Been thinking this for a while and seeing livery designer appear for the 66 and 377s got me more convinced. If dovetail fill service mode add all the various services functions ie using the gwe db hoppers in service mode same as tvl or Spg, create more and more complex movements. Just adding one more feature could resolve nearly all our immersion issues in one hit. Make service mode customisable. By that I dont mean turn a GWE hst into an ac4400 or A tvl 37 with coke into a class 47 with vans- not at all. Enter service mode and get the list of services for that 24 hour period, as usual, but apply a drop down box beside each service, where we can select the loco and our preferred rolling stock, only stock that can meet the service need but on the other hand not just a pre determined list of what we can have. This would make complex scenarios without the effort of trying to expand scenario editor. We could apply all our liveries as and when we like, no random spawnings, this would set tsw apart from ts1 and give us the gameplay we require without the unlikely access to the editor. An example to this would be: Northern TransPennine I go on service mode and see a run from Huddersfield to Leeds 5 coach mk 2 train behind a 40, 45 or 47. I want to change things up so a few months from now Ive repainted the wsr mk1s into br blue and want to use them and place a tvl 31 on the front. Maybe I see an oncoming service down the line that I want to tweak also. Apply my settings and off I go. I run my 31 and the timetable runs as normal around my train and the 1 ai train I changed. Many many different combinations and will always feel fresh.
Yes, I agree, sort of. A consist editor is the Holy Grail right now. But it's most likely to come as part of Scenario Planner 2, promised soon, not as a separate upgrade.
Service mode is fine but we also need more freedom to design both consists and traffic. The current scenario editor is orthopedic to use for that console menu style limitation. You can´t place single wagons on yards and you don´t have the overall view you had in older versions with that map view. How are we expected to know which track is each one just by its name? You don´t even have an schematic view of the station itself. Terrible... The older was the most intelligent, handy and user friendly editor ever. You could even preview the traffic and it let you know about any incompatibilities or errors. I spent hours using the old editor and just minutes using this one and giving up. Cheers
Seeing how varied a snapshot of service mode can be, and with all traffic, unloading terminals, turnarounds. It would take years of updates to get anywhere near that with scenario editor. Imagine the combinations at your disposal from a 24 hour service timetable. Get that function into the core, save hours of dev time mapping paths for scenario editor. Spice up the timetable. The deciding parameters could be max speed rating of train. Max length of train, and are the systems compatible between lead loco and trailing cars.
Service mode with random events as a future introduction to multiplayer Half night yesterday I was wondering how this could work for TSW without having to throw the whole game into the trash.
Maybe load up the service mode and pre determine what youre required to do, but without telling you at the time. So the game will have a normal timetable, a revised timetable and you wont know which until you appear in the drivers seat. A lot of work though. Another option would be to copy a few timetable runs and make scenarios of them, again random chance. You load up the service and if youve checked a box that says enable events. Then you could end up with a traditional service run or a copy of that run thats actually a messed up scenario. There is a way for this sort of thing. We get scenario trigger points in service mode regular.
Random events are really good idea and taking into account that most routes only include few core tasks (go to, stop, load or couple), few services are really unique compared to the main ones which are just a copy of each other (e.g: to from A to B or from B to A) with just some variations in the paths that opens an interesting alternative to services, or a different game mode. For instance you can have a reduced traffic timetable (as this prevents incompatibilities and allows more freedom to desing alternative paths) and make some randomized services but with just a smaller batch of services per day. Where you could clearly benefit from random events is while shunting. In a yard you can play just one service that instructs you to form a consist taking wagons randomly from the already placed consists. So everytime you play the service a different resulting train will be created. Another case is freight from A to B by setting random stops to pick or drop wagons on them. That´s a recreation of the collector trains used in real railways for instance that run the line picking wagons from the sidings in stations or the supply ones which drop loaded wagons at some areas to feed the local industries. With a couple of services (one per direction) you can have much more variety than with a whole timetable indeed. For passenger services I doubt random events could add a real difference as we have to stick to passenger schedules, but as freight is more open to different operations and consists arrangements this is a good alternative for them. And last option are the random failures. A broken train can be parked at random locations. Your task is to go with a rescue locomotive and take faulty rolling stock or even whole train back to depot or just change the broken locomotive by your rescue locomotive to continue the original service to its destination. What gets faulty each time can be random. Or even a failure on your own service forces you to be diverted to a non scheduled stop. I mean, it´s a matter of imagination but all those situations happen in real life. Cheers
I wrote a very similar things on the suggestion part of the forum, but looks like I either can't write catchy titles and threads or my english is so bad nobody wants to read what I write ahahah This is how I think this system could work
If choosing a “booby trapped service” triggered a scenario you could make that as disruptive as you like.
There are many excellent service mode runs out there. What the good ones all seem to have in common is that they aren’t straightforward green light runs; they present you with traffic issues that take skill to handle. I think a rather elegant and hopefully workable solution would be to add a feature where you can insert your own train with its own consist and schedule as an extra service into the timetable. That way, you and your train become the random event and can determine what sort of timetable disruptions there will be. This is workable if the dispatcher is dynamic and robust. I have spent many an hour trying to create timetable chaos and it’s pretty rare that I’m able to shut down the line because the dispatcher can’t handle the disruptions.
Where did you see this as 'promised soon'? From what I understood, this is all on the long list of what DTG would like to do, but for all my stream watching, all I have gotten out of this topic was that they were talking about what could be in a second release of the Scenario Planner. I'm as excited as anyone else over a consist [definitely-not-an-]editor and upgraded scenario planner, but calling anything a promise without it actually being announced could lead people to think DTG is working on it, which Sam has said on streams as not something being worked on.
I interpret that as a firm undertaking. If you don't want to call it a promise, that's your take. When I say "soon" I'm not talking tomorrow.
