I’d like to see some opinions on the best routes that Dovetail has made across the entirety of their railroad simulator catalogue of games. Just a thread to discuss and debate about what you think.
Köln-Koblenz! -perfect length -nearly every train fits on this route -very scenic -one of the most important european transnational freight corridors -also international trains drive there
IMO for TSW2, I would say it's Dresden Riesa, if it weren't for the often crashes some players face. Cathcart circle, Munchen Augsburg and Ruhr Sieg Nord would also be a suitable alternative.
Eh out of the American routes I’ve played I can’t really decide some routes feel unfinished with little variety of Locomotives to choose from, others feel wacky so idk if I had to choose it would have to be a European one because DTG still doesn’t understand how to deliver on American routes but for me the only two good ones I can find is Sherman Hill and Maybe Boston Sprinter or Peninsula Corridor
The Weardale and Teesdale Network in the '60s is the first route I ever used in TS and remains my favourite.
I'd say for TSW, Sand Patch. Runner up: NTP and Peninsula Corridor (tie). For TS, Horseshoe Curve and Settle Carlisle (tie). Third Party: The Racetrack and Sacramento Northern (tie).
As for best, I don't know, but in TS I really liked Feather River Canyon, or what was it called. I think it was a nice and very well made route. In TSW, I would say Sand Patch for having the best quality consistency, even though I don't drive on it often. GWE is close, but the route is short and rolling stock is limited to what the route offers in real life. I also really liked Peninsula Corridor, good rolling stock variety and gameplay. Waiting for the preservation update to release so I can play on it in TSW2 as well. The new Boston Sprinter and Sherman Hill routes are also really good and I'm having a blast with then, but both have issues that prevent from being called "the best", even though I enjoy them the most. TLDR.: Sand Patch Grade for TSW. It set a quality standard that most TSW routes still struggle to meet.
Riesa Dresden is my favourite route closely followed by London Commuter. In 3rd place.I’d probably put South Eastern Highspeed. You could probably argue against all 3 of those due to bugs and inaccuracies, but they are the ones I play and enjoy the most and therefore for me they are the best. Goes to show how diverse the preferences of the community are. Sand Patch is in my bottom three. But others here have it as there greatest. If I could choose my greatest DLC not just Routes. Then my top 3 would all be Locos. G6 (although it’s not a Dovetail DLC as the topic specifies), DB BR 101 and Class 465.
To me that's because Sand Patch Grade, while definitely not the "most fun" route to drive on, it set an awesome standard with many aspects of detail. Not only it is a lengthy route with good scenery, but a good freight timetable with interactive coal loading and plenty of swirching at yards, functional detail on all rolling stock (working animations that are absent from later releases and functions like train length counter, etc) and scenarios with voice recordings. All other routes that came after it had shortcomings. Either bad quality scenery or rolling stock, or missing smaller details like track unevenness, repeatitive timetable, missing functions, missing trackside signs, no voice recordings for scenarios, etc. Every route has their stengths, while also having their shortcomings in the process, things like described above. SPG on the other hand does feel like an actually well made and polished product, and it doesn't have these shortcomings, it's just a bit boring as being an american heavy haul route. But objectively speaking, and not personal preference wise, it is the best, even though I also barely play it. But now that I've tslked so much about it, I might give it a few runs again, lol.
Yeh, Sand Patch is really the best route to me. I think, Sherman Hill can beat it, with Track3 and additional loco(s) but that is mysterious future. On other hand, Sand Patch get Expansion Pack, and possible brake physics update and longer trains in updated timetable.
Sherman Hill could beat it if the locomotives would get their missing features (length counter, missing animations) and the route got some scenery updates, like around the two yards and the quarry. Gameplay wise Track 3 and more good switching services would really be great. And I miss scenarios with voice overs, for example the Magnet for Trouble scenario could've been great with actual radio chatter and the agent talking to you.
Amazing, isn't it, that we go all the way back to one of the very first routes to find that standard of quality. Begs more than a few questions about the present and future state of the game. Might come down to the amount of time spent building SPG. P.S. I should have included Riesa-Dresden in my earlier post. It is certainly a high quality route, somewhat let down by the lighting and the mis-steps over the branches.
