Was playing one of my favourite routes of all time (east coastway) and this got me thinking about all the recent tsw5 announcements and looking back it’s incredible how things move doesn’t seem like all that long ago sehs in its original form came and the hype around the first addition of animated level crossings which at that time was new to a tsw title and who can forget the preview stream when Matt overshot Gillingham level crossing on a spad what are players favourite routes and rolling stock ?
That where the best times ^^ - I think Rush Hour was Peak TSW so far. I loved the livestreams with the TGV, that was the first time I got hyped. Hearing the roar when you set to forward, yeah that thing wants to move!
I remember walking round Paddington and then onto the cab of a 166 and waiting for departure time, looking at the approaching track and infrastructure going off into the distance thinking how real it looked. Watching one or two trains coming and going. It felt so immersive. Especially being able to change ends at Reading and being able to do the return journey. Then having a ride on a HST carriage and enjoying the route in that way. It seemed quite a step up from the other simulators. My only complaint was it only went to Reading. I was excited for what was to come. Quite fitting the route is getting a revamp.
It has come a long way. From the humble beginnings, once the latest batch of new content comes to fruition we will have getting on for 80 routes in total - only 20 or so less than my TSC collection (obviously don’t own everything). Which is why, plugging it again, we really do need more than one save slot!
this game was among the chief things that helped me keep my sanity during Covid days... I remember getting TSW2, then buying Munchen Augsburg and LGV Mediterranee almost right away ... and once I managed to learn safety systems, the hook got attached very deeply ... looking forward to new trains and routes ... when Dutch content hits, I will be there, learning ... also looking forward to Welsh route - new territory, but familiar signals and such
If you are a scenario creator then there is still no such thing as a save slot. (Scenarios still restart with the clock reset so no AI runs properly from a save). Funnily enough I have a particular soft spot for East Coastway too. I loved the CL313 and I liked the fact that there were 2 separate lines to explore. (It was just a shame that the CL33 was never fully developed).
I remember that initially, I didn’t buy TSW2020. I’d been put off by various reviews and forum comments. Then one day I was bored and decided to buy it anyway. The first route I drove was GWE in an HST and I loved it straight away. I also really enjoyed Rapid Transit (even though it doesn’t seem to be popular, I still like it today). For me TSW2 Rush Hour was my favourite version so far and apart from Blackpool I was very bored with TSW4. But from what’s been announced I’m looking forward to TSW5 some very nice looking routes are coming and I’m very excited for JT’s new route.
I knew when I got TSW2 march 2021, I thought that routes aren't important, I only cared for trains. I did resarches, which route to pick first in order to get as many different trains as possible. In my case, that was Ruhr-Sieg Nord together with the BR 363.
Yes the game has grown a lot. The most important change for me has been increased layering. This happened quite a while ago on some of the German routes, but now seems to be spreading more to other countries. I think with WCML this has now reached a height of satisfaction. Keep this trend going DTG and you will get a lot of support.
yeah, the thing that you can drive your fav trains on different routes is awesome... like when I got BR 101 (the OG version), it didnt have many routes, but I bought some more German DLCs and wualla... and with Rosenheim Salzburg it got proper playground TSW5 core routes will have insane layering, both from new and old locos/trains, and trains/locos from TSW5 will probably have good use on older routes... kinda bummed there is no Vienna content or RailJet, but what we get and the announced routes will keep me busy for a while, so I dont complain
since I posted this I believe the TSW4 hrs have gone up to somewhere over 700 or even 800 hrs .... no other series comes even close, not even Dark Souls and Darksiders which I have all played multiple times (recently finished a Darksiders 1-3 run on hardest difficulties apart from ironman/hardcore modes which I dont play) this game, despite all its faults, is great, and offers pretty much infinite gameplay - and each time you learn/notice sth new, try different style of driving... it gets different ... sometimes you revisit older routes when a new loco/train comes out, or an update happens...
For personally I think I bought the version with GWE then NTP as DLC straight away. I always said to myself that I would only play routes that were backdated or completely different to what I worked with in real life otherwise home and work would merge into one. I spent the first week or so just loving the 45 and 47 over the hills of NTP, but very I couldn't help but go against what I'd said and took the GWE HST for a spin and it was amazing how familiar it felt. Not knowing the route and trying to get used of how the brakes worked in game (ok read that as over confidence!) did lead to many overshoots of Slough, but the feeling of doing a no HUD run for the first time really were great and made me much more open to what I played. There is a lot of nostalgia from NTP too, but GWE just became even more enjoyable to play when our HSTs left in real life. I would say that even to this day, when I think TSW one of two images comes to mind, those being the GWE route art with the man standing in front of an HST at Paddington, or the NTP route release art with the Peak coming out one of the tunnels on the route (can't remember which tunnel it is).
you have just given me a great idea... I have a lot of unused notebooks lying around... I might go over some routes/services, write down milestones/speed change sign locations etc... hmmmm... I mean... ... even new MiniHUD made me focus more on dials and such... trying HUDless for some routes... damn man, you got me thinking now
GWE to me brought back memories of covering Thames Valley Inner Train Running Controller, all those Late Turns where you dreaded the Incident Controller turning around and declaring, “Points failure at Southall…” or worse and you just knew it was going to be a fun evening peak. Or the early turn morning peak watching everything bunch at Airport Junction when ARS gave priority to a 5’ late HEX service. It was nice to put a visual interpretation to all the locations viewed on various CCF screens. Hopefully the remaster will give us a more accurate reflection of how intensive the train service was, even off peak. Even a minor incident often meant taking an axe to the train service to try and recover.
