Snowrunner released today
Discussion
If anyone is interested in seeing the real life counter parts of most of the trucks in the game, I recommend TwinStick Garage on YouTube. Canadian lad who goes around heavy truck auctions having a look inside all the trucks. I’ve recognized a good few as being snowrunner trucks! Pretty cool to see.
I have now completed the Michigan and Taymyr regions completely apart from the contests, which I will go back and do later. Oh, of course there was a bugged question on the Island Lake map in Michigan region which will prevent me from getting the 100% achievement for that region, great.
At first, when I moved to Russia I thought it would be a nightmare as so much of the map seems to be built on a 45 degree slope and there is so much mud, but it actually turned out to be quite a lot easier than Michigan. I put this down to experience, not turning up to quests with the wrong trailer, or going to the wrong area for a quest and having to retread my path. Once you get over the initial phase with the slightly unfriendly quest system (you will deliver the steel beams before the wooden planks and not the other way round!) etc, it gets much smoother. Also, I feel that the more time goes by, the better I get at not cutting corners or taking routes over dodgy ground and getting tipping the cargo over.
Another big factor in my success if the Azov 73210, which is surely the best vehicle in the game. A heavy truck that has the turning circle of an offroad thanks to the nifty rear wheel steering, the most powerful engine in the game, 10 wheels to spread the weight of the vehicle offering incredible traction and perhaps best of all, it can mount a 2 or even 3 slot flatbed. I think originally, it was balanced by having the big chin front bumper, which would catch on everything and make it impossible to use off road. This was patched and the lower part of the bumper now clips through mud and some inclines, though it does still occasionally catch on things, it is still far quick and more stable than any other truck I can think of. It is so long and low that it is very hard to roll or even tilt it and the special steering means that it can often save itself when it actually does tilt.
I also unlocked the Azov Arctic and found it underwhelming. It has a swivel joint behind the cab, but in truth it feels like that hinders it more than anything. It just feels kind of clumsy and less predictable than a fixed truck and the hinge means it can't use many attachments. Yes, it doesn't get stuck in virtually any situation, but neither does the Bandit and the Bandit is way quicker and can carry fuel and service parts on the rear and more on a roof rack, so it's a much better long range explorer and recovery vehicle.
At first, when I moved to Russia I thought it would be a nightmare as so much of the map seems to be built on a 45 degree slope and there is so much mud, but it actually turned out to be quite a lot easier than Michigan. I put this down to experience, not turning up to quests with the wrong trailer, or going to the wrong area for a quest and having to retread my path. Once you get over the initial phase with the slightly unfriendly quest system (you will deliver the steel beams before the wooden planks and not the other way round!) etc, it gets much smoother. Also, I feel that the more time goes by, the better I get at not cutting corners or taking routes over dodgy ground and getting tipping the cargo over.
Another big factor in my success if the Azov 73210, which is surely the best vehicle in the game. A heavy truck that has the turning circle of an offroad thanks to the nifty rear wheel steering, the most powerful engine in the game, 10 wheels to spread the weight of the vehicle offering incredible traction and perhaps best of all, it can mount a 2 or even 3 slot flatbed. I think originally, it was balanced by having the big chin front bumper, which would catch on everything and make it impossible to use off road. This was patched and the lower part of the bumper now clips through mud and some inclines, though it does still occasionally catch on things, it is still far quick and more stable than any other truck I can think of. It is so long and low that it is very hard to roll or even tilt it and the special steering means that it can often save itself when it actually does tilt.
I also unlocked the Azov Arctic and found it underwhelming. It has a swivel joint behind the cab, but in truth it feels like that hinders it more than anything. It just feels kind of clumsy and less predictable than a fixed truck and the hinge means it can't use many attachments. Yes, it doesn't get stuck in virtually any situation, but neither does the Bandit and the Bandit is way quicker and can carry fuel and service parts on the rear and more on a roof rack, so it's a much better long range explorer and recovery vehicle.
Can anyone recommend a good truck (or truck type) to buy for scouting the first & second regions?
I took the advice here of selling the starting trucks + others I'd unlocked & bought what I thought was a strong truck, straight out and I am getting stuck in the mud/snow but don't have enough XP/levels to purchase the AWD. Playing on Xbox, it seems the mod that removes the XP requirement on parts isn't available.
