Additions to DOT and changes to FD

I have a suggestion that will add some complexity to the game. Right now, in DOT we have flatbed truck and wrecker, plus rotator truck as an extension. My suggestion is to make this department full on utility’s. I mean water,gas electric emergency’s. We already have power line calls and water main breaks. Who’s going to fix them? Now, the complex part. Make this an extension but make it similar to the quint and rescue. A person can’t buy this extension until they hit a certain level. This keeps the player from having to think too far into the future and keeps the older players engaged by adding another thing to add to the ever growing departments. There is certainly ways to improve on my suggestion and I was originally thinking its own department but a tie in with DOT would make sense to save some costs. Also side note, remove the fire department cost increase please.

Quote from ChiefBoden61

This will do nothing but add missions to the game that some of us who have large set ups (entire stat of Fla) can't finish without going back and adding these extensions and buying more vehicles to bring the set up into compliance. The cost would be huge, basically and unfunded mandate.

Dude, I’m not very good at finding out the statistics or whatever your saying. What I simply asked was for feedback to make it better. Yes the cost would be higher. Why do you think I said put a level minimum on it? Yes it will add missions but dot is a small department right now and is in need of growth. It adds more realism and also, you should be set up to adapt to new additions. You don’t have to bring the set up to compliance until you want to, just like other extensions. All I’m proposing is adding power, water and gas utility vehicles. It’s really for the community to find and make this idea better while not stressing out a new player.

Quote from Mozza

Are Power, Gas and Water vehicles emergency services in the US? Cause this is an emergency services game. I figured it was kinda implied that when a mission is completed by fire/police, and involves electricity/water/gas, that those services have turned up and done their job. All the firefighters/police are there to do is to make the scene safe. And that's also what I assume for car accidents as well on the AU server (I'm hoping we don't get tow trucks, they are not an emergency service)

They can be. Some smaller towns may have utility mixed with the emergency services. They are considered emergency service technically cause they help fix utilities in emergencies. It’s technically the same with tow trucks. For example, if there is a MVA vs. pole, what usually happens near me is the rescue and police come, then they bring the tow truck in. After that they wait for the power company. While yes they can be emergency services in some parts of the country, others may not consider it that way. My other thing to point out is tow trucks, gas, power and water trucks usually have flashing yellow lights when working. I bring this up cause fire trucks have flashing lights and are emergency vehicles so technically that would make utilities a emergency vehicle.

Quote from ChiefBoden61

Not finding fault but merely passing an opinion. My set up covers the entire state of Florida and parts of Georgia and Alabama with Fire/EMS/Police/Coast Guard/Hospitals/Clinics and the cost to add that in order to be able to complete missions even over time would be astronomical. If they add those the extensions should be optional and no missions requiring them should generate unless you chose to activate the extension.

What makes you say the cost would be astronomical? I haven’t said anything about pricing and it probably would be in range, if not the same or lower then most other departments. For all we know, it could cost around 450k to get an add on for gas, electric and water(300k) plus 2 service vans(20k), vacuum excavator(25k) for water. For electric, 2 bucket trucks(10k) one pole truck(a truck that can bring a new pole to a scene)(15k) and a boom truck(10k). For gas you could get a backhoe with a utility truck and trailer(40k) utility truck(5k) and hydro vac truck(can share trailer with backhoe)(20k). Please note that some of these trucks, like a backhoe and service trucks, can be shared across all three services.

Quote from ChiefBoden61

Yes.....but my set up covers more than 100 counties in Florida, Georgia and Alabama and when you have to purchase all that "stuff" to have adequate response, it is going to be a steep amount of $$$. All I am saying is careful what you wish for.

And what I’m saying is it’s really not going to be much of an issue because you can purchase them at your own pace, just like everything else. AARF is expensive yet I don’t hear you complaining about that extension. All I’m saying is add more content to DOT, it need it.

Quote from ChiefBoden61

Yes.....but my set up covers more than 100 counties in Florida, Georgia and Alabama and when you have to purchase all that "stuff" to have adequate response, it is going to be a steep amount of $$$. All I am saying is careful what you wish for.

Also just wanna point out your one person. I have support for this. Don’t be that guy to ruin an idea for others please. This is better then doing nothing and sometimes a game has to think of ways to innovate. Ya it’s going to cost money, so what. You spend money on everything you buy in the game whether it’s buying a new station or expansion. Players will adapt just like they did with the storage update or the DOT update.

Quote from SlowLNF

Utilities are not emergency services at all. Adding them feels like stretching the game towards being a city builder.

If they were to be added, they would have to create new buildings for them, not extensions. They wouldn't make sense as extensions onto any current buildings. I'm not completely opposed to the idea of adding utilities, but it's definitely not at the top of my list of wants either.

Also, the increase in cost for fire and police departments won't be removed, by time those start increasing for you, you should be making enough credits that it doesn't effect you too much.

And your last reply to ChiefBoden only hurts your request. When you propose ideas, you have to be willing to take both positive and negative feedback. Choosing to attack anyone giving you a different viewpoint only makes more people disagree with you.

Display More

Utility’s are emergency services. Without them power, water and gas would not be fixed for many days which means people would die. Yes they may not seem like real emergency services but also need to remember that fire departments don’t fix power wires, the power company does. All I’m proposing is a new extension. It would just be an extension and would work the same way as dot does right now. For example my nyc station has dot so when I get a call for a car issue they are needed but when I go to my St. Louis station and I get that same call, they aren’t needed cause I have no dot there. Also my reply to chief was reasonable. He has been non-stop complaining. If he doesn’t want it then downvote and leave it at that. The people who don’t want it just don’t want to spend money on something new. That is understandable yet you have adapted to everything else added and you will most likely do the same for forthcoming updates. We need something exciting to build besides just a tow truck station at dot. This is that exciting addition.

Quote from Mozza

I'm also in agreeance with Boden (which is rare). I reckon most players (myself included) wouldn't want this to be added. Majority of people weren't happy when tow trucks were added, so they'd be even less happy with this

Well then don’t buy it. It’s a simple thing of if you don’t want the extension then don’t buy or invest in it or wait to buy it.