How to find higher-level drivers to hire?

[Mantha]

I've discovered 37 hiring agencies, yet the max level I can hire drivers at is 1.7.
I was under the impression that to find higher level drivers, you just had to find more hiring agencies.

[Reese]

It has been a while for me, but if I recall correctly, discovering more agencies does not affect anything. Does not increase the pool of drivers or the ability of drivers. I think their level is based on your level and are maxed at a certain point. Might be 1.7.

[rhuffp]

The more agencies you find gives you a larger pool of drivers to choose from. While their levels may not be much higher, they do have different skills to choose from. The max amount of drivers available is still the same no matter how many agencies you discover.

[Smokerbait]

Originally posted by Mantha:

I've discovered 37 hiring agencies, yet the max level I can hire drivers at is 1.7.
I was under the impression that to find higher level drivers, you just had to find more hiring agencies.

I believed the same thing, but it appears there must be other factors at play. I've only discovered 25 Hiring Agencies, and yet I was recently able to hire drivers with a 2.5 and 3.3 skill rating.

And just now, there's someone with a 4.2 rating available.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3282228825

Keep in mind this isn't over a long stretch of time. I've only started hiring drivers recently, although I have been more actively discovering Hiring Agencies because, again, I thought finding more lead to better quality drivers.

Maybe it's just bad luck on your part. Maybe a bug. Who knows?

[The Pitts]

The existence of drivers with levels above 2 or 3 has nothing to do with how many agencies you've discovered and everything to do with how old your profile is and what level you were at at the time new drivers were added to the list (see https://steamcommunity.com/app/270880/discussions/0/4334230493284854235/#c4334230664481219592 for a more complete explanation).

From the screenshot I am going to guess that you were fairly early in your truck driving career - level 16 to 20 perhaps - when ATS v1.46 was released because Lucas L was added with that update (back in November 2022) and their attributes in that screenshot indicate they are level 12.

[Uncle Fester]

I am of the opinion that it depends on your level. Me, at somewhere between 36-40, I am finding drivers of around 2.5 skill rating. Nice to know that there are higher rated hires out there of 3.3 and 4.2

[Smokerbait]

So given the information provided by The Pitts, and the explanation given in his link, if I were to start a new profile, and no new drivers are added, going out of my way to find new Hiring Agencies would be a waste of time, because it doesn't matter if I have two pages worth of recruits to hire from, or ten pages, they'll all be around the same low level.

Kind of disappointing, really. I mean I guess having more opportunity to find someone with that one or two skill points in categories you want might be okay, but at that low a level, it really doesn't matter.

Kinda sucks. There's no incentive now to going out of your way to unlock more agencies. Just hire whoever because it doesn't matter.

[Uncle Fester]

I understand your statement Smokerbait. I only "discover" them to remove a "?" from my map..

[The Pitts]

Originally posted by Smokerbait:

There's no incentive now to going out of your way to unlock more agencies

If your only selection criteria is the driver's starting XP then that is the case. If you have other criteria (whether related to the individual skills, names or faces) then having more drivers to choose from each time might be helpful.

[Heli_Professor]

I'm Level 40 with a rating of 10.0, and I have occasionally seen lvl 2.5 drivers and I've been waiting to see more of them before I hire anyone else. I went around thinking like you guys did and tried to discover more agencies thinking it was going to give me a better selection of drivers. I've never seen anything higher than 2.5