Train Sim World 5 - The Cat Is Out The Bag

Think it’s pretty much assumed to be Metrolink Part 2.

Anyhow I’m still of the mind this WCML caper is an elaborate hoax and DTG need to come in and douse the flames, really.

There’s also absolutely no clue as to what the European route could be, whether German or something cross border with Austria or Switzerland. So at least that will be a surprise, unless of course someone else starts photoshopping images of Swiss RE 4/4’s on the Gotthard Line or something.

 

its being taken away from game pass in 1 and a half weeks. Is that not a big enough sign?

 

I do have a weird theory that the US route wont be a new one, but a revamped version of an existing one. And the San bernadino line will still be its own release.

 

I sure hope it's a new route other than the San Bernadino Line. Time will tell I guess.

 

Are you referring to Cajon Pass? That's so TSW3.

 

Sorry to be stalking you like #39 but he's referring to the long announced LAX-SNB route, "linking" Antelope and Cajon.

Edit: small mistake, marked the Alhambra sub instead of Metrolink (below) just outside LA.

 

Of course if you have Run 8… Though very surprised they have never added Antelope Valley/Soledad Canyon to round off their SoCal network.

 

I’m not going to mention the content that was shown in the leak due to the confidentiality thing and the fact that it is likely to have been taken down by now but if what was shown is true, then it is a big Yes Please from me.

 

DTG have seemingly acknowledged the leak was real

 

Has the thread disappeared now?

 

Yes. And the headsman has been summoned to deal with the person leaking the information.

 

Check the announcement section: I have eaten all of my words, and they taste horrible!

 

The wording of the announcement would suggest that it is, in fact, real. The fact there is even an announcement tells us that. Every other major leak has been clear but also accidental - see JD opening Teams or someone accidentally uploading a Festival of Rail stream to YouTube too early.

Interesting times. A shame for all of the beta testers, though.

 

Ouch!! I hope the punishment isn't quite that severe. No-one died, so I think a sharp rap of the ruler on knuckles would be more appropriate. After a lengthy session on The Rack of course.

 

I actually like the concept of “gentling” from Wheel Of Time. Basically a sort of mindwipe with powers permanently suppressed!

 

If there's one positive DTG can take from this it's that people genuinely seem to be excited for what's coming, where before most people seemed cynical. Even people who generally prefer historic content seem somewhat optimistic, which is good to see.

 

I'm not!

 

Though I very much enjoyed the weekend's festivities, I can't say that I'm excited about " the route whose name cannot be mentioned ".

But then I'm not from the UK, so it's just as if yet another section of the NEC was revealed.

Unless of course trwncbm is set back in an era that would pre- date emu traction. Then I might be interested. Unlikely though don't you think?

 

Typically, a sledgehammer to crack a nut!

 

Unfortunately that's how these things go. If you have early access to something of some description that requires a level of trust that then gets betrayed, what are they meant to do without the 20-20 vision of hindsight?

 

Someone brought the thread back from the dead... but obviously some parts removed...

 

I am, but probably not in the way they think.. I cant remember the last time a launch went smoothly..


If 80s UK slamdoors from the southern 3rd rail region happened to be involved, then nostalgia might compel me to get on board.. prob not going to happen though deep sigh

 

Of course the only way to ensure true NDA compliance will be to go old school and bring back hanging, drawing and quartering for leakers. It’s been out of fashion for a few centuries, but needs must!

 

Heaven forbid I try to show some optimism on these forums...

 

Well at least not everything was spoiled thank god… no German or US leaks. I’m looking forward to what was leaked though.

I lost my 70+ likes .

 

It became very clear during the TSW4 launch that optimism Isn't what many want to see on here anymore.

Some were castigated for purchasing TSW4, if you say something good about it you are invariably a fanboy or on DTG's payroll or just delusional as surely everyone thinks like them!

Some can't understand how you can possibly manage to play, and shockingly even enjoy TSW when they are revelling in misery.