Not necessarily all that amazing. I think that in early routes DTG's ambition outran their pocketbook, hence the lavish provision of rolling stock in the earliest TSW routes (quite likely they underestimated going in how much more work it would be to build new locos in TSW compared to TSC). Since then, hard-nosed, green-eyeshaded fiscal reality has spoken. I fear something similar took place with the Brighton timetable: apparently Joe (on his own initiative) violated all sorts of labour laws with the hours he put in - only two days off in eight months - and now is on an enforced vacation to make it up. I can't see DTG going that overboard on a timetable again.
Money. Development costs time costs money. Doing 3 new locos per route turned out to be fiscally nonviable.
The problem with this mentality is that it's stopping them from really growing. I'm not just talking about the number of rolling stock per route, but as mentioned above, avarage quality and features. They have set up a quality standard that they still cannot meet since SPG. Now i underdtand money problems, but without investing and making really great add-ons, the game is not going to grow properly. They aimed to be the next big train simulator, yet instead of making one that could replace all older train simulators, they just made another "avarage" one. They didn't make a replacement, they made a competitor. I hope you see my problems. With SPG's avarage quality levels and the newer features combined, if all routes followed this quality, then it could be the best train simulator in the market and much more people would switch over from the older sims, increasing player numbers and sales.
I sense this line of thinking in many comments by many people. If TSW is not "the best" train sim, then it is a failure and unplayable. I know you didn't say this, but I feel that every single DLC faces impossible expectations. I really liked Sam's summary about what people expect from a better than current TSW to provide: https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/is-it-too-late.47778/#post-403334 Basically the list is infinite and even then I can guarantee that some would still complain. If you go by the general sentiment of the PC discussion section, this game is hardly playable, no single route is up to standards, most locomotives or trains in the game a broken or completely unplayable. Every single route or loco suggestion in this thread was criticised to pieces claiming it unplayable, immersion breaking and not worth buying. So how can it be that a route is the best and unplayable at the same time?
We're in a kind of Catch-22 situation here. We have high expectations, routes that are not cut short, more locos and rolling stock, fewer bugs at release, better sounds, better lighting and new features. All of this will need longer development times and higher costs. Fine. I'm willing to pay a little more if that's what it takes. But..... DTG have consistently dismissed the idea of increased prices for regular dlc. So....what? We just lower our expectations for the foreseeable future? Or keep pushing for the features we want, which can't happen, apparently. Grrrr.
I'm not saying it's a failure or unplayable, I'm just saying it's not living up to the potential it's core engine and already implemented features are giving it. As others have mentioned above, what's the point of features that have only been implemented for one route? Waste of development effort then. Routes need more development time, and personally I would be willing to wait and maybe even pay a little bit more if the overall quality would be better.
For me, London Commuter due to the amount of services and gameplay variety, plus I'm local to it in real-life. But, pre-Rush Hour, I'd honestly have to go for Peninsula Corridor. This route seemed way ahead of it's time. Why you ask, well see my list below: - 50 miles in length. - A busy timetable unlike anything released at the time with busy terminus stations. - A large, full depot with plenty of empty stock moves. - Extra services with DLC such as freight to make it interesting.
The best route for me changes based on mood, time available to be in the simulation and a variety of other factors. Really enjoy Sherman Hill both for the nostalgia since it was a favorite route in TS as well as the challenge of large freight drags and long steep ascents and descents. London Brighton Mainline when I want a passenger fix, about any of the German routes for the challenge of PZB, LZB and SIFA. TVL and NTP for classic UK early diesel era, WSR for a gentle romp down a heritage line. So the best route isn't anyone of them but the variety of the routes in TSW so I can choose which one fits my mood at the time.
I’ve been playing sim games since the mid 90s… mainly flight stuff but the mentality is very similar. Sims are not just Call of Duty or arcade type games… they model stuff that is extremely complex and try to put in an extreme level of detail and realism. They are also doing it for a limited audience, since it is only a specific subset of gamers that wan’t complex “sim” games that you need to read manuals and sit through tutorials to even know how to do basic tasks. In just about every sim I’ve ever owned, this has led to some issues when it comes to performance and bugs. Yes, you pay a lot of money and expect the quality to be there, but at the end of the day it will be hard for any of these type of sims to ever be perfect and give you exactly what you want without bugs or any performance issues. Having played TSW and now TSW2, I think they are pretty damn good and from a console point of view (PS4 and PS5) they sort of blow me away in what they model and how complex they are. Yes I see frustrating bugs and performance issues in some spots but at the end of the day I wouldn’t be too hard on DTG because they do seem to put a lot of work into fixing them and they are the only people out there working on delivering high fidelity train simulation (at least when it comes to consoles). The “its not perfect so I am not buying it” mentality is exactly what killed off a lot of flight simulators back in the day.
