Tsw3 - The Cat Is Out Of The Bag & The Unofficial Tsw3 Speculation Thread

Discussion in 'TSW General Discussion' started by redrev1917, Jul 5, 2022.

  1. Kangaroo Conductor

    Kangaroo Conductor Well-Known Member

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    Ohhh that's a good guess. I was already expecting SOS being the third route, but an additional loco might be a very nice thing. Tho, they denied that more steam is in the works. And if they even "announce" the TSW3 routes in the roadmap, why then lie about steam content. So it's sadly not likely, but of course, would be welcomed.
     
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  2. chieflongshin

    chieflongshin Well-Known Member

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    Roll on Tuesday…..

    I predict zero acknowledgement or reference of tsw3 ,4 more weeks of speculation and some throughly briefed presenters and vetted desktop icons.
     
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  3. formulabee#1362

    formulabee#1362 Well-Known Member

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    Aye. Clacton is far more interesting than Southend. Bigger depot, better scenery and more stations.
     
  4. CK95

    CK95 Well-Known Member

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    I’d just keep in mind that bigger in TSW = emptier.
     
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  5. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    5 weeks... First Tuesday in August isn't until the 6th
     
  6. redrev1917

    redrev1917 Well-Known Member

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    I suspect the first we'll hear anything official is when it goes on presale on steam.

    Has anyone seen if there's any new achievements in steam database for TSW3?
     
  7. uvm0902

    uvm0902 Well-Known Member

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    "We don't work on things that aren't on the roadmap." It's already tiring. Why these secrets and speculation? I sadly remember the times when we had a normal roadmap with projects for the current year. Everyone knew and understood what to expect in the future. There were discussions of projects and wishes to developers. Now only blind expectation and fantasies.

    It would be more correct to disclose all information about the projects that the team and subcontractors are working on. Monthly review of development progress, discussion of issues and details, assessment of community feedback, beta testing with a community asset.

    With this approach, every member of the community would go through every stage of development. As a result, the final product will become dear and close and desirable for him.
     
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  8. MrSouthernDriver

    MrSouthernDriver Well-Known Member

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    with steam DB being pretty dead, and nothing really moving around. and the fact that TSW2 is coming off gamepass soon. i suspect the official announcement could be any week now. as TSW2 was announced in June. and as most releases happen in august or September. could we be seeing a September release?
     
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  9. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    More a case of "If it's not on the roadmap we can't talk about it"
    Why the secrets and speculation? Go back a year on this forum and see why. If you give people a date and a hint of expectation they take it as a statement of fact written in stone, add in the community suggestions and make THEM also facts, and then rip it all apart anyway.
    The community mostly has itself to blame for the lack of communication given the way people speak about the companies who make the game and it's DLC (let alone each other) on this forum

    Look even at the posts about the roadmap. Unless there's a new route or DLC announced every time people say it's boring and nothing new. If there's no fixes or detail on fixes people say DTG aren't doing what they should. If there ARE routes then people complain they should be doing fixes and not being money grubbing and if there's NO routes people say they're going elsewhere because there's nothing new to do.

    How can DTG get any form of "win" from that?
     
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  10. bakedpotatos.jm

    bakedpotatos.jm Well-Known Member

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    I've been at this for a few years now and I agree. Nothing they have done surprises me and it seems there damned if they do and damned if they don't.

    People asked not to be given info until it is 100% confirmed after Rush Hour released so thats what they are doing. Why people are up in arms about it now is beyond me.

    The only reason the DB420 is still on the Roadmap is they put it on there Jan 2021. So its the last remaining of the old roadmap when info was given too esrly. And people still complain about how long it been on there.

    So I don't get it. You can't have it both ways and the only reason it's how it is is because we asked them to a year ago.

    Also people kept saying in January you need to stop making new DLC and fix the existing product, so they are. But there are lots of complaints there is no new DLC.

    Well Thats what was asked of them.
     
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  11. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    Fair comment, but that was before the faux pas which led to the speculation about TSW3.

    And a little bit of information, particularly on fixes to high profile projects like SoS, would still not go amiss (IMHO) even if just a vague affirmation that, "Yes this x y z is being worked on."
     
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  12. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    Again, if they say "It's coming" it would immediately be "When", "What is it", "Is last gen being dumped", "are the old routes carrying accross", "Have you fixed lighting, sound, immersion controls..." the list goes on, and of course each answer would then be digested and ripped apart.
    "Yes this x y z is being worked on." - "When will we get it", "I refunded it ages ago and won't even touch my avatar until it's completely working", "Why wasn't it like this to begin with, we paid you!" blah blah blah
     
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  13. redrev1917

    redrev1917 Well-Known Member

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    There's already a PS4 thread hypothesising that last gen is being dropped and there's been no official denial that this is happening. Maybe it's just a blanket policy of no commenting about TSW3 at all, but it certainly looks bad.
     