I took the advice here of selling the starting trucks + others I'd unlocked & bought what I thought was a strong truck, straight out and I am getting stuck in the mud/snow but don't have enough XP/levels to purchase the AWD. Playing on Xbox, it seems the mod that removes the XP requirement on parts isn't available.
SV_WDC said:
Can anyone recommend a good truck (or truck type) to buy for scouting the first & second regions?
I took the advice here of selling the starting trucks + others I'd unlocked & bought what I thought was a strong truck, straight out and I am getting stuck in the mud/snow but don't have enough XP/levels to purchase the AWD. Playing on Xbox, it seems the mod that removes the XP requirement on parts isn't available.
Are you on Game Pass? As that version comes with two free DLC trucks, both quite pricey too. I sold one of the those two and bought a Kolob 7491 from the Russia map. Stored it, then deployed in the Michigan maps. It's huge, has mud tires, AWD and diff lock by default and is damn near unstoppable. It's not really a scouting truck, but works well as a rescue vehicle to drag others out of the mud. I took the advice here of selling the starting trucks + others I'd unlocked & bought what I thought was a strong truck, straight out and I am getting stuck in the mud/snow but don't have enough XP/levels to purchase the AWD. Playing on Xbox, it seems the mod that removes the XP requirement on parts isn't available.
Hummer H2 is a decent scouting truck, found in Alaska - https://www.maprunner.info/vehicles/hummer-h2
Map here - https://www.maprunner.info/alaska/north-port?lat=-...
If you have the DLC then you get these two for free;
Khan 39 Marshall - this is good enough for the first couple of regions
Ford F750 - this is my go to Scout truck, but don't know how many of the upgrade you'll have unlocked though so might not be so useful early on.
If you don't then can't go wrong saving up for the Yar 87 (buy from Rus maps), comes with some great mud tyres and alot of what you need to get through everything early on.
It get outclassed further on but it unlocks early so is useful then
Khan 39 Marshall - this is good enough for the first couple of regions
Ford F750 - this is my go to Scout truck, but don't know how many of the upgrade you'll have unlocked though so might not be so useful early on.
If you don't then can't go wrong saving up for the Yar 87 (buy from Rus maps), comes with some great mud tyres and alot of what you need to get through everything early on.
It get outclassed further on but it unlocks early so is useful then
SV_WDC said:
Can anyone recommend a good truck (or truck type) to buy for scouting the first & second regions?
I took the advice here of selling the starting trucks + others I'd unlocked & bought what I thought was a strong truck, straight out and I am getting stuck in the mud/snow but don't have enough XP/levels to purchase the AWD. Playing on Xbox, it seems the mod that removes the XP requirement on parts isn't available.
It's probably for the best that mod isn't available, as it would suck the fun and challenge out of the game, similar to the other mods that remove ground resistance for mud / snow and give vehicles huge horsepower to basically ignore the terrain.I took the advice here of selling the starting trucks + others I'd unlocked & bought what I thought was a strong truck, straight out and I am getting stuck in the mud/snow but don't have enough XP/levels to purchase the AWD. Playing on Xbox, it seems the mod that removes the XP requirement on parts isn't available.
For a decent scout, the basic Chevrolet pickup that you start the game with will do you for a little while. Assuming you started in Michigan on the Black River map, then moved to Smithville Dam, you'll be able to buy the YAR 87 quickly, I believe you only need to be level 6 to get it and that doesn't take long at all. It really, really needs mud tyres though as it is very top-heavy and will roll very easily on the standard tyres or offroad tyes. once you get the mud tyres, they massively increase the with of the track of the vehicle and the stability is transformed immediately. That will handle all of the scouting duties you could need it to for a long time. The switchable AWD and having 6 wheels means it can get around very easily.
Once you have pretty much cleared Black River, Smithville Dam and possible the Island River map, you should have enough money to buy the Azov 73210, which is pretty much the best and most versatile vehicle in the game. Take that on the Taymyr region maps and you can quickly and quite easily unlock the Tatarin scout, which is an old Soviet APC - Google and YouTube have many guides on how to get to it quickly and easily. The Tartarin has a huge fuel tank, decent fuel consumption, low COG and incredible grip and torque. It can drive through just about anything and makes scouting almost trivial. The Azov 64131 is another great truck, which I believe has no level requirement on it in order to purchase. It is mega slow, but has a huge tank, really good fuel economy and incredible torque. It will get just about any job done, just very slowly.
