South Wales Coastal Or Western Mainlines?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by gingermedia, Dec 2, 2020.

  1. gingermedia

    gingermedia New Member

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    Hi everyone,

    I'm excited to see that South Wales Coastal is back on the market after I missed the boat earlier this year?
    However I was about to purchase Just Trains' Western Mainlines.
    So my question is which is better? I realise Western Mainlines is longer and you get more for your money, but I'm only really interested in the Bristol to Wales segment.

    Thanks in advance
     
  2. Aryffordd

    Aryffordd Guest

    It depends, as ever, by what you mean as better.

    The JustTrains route ends around Cardiff Central, but the newly returned SWC continues on to Swansea. So if your interest is in the Welsh side of things, SWC seems to offer more.
     
  3. gingermedia

    gingermedia New Member

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    Yea, by better I guess I was thinking along the lines of detail and how it looks etc. Sorry wasn’t really explained very well!

    Thank you
     
  4. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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    Personally I like the DTG version over the Just Trains route.
    I already have the Bristol - Swansea route.
     
  5. TimeSlicedDanny

    TimeSlicedDanny Active Member

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    In my opinion the DTG route looks better, but JT's has more complete route coverage, especially around Bristol.
     
  6. Cyclone

    Cyclone Well-Known Member

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    I say just get both. Also pick up Shrewsbury for a merged route option in the Workshop.
     
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  7. BigMountain555

    BigMountain555 Well-Known Member

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    I just looked at the JT website and the list of required DLC for the scenarios is rather oft-putting. Every time I consider buying a route from JT I change my mind after seeing the sheer volume of required DLC.
     
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  8. Cyclone

    Cyclone Well-Known Member

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    Keep in mind the DLC is only for certain scenarios. You might need five DLC, but it might apply to three of the fourteen scenarios. I do agree that including a train with the route would help solve this issue because they can use the train, and think that would be a better method. Unfortunately, this is not the model they have chosen for most routes as they look at the UK asset pack locos instead for included scenarios. I still get a few things that I can get enough play out of, and I have noticed some of their PlusPaks are included with certain locos, so buying a loco pack might take care of three or four requirements around different DLC. You have to do your research, the same thing I did when I created my Word document of some 30-40 pages covering all of the Steam DLC to connect what trains require what routes, what is needed for all of the scenario packs, etc. I've been meaning to do this on AP as well to figure out the best locos for anyone to pick up on an initial acquisition given how widely used they are across the various packs. You want prohibitive? Try 15 AP DLC in a trio of scenarios included with an AP loco. That's prohibitive. ATS submissions generally use them instead of Steam versions for AI purposes as well, so lots of Ts-Tools editing needed if you ever want to play that stuff. Kinda sucks to know that's what we're expected to do and they would rather exclude the people not willing to do that by creating alternate versions, which is something Just Trains at least does in some of their DLC.

    In any case, replace AP 156 with the Steam 156, AP 158 with the Steam 158, etc. You can wait until you add a batch then do a mass wipe. Just make notes on the files you need, and you will have to unpack the models from the files before you can actually utilize them in Ts-Tools. You can then batch-replace across all scenarios at once. This way you can still buy one of two AP packs that interest you, and just use your Steam acquisitions on the others. Anything else you can wipe out with the F2 cancellation of those or replace with the models you're already using elsewhere.
     
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2020
  9. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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    Amazing the amount of times you see this sort of quote.
    For somebody who has just started playing the game then the list can be big but you acquire more items as you want them in various sales and your collection grows and this list of requirements drops all the time.
    Plus JT give you Scenarios that just use the ELAP which most people have.
    This is the JT Western Mainlines, the Class 166 and the HST in First Great Western is not that far out of what you would see on the route and other scenarios use trains that would appear along the line
     
  10. Cyclone

    Cyclone Well-Known Member

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    Ah, I see what you mean. If the trains would normally appear, of course use them. My comment was more about including a model with the pack outside of the asset pack so that people don't have to buy the asset pack. But, as I would note myself, so many routes come with it now that chances are you just have it (and even buying Bristol-Exeter on Steam gets you BOTH asset packs nowadays, not sure about directly through JT). I don't understand why DTG still sells them on their own as it almost seems scummy to keep the packs up there when they are included with so many routes. Just include them with the UK and US regional editions each year (heck, the Chinese Edition has three items, and the asset pack - useless on Chinese routes! - is one of them). People are going to end up with them anyway. Of course, then they would likely use that as value in the pack, which is feigned because it's considered as value in pretty much every pack it's in (hence what's going on with the Chinese pack this year).
     
