Watching the Manchester Commuter route videos at the moment. Its clear to me that this route benefits greatly from gaining layers from 4 or 5 other DLC to get various locos/wagons layered in. I personally like to see a busy/realistic route. But there is no way I'm going to shell out for all 5 DLC to get that. So I won't end up buying MAC until it becomes much much cheaper. My suggestion is that DTG should split any route DLC into two - the loco and the route itself and price accordingly. This would mean as a pro, I could then buy the 4/5 locos for a reasonable price to layer onto MAC without WCML etc. This means I would buy new routes on release (I never do now). The Con point is makes it less clear that for a new route DLC e.g. ScotRail Express, you would need to buy the route and the 385 DLC in order to get anything useful. But should be easy enough to make it clear on purchase. Obviously this is already possible technically as loco dlc already exist. I am certainly not the only one who does not want quiet stations such as Glasgow Central etc. So allowing a collection of locos to be built up might alleviate this complaint. See what others think. Pete
I think routes themselves need at least one train included - no one will buy a route with no trains. If that were the case, the train would have to be a separate purchase. Routes and trains requiring separate purchases really only works for Loco DLCs.
But would that logic stop people from buying routes they already have all the rolling stock for like the new route and glossop line, like I already own glossop so what reason would I have to buy the route since there’s nothing new except the route itself this is also a thing for quite a few Germany routes so having the option just to buy the route would be good heh it’s probably more likely we get steam back over this happening /j (really need new steam
All this just so the route gets 4-5 bucks cheaper while the loco would cost an extra 12-18 bucks? And yes it wont be 36 bucks split into two as they would need to list it as two different pieces of content and so on the price for both will raise. Not to mention many routes get remastered rolling stock, like we got a new Br 423 which would make them need to sell 2 locos, making it impossible to keep the complete price within 36 bucks. If DTG makes a route with a loco which only runs on this certain route and nowhere else then this concept of selling dlcs is already useless, which is often the case for UK and US (sometimes germany). If you want a busy route then you need to bite in the sour apple and wait for a sale.
Maybe, yeah. Personally, if I buy a route that includes a train I already own, I just consider the train as a free addition. Plus sometimes, despite being the same, there are often minor differences. The 377 on ECW and BML are the same in appearance only, for example.
You get 90% of the route already. It's just "added value." Like buying fancy new rims for your car. It doesn't stop you from using the route as is. The routes were never SOLD as "all of this is required." It's more "oh hey, BONUS, if you have this other route there's a little something extra!" So in short, you already have your suggestion. That's already how routes are sold. You get the route and locos for that route. Congratulations. Now if you want specific bundles to get a "deal" on what goes with a specific route... well on Steam you already do. Not sure about console bundles. So again you already have that.
Agreed. I already own the 323 twice, so £25 for 27 miles of track and no new rolling stock doesn’t seem good value compared to other dlc. £20 for the new route? Sure. Not £25.
Value is subjective. Besides, the only "same" 323 is the Glossop line and there's a discount if you have that right? "Players on Steam that own Train Sim World 5 and Glossop Line, which also features the Northern Class 323 running services our of Manchester Piccadilly, are entitled to a 20% discount from launch for 2 weeks." So that's a 5 pound discount...which is what you're asking for. The Birmingham one is a different 323 so it's not "redundant" at all. Congratulations you already get what you are asking for! Per the original discussion though, DTG reps have stated every route needs to be playable stand alone on release. You can't sell a route without anything to drive on it.
Funny enough not everyone gets this discount due platforms because annoying aka Microsoft and Sony so has does it benefit half the player base?
I've always thought this would be a better approach. I'd take it further and have the loco DLC in multiple liveries, that would cover any future routes as well.
I'm not as inclined to this idea. The biggest reason I came to TSW instead of TSC was the whole 'pick up and play' aspect. The various packs in TSC are useful if you know your way around trains, but when I first started it was very daunting. TSW was much better because for one cheap transaction I could get stuck in right away. I believe splitting routes and locos will remove that aspect (If I was first starting out, I'd rather buy the Manchester route and have a big empty station than buy the route and figure out what trains ran on it in that era. That would involve learning about a class 323 for the first time. If I made a mistake, I'd be stuck with a Pendolino with no real fun). Or for Koln-Aachen. How do I know that the Talent 2 runs RE services? How would I know what an RE service is? Do I need freight? What about the ICEs? What services do they provide? It's much easier to go 'that route looks interesting - and it comes with two trains, one fast, one slow.' That said, I can see why this solution would help solve the empty Manchester issue. It's not worth buying whole routes for a quick AI-only layer. I just don't think I would have played TSW if it were set up like that.
as much as all this repeated rolling stock (e.g. class 66 and dostos) doesn't appeal to me at all, it's an absolute NO to split routes and rolling stock
I agree that splitting the loco/routes will make it more confusing at first. There would certainly need to be more clarity about what locos are "built in" to the timetable on a given route. We have that already in that you do get at least one loco with every route. But there are always layers to add. The Layers tab has gone someway to making it clearer what can be bought to enhance a route - although the information given is not exactly clear (IMO). It was just a thought I had about splitting routes/locos up and see what others thought. The way I purchase DLC right now means DTG lose a heck of a lot of revenue from me. I am 3 routes behind at least. Even my local route which I was keen to get I didn't for a least a year till it was heavily discounted. The only disadvantage for me is that I miss the excitement/buzz in the community when a new route is released as I won't be seeing it for quite some time. But I still get new routes regualrly, just much later. MAC looks really good. If it was available with the loco layers at a "reasonable" cost, I would probably be persuaded to change when I buy DLC i.e. buy when not discounted.
The point of the layers is to get you to buy more content. They aren't necessary for the route. They are a "bonus." Depends on what you mean by "reasonable." In effect for the above example, you want over $30 for "free" in savings in order to purchase a $29.99 route? That doesn't seem like a good business decision.
That would get really awkward having routes that come with trains then being able to buy the trains separately. Why not just make it so the trains you don't own layer in as ai only. Then the route would be busy and look authentic without having to shell out on a load of other dlc's
Those trains are part of the DLC files though. Not core game. To add them all to core game would be a huge project. So you'd still have to effectively download every DLC, even if you didn't buy it, taking up huge amounts of space just so they might appear as AI sometime? I prefer the current system. Otherwise it just keeps sounding like different variations of the usual "I want something more but don't want to pay for it."
I don't understand adding them to the core? I thought trains where already separated from the route, wcmls for example where you don't need to own bakerloo for the 1972 stock to show up in the timetable and drive it. You wouldn't need to add everything to the core. The trains that would appear as AI would be added to that particular dlc.
Buying stuff you don´t really want to get certain layers/trains has been making DTG money since TSC times. I don´t see them changing that system and losing loads of money as a result of it. They would be really stupid to do so, if you think about it.
