Anybody Wondering What's This Year's ' Big Summer Release ' Will Be ?

A little refresher, every year ( almost ) around August, DTG releases a big update to the game. It comes with some exciting features and three routes ( so far )...

We've had :-
In 2021 - TSW2 : Rush Hour with Boston Sprinter / Nah. Dresden / London Commuter
In 2022 - TSW3 with CJP / SKW / New SEHS

So the question has to be asked, what's this year's 'Big Summer Release' will be ?

If I had to put my bets ( purely on my gut feeling ), it would've been Fireman mode : 'Manual Firing Update'

Routes be -
UK - Peak Forest
US - ??
DE - ??

The reason behind this assumption is that they're developing manual firing for a while now. Also, there is a serious lack of steam-related content for US / DE. Moreover, Peak Forest is a little away so who knows...

Maybe, it's too early to speculate, but what's the harm !
Thoughts ?

 

TSW3 Fix Hour - no DLCs, no "upgrades," but all glaring problems and bugs fixed... best release ever

 

I don't want a Summer Release, I'm not gonna pay for the EXACT same game again. What the summer Release should be is the long awaited Bug Fixes we've been asking for non stop, No dlc should be pumped out for this summer until we get these fixes

 

well if dtg fixes the game and we have a lack of releases the same people complain about the death of the tsw franchise lol

 

Considering tsw3 only recently released, it won't be a brand new tsw title. It would just be a standard 3 route bundle for 1. So you aren't forced to buy if you don't want to. Buy what you want

 

If they stopped pumping out DLC they would have to start laying people off. Mind you it wouldn’t hurt to lose a few suits, especially those who are killing the soul of the company with ridiculous budgets and deadlines.

I wouldn’t mind peak forest coming out this summer if it means doing it justice, with some green diesels (08, 45, 111) and a full set of local and through passenger and freight services (and starting at Derby!).

 

TSW 3.11?
Oh, wait ...

 

This argument never made and makes any sense, because if mediocre quality add-ons result in lower sales, then they will also have to start laying people off in the long run.

 

Unless they blow us away with the quality, whatever it is, will remain for sale.
I bought TSW 3, but I haven’t bought any more TSW 3 DLC (apart from the Acela for Boston) and won’t buy anymore until it is significantly discounted.

 

Very likely won’t happen, but I’d love to see some effort put into a loco collection as a big release.

We’ve seen them do big standout releases for routes, but let’s see some new trains now, it feels like it’s a special treat if we get new rolling stock, so I think it’s time DTG fleshed out the routes we have.

Give some of the rolling stock we have a make over, bring them upto current standards, give them new liveries & interiors for use on other routes where available & get us some brand new traction too.

Almost every route in the game would make use out of a loco DLC, and at the rate DTG are producing them, it is likely a big chunk of routes will never see a loco DLC, unless DTG make a focused effort.

It would also be an opportunity to revisit timetables where it’s need (and on many routes it sorely is).

 

Yeah. There seems to be a step in the right direction in this regard. While the loco bundle with the F7, Dispolok Taurus and the RHTT train were a bit questionable quality wise, at least they were something. Then the Acela was just a long awaited, but great release for the US. So hopefully we will be seeing more train add-ons for exsisting routes that help liven them up.

That being said, I don't think their big summer release would be a loco bundle. The "big thing" always tends to be routes.

 

A German & US steam route must be in the offing at some point so perhaps this could be the focus of a Summer Bundle?

If that did happen we'll probably get a Derby extension to the Peak Forest as the UK route given what we saw in TSW3.

 

I hope they do what they did for SEHS for another older route, I'd like them to dedicate one slot per yearly update for an old route re-done. SEHS was not even that old, so the benefits of an upgraded route, improved track, significant extensions, and some new rolling stock, would be massive for some of the older German routes especially. The preservation crew updates were OK, but piecemeal, and realistically I think the kind of overhaul a lot of people would like requires treating older routes like a renewed DLC in its own right. I'd love to see the main Leipzig station from Rapid Transit brought to life with an extension and some intercity services, whilst the s- bahn continues to make use of the city tunnel, gives me network tingles.

With that said, my loco-senses tell me they've been working on their tilting tech. They introduced it a year ago with the BR 612, and now they've added to it with the Acela, fairly flawless implementations for the most part, so the next big one is either the Pendolino on the WCML, or an ICE-T on a German route. My gut tells me any new German loco in the pack is likely to be either mainline diesel or te BR 402, so my money for the UK portion of the summer release is on the WCML with a pendolino.

 

Cough...NTP...Cough.

 

I vote LIRR or Harlem Line, lol

 

Well I suppose if done for the summer there could be a British, german and american route redone.

