Buy a truck

You will start with $10,000 to buy your first truck. With this money the 1996 Volvo WG4 with additional new tires is a great choice.
You can buy new tires in ‘My Driver’ ‘Garage’ tab and select replace tires. This will cost $3,000 but will give you much more speed and fuel efficiency, through which you will earn back your tires. The 1997 Western Star 4990 is also a good option, you should be able to get in to a $14K truck in about 7 days.

 Truck lot

Tip for selling your truck: Try to empty your fuel tank as much as possible. Drive your truck as long as your tires are above 50%, then replace your tires and sell your truck. For what we know now this will earn you more than the tires cost you. (you can get $1000 to $2500 over the investment back.)

 Drive good paying routes

When selecting a route you will see your current location, a selection box for a destination, a cargo selector and a Google map. Once you select a destination the map will be redrawn with the route and the distance and pay will be displayed. Any contracts at your current location will be highlighted in red. If there is no contract drive to the closest Hot route (check the “Cargo Statistics”page) and start driving to where you can pick up one of your companies contracts.

For the people with the Starter Trucks (anything below 75mph) I suggest shorter routes, up to max 1200 miles, and start your run with an EL of 70 or lower, to make sure you have enough time to get to your destination.

 Max Speed

On your in-route page you can see how much diesel you have left, how many miles you are in route and which speed you may drive. It is absolutely 100% safe to drive +5 MPH over the speed and/or weather limit if your truck can handle it.

If you drive faster you are in risk of getting speeding tickets or accidents. As a starting driver you can’t use this, so don’t exceed these limits with more than 5 MPH.

 Max Exhaustion Level (EL)

You can safely click “Drive” until you reach 100 EL. After this you’re in risk of getting tickets or accidents which you can’t use as a beginning driver. The possibilities of getting tickets at the different EL’s: 110 EL (a 20% chance of a ticket), 120 EL (a 30% chance of a ticket), 130 EL (a 50% chance of a ticket), 140 EL (an 80% chance of a ticket). Every real time hour your EL drops with 10 EL. After 10 hours of no activity the counter is at 0 EL again and you can click “Drive” 10 more times. You can also log-in when you only rested say 5 hours, than you can click “Drive” 5 times before reaching 100 EL.

To pull over or stop when you reach 100 EL, just stop clicking.

Refuelling

In route you can refuel your truck at fluctuating prices per gallon between $2.45 and $3.80. At the start of your route you can see what the fuel price is at your destination.

Refuel at a company terminal city because this will save you 10 EL (=1 Hour) which you can use to complete your route sooner.

 Repairing

Repair has changed to 2 items, Body and Engine, and both influence your chance on RMF’s (Random Mechanical Failure). The lower the Body/Engine condition gets, the higher the chance of an RMF.

Basic cost of repairs: Engine $300 per 1%, Body $75 per 1% .
You can repair your truck every time everywhere, but you will trade 10 EL and a couple of bucks for it. In return you might get more speed and a better fuel consumption.

Repairing at a company terminal won’t cost you a EL, so if you are there you might press the repair truck button.

 Experience (XP)

Experience gets important when you have earned enough money to get by easily. When your Experience is on a certain level you can drive some “hazardous” Stuff. Chemicals and Helium at 20, Explosives at 40 and Nukes at 60.

Your experience increases at the end of every route according to a formula (miles X 0.00025). There is no maximum on your XP increase.

Your XP can also decrease, or drop if you want, example given:

- If you crash due to speeding more than 5 MPH above speed- and/or weather limit.
- If you get fined because you drive beyond 100 EL.

 Bank

At the Bank you have a few options:
- Regular banking, put your money on your bank account, every monday at 01:00 AM CEST (system time) you get 1% interest.
If you want to buy a new(er) Truck or refuel/repair in route make sure you have enough Cash in hand.
- Loan, you can take up to 3 loans of $1.000 at an interest rate starting 3%. At the moment you can get 3 in 1 day, it should be 3 max. at 1 a day. And don’t dive in there and take 3 loans, the interest is cumulative, and can get expensive. You can also go $3000 in debt without taking a loan.