I created a small ranking of really cool looking scenery assets which can be unlocked in the mastery challenge. 1st place: Cane Creek, the dinosaur park in front of the impressive rock formations of Utah. 2nd place: Cathcart Circle Line, a crashed UFO in one of the suburbs of Glasgow. 3rd place: Clinchfield Railroad, a black bear looking for food, in this case at the tents of the campers. ...and of course we want to see other cool stuff in the future!
In my opinion the UFO looks good, but just shouldn't be there. Of all the things they could have done for Glasgow they chose that...
...but "Nessy" mostly swims in Loch Ness and it's already on the collectable posters. I think it's better to have something unique, than 3 times the same. I mean the Christmes market for Bakerloo Line, Sand Patch Grade and Köln-Achen. They also have to place these things next to the tracks to perceive them while driving by. So far there has also been a construction site, a music festival, hot air balloons and a car fan meeting.
The Nessie* posters are advertising Scotland, not just Glasgow. Glasgow has so many options for a scenery tile/decal from its incredibly rich history, culture, arts etc. The fact that just decided to use what is really just conspiracy theories is quite frustrating. (* It's Nessie not "Nessy")
Frankly, these are so localised and often hard to spot that they are a less satisfying reward than the old TSW2020 dioramas.
I have to say I agree here, the old Dioramas were much better in my opinion. Didn't interfere with the route itself.
...never was in Glasgow before, so it's always interesting to learn something new about it. Even by driving the Class 314 in TSW2, I get to know the local transport network, which can at least be seen as a virtual visit. I agree that in these crazy times, often conspiracy theories take over and try to influence people's minds. So I'm not supporting them at all. But especially the UFO thing is part of our pop culture and together with Nessie or Bigfoot, it became a modern legend. By the way: I also miss the dioramas and hope they will return into the game again!
...found the Tier 2 Mastery reward for the new "Rush Hour: Bosten-Providence" route. Also a very ice idea from the team to choose a legendary sailing ship, which was built in Bosten (and is still there). I hope my collage brings a little joy at the stressful update time!
...after the last big update the volcano at Cane Creek is finally active: fire and smoke effects are visible from ow on! Nice new detail in the "Dino Park", only noticed it during the loading screen and directly checked it. Looks great, especially during sunset.
...new route, new mastery rewards and a matching new collage! It is slowly becoming a tradition or I simply like TSW.
...new route, new mastery rewards and this time "Rivet" takes the pole position! Its giant animated octupus pulls an old sailing ship into the depths. That's a really cool idea for this nice coastal route. So everything is possible in Train Sim World.
...this time no new collage for the bisons yet. Although I have successfully completed tier 2 on "Sherman Hill", there are no bisons to be seen. I looked the whole route, on every branch, even in winter to see them better, but no success. On the other hand, the decals from tier 1 appeared immediately in the "Livery Designer". It's difficult to say why the unlocked 3D models of the bisons are not loading correctly into the game, maybe there's a problem with the "Dovetail live" link, at least on PS4. ...or they have been abducted by the "Glasgow UFO". Of course when it is fixed, the bisons will get there honorable mention in this thread too! By the way the "Sherman Hill" route is well done and the SD70ACe makes really fun to drive! You can really tell that the track builders from Skyhook shared their expertise and worked on the rock formations (the "Utah" rock library was helpful again) and the overall result looks top-notch. Even on 8th gen consoles it works fine, but shorter shadow drawing and muddy textures disturb the overall picture a little bit.
Thankfully i've never been able to get Mastery to work so (big) if I do get Cornwall I won't come across that monstrosity!
...UFOs (not in vain in 2nd place), sea monsters or dinosaurs are really creative ideas for the mastery rewards. Also some well known wild animals, as seen in other open world games, can bring more life into the game, in addition to realistic looking passengers, of course. Circling sea gulls in the sky are a good example... I think 90 percent of all forum threads only consist of text messages, so a few colorful pictures can also provide more variety.
...some new stuff from the previous route releases. Got the bisons are unfortunately still not found between Laramie and Hermosa, although there was an update recently, so "Sherman Hill" has yet to stay open.
OMG, there they are finally! So track 3 is the single track in the western section. Then I'll have a look...
Never thought finding bisons could be so difficult, but here they are. Of course prepared in a species-appropriate way for this thread.
...it's slowly getting fuller here. I also gave the mastery reward for TVL the right look for this thread. If such an impressive film poster has already been made, you can still top it off with an "Oscar" nomination! By the way, it's certainly very interesting to zoom in on the poster with the free camera and to read through the small film information texts at the bottom.