Unlock the White Western Star if you haven't done so already. It's stranded on the Smithville Dam map, you'll need to refuel and repair it, then tow it back to the garage. It's a real job, but when you do it you will feel like you've really achieved something and it vastly outclasses the first truck you get for free in the game.
If you're really struggling, I'd suggest having a semi-dedicated support vehicle. I use the KRS 58 "Bandit", although that is a season pass DLC vehicle, but anything with decent off road capabilities and the ability to mount the fuel and repair parts item on the rear of the vehicle will do. The Bandit is good for the job as it can take that on the rear and take even more fuel and repair parts on the roof rack, plus it is amazing off road once mud tyres are equipped.
I've been cracking on with the new Amur region, holy s
t it has some annoying stuff in it. The main gimmick of this region, apart from having to drive on frozen lakes that crack and trap your truck and have areas where you have to drive over chasms, is mud. Not mud like the Taymyr region, the stuff in Amur is way worse. Unless you are driving something with a huge amount of torque and huge mud tyres, you will go at slower than walking pace.
Scouts just don't work here, as for the most part they are too low to the ground and will sink into the mud, or the snow which acts like mud. The Tatarin can cope, but can't climb icy rocks or steep iced roads, so you need towing vehicles with snow chains dotted around the maps near the steep climbs. In some areas, you can fudge up the climbs using your winch or by putting wheels onto snow at the edge of the road, but in some areas they have deliberately designed it so that you can't do that. You can't just go everywhere with chained tyres either as they can't cope in the mud.
There is one saving grace, at least, the Zikz 605R. This is located on the second map you can access and unlocking it should be your first priority. Beware however, as all the guides on the internet for how to do this are crap. It does make Amur significantly easier as it has good ground clearance, incredible torque and seems to be able to avoid the sticky effect of the worst mud traps to a degree. It also has a big tank, good fuel consumption and can carry a lot of reserve fuel in the roof and spare wheel add-ons. However, it can't climb iced rocks and there is at least one tarmac road on the Cosmodrome map that it cannot cross, so it isn't a perfect solution.
I do think however, if the 605R is so much better than everything else and makes the Amur region half-bearable, then it will complete walk through Alaska, Yukon and Wisconsin when I come to them.
Overall, I think Amur is pretty and has some fun bits, but for the most part has been made deliberately slow and frustrating in order to make it challenging. Instead of the sense of satisfaction you get in Michigan and Taymyr when a good plan comes together or you negotiate a tricky section without dropping your cargo, Amur is simply difficult and made worse by everything taking bloody ages as even the Zikz 605R crawls through the mud of hell. I am looking forward to leaving this place behind!
t it has some annoying stuff in it. The main gimmick of this region, apart from having to drive on frozen lakes that crack and trap your truck and have areas where you have to drive over chasms, is mud. Not mud like the Taymyr region, the stuff in Amur is way worse. Unless you are driving something with a huge amount of torque and huge mud tyres, you will go at slower than walking pace.Scouts just don't work here, as for the most part they are too low to the ground and will sink into the mud, or the snow which acts like mud. The Tatarin can cope, but can't climb icy rocks or steep iced roads, so you need towing vehicles with snow chains dotted around the maps near the steep climbs. In some areas, you can fudge up the climbs using your winch or by putting wheels onto snow at the edge of the road, but in some areas they have deliberately designed it so that you can't do that. You can't just go everywhere with chained tyres either as they can't cope in the mud.
There is one saving grace, at least, the Zikz 605R. This is located on the second map you can access and unlocking it should be your first priority. Beware however, as all the guides on the internet for how to do this are crap. It does make Amur significantly easier as it has good ground clearance, incredible torque and seems to be able to avoid the sticky effect of the worst mud traps to a degree. It also has a big tank, good fuel consumption and can carry a lot of reserve fuel in the roof and spare wheel add-ons. However, it can't climb iced rocks and there is at least one tarmac road on the Cosmodrome map that it cannot cross, so it isn't a perfect solution.
