Spirit Of Steam Release Speculation

What release pattern do you think Spirit of Steam will follow?
Maybe releasing Xmas this year as the perfect Xmas present.
Or maybe summer 2022 following a rush hour style release?
What do you think?

 

Personally I think it'll be Xmas 2021, as we already have a release in planning and more than a month to go, we could see it coming this year.
REASONS WHY IT COULD COME THIS XMAS:
-At the beginning of the year, when Rush Hour was announced, they also announced spirit of steam. I'm not sure why they would announce such a big release 1 year + before release.
-During the recent stream with Matt talking about the future of TSW, he mentioned that the stock was completed (at least the model), and that the next step would be creating a route like any other up till now.
-Steam would sell very well as a Christmas present, so when better to release it?
-Other DLCs have made a rapid progression through the roadmap, and so could steam. (It depends very much on the next roadmap).

REASONS WHY IT MIGHT NOT BE RELEASING THIS XMAS:
-DTG have a history of making big build ups gor exciting new projects and stuff, usually more than a month ahead.
-By the type of release we're talking about, it's very likely it follows a TSW2 or Rush Hour style release.
-So they don't rush it.
-If they still have to build the routes, that should take them some time.
-Ideas?

 

Purely hazarding a guess I would say Q2 next year, possibly for Easter.
I just think if it was coming out in time for Xmas, now less than five weeks away, some sort of PR campaign would be getting into swing by now, Sean Bean all dressed up as a steam driver etc. This is going to be the most significant development in TSW since, well, TSW itself so I see a couple of months at least lead in starting with a few cryptic tidbits about the route(s) and included motive power.

Of course I may be wrong and it would be nice to think Xmas Day evening, stuffed with turkey, pudding, mince pies, cake and a few glasses of sherry can sit down at the PC and start thrashing an old kettle on one of my sweepstake routes in my signature!

 

The gap between announcement and release doesn't have a set timeframe. GTA5 was announced in 2011 and released in 2013, Gran Turismo 5 was announced in 2006 and released in 2010, GT Sport was announced in 2015 and released in 2017... It's purely baseless speculation as to when it comes out, but I'd say Summer 2022 at the latest. The first release this Christmas would make sense but it's up to DTG.

 

They didn't actually announce the release of Steam, they just announced they're now formally working on it and someone had given it a fancy marketing name. To add to what Doomotron said, TSW was first mooted officially shortly after Euro Fishing was announced (start/middle of 2014) - it didn't come out until 2017. I have a feeling it'll be early next year, but not for Christmas, unless the roadmap is completely wrong like it was for Sherman Hill.

 

They're probably going to announce the next UK route(s) before Christmas. I highly doubt they'll release Spirit of Steam so close after London Commuter (which would give them about 3 months until Christmas, far too soon). Either it will emerge early next year (like last year with Southeastern High Speed) or next summer. It all depends whether they can get simugraph working fully with steam first, obviously they have enough confidence with it working properly to make an announcement.

 

The release on SoS is dependent on the SimuGraph upgrade going as planned. The assets are pretty much done, but the developers may well find a roadblock in the update that delays the release by a while, perhaps months.

 

I hope it's next year, I don't want it to be rushed for Christmas.

 

Is that really true? I remember he said the stock is done. But did he explicitly said something like "now we have to do the route"? I don't think he said that, i am pretty sure over the last year they also worked on routes. Just imagine: Spending months of work into developing simugraphcompatability with steam, but when creating routes after that they suddenly realise "oh we can't find enough reference material for a route, so we can't do it now". Would be a pretty bad planning and i don't think DTG makes this mistake. That's for sure not their first route, not even the first historic route. So I guess the routes (or at least one route) are mostly done. Now it's time to do the timetables, the scenarios and most importantly: the intoductions and tutorials. And especially the last thing - the tutorials - take extremly much time to do them accoring to TSG.

 

I think what he said was that the 3D art for a locomotive is done (or at least they know what they need to do with it), and in a separate statement said once Simugraph is sorted, it's just like building any other route.

I have a feeling the route is chosen, but they just won't say what it is.

 

It definitely is. The last roadmap (or the one before) stated, that they just want to let us wait a little more till we find out the route

 

The route has been chosen, the locos moddeled. My guess is Q1 or Q2 of 2022. With the current release schedule (Dresden - Chemnitz is yet to come out) christmas feels like it's just too tight. During the holidays the team is also on leave, and I imagine they want to wait with the introduction until the team is readily available to solve possible bugs in this new technology.

 

I think Chemnitz will be the Christmas release.

