn't bad either, it's just alright. The Skidder and the Forwarder are great as well.

But that said, there was room for improvement with the Freightline, LTL9000, and Bison and with the default selection of vehicles for those people who don't own the dlc.

the k8400 skidder can load short logs and long logs, its not that hard.

@justinlynch3
I only use mod versions of the AW vehicles and I like them all, except the Blazer which I didn't even bother with because there are much nicer and more offroad-capable versions in the mod workshop. I also skipped the stock WesternStar because there's a highly capable offroad version in the workshop (with massive offroad tires). I have all my semis and scouts modified for more weight (to keep them more consistent with other mods) and I gave them all reasonable torque among other things (sometimes less than the stock vehicles) and the traction and performance are fine with me, even trucks like the Bison when it's off road (it's no off-road beast, but about the same as the C-256). My point is, you don't necessarily have to use the vehicles exactly as they were made by the devs, unless you're on a console in which case you're stuck with the official vehicles and your complaints are likely valid. On the PC you can make your own modifications, in my case for more realism & better balance. I also gave my semis diff lock that can be turned off, which is useful for making tight turns when you don't need the extra traction.

last edited by Unster

I dunno, maybe try a little harder? And i don't mean more throttle... i've used the road trucks off road and they are definitely useable. I drove the freightliner around carefully with a full load of short and medium logs, and even once used the ltl with the service body to rescue the skidder when i had a mishap that killed it instantly deep in the salvage swamp. I even drove the ford back to the road after, because it was just plain fun.

For a game called spintires, it's funny that the best advice is sometimes "don't spin the tires"...

It's often said that mudrunner doesn't offer enough challenge for "hard core off road" meat heads, but then when presented with a challenging situation people often complain about "shitty underpowered trucks" or whatever.

American wilds brought some new stuff to the table, and guys like me and likely @Stazco are having all the developer intended fun there is to offer.

I would disagree with trucks being completely useless, they aren't. and no C-65115 is not even close to them in competition.
yeah.. maybe they aren't as strong as C-260 but they can hold their own without a doubt if u be smart with them.

But I agree with what u said about both of those new maps, they are super easy and not really engaging or interesting. IMO best legacy maps were Deluge and DownHill

like urself, id be more happy if there WAS bunch of other stuff in DLC requested by Commu. but thats what we got and thats it.. im not going mad for this DLC either

6/10

last edited by zamal

@grubdumpling said in My thoughts regarding American Wilds.:

For a game called spintires, it's funny that the best advice is sometimes "don't spin the tires"...

For sure and I've mentioned that before. Remember static friction is always greater than dynamic friction, i.e. you'll get better traction if you don't spin the wheels, even though it may be a relatively small difference. So yes, control your throttle pedal carefully. I rarely go pedal to the metal, since it also uses more fuel.

Having said that I do feel the stock settings for the AW semis have the mass too low and torque too high, which makes spinning all that harder to avoid. I prefer my heavier settings with less torque which I feel are closer to the Russian vehicles and more realistic.

@grubdumpling said in My thoughts regarding American Wilds.:

For a game called spintires, it's funny that the best advice is sometimes "don't spin the tires"...

its like Blackout.. worst thing u want is to blackout in top 10 situation and get elbowed to death

@grubdumpling said in My thoughts regarding American Wilds.:

I dunno, maybe try a little harder? And i don't mean more throttle... i've used the road trucks off road and they are definitely useable. I drove the freightliner around carefully with a full load of short and medium logs, and even once used the ltl with the service body to rescue the skidder when i had a mishap that killed it instantly deep in the salvage swamp. I even drove the ford back to the road after, because it was just plain fun.

For a game called spintires, it's funny that the best advice is sometimes "don't spin the tires"...

It's often said that mudrunner doesn't offer enough challenge for "hard core off road" meat heads, but then when presented with a challenging situation people often complain about "shitty underpowered trucks" or whatever.

American wilds brought some new stuff to the table, and guys like me and likely @Stazco are having all the developer intended fun there is to offer.