I do think however, if the 605R is so much better than everything else and makes the Amur region half-bearable, then it will complete walk through Alaska, Yukon and Wisconsin when I come to them.
Overall, I think Amur is pretty and has some fun bits, but for the most part has been made deliberately slow and frustrating in order to make it challenging. Instead of the sense of satisfaction you get in Michigan and Taymyr when a good plan comes together or you negotiate a tricky section without dropping your cargo, Amur is simply difficult and made worse by everything taking bloody ages as even the Zikz 605R crawls through the mud of hell. I am looking forward to leaving this place behind!
When I tried it I got the same impression as you and felt that Amur, Wisconsin and Yukon seem to be designed to slow your progress rather than give a challenge. Previously map that everyone was whining about Lake whatever but I really enjoyed that map and thought it was alot of fun in the end getting across it and knowing where you could take different trucks was fun.
Well, I've wrapped up vanilla Snowrunner, 100% (almost) on Michigan, Alaska and Taymyr. I say say almost, because despite visiting every log station and sawmill on the vanilla maps, the achievement for visiting them all is bugged out and won't unlock. Likewise, the achievement for completing every task and contest has bugged, despite completing all of them and scouring every corner of every map, there are no contests or tasks left and I'm unable to complete the achievement. Oh well.
I still have Wisconsin, Yukon and the Lake Kovd areas to do, which I will go back to after a break. I have 100% cleared Amur and it was fking painful.
So, all a load of hours poured into the game, what did I learn? The game has coded friction modifiers based on the surface you're driving on and these aren't always applied correctly. A common bug appears on the main road of Smithville Dam where the asphalt road acts like light mud and slows your vehicle down, you can see when it is active as your vehicle will leave tyre impression in the road surface and the graphical effect for throwing mud up around the wheels will be visible. The different tyre types, ground clearance and tyre sizes seem to dictate how much of these friction modifiers you can ignore.
The throttle and gearbox are a lie. Every truck has built-in, invisible traction control that stop you from spinning your wheels except in very specific situations. The gearbox also has little bearing on the actual torque output or speed of the vehicle and just shuffles up and down to create the illusion of needing gears to tackle the terrain. The low gears appear to be linked to the friction modifiers and simply allow the vehicle to pass through mud or snow when active instead of modifying the torque at the wheels of the vehicle.
The vanilla maps are brilliant, the way they are paced to gradually ramp up the challenge and teach you to struggle and test yourself. I actually think that Michigan is the hardest, as some off the locations, particularly on the final map of the region, are very tight to get the heavy trailers into and out of for critical missions. Also, the White Western Star is almost certainly the first truck that most players will recover and it is probably the hardest extraction in the game as the route is a bh, made worse by the fact that you don't have many tools to use to perform the operation and the WWS is one of the trucks that you can't simply repair, fuel and then recover to base via the function menu.
Alaska and in particular Taymyr are brilliant. Taymyr is absolutely gorgeous especially during the sunny daylight hours. I found Alaska to be very easy and generous with the placement of fuel stations and garages, Taymyr is more of a logistical challenge, but still not that tough. Some of the terrain in Taymyr is pretty wild, with sloping hills and streams cutting into the earth, creating some challenging but fun terrain to negotiate.
I haven't played any of the Wisconsin, Lake Kovd or Yukon maps yet, so will reserve judgement, but Amur is a disaster of game design. It's as if the developers couldn't figure out how to make the game harder so they just made it slower and more frustrating. They take choice away from the player and effectively say "You will play it this way or not at all" and I think that is a bad move. The region takes forever to clear, even using the massively OP Zikz 605R. There are some areas the Zikz cannot go so as routes are blocked by narrow rocks with an impassable amount of slippy surface applied so you can't just drive over them.
