Time To Speculate On The New Uk Route

See, that already sounds tedious to me. I know it's probably extremely fun and rewarding to master but I'd rather just turn a lever and watch the scenery go by.

 

Isn't that what N3V Trainz is for*, TSW is supposed to be a simulation which requires a bit of thought and even problem solving...

* In DCC mode at any rate.

 

I hate to play Cassandra but I think this is probably the prevailing attitude among players. It's going to take some creative, if not inspired marketing on the part of DTG to sell steam traction. They'll have to somehow incorporate a " simple " driving method for those who do not want to master the intricacies of steam engines, while allowing the rest of us to enjoy the complexities of those machines, much like the Smokebox pro range creations for TSC.

Steam will come, but how much and how often we'll have to wait and see.

 

And sadly this is exactly why TSW will continue to be scoffed at in some quarters, as a game not a sim.

 

People find ETS2 relaxing, and honestly you have to pay more attention with that than any of the locos in TSW2, besides maybe the German units with PZB enabled.

Also as other have mentioned, what some consider relaxing others consider boring. For example the 166 has such good acceleration and braking that it's super easy to master. I like GWR on the whole, but it's something I can only play once in a short while before getting bored to tears with it.

In comparison I love the Class 101, and it's for pretty much the exact opposite reasons as the above. The unit's got far poor acceleration and braking, which means you have to think way more about how you're handling it. Too late and you're blasting past the station, too early and you're losing valuable time. Add to that the gear changing and it's easily one of the most engaging experiences in a train simulator I've ever had, and that's despite personally not caring for multi units.

In real life you wouldn't be firing AND driving them anyway, only one role or the other. And if you're just driving a steam loco the only real oddity is the reverser, and if people can get their heads around BR Class 101 then I don't think steam's gonna be that much of a leap.

 

Maybe SOS will include a mode where you can fire to the AI driving!

 

I want to see TSW succeed and become the sim of choice. However there is a huge uphill hurdle to overcome when you look at how it’s viewed over at places like ATS. People posting that all they want to do is push a handle and go doesn’t help that image.

 

Driving a class 101 with the Raildriver is brilliant and makes TSW2 look good imo. I admit I'm biased in favour of the Diesel's as that is what I grew up with. The noise was brilliant (and the smell) but you don't get that with the modern Electric. I like some modern stuff, 465 for example but on the whole too quiet for me.

Steam looks good but I'm not sure I want to drive one, but the class 121 I do.

 

For context, since privatisation, there have been:
- 33 new EMU classifications (17 OH, 4 DC, 8 Dual)
- 5 new Bi-mode MU classifications
- 10 new DMU classifications
- 5 new locomotive classifications (4 diesel, 1 bi-mode)
That's not including classes not in service right now, and obviously not trains carried over from BR.

 

I think there's a lot more to driving an FEF-3 than that. Just managing coal and water levels is a challenge, not to mention learning how to run in MU mode with steam or diesel and mastering wheelslip, which is a whole different experience with a steam engine.
It depends what features DTG incorporates, but I for one would not buy a dumbed down version.

Well, this is not the subject of the thread, probably needs its own. Apologies to the OP.

 

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but the driver didn't do that, right? So why should it be simulated that the driver is doing it?

 

Absolutely the driver has to manage those levels. I ran out of steam more than once on both US and UK routes. Some routes have water troughs which you cannot ignore.
I did make use of the auto fireman, that job was a bridge too far, but I'm sure some players don't.

It took me a long time to learn how to drive a steam loco in expert mode in TSC, probably still haven't really mastered it, to be truthful.

 

I, for one, look forward to the release of steam. Like others have commented, it seemed daunting when I first tried to learn steam in TS Classic, but found while you had more to contend with, the learning of the skills were not insurmountable.

