I suggest buy only new trucks from Minneapolis because you will get the more powerful truck, new trucks (less maintenance) and if you wait for the 2 models i suggest, they do not cost too much in weekly fixed cost.

• Two axles: Zed Hauler 1-11
  580 horse power, 10.1 miles per gallon and only 1000$ per week.
  Uses: drybox and reefer trailers
  
  
• Four axles: Zed Hauler R14
  600 horse power, 10.0 miles per gallon and 4000$ per week.
  Uses: dumper, flatbed, livestock, tanker and car platform.

I suggest only to buy those because it will make your life easyer to change the trailer for a different ones. Also getting more power will increase the travel speed and so your ability to complete fast contracts.

• Campaign mode:
  - Headquarter: you will not have any choice but to start in Augusta.
  - Depots: you will need to complete a long part of the campaign mode before being able to buy another depot and i suggest you place it near the cities where you have client level IV with some business.
  
  
• Quest mode:
  - Headquarter: i suggest you start in the middle of the map, it make it easyer for you to travel.
  - Depots: in this mode you will need to complete many tasks and need various trailers and contracts from different business. Make it easyer to complete them by picking a new depot far from your headquarter.
  
  
• Sandbox mode:
  - Headquarter: same as the quest mode, it is better to place it in a middle map area.
  - Depots: in this mode it is better to pick new depots close to your working cities. You will get more reputation with some business and usually creating trade routes, place a new depot close from them. I do not suggest to complete long contracts early in game because of the maintenance.

In this section i will not talk about the campaign mode since you do not have real choices about what you do and where you go but you can apply some hints in this mode either.

In the mission mode you will be prompted to do some specific things so either there you have less choices but this guide will still help you a lot.

1) You start with a truck that cost heavy maintenance, when you get the first $128,222 is is a good idea to replace your truck with a Zed Hauler 1-11 in the Minneapolis vendor. If you did not pick a refer trailer it is a good idea to start with one of them because the contracts give more money and are available everywhere.

2) Replace your first driver for a pure "no skill" driver that cost between 30 and 35 cents per mile. They can drive drybox and refeer trailer without any risk of being caugh without the appropriate licence.

3) Now that you have a good truck with the 70000 miles available before maintenance i suggest you do 1 way contracts to explore the map. You start at your headquarter and take any 1 trip contract to go anywhere close and discover new cities.

*** take into consideration that the more you increase your reputation everywhere on the map, the more job applications you will get from new drivers ***

4) Fast enough you will get enough money to buy a second truck and trailer. A new Zed Hauler 1-11 with a refer trailer will cost $176,141. When you get your second truck i suggest you take them together to a new 2 trips contract. What i am usually doing is unlock 2 cities business that will get me even numbers trips with 1 truck requirement. In this way, i make sure that the contracts will be respected in time and it is easyer to get a return contract that will also be completed in time safely.

When you start i suggest you get "no licences" drivers because they do not cost too much and can bring in a lot of money.

Each time you get a message that you have new drivers the best is go look at them and hire what you need. Remember that you want them to work in team. I suggest you first hire a "refer" team first because they are low wage, open a lot of new clients and the most important is they can go almost anywhere to build up your reputation. If you pick the good truck they gonna go fast and never go late on the contracts.

Now what to look at when you hire a new driver?
The first thing is to remember that you dont want them to stay in the depot/HQ, you want them to complete contracts wich will bring in new money. So forget the weekly salary, just look at the wage per mile.



If you hire them when they are available, you can build a very good team that will not cost too much per miles with 1 or 2 spares for replacements. What is 300$ per week to save a raise per miles when they do a lot of miles per week?

The acceptable wage per miles is from 30-35 cents per miles, when they ask for a raise, just never accept unless you have no spare to replace them. If the driver choose to stay then your good, if not you have a spare and just replace him/her when he/she arrive at the depot.

After a lot of good management, you will for sure get new 4 axels trucks and start another team with licenced drivers. This is the harder part because they very often have too many licences and they ask way too much for a thrifty manager like us. The first thing to determine is what will be your next trailer team. This depend of the available custommers but one good start is with the livestock trailers if you did many refer because there will be many routes openned from those customers.

You want to hire ONE licence drivers, look often for them. If you look at the picture down here you will see i builded a good team that doesn't cost much and i have a spare driver in case one want to bring in the union or ask for a raise. :)

The acceptable wage per miles for them should never go over 55 cents per miles. If you have no real choices and want to build a good trade route fast you may have to hire a high salary one but make sure you fire him/her has soon you get a hand on a one licence driver to replace him/her.