They have them in TSC. No new features. No new locos. Just a few scenarios, maybe a small timetable thrown together by someone for existing routes and content. They're small DLCs, but also very low price. This makes buying them a very small "investment" and adds depth to what is normally a very A-B experience in the timetable. For example, not like the High Iron pack for Cajon Pass... rather it'd be more like just doing 10 scenarios in Santa Fe livery and linking them in a "journey" for maybe $4.99. Or separate, but a journey mode lets you tell a "story" better. Yes routes get a handful of scenarios, but just adding to those for a few bucks is both cheaper and value-adding. Once you get to the end of the scenarios and timetable on a route, many people drop it. This builds available content over time and as I said telling a story lets you get creative. (Better than the Thomas ones of course, but there's also things like the Forest Rail series on TSC and there are the WSR scenarios that have you setting stock out or running tours, etc) We had "holiday packs" like the Jubilee and the F125, those are sort of what I mean but you don't need the new trains (with lights and stuff) just the scenarios or a small timetable. It gives you more ability to get detailed too doing things that are often missed in the timetables. Shunting for freight for example is gameplay that seems to have fallen by the wayside sadly. Freight runs without shunting and marshaling is like passenger runs without passengers. SPG, Oakville, Clinchfield, WSR... so many opportunities to move the cars around, build consists and deliver stuff. Nothing needs to be added feature-wise, just put into the timetable and scenarios. Or maybe some more detailed DLC add ons. Not whole routes, but more scenarios and additions to timetables like TSC does with their add on packs. I'd definitely pick up a ton of them like in TSC for $4.99 for just a few scenarios or a small timetable. It'd reinvigorate more routes with "more to do" and give smaller devs and even community members to throw some together into packs to sell. I know there's this obsession with mor routes or locos, but you could do a TON more with what we already have in game for VERY LOW prices. A $4.99 scenario pack with maybe 6-12 scenarios or a small creatively linked timetable would be a fun deal. As I've said, I judge cost by what I can get out of it in play time, and getting maybe even 5 GOOD scenarios for $4.99 would be a cool deal. Low investment, but adds value to existing game DLC. Something that very small dev teams or individuals could get into fairly easily (since so many community members do it for free) and get people going back to routes they haven't played in awhile since they ran out of stuff to do. I guess everything needs a launch example, so I can give a few. End to End Freight Hauling Add more scenarios to any of the US freight routes including shunting, building consists, and dropping off on SPECIFIC tracks, not just in the middle of the mainline. Sand Patch, Oakville, Clinchfield, Horseshoe Curve, Cajon Pass, Tees Valley, etc. Industrial Movement Work inside an industry or between industries like on say Cajon Pass or Oakville, acting as part of a narrated journey of runs to "discover" an industry. Run ore and coal to a smelter, run from the smelter to the steel yard, take finished steel (or steel products like cars or rail cars) out to export. Railroader and Derail Valley have this sort of "production" style, but it'd be fun to see in TSW with all the existing content we have like sidings just sitting empty. I think this has lots of opportunity on Oakville, Tees Valley, Antelope and other routes. Seasonal Packs Add on some seasonal excursions like Fall Leaf Viewing Tours, Wine Tours, Christmas, Halloween, Valentine's Day, etc. You can do a pack of them all for one route like WSR (something where you can go slow and admire the scenery, using vintage rolling stock) Or you can do a season and Event packs Real or imagined like the Steam Gala on WSR. Didn't the Railway 200 have events all across the UK? Gotta be a few to be recreated or "reinterpreted." The steam run by Darlington might not have been a Jubilee or gone to Saltburn but... why not in game? What if it did? New treasure hunts to do on routes that don't have them or you've already done them. Something NEW to collect! With scenarios they don't have to be "realistic" in that they're regularly scheduled. They can be whatever you want to happen, any special occasion or situation. A breakdown of the normal train for example. Adding an industry that has a siding but isn't used in the normal timetable. Also, going into more detail than a timetable run does. The timetable is just A-B, but the scenarios really let you narrate a story and get more immersive, especially if part of a series of scenarios in a journey. It would bring a depth to the game and utilize existing content for a very low entry cost. Instead of a new route you are so-so about, what if you had several scenario packs you could pick up for routes you love but are older and you've run them all a few times? You could get 6 scenario packs at $4.99 for the price of one of the smaller $29.99 routes, or 9 scenario packs for the cost of a $44.99 larger route.
+1 to this and I certainly wouldn’t pay for a scenario pack. Takes me back to the early days of MSTS and Abacus I think it was came out with a boxed (yes, boxed!) set of scenarios for the game. And like most things Abacus did, was total pants. What’s needed is, 1. A rework of the existing scenario editor so users if they wish can create their own and upload to Creator’s Club. 2. The train hopping save game sorted so you can remain in a persistent “Driver’s Day” on a particular route. I’m trying to do that on Birmingham to Crewe but it breaks the immersion having to come out all the way to the timetable and pick a suitable service after the time you arrived on the previous one. A possible exception to this might be US routes where as I’ve said previously a Run 8 style approach to gameplay might be more suitable.
I don't usually pay much attention to scenarios because they are unimaginative and uninspired. It seems like it's just a formality that they have to get through as quickly as possible, without putting much love into it. Often, it's just a journey from A to B, with the added disadvantage that they don't include layers. Of course, if they tried to charge for scenario packs like that, I wouldn't buy them, but if they are creative and make use of elements of the scenario that are not normally used in the timetable, such as industries, yards, etc., I would be willing to support the initiative.
