The three routes in the article are the Brighton Mainline, Bahnstrecke Riesa - Dresden and Northeast Corridor Boston - Providence.
Yes, I worded it poorly. There will be artists that are skilled in making the train models and that would be their main role, but their skills could be put to use making other (simpler) things instead if needed. And I don’t think DTG would hesitate to deploy their staff anywhere where they are needed. I’m pretty sure the physics modelling and set-up is done separately to the visual model making though, that is a totally different skill set.
I mean, yes I like to see new locos and rolling stock. However, the stock is accurate for the area (looking at you Hamburg - Lübeck), so I'm not complaining, definetely not at €30 for three routes. I really hope Riesa - Dresden has some fun layers. The 363 and 204 have been mentioned before, and I would really like to see those layer onto other routes. I do think all the German freight locos will layer onto here (185, 155, 182, etc.). If the route is set a few years in the past some S-bahn services were still operated by the BR 182 from RT (as far as I'm aware), and that would be lovely to see as substitution for some S-bahn services. In addition to that, a few years ago, the BR 101 operated IC services (instead of the IC2 which does that nowadays). As for loco DLC for Riesa - Dresden, both the ICE-T and maybe a freight loco like the BR 189 or BR 193 Vectron (both of which could come in either, or better yet, both, DB and MRCE liveries), would be fun. The IC 2 is also an option, but I personally feel no need for more Traxx + Dosto action.
"The ACS-64 (Cities Sprinter) design is based on the EuroSprinter, but with substantial modifications to meet United States safety standards" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EuroSprinter That's what I meant. GE Pxx Series perfectly represents the American locomotive (passengers side) And the Acela is a TGV (Bombardier+Alstom).
Ah, fair enough then. I just find that there's a lot of posting in the forums about the internal structure and organization of DTG by people who don't identify their source(s). If something about personnel is mentioned in a stream or elsewhere, then that's fine, otherwise I simply assume it's purely speculative or self-serving.
I really don’t mind if trains are duplicated across routes if that’s accurate. It’s cutting corners to meet their own deadlines that bugs me. If you’re doing something, do it justice. Don’t half-arse it.
For Amtrak, I'm gonna assume we are gonna get the Amfleet I's and not the Amfleet II's, like in TSW2020. Especially since the Amfleet II's lack a second door. Amfleet I Amfeet II MBTA however is up in the air ATM, as they could either be the BTC or CTC's
They're busy making 2 routes as long as LGV but with far more detail & assets. We wanted long routes and we got them by sacrificing new stock. You can't have everything and I personally don't mind the lack of new rolling stock in exchange for game-changing features: finally, a busy, long british mainline; finally, a fast american passanger mainline; finally, a german route with nice variety of stock. I don't want all routes in the future to recycle stock, but I understand that if we want new features we will have to give up on some stuff temporarily. Hopefully this way we allow DTG to expand their route-building skills so next time it is possible to make a long, detailed route WITH new stock. I will swallow my words if the new routes look like LOVE, but we can't complain about lack of focus on stock when they've clearly put their effort somewhere else this time.
the ACS-64 while not new to DTG, is new for TSW2, and the MBTA equipment will be brand new as well. But from what I can tell, these are all three brand new routes
I'm guessing at least one of the reasons is that covid doesn't make it easy for them to go and get the sounds and source materials. The second reason is that it seems DTG is going to include the more common stuff that we have already seen in every route, and sell the new trains separately as dlc. I know it will be more expensive, but I'm OK with it as long as they deliver good quality.
Generally, when it comes to the interesting locos, I like having them as DLC, because the quality of loco add-ons is usually higher than that of the locos that come with routes as standard.
Yes. The only difference is that you need TSW2 to play the Rush Hour DLC (the base game is not included in Rush Hour).
Yeah, the Boston to Providence section is great for an Acela DLC. I would love to drive that fabulous train in TSW2
Real good price for real decent routes so i don't mind to see some "recycling" since it's accurate, also opens the door for stock dlc like the acela, skipping hamburg and will get this instead on release.
Can't wait for BML, I don't care if we get Electrostars again. Finally a long main line in it's full length. And I really hope we get an add on for it (similar to Diesel Legends) with NSE Class 423s. I really hope they do a good job with scenery and sounds on the 377 and 387.
Roughly how long is Boston to Providence, in route mileage and time? The trouble with Electrostars is that because they're all so similar, so if DTG makes one of them, they can't really do other ones without people calling them lazy. I understand it with them recycling the 377/4, but the 387 requires a lot of changes to the model and interior. And, we'll finally be able to have prototypical 387s on GWE!
The route by car is about 50 miles, and here’s a snippet from tomorrow’s schedule from the Amtrak App
Will more passengers = smarter passengers or should we just put in the suggestion page a locomotive with a rotatory snowplow.("It slices It dices It deletes those pesky passenger useing there iphones while standing on the railroad tracks")...
