Route Nec: New York - Stamford Feedback Thread

When are they going to patch this? The crashing keeps happening on ps5 and it never happened before they patched this route on May 12th. It's been 6 weeks+..

 

Greenwich. Just stands and do nothing.

 

Not sure if this has been said, people walking OFF the platform at Harlem-125th St.

Another I would like to suggest are M8 services to White Plains/North White Plains. It is common where the Harlem Line uses CDOT equipment.

I have also seen trains get extremely close within feet.

 

That’s an unfortunate bug.
Also, for some reason, the safety system is enabled when playing in Timetable Mode. It makes the game difficult to play if you don't understand how it works.

 

This is how it should be. The decision was made by the operator who granted the license.

 

Finally got around to buying this DLC after it popped up on sale a couple weeks ago, and for the most part I've been enjoying it.

Some observations:

• The Training Center scenario for the M8 is incorrectly paced and does not provide enough time to perform the AC/DC changeover at the speed it initially requests before reaching the first platform. I had to slow down a fair bit to complete the steps and still complete the station stop action. Seeing as these trains usually perform the changeover at speed, I would honestly prefer to have seen this scenario take part on either the outer high speed loop, or on the actual Stamford route itself, where the ACSES/PTC operations could have been covered as well.
• I liked the little bits of history in the first driver training scenario to GCT. The note on the FL9 was a fun Easter Egg that I appreciated. I made a suggestion when the Harlem Line first released on doing a "Legends of..." DLC similar to Great Western's, and would like to see something similar for the Stamford DLC to include FL9's, M2/M5's, and backdated M3's.
• The second main scenario where you need to run the train through the wash before yarding in Stamford has the stop marker placed too close to the trailing switch, allowing the last car to foul the switch leading to the wash and back into the yard. Also, while I've been playing long enough to know yard switches usually need to be set manually, it probably would have been beneficial to note this for newer players.
• While on the topic of tying a train down in the yard, it's still pretty immersion-breaking to find passengers still onboard after terminating.
• The safety systems on this DLC are far less obnoxious than those on LIRR. I appreciate not being penalized for points over signal drops, and I only got penalty braked twice while experiencing wheel-slip for some admittedly spirited brake applications.
• The Metro-North-style station announcements are fantastic in the M8, and really sell me on the feel of a Metro-North train.
• The Metro-North-style station announcements are extremely out of place on the ACS, and should have been omitted. Amtrak crews typically manually announce stations (ex. "Fifteen minutes to New Rochelle, fifteen minutes!). IMO, it would be better to just have no announcements on Amtrak trains.
• Snow textures and particulate from passing trains are present well within the depths of GCT, where none should exist.
• The P&W (utilizing CSX power) late night stone train is a nice touch.

All things considered, not a bad DLC at a discount, but not something I'd pay full price for. I've already gone pretty in depth on my thoughts on the freight ops (Inaccurate motive power; should be Hudson-adapted AC44CW and SD40, having the Oak Point Link modeled but not utilized is a waste, etc.), but I feel like the only way I would have paid full price was if the New Canaan Branch and Oak Point Link and Hudson Line were modeled and playable up to High Bridge. As it stands right now, I can already see repeat play of this DLC is going to get stale pretty quickly. It would be nice to see these small extensions added in possibly a future update similar to what the London Overground DLC is receiving, but I have a feeling I'll see flying pigs flocking to the skies sooner.

 

What's the opinion of Series X players regarding this route as of now regarding blurry textures and video memory errors since the patches etc:

Is it actually worth getting?

 

so when you drive the M8 i haven't experience any blurry textures. Driving Amtrak (either Acela or ACS64), you will ocasionally get minor blurry textures and they tend to come and go. I play mainly on Xbox and I've done over 114 services on xbox X and 70 on PC and I enjoy it on both. IMO is the best US route in the game and busiest in the game. You have two main termination terminals which gives it more variety. I would say yes is worth it

 

Thanks for your reply, kindly appreciated.

 

I've been enjoying it on Series X, and only occasionally get texture issues, usually in and around the Manhattan terminals. I will say, the night lighting in stations has been very nice.

Keep in mind, you will need the requisite additional DLC for a more realistic traffic pattern and service experience. Your services are also essentially going to boil down to local/express Metro-North trains out of GCT, corridor Amtrak trains out of NYP that are only stopping there, sometimes New Rochelle, and Stamford, and some limited CSX freight ops in the Bronx that is mostly road switching. The passenger services are done well, but if you're looking for a variety of runs, the real life nature of this route segment precludes that.

In my opinion, while this DLC is better than I was expecting, it does still have its flaws. It's certainly better than the Harlem Line, but there are a few areas of improvement that would need to be met before I would have considered buying it at full price. That said, I would grab it, but wait for a discount unless you absolutely need to have it.