Find out the amount of Heavy Cargo required

I just hauled a Dozer Crawl - Z35K from Brno (CZ) to Kassel (D). A dozer like that weighs 39t.

This was done with a Mercedes New Actros on a 449 hp engine. The route isn't particularly flat, so at times I was struggling to stay above 60 km/h while the truck was guzzling 90 litre diesel per 100km (with Ecodriving rank 2). Fun ride, not easy though.

Statistics of the truck used:

The performance was, in short, barely adequate to handle this weight. The cruise control definitely couldn't handle it (downhill went too fast for the motor-brake, uphill it wouldn't come close to cruising speed (usually 80 km/h)). Merging onto the 4 from the 17 near Dresden took a while (taking a tight corner, uphill).

Yes, the game warned me to check whether I could handle such a freight. It explicitly mentioned to check the Heavy Cargo stat. But how high is enough?

How does one calculate or otherwise find out how much Heavy Cargo points one needs (how far the bar is filled up) for a particular job? Some terrains are much worse to traverse than I had on this route.

Note: I'm aware this will unlikely lead to a definitive answer. Anything useful based on data or recorded experiments could be a(n) (partial) answer though. Guesses are not.

When you go into the garage and service your truck, you can do the following thinsg:

• add/reduce horse-power by selecting an engine
• choose your gears (6, 12, 12+2, 14, 16, ...)
• choose your gear ratio (3.96, 2.94, ...)
• choose whether you have a retarder or not (GSO, GSOR, ...)
• choose the wheel layout (6x4, 6x2/2, 4x2, 8x4, Mid-lift, Tag-lift, ...)

All these settings will move the bar for Heavy Cargo either up or down, but at the same time move the bar for Normal Cargo in the opposite direction. Selecting different gears, will move the Hill Traversal indicator in one or the other direction, as will selecting a different wheel layout.

The reason the Normal and Heavy indicators go in the opposite direction is a logical conclusion. This is because a truck with a 750 hp engine with retarder and 6x4 layout is not going to be shifting 6 tonnes of clothes from A to B. However, such a truck will be better suited for pulling a 39 tonnes **Dozer Crawl - Z35K ** from A to B.

You can haul 6 tonnes of clothes with 750 hp, or even some fragile content, but you have to be careful breaking and accelerating as to not damage the cargo.

When you take on a job, the indicators at the top-right will tell you how good your truck is suited for the job. Normally the question mark at Heavy Cargo (when moused-over) will tell you that this parameter is the one require to haul heavy goods.

Personal Experience: I have been able to haul 60 tonnes with a Scania S, 640 hp V8, 12+2 gears, retarder, using the 6x4 layout even in the hillier regions of The Alps and Scandinavia. No problems at all. I do however prefer 8x4 and 750 hp for some trips, because crawling up the hill at 20 km/h is no fun.

After playing over 960 days in game duration and over 744 hours real-time you get to know your engines, different wheel layouts and of course the different terrain on the various trips. And of course the indicator for your truck at the beginning of the job, gives you a good indication of what you can expect from your truck.

The longer you play, the more you get to know the routes and the easier it gets choosing your truck configuration.