 

Maybe recognize that some may have doubts given DTG's past and the issues that have plagued this game. DTG introduced features that didn't work properly or have yet to be introduced such as suspension. It's hardly suprising that there will be those that have doubts that the next launch won't have problems

 

You must be new here

 

A bit over the top, don't you think? A couple of us suggested that we weren't especially looking forward to trwncbm. And we're " revelling in misery "? How about reading my last post again?

Sure you're not the one who's a bit down in the dumps?

 

I have bestowed a "like" upon you, oh mortal.

 

I'm perfectly happy and largely enjoying TSW and am looking forward to what comes next.

I wasn't referring to anyone in particular or just a couple of posts on the his thread

I am referring to the general atmosphere on these forums over the last year and my own personal experiences. It got to the point where posters were being called selfish for purchasing DLC.

I don't believe I am going over the top, no.

 

Without rigorous control by administrators, forums in general become the tomb of rationality and good taste.
A group of psychopaths.
Of course there are also many intelligent discussions and sophisticated users.

 

The US route will be the Bermuda Railway, brought back to life and operated by LIRR repurposed M9’s (watch you don’t trip over the third rail on the harbour section, it’s a doozy).

Germany has been cancelled and we’re off to sunny Spain for the Soller Railway on Majorca.

I have this on good authority from our cat who has identified herself as a TSW beta tester.

 

So we'll probably only get the Port Soller tram section on that infamous day when the power was switched off and Class 66's were substituted.

 

Attention is drawn to the following: https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/unannounced-content-leak-19-july.82998/

 

No leaks anymore? I was just about to leak images of the Belgian route coming to TSW5. Sorry everyone, you will have to wait until the Direct.

 

No, you are spot on. It's not just in these threads, over-reaction and a lack nuance are rife in a lot of gaming forums these days.

 

Is it just me that find irony in the fact that JD was the one to post about the leaks?XD
Not saying what happened was right but kinda funny that JD is the one to report on it.

 

If there’s one thing to get people excited, it’s WCML with a couple of new trains to go on it.

The TSW 3/4/5etc releases are just a pain for needing to download content annually, alongside the growing issue of the features for each title not making it out right until the final few weeks of the title being supported. Valuewise you can’t knock them, 3 routes and a couple of loco DLCs for less than you’d pay for 2 routes.

It’s just a shame DTG are getting into the habit of AAA marketing - exclusive early access if you pay more, trains locked away for 30+ days if you don’t buy the most expensive version etc. just sell us the content already.

It’s a shame the WCML thread was nuked, it’s been a while since there’s been an interesting and non argumentative discussion.

 

They haven’t said it can’t be discussed in general terms, just specifics of what the imagery might have shown (such as possible end points). Certainly no harm in speculating. For example, earlier I was musing how on earth they are going to do a decent Pendolino timetable, given WCML Inter City services are even more skip stop in nature than ECML. A Glasgow service might be non stop from Euston to Crewe or Preston. A Manchester service might be fast from Watford Jn to Stoke on Trent or a West Midlands service first stop MKC then next Coventry. Depending on the extent, not many fast trains all call at WJ, MKC and Rugby. There’s probably the odd Liverpool service that is fast from Euston or WJ to Nuneaton or Stafford.

 

I think it’s 3 trains an hour calling at MKC in each direction, in terms of potential playable services it’s not too bad, we’ve had far less for flagship IC timetables.

You’d have to make a pretty lengthy section of the WCML to get anywhere near a matching timetable with Azumas. Maybe they’ll just add more with a stop at MKC for the sake of gameplay.

Given the nature of a potential WCML south, perhaps they’d release it with a 350, then a 710 as a layer. A 390 being a loco DLC rather than the main feature of the route.

 

I was thinking this myself. My best guess would be that they substitute the 390 onto some of the IET and Voyager services to flesh out the timetable and provide more stops, it would be far from the first time they made such a move.

 

Speculatively speaking...

If we were to see a WCML South in TSW (either to Milton Keynes, Rugby or Birmingham), these are the basic passenger service patterns we might expect to see (information from Wikipedia so take with a pinch of salt, but seems to be reasonably up to date).