 

I'd love to see Harlem extend on by way of the Hudson line added as far as Croton-on-Hudson. However I fear the signaling wouldn't be able cope with any more services between the interlocking north of Harlem 125th Street and GCT.

 

I personally don’t necessarily need a big mid-year DLC bundle this time around. Feel like it would be nice for them to just get in a good rhythm with the add-on releases and fixes/patches now without biting off more than they can chew. It almost seems like they’re still in the process of recovering from TSW3‘s release (which introduced quite a few core and route-specific bugs) and the add-ons they‘ve put out (which have all suffered from insufficient development time and thus required significant post-launch support).

If they do end up making a bundle though, I hope it has more of a season pass style, with three routes which all have a theme in common being spread out over two months or so. Basically what they ended up doing with Rush Hour after their change of plans (all those routes were initially supposed to release much closer together and have more content), but with sufficient gaps planned in from the beginning so cut content and/or crunch time can be avoided at all costs.
The theme I‘m talking about was obviously commuter routes and demanding timetables for Rush Hour, this year it could be something like “beautiful landscapes” (focus on great setting and gorgeous scenery), “through the ages” (one steam route, one 20-40 year old route, one present-day route) or “fully connected” (network-style routes with branch lines etc.; possibly even an SEHS-like extension to an existing route).

After quite a few recent releases that clearly could all have massively benefited from just 2-3 more weeks of development, my biggest wish for whatever bundle we get in summer is that DTG take their time and make sure everything looks as solid as possible before committing to a release.

 

I’m hoping by the time we get to the summer release, the stigma around releasing southern England third rail will have blown over (given 4 UK non London routes will have released), and we get a nice South Western Railway ex Waterloo release…

Thameslink class 700 must be round the corner; if this is part of a route release, then the extra layers for BML and SEHS would surely be a massive value add crowd pleaser.

WCML London-Birmingham NS / Lichfield Trent Valley would be nice… would also work as a route extension follow up to take it to Manchester, but maybe that could be a third party project

 

Yes please!!!

I don’t really want to see another modern 3rd rail route this year! A backdated one would be acceptable but there is still such a vast amount of Britain that still has nowt!

 

Cough...the East...cough...wales...cough.

 

You seem to have developed a bit of a cough there!!!
Though completely agree!!

 

Haha yes! It's strange as I was feeling fine an hour ago mate!!

 

you just don’t realise how much you’ve missed London and the SouthEast… a lovely new route will help you re-discover the love ❤️

 

Only 3rd rail route Id want to see would be either of the Merseyrail's Wirral or Northern lines with either a Class507 and/or 508/1 (both shares the same pedigree as the 313 and 314) and the new Stadler class 777.

 

I do I was unlucky enough to be down there in real life not long ago and if anything it increased my passion to stay away for longer. We have seen enough routes down there with the different flavours of Electrostar which all taste as bad as each other. Don’t get me started on the ‘scenery’.

 

yes plenty more non-electrostar opportunities, although as a fan of the type would like to see more dropped into other route-appropriate releases

 

The only place I want to see another one is on an ECML south route otherwise they can be forgot as far as I’m concerned.
Travel on a train anywhere else in the country and you will see why so many people don’t want another south east third rail fest.

 

yeah, but then we’re getting into the same old lots of people want / lots of people don’t want debates… at some point hopefully we’ll get all the trains and all the routes… maybe the Summer update

 

Would prefer updated versions of older routes rather than new ones.

We all know three brand new routes wouldn’t be the best idea, given how Rush Hour went with no brand new trains, delayed, price increased, and branches cut from DresdenRiesa.

I’d nominate LIRR for the USA, Rapid Transit extension for Germany, and unsure about the UK tbh.

 

i would love to see a WCML south or an ECML south this summer for british routes. For german probably more ICE trains like the ICE-T and munich to garmisch, not really interested in us based content to be honest

 

I kinda like this idea.

I agree on LIRR for USA- it's desperate for some love.

Personally i find Rapid Transit extremely dull, i'd like to see an updated RSN or HRR. But there are a lot of good choices. Dresden with Airport branch would be another great one

For UK i'd love an updated/extended Tees Valley. Has a great network feel and atmosphere.

 

I kinda like this idea too.
I've got so many routes I still haven't even half finished with, I really don't need any more for a while.

Polishing and augmenting older routes like TVL, NTP, LIRR even SPG and newer ones like BPE, BML, Harlem and NYT is an attractive proposition.

Probably not in the frame, unfortunately, because it's not a revenue producer.

But a nice thought, nonetheless.

 

SEHS was chosen, I suspect, because it was the bestselling route in TSW2. I doubt LIRR or NTP are in the running.

 

Valid point, sadly.

Do we know the top 5 bestsellers?

