Route planning: Fast vs Normal vs Economic
Every mission in Drive Your Way asks the same question before you roll: how do you want to drive it? The three route strategies — Fast, Normal, Economic — look like a speed slider, but what they really set is your risk appetite.
What each strategy changes
| Strategy | Time | Accident & damage risk | Use when… |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fast | Shortest | ×2 the baseline | Cargo is cheap and sturdy, or the schedule is worth the gamble |
| Normal | Baseline | ×1 | Default for almost everything |
| Economic | Longest | ×0.5 | Fragile or premium cargo, worn vehicles, rookie drivers |
The risk multiplier applies to both of the per-kilometre rolls the simulation makes against your run: the chance of an accident (a sharp hit: −10% vehicle condition, −5% cargo integrity) and the chance of gradual cargo damage (small hits that add up over distance). Halving or doubling those odds over a 30 km route is not a detail — it is often the whole margin of the contract.
The other risk inputs
Route choice is the multiplier you control per mission, but it multiplies a baseline set by two slower-moving factors:
- Driver skill. A low-skill driver raises the base rate of everything going wrong; a high-skill driver lowers it. The same fast route is a different bet with a 30-skill rookie than an 85-skill veteran.
- Vehicle condition. Wear raises accident chances. A fresh vehicle tolerates a fast route; a worn one turns it into a coin flip.
The mission panel does the honest math for you — it shows accident and damage chance per kilometre for the actual driver, vehicle, and route you have selected. Read it before you commit.
When Fast actually pays
Fast routes buy time, and time is money only when something is waiting on it. Good fast-route candidates:
- Cheap, sturdy cargo — general freight at ×1.0 with high integrity headroom; even a −5% accident hit rarely drops you a payout tier;
- Short legs — risk is per kilometre, so a 4 km sprint has little room to go wrong;
- A skilled driver in a fresh vehicle — the multiplier is doubling a small number.
When Economic pays
Economic routes shine exactly where Fast fails: fragile and electronics loads, whose 25–30% premiums evaporate if you slip below the 90% integrity tier; long hauls, where per-km risk has dozens of chances to bite; worn vehicles limping to their next repair; and rookie drivers you have not learned to trust. Slower money that reliably arrives beats faster money that sometimes does not — a delivery that slips from full pay to the 80% tier has usually cost more than the time you saved.
Per-leg routing on combined runs
Combined multi-stop runs let you pick a strategy per leg, and that is where routing becomes a real craft. A sensible pattern: run empty or cheap legs fast, and switch to normal or economic for the legs where the expensive cargo is on board. The drag-and-drop planner previews each leg, so you can shape risk across the whole run — hustle to the pickups, baby the goods home. See contracts & payouts for the combine bonus math.
Three rules of thumb
- Normal is the default — deviate for a reason, not a mood.
- Never Fast with fragile, premium, or special cargo unless the vehicle is fresh and the driver is excellent.
- Economic on any run where a failed payout tier costs more than the extra minutes — which, with premium cargo, is almost always.