Hello again, welcome back. As the title suggests, today I am going to be attempting to find out what locomotive we are going to be receiving from our train Simulator overlords, Dovetail Games. To do this we will be using this post from Dovetail games, and some very, very high IQ thinking. What We know So, as we can see from this tactically obtained screenshot, our code we will be looking for is 3.NBB-L7. Now, if we decipher this correctly, this is what it should end up coming out to Game : TSW 3 Country : North America Traction Type : BB (or Electric AC traction) DLC Type : Loco Year : 2011+ What we can take from this is that the Loco has a pantograph, and runs somewhere in north America from 2011+. Not really that much information, but it's helpful. Speculation Now there are 2 companies that stick out when I hear electric AC locomotives, NJT, and Amtrak. But since there is no NJT in the game yet, and the DLC is a loco dlc, I'd imagine it's something to do with Amtrak. The problem now is pinpointing which locomotive it is. Loco Idea's #1 Acela Express My first guess would be the Acela, as matt at one point said that the "Acela is inevitable", and that the Acela fits all the criteria for being this DLC. The only caveat would be that Boston-Sprinter is a TSW 2 route with no updated lighting or those fancy new features, but Dovetail always figures something out for these kinds of situations. Personally, I hope we get the Acela as it was America's first High speed train! If you would like to learn more about the Acela, I recommend CTSL Railfans post, as it's the most accurate one I've seen on the Acela #2 AEM-7AC Now I am stretching a bit here, but the AEM-7AC also fits all the criteria for this DLC. Although Amtrak retired all of it's AEM-7's in 2014, it would still be cool to drive this down the NEC! #3 HHP-8 Finally, we are ending it off with the HHP-8, which also fits all the criteria for DLC, and is also a bit of a stretch. Amtrak retired the last HHP-8 in 2014, so I don't know if DTG would be able to get the sounds for the loco, but from what I've heard, it's pretty similar to the Acela. I think it would be pretty cool to drive an HHP-8 in Boston sprinter, but for me this is the most unlikely out of the 3. Conclusion Overall, these are the candidates that I think could be added, however I could be, and probably am, very wrong. But I want to know what you think, so post your idea's down below!
Your point about Boston being a TSW2 route is making me wonder- will Boston be brought up to TSW3 standards in conjunction with this DLC? Whether it's the Acela Express or one of the others, Boston is really the only route that makes sense. I really hope that's the case. I'd be much more interested in this DLC if Boston is brought up to the new standard.
Not really. It would take a long time to update the lighting on the route and there isn't time, maybe devs to do it when dtg are working on a bunch of other stuff as well. It would need several devs to bring the lighting up to tsw3 standard and with them working on multiple projects, highly unlikely.
I think the next 3 loco DLC will likely be the Acela, the ICE-T and the UK class 700. Maybe the last of these will be on one of the UK routes being made, but anyway these are the three items that were left pending from the Rush Hour routes.
I'm hoping they might do it for all the rush hour routes, however as the development team has said, it's a huge undertaking, and they would basically have to rebuild the route from the ground up while trying not to break anything. Hey maybe DTG will do it though, they always have a surprise up their sleeves! Personally any of the 3 would be really cool! The HHP-8 does hold a special place in my heart though, as it was one of the first Amtrak engines I caught on camera. I would have to agree with you. I believe if the Acela where to be brought to TSW it would be a monumental success, considering it's done right! Another thing that I found odd/interesting was that when DTG went to record the sounds with the ACS-64, they also picked up the sounds for the Acela, plus matt's confirmation that it's "inevitable" also gives it that little edge over the other two! Don't get me wrong, I love the toasters, but the Acela would be the more sensible choice. Interesting thoughts! I'll have to focus on the other two dlc, as for this post I mainly spearheaded the American DLC, however that doesn't stop me from looking at it closer! I'll do some research and see what I can find!
Even though they had a load of problems, they still hold a special place in some's hearts. I don't know why they had so many faults though. There has to be a report somewhere.
AEM and HHP are both really cool pieces, but this is almost definitely Acela - it is by far the most popular of the bunch, the route is ready for it (including vacant timetable slots), and it would be a brand new experience (US HST). I'm pretty certain in saying... Acela is coming!
If the Acela is coming to TSW 3 they should extend the Boston sprinter route to Stamford Connecticut then include Connecticut shoreline east commuter rail.
Well, looking at it more realistically, it wouldn't happen since dtg are working on numerous other things. Creating more miles of track requires route builders and if they aren't available, they won't be able to make extensions. Also would need a lot of work to remake the timetable like how it was with sehs. It's like creating a whole new route and given that their map builders may be working on other stuff, they can't do the extension. It would just take too much dev time and miss the deadline if they were to create both a loco and an extension
I can see what your coming from, however if they make the DLC first and an extension after maybe it will work? I'm just throwing hypotheticals here.
the fact that a single modder got the new lighting to work almost perfectly for this route in basically under a week of the game releasing shows a lot. lmao
the one that actually did the track work for this route would love to make an extension to new haven. i think he may even already have one already in the works or complete.
The modder can only do like 10% of the route. They don't have the tools to do the rest. Only the sky changed and some general lighting stuff as a result of changing the sky. but to actually make it like the base tsw3 routes, only dtg has the tools to do that.
I'd love to see cactus juice extend it to new haven. He actually made the route in tsc thats all the way to new haven, so I have hope!
That would be nice but dtg would still have to do their part such as editing the timetable, scenarios, etc. Cactusjuice can extend but dtg would have to do everything else for this to happen lol
