March Roadmap

Literally tsw 2 rush hour sorts all that, the features they have added over the past few versions could have easily been a update since let’s just say they aren’t the best quality

Also the main thing with doing a rush hour style pack instead of a new version would kill a lot of the common bugs that appear every yearly version like old DLCs not appearing and being bugged

hell this shouldn’t even be a debate, the game is literally over 400 gbs nobody should have to re-download that every year with extra via more releases coming out

 

They would still get the same profit from an annual release like they do with TSC

You are lucky you have a fast internet. I have 1.4 mbs download speed as a maximum.

 

It's really not that big of a deal to download DLCs. I don't know why people keep acting like it is. If it wasn't a successful marketing strategy, they wouldn't be doing it. If it brings in new players, I don't mind re-downloading.

 

For me it's not really about re-downloading DLCs, it's the fact that they usually add a bunch of features each year, and it'll reach the point where there's so many features and it'd become impossible to manage. You could even argue it's reached that point now. When was the last time formation designer was talked about? I'd rather they work on and refine existing features before adding new ones.

 

They tried that with Rush Hour and sales dropped off. As more people are likely to to see newer products than older.

They have explained it several times before.

 

Yes, there's already a lot that's not fully utilized as it is. The new Czech and Preston routes for example show just how many "empty sidings" could be used better by existing routes with more focus on content and not chasing half-implemented "new features." But, marketing being what it is, people love to "ooh" and "aah" over "new" while improving the old just isn't as flashy.

 

That is fair. I would like them to update formation designer as well as livery creator. Like why cant we save custom group decals a.k.a custom logos. It's such a hassle to re-create logos over and over. Especially the more complex ones.

 

A bunch of comments about the Czech route expressed outrage that it's "Just single track," "only 80 km." And you're talking about some branch lines with service "only" lasting 30 minutes. And you need to pick up, say, three train cars. I think most people find such trips boring.

 

Each "leg" is only 30 minutes to the next stop. It adds up to a full day (real time) of work.
That's peak freight train gameplay. It's exactly what freight people have been asking for.
I guess that's boring to passenger people.
However, passenger service is boring to freight people.
*shrugs*
There are passenger services available for people who don't want to do the freight.

As for single line... that's what it is in real life.
People don't have to love every route out there.
It's inevitable that it won't be for everyone.

The urban commuter folks dislike this route for the exact reasons I love it, and they love say London-Brighton or GWE for the same reason I dislike those.

That's why it's wonderful we have variety to choose from.

Your comment doesn't really address my comment however. Building all that extra track and NOT using it effectively is still a waste of effort and inefficient, plus leaving "money on the table" because there's several routes that could and should have freight that's there irl that I don't want to buy because it has no freight component modeled. That's just failing to fully utilize what you've built and losing potential sales.

Antelope valley for one example. So many places you could stop and pick up or drop off freight along the line that are modeled in the game but just not used. There's in effect one freight run for giggles that layer sin, but that's it. Meanwhile, the actual Antelope line has lots of freight that passes up and down it to those industries and sidings.

Why do the work of creating all that track and not use it? Even retroactively as an add on timetable it'd make a great DLC to flesh out routes like was done with Diesel Legends or they do all the time in TSC.

Horseshoe Curve is another great example of unused sidings for industries that are already modeled. You can drive down them in free roam, but there's nothing done with them in scenarios or the timetable. Not being fully "usable" as "official" locations you can't even map them for your own scenarios in the anemic editor since they can't be selected.

My point is you don't need "new features" or even "new route" to have new CONTENT. There's a ton that is missing out of the existing routes that could be added in with minimal work. With minimal work needed to implement it, you could offer the DLC layers/timetable/scenario packs for relatively cheap.

$4.99 for a few scenarios and a new freight timetable for example. That then generates buzz for the older route from people who hadn't picked it up before and now had more reason to. Smaller companies can cut their teeth on this stuff without having to jump into a whole new route or even a whole locomotive. It's win-win.

