Upcoming Release Course Set For Czechia: Liberec - Stará Paka - Coming 10th March!

No worries, I was just confused. Still happy that both of these sims will have received content from my tiny little country within a two month span

 

So when I was watching the stream, I was surprised that the Liberec station was completely empty, there was no AI traffic at all... that's really unusual and it felt like a ghost station... unnatural... would the vanguard expect performance problems? Then the vegetation seems too detailed and rich to me... I'm afraid that even with the low traffic, there will be problems on consoles
and in the last case, a night freight train, when the signals were yellow, the cone of light in the distance was more red than yellow or orange

 

Simrail is $35 right now on steam with no extra DLC.
If you mean JUST the DLC...each map is smaller, has no new locomotive, and no timetable.
So it's more like ETS than TSW.
If you (like Simrail) had to buy your locomotives separately as additional DLC ALSO at $13 apiece, now you're talking around $40 point... minus layers and timetable which don't exist in Simrail.

So.... up to you if you think that's "better value" but for me the Czech route offers more since it has timetable mode and two new locos plus at least 1 additional layer. Not to mention actual realistic freight runs (unlike Simrail and TSW since 2020)

 

Watched the stream and my main takeaway is that, if I did purchase the route I would be unable to drive at night due to the poor night lighting.
This would join a long list of routes that I could only play during daylight.

 

I don't know of any routes in TSW that are "fun" to run at night to be fair.
I only play them all during daylight now.

 

Route looks decent, but like all dlc now, it's a wait and let the beta testers (aka as console consumers who buy things regardless) let us know how bad the blurring is

 

After watching the stream, for me this isn’t value for money at the £33 being asked for it. I’ll be waiting for a minimum 20% off. Especially considering that March is historically a busy month for releases, and I’ve been burned before with some very poor quality dlcs that have released around this time of year in the past. So I’ll definitely be waiting for initial reviews and patches before committing to opening my wallet even if the price point was sub £30
If your view is different, then great I hope you get enjoyment from it on day 1.

 

Definitely a day one purchase for me. The preview was great.

 

I thought the preview was great. The route and the rolling stock looks interesting and very well done.

My personal view is that with new trains, new safety systems and signalling and what looks like new foliage throughout and many custom assets, then it's worth the money. (Though I suspect on consoles all that detail could cause issues, but let's wait and see).

I'm not sure if I'll get it though. Every other route I've played outside of UK and Germany, I've ended up not playing as I don't have any attachment to the country. Credit to the Devs though, the preview looked fantastic.

 

I do sort of see your point, if you take the sum of a SimRail route DLC then two train DLC’s then the price is… the same as a DTG two train route DLC. Of course the base package of SimRail does give more - a route network that is at least four times longer than the average TSW one and several loco’s/units. And I admit TSW is still better value than Run 8 where new routes are £35 with no new stock, all of which has to be purchased via small packs and they never have a sale.

Anyhow I am more or less hyped to buy this on release date barring any red flags raised by the console department between their versions going live and the Steam version coming on line at 1800.

 

Enjoyed the preview and looking forward to this one! One question: would it be possible to put the manual online beforehand already? As a little taster? You see this in the flight sim world too, JustFlight do this a lot, where you can already wet your appetite before release by pouring over the manual.

 

Anyhoo... watched part of the stream and all other considerations aside.
Take. My. Money. Now.

 

That's exactly what I thought while watching the live stream. Initially, the route didn't interest me much, but after seeing the live stream, I want it. I'll wait for a good sale and then I'll get it.

 

Thats what I thought take my money but still a bit jubious because im on console and really see struggling. But would love to wrong tho.

 

The operation on this map would necessarily need to be expanded by motor cars 810 and 854, possibly connecting cars 010 and 054, and also by locomotives 742 and 749 and Y-type passenger cars

 

Did i read that only 120 jobs on this route. Thought there would have been more then that.

 

A full run with a class 843 takes 1hr and 30/45 minutes for a full run from Liberec to Stara Parká so you have enough to do i think so.

 

But are the jobs spilt into parts like they did with cajon pass to make look like they where more jobs.

 

Not everything is an evil conspiracy: they split up the jobs so you can pick and choose what you want to do. Not everyone has the time and inclination to do a complete 2 hour service in one play session

 

It looks amazing. I´m very curious about the branch lines in Liberec that are showed on the map. I mean the scrapyard (Kovošrot) in Ostašov and the station of Horní Růžodol, then the branch line to the heating station and the tramway depot, and finaly the branch to the fuel depot and Ferona. I don´t know, if they are accessible, but if yes, then the possibilities of gameplay would have a completely new level.

 

Yea i understand but its the way they advised it has to having loads of end to end jobs. But in reality it wasn't because they split them into 3 parts.

 

You can click to go further direct in the menu and you can drive you're full run instead of going back to the menu. Its very understandble why its chosen. Not everyone has 90min time to drive a full run at once.