Nothing more satisfying then getting the steam and water just right to lift the injectors to fill the boiler without affecting the steam generation too drastically. You definitely have to learn the route to know when you have to build up your fire and when you can inject your water. Also you need to learn how well your engine steams to know how low you can let your pressure drop on a long uphill slog and trade speed for pressure or vice-versus. To be honest, driving most EMUs and DMUs are rather boring after a while. I have found myself spending more and more time back in TS Classic on the Stainmoore line just to driver steamers.

 

I'd play Trainz if
A. I had a decent computer.
B. It had more routes and trains I was interested in.

 

Not just for the "casual" simmer, but the realistic one. Operating steam was a two-man job; no engineer also tended the firebox and boiler. It could be done in the game, sure- but only as an unrealistically enhanced "hard difficulty" mode to satisfy the sort of gamer who plays shooters on Insanity.

 

While I agree it was a two man job in RL, in TS Classic, it was not at all difficult to do both, but even the most advanced locomotives (Big Boy) come with automatic fireman so all you had to do was drive the locomotive….

And for the record, never have I played shooter on the insanity level

 

True, but lets be honest, with how long its been since TSW launch and all this talk from DTG about how much steam needs to be improved they really need something better than that. Because if we get something barely any better than the ancient Somerset 7F and Black 5 in functionality there will be riots.

 

For spirit of steam, i can immagine dtg splits the role into driver and fireman. So actually for tsw it makes sense for hardcore, that is possible to make both jobs, but also that somebody can make driver only or fireman only.

Really hope we get the annoumcment of the next uk route tomorrow.

 

i think that's possible.

 

Hence me saying "Vintage Deltic" it's not part of the pack, it's a nice add-on that has railtour scenarios on a few routes.

 

Just a side note regarding the "dull blue 70s". By 1975 there were still 169 mainline locos still in either Green or Two-tone green.

On the 1st January 1980 that had reduced to 16 which included 40106 which was nearly painted blue but left works in BR Green and remained that way until withdrawal. The other 15 were Class 20s at Toton and Tinsley and were looking very shabby by that point.

 

There was also a controversial repaint of 50007 into a fictional green livery at the same time renaming to Sir Edward Elgar. The conspiracy theory being the previous name had an undesirable connection to the Falklands War.

 

There were also the four western region named class 47's repainted in GWR green for the GWR 150 celebrations, there were also some mark 1's painted in chocoate and cream as I remember a couple ended up on the SVR and still had the tabels with the GWR 150 logo on them, I think these were used for the steam specials that year.

There was also a class 117 and a class 121 painted in chocolate and cream too.

 

Yes the choc/cream Mark Ones were used on the Stroud Valley steam specials, fairly certain I did at least one of them.

 

I‘d personally love to see a modern route in and out of Bristol Temple Meads… Perhaps to Cardiff or Exeter…

 

I know, its almost as if (for example) opening the firebox and holding down the R key was somehow easier than picking up a real shovel and moving large amounts of coal onto the fire.
Re the next route, I'm hoping for something other than a commuter route. And set it in the 70s or 80s, or preferably the 50s

 

Bristol to Exeter, well at least Bristol to Taunton, is almost as boring as York to Newcastle!
Still reckon the next WR country route will be Riviera Line, with or without the Torbay Steam Railway attached.

 

Bristol to Cardiff would be brilliant. Isn't Bristol to Swansea already a route in TS Classic? Plus it's about time we got a Welsh route.

 

There you have it. The next UK route.

 

Just on a side note - I think this format of roadmap is much better than the previous (indeed, it's more what I expected when it first came out). Nice to see routes getting a proper announcement now, hopefully much earlier than before TSW2 though.

 

Interesting that the route code as it stands suggests that it will not ship with any BR diesels as some had suggested - meaning that if they're there at all, they'll layer in from other DLC.

Also, does GAA mean two different steam locomotives or simply that there is only one type of traction and therefore the letter is repeated?

 

Where there's only one traction type, the letter is repeated, so GAA means British steam and no other traction type.

