ATS AI

[Buckshot]

When I started playing ATS, the other vehicles on the highways and roads had a certain amount of AI, which was nice in some respects but a nightmare in another respect. Just recently I started a new ATS profile and started over. This evening (real time) I completed my first 24+ hour trip. During that time, I make a lot of observations of how AI traffic behaves and I compared it to how it once was. It seems most, if not all, AI is gone from the game. For example, I would be traveling along a highway or freeway and a 4 wheeler would merge onto it. They wouldnt slow down or anything, even if you were right beside them. I got myself into a fine little accident because I was in the right lane and there was another vehicle in the left lane beside me. Then a 4 wheeler merged onto the highway or freeway. At that second, I only had 2 choices....either swerve into the car in the left lane to avoid hitting the merging car, or hit the merging car. I chose the first one. Big fine for that. Then a number of miles further down the highway, I came across another similar situation but with another 18 wheeling merging. I quickly jumped into the left lane to avoid the other truck hitting me.
There was a time in ATS when vehicles would slow down if there was another vehicle near by on the highway/freeway. What happened to that AI? In which update did SCS abandon that AI? The AI vehicles now are reckless. Even the cops in ATS are reckless and drive crazy. Just yesterday I was doing one of those special events where you get police escort/pilot. The cop in front of me brake checked me a few times for no reason. Mind you, it was during the night so maybe the cop was tired and fell asleep at the wheel. Anywho...the AI in this game is crazy now.

[ten76]

They changed the AI a while back because the AI was too cautious when merging, which often resulted in long lines of vehicles standing still on the on ramp. Lots of people probably complained about that. To fix that they allowed the AI to merge without waiting for a clear lane. Now the AI in right lane slows down to let other AI merge from the on ramp. That makes the traffic flow better if you are on the onramp, but it unfortunatly also makes the AI ignore real traffic rules.

[mojo_musica]

You should not drive in the game like you would in real life, doing so will not end well.
The AI traffic follows an algorithm and follow it very strictly. Learn how the algorithm works and what they are programmed to do, then all will be good.
The AI cannot see you, or make decisions about what you will do, so don't expect them to be able to react.
They will react to correct use of indicators and give way at appropriate times, but all vehicles have a "bounding box" which surrounds them and is the limit of how close you can get and is used to indicate collisions with vehicles and scenery. Tailgate something and they will probably stop, and expecting them to see you at a ramp isn't going to happen. The police car that stopped is probably because you got too close behind it, maintain the distance they are when they start and it should be OK.
Over the years I have seen so many complaints about the AI behaviour and could not understand what the problem was.
I know now that it is people who try and drive as they do IRL and people who don't actually drive IRL who find the AI a problem, plus the players who deliberately speed and drive recklessly. I cannot remember the last time I had a crash in ETS2 or ATS, in 2,300 hours of play.

[ten76]

Originally posted by mojo_musica:

Over the years I have seen so many complaints about the AI behaviour and could not understand what the problem was.

People expect the AI to behave according to real traffic rules and when the AI does not they complain about it. Seems pretty logical to me.

[Buckshot]

Originally posted by ten76:

Originally posted by mojo_musica:

Over the years I have seen so many complaints about the AI behaviour and could not understand what the problem was.

People expect the AI to behave according to real traffic rules and when the AI does not they complain about it. Seems pretty logical to me.

I agree. Afterall this is a driving simulator. In this case a truck driving simulator, so normal people would expect some resemblance to normal driving. If this is the case now that the AI is stupid, SCS should do away with collision fines due to the idiotic AI, as well as do away with repair costs due to the stupid AI. I gotta say, I liked the AI much better before. Sure it caused a few issues but it was more realistic than what we now have. Perhaps as AI advances, so will the game.

[Wolfgang]

Originally posted by Buckshot:

Originally posted by ten76:

People expect the AI to behave according to real traffic rules and when the AI does not they complain about it. Seems pretty logical to me.

I agree. Afterall this is a driving simulator. In this case a truck driving simulator, so normal people would expect some resemblance to normal driving. If this is the case now that the AI is stupid, SCS should do away with collision fines due to the idiotic AI, as well as do away with repair costs due to the stupid AI. I gotta say, I liked the AI much better before. Sure it caused a few issues but it was more realistic than what we now have. Perhaps as AI advances, so will the game.

No, it is a Truck Simulator as the title of the game suggests. The game is simulating trucks. If it were to simulate truck driving then it would be called Truck Driving Simulator.

Also, the game doesn't decide on fault. You are getting fined for being involved.

[Buckshot]

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

Originally posted by Buckshot:

I agree. Afterall this is a driving simulator. In this case a truck driving simulator, so normal people would expect some resemblance to normal driving. If this is the case now that the AI is stupid, SCS should do away with collision fines due to the idiotic AI, as well as do away with repair costs due to the stupid AI. I gotta say, I liked the AI much better before. Sure it caused a few issues but it was more realistic than what we now have. Perhaps as AI advances, so will the game.

No, it is a Truck Simulator as the title of the game suggests. The game is simulating trucks. If it were to simulate truck driving then it would be called Truck Driving Simulator.

