Winching is always an option, but I see it more as a crutch. 'Heavy' trucks usually carry less cargo, but can pull 'medium' ones with more cargo through. A convoy like this takes more micromanagement, because it's very easy to get caught on things or flip the truck in the back, but it should still be faster since you're getting 2 trucks and 3x the cargo through at the same time. Things like this is what made Spintires/Mudrunner so interesting to me. And don't forget there is coop. Solving problems like this in a group and having a support vehicle with you is serious fun and eye candy! I've not picked up Snowrunner, but I have over 600 hours in Mudrunner. Setting up rescue missions as a team was really fun. Drop your cargo nearby, detach the trailer, winch to a heavier truck, lower yourself into the ditch, pick up all the dropped logs in one go .... those were fun times. Sadly MR devolved into overpowered mod trucks and people doing their own thing before quitting. Combined with the poor multiplayer implementation and mod management, it eventually ruined the fun for me and I forgot about the series. You're tempting me to pick up Snowrunner, but I'm a bit worried I'll find nobody to play the early game with, because SR isn't new and already got DLCs. Paying 70+ (with DLCs) blindly for a game that hasn't improved as much as I'd like isn't something I'm willing to do. But I'm enjoying this little series so far. I just don't like the American vehicles. ^^ I fell in love with the Kamaz 4310, Ural 375 and MAZ 543. I know anything Russian isn't too popular these days, but maybe you can show those off one day.
Thanks for the great feedback! I do know about other techniques like using a larger truck to pull a smaller truck through. That's a pretty common technique for me (and you can see me doing that at the very end of this video where my Kolob is towing an International HX 520 behind it). I've been taking multiple trucks instead of a truck and trailer to avoid needing to sell that trailer later as well. Co-op is also how I got started in SnowRunner. Logged about 200 hours exclusively with a couple friends. If we do more co-op I may record it for the channel. I like the Russian trucks as well. Some of them are really unique and fun. I'll make sure they show up in my vids as well! The game is fun, but not having people to play if with is a legit concern. Honestly it's way better in co-op because you can tackle missions together and they get done so much faster. Solo it can feel like a slog sometimes, especially early game.
Geez, I get low key anxiety just from watching. I don't drive big rigs like this, but like anybody driving in different conditions with just under 3.5t transport van, I've been in a couple of situations where I was stuck in either just wet grass, wet and soft ground, ice, snow, uneven terrain... Usually couple of helping hands is enough, sometimes a farmer's tractor had to pull me out. You know, things happen, sometimes you don't know you'll get stuck, sometimes you think you can make it but you just don't. ;) 4x4 and differential lock would probably save me from some trouble, alas... I only had front or rear wheel drive trucks. My respect to truck drivers doing this all year long, they sure have a lot on their heads when entering risky terrain. Heck, even normal, unassuming terrain can be difficult because of weather. I remember a rig being stuck on a road just besides my house, all it took was one side going off the road a little tiny bit, in the winter. Boom, he's stuck, and a tractor had a hard time getting it out as well, because of the sheer mass, icy road and the truck progressively tipping to the off road side...
Mostly I just run trailer mods. I have a couple of modded trucks, but I don't honestly use them too often. Instead I've mostly taken to modding the base game myself. The files are easy to edit once you know how to pack and unpack them. Mostly I've just done things like give all trucks AWD and Diff Lock options, remove the region restrictions on sales, and give some of the underwhelming trucks a lift and/or one more size of tires. The goal is just to make it so I can still use early game trucks later on, even if they aren't the best choice. It's fun to be able to use more than just a small handful of endgame trucks still.
Yes, there is a great mod by ElfVierzehn that sets all of the fuel tank sizes to approximately what each truck has in the real world. It also re-balances fuel economy so that you don't need to scatter fuel tanker trailers all around the map just to get from A to B anymore. It's a manual install but I highly recommend it.
