PC Dtg Tsw 6 Speculation

I think the new TSW6 Have something to do with the poll that we were given to give feedback to them, which include question like what would we as a fan would like to see added or improve in the game sometime early this year, because Matt have not announced the result of that feedback survey. Now that we are getting so close to TSW 6, i am just curious about what the train community or rail fan have choose as their top priority feature or changes that they would like to see based on the poll. I think some of the ideas and choice, was new game modes such as dispatcher- dispatch train in tower, there was also something about multiplayer, add on layers to routes, able to change to another train route on the same map with out going out to the main screen, longer routes for commuter train, train announcements in station and on the train, more realistic train sound like clickely clack, and etc. I don't remember the rest. If anyone remember this survey or was able to get a snapshot of it and post it it would really help.

Also what do other peoples like to see in TSW 6?

 

There's about a dozen TSW6 threads all discussing the same thing... It gets quite repetitive and predictable after a while.

 

Prediction;
There will be three new routes, one UK, one US and one German, and each one will also have a extra "loco" add on available, either separately or as part of the higher tier editions of the game

(They seriously gotta stop calling train dlcs "loco" adds on when quite often it's a multiple unit and there's no loco in sight)

 

Yes, " loco " should be reserved for the big boys not the toy trains.

 

Some of the poll questions make no sense.

More AI traffic - well if the route is running the full timetable then you already have the full service interacting with you anyway.

Haven’t a clue what is meant by layover routes.

One option not listed that has been discussed is the possibility of random events delaying your run.

 

What like the game crashing Vern ?

 

This is perhaps the one option that would really take the game forward. There are plenty of potential " triggers " in the game which could lead to unforseen events like, for instance, being early or late to a destination, or more manual switching leading to pathing errors. There are some minor examples in the game already, I think.

Needs imagination and perhaps longer dev time. Things in short supply at the moment.

 

What i mean by layover route is basically another route that is also on the same map for example the metro north line that we have in game is currently the Harlem Line but it also share another line route which is the Amtrak as well as other Metro North Line such as the Hudson Line.

 

Thank you for listing one of the idea i forgot to put.

 

yeah i forgot to add that suggestion on the poll. Thanks

 

We already have Conductor Mode, so that option's useless

More AI traffic - this doesn't make sense. If timetables are done right, then all available AI traffic will be present anyway.

 

I'd love for proper passenger announcements to make it into the game. Even if it's AI generated it's better than hearing nothing while making the world feel dead without.

 

It would be nice to have on a timetable run, not every run but like 1 in 10, where there are random speed reduction sections due to construction.

Or the overheads are out in a section so trains are diverted to a single track for a section.

Even add some worker dioramas and AI work trains and voila.

Other little things that would be nice is door selection so that the doors don't open off the platform. I thought they had that figured out but we don't seem to see it.

And yes passenger announcements even if not the actual ones used in real life. Just try to make them as close as you can. Proper accents and languages for the regions.

 

i believe MFS have it implemented in their game for a longtime already and i think TSW6 should add this as well, but of course make sure it work properly, cause that will make the game much more fun and more realistic and longer game time

 

Here is one of the video that show what one of the youtuber- Trainsimsociety, suggest the train announcement should look like

Timestamp: 36:23

 

It wouldn't surprise me that if random events were added that they'd end up breaking the service in some way whenever they happen, tbh.

As regards to announcements, if Rivet can get auto announcements going, and the Just Trains Pacer has manual announcements, then it can't be difficult for DTG and other developers to put announcements surely

 

The fact that Rivet did it first (and did a pretty good job on it) says a lot.

 

I think it probably comes down to licensing more than anything, you don't just have to get a licence from the TOC but you have to also purchase a separate licence for use of a specific announcer's voice. JT's Pacer announcements got around this as they were recorded by one of their developers.

It seems pretty well established that DTG would rather licence authentic branding overall so it could be the same case with announcements and that's why they don't have any due to licensing cost.

 

For the Announcement like you said it maybe hard to get because of licensing but that doesn't mean that they can't find another way such as like what i mention above about one of the youtubers idea with the train announcement, the team could do something like that which will be much close to the real life announcement. Also if you think about it announcement does not need to be exact person that does the official announcement, like how in the video when the youtuber was showing the Amtrak Route with the in Train announcement, it sound really good, and in my own opinion better. This is what DTG Developer should do regardless or not having the rights to the official announcement due to license issue. Also the announcement for the station platform and on trains should be a core on all the route, not only some routes. I really do hope that will be the case for TSW 6 moving forward.

