Accumalative Costs

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by Pookeyhead, Dec 14, 2018.

  1. Pookeyhead

    Pookeyhead Well-Known Member

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    As a brand new Train Sim player, I'm realising one thing quickly. This game is expensive. I mean seriously expensive. Long term players may not realise it, as you collect assets over time, but as a beginner, let me explain.

    What actually made me want to play TS in the first place was the Armstrong Powerhouse Class 40 loco add on. I think it's superb, and although I can buy it, and drive it for £19.99, if I want to use the scenarios with this pack, then the total cost becomes £134.64, as being a new player, I have none of the required assets to run the scenarios.

    I guess this game is a long term commitment that requires careful planning of additions.. almost a game in itself. LOL

    How deep have some of you gone? I suppose I'm a casual player compared to some, but just curious... how deep does the obsession go with some people?
     
  2. paweuek

    paweuek Active Member

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    Over 3100 hours on the record on my side - is that enough for you to define an obsession?;) I wrote in my profiles description that I'm highly addicted to TS series ... ;P I feel I've spent too much on it but I can't stop buying more add-ons so it's clearly an addiction.
     
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  3. Medellinexpat

    Medellinexpat Well-Known Member

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    While it is expensive that’s true of a lot of hobbies. Outside the DLC costs is of course the cost of the hardware. If like me Train games are the one thing that you play, that’s potentially a significant number.

    I presume most play the ‘sale’ game. Frankly it’s not a business model I understand, several times a year offering up to 70% off your products, but as a buyer it’s easy to take advantage of it.

    Not all the third party providors are as generous in their discounts, or how many products they include in sales. Armstrong Powerhouse has short valuable sales, but they’re easy to miss. Just Trains generally isn’t cheap and when they have sales (like now) what’s on offer and what the discount is doesn’t match the Steam events.

    What is interesting to me is the varying quality of DLC for different countries. I started with UK locos and routes and also picked up some US ones. Some of the DTG UK items can be pretty grim (or at least dated) but UK DLC seemed better to me than the US equivalents, in particular the routes. Now I’ve started buying German DLC and the general quality seems to me the best of all. I know others will differ in opinion as to what’s best, or whether there’s any real difference but it is worthwhile getting outside of your safety zone and trying some other things.
     
  4. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    My advice to you would be, wishlist EVERYTHING you need for that route and wait for the next sale. Steam sales for DTG are about once a month. Routes are usually half price, trains go from about 40% to 70% off.

    That's not to say it's a cheap hobby, I've just added up everything I've got and everything I've bought and I'm running at £700 for about £1000 of DLC, but I've also played 781 hours on TS1, so that works out about £1 per hour, which I don't consider too bad.

    The other thing to note, once you buy a route or a train or whatever, you can then use those assets over and again.

    To get the basic AP class 40 pack to work, along with all their scenarios you need 4 AP packs (they tend to like to link their own extensions, all of which then have their own extensions...). The DTG packs comprise of two routes, 2 trains and an asset pack which is included in one of the routes anyway, but those routes are complete, whilst the trains will need additional routes...

    And this is how they get you. Also note, the AP pack has scenario packs also, which again have their own extended requirement lists.
     
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  5. Medellinexpat

    Medellinexpat Well-Known Member

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    @Ruscoe Steam Sales once a month? I'll agree Steam generally has some things on sale, but the big sales - there are generally four or five of those a year - are where the real bargains are. There are even websites predicting (with good accuracy) when the next one will be. Black Friday was the last one and the Christmas one is likely to be around the 20th of this month.

    Your comments on the AP Class 40 also read a little confusing as well. The AP Class 40 works without any other pack, but it's true if you want to use all of the scenarios you'll need other packs.
     
  6. capncol

    capncol Member

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    I tend not to use the scenarios that come with locos such as this but create my own. That way I have the locos and stock I want, the routes I want and drive the scenario that I choose without having to rely on other downloads. It has n't been easy to learn how to make my own scenarios but I am really glad I did. As others have said, when you buy a loco such as the class 40 (and I have), you can make a scenario for it on any line and with any stock in your library.
     
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  7. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    Pat There have been sales through steam (as well as the dovetail store I guess) about every four to six weeks since I started collecting.

    And yes, I meant if you want to use the scenarios provided you will need to have the DLC specified. This applies to every consist or route in the game so maybe you're being overly pedantic?
     
  8. BRD

    BRD Well-Known Member

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    I think of it as an alternative to model railways. I haven't got the space nor the patience to build a layout and let alone the money to buy each model and piece of track for it. I still see Train Simulator DLC and 3rd party DLC as a cheaper hobby than model railways - at least all the space they occupy is just an SSD inside of a computer. :) ( And to be fair, you get a lot more experience virtually ).
     
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  9. capncol

    capncol Member

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    BRD, that's pretty much why I took to trainsim. I can't have a layout in my upstairs bedroom until my son moves out and some of the model locos are well over £50 each last time I looked, and then there is the cost of track :(. That's like a couple of routes and some locos and not only can I look at them, but I drive them too :)
     
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  10. LeadCatcher

    LeadCatcher Well-Known Member

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    Well with over 6 years and over 4000 hours in the simulation - i can say the cost over time really isn’t that great. Yes starting to accumulate the needed DLC can be overwhelming, but I would recommend choose an era and area you like and start collecting the associated DLC during the sales as others have stated.

    Also Look on UKTrainsims and other sites - there is a wealth of freeware to be had. Look at what dependencies that have on payware DLC and make those a priority to get when they are on sale. This will allow you to not only increase your routes - but add many extremely well made routes not available in the commercial arena.
     
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  11. Pookeyhead

    Pookeyhead Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for the replies to the thread. Interesting reading.

    LeadCatcher... my main interest is 80s diesel, so yeah, good idea... I'll concentrate on that.
     
  12. Chongjasmine

    Chongjasmine New Member

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    Wow, some of you certainly spent a bomb!
    For me, I only have the base game.
     

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