There is a task that takes place in the north western corner of the Cosmodrome map that can only be accessed by scouts, but it has been deliberately designed so that the Tatarin can't get in unless you lift it over the rocks with a heavy crane, if that is even possible. I did it with normal scouts and the snow is so deep and sticky, it probably took upwards of 40 minutes and multiple tanks of fuel to drive to the objective and then tow it out. Painful, time-wasting game design that has no respect for the players. That sums up Amur really, just amateurish, poor design. Where other regions have shortcuts that make you weigh up the risk to benefit, Amur has shortcuts that take longer that take longer than the normal routes, by the application of sticky mud that will trap anything other than the Zikz, including the Azov Antarctic. Once again, the developers punish you for thinking outside of the box. I really hope this isn't repeated in future updates or games.
Overall, I love the game, despite the flaws, although I am ready for a break now. I hope in a future game they will explore some different areas of the world, Africa and the middle east could provide some interesting gameplay, China, Japan and other regions too have some potential for visually appealing environments and fun gameplay. Just please, no more of that snow-mud from hell that coats Amur.
I still have Wisconsin, Yukon and the Lake Kovd areas to do, which I will go back to after a break. I have 100% cleared Amur and it was f
king painful.So, all a load of hours poured into the game, what did I learn? The game has coded friction modifiers based on the surface you're driving on and these aren't always applied correctly. A common bug appears on the main road of Smithville Dam where the asphalt road acts like light mud and slows your vehicle down, you can see when it is active as your vehicle will leave tyre impression in the road surface and the graphical effect for throwing mud up around the wheels will be visible. The different tyre types, ground clearance and tyre sizes seem to dictate how much of these friction modifiers you can ignore.
The throttle and gearbox are a lie. Every truck has built-in, invisible traction control that stop you from spinning your wheels except in very specific situations. The gearbox also has little bearing on the actual torque output or speed of the vehicle and just shuffles up and down to create the illusion of needing gears to tackle the terrain. The low gears appear to be linked to the friction modifiers and simply allow the vehicle to pass through mud or snow when active instead of modifying the torque at the wheels of the vehicle.
The vanilla maps are brilliant, the way they are paced to gradually ramp up the challenge and teach you to struggle and test yourself. I actually think that Michigan is the hardest, as some off the locations, particularly on the final map of the region, are very tight to get the heavy trailers into and out of for critical missions. Also, the White Western Star is almost certainly the first truck that most players will recover and it is probably the hardest extraction in the game as the route is a b
h, made worse by the fact that you don't have many tools to use to perform the operation and the WWS is one of the trucks that you can't simply repair, fuel and then recover to base via the function menu.Alaska and in particular Taymyr are brilliant. Taymyr is absolutely gorgeous especially during the sunny daylight hours. I found Alaska to be very easy and generous with the placement of fuel stations and garages, Taymyr is more of a logistical challenge, but still not that tough. Some of the terrain in Taymyr is pretty wild, with sloping hills and streams cutting into the earth, creating some challenging but fun terrain to negotiate.
I haven't played any of the Wisconsin, Lake Kovd or Yukon maps yet, so will reserve judgement, but Amur is a disaster of game design. It's as if the developers couldn't figure out how to make the game harder so they just made it slower and more frustrating. They take choice away from the player and effectively say "You will play it this way or not at all" and I think that is a bad move. The region takes forever to clear, even using the massively OP Zikz 605R. There are some areas the Zikz cannot go so as routes are blocked by narrow rocks with an impassable amount of slippy surface applied so you can't just drive over them.
There is a task that takes place in the north western corner of the Cosmodrome map that can only be accessed by scouts, but it has been deliberately designed so that the Tatarin can't get in unless you lift it over the rocks with a heavy crane, if that is even possible. I did it with normal scouts and the snow is so deep and sticky, it probably took upwards of 40 minutes and multiple tanks of fuel to drive to the objective and then tow it out. Painful, time-wasting game design that has no respect for the players. That sums up Amur really, just amateurish, poor design. Where other regions have shortcuts that make you weigh up the risk to benefit, Amur has shortcuts that take longer that take longer than the normal routes, by the application of sticky mud that will trap anything other than the Zikz, including the Azov Antarctic. Once again, the developers punish you for thinking outside of the box. I really hope this isn't repeated in future updates or games.
Overall, I love the game, despite the flaws, although I am ready for a break now. I hope in a future game they will explore some different areas of the world, Africa and the middle east could provide some interesting gameplay, China, Japan and other regions too have some potential for visually appealing environments and fun gameplay. Just please, no more of that snow-mud from hell that coats Amur.