 

I swear some people here don't even like driving trains lol. I love busy urban routes more than most, i'd suspect, but a change of pace that's accurately modeled sounds amazing to me, and i'll be buying at launch.

There are so many more and varied passenger services compared to freight in TSW, but the one time we actually get a freight-centric route with accurate operations, people complain it's "too short", "too slow", or "too boring". Just seems a bit overly negative when there are SO many options for passenger fans.

I've heard similar complaints already about JT's upcoming route...

 

Spot on.

 

To be fair, from the look of it, it's not even a freight-focused route (like say Sand Patch or Cajon Pass are) it's roughly 50/50. If anything, it's still slightly more passenger centric given that most of the freight is multiple legs of the same few complete runs. Even that is considered "too much" however.
I welcome the change of pace.

 

I'm not sure they explicitly have.

 

4 bloody days of downloading, it probably doesn’t bring as much players as you would expect but their marketing team is quite bad since they can’t advertise without a new version, pretty pathetic

 

New core game each year also conveniently muffles any previous DLC reviews as they migrate to versions for the next iteration... On Steam, at least.

 

Totally agree. Surely TSW is trying to replicate the life of a driver. Not all trains are high speed and expresses or fast commuter services.

This is why I fear we will never see lines like the Settle to Carlisle or West Highland, as there isn't a train every two minutes.

I suspect the Tadami line will get some stick for not being busy enough.

 

2 times using the same exact words. Once on a TSW 4 roadmap stream and on one of the Discord Q and A's in December from what I remember. Thats at least twice. And I'm sure Matt has talked about it in ine of charity streams as well.

 

Yes, I agree with you. Stuttgart Heilbron route. A bunch of branches to various factories, a bunch of access roads have been modeled. The metallurgical plant even has a fast travel marker. I open the BR294/363 timetable - a banal CTRL-C - CTRL-V near the main stations. So many identical wagon sorting tasks and not a single route between branches. I was simply bursting with indignation. Why create this and not use it?

 

To those that say and I'm being very loose in this: 'But TSW needs to make money how else will they do it if the same game and not totally new releases every year?'

May I kindly point out a game that was released in 2012 that is still hugely popular and still makes the game devs money with more DLC releases is Euro Truck Simulator 2.

Is it not too much to ask that TSW operate on the same principle instead of a new game every year and having to re-download or hell buy in some cases your DLCs that are STILL compatible with the latest game??

I own ETS2 and still have working DLC maps from 2012 as well as maps from 2023, all working fine as one huge map and no loading screens. I can drive my truck from Spain to Poland! From the UK to Norway!

The game has maintained long-term support from developer SCS Software, with frequent updates to graphics, performance, and map content since its 2012 launch. Why cant TSW be the same?

 

4 days?

It takes me one. One day where I do other stuff while waiting.

 

Guess where ETS and TSW are in the screenshots?

 

Again why is that such an issue, I am yet to see why that is an issue. Like I said, if it didn't bring in new players (aka: wasn't a good marketing strategy). They wouldn't do it. Downloading is really not that big of a deal.

 

Not defending ETS2 at all, but that is slightly an unfair comparison as ETS2 is now 14yrs old and there is a niche to gamers wanting to play as simulated truck drivers, just as there is a niche of players wanting to play as train drivers as there is a niche of those playing flight simulators.

The numbers here are slightly skewed as TSW gets released as a NEW game every year which would invite extra players for a while when ETS2 gets no new press at all for any of its DLC releases.

These numbers are enough for SCS Software to keep on updating and releasing new content, DTG should stop being greedy.

 

You can look at the numbers from the previous parts and even add them a little online to to the online players of TSW 6. But the numbers of players still differ by an order of magnitude! If TSW had even half the numbers of ETS, then we could say that the annual release of a new game isn't really necessary.

