I may be reading between the lines too much but I came away with the impression there may have been some behind the scenes progression (not saying loads) with route mergers. It didn't seem to be a swerved topic last night. I'm wondering if modular , connectable routes and timetables are on the distant horizon
Under some conditions it's already technically feasible to connect two routes together, a mod by Muff connects RSN and RRO together. (And it looks like this might also be possible with DRA and Dresden-Chemnitz once it releases) However: This is only part of the work, figuring out a timetable to join them together is where a lot of the work lies. Also, the marketing/sales aspect of releasing an extension is a bit complex and might not be something that makes a lot of financial sense for them, at least for now. And such, we probably won't be seeing a merge for a while yet. It's certainly possible for them to chose to do it in the future, but at this point it's best to expect that they won't.
He's always been like that when he's on the stream by himself - he will talk about big picture stuff and aspirations. I've not watched the stream back but I imagine it'll have been the same as he has said before. I wouldn't read too much into it. Anyway, there'd be little point merging BML and ECW since there's no services that go between the two routes via Brighton, bar diversions - you'd need to Plumpton line for it to be worthwile IMO.
Yeah, it's just what you need to expect when listening to Matt, though he does usually specific when it's not in active development. It's just not as blatant as repeating "if it's not on the roadmap..."
I didn't watch the Yesterday Stream, but it wouldn't be the first time someone from DTG says something that is not intended for the public. In one of the preview Streams for Dresden-Riesa, JD said something like "None of the branches are currently on the roadmap". Especially how he said this, in what tone, that sounded strange to my ears. The Meissen branch was added to the Roadmap that followed.
Agreed, if they put out ECW and commuter linked, fully integrated, all the services at £35-40 people would buy it. The question would there be enough is always prudent as is ROI but unless you're on a diet you normally eat more
What exactly did you hear Matt say? Because I watched some of the stream last night, and I only heard reference to merging the two different versions of the 377. Maybe I missed something more obvious. Here at 1:42:55
I think it was a passing comment earlier in the stream where he was asked something and I just perhaps read between the lines too much.
I haven't seen yesterday's stream but from what I'm getting to know him from his statements and his contributions here on the forum, I would say Matt is a big train enthusiast because he always shows his passion. I understand he has a lot of ideas in his head to make TSW an amazing game, I'm sure he dreams about it and would like to see as many things implemented as we do and many more. He is an amazing guy with his work and he even does things in his free time to improve the game. And sometimes when he talks or when he writes he can give a wrong idea about ----- things he would like to see happen ------ things that will actually happen-----. Although he always makes it clear that he does not promise anything, let's say that his enthusiasm can be "hopeful". Unfortunately, I am sure that many of these ideas he has will later be sadly erased by his superiors or bean-counters, or at best with a promise of "we'll look into it later". And many things will not work out as he would like and he will be the first to be disappointed, before any member of the community. Just look at his face when he is showing us something of quality, how proud he is. And other things that are not of the quality standard he would like, he tries to hide it but you can see in his face that he is not 100% satisfied. But he never hides. For better or for worse, he is always in the front line and it can't be easy, we have already seen how passionate the community is in bad times. So, personally, I think it's lucky that Matt is part of TSW and he deserves my respect for his constant involvement.
I watched the stream this morning and had the same thought, I can't remember exactly what he said but he used the word "when" instead of "if", like the OP probably just reading in-between the lines, but we do know route mergers are on Matt's wish list
On Tuesday's stream Sam said Matt is interested in exploring route extensions/mergers but they are nowhere close to yet. Could mean they are working on it, or thinking about it or might just be a pipedream.
That's because route mergers are this sort of thing we know will come at some point, it's not technically impossible, or require sci-fi level tech, is hugely wanted by the community, and on the devs' wishlist. Also seems like their route choice has been leading for a massive merger potential, especially in the Rhein-Ruhr area in germany.
