I would like to make a increasingly important suggestion that I hope gains some traction, pardon the pun. With the ever increasing plethora of rolling stock (in particular with UK routes), I would like to suggest that various existing routes are revisited with a view to adding in the relevant playable and AI layers. This really should be a concerted effort from DTG as well as third party developers as appropriate. There are multiple cases where we now have types that weren't available previously that would fit nicely into older routes to vastly improve immersion and playability. I think that this is somewhat imperative at this point before we end up with a catalogue too huge to even consider backfilling timetables. This should be a high priority in my personal opinion. On your marks, get set, discuss.
The issue is that it requires a timetable developer which they may not have and many months of creating the timetable and testing it before it can be released. Unless that dev stops working on any other project to update every timetable, the only time they would have is in their free time which makes the job even longer
This is where I feel AI can be used in a good way. Instead of someone needing to put aside the time to manually change a timetable, AI should have the capability to do so. It would be able to use existing patterns and data of existing locos and timetables to create an excellent product much quicker than a human being could.
What most people say is the main issue is that the routes would require a new timetable. What I think is all future routes should be made with rolling stock in mind, whether it is confirmed or not. It worked fine with the Cathcart Circle as the 390s were put in after TSW5 released, so it's definitely possible, and this should be present on future routes. But yes for the older routes, this should definitely be implemented, especially for routes with big empty stations like Manchester Piccadilly on the Glossop line, or Barking on the Goblin, where the unbranded stock being used in the GWE remaster could be implemented.
Absolutely agree that all future routes should have a full timetable from the start with empty slots until the correct types are introduced. But as stated, the older routes will need to have these slots inserted before there are too many routes to make this work even remotely feasible, which will only get worse the longer it goes on without remedial work.