 

Maybe a release of a new game per year also increases a chance of people buying/playing older versions. My main case in point here is that ETS as a franchise hasn't a new release in 14 years...

Lets try these numbers again when TSW6 is 14yrs old.
I just looked at the SteamDB numbers of TSW2020, TSW2, TSW3, TWS4 and TSW5 and the last 24hr peak of players off all of them combined is lower than ETS2's peak in the last 24hrs! So try harder.

 

Oh just because you told me, makes it right... OK then.

DTG could update the core engine with a patch, then market a 3 route bundle pack that introduce new features etc on those routes. Then if developers of old routes want to upgrade they can.

They don't need to keep releasing a new version every year that makes all the DLC's incompatible. That's what I'm saying.

 

I remain confident it will not release as early as TSW7 and might be a TSW8 or even 9 route. Tadami is truly the Duke Nukem Forever of TSW4 routes.

 

That's exactly it. We need to increase online TSW by every possible means. When you have tens of thousands of players online every day, that approach probably isn't really necessary.

 

I enjoy ETS2 and for such a relatively old base game, the night lighting for one puts TSW to shame. SCS are also constantly tweaking and upgrading the game engine without feeling it necessary to reissue as a new title each year. However it’s not without issues. The gameplay can quickly get a bit monotonous, doing RNG generated random missions between different location with no over arching purpose other than (struggling to) make money for your company. Some of the regions are very old and while they are rebuilding to the latest standards that’s not a quick job. Travelling from the new Nordic Horizons area to the small section of the UK we have is a stark contrast.

SCS are, if anything, even worse announcing new content far too early than DTG. Both the next map, Iceland,and the bus/coach add on are on their roadmap but I’ll eat my beanie hat if either of those emerges before Q4 this year and more likely Q1 next year.

 

'just update the core' is not that simple. If theres a core change it can affect all routes at once and therefore a route-recompile is needed which would result in a patch as big as a new release...

 

Yes but that's due to the way DTG didn't link assets between builds and routes, so everything is disconnected.

 

I don't think yearly releases is encouraging players. ETS would not have the player count it has if it had yearly releases.

 

I want to see more of the JT route at this point and I'd imagine the HST pack and the 387 pack announcement? Maybe we get more from firefly but don't forget they were only in the 0-3 months section last month so we could still be a month or two out on that.

I'd love to see more on the TSG steam route too!

 

TSW 2026 would be better and every year they just update the year rather than a whole new game that we have to buy if we want to stay up to date with features. This would stop us having to redownload our DLC every year. The game is getting bigger and bigger each year with content so every year it’s becoming more and more hectic with having to redownload everything again. The only other option is to only download the routes you play but if your like me. you just want to have everything ready and available rather than deleting and installing DLC. TSW 7,8,9 is getting ridiculous.

 

If you look at what is in and what isn't in ATS/ETS then you can understand why. The demands of TSW fans are FAR, FAR greater than those for ATS/ETS fans. TSW fans would not accept the low level of detail and "hollow" models of ATS/ETC that allow the lower system requirements and larger maps with less refresh/downloads.

While I think a game like ATS/ETS of that low quality of model would be fine and kind of fun being huge, seamless (and at 1:40 scale remember, not 1:1).... most TSW fans wouldn't. It'd be an entirely different game.

Just looking at the stats, I have almost every ATS download for over half the United States and it's about 90 GB. TSW I don't even have close to all of them and it's over 300GB. Meanwhile, with 12GB RAM TSW runs okay with all the graphics, but ATS can be run with 2GB RAM.

That's because of the much lower level of detail. The physics are a joke by comparison. There's no internalized components or cabin even on player controlled vehicles, let alone the AI who are really just hollow shells moving around the map. You can't "walk around" with an avatar, nor can you "take control of" other vehicles.

It's literally an entirely different game and you'd have to accept a MUCH MUCH lower level of fidelity a fraction of the size (basically below TSC levels) to get that dream you have.

