Geddon’s Realistic Economy
The aim of this mod is to scale back the in-game economy so that it reflects more realistic principles. In the game world, deliveries attract crazy sums of money and players very quickly amass huge fortunes. In the real world, however, commercial truck operators (at least in Europe) typically generate just €1-1.5/km in revenue. Of this, as much as 40-50% goes to fuel, 20-30% to maintenance (i.e. licences and registration, insurance, servicing, etc) and 20-30% to driver wages, leaving around 10% (or €0.1-0.15/km) as profit. This mod attempts to restore these simpler values to the game.
A note about hired drivers and ferries: There is a flaw in the way that Euro Truck Simulator 2 calculates the profits earned by drivers that you hire. Things are fine when your hired drivers take inland routes, but profits become too high when a hired driver uses a ferry.* The only way I’ve found to correct for this problem is to dramatically cut ferry prices. Although this has the drawback of breaking immersion, it doesn’t affect gameplay for a human player in any substantive way.** For ultimate realism, I therefore highly recommend that this mod is used in conjunction with my Cheaper Ferries mod.
* For those interested, it appears that the game includes the ferry price in the revenue earned for the trip, but then forgets to subtract this as an expense at the end of the trip, meaning that the driver returns with an artificially high revenue and therefore profit. Although the values in play make this essentially indiscernible in the inflated economy of the base game, it becomes a significant problem in a more realistic economy.
** Ferry costs are nil in quick jobs, and for freight and cargo jobs the revenue received is always adjusted upwards by the exact amount of the ferry trips required on the optimum route for that job. So taking a ferry will generally be revenue-neutral for a human player, no matter how big or small the exact expense is.
Gameplay will suit those seeking greater realism in their travels and/or those looking for a greater degree of challenge than currently exists in the base game. Be warned though – things will not be easy! Just like a real-life truck driver starting off in the industry, you will have to work your way up slowly and carefully. You will need to work for others for a considerable period of time before you can even think about buying your own truck. Building a freight empire will take even longer, and you may never be able to expand beyond one or two well-chosen locations. Even something as simple as planning which job to take next will become an important strategic decision, as the prices of fuel, maintenance and toll roads now play a much more significant role on your bank balance. And the knowledge that a speeding fine or a crash will put a hefty dent in your finances will keep you on your toes wherever you drive. But with greater difficulty comes greater reward: when you finally reach your goal, you’ll know that you’ve earned it!
(* Full list of changes in the change log)
Revenue and profit
When you begin the game as a driver for hire, you will find yourself earning around €0.25/km. When you graduate to owning your own truck you will generate closer to €1/km, although expenses might reduce your profit to a fraction of this (depending on how skilful you become with fuel, safe driving and toll road management). Later on when you start hiring drivers, they may return negative values at first but will eventually settle into earning around €0.1-0.15/km in profit for your company (although note they will now level up more slowly, using the same experience gain formula as you do).
Career progression
Everything is now harder to come by. Experience will be gained at a significantly slower rate to give the feeling of a career gradually developing over time. Income bonuses for level and skill points are also greatly reduced and the fuel efficiency skill bonuses have been scaled back. Experience bonuses for parking have been reduced, but by a smaller amount: you won’t want to use autopark anymore, as those bonuses now have real significance!
Banking
While the initial bank loan amounts have been kept the same, access to this finance is now more difficult. You will need to drive more trips to be offered your first loan, and this will only be for €10,000. The remaining loans will need to be unlocked, with the €400,000 loan only available from level 10. There is also a new €800,000 loan available at level 20. This of course simulates reality (how many banks would lend huge amounts of money to someone who had no assets and had only been driving trucks for a couple of days/weeks?; but conversely, an experienced operator with existing assets might have access to substantial finance). Mercifully though, interest rates have been significantly reduced to reflect the current lower average levels across Europe; loan repayment timeframes have also been extended to a more realistic duration.
Police fines
Most fines have been reduced to reflect more realistic values, although some (e.g. avoiding inspection or driving the wrong way) are still reasonably hefty, and illegal border crossings now cost a more substantial €4,000. Each crash will set you back €1,000 – this is to simulate the need to pay an insurance excess and a potential increase in future premiums (it is assumed that insurance will cover the rest of the damages bill). Offence detection has also been adjusted. Driving while tired, driving the wrong way, driving on the road shoulder, driving a damaged vehicle, speeding and not having lights on at night will never be penalised unless a police car or speed camera is present (after all, how could they be?), and police cars have a generally reduced chance of detecting most offences (as in real life, where police cars are not necessarily watching every little thing that happens on the road). Note also that fines no longer increase with your level.
Fuel prices
While not a feature of this mod, I have provided a list of current fuel prices here. This should help you with your job and route planning. Remember: keeping fuel costs as low as possible is essential to success while using this mod, just like it is for freight companies in real life!
Modified fuel prices: The prices provided by SCS are accurate enough to do the job.
Modified toll or ferry prices: Note that for ultimate realism you will need much lower ferry prices. I recommend using my Cheaper Ferries mod.
Compatible with ETS2 v1.43, v.1.44, v1.45, v1.46. May be compatible with earlier versions, although I haven’t tested this.
Compatible with ProMods (I haven’t tested it with any other map expansions).
Priority: This mod should have the highest priority – place it at the very top of your list in the mod manager.
