Question About Employees

[Smokerbait]

New player here.

Do your third and beyond hired drivers earn less, or have I just been getting unlucky with drivers?

Got my business up and running and my first two employees are doing really well.

Then the third person I hired was only earning $1,400 to $1,800 profit a run. My first two drivers never earned that little, even when they were rookies. His wages weren't high, he just wasn't getting high paying jobs.

I didn't really know if this was a game mechanic, as in quality of employees. I fired him, and had enough money to get another truck and hire two new drivers. Both of them are also earning less than $2,000 a run so far.

Before I fire them too, is this just a game mechanic to prevent players from becoming billionaires from just having too many garages and drivers, or do the employees actually have a variable where some will earn more than others?

Or is it something else?

Thanks for any help.

[jasonharris2]

i don't care about my hire drives just forget about them and you will have more money then you need

[Sandhill]

Once you have a lot of drivers you might want to occasionally fire one so that you can replace them with a driver with a more amusing picture. Otherwise it is probably never a good idea to fire one, as jason said above, just forget about them and carry on

[Knottypine]

It's quite random what they make. I've had drivers bring in a range of different figures... it doesn't matter in the big picture. My largest profit from a hired driver so far has been just north of $60,000 CAD, and they were not my most highly skilled.

Again, as above, don't fire them unless you don't like looking at their picture.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2118389398

[Smokerbait]

So basically there's no rhyme or reason to it? It's just random?

You can close your eyes and click on any driver to hire at the employment screen, and it doesn't matter. How disappointing. I mean I know you all say it doesn't matter, but it seems cheap.

[Sandhill]

The driver's rating matters, but not a lot, depending on where their skills are a higher rated driver will earn a bit more than a lower rated one because of bonus income, but as they level up it tends to all even out anyway.
A driver that is high in Fragile will earn more than a driver that is low everywhere, as long as the driver gets some Fragile loads. Ditto for just in time, hazardous, etc
Very early in the game skill matter a bit, as time goes by, not so much.

[Knottypine]

Originally posted by Smokerbait:

So basically there's no rhyme or reason to it? It's just random?

You can close your eyes and click on any driver to hire at the employment screen, and it doesn't matter. How disappointing. I mean I know you all say it doesn't matter, but it seems cheap.

Well, not exactly... keep in mind it's also based on their skills. At its core, ATS is a truck driving sim. Having hired drivers is just a side activity. A money sink if you will, to buy more trucks. Eventually, as they level up their skills, they will bring you more money than you can possibly spend.

[Smokerbait]

Ah, thank you, everybody for the the input.

Those two employees' jobs are safe. And I actually like their profile pictures, so I won't even fire them because I'm tired of looking at them.

[Sandhill]

Originally posted by Smokerbait:

Ah, thank you, everybody for the the input.

Those two employees' jobs are safe. And I actually like their profile pictures, so I won't even fire them because I'm tired of looking at them.

Happy trucking!

[Tater Snaps]

Actually its not completely random - there are alot of particulars in what your drivers haul based on a number of factors - what trucks are they driving and how are the trucks setup? are they assigned a trailer (milits types of loads and cargo) are there any jobs in the immediate vicinity?

that one is the big one - what i have noticed is if you hire more than 3 drivers in a single area - your stuck with the crap freight - the first couple get the good freight and because they are more experienced - they will always get the higher paying jobs

make sure your garage locations are selected with the amount of outbound freight and WHERE that freight is going - for instance - if you have insulated trailers - and are near a chems factory - and your drivers are trained in hazmat - you will get alot of hazmat freight to start - the more hazmat freight you get the higher the hazmat skill - eventually your drivers will start takign the higher paying tanker loads with just the tractor and leave the trailer for someone else to use

same thing with flatbeds - the loads suck - they pay very little and usually move short distances - same with cardboard box freight printing freight clothing autoparts ect...

I recommend putting garages in area with good paying freight - level the drivers up a bit - and TRANSFER them to new garages with more difficult freight - like ones that require just in time delivery and fragile a new driver wont be able to pull those loads anyhow

[Smokerbait]

Thanks, Tater Snaps. I'll definitely give all that a try. I already had given my drivers good trucks, with upgraded engines, transmissions, and tires--not sure if tires mattered, but I did it anyway (does it being a day cab or sleeper make a difference?). No trailers.

