West Somerset Railway is the first TSW route on which I've seen farm animals, which I had time to observe while driving the "To the Beach" scenario, since it does not require specific arrival times at stations. The cows and sheep reminded me of a notion I've sometimes had while driving past farm animals in TS. It's clearly possible to animate bipeds, so why not quadrupeds? No, seriously! Couldn't station platforms be adapted into a sort of pad that could be placed just underground (or perhaps have a grass-covered texture) with animal figures that could mosey around, occasionally bending their heads down to graze or sideways to look around. The ever-present clones would be much less of a problem, and no animal would have to check its watch, fold its arms, or alter its facial expression. Nor would they have to "climb" non-existent steps to board a coach (as all passengers do in WSR, looking like they're attending Monty Python auditions. A fantasy request? No more so than numerous others I see offered up in these forums.
It would also be nice to have some people sitting/ walking on the beaches, or in the towns... and the odd moving car, or two... and.. it would be nice if the crossing barriers actually worked...
So let me get this straight. You called people who wanted more functional buttons in cabs, even if they do nothing, stupid, but now you're requesting animated cows?
Totally agree with OP. I myself posted elsewhere on this forum that we need animated animals, moving vehicles, birds in sky, flies being splattered on windscreen , pet dog off the lead in adjacent field racing the train (we've all seen it) etc. - TSW is a dead world, it needs livening up! It's amazing how moving vehicles on road, tractors in fields, people waving on bridges/in gardens, cows/sheep/horses wondering around in the fields can liven up the atmosphere - there's more life in a morgue than on a TSW route!
I agree, animated animals are in the list of nice things to have, but perhaps somewhere around 2184th place.
It would be a nice addition to the immersion, along with moving automobiles and lorries. Ambient life.
This is a totally reasonable request. But seriously, having a more detailed cab would surely help more than having more detailed animals in the distance...yet the OPs response to a more detailed cab is this? I guess THIS is "what's next" as you will.
I'd say that animal statues break the immersion quite hard, TBH. I recognized that they don't move pretty much right away.
Not bothered about moving cattle (as when eating they don' move much irl) but we do need vehicles driving on road, Over bridges and waiting at level crossings
Satire? So, you think it's laughable to wish for a more immersive scenery in a game which is by a significant part about the immersion and viewing said scenery?
The static nature of the animals, and really the whole world beyond the tracks and then the passengers on the platforms, gives WSR an almost... model railway vibe. Which is fine, if that was DTG's goal; however, for me it really feels out of place for something that was supposed to be the next generation of train simulation.
Frankly, I think that you've confused TSW with that simulator that refers to route tiles as "boards". My dad and I maintained an ever-growing model railroad for years and TSW doesn't look or behave anything like that fondly remembered experience. I've also worked in advertising and publicity, where I learned that product slogans are more fantasy than fact.
Having just spent three day mini break on the real West somerset railway, apart from lack of steam, Birds need adding as they are everywhere, vehicles need adding as they are at every crossing and Road we saw and the golden sands needs changing, as it's far muddier than on game, I have loads of pictures and videos, some march up well, some don't
Now, that's an interesting suggestion. Birds -- flying flocks of them -- appear in nearly every TS route located in the UK, but I don't recall having spotted any in TSW. Would introducing them involve a large reduction in performance?