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  14. CrAzZyKiLLa

    CrAzZyKiLLa Well-Known Member

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    I agree with this, I feel communication has slipped backwards a bit to what we enjoyed previously. This is probably to due with again having a new CM team. No disrespect to them as they can only talk about what allowed to and instead this should be directed towards those making these decisions (looking at you the infamous 'Mike' who we never see). I can only hope when this rumoured big announcment does happen that it is considerable and worth the wait. I also agree that this period was described as a period to fix bugs and outstanding issues, but this does not seem to of been the case. I hope someone comes out and says something soon, as I feel now is the right time.
     
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  15. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    At the moment "it looks blank" would be a better descriptor for me... We know things are still going on in the background even though we don't know what those "things" are...
    So long as DTG are still on the forums and streams are still happening I'm happy the company isn't going down the pan just yet
     
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  16. FD1003

    FD1003 Well-Known Member

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    If it's true that this mistake was deliberate, this period of total radio silence makes absolutely no sense.

    If you give small hints ok, but once you come in this thread BASICALLY saying it's official and it's actually happening, you can't pretend like nothing happened for a week. I do not have a psychology degree, nor am I a PR expert. But the way they decided to handle this seems the best and quickest way to make sure the expectations of your customers are completely out of whack with what you are actually developing, and this thread is a perfect example, for all we know this could still be a Rush Hour bundle + a few core and UI improvements they decided to brand TSW3, likely it's going to be bigger, but that's the point. We don't know what we don't know.
     
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  17. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    What's driven customers back to this site day after day for the last two weeks??? Literally nothing has been happening in the world of TSW2 for weeks now unless you count a drip feed of updates, fixes for minor issues or what Rivet have said about the IoW22...
    Almost every large post (ie beyond page 3) has been about TSW3. No better way to drive your forum than some speculation based on very little input.
     
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  18. FD1003

    FD1003 Well-Known Member

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    I don't know, for me it was intriguing at the beginning, as the "fun" was trying to figure out if it was real or not, once JD confirmed it, it's just a case of what do you expect? Personally it's been years I've lived with having my expectations as low as possible, I'd rather be pleasantly surprised by the obvious, rather than disappointed... anything beyond a 3 route boundle and a few changes to the UI will be a luxury to me. I never liked wild speculation, particularly now that we know official news are coming soon-ish... and most definitely hasn't been the reason for me to look at this forum. I guess it's just me being odd, and not being able to easily understand how normal people work I guess.
     
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2022
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  19. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    Personally I am fine with speculation, but I understand that's exactly what it is. This is how the world of the internet works now. You put out a little bit of information and it monetizes itself by getting hundreds of page hits when you don't have to do anything more than let it run (and mod out the idiots)
    So for DTG (who hopefully have this site montized somehow) it generates interest and page hits for this forum and their other social media streams and they haven't had to pay a penny to get all that traffic!

    Other than that all we know is JD did two things on a stream. Wow... (yes, I am definitely not one of those who will get "hyped" about something so all of this is just idle tattle really)
     
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  20. chieflongshin

    chieflongshin Well-Known Member

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    Half the problem with the roadmap is playing to the inability to listen or read of the whiney sods which had resulted in DTG too worried about upsetting people if a change of direction occurs

    I personally think just be transparent about what's being worked on, talk about it, engage the community with it BUT put a development calendar up whereby people can look at progress.

    Caveat it that nothing on the the calendar is guaranteed, dates, products , locos, route lengths
    etc etc. Direct people to it and adopt a less fluffy approach. I think most people are sick of "if it's not on the roadmap" and would prefer "look at the calendar for updates " and READ the disclaimer about nothing being concrete
     
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2022
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  21. matinakbary

    matinakbary Well-Known Member

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    But the very same people would say "what's the point in having a calendar, if it doesn't give you any dates?".
     
  22. Calidore266

    Calidore266 Well-Known Member

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    There have been six updates to the game in the last two months.
     
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  23. MrSouthernDriver

    MrSouthernDriver Well-Known Member

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    honestly, i would prefer new routes and locos not being on the roadmap, and instead DTG giving teasers for routes, would add a lot more fun mystery to it, i would rather say "oooo what could this be?" than "oh look a new route!" and get hyped about it 3 months later at release (depending on the quality of course"

    for example this.

