Spirit Of Steam Release Speculation

I just can't see DTH leaving us with no DLC to buy between now and the end of May. Based on other recent routes announcement to release other than SoS even if some thing was announced next week you'd expect it out mid to late May.

For that reason only I suspect SoS is closer to release then expected.

 

I voted Xmas 2021, did I win?

Seriously the answer is SOON or at the same time as the preserved route updates. Sorry for the scepticism but I feel the direction DTG is going in it wants to cut out feedback from the customer especially going by the streams.

Even though I'm not fully convinced this SOS will be as good as DTG think it will be I'd say around August this year.

 

Remember it was a selectable route on Matts build the other day

 

It’s not long now. There may be news of other steam routes too in the forthcoming stream, so worth tuning in for.

 

Will that include a German Steam route if so a 1960s Ruhr Sieg Sud Finnetrop Siegen with 052 086 095 the last one being able to work on Main Spesart Bahn as a Plandampf service

 

Honestly I kind of expect to see at least one more British steam route before we see other regions. Bossman specializes in UK locos, and most of DTG's steam content is from the United Kingdom, it would make sense to do locos they're already familiar with and have the data and assets for already.

 

I would not be surprised if all hands have been pulled off anything and everything else to try and get this right. From previous discussions we know this is Paul Jackson’s pride and joy and I would imagine the team from Matt downwards have been told in no uncertain terms, if it’s a balls up or anything less than 100% positive feedback, heads will be rolling down the road.

 

This is why they haven't with some of the others. QA managers football match post rush hour release

 

I believe SoS will be a staggered release, as was Rush Hour. The UK route will come out before the summer, with a German and an American route coming later on, hopefully before the end of the year. I'm pretty sure we will not see three routes together.

 

I would imagine that if they were planning more steam releases as part of a schedule they would have announced them at the same time.

 

I suspect they will release Liverpool Crewe iron out any game breaking bugs then and only then start working on US & German routes.

 

What's the point of announcing it all now it it will come months away? THink about the RH sh*tshow. It was supposed to come out all at once, then it got delayed, only to come out in a staggered release. They probably opted for a more cautious approach this time, and will wait a bit more this time. They have shown us nothing about American or German steam, so it must be far away. They won't hold the UK route till the others are ready. As Redrev1917 said, they'll probably use the UK route to iron out the main bugs.

 

Which stream was this in?

 

The Luzern stream but it didn't even have a thumb nail and he was on a Dev build so I don't think we can take that as an indication that it's imminent.

What I did find interesting was when he flicked from Luzern to Lubeck he did it off screen, was this done to prevent another route on his build being leaked out I wonder.

 

There is an Spirit of Steam stream next sunday, March 27th at 20:00 UTC. Release might be closer than it seemed.

 

The only hint we have for german steam is the chemnitz posters. They had a good reason choosing this route. Also because classic german diesels.

 

They have better get the realistic track joint sound when the train going over the railroad track, especially the chugging sound, and you can hear the track rattling and bumping.

 

They're not gonna do multiple routes in quick succession this time, way too much asset development needed to that. Keep in mind Rush Hour had struggles, and the vast majority of its stock was built off of existing locos made for other routes. There's no chance in hell they're gonna be able to do that for steam focused routes. Each route will need at least one steam loco each, probably two each in reality, plus a large selection of new rolling stock since there's little to no stock they can pull from with the US & Germany.

Also you gotta keep in mind that steam isn't gonna have a wide enough appeal to devote all their resources towards. A lot of people don't care for older eras, and many find steam locos too complicated to wrap their head around. Making a full content pack where most, if not all the included locos are steam locos is not gonna have the broad appeal Rush Hour did. I'd be surprised if we see a entire half a year or more where there's nothing but steam content for that reason.

 

DTG has several route building teams who work at the same time on different routes. This is what makes a new route ever 1-2 months even possible.
As Harlem is out, let's just say for argument's sake: One team works on Liverpool-Crewe. Maybe get's assisted by a second team. Or by Adam's team. There is still at least one crew without task then. Seems unlikely to me. Do they ALL work on Liverpool-Crewe? Very unlikely, as the next route after that would be 3-6 months after that.

So i am 100% sure, besides Liverpool-Crewe another german route has been in development for a good time already. Maybe even a historical german route. So chances are good, that the release of the next german route isn't that far away from the Liverpool-Crewe release.
Yes, there is nothing on the current roadmap, but the is definitely at least one more route in development. At least it must be after the Harlem release. Also I know, that Lukas said that he personally (!) works on Formsignale. Would he do that if it can't be used? Probably not.

Also we didn't hear from new developments of the 420 for a long time (apart from that one screenshot last week), so i guess Maik also works on something as 2nd party again. At least that wouldn't surprise me, as DTG probably knows that he does some good magic for german locos.

 

Ok, but that might be further down the road. I distinctly remember DTG saying the first steam routes would all be period routes, not preserved railways and such. So, unless they pull another "Diesel Legends" move, the first German Steam DLC will have it's own route set before the 60s.

 

Where is this from if I might ask? That would seem to be a hint that a vintage German route might come, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

Not necessarily before the 60s. There was regular steam service in Germany well into the 70s (West) and 80s (East).

 

I think it was on the TSC Discord.
But it dosen't hint anything as Formsignale are even today in use. So it could be for a route set even in today.

