American Truck Simulator Beginner’s Guide: How to Use the Job Market, Acquire Skills, & More

American Truck Simulator offers a unique opportunity for its players to experience the thrill of open-road trucking without real-world responsibilities. If you're itching to immerse yourself in the vast landscapes of the United States and build a trucking business while you're at it, here's our American Truck Simulator Beginner's Guide to help you out.

American Truck Simulator Beginner’s Guide: Tips, Tricks, & New Player Walkthrough

This American Truck Simulator Beginner’s Guide highlights information that’ll help you get started in building your digital trucking empire. Here, learn the basics and reward yourself with an enriching truck-driving simulation experience.

Getting Started

It can be tricky and highly challenging to play American Truck Simulator without a truck. So, your first task is to take on jobs until you earn at least $100,000 to buy your first truck. Thankfully, the game rents you a truck to complete objectives. Your first task is to deliver cargo to the specified location. Complete this beginner-friendly objective to gain access to Quick Jobs, which are contracts requested by different companies. Completing these contracts grants you money that you can save to buy a truck to call your own.

Buying a Truck

Also called a tractor unit in American Truck Simulator, you can purchase a truck once you acquire the minimum amount of money from doing Quick Jobs. Choose from a range of available trucks, including the following:

• Freightliner Cascadia
• International 9900i
• International LT
• International LoneStar
• Kenworth T680
• Kenworth W900
• Mack Anthem
• Peterbilt 389
• Western Star 57X

As a proud truck owner, you can then customize the vehicle to truly make it your own. Purchase and use in-game cosmetic items, such as paints and decals, outfit the truck’s exterior. Also, you can buy decorative items, like food and beverages, to decorate the truck’s cabin and interior.

The Job Market

Upon purchasing your truck, you’ll gain access to more jobs. Note that American Truck Simulator divides its jobs into five different types, which are the following:

• Quick Jobs: Work as a driver-for-hire, wherein you must deliver various cargo to specified locations. The cargo options differ based on your current skills and XP level.
• Freight Market: Generally yields higher profit than Quick Jobs. However, you must pay for the materials used to complete the job from your pocket.
• External Contracts: Similar to jobs at the Freight Market, but the job progress and completion are synced to your World of Trucks account.
• Cargo Market: Similar to Freight Market jobs, but you must use your own trailer to deliver cargo. Additionally, any damage accrued to the cargo reduces the XP gain from completing the contract.
• External Market: Take jobs from World of Trucks players.

Skills

American Truck Simulator has a leveling system wherein players gain XP when completing tasks. Progressing through the game also grants skill points, which you can spend to gain abilities. Many of the skills to unlock enable you to take on more lucrative job offers. Below is a general overview of the skills you can learn and improve in American Truck Simulator:

• Hazardous Materials: Unlocking the skills under this tree allows you to load and transport dangerous goods, ranging from dynamite to sulfuric acid.
• Long Distance: Upgrading these skills allows you to take on contracts at far-away destinations.
• High-Value Cargo: Grants access to new cargo types, some of which are fairly profitable, such as cars and yachts.
• Fragile Cargo: Grants access to delicate cargoes, including glass and electronics.
• Just-in-Time Delivery: Delivery jobs with tight delivery windows. However, these jobs typically grant you greater XP than other contracts.
• Eco-Driving: Minimizes fuel consumption.

Levels & Ranks

The highest level attainable in vanilla American Truck Simulator is 150. Additionally, each level gained rewards you with new truck parts. However, these rewards stop after level 36, and the only prizes you'll receive from level 37 onwards are paint jobs. Also, each level bracket in American Truck Simulator has a rank. These ranks are the following:

• Newbie: Levels 0 to 4
• Enthusiast: Levels 5 to 9
• Workhorse: Levels 10 to 14
• Entrepreneur: Levels 15 to 19
• Professional: Levels 20 to 24
• Instructor: Levels 25 to 29
• 18 Wheels of Skill: Levels 30 to 39
• King of the Road: Levels 40 to 49
• Legend: Levels 50 to 99
• Divine Champion: Levels 100 to 150

Buying a Garage and Starting a Fleet

Over time, you may want to purchase a garage. Garages are located in almost every city and can be bought for $180,000. Each garage also has a rest stop to take a breather. Note that you must rest every 14 in-game hours unless the "Fatigue Simulation" feature is disabled. Your garage is also your fleet’s headquarters. Purchasing a tiny garage has a single truck bay. Upgrading the garage increases the number of truck bays, which also adds to the number of trucks you can recruit for your fleet. Once you have more than one truck in your garage, you can then hire drivers at the recruitment agency. Each driver has varying skills and pay ranges. Note that drivers with more experience generally require higher salaries.

CO-OP/Convoy

Online multiplayer in American Truck Simulator is called Convoy. Each multiplayer server can cater to up to eight players. Use this option if you need help from other players in the American Truck Simulator community. Also, playing with other online truck drivers can be fun since you can communicate with them through various forms of communication, including CB radio broadcasts, quick replies, and text chat.