Been playing TSW2 for about a six months, Level 100, still feel like a beginner.... So forgive me when I ask... the random spawning locations to explore on foot in LGV Méditerranée - such as the lovingly recreated former Gare St Louis les Aygalades (complete with an underpass straight out of a horror film, or maybe a French remake of Trainspotting)... Why are they there? At one or two of these obscure, random locations there are little branches (which are - uniquely for any route, I think - not on the map) with sidings and working manual points. I thought maybe you could use them in scenarios - maybe starting a train from one or two of these locales. Nope. I mean, I get you can stand and watch the trains go by from these, but seriously is that it? Seems a remarkable amount of effort to go into (especially at St Louis les Aygalades) if that is all they are for. (And while we are here there's Gare de Séon-Saint-Henri which is in the manual but not - as far as I can see - the game)
This is a route desperately seeking an extension. Sadly high speed end to end is the death of gameplay, and power switch and signalling are not enough to compensate.
I fear this might be the only TSW French route for quite some time. I haven't got it because it is such a one trick pony, it needs more variety and life on the route. Yes these high speed lines are designed to be stand-alone so that they can get along uninterupted by the slower traffic but the German lines where you run alongside other stock and frequently see them on the route just makes the whole thing come to life. Even the beautiful Marseille station, with only TGV Oui trains in it just looks wrong. The first 90 seconds of this video are wonderful. The variety comes from many more routes with different stock and to go there and do that they need to be encouraged by the sales from the first route. Perhaps they could next make a route that is part in france and part in Germany and has both the ICE and TGV on it and then sell some loco dlc that can also be layered into the LGV Marseille route. That way they can build out the French stock while still putting things out that add onto or take advantage of the German stock. Like this one for TS https://store.steampowered.com/app/...ahnstrecke_Strasbourg__Karlsruhe_Route_AddOn/
The way i view high speed routes is like playing Microsoft Flight Simulator but instead of a Plane, I use a train. Yesterday I did a 6 hour flight from Chicago O'Haire International Airport to London Heatrow Airport. There are some that would find high speed routes boring but the main criticism of the LGV route was that it was too short which probably affected sales. I certainly didn't buy it because of that. If DTG were to make another LGV route, it can't be short and end effectively in the middle of nowhere.
The problem with that route is that there´s not so much to do as it only supports TGV trains. Compared to german HSL this is lacking the wide variety of regular and high speed trains for the same route which adds a lot of possibilities to gameplay, being able to use the yards and the commuter services in the same playground. Even if the route was extended you would most likely just extend the travel time. I think the route is really nice and I liked it but it´s true that it needs something else to be more flexible in terms of gameplay. Cheers