    [​IMG]
     
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  24. jolojonasgames

    jolojonasgames Well-Known Member

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    Totally agree, teasers like this are really fun and build up some nice discussion that clearly shows what people are hoping for. Even if no everyone's hopes are met DTG has an indication of what we want, and usually a big hype train is built up by the time of release.

    Out of curiosity, what route was this a teaser for?
     
  25. uvm0902

    uvm0902 Well-Known Member

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    This is the task of the roadmap, to show the customer a schedule for the development and technical support of the software product.

    After all, the DTG team has release plans and they adhere to them. Why can't this be made public?

    There is nothing to worry about if the deadlines are not met or the priorities in the development and release of updates change. It's not news to anyone that this can happen in the process of work. That's why there are plans and reports to control the process of completing tasks.

    And dissatisfied and critics will always find something to discuss even without a roadmap.

    I am convinced that the roadmap should be different. What we have is not a road map. We have announcements two weeks before the release and that's it.

    If we talk about TSW3, as a transition to a new platform or global changes, (otherwise it does not make sense) such a decision has a long-term implementation, which could be discussed for a year or more.
     
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  26. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    Then what they've done about TSW3 is right. We've had a snifter of TSW3 being forthcoming, so that counts as a teaser?
     
  27. Anthony Pecoraro

    Anthony Pecoraro Well-Known Member

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    NEC New York
     
  28. MrSouthernDriver

    MrSouthernDriver Well-Known Member

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    i guess it somewhat counts as a teaser. but also a mistake at the same time
     
  29. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    It was an *ahem* mistake... which means a planted snapshot so that people can pick up on it
     
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  30. Lamplight

    Lamplight Well-Known Member

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    Sam left some pretty big shoes to fill. I doubt we'll ever get another CM as good as him.
     
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  31. formulabee#1362

    formulabee#1362 Well-Known Member

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    Yeah. Sam was absolutely amazing as CM.
     
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2022
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  32. matinakbary

    matinakbary Well-Known Member

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    Correction: *is
     
  33. tallboy7648

    tallboy7648 Well-Known Member

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    He ain't the community manager anymore so saying he was amazing is fine. No correction necassary
     
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  34. FD1003

    FD1003 Well-Known Member

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    Yeah... I really miss him. The way he handled the streams, and his ideas were really good. DTG as a company felt a lot more direct and transparent while he was still there.
     
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2022
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  35. byeo

    byeo Well-Known Member

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    But if the "Summer Holiday" is like "Rush Hour" on the BML then we'll never go on holiday.. ;)
     
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  36. Wivenswold

    Wivenswold Well-Known Member

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    I live between both and rarely visit either! Though both do have cracking London Pie & Mash shops.
     
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  37. byeo

    byeo Well-Known Member

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    I think the roadmap has been tweaked that many times that it's lost all it's meaning and purpose. I still think the original (which showed every route for the upcoming year) was the best. But that only works if they have planned every route for the upcoming year.. I don't know either way but they must have a good idea of what they want to build.

    If DTG are going to keep up the trend of putting articles into roadmaps, why not add in a couple of pictures or snippets of information from those working on a route/loco to make it a bit more interesting?
     
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  38. Lamplight

    Lamplight Well-Known Member

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    Back when Sam was in charge of the roadmap, he said that DTG decide on all the DLCs for the upcoming year around January-March. The scope may change, obviously, as it did with DRA, but the projects are more or less agreed upon.
     
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  39. meridian#2659

    meridian#2659 Well-Known Member

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    Right now the roadmap is so empty, there is almost nothing which can convince me to spend 1 hour of my time for watching the stream. Back when the roadmap had actual content (even if not in production), i used to watch those.
     
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  40. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

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    TSW just feels stale and dead at the moment. Like there's nothing going on for it.
     
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  41. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    I'm actually having a ball at the moment in TSC running two German routes - the Hausach - Villingen - Konstanz and Berlin S25. The first is one of the best routes I've played in TSC and gives me a kind of Zusi vibe (but with better graphics). The S25 is also a case of what's not to like, lovingly put together and a wonderful train to drive - a far cry from the endless Dosto's and red electrokarts in TSW. Also in TSC at least you can see the terrain and route, doesn't spend half the time coated in black shadows.

    The only exception I've made having got tired of SoS and it's lacklustre experience, is pushing forward with the G6 Journey mode on Rhein Ruhr Osten.
     
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  42. chieflongshin

    chieflongshin Well-Known Member

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    Funny you say this as I’ve been back to the G6 today and loved it
     
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  43. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

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    DTG really need to pull something special out of the bag to keep its players interested in the game because the way it is now, you play a service or two before getting bored and then quitting the game. At least that's how it is for me.