No route before it has kept my undivided attention to the degree that London Commuter has. It’s even done that while I’m driving a train that I found quite boring to drive previously on East Coastway and also driving its almost identical twin sister and louder cousin from SEHS. Because the route and timetable are so good it hasn’t really mattered what train I’m driving. The limited view out of the driving cabs is the main drawback of it being mainly Electrostars but I do drive most services using the default camera position. I suppose the prolonged use and enjoyment I’m getting from it would put it at the top of my list of favourite routes right now and a strong contender for the best of all time. I only have the TSW routes to choose from.
I sometimes drive from an external camera , the only problem with that is that I can’t stop accurately . I prefer to stop from the view of a driver
For overall quality I agree that SPG is probably the best. What's funny is that it was apparently even better before; supposedly all the crossing gates worked when it came out plus the wind turbines only spun in windy conditions. In addition I think the GP40 added two extra wagons. All this, of course, removed for TSW2. But it can get kind of boring. For overall experience, I would go with NEC-BP, which I find the most fun, but the signals and PTC don't work well enough, plus there's no Acela or freight. As far as LBN, I think this might be the best sometime in 2022, but without Rush Hour passengers or Thameslink I feel like it's lacking. Therefore, for best overall in terms of quality, gameplay, and fun, I have to go with SEHS. Plenty of variety with 66, 375, 395, 465, and then the NTP stuff as well although I don't have that. Signals always seem to work, even has the elusive flashing yellow aspect. Some scenery is underwhelming but not what I would consider a gamebreaker. My best as of 2021, although could be eclipsed by both NEC-BP and LBN at some point.
When I first opened this thread I was prepared to shout "Sand Patch." After reading the various replies I realized this is actually a 2 fold discussion. First, "best" means something different to everybody - it has the fewest bugs, it is near my hometown, its pretty, etc.Secondly, it is a commentary on the software industry generally. Games are a sector of the software business that I am fairly new to. However, I can already see that it works like the rest. And, customers are fickle. If a software vendor elects to keep products in the shop longer before releasing, say, to test them more fully, the same vocalists saying quality is bad, will scream "lack of new products," or "too slow in innovating, etc." So with one foot in each camp, consumer and former software product pusher, I will first reply to my fellow consumers- follow the money. If DTG (or any other company) products only worked 1/2 as well as they do now, but sales are going through the roof, we are going to learn to accept it , or vote with our feet and move on. If enough of us do that the sales trend may reverse enough to alter their strategy. I say it "may" because new customers may still carry the revenue. This stuff is talked about more and more among the unwashed. My reply to any DTG folks who may be lurking about would be- in order for us to appreciate that a route is wonderful and near our home town and pretty, etc, it first has to work. Sure, we live in the Bill Gates era, who taught the world that nothing has to work on release day. True enough but don't get that message twisted. You have to be smart about what does not work on release day. And please hear this - a program that crashes is not what Bill meant. If you crash or corrupt my data ( and you guys do both ) then you should probably reel in your time-to-market with the coolest new frameworks philosophy. So yeah, Sand Patch has not ever crashed on my system, all the rest have. ( and its pretty, but not so near my hometown)
My favourite route in TSC is the GEML Ipswich to Liverpool Street. Loads of different runs from (almost) full length intercity, regional, local and freights. Favourite route in TSW is BML, even though I think Joe did a good job I also think they concentrated far too much on the passenger runs because there are some interesting freight runs on the line IRL (including a run around through HHE).
Although Sand Patch has long been my favorite- with Clinchfield a close runner-up - I have to say that in a handicapped race the blue riband goes to Brighton Main Line. Why? Because I don't like driving commuter rail - yet I find myself going back to BML over and over again. It's just such a brilliant experience, with the nonstop traffic and activity.
I started playing TSW with a very heavy North American bias and have always loved SPG. Thanks mostly to SKA and RSN, I am now completely into the German routes. So, while I love SPG, Clinchfield, and PC, my top three would not include any of them. The top two are DRA for the timetable and the traffic and DCZ for the scenery and the 612. The third spot goes to BML. Like you, I don’t really prefer commuter routes. Also, I’m not a big fan of the driving views. Yet, the timetable and gameplay create such an immersive experience that I am always drawn back to it.
