Having a hard time deciding which garage to choose in the 3 states...any suggestions?

[IanTheStanMan]

Hello there,

As I have played this game, thousands of times, I've known for quite some time that you can choose 12 garages out of 3 states. But the main problem is, which city location is best to start in? I've started in lots of cities, but can't find the one that is preferred by most. The garage locations are as follows:

In California: San Francisco, Sacramento, Bakersfield, Fresno, Los Angeles and San Diego.

In Nevada: Las Vegas, Elko and Reno.

In Arizona: Flagstaff, Tucson and Phoenix.

I'll be even more confused by the time New Mexico comes out, probably you'd be able to start in Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

But out of these 3 states, 12 cities, which do you think is a better option? Can't decide at the moment anyways.

Thanks!

- Ian

[Ornery]

Personally I think it's best to start central. My first garage has always been Reno.

[Iridium]

I don't recommend San Francisco. It might seem tempting because it's close to several other cities (like the Dusseldorf start in ETS2), but it's fairly difficult to actually get around there because the depots are fairly far from both the garage and the city exits.

Las Vegas, Bakersfield, and Sacramento seem like they'd be good choices, since they're either centrally located or provide easy access to a lot of cities you can discover early on.

[D3s0lat10n]

since i've ad ats i've found elko to be a good start .. it also has a kw store there as well if you're into kw's

[wolfedg]

I generally use either Elko or Tucson for my start and buy those two plus Sacramento for my other garages. Only other place I have considered for a garage so far is Las Vegas, but atm it is too slow getting in and out of there, peraps once UT is in place that will change.

[ttower]

I think that Pheonix is a good start, because it is in a more interesting place to drive, due to different road architecture, and there are many businesses to take jobs from. Tuscon is also similar, bt a little farther from the rest of the map

[KnightRider]

Phoenix is good, for the reasons mentioned above. Bakersfield is bad in my opinion, because traffic is most always backed up in front of your garage...very busy road.

[Fury6]

Originally posted by KnightRider:

[...] because traffic is most always backed up in front of your garage...very busy road.

Does that really matter? I've seen my HQ garage (Reno) maybe 5 times at *most* since I first rolled out of it about 800,000 miles ago.

[Soharuda]

I generally choose one from the corner of the map and the second garage I buy being centered, then on the opposite side of map. It's all in general preference but I would explore the different possibilities first to figure out what town you like better.

[jayess65]

Dude,,, you played the game 1000's of times and need strangers to tell you your preference ? Who cares what's "preferred by most" ? Just pick one. I very much doubt that it makes THAT much difference. I picked Phoenix. Why ? I like Phoenix in real life. I doubt that something like "Bakersfield is bad in my opinion, because traffic is most always backed up in front of your garage." is going to make any difference to the simulation of getting jobs for your drivers. SCS can barely write usable AI code, so I doubt that they're THAT clever.

[Sky_Goddess]

Just avoid San Francisco. I thought it would be a cool city to start in ... well that was until I realised the AI just kept coming and coming and coming around the same corner. I got fed up and moved my garage to Reno.

[Fury6]

Honestly, I feel like some people here are playing a different game than I am. When you first start the game it doesn't matter what the local traffic situation is around your HQ since Quickjobs are your only choice and you can take *any* Quickjob you care for no matter where it's located.

For me, when I was finally able to buy my own vehicle I picked my first job out of my HQ location (so yes, I might have had to deal with traffic that ONE time), rolled out of town towing that first load... then only ever saw my HQ again over a quarter of a million miles later!

My whole life in-game is spent on the road, I mean, my HQ could well be in *Egypt* for all the difference it would make. There are certainly some technical differences from one location to another but in practice it makes so little difference which one you choose it's not even worth noting.

You might decide to choose a location where your drivers have more job choices over the shorter distances that they're able to range for them in the beginning, perhaps. Beyond that there's little else to consider and even then you can't really make a *bad* choice, only a 'less than optimal' one.

Just sayin' :P