I am going to bring up many of these critiques to the team, as you are asking some great questions. I've been wondering about a few things that are addressed here. I'll talk with the team and get back to you, but it may be a couple of weeks.
I'm surprised you can read my notes but yeah, that is a definite line that I'm going to talk with the team about.
Alright, I've got these notes done, I'll take all this and make a report, so that I can show what's wanted. I even added the requested Canada routes to a note. Just from reviewing, I'm seeing: Cali freight routes Philly! Just add Philly! NYC Subways FREIGHT Washington DC Chicago The Northeast Corridor Florida Metro North Hudson Boston Midwest routes Northwest Routes Surfliner METRA Brightline Alaska More Scenic but passenger routes Can TSC Routes move to TSW? Older Routes STEAM Commuter Routes in well-known cities US Routes Please! Seattle/Portland area Canada would be cool too I did notice a few critiques as well, so I made notes of those, but this list is already long.
I didn’t see one there specifically for narrow gauge operations like Durango and Silverton etc. Yes it would come under steam, but is kind of a sub niche. Think it’s also important to make the point about evaluating a more open Run 8/Railroader persistent type of operation as opposed to A to B runs, or a bit of yard switching which simply shuffles the pack rather than having any real purpose.
The D&S did pick up some ex White Pass and Yukon MLW DL-535E's, even though they are not the draw of the route or area.
It might make sense to hold a vote on the proposals that already exist. This would be indicative of the level of preference.
I didn’t see the suggestions for my BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) or the Sacramento rail route on your list. Hope those can be included. Tx.
Is that.. someone who’s listening to the community? My god I thought this day would never come, especially for us U.S players.
I'm literally here to support y'all! (I think I've kind of become the North American CM now instead of just US)
Oh, I guess I missed writing those. I had around 6 requests for BART just from this small thread. I've got a huge write-up of 14 pages to go through, and I'm going to make a presentation with each area on the Continental US, Canada, and adding in Alaska. I don't think Hawaii has a huge rail system, though, but I could be wrong.
I'm probably going to make a little map of the routes and post it in a new thread, then have a poll referencing it at a later date. Right now I just wanted to read through everything and get a feel for the community I'm coming into.
I love the enthusiasm. I'll just caution you that the community has a lot of "triggers." Don't take it personal. You may take some flak for anything DTG has done (or not done, or thought of doing or not thought of doing) throughout it's existence since you are a DTG representative. For example, I saw "Steam" mentioned. There is a HUGE dust up every time that is brought up. There's a LOT of history on that issue on the forum with passionate people on all sides. I'd suggest you ask around the office about that and other things before getting too into it so you're not blindsided by those trigger points and rather strong opinions on some things (along with a fair bit of assumptions and "blame", right or wrong. Again, don't take it personal. Keep up the positive attitude. I think people really enjoy having more access than normal to someone from DTG. I am impressed by your enthusiasm and openness to suggestions. It's a double edged sword though. Welcome to the Crazy Barn =-)
No ma'am, despite them being the main face of diesel-hauled passenger services for almost thirty years now. There has been community argument both for and against them, mainly that there are no routes for them to be fully optimized. My argument has been that they would do quite well in a DLC similar to what Skyhook has been doing with their Cargo Line rolling stock and activity packs. I went into more detail here in this thread (should link directly to my post)... https://forums.dovetailgames.com/th...-tsw5-mbta-worcester-route.86811/#post-926238 While I know that the rest of the country has been seeing more and more Chargers displacing the P42's, here in the Northeast, especially in the middle of Amtrak, Metro-North, and CT DoT territory where I live, both the P42 and P32 still reign supreme. Even Metro-North has stated they plan on keeping their Heritage Fleet once the Charger order is completely fulfilled. You trip over the damn things here; these were taken just a few weeks ago on one of my most recent jaunts down to the City and New Haven for their Open House...
Yeah, the lack of AMTRAK DLC is odd given that they can run on so many existing US routes. Yes it's only intermittent so a whole route JUST for that wouldn't be enough, but as REdweolf91 says, they'd work as a Cargo Line sort of pack for a most US routes, then once they're in game they can be used on new routes and as part of the new routes from the beginning. It also gives non-freight people something to do on the freight routes given that the passenger service focused routes seem to be more popular to most arguably urban/passenger focused TSW players. I agree an AMTRAK Layer DLC would do very well and not require a ton of new investment.
