Heavy Freight Pack Or Tees Valley Line?

Discussion in 'TSW General Discussion' started by solicitr, Mar 3, 2021.

  1. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    HFP pros
    • It's cheaper
    • I like the NTP route
    TVL pros
    • A whole new route
    • Three locos, even if the 101 is a retread, promise more services
    • The 37 doesn't look almost just like a 45
    Possibly the deciding question: do the HFP services make use of actual freight yards, or is it just passenger-station-to-passenger-station like GWE and most German routes?
     
  2. Rudolf

    Rudolf Well-Known Member

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    Heavy freight pack is mainly mainline drives, but there is some shunting as well also in the timetable.If you like NTP it is a must have into my opninion and it will make you happy.

    On the other hand, TVL is a very interesting route with a lot of variety in activities, both freight and passenger. It has more variety than NTP, more shunting operations, also coal loading/unloading and so on. It will be more interesting if you add the class 31 later.

    It is a very hard choice. For both: wait for a nice discount anyway.
     
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  3. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    ...thanks!
     
  4. heardturkey

    heardturkey Active Member

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    The NTP only uses station to station for freight and passenger. TVL does use the yards though the passenger service is either the DMU or the class 31 hauling the DMU (meant to simulate a breakdown).
    I have both routes and all of the extra DLC so the variety is better.
     
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  5. zawal.belili

    zawal.belili Guest

    If you buy both locos in DLC for TVL (class 20 and class 31) then yes it is the most complete TVL.
    If you already have NTP the freight pack is also very good.
    I have all the DLCs from TSW1 and TSW2 and for me TVL is better.
     
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  6. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    Trivia question: when is the TVL set? The advertising makes it sound like it's contemporary with NTP, 70s-early 80s, but the Class 37 is wearing the Trainload Metals livery that didn't exist before 1988.
     
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  7. ionutmineadaniel

    ionutmineadaniel Well-Known Member

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    1989 TVL 1983 NTP
     
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  8. heardturkey

    heardturkey Active Member

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    From the TSW Wiki page

    The Tees Valley Line is a route DLC for Train Sim World, featuring the Tees Valley Line between Darlington and Saltburn, a length of 27 miles. The route is set in 1989 during the sectorisation of British Rail and featured with the route are the BR Class 08, Class 37, and both 2-car and 3-car Class 101.
     
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  9. mclitke

    mclitke Well-Known Member

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    The heavy freight pack is a great addition if you like to play on NTP for additional shunting and more loco variation, but overall I always liked TVL way more personally. Where NTP is close to nature (and to my feeling a bit bland scenery wise), on TVL I always feel engulfed in pure industry. You pass these yards and buildings with huge smoking chimneys and it just feels awesome. and then again, the south western part of the route is very green with fields and trees. It also has the Tees Newport bridge, which not only sounds an alarm occasionally, it actually has a working lifting bridge-platform, which impressed me alot when I first saw it as I never would have guessed that would have been implemented.
    I would also highly recommend the Class 20 for TVL, might be my most used british diesel locomotive, I find it very fun to play with.
     
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  10. pinter

    pinter Member

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    I'm a big fan of TVL. A good amount of shunting with the Class 08. I enjoyed the load/unload services with the Class 37.

    Adding the two loco DLCs makes it even better since you see a good variety of traffic on the line. And the passenger services with the Class 31 DLC are fun, since you get the short run around at Saltburn.
     
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  11. ralphy_porter2000

    ralphy_porter2000 Active Member

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    Everything that has been said 100%
    My take on it, I would get HF as NTP feels sparse without it and I feel the same way with TVL without the extra DLC.
    NTP and TVL are equally good for different reasons and are my favorite routes by a huge mile, but stand-alone both only just cut the mustard IMHO
     
  12. Purno

    Purno Well-Known Member

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    I guess the heavy freight pack is nice, although I'm not a huge fan of shunting, it adds a bit more 'live' to service mode. (Most shunting services will be standing still most of the day though, so they look more like static consists while you're driving one of the services over the main line).

    And although NTP is a nice route, I really like TVL considerably more. Passenger services are considerably more interesting to me, even though there's no express run. Speed limit on TVL feels slower than on NTP, on average. If you like freight, TVL really uses the several freight yards that are in the route, really more so than NTP. There's even more freight traffic to TVL when you buy the Class 31 or Class 20 for the route.

    Another thing I like about TVL is that it has functional AWS, where NTP doesn't have AWS on the route.
     
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  13. theorganist

    theorganist Well-Known Member

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    NTP and TVL with all the add-ons are the main reasons I come back to TSW at the moment along with the SEHS. I think TVL feels very complete with the class 31 and 20 you get quite a lot of variety with the different freight workings with the three locomotives. My only wish is that we had a Provincial livery class 143 as in 1989 they would have been very common if not more so than the class 101 on the TVL.