 

Now how much of this will they capture, theres a lot of console killing steam here. Get the camera in wrong place on pc and it’s not happy with diesel smoke.

there’s a lot to encapsulate and model here

 

I would imagine next year unless. By "Spirit" they mean Christmas sprit and we are actualy getting the Polar Express. Though I imagne getting Simugraph working not just for steam but also traction on ice would take a lot longer than rails.

 

The smoke won't actually be an issue as long as DTG don't mess it up. Gran Turismo 5 and 6 on PS3 had unrealistically thick tyre smoke, so it is entirely possible.

Maybe it's the ghost train from The Count Of Monster Disco?

 

Summer of 2022 with the possible routes being United States Soldier Summit UK WSR Steam and Germany specifically West Germany former Deutsche Bundesbahn Wutachtalbahn 086 Steam locomotive Dampflok. 052 044 if Bochum Dahlhausen Steam Railway was chosen and gives steam locomotives to HRR via Essen Steele. Bochum Dahlhausen Steam locomotives are playable on HRR Essen Steele to Mülheim Hbf where they go to Oberhausen HBF then Arnhem. The thing with German steam locomotives they are PZB equipped since the 1930s when it was called Indusi

 

Particle effects can look really good in UE4, as demoed in this old video. But I do wonder what DTG have done or are doing to improve the efficiency of their particle effects, as they are currently pretty performance heavy when in great volume.


Cheers

 

They HAVE to. For the sake of the old gen consoles they have to improve the performance of that. And hopefully the visuals, so we also see some fire particles.

Another question: I highly doubt we will only get a loco, but also passenger and maybe even freight waggons.
What UK, what german and what US passenger cars would be the "go to"? What is THE classic steam passenger car in the UK? What in germany? I know this is probably not possible to answer for sure without knowing what loco will come, but what do you guys think? Which passenger cars would be the most reasonable to do?

 

Depends on the region, era and even type of train (ie commuter/local, regional or express). We didn't have a nationally standardised multi-purpose coach design until the BR Mk1 in the 1950s, but even then, some areas had suburban variants with doors for every set of seats.

(Pic by David Ingham)

 

I find when you're on external camera tracking a train and you put the camera on top of the train behind the smoke that's when it doesn't seem as happy.

 

I'm thinking a Spring 2022 release for the first route with the other two routes following close behind like how Rush Hour ended up being released. I reckon they might throw us a nice little teaser over Christmas though.

 

For germany the most likely passenger stock will probably be 4-axle umbauwagen or m-Wagen (also known as UIC-x-Wagen). This is mostly due to how common they were in post war West-Germany, and the fact that many still exist for reference. If DTG does a late-steam route (i.e. '70s), n-Wagen are also feasible, and they would have a lot of re-use on other routes as they are still in use in some places (mostly as replacement stock or a temporary solution).


The 4-axle Umbauwagen. These coaches were developed by re-utilising parts of older wooden coaches, and combining them with new steel body shells. These could be seen on most local traffic services, behind most steam locos, and later even diesels from the late '50s to the '80s, with some even lasting in revenue service until 1990. If DTG decides to do a BR 23 or a BR 38 (Preußische P8), these could be very good fits.


1st class m-Wagen. These coaches are a product of the mid '50s, intended for the important F and D trains of the time. These coaches have a remarkably long service life, with some of them still being in use on for example the Snälltåget sleeper train or FlixTrain services, altough I believe these coaches are of a later production run, and all have been overhauled extensively throughout their lives. These would be a perfect fit for a BR 01 or BR 03, the premier express engines of both pre and post-war Germany.


A train consisting of n-Wagen, often nicknamed Silberlinge. At the front is a cab car, but I wouldn't expect these to come with a steam release, due to the fact that they were incompatible with steam traction Turns out these are compatible with steam traction after all, a system of communicating between the cab car and the fireman in the loco existed, the driver could also control the brakes from the cab car. These could be seen on local and some F and D trains. Their production started in the late fifties. These coaches are still in use by some companies, though often only as an interim solution. DB Regio used them until the late 2010's as far as I know.

 

I completely forgot that n-Wagen and Steam locos very well fit together. I always dreamed of that coaches in TSW, but never realized that steam actually opens the door for these coaches. And what makes it even more possible, it that both m- and n-Wagen still exist today, so there is enough reference material. And I am pretty sure DTG made n-Wagen also for TS, but I may be wrong on that.
Given the fact that DTG loves to reuse coaches (looking at you, Dostos), this would make future "oldschool" electric locos (DLC or with the route) possible, as they "only" have to develop the loco, but not the coaches anymore. Your comment now really hyped me up, tough I of course expect the least.