    I see the SOS hype quickly died down. I barely see it mentioned any more.
     
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  44. chieflongshin

    chieflongshin Well-Known Member

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    was just a lot of hot air
     
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  45. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    I think this is one of the major problems with the modern gaming world.
    Everything has to be about "hype" and whats the next big new thing... One wonders how people managed in a world before the internet when at best you got information from a monthly magazine or the occasional TV program!
     
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  46. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    I think that is, as previously mentioned, the initial response from DTG to the flawed release was that many aspects were continuing to be worked on but all that seems to have gone down the hiatus/TSW3 rabbit hole along with any information as to their intentions.

    Continuing with TSC, I have had a recommendation to try the WHR/FR narrow gauge route and finally got round to installing the Wycombe route which looks to be magnificent. The only thing that holds TSC back is the lack of timetable mode but at least we can put together decent scenarios from our collection of traction and stock assets, unlike TSW.
     
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  47. tsw2

    tsw2 Well-Known Member

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    TSW3 will be the last chance i give DTG. Otherwise im gone as a customer
     
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  48. SamYeager270

    SamYeager270 Well-Known Member

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    Week after week we used to get the moans "Never mind about the xyz route, just fix the longstanding [insert the your preference] bug even if it delays future routes!". When DTG actually start looking at and hopefully fixing them it's "the roadmap's empty and TSW is so boring with no new routes to look forward to!". Frankly I'm quite enjoying the peace and quiet and personally I believe the net result is likely to be that DTG never again bothers to look at longstanding bugs. As you sew, so shall you reap IMHO.
     
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  49. SonicScott91

    SonicScott91 Well-Known Member

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    Glad I’m not the only one who thinks this! It’s always this rush for the next big thing now rather than enjoying what you’ve got.

    Personally I’m still playing Spirit of Steam a lot and loving every moment of it. I’d rather actually be playing and enjoying it rather than talking about it on here. The buzz is still there! Easily my favourite route in the game and can’t wait for more steam content!
     
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  50. jolojonasgames

    jolojonasgames Well-Known Member

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    I think the issue for me is for a great part the lack of variety, especially compared to TSC (which I don't like for different reasons). I notice that the only routes I come back to are the ones with very varied timetables and a lot of different rolling stock operating on it, mostly the recent German routes which actually manage to create a railway experience that has something to see around every corner.

    SoS is a great example of why this can become an issue. The route is okay-ish, with scenery just being a bit dissapointing here and there, but otherwise quite nice. The steam engines also feel right (to me). However, with just two loco types operating a very limited selection of service types it feels stale quickly. The thing I love so much about being on the real life railway is that there's always something interesting to spot. Be it a one-of livery, a rarer loco type, or just an interesting freight train that you pass in a siding. This is what a lot of routes and TSW in general lacks. TSC has such a plethora of locos and rolling stock to choose from, which are also from a greater selection of countries, eras and areas that TSW bleaks in comparison. I'd hoped that after a few years TSW would get at least close, but the waves of 3rd party developers that I hoped for never came and DTG itself is only interested in reusing as much rolling stock as possible.

    Now this is partly due to DTG apperantly not making it easy for 3rd parties to join TSW, in combination with margins being lower here aswell (or so I've heard). I truly do think TSW has potential as soon as some bugs are worked out (which they're supposedly doing as we speak), more 3rd parties join in to greatly enhance the abailable content variety, and scenario making and sharing become easier, making for more interesting engagement. I've already seen some developements (like more networky routes like Riesa-Dresden) and better timetables that provide a huge load of variety and even include more and more static stock standing around. The timetables we've seen recently (especially those made by Joe) have been amazing, and a great leap forward from what we used to have (with the exception of Ruhr-Sieg Nord which due to it's amount of DLC's also got a very good timtable with lots of different rolling stock on it).

    I'd love to see more rolling stock variety and more countries in the game, but that is up to third parties, that DTG needs to draw in. DTG itself could also do a little more to increase rolling stock variety and the types of routes we get (ECML or WCML and German diesel when?). Of course I'm slightly biased when it comes to seeing more countries as I'm not from one of the core three countries myself, but I geniunly also enjoy ventures in other countries that are not the Netherlands.

    Again, there is potential, but it will probably be hard work for DTG. Really curious what TSW3 is going to turn out to be, as it will show where DTG's focus is and what they think were the issues that needed solving. I really do hope for a bright future for TSW, but it will need some drive. Luckily I do often detect a lot of passion for what they're doing in DTG staff, so I am still secretly hoping for this game actually living up to it's potential.
     
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