 

What I think will be the main feature: more bugs.
What I dream will be the main feature: reworked dynamic weather, lighting and storms(not just pale fog with pathetic unrealistic thunder).

 

I still don't get the appeal of the random events.

In most cases this will just mean long, long periods spent staring at a red signal while something goes on out of sight ahead.

All too often in the UK in particular, restricted working would be accompanied by cancelled or reduced services.

I suspect the effort required to program the AI dispatcher to work around this in a realistic way, simply wouldn't be viable.

The better solution would be to make a second timetable that has reduced or diverted workings so that users can simulate weekend engineering for example.

 

Would absolutely love it if the Merseyrail network got added.

Both the Wirral and Northern Lines.
With the 507/508 and 777 train sets.






I can dream.

 

Another electric bus service.

If they did the whole network ( 3 lines is it? ), there might be a smidgen of interest. But if it's just one of the lines it would be as dull as dishwater.

Do they have licensing?

 

All I want is for the old routes to get the new lighting and added layers

 

What mandates random events be ones that have massive effects?

 

Two lines. It would deffo need both.

 

I can imagine it now, click to start a service and a message comes up:

"Your union has voted to strike, you are unable to drive any trains for the next 3 days."

 

If there was a Connex era one it would be 'your train is to filthy and delayed. Cancel your service'!

 

I speculate that all the speculation will be speculative.

 

Because it takes predictability away. Not all of us want the run to be be the same every time. Dynamic weather was a step in the right direction but seems weighted to storms all the time.

WCML over shap is one that would suit random changes. If you run late the signaller would put you inside for a faster train to pass. Same in the likes of Preston and Carlisle station. The appeal of a sim to kick the same runs every time out is limited in the long run.

It could have a slider anyhow for choice.

 

Nothing, but I can't see people getting overly excited about a new feature that adds random 5 minute delays to a working because a train two ahead had a delay due to door closure issues.

 

none of the above it is probably something we do not expect

 

It doesn't have to be a game breaker like a situation where the line is blocked for an hour. There are loads of relatively soft random events that could just require a little more concentration on your drive. For example;

*Technical issue on train in front delaying it, that means you're running on yellows for part of the journey.
*Temporary speed restrictions - hopefully with orange suits from Network Rail in attendance.
*Signal out, causing a small delay while trains have to stop and get the signalbox agreement to proceed at caution to the next working signal. Don't forget to blow the horn before moving off.
*Similar procedure to the above but...faulty level crossing.
*British Transport Police asking for your train to be held for a couple of minutes - no reason needed, but you're chasing the timetable for the rest of your journey.
*One of the train's many fail-safe systems makes the brakes slam on a few times. You get a msg at the end of the journey to say a fitter has had a look and remedied the issue, so it doesn't mean it has to be pathed into the nearest siding.
*Slow running due to hot weather precautions.
*Notices for additional stops (might be harder to implement to work with the pre-programmed HUD).

None of the above are particularly controversial, none require re-pathing of the train, none would break the Timetable and none would add much more than 5-10 minutes to the journey. As said above, via the menu you could opt in or out, you could have a "regularity" slider if you only want a very occasional issue. Heck, if you want to go nuclear you could even have a severity slider.

Not "massive effects" in terms of railway operation, but a massive effect on the driver's journey and levels of concentration needed because you're no longer assuming it'll be green signal after green signal.

 

None of those are minor are there own, but could cascading into major if you get a unlucky run where two or three of them end up happening at once. Like with timetables on console the system's gonna have to be designed around what a "worse case scenario" is, even if that scenario's very rare.

Plus you got to factor in, dispatch can break as is, with timetables that are "working perfectly". I really don't think you need major issues to pop up for the dispatcher itself to start having a heart attack.

 

From my experience, there's already a bit of slack in most timetables. With "regularity" I wasn't thinking of number of issues per service, more the likelihood of an occurrence, perhaps "likelihood" would have been a better word to use.

Without some serious investment in how the Timetable works, I think you'd probably have to limit it to one or two per journey.

