Ability To Move To Locos Beyond Line Of Sight Whilst In Freeroam

Discussion in 'Route Suggestions & Proposals' started by Broomwagon, May 16, 2019.

  1. Broomwagon

    Broomwagon Member

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    Wouldn't if be so nice if freeroam wasn't so hamstrung by the inability to move to locos beyond line of sight - oh I so wish DTG would sort this...….and have the ability to change wagons from full to empty or vice versa whilst in scenario, that would be nice too - but hey ho one thing at a time.
     
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  2. JJTimothy

    JJTimothy Well-Known Member

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    Oh not this again! There's a bloke in the Steam forums who's always banging on about.... Never mind. ;-)

    (How are you a "new member"? You've been here much longer than I have.)
     
  3. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    It's a freerom. If you want to move to a consist out of sight, spawn closer
    If you want to change consists from empty to loaded, spawn close to a loading point
    Either that or create your own scenarios and you get to control all of it
     
  4. Broomwagon

    Broomwagon Member

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    ARuscoe - indeed it is a freeroam, so wouldn't it be nice if it was exactly that.....spawn into your passenger train at station A and then drive it to station B where it terminates, then perhaps you'd want to move to the freight train in the yard a station C and run that, then to the coal train at the colliery and drive it to the port.....then back to station B where you marshall coaches for the next train out. Ever played mudrunner? Imagine how hamstrung you would be if there was no way of getting between the trucks on the map......and yet that's what we have with trainsim. Of course you could restart the freeroam every time you want to get to a different train (which is what you're thinking of) but it rather defeats the point - all your movements up to that point now reset.

    Loading and unloading - wouldn't it be nice for example if you were able to take empty box vans into the warehouse and take them out full.

    I guess when you think of freeroam you're rather imagining it as single scenarios - hence you drive a train between A and B and then restart the scenario to drive a different train and so on. Freeroaming is so much more powerful than that. Freeroam can be more like running a large model railway if only it wasn't hamstrung by not being able to get around to the locos on the map.
     
    Last edited: May 17, 2019
  5. Broomwagon

    Broomwagon Member

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    JJ.....no no that must be someone else, another Broomwagon who wants freeroam sorting ;)
     
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  6. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    Doesn't matter if I have. Likely it's a different game on a different game engine so would work differently...

    Personally I can see the benefit of what you're saying but then I don't think freeroam should even be in the game because it's a simulator, and you can't do it in real life... Just my opinion of course.
     
  7. Broomwagon

    Broomwagon Member

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    Now that's a discussion that's been had before and it generally falls over a bit in that there are so many things one can do in TS that you can't in real life because with any simulator there has to a certain amount of playability - and it's a balance between more game-ish or more simulator-ish.

    The point about freeroam is that DTG went to rather significant lengths to build a freeroam facility - indeed it is the most powerful playing element of TS and it could be argued scenarios are merely just a facet of freeroam. Why DTG has chosen never to particularly promote the freeroam power of TS is a subject of debate, but I'd guess pre 64 bit and the lower spec of computers when TS came out, most users simply wouldn't have had computers with the power to really be able to create and run freeroams and that most players simply wouldn't want to invest the time learning how to use it.

    But going back to the point that DTG went to significant lengths to build the freeroam facility. What a shame they left out such an important cog..... time for them to put that right.
     
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  8. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    Only if they think it's wrong to begin with of course
     
  9. Cat

    Cat Well-Known Member

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    Freeroam gives one the ability to go where and when you please without the confines of a set route or timetabled scenarios. You can marshal your trains, shunt them around, explore out of the way areas of the route etc. Apart from the Editor it is the most versatile element in TS.

    As Broomwagon says, its only drawback is that you can only jump to other trains in your line of sight. Long live Freeroam.
     
  10. Broomwagon

    Broomwagon Member

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    And it is of course 'train simulator' not 'driver simulator' ;)
     
  11. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    This argument always reminds me of the kid in films who wants to be a fire engine... You can't BE the train, only some operator of it, either way
     
  12. Broomwagon

    Broomwagon Member

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    [QUOTE="ARuscoe, post: 77835, member: 6530You can't BE the train, only some operator of it, either way[/QUOTE]

    Exactly......that's freeroam in a nutshell (ok freeroam is so much more than that - the operator of the whole line if you choose, but you defined it well in one line).
     
    Last edited: May 18, 2019
  13. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    Except I didn't. Your oversimplification makes it pointless. There is more than one person involved in running a train so to put it as you are is, to my mind, wrong. Either way I doubt we're going to agree so I will leave you to your freeroaming and go back to driving as might actually happen
     
  14. Broomwagon

    Broomwagon Member

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    Woah, take the digs out of it. We're both train fans aren't we, who like driving trains - having a discussion about something we like to do on this forum.

    Ok you're maybe a purist who wants to use TS strictly only doing the things a driver could - you maybe never look at the train from the outside as you're driving, or never use the F5 to check your speed, because those things a driver could not do......and do you know what, that's absolutely fine, whom am I to say otherwise and I do not think any less of you for using TS in a different way to me. And if there was something not quite right in TS which prevented you from doing that I would be fully behind you.

    What I do find though (and I'm not saying this is so here) is that a lot of people who are dismissive about freeroam are so because they don't really don't know what it can do - and I aways think what a shame, because if they really like trains, like TS and running scenarios they'd probably like building and running their own freeroam scenarios even more - quite frankly I think many long time players would be amazed at what it can do.

    But I'm not surprised, as probably for pragmatic reasons DTG have never really promoted freeroam, they've never really shown off the power of this wonderful train simulator - had they done so, I'd think the forums would be awash with why can't I move to the train I've got waiting to drive at that other station :)

    If you maybe do think freeroam is something you'd like to know a bit more about there's a useful discussion on the steam forum - Model railways versus freeroam.
     
    Last edited: May 18, 2019
  15. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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    Might be a silly question - why would you wish to get in a train you cannot see?
    How do you know where it is going?
    Regarding the spawning of other trains - you can just set up those trains anywhere on the route because unlike Quick Drive it is not just A to B.

    When I got the Weardale Route I did a Free roam from Darlington and part the way down the line was a different train in a yard so I stopped my train and just moved to the other train and drove that for a bit.

    You only restricted by what you have placed on the route to start

    Peter
     

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