I’ve always loved flight sims and more recently truck sims, but trains also interest me. For me it’s more about taking in the different scenery and chilling out. Does TSW 2 offer a good experience for casuals and how much https://9apps.ooo/ environmental variety is there between routes? I don’t mind buying dlc, but is the base game sufficient for what I’m requesting? Others I’ve seen were Train Life, but it seems far more arcadey with a cookie cutter environment. Then trainz was another I saw.
Might want to pick up a copy of TSW2020 as well as TSW2 if you like variety. I wouldn't know what other train sim to recommend to you. TSW might be your best bet, even though it's mainly limited to 3 countries (UK/US/DE).
Train Sim Classic is probably your best option. It has complex, realistic locos but they also have basic operation modes and even one as simple as forward/back, stop/go. Pretty much everything has a pdf manual and scenarios are well written and explain what you need to do in simple terms. Even to train fans TSW2 can often feel like trying to ice skate up a hill as you figure out why your trains brakes won't come off because you didn't complete one of the dozen clicks required to charge the cylinders, etc. Often times you just quit and start over. TSW2 is prettier than TSC but it's not in any way user friendly - especially if you run into one of the numerous bugs that exist years after release https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/problem-line-bakerloo.33714/page-4#post-470649
I disagree with you here. Tutorials in TSW are considerably better than TSC (which only has a very limited "academy"). Also keep in mind that TSC isn't optimized for older machines. On my PC, TSW runs considerably smoother than TSC. The software is over a decade old. It's unlikely to get any updates on the core engine. TSW may not be ideal, and still has some bugs, but so does TSC. TSW isn't as bad as some people make it appear to be.
I'm very much a casual who enjoys just chilling with the game as opposed to nuts and bolts ride management, and I like TSW2 very much. The base game can often be had cheaply (like during the current Steam sale), and the three base routes are a good cross-section of the different experiences. DLC is there to give you more of what you decide you like, or if you feel like experimenting, but is in no way necessary.
I completely agree with this post. TSW2 does have a bit of a steep learning curve and the documentation could be better. However, the variety in the gameplay is really impressive. I have literally hundreds of hours in this game, so it’s a bit hard for me to remember what it was like to be a beginner. However, there are plenty of good YouTube videos and a truly excellent starters guide by user named Rudolf . https://www.hollandhiking.nl/trainsimulator/tsw-tsw2020 Links to more stuff can be found in the Getting Started portion of this forum. In terms of variety, there is so much that you can do in TSW: spawn at a busy station to check the information boards and watch trains go by, explore a route on foot (some routes even have hidden trails you can find such as the hill on the Meissen branch of Dresden Riesa), get in and take over a train as it stops, or just get in and ride as a passenger. Once you are driving, you can mess with the timetable of it by running a bit late (intentionally or not) and the other trains in the timetable will have to adapt around you. I really love the timetable format and being able to hop into any service I want and drive it. Things aren’t locked in the way they are with Train Simulator Classic scenarios. you can drive any service you want and the dispatcher is a bit dynamic. I also never really liked the TSC scoring system. I just ignore the scoring here, there’s even a way to turn off the score in the heads up display. In TSC, it was always hard to ignore the hugely negative scores I routinely put up. There are things in the game that we all wish were different. They will be excessively highlighted here in this forum because in the end, most of us here are “hard-core” and, as the game has improved, expectations and hopes have soared. However, what you read here I think is not a true reflection of all the great stuff that you can find in this game. It would be as if this were a forum on outdoor recreation and all the threads were about rainy days. Despite the numerous complaints, there is so much truly excellent stuff to be found in this game. In my opinion, TSW2 really excels with German content for the challenging safety systems and the way locos from one route layer into others. If you want instant chaos, go with London Commuter and the 4000 train timetable. So, get a good route like Tharandter Rampe or London Commuter and check out some YouTube videos on how to drive the 612 or the London to Brighton EMUs and then start exploring some really nice scenery, interesting stations, and train traffic patterns. Also, if you ever have any issues, just post them here. There are many here who are quite knowledgeable and happy to help. The learning curve is worth the climb!
I use TSW2 for the same reason. Chilling out, hanging around, being casual after the daily stress in the project office. And it works well. For clearing head and mind I personally enjoy the shunting scenarios with the G6, the BR363 or the BR204. So, getting these DLC and their correspondent routes would be my suggestion for that matter. Of course, you can have also a 50km freight nonstop ride. With the BR185 just switch on AFB (w/o PZB or SIFA), correct the speeds from time to time ............... while you read this forum or even post.
Yes, I think that TSW is also interesting for casual gamers. After all, you don't have to drive with the security system activated. The learning curve at the beginning doesn't have to be steep, but it depends very much on the train and the track. Ultimately, it is also a question of personal preference or ideas. So I'm not sure I would recommend the current "rush hour bundle" to the beginner. Better yet, a collectors edition, even from TSW2020, that will receive preservation updates to bring it up to TSW2 level. In addition, there were or are country bundles, i.e. UK, US or GER. Unfortunately, I only know the ancient MSTS and TSW. I used to be a total beginner and just wanted to drive trains. And yes, TSW did not disappoint me - on the contrary! And it's addictive! Basically, I can really recommend it in this sense.
