Hired Drivers/Management, New Trucks, Income, Offices, & Related Questions.

Strummer · #8 03-10-2011, 12:30 AM

I'm curious about the "Felonies" that appear on prospective drivers' resumes.

If they have felonies, are they likely to be denied certain assignments once they reach a warehouse?

Or could it be that a driver with a ranking in (for instance) the low 700s who has committed a felony will perform at the level of a felony-free driver ranked in, say the mid-900s?

In other words, are prospective drivers with a "Yes" in the "Felonies" box less desirable, as they may be denied some work, or are they more desirable as employees, as the stigma of their criminal records may be artificially lowering their ranking (and consequently the wages you need to pay them)?

Another possibility is that it makes no difference at all, but if so, I can't see why the extra bit of programming required to include this feature was deemed necessary.

There must be a reason for the inclusion of this bit of driver data...right?

Tangentially, I would like to note that I may finally have made a post in the correct thread. Imagine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuallyDiesel

When you purchase a truck, let's say an extra truck, it wont let me choose the trucks for other drivers. they are automatically assigned a truck, and for some reason they are using a truck I don't want them to use. Any way around this?

If you've got two drivers, one with a high percentage of wins and the other who handles fragile loads well, and two trucks, one with a maxed-out engine and base suspension and the other with base engine and maxed-out suspension, the competition driver will tend to gravitate toward the faster truck, and the other toward the one with more load protection.

This is with truck selection set to "Auto". You may also set the truck selection criteria for each driver manually.

In the "Manage Drivers" window, you will see a "Truck Selection" box (I think that's what it's called...shockingly, I don't have R'n'R going right now), with a button marked "Auto" at the bottom, and three sliders inside, one each for speed, load protection, and wear.

If you have a driver (Driver A) for whom speed is the primary criteria in truck selection, move the "Speed" slider to the right.

If you have a driver (Driver B) who doesn't win many competitions but has a high fragility rating, move the "Load Protection" slider to the right.

(This assumes you have already adjusted their assignment settings)

Suppose you have a third driver (Driver C), who does pretty good in competition, and handles fragile loads as well as Driver B, and a third truck. You'd want to set the "Load Protection" slider to the right in Diver C's settings as well, and you'd also want to set the "Speed" slider towards the right as well, although perhaps not as far as you did for driver A.

So, if you move driver A's Speed slider all the way to the right, and load protection all the way to the left, his truck will be selected based on speed, with no consideration to load protection.

If you move Driver C's Speed all the way to the right as well, but move load protection even slightly away from the far left, speed will be just as big a factor in choosing a vehicle, but it will choose the fastest vehicle with the best suspension (or a compromise thereof).

This will give them the best truck for the job...or in any case, it will give them the truck that best matches what you have determined are important characteristics for each driver to have in a truck.

Note: Setting "Speed" all the way to the right may not translate into a driver getting the fastest truck. It just means that speed is a greater priority in assigning that driver a vehicle.

If your drivers are selecting trucks based primarily on speed, and the truck you would like to keep in reserve as your own is the fastest one there, they will be assigned that truck, as it is the most efficient allocation of your company's resources.

EDIT:

Here's a potentially useful tip: Before you park your personal reserve truck, downgrade the engine or suspension (whatever feature they're looking for when they take it). Then, once you want to drive it again (using the My Truck button), take it to a truck stop and have the upgrades re-installed. The truck shops always reimburse you in full when you downgrade to a lower-priced option, and only charge for parts on upgrades (labor is apparently free), so you won't lose any money by doing this.