Also, the game doesn't decide on fault. You are getting fined for being involved.

Please note that the game is called American Truck Simulator. It is supposed to be a simulator of truck driving. :) Perhaps SCS forgot the fact this is a truck driving SIMULATOR. Perhaps SCS needs to rename this game to Truck Driving Game.

[Wolfgang]

Originally posted by Buckshot:

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

No, it is a Truck Simulator as the title of the game suggests. The game is simulating trucks. If it were to simulate truck driving then it would be called Truck Driving Simulator.

Also, the game doesn't decide on fault. You are getting fined for being involved.

Please note that the game is called American Truck Simulator. It is supposed to be a simulator of truck driving. :) Perhaps SCS forgot the fact this is a truck driving SIMULATOR. Perhaps SCS needs to rename this game to Truck Driving Game.

No, it is simulating trucks as per title of the game. Where in the title of the game do you see the word driving?
This game is simulating trucks. And it does this very well.

[Buckshot]

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

Originally posted by Buckshot:

Please note that the game is called American Truck Simulator. It is supposed to be a simulator of truck driving. :) Perhaps SCS forgot the fact this is a truck driving SIMULATOR. Perhaps SCS needs to rename this game to Truck Driving Game.

No, it is simulating trucks as per title of the game. Where in the title of the game do you see the word driving?
This game is simulating trucks. And it does this very well.

LOL OMG this thread is not going anywhere. This will be my last comment on this thread. LOL.

As per the name of this game, one should conclude that this is a truck driving simulator even if the word driving is not actually in the title. Even Spock would agree that my statement is logical. LOL. Have a great day Wolfgang :))

[DragonIV]

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

Also, the game doesn't decide on fault. You are getting fined for being involved.

Can't comment on fault decisions for fines, but you don't always get charged for an accident. I've been in lots of collisions, and many do not issue fines. Example from last night's session: Highway is intersecting with another and doing a cloverleaf merge with it. As I'm passing over the other highway and begin the curve to reorient to match this highway, I take note of the right lane closure sign and move over (there's very light traffic). This is in CA, so I'm doing 55, and a sports car doing 65 decides to stay in the right lane and attempt to pass.

He didn't make it, and bounced off the end of my trailer. No accident sound, no fine, but his hazards came on and his car came to a stop. He was definitely at fault, but have had plenty of other merge mishaps that do get charged. I look it it like weigh stations--sometimes you get hit, and sometimes you don't. :D

[mojo_musica]

Originally posted by ten76:

Originally posted by mojo_musica:

Over the years I have seen so many complaints about the AI behaviour and could not understand what the problem was.

People expect the AI to behave according to real traffic rules and when the AI does not they complain about it. Seems pretty logical to me.

Unfortunately, complaining about it will not change their behaviour, or the fact that you'll still have to drive according to their rules or you'll get hit. Whether the rules are accurate to real life isn't relevant, they are what the game runs on.
If you want different AI, try here:
The location for suggestions is on the wishlist thread at the SCS Forums:
https://forum.scssoft.com
https://forum.scssoft.com/viewforum.php?f=5


This is the Steam player to player forum, NOT SCS, the actual game developers.
Sadly, nobody on here can "fix" anything in the game itself, we can only help and advise players.

[MirkoC407]

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

No, it is a Truck Simulator as the title of the game suggests. The game is simulating trucks. If it were to simulate truck driving then it would be called Truck Driving Simulator.

If it is simulating trucks it does a poor job, don't you think? Where are all those complex systems they left out because they are not needed for pure driving? Like refilling of diesel and AdBlue / DEF should be separate then. Because that is how refilling a truck works. A simulated one as well as the real one. Why is the brake then simplified?
Let's face it - of course is the game about driving the truck - for what else would you simulate a truck and a map full of roads to drive on? If it was just about simulating a truck, the driver training camp from Scania Truck Simulator would do the job and save a lot of work that could be directed to improve simulating the truck.
Repairing a truck? Well, it does not break, nothing to fix here. So this can't be the point either.
But maybe you can elaborate a litte more, what exactly about a truck the game simulates? You can't "simulate a truck" for just simulating a truck. The player has to do something with it. And if for ETS2 / ATS that something it is not driving, I don't know what else...

[high.ol.guy]

wolfgang has said the same thing in multiple threads, its his go to phrase.

[Brittimus]

Guys this is ridiculous. The game isn't simulating trucks. It's simulating American Trucks. It's right there in the name.

[TB-Death2-U]

The answer to the merging situation is simple.
If you see a vehicle on the ramp and know you will meet at the same time, move over or slow down.
How hard is that? And yes the same applies irl.
Happy Trucking.

[Crystal Pink 🦋🦄]

This game is anything but simulator, I haven't played it since the release of Texas and the annoying stutter at night, and especially because of the dumber AI compared to several previous versions of the game, I remember that on long drives there were no accidents at intersections , because those Ai could detect you, now in a short trip I had 5 accidents because they do not stop and they are completely blind, so it is useless to call it a simulator, when it became clearly arcade, It was my fave game of all the time, but not anymore.