One of the worst things about this game is SPADs, You spend an hour on a service only to have it ruined by not being able to stop in time at a signal and then the game kicks you out. Like come on at least save my game for me so I don’t have to go back and do it all again!
I like them in the game. Maybe they could have a “rules off” setting where a SPAD wouldn’t end the game, but without them it would feel much less like a simulation. I agree that with the current save game issues it can be frustrating, which is why I think a settings change might make everyone get what they want.
I have no problem with penalizing SPADs (which in RL can get a driver in very serious career trouble indeed), but I do have a problem with stop markers being placed bang in front of red signals. Of course, the issue would also be ameliorated if the savegame routine were ever fixed.........
Personally I find it immersive to be penalised for a SPAD as irl you'd get in a much stickier situation if you had a SPAD. that would also open the door to all kinds trouble like derailing and crashing trains and I'm sure I heard matt say on a stream that it would affect there licences because TOCs wouldent like there brands open to abuse and thirdly I think it would confuse the dispatcher. However I do like the idea of a way to save your progress.
Im on two sides about this. While is adds realism, it is SO annoying doing a full service from say, Koln to Aachen on the DB BR 442, only to have to do the whole thing again because you slightly overshot the platform and passed a red that was 10m away from the stop marker and there was no train near it.
SPADs definitely belong in the game and should stay. However, I agree game needs an auto or quick save function or even a checkpoint you could go back to. Or make it possible to recover from a SPAD but penalise with -5000 AP.
Being able to SPAD and recover might also allow the opportunity to recover a scenario or run from a bugged signal at red - see my post in the Technical Support forum re 6M09 on TVL. Being unable to tab past a signal at red for no reason has effectively killed Journey Mode on that route. If I could have SPAD'ed even with a loss of AP, at least I could probably have finished up the scenario as subsequent signals were clear.