...two other 3D assets from the mastery rewards, because there's nothing else to do about Easter and already found all eggs. One was missing from HBK and one is from the newest route "Horseshoe Curve". Very nicely staged by night lighting!
...two new Mastery Rewards for some well-known routes. One is the re-detailed signal box at RSN. The signal box at Finnentrop was actually always in its usual place, but was given a newly added interior and is now accessible. The second one is a goody for all aviators: it is the Airbus Beluga XL, landing at Leipzig/Halle airport and is visible directly above Rackwitz. This aircraft is based on the A330. Six Beluga XL are to replace the five predecessors A300 Beluga, which have been in service since 1995, by 2023.
...also prepared the Tier 2 reward for the first "Spirit of Steam" route from Liverpool to Crewe. Took my own "Olton Hall" livery, because the trainspotters always want something special in front of their lens. Maybe this train goes to Hogwarts?
...of course I'm well past the top 3, but once started I'll continue to show all missing and future Mastery Tier 2 rewards here. But everyone is welcome to post their own mastery screenshots in this thread.
...got two new entries: an older one from NTP, with realistically animated hot air ballons and the latest LMS 4F livery for WSR. By the way, WSR is the best route for special trains with old steam locos. At the slow speeds, the pressure in the steam boiler remains constant and allows relaxed driving...
...this time it's not a Mastery reward, but a very cool thing from IOW too: a hovercraft, or more precisely two of them, which represent in reality "Solent Flyer" and "Island Flyer". Overall there are only two in service on the route from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight. The actual Mastery Tier 2 reward, which is an old parked Class 483 will follow soon.
...to raise the general mood a bit, after the death of the Queen we all admired and loved, I put together three fresh Mastery rewards. With the release of TSW3, the last week was so busy, that it is now time for some rest and relaxation!
...three new Mastery Tier 2 rewards after the big release of TSW3. A few words about it. I would say this time you can see a clear difference between effort and complexity between the rewards. While only static flags were placed on the canadian route, much more effort was put into southern france. Animated fireworks and an animated jet squadron really hit it. As a result, "LGV Méditerranée" is definitely a top 5 candidate! Last but not least the balloon festival south of Fulda. Balloons have been on the "Northern Trans-Pennine" route before. Glowing in the dark they are effective day and night. Maybe I'll add a poll in the future for this thread, so everyone can vote for themselves...
Can you help me, please ☺ I can't found the mastery tier 2 rewards for main-Spessart-Bahn, and Long Island Railroad, the Car Meet and the Construction Site. Do you have found them?
...to be honest, I haven't found the Car Meet at LIRR either, but the Construction Site at MSB is just behind the Langenprozelten station on the Main side, near the SKW viaduct crosses the route.
This is interesting I never knew you can unlock special scenery assets in routes by obtaining a high mastery level in that route. Are these able to be disabled after you obtain the appropriate mastery level? Or do these just automatically appear on your route with no way to remove or turn them off?
You can turn the mastery scenery off. In TSW2 you go to route selection then loco selection and press square. In TSW3, you go to your Dovetail Live page and select the mastery box. I haven't found a way to tun off TSW3 mastery yet though but maybe I'm not looking hard enough. You have to complete specific tasks under the route mastery to unlock items (level 1 mastery per route is usually decals for livery editor and level 2 is the scenery asset for the route).
That helps a lot, thanks a ton, Nick! If anyone finds out or knows how to turn these off for TSW3 please do chime in.
If you wish to turn off mastery scenery in TSW3 scroll to the dovetail live tab on the main menu of game and there is a mastery rewards button. Then just tick or untick what you do or do not want for each route.
New mastery reward additions to this thread! On the one hand the latest from BCC, then also a few earlier ones from GWE and MSB, so far missing. Unfortunately, we're still waiting for Rivet's Class483 to unlock for IOW 2022.
The last mastery rewards for 2022 are finished, only the training center Christmas decoration is missing, which will be available from 12/24. So it's only the penultimate post of the year!
...the last entry for 2022! A turbulent year comes to an end. The world will be the same next year, so it's up to us to make it a better place. Maybe the little elf can help with that.
New year, new mastery assets! The first two are from Edinburgh-Glasgow and Linke Rheinstrecke. The fireworks on the Rhine, also called: Rhein in Flammen or Rhine in Flames, in St. Goar are clearly a mastery highlight, as was the case on the French national holiday in Marseille. It's not just a static asset, but a living animation including its own sound and light effects. Also thought about doing a Linke Rheinstrecke castles thread and showing all the castles along the route, after the Edinburgh Castle thread was quite worth seeing. https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/edinburgh-castle-impressions.64747/