I think the Freight and Steam players tended to continue on TSC, where they are the focus. TSW has focused on it's bread and butter commuter routes, focus on European. It's just logical you go where your playerbase is. It's not just the forum "majority"... it's the SALES "majority" that DTG follows. As I've said before, this doesn't stop third parties from tilling niche demand (like Just Trains and BR Blue content.) There is also competition on other platforms for that content outside of TSW, which is arguably where those other potential developers are going. There's devs working on freight for Railroader, Railroads Online, Derail Valley, Run 8, Century of Steam...and TSC. They could be doing TSW modules...but they're not. To be fair, given the less time required you probably make a bit more more making TSC routes than TSW even if you sell them for less. Now (again) the people not able to access these other games are the ones not on PC....which further limits your audience. TSW is THE train simulator for console, so routes tend to be short and commuter based to satisfy that audience. It's not a huge conspiracy or hard to understand. It's just giving the majority of console players what they want, since the majority of TSW players are on console. If you want bigger routes, freight routes, steam, etc and more features that require a PC to run effectively, then you don't program for TSW. You make your own game or do it on TSC. Consoles are just effectively store bought mini-computers that you get from box stores that are very limited in hardware specs, but cheap. 10 GB RAM and 512 GB of storage only gets you so far today. Along with the fact you only get one "save', people tend to want to complete their runs in one session on TSW. Demanding a long, detailed route for consoles is trying to put 10 gallons in a 5 gallon bucket.
I agree wholeheartedly about the potential that was wasted in Clinchfield. And promises should not be made if they can't be fulfilled. Fixes were promised right at launch that were quickly forgotten.
Isn't Clinchfield the only 1970s route? And we don't have any 1960s routes at all. Talk about a huge gap.
There is many more reasons to keep TSC installed besides US freight. Eastern European routes, Dutch Routes, Austrian routes, Swiss routes, long German routes, long UK routes, modern German EMU´s, Steam... I could go on.
And there is a reason people want routes in TSW because they want them with the TSW-only features. Like being able to leave the train and watch trains go by in a 24-hour simulated timetable or having better graphics.
Short routes don’t bother me, it’s the routes that end at illogical points. MAC to Alderley Edge and not Crewe
How about if DTG built the Clockwork Orange instead? It's short enough for DTG to build but long enough, if you went around the loop 20 times, to satisfy the drivers with the most stamina A win-win methinks.
It would also serve as a lesson to the ATO wannabes. I bought the TSC version which is very nice, detailed and great traction sounds on the train. However other than driving to and from the depot, it’s push to go, push to open and close doors then rinse and repeat.
Just grabbed your blue and loose formations mods from TSC site. Many thanks for these, they make life easier in freeroam.
I firmly believe this all comes down to marketing. With a large population of users who demand console, others who demand intensive station assets (treasure hunt), others who now demand asset interaction using the conductor mode TSW is trying to be everything to everyone. It really cannot compete in the long stretches of rail required to make US freight viable. A very small percentage of US rail is passenger and the distance between points of interest are much larger than Europe. It makes more sense to serve US rail using Run8 or TSC asset base. (Yes there are a few pockets of rail urbanization in the US however no where near as much as the need for freight). We have seen this with TSW. Niche urbanized areas are present. I will stick with TSC for long haul runs (especially in the US - I live in the Mid West anyway) and use TSW for European rail journeys where the population is much more densely populated. Both are good products for different reasons.
Oh dear. Don't you even get to put the key in every now and again to wind it up? Still I suppose there is the scenery to look at as you go round and around..............Oh
They've stated numerous times the there isn't a difference between ai trains that the player can't control and ai trains that the player can control. Simply making the over ground ai only wouldn't have saved anything, but you'd still need to accomplish the mammoth task of scenery building from MK to birmingham. It's not like WCMLS was in a great state on launch either. Imagine the state it would have been in if they had gone that far, even with another 6 months of dev time. I feel like they mainly wanted the stock in the game more than anything as it layers all over the place, but they couldn't do the northern wcml because of JT and they couldn't do anything to manchester because of ATS. So they had to do a portion of the line that was either going to vastly over run development or have an awkward endpoint.