 

Here is a pic of a steam loco with Silberlinge (in Wuppertal-Oberbarmen, Source: https://digit.wdr.de/entries/92826)


And many railtours in german use steam locos and in this instance n-Wagen. So like every future route (and maybe layered into old routes) could have at least one steam loco rail tour with the matching coaches. I really hope DTG doesn't forget these railtours in future timetables as no german rail tour exists, yet. Of course other than the UK, there is no german train in TSW to do a railtour.

 

Would be nice, if there is a difference of steam development depending on temperature outside.

 

I must admit 01 202 looks particularly good with the bare metal 'tire' and brass rings around the boiler, especially in this picture.

 

I don't get the impression that Spirit of Steam (or at least the first route) is 2022's "Big Release" so I don't think it'll debut it the summer. But I would think we'll see steam included in the big yearly release. If I were going to guess, I'd say we'll see the first route either just before or a little after new years. Personally if the initial steam releases are going to happen over the course of 6-9 months I would actually quite enjoy another season pass option.

 

For the US, depending on the train and era, i would expect either Pullman Heavyweights, or Streamlined Budd or Pullmans. (If the 1st US Steam DLC even includes passenger service, and isn't a freight only route.)

 

That would be pretty cool, to be honest. I'm not really into steamers, but an art-deco style Pullmann set or something would definitely fire my interest.

 

A dissertation on the many and varied types of pre-Nationalisation (1948) coaching stock types on the UK railway would take too long. I suspect, if whatever route we get is post 1951, we will get Mark Ones skinned into an appropriate livery hopefully with a few new types such as catering cars to flesh out the existing range.

 

What types come with WSR? Is it just TSOs and BSOs? (I know we also have the BG from NTP).

 

Certainly TSO and BSO, come to think of it I don't recall there being any first class vehicles so at a minimum we would need a FO or FK, possibly a BFK and BCK as well.

 

That is my fear. When the Falmouth branch was released for TS1 it came with a Pannier, Hall, some wagons and some chocolate and cream mark 1's! Hardly representative of branch line coaching stock in the steam era!

 

I think it will be the big summer release with three locomotives and three routes. The sprit of steam, next August gives DTG time to plan something exciting.

 

Perhaps, but no way are they gonna sit on a DLC for 2-3 months, unless it's gonna remain in planning for another few months.

 

For clarity, here's a picture taken at Sunderland in 1953.

There are at least 3 very different designs of coach in that one train.

Picture by Ben Brooksbank, CC BY-SA 2.0

 

I have a feeling come summer time we could see a loco pack of steam, one for us, we have two new American routes that had steam, I think they’ll be a new uk route set modern times that steam can sit on and then a German loco too

 

Sherman Hill as is in TSW2 ain't in a state where steam locos would make sense for it, there's no infrastructure to support them, and I doubt Horseshoe Curve is gonna be any better on that front.

 

how about the best known steam trainset, the hogwart express

 

I think the person who does the licensing just died of fright.

 

This, basically! Probably second only to Thomas (or anything Disney) when it comes to that sort of thing. Though I do believe there is a Hogwarts themed Hornby train set.

More chance of BNSF saying, "Aw go on then", than any of the above...

 

It would be awesome, would it not? You just know Matt would love to have the art team creating Platform 9 3/4. I wonder what the mastery would be? lol

 

You mean ECML South London Kings Cross with GWR Olton Hall class locomotive.

 

That would be the only steam trainset worth making, everything else does not make sense in a computer game. Nothing is really appealing to have in a game, in real to see one work for a few minutes and then the interest is literally gone, and the only real interest in real life is smell of the burning wood to make the steam

PS do not forget that to get a steam locomotive working, take nearly a day to get it warm enough to make steam

 

We could streamline the transport arrangements so the Yorkshire pupils didn't have to go to London to get a train to Scotland

 

Oh believe me, the very first thing I'll do is a ("fictional") Hogwarts Express livery for the loco and coaches!!

 

I thought Thomas was the best known steam set.

 

There's some very bizarre ideas here (Hogwarts/Polar Express? Thomas? Has DTG ever done a licence like that?), and the thought it'll be out for Christmas is laughable. I would of thought at the earliest we're talking Q2 of next year.
I would think the first route will be British since the licence can be obtained from the Department of Transport and be based on history and not fictitious.

 

The Merioneth and Llantisilly Railway Traction Company Limited is my vote