    NTP without the freight pack does feel sparse I will agree.
     
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  14. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    TVP is nice, now they fixed the Class 37 sound, but not much of a challenge gradient wise compared to NTP. However I do like the fact you can do a bit of shunting, not just out on the main line.

    After reading the above, I'm now seriously conflicted whether to get HFP or splash out on SEHS. That said, I've also had the AP 4CEP recommended to me for TS2021 albeit I don't own any of the routes the supplied scenarios run on.

    Oh well, three names in the hat, pick one and the rest for any Easter sales!

    Edit: Turns out I already owned HFP but not the Class 20 or 31. So opted for the Kent route for now, follow up purchase on the rest at Easter.
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2021
  15. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    Problem solved: sale going on right now at gamebillet, so I got both for the regular price of HFP!
     
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  16. theorganist

    theorganist Well-Known Member

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    TVL is the sort of route where a TS1 style freeroam scenario would be useful.
     
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  17. Purno

    Purno Well-Known Member

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    SEHS is brand new, so you'd be splashing out full price. Plus there's always a chance this route ends up being part of the new yearly bundle.

    If you're on a budget, buying older content on sale, and prioritizing third party DLC (because they're very unlikely to be part of yearly bundles) is probably the best way to go to get most content out of as little money as possible.
     
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  18. ralphy_porter2000

    ralphy_porter2000 Active Member

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    Even re-playing NTP content will be more immersive for you now you have HFP. Massive immersion + I cant even imagine playing NTP without it.
     
  19. paul.pavlinovich

    paul.pavlinovich Well-Known Member

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    March sale likely coming soon - get everything solicitr :)

    I've got nearly all the DLC that interests me (which is about 60% of it) and very little of it has been at full price, DTG seem to love sales so I generally wait except for new must have stuff.

    Paul
     
  20. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    I will definitely pick up the 20 and 31 in the sale. Too early for the 465 to be discounted though if it's really as good as everyone says, I'll probably succumb and buy before, erm like... now!
     
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  21. train1

    train1 New Member

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    Just starting out on Train sim, so a very basic question. I will be running the sim on a PC, once the main program is installed from a disc, I intend to buy the Tees Valley Line as an add on. This I understand can only be downloaded, which is not a problem, but do you have to be online to play the game once its been registered? I do not want to have to go online every time to use the game.
     
  22. jamesthepershing

    jamesthepershing Active Member

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    Tvl. Just TVL.
     
  23. paulc

    paulc Well-Known Member

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    TVL! Excellent 37 Thrash opportunities! DMU 101 if you like passenger stuff, Lots of freight fun including loading/unloading etc! Great if you also get the 31 add on too :)
     
  24. Clumsy Pacer

    Clumsy Pacer Well-Known Member

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    This is a new one on me. I'm fairly sure you can play it offline. It has no always online DRM or ""seamless"" (by seamless I mean a 5 second lag spike every time someone logs in) multiplayer.

    It's only online integration with Dovetail Live (ie sending DTG data about what sort of stuff you're doing in the game, while it does some stuff with screenshots I don't really know the specifics of, gives you a log of what you've been doing and allows news articles to appear in-game) and the in-game store (which apparently doesn't work anyway). If you don't care about any of that, then you can play it offline
     
  25. Crosstie

    Crosstie Well-Known Member

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    In this age of modern routes with one, maybe two lookalike emus, NTP and TVL are the true gems of TSW. With loco hauled freight and passenger and the Class 101 along with switching services, I'm wearing them out ( along with occasional breaks on WSR ).

    We're unlikely to see these kinds of routes again in the game. Glad I have 'em. Especially considering the missed opportunity that will become HSC. Oh what could have been.:(:(
     
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  26. Clumsy Pacer

    Clumsy Pacer Well-Known Member

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    What's HSC?
     
  27. Crosstie

    Crosstie Well-Known Member

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    Horseshoe Curve, a route set in the Allegheny mountains of Pennsylvania. In TS Classic it was set in the 1950's and included a number of older diesels and some steam add-ons. Wonderful stuff, with a great story line. The version in TSW will be modern and, in my view, not nearly as captivating.
     
    Last edited: Nov 26, 2021
  28. SonicScott91

    SonicScott91 Well-Known Member

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    I think we'll get more vintage routes eventually. DTG have a lot of bases to cover to please everyone so they're not coming as quickly as the two of us might like ;) I'm hoping following the Spirit of Steam that we get a British route set in that crossover period of the brand new but not always reliable BR Green diesels and the ever hard working but now neglected steam locomotives.
     
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  29. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    I'd like to think we will get more 80's/90's industry based UK routes, along with the rest of the classic traction. Knottingley and area would be great even better than TVL with all the coal mines and power stations to serve, roll in a Class 56 and Class 60 and Day 1 £24.99 purchase for me.
     
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