New Roadcraft update fixes the realistic simulation game’s two worst problems

Escape From Tarkov, The Forest, and DayZ are renowned as the toughest, most brutal survival games on PC, but frankly, their respective hardships pale in comparison to Roadcraft. Yesterday, I spent two real hours constructing approximately 200 feet of improvised asphalt trail, just so I could comfortably extract a delivery of steel beams from my quarry. Now, that’s videogaming. However, Saber’s realistic driving and hauling sim has so far been beset by a couple of experience-ruining issues. Every Roadcraft player dreads using the paving machine. Likewise, we’ve all run afoul of the…questionable convoy AI. The new Roadcraft update targets these issues directly.

In my own Roadcraft review, I explain how the simulation game is at its best when it finds a middle ground between one-to-one simulation and useful, videogamic conveniences. It’s realistic, but not so much that you become frustrated, feeling as if Roadcraft and its developer are working against you. But there are still a couple of occasions when the pretense slips too far. Let’s talk about the asphalt paver.

It’s slow, it’s cumbersome, and it can barely make it up even the slightest incline. That’s fine – that’s what you’d expect from this vehicle. But the asphalt paver also gets caught on even the slightest little ridge or topographical imperfection; sometimes, it gets stuck on something you can’t even see. You layer your sand, flatten it down, but somehow, the paving machine refuses to budge. This doesn’t feel realistic. It just feels like a bug. Thankfully, Saber is on the case.

In the new update, the especially fussy DS 135A Bunker paver has been rebalanced and retuned for better mobility. “This change should make this asphalt paver stronger and less of a trouble to maneuver,” Saber explains. Hopefully, these tweaks will eventually be rolled out to the entire vehicle class, but for the time being, we at least have one paving machine that’s more reliable.

As for the convoys, you’ve almost certainly experienced that spirit-crushing moment where you build them a road, lay out the perfect route, and set them loose, only to watch the lead vehicle drive straight into a stop sign, or get stuck in a divot because the driver, for some reason, refuses to turn the wheel and reverse out. Put simply, the convoy AI in Roadcraft can be pretty foolish. Again, Saber is making changes.

“Regular convoy vehicles will become more reliable,” the developer says. “With this change we aim at making AI convoys more efficient and better at traversing harsh terrain after the first convoy reaches its destination.”

So, the two biggest issues in Roadcraft are being nixed already. As for the immediate future, Saber has teased a new ‘hard mode’; like Snowrunner, this will force you to manage your fuel consumption, though I’d also like to see the return of manual gear shifting, and maybe a damage system. Let’s hope.

In the meantime, you might want to try some of the best building games, or, if you’re up for a challenge, the best survival games on PC today.

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