  11. 749006

    749006 Well-Known Member

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    JT don't have all that much stock to include with a route.
    One train you could see on the Western Mainlines is the XC Voyager but would people be happy in purchasing a route at a higher price that included something they already owned?

    DTG still sell the Euro Loco and Asset Pack because some people don't have it - simples
    They are included in a lot of older routes but not that many recent ones
     
  12. Cyclone

    Cyclone Well-Known Member

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    Yes, I know that about both your points. Thing is, the Steam versions of some JT routes include the pack (even that version of Midland Main Line, just out recently, does), but when buying directly from JT you have to acquire it yourself. THAT is interesting. Though again, chances are if you're buying directly from JT, you already have it.
     
  13. ex-railwayman

    ex-railwayman Active Member

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    The JT route goes from London Paddington all the way to Penzance, no other developer has created such a route in its entirety, it offers as good as value for money as any other layout for 255 miles long, you won't get any better. You can also change assets on the route, trees and vegetation, etc, etc, you'll have the route for years you can do anything you want with it and play any trains on it forever.
    There's nothing stopping you from obtaining both routes in Sales, Christmas is only just around the corner.

    Cheerz. Steve.
     
    Last edited: Dec 6, 2020
  14. Clumsy Pacer

    Clumsy Pacer Well-Known Member

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    You can do that with every route though.

    If you're only interested in Bristol - Cardiff and don't care about the rest, then there's little point in getting Western Mainlines, and as ahs been mentioned earlier, SWC goes to Swansea, WM only goes to Cardiff, also I've heard WM has a lot of stability issues (Not sure if they've been fixed - also, I don't have WM so I'm just going off what I've read and seen regarding it)
     
  15. Cyclone

    Cyclone Well-Known Member

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    When updates are pushed through Steam, the SWC route would be restored to its original makeup. Additionally, if you use tools like Ts-Tools, anything you edit using such utilities will also be wiped clean out of the folder it's in. So no, unless you clone the route and use it independently of its scenarios, you otherwise cannot keep an edited version forever. Western Mainlines you can because it's not on Steam.

    As a side note, the route to Penzance includes two extensions. The route otherwise ends at Exeter, I believe. There is also a Paignton extension before Plymouth and an extension at Oxford on the other side. The Complete Collection was about 30% off recently for Black Friday; I already have the main route having never expected that deal, so I have to wait for The Extensions Collection to someday drop. I'm sure it will eventually.
     
  16. Pookeyhead

    Pookeyhead Well-Known Member

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    Is that hosted anywhere it can be downloaded? Sounds useful.
     
  17. Clumsy Pacer

    Clumsy Pacer Well-Known Member

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    Why wouldn't you clone an existing route you didn't make before editing it? You're also riding on the assumption that JT will never update the route (and you never download said update), or you'd never need to re-install it or the game.
     
  18. IronBladder

    IronBladder Well-Known Member

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    I never clone routes, instead I back up the edits I make, so I can reapply them if necessary. If the route is delivered as a .ap file (most of DRG's are) it's easy to see your mods in the route folder and you only need to backup those. Scenarios and track I never touch, so career scoring and achievements aren't affected and work with all my scenery changes.

    In my view the DTG SWC isn't their best route scenery wise, but to my eyes it looks better than JT's WM, but WM gives more operational opportunities, if only because of its great length and scope. It is also unique in allowing you to drive end-to-end a long mainline. It is a novel experience departing Paddington and knowing Exeter awaits (or Penzance if you've bought the extras).
     
  19. Cyclone

    Cyclone Well-Known Member

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    I have never edited routes, so I don't have practice at it. That said, you are absolutely correct.

    Pookey, no it isn't, but it's also not edited since February when I created it. It needs updates before I would share it now. Also, I'm editing in a way to mark what DLC I own, so it's personalized to me ATM. I would need to remove all such edits.
     

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