 

You could say that with DTG not having much on the calendar they have learnt from their mistake of having the Core update so close to Rush Hour and ending up with bugs we are still living with today or you could say there will be bugs anyway.

If everything goes perfect then it could well come before or summer but then when was the last big route to have gone perfect?

 

Tharandter Rampe gone very well.

 

No problems at all? WOw, I think i've had problems in every route I bought.

 

At least i don't remember any big problems with that route.

 

True. Very rare, but still present in some places.

 

There are problem in some route still as well as this one especially the FPS drop

 

I believe Cathcart went well as well (at least in my experience)

 

Technically Cathcart is very good, my go to for a quick 20 min spin.
However conceptually is another matter, very short, massively under used big city terminus etc…

 

I think that the first german add-ons for steam traction will come to Tharandter Rampe.

 

Considering the amount of work DTG have had to put into this upcoming route, I wouldn’t be surprised if Crewe - Liverpool Lime Street is the sole route of the Spirit of Steam project. I won’t be surprised if German and American steam routes follow soon after though.

My personal guess for the next steam release, is they’ll do an additional locomotive DLC for Crewe - Liverpool. A Jinty for shunting or a BR standard tank for surburban services would be a good call.

If DTG spent a few UK steam releases focused on the nationalisation era. They could build up a catalogue of steam locomotives that provide a lot of layer potential for future route timetables.

 

I think we can assume it is given
a) there's been no mention of German or American or <Insert country name here> steam routes/locos from DTG, and
b) it's not the summer release.

... that are based in the former LMS territory

 

From watching the stream today it appears it will be summer. It still seems to be 2 or 3 months away. I don't think it will be the annual update/pack I think it will be late June early July and a stand alone route and all this work they are putting into this I won't be surprised to see a price hike for this DLC as well. The 1st £39.99 DLC

 

It won’t be £39.99. Too much of a commercial risk/uproar. They’d have to market test that price before signing off the development in it

 

I’m genuinely wondering, will we get any DLC from DTG before SOS releases? From the roadmap, the only thing that we can see DTG working on now is SOS..

 

I think horseshoe will be the interim route. I'd envisage it's already situated to fall between the current and upcoming release.

 

Maybe not £39.99, for that I would expect an 80 mile route, 3 or 4 locos and a full range of Mark One coaches. However I can see them testing the water with £27.99 but an introductory/pre-order price of £24.99 to sweeten the deal perhaps.

 

Maybe I'm looking a bit too deep but wouldn't it be great to see Spirit of Steam released on the 2nd June. This is a bank holiday in the UK, but the day after is also a bank holiday, notably, Friday 3rd June is the Queens Platinum Jubilee.

It appears, given what was said on the stream yesterday that we're still a way off release, 2nd of June is just over two months away.. maybe.. maybe not.

It would be nice to drive the Jubilee on the Queens Platinum Jubilee

 

SoS is the only thing DTG are working on and after last night’s stream I wouldn’t think the release is imminent. There is a lot of work to do to get everything right and worthwhile and I am happy to wait for everything DTG need to do before release. My guess is nearly three months, probably release a week before the Steam June sale.
My estimation for SoS’s release is June 16th.

I hope I am wrong and it’s out before the end of April, we shall find out soon enough

 

Probably June, given we haven't been shown the slightest bit of gameplay an April release seems very unlikely. I'd bet on an early to mid July release.

 

DTG won’t release something when nobody is in the office to sort out any release day issues for the next four days. It may be out earlier than that though.

 

If dtg updated the achievement on steam while retrieving the relevant information in steamdb, then it also means that the DLC will be launched within 1 month. For the time being, SOS may not be available until after mid-May.

 

It’s definitely a make or break event

 

Man i hope they have some surprises to reveal, or it's gonna be a boring couple of months.

 

It is gonna be Horseshoe Curve by Skyhook i guess, it's already pushed back by 2 months at this moment, probably we'll get it in late April/early May.

 

I doubt DTG themselves yet know when Liverpool-Crewe will be ready to be released. As Matt said in the stream, it's roughly 80% finished, which means that somewhere between 20% and 80% of the work has yet to be done.

 

They probably have a rough date they'll be aiming for, but ofc they won't share that date in case it gets pushed back. I think now all the tech to get the locos working is done, they're just treating it as any other route (albeit putting a bit more effort into it as the first steam route) - I think that'll be the case for any other steam routes going forward.

 

At the very least, Sam seems to hint that there is a definite specific internal timeframe for it to release.

Cheers

 

I agree, that would be a nice touch however I don't think SOS will make it before August. They have no new stuff to show us just the same old stuff they showed before which in mind they have a few stumbling blocks and this is with the whole team apparently working on it. If the route was completed then maybe sooner but it isn't. Hope I'm wrong for the ones that want it sooner.

Yeah, I also found it odd when JS said, 'the team will not be rushed over this route' and 'it will come out when it comes' Is this a change of policy from DTG or just because it is SOS? We only got a fraction of the GWE as DTG they ran out of time. We have had German routes having branch lines cut due to not enough time. I think most routes if not all routes have a time constraint on them.

So either JD is speaking out of turn or there is a change in policy especially if the DTG teams are all tied up in SOS and could be releasing other stuff.