Upcoming Release Master The West Midlands!

Discussion in 'Dovetail Live Article Discussion' started by DTG JD, Nov 1, 2022.

  1. redrev1917

    redrev1917 Well-Known Member

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    Hardly, the market economics determines the maximum time that can be invested in a route and still create a return on that investment.

    And incase you were about to say but "I'll pay more for longer routes" a quick glance at the forums would see that a sizeable minority (if not a majority) disagrees with you on that.
     
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  2. WonterRail

    WonterRail Well-Known Member

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    Well this has been a long time coming, but the achievements for this route have finally been put in the steamdb:

    I feel like the reason they didn't do this until now was because they didn't want to spoil what this route was before announcing it (I know it was leaked prior to it, but that's besides the point). It also wouldn't surprise me if this is how the achievements get put up from now on (as in not getting put up until after the route has been announced).

    Steamdb: https://steamdb.info/app/1944790/history/?changeid=U:33866058
     
  3. Southern Driver

    Southern Driver Active Member

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    I’m not an almighty fan of this new route, but not because of the route itself but because the joy of the X City route is the variety of traffic. The idea of running just a 323 up and down is going to get very boring very quickly. I remember back in the day doing the BVE version of this route and loving it but as always seems to be the problem with TSW the lack of AI traffic is gonna be the issue.

    Oh and those people who want 100 miles worth of route, I think you’ll find the consoles won’t cope well with them. Look at the problems with London Commuter and memory.
     
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  4. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    South of Birmingham maybe... North of it seems to be only this cross city traffic.

    The game isn't optimised for consoles, but that's no reason not to make longer routes... maybe a better reason to continue with the optimisation of the game generally
     
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  5. james64

    james64 Well-Known Member

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    What about Kassel Wurzburg? My PS5 runs both that and London Commuter well enough.
     
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  6. Where's the no more trains brigade, I wanna see some busses. And a couple of tractors.
     
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  7. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    Well you have the half hourly Walsall service between New Street and Aston, but most freight goes via Camp Hill for a crew change at Landor Street. Then either off via Water Orton and Burton to the north (or Nuneaton). Anything for Bescot or the north west would head off via the freight only line through Park Lane and Walsall.

    The route is used for diversions overnight or at weekends when the main line via Tamworth is shut for engineering work and there are (or were) a couple of Cross Country ECS to/from Central Rivers that way to maintain route knowledge.
     
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  8. CowBoyWolf

    CowBoyWolf Well-Known Member

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    upload_2022-11-3_13-35-59.png
    Here are the achivements
     
  9. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    I asked about canal boats for some virtual gongoozling and Matt cruelly, nay brutally stamped on my dream... :) ;)
     
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  10. frabjousvector

    frabjousvector Well-Known Member

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    Will we be able to leave BNS and head out to the local Tesco Express? I need to pick up some apples.
     
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  11. Matt can be so cruel sometimes.
     
  12. Could you not just stop the train beside a orchard and go and pick some fresh apples.
     
  13. alexjjones6024

    alexjjones6024 Well-Known Member

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    Just remember on BVE you could only start from Redditch - Birmingham and you couldn't go past Birmingham New Street. Interestingly, you could never drive back to Redditch so that will be interesting.
     
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  14. frabjousvector

    frabjousvector Well-Known Member

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    I’m not washing them myself!
     
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  15. Bradley

    Bradley Well-Known Member

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    Got nothing to do with consoles, it’s actually about the time and budget of a route that decides how long it is
     
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  16. theorganist

    theorganist Well-Known Member

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    There are no orchards in the "industrial wasteland" of North Worcestershire. Don't forget Birmingham is just factories and foundaries with tall chimneys, back to back housing with outside toilets, streets of orphaned children scaveging and various other Dickensian characters roaming around the "dump" of a city!
     
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  17. frabjousvector

    frabjousvector Well-Known Member

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    Can confirm, I went there once and in the end I died.
     
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  18. Crosstie

    Crosstie Well-Known Member

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    Well, there is " Ship Sim" . Not the same, I know, but if you must be on the water.....:D
     
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  19. theorganist

    theorganist Well-Known Member

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    I looked at Ship Sim but wasn't convinced it would be very exciting. As much as I like a journey on a canal boat I definatley don't think it would translate well into a simulator :) although operating locks might be quite fun.
     
  20. Birmingham ain't that bad. Surely.
     
  21. theorganist

    theorganist Well-Known Member

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    I was slightly paraphrasing other comments, Birmingham is a great city in most parts.
     
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  22. Southern Driver

    Southern Driver Active Member

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    to my mind this should be a good little route from a time/length point of view. The lack of other traffic will make it seem like it’s running at far below capacity though. An extension to Bescot would have added potential for freight.
     
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  23. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    Yes the route to Walsall plus the Camp Hill route and Park Lane as mentioned would have opened up things considerably more.
     
  24. mattwild55

    mattwild55 Well-Known Member

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    Still, it looks like it's on course to be a nicely detailed route judging by the research material info in the roadmap today, and the 323 looks great too. I'm looking forward to playing it.
     
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  25. amnesiac

    amnesiac New Member

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    Very limited route for playability, which is a shame as I like the 323 traction. Glad to see some of the West Midlands being represented in game though and hope it's built on, especially with the options available in a Wolverhampton - Walsall extension. I hope the waiting times at stations in game are a lot faster for this route too as the timetable in real life is already quite tight.
     
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  26. Conductor B

    Conductor B Well-Known Member

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    I'd be happy if they could simply fix the Peninsula Corridor crashes.