I think it'll come when they release a mainline in multiple parts, like, say, the West Anglia Main Line. So, sell each section (London - Cambridge via Stratford and Cambridge - King's Lynn (yes, I know it's the Fen Line beyond Cambridge but GA services continue to Ely and King's Lynn - this is just an example and I can't think of a better one for two parts)), and if you own both, they'll 'clip together' and form a master London - King's Lynn route. Or when they make Ruhr Seig Süd: Finnentrop - Sigen.
The way to implement this might be an alternate timetable which silently takes over if certain DLC are present. Alt-timetables have been done since Diesel Legends. DTG have already done timetable replacement with the 313 for example: if you own it, then ECW uses the new 377 + 313 timetable instead of the old one. So (using existing routes just as an example), if one launches RSN and the game detects RRO as an owned DLC, then it could silently substitute in a new timetable which includes freight services all the way to Wuppertal, loading RRO tile by tile as required. From a marketing point of view, this avoids the "DLC for DLC" issue that, say, selling a separate "link package" would; and mergeable routes would help boost sales, since if one owns one there is incentive to buy the other as well (like layering does; I bought HRR simply to get the 425 on München-Augsburg)
I agree it would be nice to take a continuous journey between the two routes but right now I’d settle for being able to get off a train in Brighton and walk across to hop onto a train on the alternative route. Exiting one route to change to another is just not the same.
Couldn’t agree more. I know some of the community are happy hitting escape and main menu etc etc. id love to pull into Brighton and then continue north in some capacity without having to fire my pc into warp speed at that main menu screen. Immersion gone
How many drivers pull into Brighton from the BML and then head straight onto an ECW service to Seaford? I doubt it's too many, so maybe you're wanting something other than "immersion" (as in reality) I'm not saying DTG couldn't do it, I think it should be easier to do than they seem to have made it, but people keep talking about immersion and reality and then saying something that doesn't happen IRL
I’m confident I could be a passenger on an east Coastway route, travel to Brighton and then catch a train north
I’m only yanking your chain Aruscoe . I hate passenger mode. I truthfully don’t know the services and how they sit. It’s more for me if they connect in some scope in the real world I’d love them to here. I think they’ll always be a multitude of for and again reasons commercially as well as representative ones. I’m just a fan of the ducking out and back into game
You can always check out Realtime Trains, I love a good poke around in there IRL trains from London towards Eastbourne go off the BML South of Wivelsfield and connect to the ECW at Lewes (that curve to the tunnel at the north of the station where the ECW freight runs end) Unfortunately DTG decided not to include this curve in the route even if things weren't directly linked in game. Would have been able to do runs full length even in two parts... Personally I would have preferred DTG to go down the open world approach with regards to signalling, timetabling etc but they seem to have created a closed world system (ie things are down to individual timetables specifically built)
Hah wow sorry for any confusion. I'll stick to "if its not on the roadmap..." in future Can confirm nobody is looking at route extensions. When i'm streaming on my own I like to chill out a bit and not be uptight about the exact words i'm using - but maybe I need to be as guarded as always! I'd love to know how that would work Matt.
Which might be more difficult to implement, not less, because it woukd require rebuilding the station, twice.
No it wouldn't, it would require the station tile to be the same tile to be used in both and in the same coordinates in both DLC, ie Brighton in BML would be the same in ECW and if ever built the same in WCW. Only when you start to move and load in the "next tile" would you start to see different ones being used.
However, without a common timetable there wouldn't be "a train on the alternative route." If one drives a train from Victoria to Brighton and gets off, there wouldn't be any ECW trains to board. There may be trains supposedly bound for Eastbourne, but they are just programmed to run out through portals and despawn.
This comes down to planning. If you have a place set in a particular era, and then you build that same place in the same era then do the same timetable. In fact just copy and paste the first route's timetable onto the second as a start point and remove the not required bits (or do dynamic portals)
I would prefer they put this as their building structure from the start. Put things at their correct (ie real world) coords, rotation and altitude and then even if you build a joining route in ten years you don't have the faff people have had in TS1. Make terminal tiles fully qualified so they are decent to use in all routes, and make timetables work properly so yes, they can propogate to anything that adds on in future