 

There are end to end runs, just not the SAME end to end job 12 times in a row like other routes. It's a quieter line in real life and this reflects the reality. You can still do the same end to end, the limited stopper and the all stopper. You just don't have it copy pasted a bunch of times because other urban areas have more passengers.

Copy-paste runs don't add any value to me personally. If I run the same route at 0930, 1030, 1130, 1230, etc... that's still the same run. I guess it matters to people who want a huge number of runs to "checklist" or love that busy urban sprawl feel like around London, but if that's the case then you'll be disappointed. However, that's not a failure of the route. It's just being REALISTIC about what's on the route.

It's not London and asking a rural Czech route to be London is not being realistic. It's just a different playstyle and region of the world. That's kind of the whole point. Niddertalbahn and Mittenwaldbahn are very similar in their less busy, rural context. They are still very nice routes however.

I think the obsession over number of runs is odd, but I guess some people need the big numbers to feel they're "getting something."

 

It is more of a question of how much the connecting and surrounding traffic in the form of AI is implemented there, I got the impression from yesterday's stream that similarly to the Dutch map it will be dead here too, that the surrounding AI traffic is simply missing there ........ I don't know if the Prague - Tanvald express trains are implemented in the Turnov - Zelezny Brod section, and the Liberec ones are also completely empty, even though it is a large hub station

 

I know just about nothing about Czech trains, but are the trains used on those services in the game? If not.... then you run into the problem new regions always have in TSW... that if they "fake" things to add AI traffic it's "unrealistic" and if they don't include non-existent traffic it's called "unrealistic."
Damned if you do and damned if you don't.
There is no making people happy.
By NOT having it in there, then you can always add it later from other Czech routes like happened in the UK and German routes as the number of routes expanded so I think that's the better option between the two.

 

More railway lines, more distance, more services... How does this affect gameplay? I don't know.

 

Yes, in addition to the strange and largely ineffective night lighting which would restrict me to daylight driving, I didn't notice much if any AI traffic, either at the meets or in the terminal stations. That's a real deficit for me. Everyone seems to be comparing this route favorably to Niddertalbahn and Zwolle. But I haven't played either of those routes for a very long time for similar reasons.

I don't want or need to be down on this route, because clearly a couple of year's hard work has been invested. And, if I do eventually acquire the route, I think I would have a lot of fun with the freight components.

But that's not quite enough for an outlay of $45. When it goes on sale for a healthy discount, I'm sure I'll go for it.

Meanwhile, I hope it sells well and the early adopters enjoy it. I also hope it plays well on console. That can make or break a dlc.

 

Those sounds though.... cab sounds, engine sounds, even the switches... so much better than so many others. I'll need to see a couple more reviews but this is moving from a sale buy to a first day buy after that stream presentation. The detail on the locomotives (ventilator covers, fans, etc) are better than a lot of TSW stock, and the scenery seems to be some unique elements, not the same recycled stuff.

 

I am looking forward a lot to the manual, hopefully they release it ahead of time, so I can learn signalling (I know most of it wont be used here but still) and the radio shenanigans

 

I kinda want even more radio stuff...Not just changing for GSMR stuff, but to contact dispatchers and request routes. Like in Run 8 you have to call to get onto/off the mainline and such but I know that's a little too much for TSW. I'm really looking forward to the using the loops and sidings on a route though, rather than just driving past them as on most other routes. I've seen a number of times when what in another game (like Run 8... or in real life) you'd just have one of the trains "take a siding" to let the other pass, it's instead long red lights or the game loses it's mind and "can't find a route."

 

Compared to the Dutch map, it fits, because there is practically no AI traffic there either

But they should definitely simulate the additional AI trains as an alternative....the Prague Tanvald express could get trains 843 + 043 + 043 +843, similarly, the express or passenger trains towards Ceska Lipa, Decin could handle 843 alternately and freight connections in general shouldn't be a problem...... but there must be something there, it just wasn't visible in the stream, but I don't count on it much

And then there's one thing
Unfortunately, the mapping of the whistle to the bell is bad for console users, as it cannot be controlled other than via the B keyboard or manually in the cockpit, which is quite uncomfortable.

 

I don't agree with you. More services (and distance) doesn't mean better gameplay. You can have service every minute in one direction (for example some underground), but every of them is the same. On the one track routes you can have every service different. Sometimes you need to wait for some train in the opposite direction in the station "A", sometimes in the station "B", etc.

 

Sorry for not adding the "sarcasm" sign.

 

Sorry, but I can see sarcasm in the "How does this affect gameplay?" sentence.

 

It's not about if there is different gameplay styles.
There are.
It's whether that's the ONLY way to measure a route is by it's base metrics. (how many runs, how long, how many stations, etc)
Having higher numbers doesn't create a "better" experience unless you're looking for that specific gameplay.
Someone who is looking for Frankfurt levels of urban congestion probably won't like this rural single-track run, and vice versa.
And that's entirely okay.
Judging one by the other's standards is just silly however.
As the saying goes, you can't measure how "good" a fish is by how fast it can run.