A particular talking point has been NYC Subway. We have repeatedly told by Matt P although the licence is in place with MTA, they will not give any sort of access for research to the trains or the routes in particular the underground sections (for security concerns). Yet very soon we have Metro Rivals... a train racing game set on said NYC Subway albeit slightly fictionalised. It also doesn't explain how other developers over the years have been able to do NYC Subway, notably TML Studios with World Of Subways 4. As regards the research there must be material on YT, cab rides etc. and research can still be done by observation. Or is it just the case the EP decided to throw it in the too difficult basket and stayed there ever since? I for one much rather see NYC Subway than skirting round with all these other NY based surface lines, even if some of the route is not 100% accurate.
I think the "slightly fictionalized" is more like "very fictionalized" which explains it. To the point TSW players might complain incessantly about it's "lack or authenticity."
i would love to see another Canadian route. right now dtg has cn license. i don't mind that they use reused stock like the es44 or c40-8w if they can do some changes to the model that if any of the 3d artiest that made those models back in the day are still around... if anything there not and move on from company. the problem is Lidar cause Canada has low areas of lidar. lidar is not everywhere in Canada. maybe remaster the Oakville sub. what about rolling stock dose the team have to travel to canada to get material for the rolling stock or can they use pictures there tons of picture and stuff.
Since we're expanding this beyond "US" routes, I honestly think something like the Ottawa O-Train would be interesting. It would be a lot more unique as a selling point. It's more above ground than the Subway (meaning more to see) but it's urban commuter using a Bombardier Talent and a light rail segment in different parts. It is both a North American route, but also commuter, but also a slightly European "feel" to it using European stock and it being in Canada (French Canadian) of course. I mean it's not Montreal but the rolling stock and signage would be bilingual =-) That in itself would make it special. It's about 22 miles now, with another 7.5 miles to open this or next year. Then there's another 22 miles or so under consideration/construction. Lots of expansion room. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-Train East, West, South, Airport, main station to connect to other rail and bus lines. See a lot of Ottawa. Ottawa then directly connects to Toronto and Quebec lines.
The O-Train is a cool idea, a mix of diesel and electric, above ground and a short underground section. One correction though, Ottawa is in Ontario. It’s a largely bilingual city as out nation’s capital. Quebec is across the River from Ottawa.
I know I’ve heard some mentioning of this before but not sure if it made it to this thread (I probably shouldn’t be so lazy and just reread the whole head haha). But I think it would be very cool if we could “go back” on some current routes like Morristown and NEC and consider a 2000ish timetable with the addition of ALP44/AEM7 as well as GP and F40 power for NJ transit. I think having two different era timetables would be incredible for options and these were classic days for both Amtrak and NJ Transit. We could really use single level Comets in game which could be a very popular loco/timetable pack!
Yeah good catch. It's in Ontario. A lot of the signs as you say though are bilingual and it sort of has that European "feel" as opposed to say Vancouver or Niagara Falls which feel more similar to the United States. It just seems like it's a sort of "in between" for the different player groups.
The only issue with that I could see is people complaining that parts of the route (stations, buildings, landmarks, etc) then aren't period accurate. I don't have an issue with that, but then again I'm just a dirty damn "casual" =-) The rivet counters might have a fit.
I would love this! I did suggestions for something similar for both Boston and the Harlem when they came out.
I don’t disagree that would be some “smoke” after something like that was released, however I’m with you, that wouldn’t bother me in the least. While it might have been a bit “dirtier” or whatnot but I think the experience would be far better than the “nitpicks”. But again, just a casual 45 year old trying to relive my past days haha!
Phase V "Acela" Livery OMG that time when Amtrak's branding was going through that same phase Microsoft are right now with their "This is an XBox" marketing, just declaring everything is an Acela XD
They still can't decide if they want to keep calling it that or not lol. I think they flip-flopped a couple times on the Avelia name for the new trains before just settling with "Next Gen Acela." I personally have a bit of a soft spot for that era because it was my first real exposure to trains outside of my little corner of Connecticut growing up, when MSTS came out. That livery and the Acela branding were featured heavily in-game.
One big sticking point has always been accurate sounds, which won't happen without access. They can fudge in a fictional game at a level that the TSW community has vocally not been willing to accept.
If a hypothetical NYC subway route is set during the "Red Bird" era or prior, there are enough trolley and transit museums that have operating cars rigged to run under the wire where sounds could be sourced. Even if the MTA doesn't play ball, I'm sure the museums would be willing. Both Seashore in Maine and Shore Line in Connecticut have operating examples. If the MTA were to be agreeable to a historic route, they do have an operating heritage fleet of multiple types of cars that frequently do excursions when not on display in Brooklyn.
