I consider to purchase my first tsw3 new DLC: Birmingham. Is it allready polished enough? I always wait some months before purchase new games and DLC, generally.
Birmingham is a brilliant route, I'd definitely recommend it, but if you're picky about bugs, then I would let you could decide but if I decided, I'd recommend Cross City
Not expecting miracles from DTG... just state of stable and reliable condition and with passengers properly boarding my emu. Im very keen to grab 323 (one of few UK electrics with decent windscreen view Thx
The route is very well done and the class 323 is good with probably the best sound in any TSW rolling stock so far. The only negative I have for this route is a lack of diversity as there is only the 323 and you are restricted to stopping passenger services. If you are like me and enjoy freight and express passenger services then you might find it gets boring quite fast.
I have been playing it since release with no problems. There were some issues of which there were fixes. There is a nice patch which adds some improvements to, in my opinion an already good route. My only complaint is the lack of lights at night around the urban areas, especially Birmingham which makes it seem too dark.
This is a simple yet enjoyable main type of each station type. The only thing that concerns me is that there's no destination display for oncoming trains yet. The whole town along the line has an electricity blackout, so I guess we'll have to wait for a fix at night.
There was patch for TOD lightning soe time ago... didnt it fix it? Hope that passengers board accordingly at least.
Birmingham is a "little gem." It's not especially ambitious (one train, one kind of service), but what there is has been polished until it shines. It does, like most DTG routes, suffer from inadequate night lighting. I haven't yet run into any bugs. They probably are some, but I haven't found any yet. (I also haven't found any bears yet- where are they hiding?)
Station platform lighting now comes on at dusk. It's the rest of the city that is apparently suffering a rolling blackout
There’s not much variety but the 323 is amazing. I’ve had it since release and I probably do a BCC run every play-session. New Street is too quiet but you’re only there for a few minutes. Haven’t seen encountered any bugs since the updates/fixes. If you’re cool with the above then I recommend it.
Just to come back to this and add my 2p as I've been playing it again recently: Great stuff - The route has loads of steep gradients, junctions and speed limit changes to keep you on your toes. - This is more a TSW3 point but the new daytime lighting is really good and shows off some of the views really nicely - I do struggle to go back to routes without the upgraded lighting now. - The 323 is brilliant as others have noted, a really great drive, and probably the best British EMU alongside the 465 - The scenery is by and large very good to excellent although there are some areas that could be improved (Redditch branch still needs work, New Street feels a bit weird without AI trains on other routes) - Timetable is well-constructed. Pretty much entirely composed of similar services as they're all stoppers with the 323 but at least there are varying end points and most trains skip at least one station (Shenstone, Duddeston, or Barnt Green for Bromsgrove bound trains) which shakes things up a little. Potential improvements - The only thing I can think that would significantly improve the route and take it from 'good' to 'excellent' is the addition of another loco (eg. Class 170) for express services on the southern half of the route which does feel empty. I'm also not sure if there are as many freight services as there could be. - Additionally, as the route is set in 2019 (or at least using the 2019 timetable) I'm not sure why Chase Line services were not included which I believe were sometimes still operated with 323s at this time. For reference, this would add more services between New St and Aston, before carrying on straightforward rather than taking the right-hand branch for the northern Cross-City section that existing services use. - It would be nice to have a daytime railtour - the existing one runs in one direction at 5 am and returns at 10 pm (ish) so you won't see a lot. This is also mostly the case for freight with the Class 66. A few outstanding bugs that you should be aware of: - Several PIS issues remain including Lichfield City bound trains having no destination on platform PIS boards and AI trains all missing destinations on their boards - If you are walking around and take over a train from the AI, be sure to immediately apply the brakes as otherwise you'll find yourself rolling away at most stations. This has been fixed for taking over empty trains but not AI-driven trains. - The signal luminosity isn't the best but there is a mod that helps if you're on PC (I don't personally have it installed as it's not a deal breaker for me but you should be aware) - The bull collectibles are still broken and don't stay 'collected' when you reload the route - Birmingham city centre is very dark at night so it does lack that night-time urban feel I personally don't find these to be game-breakers although I'd appreciate if they could be fixed at some point - your mileage may vary.
I picked this route up in a sale and played it sporadically before more or less abandoning it. But I've gone back to it recently and it's beginning to grow on me. New Street is looking a little busier and the night lighting doesn't look quite as bad. If it's been patched at all I wasn't aware of it. It still lacks another train and just isn't busy enough overall. But, much as I dislike push and go emus, the 323 is a cut above and I quite enjoy driving it. And the route is generally well- modeled. I give it 7.5/10.