As I said... I would play that but most TSW fans would not settle for a sub-TSC level game just to have bigger maps and cheaper releases. You get what you pay for.

 

TSW routes are not known for their high level of unique assets!

 

Yes... having 50 times as many customers for ETS means you can charge less because each employee is basically supported by 50 times as many customers. That's how economies of scale works.

 

They are actually in comparison and in depth. As I said, you'd have to accept the low fidelity of ETS if you want a game to play like ETS.
If we basically had early TSC levels of detail from 2012 where you can't leave the cab, components aren't modeled, there's limited passengers, you have narrow corridors, no foot exploration, no getting into stations, hollow models with VERY basic physics...then that wouldn't be TSW.
There are even trains in ETS, but if you look at them you wouldn't in any way find them comparable to the realism in TSW. They are basically cardboard cutouts in comparison.
You COULD make that game. Just adapt TSC to do that really. However you'd have "American Train Simulator" not TSW.

 

If they weren't attractive, then they probably wouldn't do it?

 

You sound like the perfect customer for Starlink!

£35/month would get you 100mbps, £50 for 200mbps and £75 for 400mbps

https://starlink.com/gb/residential?srsltid=AfmBOopK-U_YWPuydIY31YHzSGLUXlJVnX4c73Mdm17HtrGxc8ZSGaZF

 

Thank you JetWash. I tried that and contacted, but so far they are unable to service my area.

l always use a ethernet connection to increase my download speed but it’s only a fraction faster even though l have every application switched off.

 

Including the positive reviews. Unsubstantiated, but since every version of TSW going back to TSW 2020 is sitting between 75% and 80% approval except the current one (72%), and the game has survived as long as it has, I'm guessing that resetting the DLC reviews is more of a net loss than gain.

 

Are you arguing that ETS is a bad simulator, then? That seems to be implied by your "very basic physics" comment.

...because it's a truck simulator, not a train simulator. This is a very bad argument. Road vehicles in TSW are extremely basic.

This argument cuts both ways - clearly SCS thinks not doing yearly releases makes more money.

 

It's unlikely that they're too concerned about the size of their audience and need to grow it at any cost.

 

Maybe someone could save me some time and point me to the evidence ( provided by DTG ) that this annual nonsense of downloading essentially the same game garners lots of new players to TSW.

To me it's just a rather backhanded way of persuading us to buy a bundle of new routes that may be very good (TSW6 ) or really awful ( TSW5 ). Yes, you can get the new iteration for free ( for a while ), but lots of us are swayed by the PR blitz that accompanies the annual downfest.

 

I'm sure they've rather have a bigger audience if they can get it!

 

That’s interesting. I thought the whole point of it was to be universal! I know a good few people who live in the middle of nowhere and use it very successfully, that’s a real shame you can’t get it. On the off chance it was a while ago you asked it’s maybe worth checking again as thy claim 100% coverage in the UK (being satellites and all)

 

the alternative is called Spotify premium.

 

Thanks expensive for a fairly low d/l speed. I was sent an offer for 5 gig broadband for £35pm from a well known supplier. I’m seriously tempted as I’m ‘only’ on 1.6 gig now!

 

It's not a "subject level" simulator no. It's very much a game for casuals...which is why so many casuals enjoy it. They don't have nearly the attention to detail or demands for superb accuracy that those in TSW want. As for "well it's a truck simulator".... you're missing the point entirely. I didn't say their trains were "bad" I said EVERYTHING in the game is "hollow." It's not fully detailed or full fidelity. Trucks, trains, buildings, etc. That's how it can be so low resource. It's not like TSW where people demand to be able to walk into the engine room, walk down the lane into the park, and walk around inside "fully detailed" train stations.

In ETS you can't WALK....period.
Like TSC.

Yeah they have almost 50,000 customers. Far from people fearing it's "closing down" like you see on the TSW forums weekly in apocalyptic tones.