Don't get me wrong I'm having fun myself, it's wrong to think that just because somebody addresses what they perceive as issues that that person isn't having fun and is just whining. People can pick out flaws in things they don't like.

All I'm saying is I feel the non-6X6 semi's have to little traction, I don't even try to take them down swaps, all I want to do is drive him down the hardened dirt path to the loading station, I can give these vehicles just barely enough throttle to creep forward and they'll still get stuck in as little as a shallow puddle.

As for my other point, all I'm saying is late adopters to the dlc (people who don't own the dlc, but still plays the map via joining people online), these are given Russian trucks by default to use, most notably C-255 and C-375 trucks. And trust me, I've been there, I know, those players don't get remotely the same experience as people who own the American trucks.

Simply put, the C-255 and C-375 are to overpowered for these new maps, lock them in 6X6 and they'll go down in all the swaps where the Skidder goes without a care in the world. These new maps at their worst aren't remotely treacherous to serve any kind of problem to a C-255 or a C-375.

This is why I said that late adopters, in order to get a somewhat similar experience to the people who own the American trucks, later adopters should have gotten 1 B-131, 1 K-700, and a couple of 2X6 65115's. But giving late adopters C-255's and C-375's, those vehicles are just way to overpowered for these new maps, way way way to overpowered.

Hell you make a open lobby, get a couple of late adopters in the session driving the 2 Russian trucks I just, I'd say you'd finish the map in what, 30 minutes, 40 tops.

So that's the point I was trying to get across.

@justinlynch3 said in My thoughts regarding American Wilds.:

People can pick out flaws in things they don't like.

fyi made a mistake in that last post, sorry pretty late in the morning. I meant to say

"People can pick out flaws in things they like."

I'm definitely with @grubdumpling on this one, I think the new trucks are right on, fun to use, and balanced. I believe I understand @justinlynch3 point on the default trucks if you use some of the better Russian trucks on the AW maps, so no disrespect, I do see how that would make it far too easy.

I'll add that I've been playing MR for about a year I think (on Xbox), and only since AW did I begin to pick up on the intended use of each vehicle type. Seeing how the skidder is meant to pull logs out of the swamp and bring them closer to the road, where you can then load them on a semi really changed how I play. I used to try to do everything with one or two trucks only, which also gave me the mindset that "many of the trucks are useless"... or more that only one or two are necessary to each map.

So AW has actually pushed me to play with more of a Hardcore play style in terms of Scavenging and using the Kiosks, and I find the game more challenging and rewarding this way. Each truck becomes more specialized and valuable in it's own way. Again, not trying to contradict the OP, just adding my experience with AW in case it helps anybody find more enjoyment in the game.

@justinlynch3 you've got a point there, nothing wrong with seeing flaws in something you like.

Last night i was goofing off with a kraz260 on grizzly creek... i self loaded med logs and drove them out to the road to find the only truck i had available to transfer them to was the bison, which doesn't have an option to put weight on the rear wheels when pulling the med log trailer... there were a few spots on tarmac where i had to winch the silly bison. I used the uaz to tow it, haha.

The american trucks all seem to suffer from the same issue, it's not necessarily power, it's traction. The tires on the american trucks don't dig into the mud, they float. Even with careful throttle it's slow going.

I was pretty excited to see how the maps were going to be designed to make use of the american trucks... and it would be overly simplistic to say they made easy maps for poorly performing trucks, but that does seem to be the case. They did throw in the western star to allow us the option of playing through in standard style, but i guess that's why the star had to be held back a little, so as not to make the maps too easy.

@DEEZ-L i agree about being forced to use the trucks for their intended purposes, i enjoy that aspect and was not disappointed with the balance between the american trucks and the american maps. If i hadn't made it clear before @justinlynch3 i also see your point with regards to russian trucks in america. I am a little put off by how seriously fragile the american trucks are, i wouldn't mind a tweak there, @Iyagovos...

@grubdumpling I also feel these AW maps are nice looking but too easy, though they're in line with the other official maps. That's how you feel after completing large mod maps that have 6 or more lumber mills & tough terrain with only 1 fuel station. Now there's some challenge.