    Perhaps you could obtain some apples from Mr. Bounderby then? ;)
     
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  27. junior hornet

    junior hornet Well-Known Member

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    The actual route itself is nice. The lack of variety in rolling stock might be a problem. Hopefully there’ll be additional layers (particularly Gen 8). Sadly there are no Voyagers in TSW which would have helped. At least I should be able to enjoy the route itself though.
     
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  28. AtherianKing

    AtherianKing Well-Known Member

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    I’m sure even the Xbox one would cope with nothing but over 100 miles of track

    it’s not the length it’s the content that determines more on how it runs on a not so powerful and to a higher extent powerful system
     
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  29. 390001

    390001 Well-Known Member

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    my point being you said and i quote "TSW 3 has been released for months" well it hasnt has it.
     
  30. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    The Mastery bonus ought to be a hobbit hole-- JRR Tolkien was from Brum
     
  31. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    (OK, it's Warwickshire, but much the same trope)
    __________________
    It has taken a long time for Birmingham to recover from the destruction wreaked on it decades ago. And before that, there was the Luftwaffe.
     
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  32. stujoy

    stujoy Well-Known Member

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    Last time I went to Birmingham a shark swam over my head. True story.
     
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  33. davejc64

    davejc64 Well-Known Member

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    Of course, and it doesn't fit with DTGs max return for min effort, which is the biggest decider for how long routes are.
     
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  34. yambam#1598

    yambam#1598 Member

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    On the slide that had the FPS and memory usage I noticed Soho was there! Does this mean Soho is in the route ?!?! DTG JD DTG Matt
     
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  35. Tigert1966

    Tigert1966 Well-Known Member

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    They said on the stream that it isn’t.
     
  36. alexjjones6024

    alexjjones6024 Well-Known Member

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    No,they stated that in stream last night. Sad times
     
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  37. redrev1917

    redrev1917 Well-Known Member

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    Seems to me they built the track to Soho but for whatever reason, whether that's budget or time constraints it wasn't continued and removed from scope.
     
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  38. alexjjones6024

    alexjjones6024 Well-Known Member

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    I mean we had Riesa Dresden released with the promise the extension/branch line would be built. Why can't they offer this promise to us for the future?
     
  39. theorganist

    theorganist Well-Known Member

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    Yes there is a saying in Birmingham. What the Lufwaffe started, Frank Price and the city council finished!
     
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  40. redrev1917

    redrev1917 Well-Known Member

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    Actually IIRC Meissen branch was only readded due to community feedback/outrage coupled with the fact it was 80% done and every to finish off. Perhaps if enough feedback is given that the route needs Soho and if sufficient work was completed prior to axing it might happen. Ofcourse this is just hypothesis based on little more than a single line on a FPS log report
     
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  41. james64

    james64 Well-Known Member

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    I must admit I'm slowly beginning to warm to Cross City in TSW3. I just think there are so many routes I want in TSW3 that anything that isn't a part of the ECML, WCML, Liverpool to Manchester or something in Wales is going to disappoint me.

    Also, and this is completely unrelated, I'm extremely tired of hearing the phrase "hustle and bustle" every time a commuter route comes out. I've never once heard anyone say it in real life and for completely irrational reasons it drives me up the wall. I'm dreading the announcement of Rivet's route because they'll inevitably use it again.
     
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  42. CK95

    CK95 Well-Known Member

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    There’s also the fact that there are very few routes in game that really have ‘hustle & bustle’.

    I’m very excited for BCC, but being realistic about it, we’re probably going to have sterile platforms & limited route traffic.
     
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  43. james64

    james64 Well-Known Member

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    Sadly that's nothing new for TSW. I think the Rush Hour update was a complete failure when it comes to making routes feel more alive. A year later and I still can't really tell the difference between the routes that do and don't have the newer passengers.
     
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  44. CK95

    CK95 Well-Known Member

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    Yeah I think there’s still an issue with spawn points & times for passengers.

    There is also an obvious performance issue that is restricting the spawn quantities.

    I know that everyone is interested in realistic passengers, but I’d rather see low quality clones in large quantities, as opposed to a handful of unique models.

    Even the trains are mostly empty now, it’s quite jarring.
     
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  45. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    Do you mean "passengers" or "passenger density"?
    The new clothes, styles etc are very noticable from the old style ones, but the passenger density is bugged such as everyone gets on at station one, then 99% get OFF at station 2 meaning you drive a near empty train the rest of the way
     
  46. james64

    james64 Well-Known Member

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    Both. I couldn't tell you which routes do and don't have the new passengers/ passenger density without looking it up first.
     
  47. marcsharp2

    marcsharp2 Well-Known Member

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    So I've started watching the stream and I admit it may have been mentioned later, but I'm disappointed there's apparently no AI traffic layers on the route. After seeing St Pancras and Glasgow Central deserted this will be a deal breaker for me. If there's no other traffic aside from the Cross City services I won't be buying it for a while, probably not until there's a sale.
     
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  48. alexjjones6024

    alexjjones6024 Well-Known Member

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    Hang on, have they got a cross country license approval? If so, stick Cross Country HST's on the stretch from Bromsgrove to New Street. Surely they can use the HST model and prepare the livery for it?
     
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  49. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    I've seen much more variety on the newer routes, not so much on the old (ie NTP etc)
     
  50. redrev1917

    redrev1917 Well-Known Member

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    Even if they dont have a Xc license, lots of TOCs have wrapped their HSTs in retro liveries as they end services on their routes & theres at least one power car in Intercity Executive livery running on XC,

    360A7458-1140x641.jpg source: https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2022/0...r-runs-in-new-intercity-executive-livery.html

    I mean it might not be 100% accurate to have a full rake in intercity livery, but its not implausible, and for me on this occasion, something would be better than nothing.
     
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