Tsw has tutorials out the bat tsw is the go to for a casual player If you eant a more complex experience with investing in third party content then ts TS you will need to spend alot and build your collection
A lot of the trains in TS Classic really don't need anything beyond basics though. Unless you're talking about Reppo or Searchlight you really don't need to know that much. You use W & S to set the reverser, ; & ' to use the train brake, and A & D to set power, most trains in TS Classic really are that basic. Even other basic controls like the loco brake and the dynamics often aren't nessicary due to the lack of complex simulation on many loco. Also in the cases you do have something more advance while you don't get great interactive tutorials you do tend to get great comprehensive manuals. You don't often get manuals with TSW, and as a result often there's important details like safety systems which go overlooked. I'm pretty certain it's the exact opposite, TSC was made for machines way older than TSW was ever made for. So really I'd think there'd actually be a much wider range of hardware it would be playable on. If anything it's newer hardware it's not optimized for, not older. As for which preforms better I really don't think there's a definitive answer, depends heavily on your computer. Something more CPU-bound I believe absolutely can run TS Classic better, where as something GPU-bound will run TSW better. Also we gotta remember which routes you're picking can make a huge difference. Something ancient like Somerset and Dorset will run way better than something new like the Shasta Line. It also isn't as great as some make it out to be either, for every person who mindlessly trashes TSW there's also someone who mindlessly trashes TSC to the same extent. I really don't think it's worth factoring in fanboys of either, just ignore them and argue the strengths and weaknesses of both as if they don't exist.
I think it's pretty great for a casual. You have the option to play with safety systems on or off, there's a pretty nice variety of routes with short/long/medium services. Plenty of trains and locomotives that are easy to just hop in, start up, drive, and enjoy (plenty of challenging stuff as well).
I'm gonna agree with everyone who recommends tsw. The tutorials help you get the train moving, safety systems off by default. The tutorial doesn't teach you everything tho such as how to turn on afb for certain trains and how to turn on safety systems and stuff if you want to do that. Lots to do as well. Tsc is more punishing and you have to know much more like the signals, some safety systems on by default and some you can't turn off at all. Academy doesn't really do a good job teaching you about everything safety system related and signalling and stuff. You also get punished for making mistakes, but like people said, you can turn off the scoring. Tsc doesn't really have that much replay value compared to tsw which is superior.
It's not just about the trains. TSC pretty much explains nothing about signalling either, and while the game enforces signal-given speed reductions, the UI doesn't tell you about them. It's just one example. I'm no expert, but I just know that all TSC routes run very laggy on my machine, even the ancient ones. Could give whole different results on another machine. I'm not mindlessly trashing TSC. In fact, I've enjoyed it for over 2000 hours, and have an extensive collection of DLC. It certainly has a few big advantages, including an editor, endless possibilities in custom created scenarios, free roam, quick drive, and a whole lot of first-party, third-party and community-created content available for it. But, for a newcomer, who yet has to build up their collection, I'm hesitant to recommend the old TSC, which was already old when I started playing years ago. Considering DLC isn't cheap, starting with the newer TSW, despite its shortcomings, might be the better long-term investment.
Depends on the route, I've seen some German routes do that for sure, but on the other hand there's no such limits enforced on the US routes I've played. I would argue something like Sherman Hill for TSC is just as easy for beginner than Sand Patch or Clinchfield is in TSW. Neither am I, but I know some basic stuff, and intuitively it isn't hard to work out that what you said is off base. TSW likely isn't gonna be able to run on a old Windows XP machine from 2007 in the first place, let alone out preform TSC on it. TSW does run better on certain machines, but that's general because those machines have things like four/six/eight-core CPUs and very powerful GPUs. This was tech that was very rare back in 2007 when TS Classic was made, but common when TSW was. If you have a computer which only a duel core process (which isn't a lot these days) and a weak GPU TS Classic would likely run much better than TSW in that scenario. That wasn't my point, my point is that you brought up that people do that in TSW, and my point was that people do the same for TS Classic. From my experience I've seen many people here shun and dismiss TSC, just like how the TSC group tends to do the same with TSW. Ultimately they cancel themselves out in my view, and it seems kind of pointless to bring it up. I would not question its long term viability, TS Classic has a much large variety of content and developers behind it though, simple fact is TSW is never gonna be able to catch up. If you have interest in places like New Zealand or the 1800's US stuff like the Midland Line and Union Pacific 119 are the only ways of checking those eras out. TSW can be great, I love Peninsula Corridor and the classic British routes for example, but there ain't a ton of routes, and not all of the ones that exist are winners. So there's a lot of reason to go to TS Classic from TSW if there's other eras and regions you're interested in. And as you note if you want to do things like free roam or make custom scenarios you're out of luck in TSW.