1) Bakerloo line / 72TS, Queen's Park - Harrow (10 stops on route), 4tph
1a) Bakerloo line / 72TS, Queen's Park - Stonebridge Park (5 stops), 4tph
2) Watford DC line / Class 710, Euston - Watford Junction (19 stops), 4tph
3) LNWR / Class 350, Euston - Tring (6 stops), 2tph
4) LNWR / Class 350, Euston - Milton Keynes Central (13 stops), 2tph
5) LNWR / Class 350, Euston - New St (5-16 stops), 2tph
6) LNWR / Class 350, Euston - Crewe (2-3 stops), 1tph
7) Avanti / Class 390 Pendolino, Euston - Blackpool North / Glasgow Central / Edinburgh Waverley (3-7 stops), 14tpd (assume 1tph)
8) Avanti / Class 390 Pendolino, Euston - Birmingham New Street (4 stops), 1tph
9) Avanti / Class 390 Pendolino, Euston - Liverpool Lime Street (2 stops), 1tph
10) Avanti / Class 390 Pendolino, Euston - Manchester Piccadilly (2-3 stops), 1tph
11) Southern / Class 377 (in-game representation GX387?), East Croydon - Watford Junction (3 stops), 1tph

(lower boundary of stop numbers are if route stops at Milton Keynes, upper boundary is Birmingham New Street, stop numbers are inclusive of termini)

Total frequency on the busiest part of the route (Queen's Park to Stonebridge Park) should be something like 24 trains per hour. Plus the usual freight, railtours, ECS etc.

Even going to Milton Keynes would be a great route I'm sure, but I hope DTG have considered swinging for the fences and going all the way to New Street. It's a satisfying drive in TSC already, never mind with all of the additional detail and timetable mode benefit that TSW would bring.

 

Thanks Matt. Though isn’t the Avanti Birmingham/Wolverhampton service more frequent? Sure last time I travelled down there, it was a train every 20 minutes. Mind that was in Virgin days and well pre-Covid, so maybe service levels were left reduced. Fairly certain London to Manchester was every 20 minutes at one point, but dangerously near the “too many trains and not enough railway” saturation point, so the service was thinned out a bit.

 

So, we knew that the US route would be San Bernadino Line a few months ago, and then the recent leakage hinted that UK route may be WCML South. However, the DE content (route and loco) still good kept secerts. If DTG do make sure that no more leakage would happen, DE content can keep secert until their live event on August 20th and whether it will bring us a big surpriseor disappointment, we may only found out until the live event at that night.

 

The joy of having to re-download everything, every year... YAY! (Sarcasm)
Wouldn't mind if I only owned a little bit of DLC.

Thanks for that, DTG.

 

For Brum-bound trains, they work out as 2tph these days apparently (although I haven't accounted for peak additional services or anything, just the basic pattern).

Manchester-bound trains are 3tph but two of them go via Trent Valley and don't stop anywhere on a realistic WCML South route. They'd be additional AI-only trains I guess, much like some of the ECML services (which would push the tph count up further as I haven't counted AI-only).



This diagram, also from Wikipedia, helps a lot to visualise the stopping patterns for the Avanti services.

 

That illustrates it quite nicely Matt. As I suspected very skip stop in nature and again, depending on the route extent, it will be hard to put in a lot of driveable as opposed to AI Avanti services without putting in extra stops that don’t exist in reality. We don’t want a repeat of PFR where trains artificially terminated at Matlock and handed off to AI because they didn’t call at Ambergate.

 

Just to add to this, the current pattern for Birmingham services is the 1tph that continues to Scotland/Blackpool stops "everywhere" (Watford Junction, Milton Keynes Central, Rugby, Coventry, Birmingham International) and the 1tph that terminates at Birmingham only calls at Coventry and Birmingham International. I believe it dropped to 2tph from 3 because of the HS2 construction work removing platforms at Euston.

 

If TSW5 is a thing (and it probably is) is to be able to use trains from routes without having the route installed. There's a few routes I don't really play but need it installed to use the layers on other routes. With the game nearing 300gb on xbox this would really help.