I put my second garage (I only have 2 at the moment) in Fresno, and had 3 drivers there. It seemed like there wasn't enough business. One driver far too frequently couldn't find a job when driving back. I relocated that driver to my Home Base where there is only one other driver (and me, but I don't think I count). Seems to have helped, I think.

[Tater Snaps]

a driver returning to base because there is no load available is frequent - they take a load from point a to point b if there is not a load from point B to point A - they return them to point A empty instead of taking a load from point B to point C then C to A (which is how i wished it would work)

best way to see what your trucks are doing is take the time to look at driver manager map view or truck manager map view - mouse over the icons - see what direction they are headed ect youll get the hang of it im sure! good luck!

[neededlotus5]

after their skills are maxed out just set them to high value or long distance and like so many have said forget them

[Smokerbait]

Originally posted by Tater Snaps:

a driver returning to base because there is no load available is frequent - they take a load from point a to point b if there is not a load from point B to point A - they return them to point A empty instead of taking a load from point B to point C then C to A (which is how i wished it would work)

See, this is why I was so confused. My first two employees were SO GOOD, even from the very start! They made lots of money, were consistent, and had only come back empty handed once or twice. My newest employee couldn't find a job five times in the last eleven runs. It all had the feel of there being good employees and bad employees. I guess I just got lucky with my first two drivers.

[Sandhill]

Originally posted by Smokerbait:

Originally posted by Tater Snaps:

a driver returning to base because there is no load available is frequent - they take a load from point a to point b if there is not a load from point B to point A - they return them to point A empty instead of taking a load from point B to point C then C to A (which is how i wished it would work)

See, this is why I was so confused. My first two employees were SO GOOD, even from the very start! They made lots of money, were consistent, and had only come back empty handed once or twice. My newest employee couldn't find a job five times in the last eleven runs. It all had the feel of there being good employees and bad employees. I guess I just got lucky with my first two drivers.

Drivers return empty 10% of the time, hard coded into the game, location has no effect

[Knottypine]

Originally posted by Tater Snaps:

Actually its not completely random - there are alot of particulars in what your drivers haul based on a number of factors - what trucks are they driving and how are the trucks setup? are they assigned a trailer (milits types of loads and cargo) are there any jobs in the immediate vicinity?

that one is the big one - what i have noticed is if you hire more than 3 drivers in a single area - your stuck with the crap freight - the first couple get the good freight and because they are more experienced - they will always get the higher paying jobs

make sure your garage locations are selected with the amount of outbound freight and WHERE that freight is going - for instance - if you have insulated trailers - and are near a chems factory - and your drivers are trained in hazmat - you will get alot of hazmat freight to start - the more hazmat freight you get the higher the hazmat skill - eventually your drivers will start takign the higher paying tanker loads with just the tractor and leave the trailer for someone else to use

same thing with flatbeds - the loads suck - they pay very little and usually move short distances - same with cardboard box freight printing freight clothing autoparts ect...

I recommend putting garages in area with good paying freight - level the drivers up a bit - and TRANSFER them to new garages with more difficult freight - like ones that require just in time delivery and fragile a new driver wont be able to pull those loads anyhow

I'd like to know where you got this information?

Ok, it's not completely random, the driver income has to do with their skill levels. The more skilled they are, the higher paying contracts will be generated. And as many people already know, and Sandhill mentioned again, there is a 10% returning empty hard coded into the game.

What trucks they are driving? That has absolutely zero impact. Nadda. They can drive a bare bones truck with no upgrades and perform just as well as a similar driver with a fully upgraded truck.

You don't assign a trailer to drivers. You place those trailers in the same garage, as long as it's not private, they may or may not use them.

Available jobs are irrelevant. They will always find a job from their garage location. The only time jobs will not be available is the hard coded 10% on their return trip. Look at the code, it's in there. The game log will even produce a warning when a job fails to generate for your drivers.

Can't comment of freight types with specific trailers in specific locations, haven't tested any of that. In any case, if you have a trailer in a location, that doesn't mean your drivers are going to use it.

Transferring drivers to where you think there are higher paying contracts is also irrelevant. As I said, there will always be jobs generated. It doesn't matter if you have one, three, or five drivers in one small city. And there is no garage location that tends to have a lot of just in time deliveries. They are just generated as such. In any of my garages where I'm at full capacity, there is no shortage of high paying contracts.

I have 90 hired drivers, at various skill levels but mostly highly skilled at this point. I watch them closely, and micromanage their skills. Running a company with hired drivers is just a side activity in ATS.