Some new trucks from Tatra for season pass holders, both are great. The T813 is like a diet Zikz 605R and doesn't need a load of work in Amur to unlock it, though it's nowhere near as powerful as the Zikz.
Seeing these Tatra trucks made me look them up on YouTube which introduced me to the world of trucks trials, which looks like a pretty expensive pastime.
Seeing these Tatra trucks made me look them up on YouTube which introduced me to the world of trucks trials, which looks like a pretty expensive pastime.
Recently got into this after downloading from Gamepass. It's an absolute time sink. There is a mod called Highway Hauling which is a new map and a bit easier in terms of getting to grips with things. Overall, I absolutely love it. Just chuck spotify on in the background and crack on driving!
Mastodon2 said:
I have now completed the Michigan and Taymyr regions completely apart from the contests, which I will go back and do later. Oh, of course there was a bugged question on the Island Lake map in Michigan region which will prevent me from getting the 100% achievement for that region, great..
What platform are you playing at? I'm on PS4 and completely completed all the 'original' maps even with logging missions. There were no bugged missions for me. There was a frustrating moment on one of the Lake Kovd missions but I realised I hadn't 'packed' my cargo after a near rollover which is why it didn't give me the unload option (until I realised)FestivAli said:
Mastodon2 said:
I have now completed the Michigan and Taymyr regions completely apart from the contests, which I will go back and do later. Oh, of course there was a bugged question on the Island Lake map in Michigan region which will prevent me from getting the 100% achievement for that region, great..
What platform are you playing at? I'm on PS4 and completely completed all the 'original' maps even with logging missions. There were no bugged missions for me. There was a frustrating moment on one of the Lake Kovd missions but I realised I hadn't 'packed' my cargo after a near rollover which is why it didn't give me the unload option (until I realised)I've gone back to the game after taking a month off to play something else; really struggling with Amur. I enjoy a challenging map, but Amur just seems to punish you constantly with deep snow and funnelling you down routes where you're 100% bound to get stuck. 10+ hours into the map and I have only completed 1 task (opening the bridge next to the warehouse) and I gave up last night when I lost my metal beams 50 meters from my next objective, went and got a crane and 3 times I managed to flip it over just as I arrived at the scene of the spillage, after travelling for 10 minutes across the map each time.
I've downloaded Highway Haulin' for some stress-free play to get me back in the mood
Amur is brutal. As early as you can, fix the bridge from to the warehouse near the garage, then cross the ice in the south of the map and head into the southwest corner to access the tunnel to the second map. On the second map, unlock the garage and then begin working towards unlocking the Zikz 605r.
The Zikz is a gamechanger, it is faster than anything through mud, has enormous torque and is very hard to flip. Use the one you unlock and buy another, then use them for everything in Amur. The only thing it can't do is get up the steepest icy roads, so have a truck with snow chains positioned at the steep tarmac sections to work as a tow vehicle.
Personally, I think its bad game design to make the map so horribly slow unless you use a specific vehicle. When I finished Amur I was so glad to be able to go back to playing on the fun maps. Snowrunner often makes you weigh up risk and reward for shortcuts, but on Amur the shortest route is almost always impassable or takes much longer to pass than the longer, safer routes, to a much more obvious degree than the other maps in the game.
The Zikz is a gamechanger, it is faster than anything through mud, has enormous torque and is very hard to flip. Use the one you unlock and buy another, then use them for everything in Amur. The only thing it can't do is get up the steepest icy roads, so have a truck with snow chains positioned at the steep tarmac sections to work as a tow vehicle.
Personally, I think its bad game design to make the map so horribly slow unless you use a specific vehicle. When I finished Amur I was so glad to be able to go back to playing on the fun maps. Snowrunner often makes you weigh up risk and reward for shortcuts, but on Amur the shortest route is almost always impassable or takes much longer to pass than the longer, safer routes, to a much more obvious degree than the other maps in the game.
I have had that feeling all through Yukon, Wisconsin and Amur that they're not making the levels challenging - just slow with constant wading through mud/water just to get to where you need to be is quite boring. I've enjoyed all the other maps before these 3, hopefully season pass two will not follow the same format.
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