Night Plough advanced tips and hidden numbers

This page is for players who want top pay on every night. It lists numbers the game uses but does not show on screen, taken from the game itself. In short: plough fast, get the bus to its stop within three minutes, look after the delivery van, and leave little snow on the town's roads.

All numbers on this page are hidden numbers: the game uses them, but you won't see them written on screen.

Hidden timers

The night's clock only runs while you drive. Menus, the map and Tools stop it.

Being late lowers the on-time pay little by little. A vehicle that is 2 minutes late, or never arrives, earns nothing for being on time. The map's bus and van cards count down the seconds, so you can check how you are doing. How pay is split is on the money page.

How deep is too deep?

On night 1 the town's roads start with about 4 to 6 cm of snow, so they are passable. The snow piles are the problem:

Night-by-night numbers

Each pile is about 20 metres long. The four cones stand at its two ends, and the snow is deepest in the middle. On nights 4 and 6 there is also about 19 cm of extra snow on Depot road in the last stretch before West junction.

What this means:

• Night 3 snows the most. About 1.5 cm a minute: a road you ploughed five minutes ago is close to stopping the bus again. Work fast and in order.
• Night 5 is the coldest and the windiest. The wind blows loose snow off the road into the snowbank on one side, and only sand helps on the ice.
• Salt only works above -8 °C. So it does nothing on nights 2 and 5. More on the sand and salt page.

Sand on black ice: the exact trick

The black ice on North square is so slick that the bus needs a fair amount of sand on it. One pass at Normal is just short of enough. Two passes, or one pass with How much: A lot, does the job. Driving slower does not put down more sand: you get the same amount per metre at any speed. Cars and the bus wear sand off as they drive, so sand right before the bus comes, not long before.

Speed, fuel and the hopper

A night's route is far shorter than a tank, so you will hardly ever need Refill at the depot. If you run out of fuel anyway, Return truck to the depot gives you at least a fifth of a tank.

Bumps and lamps

• A bump costs about 1 kr for each metre per second you were driving, so up to about 15 kr. Very soft touches cost nothing.
• Bumps close together count once.
• A street lamp tips over if you hit it faster than walking pace. It stays down, with its light out, until the night is over.

Getting top pay

1. Plough the piles in route order. The bus follows you, so a clean route ahead of it is everything.
2. Make each pile two passes wide. The bus needs both wheels under 8 cm.
3. Don't wait for the bus at the stop. Pull over, so the bus can get by.
4. Check the van. On nights 1 to 5, open the map once. If the van says "Waiting", press Send help (20 kr). The on-time pay is worth far more.
5. Use spare time on other roads. The clear-roads part counts all twelve roads in the coast town, not only the route. Press Finish mission only when you are happy.
6. From night 4, ask a colleague to plough a road off the route while you do the bus route.

Saving tricks

• The game saves every 30 seconds while you drive and each time you open a menu.
• Retry this night goes back to the start of the night. Practise this night lets you try a plan without changing your save. More on the FAQ.

More games with hidden numbers

If you like planning routes and timing, try the Air Racer guide, a flying and racing game, or the Building Town guide, a construction and simulation game.

See also

• Tips for new plough drivers
• All six nights
• How to plough snow
• Play Night Plough and go for 450 kr.

• About Night Plough
• All game guides