 

I’d bet money that if LIRR truly was up to current standards with

- Matt‘s busy timetable (plus Amtrak and NJT AI around Penn)
- Include the M3 with the base route (kinda like the 465 was included with the base route on the updated SEHS)
- Working Signalling
- DE/DM30AC diesel trains as a new paid loco DLC
- TODv4

That it’d be a great seller too.

That’s another idea that crossed my mind, what if the summer bundle could be three updated routes from before, and then three new loco DLCs for each of them.

 

Whether you believe it or not, there were new trains in rush hour even if they had a similar shell with a previous locomotive. Still had to be rebuilt to match the real locomotive. The f40ph-3c is very different from the f40ph-2cat such as having auto lapped braking rather than manually lapped, differences in length, different cab interior. It also got a whole new set of passenger coaches and a brand new cab car. The 387 is still new even though it's still an electrostar. It is dual voltage, different cab and interiors and exterior differences. Other trains are technically "new" in the sense that their physics and sounds had to be redone

And we did get the meissen branch back for dresden riesa soon after launch

 

An upgraded, extended LIRR would be the mutt’s nuts. What we have now is a mere shadow of its true potential.

 

I’m aware that they weren’t copy pasted, and that a lot of work still went into (some of) them. But there still wasn’t anything totally brand new aside from the MBTA coaches I guess. A F40PH-3C was a new addition to the game, but it was modified from the F40PH-2CAT, making it just “new but modified from a previous loco”

*after community backlash. And really the tracks and scenery for both the Meissen and airport branches were already there, just needed scenery and services to run on it, you can drive the airport branch with the test timetable unlocker too.

 

For the summer release due in October I'd like to see ECML

 

Germany: DB Baureihe 411 ICE-T Nahverkehr Dresden & Schnellfahrstrecke Hannover Würzburg the proper name for Kassel Wilhelmshöhe to Würzburg Hbf
UK: Class 700 BML SEHS & Class 92 SEHS
US Arrow III & Avelia Liberty NEC Trenton to NY Penn via New Brunswick

 

We'll be seeing a Summer update whether people like it or not, it's what DTG do. As for what it'll be, we've no idea, it could be anything at this point. What we do know for certain is, we'll get three routes associated with the update from UK, US and DE.

Personally I like the idea of one of the three routes been a re-work/extension to a popular existing route.

 

I will be happy if we get the "Remaster" package (updating three old routes) as a summer package. That would be great.

 

tl:dr Got a feeling nothing huge is planned for this year. The prime summer release will doubtless be Peak Forest steam. All the indications are West Rhine will be out before that, even the Easter release. Niddertalbahn while looking very good is more of a “B” movie than the main feature. There don’t appear to be any new US routes in the offing now Trenton is out. The Skyhook route and rumoured Preston to Blackpool also don’t really qualify as keynote releases.

 

Even for TSW, Preston to Blackpool seems a little short. Could it just be an obscure name? Maybe Blackpool to Manchester Airport. Or even the Blackpool Tram?

 

It is short, I do wonder if it could be a third party route maybe JT's first route.

There are some great short routes but something longer would be nice, even something the length of BML. They certainly aren't getting any longer at the moment. Peak Forest being a prime example, they can't even extend to the logical starting point of Derby!

 

This is what people want but when the "community" has been devoid of content for a few months its the
*"wheres the content?"
*"whats going on at DTG?"
*"Why is there no DLC?"
*"DTG dont care"

Posts will appear.

*delete as applicable

Personally I dont care what is in there "Summer" release as long as it improves the overall playing experience, I'm happy. TSw has come a long way since 2018. Whether you like it or not.

Hentis

 

There really should be a scenario planner 2.0 included in the update. Do I think it will happen? I’m not so sure it will. As for what routes will release, I’m sure there will be something for everyone to get excited about. Maybe a US steam route.

 

I'm also of the opinion not to publish too many new routes (although the addon manager problem has been fixed), but to polish older trunk routes, be it with TOD4, new extensions or rolling stock. Which I am also strongly committed to: we need more steam locomotives, especially Germany and the US have received nothing so far. It would be enough to offer them as a railtour loco DLC, since there are enough suitable routes.

If there should be new routes, then they should be scenically demanding or varied. A whole new country would be something interesting or cross-border traffic. Since the UK is surrounded by water, this would only work in Germany or from the USA to Canada.

 

There are so many routes to which an extension (I know it is a dirty word) would bring more life or scope to them.

Dresen to Riesa to Leipzig, ECW to Hastings/Ore, TVL to Boulby and Bishop Auckland, NTP to York or Liverpool,, HMA extend the missing bits of the SBahn line in Munich.

These routes then updated to TSW3 standard would almost feel like new routes.