 

I don't think anything that will add hassel to the normal player ie those not in this forum but the everyday one that wants to drive a train and end up with a smile on their face, is a good idea and can hurt the bottom line which is what is the one driving factor for the company that makes and sells TSW6.

 

I have enough delays in real life and they're not fun.

As long as such a feature is toggleable, should be OK.

 

Absolutely NOT down for random events.
All it would involve in reality is sitting behind a red light for hours, as all the fun exciting stuff happens miles further down the line.

 

Not necessarily. Random events might be dynamic routing on multiple track sections so you don’t always follow the same path. You might get a request to make additional station calls due to circumstances elsewhere.

Speaking as someone who had over 40 years service in the UK rail industry, nearly 30 of which in various Operations Control settings, I can vouch that disruption - minor through to severe - is pretty much routine everyday occurrence. To not reflect at least some of that in a rail simulation product is not giving the full experience. The old Amiga emulator programme Train Driver 3 did a great job of doing this, depending on the level of chaos selected would generate TSR’s randomly, also signal checks along with an explanation as to why.

 

Same here, years of real life experience against that decipted in TSW makes it difficult to accept when rigid routings happen on the same run or every AI service appears at exactly the same time the railway simply does not run like that in reality, lock ups can happen and end runs but am pretty sure you can delete most trains in TSW if they are in the way. Those wanting green light identikit runs can have a slider or check box.

 

The biggest challenge is still going to be TSW’s ability to manage out of course disruption but it should surely cope with minor (up to 10 minute) delays. After all, we can do that now by jumping off the train to grab a collectible, or take a walk to look at the train/station.

 

I'm going to do some specualtuon in the form of wishful pipe-dreaming and say the new 'feature' they are focusing on is overhauled steam physics and the British route will be a steam era one in recognition of Railway 200 (possibly an ECML section with a modified A3 Pacific and a completely new loco, plus maybe the A4 as the extra loco add-on).

 

Sadly you only have to look at the parcel shunting on Blackpool Branches to know the game wouldn't cope with random delays. If you are just a few seconds late on those you get locked behind a red light because the shunter ends up ahead of the parcel train coming in to the station but needs to be behind it.

Of course in real life either the parcel train would have been held outside the station or the shunter would have been re-routed to use the through line to get back past the parcel train, but the dispatcher can't handle that on the fly.

 

Tbh, on the random events I imagine it would be an absolute nightmare to retroactively implement on old routes, I would expect that to be only for new releases.

 

Think you get a similar issue on WCL with the loco hauled services, where if the player train is late the outgoing engine is still admitted to the platform but ahead thus blocking the booked platform. So the system needs to be clever enough to recognise an element of its next working is not there and regulate accordingly.

So I think we are more likely to see such a feature trialled on routes with fixed formations or multiple units and a relatively simple service structure. Even then, things can get out of hand. If you have SimSig, try the (free) Wembley Suburban Lines which covers the DC Lines from Camden Jn to Watford Jn. With even just minor random incidents and short delays implemented I am basically gridlocked from Queens Park to Harrow and Wealdstone. Sending Bakerloo Line services back an hour late. In reality of course, the signallers and controllers would simply put the block on and start turning round at Queens Park or Stonebridge. In fact, not hard to see how TSW struggles with the DC Lines on WCMLS, even with the service broadly on time.

 

WCMLOS seems to cope well and holds stuff so if a shunt is required the shunter doesn't start out until the train to be shunted has arrived.

 

Wow Vernon your 40 eclipses my 30. You must have stayed in after privatisation then is it buddy ?
Randomisation is the least of the worries with TSW, in regards authenticity. The list is endless.

 

In regards to random events, I was at Sheffield recently and a TPE service to Cleethorpes had a bunch of its stops between Doncaster and Cleethorpes removed because it was running over an hour late. (typical tpe lol).

The problem is, I wouldn't trust random events to not break signaling or pathing in some way, since that already happens in scripted scenarios, which basically are "non-random" random events already

 

Yeah, it would be a testing nightmare too, how many services are there and how many variations of random events will there be that can impact them at various stages in their journey. Consider 'broken' services now and you have to wonder if adding in a feature that adds even more chaos into the equation is a good idea. I would probably end up turning the feature off entirely if I knew I'd be entering a lucky dip as to whether or not my service suddenly becomes impossible to complete.

 

1977 to 2018, from 1989 onwards various Control Offices, including my stint for SW&W/ATW in Cardiff.