 

Hardly surprising- I wouldn't have expected them to develop a new diesel for a route whose primary appeal is steam. But since the era given is the BR era, 1950-90, the prospect of layering existing diesels is pretty good (if set in the 1960s it would be ideal.)

 

So it doesn't tell us if there will be one or more than one steam engine.

 

It could be 2 x steam loco classes.

 

Were any diesels liveried in BR Blue in the steam era? If not, then either the code is wrong or the only contenders for layering would be the WSR diesels.

Putting my tinfoil hat on, it could be because it's a Western Region route and putting the code for diesel-hydraulic might rather give the game away sooner than they'd like.

(This is a truly ridiculous bit of speculation mind)

 

Only at the very end, and even then it was just coming out (unless it's that narrow gauge railway they owned until the 80s). The WSR diesels wouldn't be ideal as they're the preserved versions, and I think they all only model 1 or 2 specific locomotives, not the whole fleet.

Bar the era, I don't think the code has ever changed, and tbh I wouldn't see the motivation behind keeping such a secret - saying it includes a diesel hydraulic doesn't exactly say which route it is, only that it's in the WR, and it makes the roadmap less, not more, reliable and will just lead to people being suspicious of every other code; like what I did when Sherman went on in planning when it was 4 months from release.

 

Still, would be nice to have another route to run the WSR diesels on. They're currently limited to... well... WSR...

 

Well I was right about it being steam. I think all their current releases have steam plan embedded should they wish to take it. Now the question we can hypothesise now is release date if it’s coming before Harlem. Could be a March / April drop

 

So, the new UK route will not release before Harlem...

 

Matt has already stated it will come before Harlem this is why some thought there was a UK route coming that wasn't announced. But say Steam is the next UK route and it is coming March/April. And reading between the lines it is a historic steam route set in the era, will DTG have enough time to do it justice? I mean the passengers, stations scenery will all have to be period no? Or will they slap it down wherever?

 

I thought he said it 'might', not 'will' be before Harlem

 

We've heard DTG mention more than once that even variants of existing locos are pretty much the same as new stock in terms of resources. They're already needing to work on one or two steam locos, and almost certainly a ton of new rolling stock. If they can't make a new loco for Harlem Line, even though it's using LIRR's locos as a base, they certainly aren't gonna be able to take away resources to make BR Green versions of even existing diesels like the Class 40. Honestly I'm surprised there were people expecting to see diesels be added to the first Spirit of Steam route.

 

Above confirmed on stream tonight as correct

 

I'm still researching Green to Green with warning panels from 1961. So I have a while before I get to the transition to blue but there was D1733, the "XP64" Blue concept, it ran around in that condition from 1964 until repaint into into Rail Blue in 1969 but many locomotives were painted in Rail Blue between 1966 and the end of steam in 1968. Western got bored of waiting for the telegram from HQ and started painting their locos maroon. It's remarkable how most attempts to have a uniform image have failed and don't get me started on depot specials like Stratford and our silver roofs.

 

They said that the new UK Route is going to be tied to Spirit of Steam. Does this mean that the Harlem line will be next since they push back this UK route?

 

I think Harlem was initially first, the Uk route (spirit of steam) jumped ahead but I took from tonight they've switched back to allow more polish to spirit of steam

 

I don't imagine the new route will be a joint steam/diesel route. Very few blue diesels would have ran alongside steam unless they do a north west based route set around 1967/68 when steam was being ran down, not the best era to showcase the advent of steam on TSW.

The existing diesels would not just need repainting but having modifications like having the headcode boxes reinstated.

 

So, the usual pattern, one new loco (steam), one reused but reworked (diesel with headcodes and another livery).

 

Yes, I don't think any of our current stock is really appropriate at all for layering on to steam, even the WSR locos aren't sufficient as they will be in a different state to how they ran in period.

Green diesels will either come as loco add-ons or with their own routes which can then later onto the steam routes and vice versa.