As well as the TSRs (the subject of another thread) it's great to see this feature added to TSW, and good that the DTG team are responding so directly to feedback from the survey (and no doubt discussion on forums etc contributed to what they chose to include in the survey in the first place). From the driving perspective, it will be really good that the signals at stations etc don't 'come off' at precisely the same moment every time, which has always affected the immersion a bit for me. I'm a touch disappointed that Matt described a variation of only '5-10 seconds' as I'm a bit doubtful that this alone will really affect the train's ability to maintain it's path, but perhaps I'll be proved wrong. I hope so. Combined with TSRs it would certainly be sufficient, and once the path is lost, that will really throw up a new world of signal checks and delays - just like on the real thing. I suspect DTG are going quite conservative based on nervousness about the ability of the 'dispatcher' to deal with trains running significantly out of sync. Perhaps as they gain confidence they'll increase the randomisation in future versions - or even include a slider to allow players to adjust the level of potential delay. Either way, it's a really good addition to the game, and one which I think will improve the re-playability significantly. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating, of course, but the fact they're giving it a go is great news and very welcome.
I seen in one of the clips that a signal was setback from green to red…. 3:46:16 in the live stream, If this is something that is actually going to happen in game, it’s going to create some interesting scenarios
I did see that too, although in fairness I don't think there was a train visible approaching it, so it could just have been a signal reverting back to red after a train passed it in the normal way.
Aye. It could’ve been, but it’s weird that they focused on a signal with no train passing it whilst highlighting the feature. If it does come to fruition, as long as it doesn’t happen too often, it should really make TSW playable again. But I do hope the 5-10 seconds was just an example. I wouldn’t mind sitting at a signal for 1, 2 or 3 minutes, if the signaller responded to the SG button.
Is the signal delay just for the player train or all ai in the timetable? Hopefully ai will be affected. Great feature anyway, a step in the right direction for a massive amount of playability
Likely only for your train but will have a knock on effect if you hang around in free roam to do another service ...If they fix the itinerary for chained services
Matt mentioned possibility of getting stuck behind another train, or indeed getting in front of one, but I would assume that would be because you had nice greens and short station stops perhaps Or ignoring the wait times and speeding off as soon as the doors are shut
I'd say give them a chance with '5 to 10 second' timings, with post release feedback this could potentially be improved more. My concern is, will this have the same tendency the dynamic weather had of going a very predictable way? Hopefully the percentage going in favour of a smooth-ish running service are higher then that of a disrupted running service pattern, otherwise it will be equally unrealistic. All sounds very good in theory, but I'd like to see how it works in the in game 'reality'.
I am interested to see if this will be accompanied by an overhaul to scoring such that AI-perfect superhuman responses are not required for some routes, now we can expect delays.
As a guard, I really liked the idea of guard mode. It’s just poorly executed, and despite feedback about drivers taking off as soon as you give one on the buzzer, or not replying with a buzzer, it’s still not fixed. The fact that you can’t fail a service for giving two against a red is also disappointing. There’s zero challenge to it, and it gets boring… quick. Route hopping is a good idea, but again, I don’t think that should’ve been a headline feature.
