Hi All, My interest in JT’s Met Line has resurfaced again recently, and after sifting through some quite horrendous Steam reviews I thought I should get some further ideas before I buy. There has also been the suggestion that this route may come to TSW sometime soon, so what do you think? To buy or not to buy, that is the question.
It is IMO a very good route much maligned by many poor reviews. Many issues are now fixed. You definitely need to understand the underground signalling - different from the mainline. I would buy the JT (not the steam version) it has a few more features. Buy during a JT sale. Will it come to TSW3 with the same complexity - I doubt it - just have a look at the Bakerloo line - nice route but not half as complex as the TSC Met Line. Will the tunnels look any different in TSW3 - no they will still be dark.
I enjoy driving the Metropolitan Line. As Peter Hayes mentions, you need to study underground signalling, particularly approach controlled signals in the underground section. There is a very good YouTube tutorial video which explains this. There are some bugs - the points at Uxbridge make one platform unplayable, but other than that it's very good.
From your signature text DTG only announce a new release when it is in the final testing phase. A number of other companies have announced things well in advance and then cancelled them Just Trains had the Highland Mainline - Perth to Inverness - Cancelled I think it was Master Key that had a Class 47 and a Class 185 - Cancelled Would you prefer DTG to announce something months in advance and then later Cancel it or would you want something that you know is coming?
Originally purchased Metropolitan for its assets used on the district line. I've played it just as much as the district line, its a superb route. Very detailed.
This was in reference to TSW3, which was announced unacceptably late, especially when DLC for 2 was being launched a few weeks prior.
I forgot to mention, for Metropolitan you will have to get S7+1 or S8 rolling stock to drive it. Another expense, but worth it in my opinion.
I can’t remember the circumstances, but I already own the S8, and this whole thing came up originally because I realised I could get the Met and S7+1 bundled.
It has been suggested for TSW but nothing announced by DTG or JT in regard to that becoming a reality. I have mixed feelings about the route. The fact you have to buy the S7+1 stock as a separate purchase makes it very expensive so best to wait for a sale. It is a massive performance hog, I have had several OOM’s especially trying to load a saved game at certain locations. The speed approach signals while prototypical get blooming annoying and I actually disabled SPAD = game over as I was fed up with missing them and getting kicked off. At least one of the scenarios is broken, where you start from Uxbridge, permanent red signal which you cannot tab past. On the plus side the route is superbly modelled and really gives you the feeling of being on the Met, albeit I would have preferred A60 stock over the modern S trains.
Although the people making the Virtual District Line have released the R49, C69 and D77 - as they operated on the District Line they have not made the A60 stock but they may do at some point.
Which are? Personally I prefer buying through Steam since I have more confidence that I will still be able to download the DLC from it in the years to come.
Updates and fixes are available sooner as the Steam version has to go through DTG and Steam before you the end user gets the benefit of it, this has been known to take many weeks in the past. Scenarios using third party stock like AP products for example (as well as the DTG vanilla stock Scenarios you get with Steam) Merges are only possible with the JT versions as Steam have to be standalone routes not mergeable versions.