I imagine its just more passenger density after we found the unreal command to do it for them - I dont imagine they've changed the actual passenger AI as its always been a "its on the list but not a priority" question, even quite recently. I bet theyve just brought some new models to mix it up along with the engine command line edited in,
You're talking like they didn't know about the passenger density command. You do realize that they're the ones who put it into the game, right?
Density, schmensity. The real keys are 1) do they look better than PS2 standard, and 2) do they not behave alternately like lunatics and zombies?
Oh yes. Before they simply flood the game with more of the same cloned figures, let's have better and more realistic passengers, some of whom actually board and leave the trains in a realistic fashion.
This depends entirely on which stations it stops at. There are some express trains, for example, that completely bypass Route 128 and Canton Junction which significantly reduce the travel time.
Yeah, those are the 60 ish minute ones, while the ones that do stop there are the 70 ish minute ones.
The body shells are basically the same, even if they have different motive power (3rd rail, panto or both) UK doesn't have one because each franchise has different stock. The 390 and 80x are the 125MPH workhorses at the moment
"Rush Hour" is the 2021/22 bundle of routes for TSW2, so when that bundle releases if you want to buy TSW2 AND YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY GOT TSW2 these become the "core routes" similar to what Bakerloo etc were for 2020/21 IF YOU ALREADY HAVE TSW2 then "rush hour" is essentially a bundle of three routes for the price of 1 (price depending) and given they're three new routes (if the leak is right) nobody will have any of them so they're definitely three new routes. WILL THEY SHOW AS RUSH HOUR IN GAME? My guess is no. You'll just see the route names and flags as usual WILL WE SEE THEM ON THE ROADMAP? Given the release date is likely to be disclosed tomorrow it may well go on the roadmap as "RUSH HOUR" but not individual routes. They may still put all three on there, but most will know the expected date anyway
From what I read in the FAQ, it is going to be different this year. You will need to have TSW2 before you buy Rush Hour (it is sold separately). This is what the FAQ says: About having each route in the roadmap, the one published the 20th of April says the following:
There is the Boston leg of the Lake Shore Limited, but that splits off to Springfield before the Back Bay Sation, so it would be pointless to model it in game.
Sam has been on again tonight and I can’t see any posts telling us that our excitement the last couple of days over Rush Hour has been a waste of energy.
Yep, it said it in the FAQ. What the upgrades will be like remains to be seen. Don't expect ray tracing, but faster loading times because of the SSDs are a reasonable guess. Yes, the bodyshells are quite similar, but the windows are completely different and would require remodelling (unless DTG have been lazy and just stuck some child models on it), and the interior is largely unrecognisable. The TMS system from what I know is very different in the real world as well, but DTG probably haven't bothered with any changes to it, assuming they are major changes. I was talking about how 'iconic' the trains are. If you search 'UK train' on Google, the first row has two Voyagers, two Pendolinos, a Turbostar, a Networker and (amazingly) a Class 321 Breeze. Possibly the most popular UK train video of all time, Trains at Speed UK (3), has - you guessed it - a Pendolino in its thumbnail. Trains at Speed UK (4) also has one, next to a Class 66. The 80x and Class 395 are first seen on the second and third rows of Google respectively, after a Class 153. The Class 374 beats the 153, and I know that Eurostar (particularly the 373) are very iconic.
When first I read that on leak day, I interpreted it the same way you have described, and then I thought afterwards that I must have misunderstood, based on what normally happens. I think it may need clarifying as I’m still unsure now even after seeing it again but it certainly reads that way.
Yes you are right. I’ve just looked at a post of the full page and it says at the top of the FAQ that it is just an add-on. It’s probably because of that thing that happened with TSW2020 where they wanted to replace routes in the launch bundle but couldn’t on PS4 so everyone on PS4 got NEC and RT for free (unadvertised) as they were stuck in the core. It’s probably just easier this way. The core routes stay the same and there is a route bundle instead.
I think I prefer this model of 'expansion packs' which just add to the base game. I think what DTG are planning to do is release one every year based on different themes. This year is busy commuter routes, next year might be heavy freight, and after that it might be high speed (again!). This way, we can get routes with a similar theme together. Perhaps they could do bundles like this for existing routes, like putting LGV, Southeastern High Speed and Munich-Augsburg into a high-speed bundle.
This was I believe the original intention; last year's changeover to TSW2, which necessitated including the core game rather than just a bundle of routes for TSW1, was not really in the plan.
The only really cool thing about the link above (Rush Hour Preview page) is the (free) update of the Unreal engine. I hope they make Munchen-Augsburg (HMA) a better route with a solid framerate.