 

Sometimes it's hard to convey irony and sarcasm in text. I completely agree with what you wrote.

 

I have zero interest in this route whatsoever, but at the same time I'm really happy for the wider TSW community that a new country is finally added.

 

tbf ,most US passenger routes have good night lighting . Also helps in the US we love our bright lights on our locos to actually be able to see what's in front of you

 

After last night's stream my original intention of buying it on day one were enhanced by seeing tge new foliage and the level of detail on general on this route.

Also me recently getting familiar with the polish signalling system through SimRail should make learning the Czech ones rather easy which I didn't anticipate back during the "Take a Ticket" event that first announced the route.

Wish it would release tonight so I could invest most of my day off tomorrow into it, but that's just me being a big boy

 

I really need to hold off on doing anything else towards the (rather lacklustre) March Monthly Mastery mileage accumulation, so I can work the new route into it.

 

Yes, everyone has his/her own yardstick by which they measure a route's attractiveness.

For some it's distance which I don't care about.
For others it's the number of services which I don't care about.

For me it's busyness, which translates into the number of AI trains, the number of trains in major stations, the number of meets and passes and, necessarily, the number of tracks.

I'm looking forward to reading how early adopters find the activity level in the Czech route. I can be persuaded, though not to part with near $50 when sales tax is added.

 

In the bigger picture, I'm not sure what else can be done to cut costs with big games like this (as opposed to say a small mobile phone game) You have to pay people and it requires a lot of time to make. The only way to really bring unit costs down is to expand the number of customers, but there's only so many railroaders out there. Same reason the physical model railroading hobby is so expensive.

In the end, cost is subjective. I enjoy TSW because I don't have the spare room to set up a model train set =-) And to be honest, compared to my friends who do build their own hobby railroads, TSW is actually a lot cheaper to collect with a lot less work!

 

Yes, US trains have powerful headlights, but these are not usually modeled well in TSW.

However, as you say, the night lighting is generally better than in UK routes with more ambient lighting.

 

Looking forward to getting it. Another central European country!

 

One quick question skimming through a bit more of the stream and apologies if I skipped over a possible explanation. What is it with some of the stations where passengers are using the foot crossing between platforms even when a train is moving towards them? It is not going to be good if we can’t avoid hitting them because the spawners don’t close as the train approaches or is about to move.

On a positive note I did enjoy the demonstration of the night lighting effects particularly the fog effects and thanks for including it.

 

for me it has to have interesting rolling stock, decent length and variety of services (my favs are regional express / limited stops, cos you still get a decent number of stops while having the opportunity for the rolling stock to stretch its legs properly)... also if it has branches or that kind of network style, like many possible routings, thats a big plus (thats why I love London Commuter, SEHS, Frankfurt S-Bahn and such)

 

Even that is not true today ........ I have lived for almost 50 years near the Prague Kladno single-track line and the situation for the last few years is such that everything runs every hour or two, with a few exceptions when there is a so-called disruptive train, it is actually the same everywhere. so with railway regularity, the train always passes the windows at the same time, except for delays ......

 

Yes, it was an unexpected bonus to see some night running.

However I was not impressed. Only a few yards of track were illuminated, the absence of ambient lighting of the surrounding area would not encourage me to drive the route at night.

And what's with the inevitable fog?? Is that supposed to enhance the night light. To me it simply obscures it.

Despite people inevitably saying that pitch blackness is normal at night, it's really not. Even in the remotest parts of the world, there is always some natural light plus, except for some rare, uninhabited areas, there are structures which give off artificial lighting.

And surely, in order for players to get some pleasure out of night driving, a bit of artistic license would not be out of place.

Many of us will continue to be frustrated by this issue. Firefly have indicated something better. I'll look forward to that. Actually the night lighting seems to improve with remastered routes like Cathcart, GWE and ECML. And the very first route, Sand Patch, had perfectly adequate night lighting. So we know it's possible.

 

Living in a rural area, it's pretty damn dark at night if there's no moonlight. I think there's an unrealistic expectation by people who live closer to cities that there's "always" a ton of illuminated buildings and scattered light from cities in the air. That's just not true.

Also the headlights on the older traction does tend to be pretty bad.

That does however lead to a better question... is moonlight represented well enough in game? About half of the month you should get considerable light from the half to full moon. Not anything like daylight, but some. Where clouds don't obscure it of course.

I honestly don't know if it's map-specific or it's a TSW core thing like weather. Does that vary by map? I know the lighting does, so not sure if the moonlight/starlight is specific to a route, as that should definitely change how much you can see depending on the phase of the moon and cloudiness of the area.

Having said that, in the stream being a nearly full moon it should have been brighter if there weren't lots of clouds and fog?