I can only recommend getting the PC version of this game along with a good steering wheel and a manual shifter. It opens up a whole other dimension to this game, especially the ability to tweak things to your liking and countless mods (vehicles & maps). If I were stuck with only the official maps & vehicles, I would have got bored with this game long ago.

last edited by Unster

@Unster I do have plans to get into the PC version, but I don't know if I should build something current in preparation for MR2 or just blow a bit of cash on a used gaming PC... my laptop might explode if i try to fire it up. I've been a console gamer for a long time for this reason, I just can't keep up with requirements, and I'm a bit of an idealist/perfectionist with hardware...

@deez-l said in My thoughts regarding American Wilds.:

I'm definitely with @grubdumpling on this one, I think the new trucks are right on, fun to use, and balanced. I believe I understand @justinlynch3 point on the default trucks if you use some of the better Russian trucks on the AW maps, so no disrespect, I do see how that would make it far too easy.

I'll add that I've been playing MR for about a year I think (on Xbox), and only since AW did I begin to pick up on the intended use of each vehicle type. Seeing how the skidder is meant to pull logs out of the swamp and bring them closer to the road, where you can then load them on a semi really changed how I play. I used to try to do everything with one or two trucks only, which also gave me the mindset that "many of the trucks are useless"... or more that only one or two are necessary to each map.

So AW has actually pushed me to play with more of a Hardcore play style in terms of Scavenging and using the Kiosks, and I find the game more challenging and rewarding this way. Each truck becomes more specialized and valuable in it's own way. Again, not trying to contradict the OP, just adding my experience with AW in case it helps anybody find more enjoyment in the game.

Don't get me wrong, I understand each vehicles use. I myself recently used the Skidder to haul logs out of the swap to a waiting truck and it was a lot of fun.

That said, realistically trucks don't sit on the side of a paved highway waiting to be loaded. They enter into a loading area. The loading area in this game would be where the Log Station is, not the Scavenge sites, but the log station.

Realistically, at the very least the Freightliner, Ford, and Bison should be capable of making it in and out of log stations, as that's where you'd realistically load them. They don't need to drive down in swaps or anything, but they should be able to manage a simple dirt road.

Problem is these trucks are so bad off road they can't even manage that. Once you leave paved road you are pretty much stuck. American trucks aren't great off road, no. But come on, they can handle a dirt road.

I was playing Grizzly Creek on the day I made my first post in this thread, and I had to use the Skidder just to tow the trucks as far as the log station area, a spot they should realistically be able to get to on their own.

That's when I started thinking to myself "Ok yea, these trucks aren't build for off road, I get that. But this is just getting a little ridiculous now." It's like they made the trucks incapable to point of being comically unrealistic.

@justinlynch3
I agree, though I never tried the stock settings of the AW trucks except maybe briefly in the Proving Ground. With my modifications that increase the weight (and reduce the torque in some) I feel the AW trucks behave OK on dirt roads, and can even get through some minor mud as they should. Sorry to hear if you are on a console and unable to make tweaks.

@grubdumpling
That's something you have to think about. At this point we don't even have the system requirements for MR2 but I'd expect any decent PC of today to be able to handle that game at medium to high settings (minimum i5 processor or equivalent, and Geforce 600+ video card or equivalent but higher is better).

@unster said in My thoughts regarding American Wilds.:

@justinlynch3
I agree, though I never tried the stock settings of the AW trucks except maybe briefly in the Proving Ground. With my modifications that increase the weight (and reduce the torque in some) I feel the AW trucks behave OK on dirt roads, and can even get through some minor mud as they should. Sorry to hear if you are on a console and unable to make tweaks.

I'm a console gamer. My PC won't do games. lol Plus everyone I know is on PS4.

@justinlynch3
I use fred in swamps and mud with or w/o trailer, bizon w/o trailer with ease...
alt text

I've personally found the B-131 one of the fastest and grippiest trucks offroad, I use the slider on gear 1 to limit the wheel speed along with throttle modulation, It's very useful even more so in the non 6x6/8x8 trucks.