Just a poll to get your thoughts on whether an ATO route in tsw would go down well with the community. Whilst it is boring for some, others enjoy to sit back and have the train drive itself, stop at stations and red signals and follow the speed limits. After all, ATO is the direction which the railways are heading.
As long as there is the provision to drive manually, it would be okay. The Glasgow Subway route in TSC has ATO simulated and it's actually quite fun. I wouldn't mind seeing something like the Victoria Line (with 1967 and 2009 stock) or maybe the new Elizabeth line with the manual/automatic changeover procedure (although the full line is likely too big for a single DLC). Although there's still plenty of contemporary routes that would be more appealing than most ATO enabled routes I can think of.
People are more likely to vote in the poll than answer the thread, and the poll has done what it was meant to: give a conclusive answer
ATO might be interesting if it's only a small section of a route, like Thameslink core for example but a full ATO route without the ability to drive would not be interesting at all.
There are plenty of people who would like an ATO route because it could depict a route they like, such as DLR, that won’t ever be made if ATO isn’t considered. It would be fine for sitting there and relaxing, watching the scenery and train traffic if that is something you like to do. I don’t think the numbers of players willing to buy it would be sufficient to make a DLC of that kind commercially viable though, not while there are so many DLC to choose from where you actually drive the trains. I haven’t voted in the poll. I really don’t know if I would buy such a route, not that I’m ever going to have to make that decision.
I can't imagine my spending more than $5 on something like this. After one or two trips, the whole route would have no further appeal and would be back in the closet. It would be equivalent to one of those trivial routes they sell around the holidays. And, as was pointed out, you can already do this by riding as a passenger or sitting in the second man's chair. Or, I can watch a cab ride or a YT movie. Thanks, but no thanks.
Well, we can all do basic maths, can't we? As of now, it stands at: 11 - Yes (4 only if conditions are met) 5 - Don't Care 30 - No
Don’t care, maybe to your surprise means don’t care. I know what I meant, thanks. Just to clear it up, it means ‘I don’t care whether an ATO route comes to tsw or not’
Not stopping at stations like full ATO does, though. Lzb is the closest thing to fully automatic train driving
By not using it? Sure, buddy... Some LZB systems are design to be "full ATO". In game, it is very possible to stop at stations with LZB and AFB without any input if the signal at the station is set to red, is it optimal? Probably not, but it works.
That is true if you use the AFB lever to slow down, AFB with LZB will follow the LZB brake curve nice and smoothly, far more so than I ever could anyway.
Looks like the "nays" have it, including mine. This is why the proposals for modern tube routes rarely get an upvote from me as most of those are ATO.
I’ve just voted “Yes, at full price” after having a think about it. I haven’t totally made my mind up about buying a fully ATO route and it still remains that it is highly unlikely to ever come up but it is the most likely answer that if they did make one I would buy it. I buy everything.
LZB does not know anything about stations. Not every platform has the exit signal at its end, nor is every signal red at a station. So LZB is not ATO at all. A passenger stop is always performed manually.
Again, some LZB systems do, LZB isn't exclusive to one specific system designed for ICE trains running 160kmh+. DTG could create a route with the correct equipment or a route that has signals at all stations that are set to red (like bakerloo line). Now, the community wants to operate the trains, and DTGs have acknowledges that, so neither will happen, in the near future anyway.
If there’s the option to manually drive the train too, definitely, as long as the quality of the DLC is worth the price and it releases in a good state.
Not a full only ATO route, but partial or the ability to drive manually. Elizabeth line would be good as part ATO part manual. Something like Paddington to Shenfield, with ATO between paddington and Whitechapel. Then an "extension" out to Reading with an "updated" GWR pack (idk if I'd care about the Abbey Wood branch). But I'm wishful thinking and should pop it in the suggestion forum. Point is, I'd pay full for ATO as long as it's just not only ATO. But we all have our own opinions on it. Interesting to see how everyone else feels.
I don't see why people are using 'but you have to do station stops' as an arguement here. That's basically just stopping the train and getting it started again. It's the exact same thing loads of people complain about when it comes to high-speed routes, namely Great Western Express and the German High-Speed routes. If you want a driver-less experience, go into an AI train that has a second seat in the cab and sit there. If it's ATO with the option to drive the full route, then fair enough. But then you would struggle to keep up the timetable, as in reality that is defined to go with ATO if it's used in regular service. Therefore, I voted no, because I don't see the reasoning behind a driverless route in a game that focuses on driving trains...
ATO is an absolute no no for me because as others have said there is no point putting a driverless train in a game where it's main focus is driving trains.
Actually, it is close. IIRC from my university statistics course, you need 32+ answers to start to consider it representative.
Interesting. I always took it to be "as many people it takes until the poll agrees with my point of view"... the more you know
A lot of modern trains are ‘driven’ by pressing a few buttons and that will become the norm in a few years
Not really I still have to use much more than a few buttons in real life and this is on one of the most modern units in the country. It may well come the norm eventually but I think it will be decades rather than years before it is just a few buttons.
Well, that may be so on real trains, but the way DTG are making " electrostar- type " trains for ( it seems like ) almost every UK route these days, they virtually run themselves with a couple of buttons for lights etc.. All you really have to do is push the power/brake handle back and forth. So they're very close to ATO and that's why I don't care for them, even on very good routes like BML and SEHS.
There’s actually a long and growing list of DLC I haven’t bought. Some defunct loco DLC like the M3 for LIRR and the 204, plus the unnecessary 187 I will probably never buy and the 1938 stock is looking like I’ll not get that either. I’ve hardly bought any TSW3 DLC and most of it needs to be in a sale before I will. So when I say I buy everything, I will if the quality is good enough and the price is right. I like the variety.
Except the people on this forum are the more dedicated fans of the game, thus polling here isn't representative of the full playerbase which also includes a lot of more casual players not active on the forums.
Oh yes, even the trains I was talking about aren't too far off that in fairness, but at least I get a nice window! I think I might cry if we do get another electrostar route and as the family would tell you that is a very rare event! Ah right, sorry that was me understanding it as few years in my head was about the 5 to 7 year mark. That's probably more likely, though definitely at the thirty end of the scale.
They also stop on a dime, so you can hit the platform ramp doing 30 MPH and not even break a sweat that you’ll stop in time, probably not even need Step 3.
True, another underground route would, for me, ideally be part manual, part ATO, like the district or metropolitan
Yeah, as I said that is the minimum. It is not the full picture but also not something that you should completely ignore. This is one of those cases where the cost to find the fully representative answer costs more than the worth of the info that you would get from it.
Totally agree. The result of the poll is just one thing to consider. There are many others, like how much money / development time you would invest into making such a route, or if the selected route has other features that would also make it desirable that is not the ato train, etc ...
I personally don't care for ATO on a simulator, any more than I would want a flight sim where the plane took off, changed direction and landed itself. I don't want passenger mode or guard mode or anything such, I want to drive trains. If I wanted to watch trains being driven I would go on YouTube and rerun through the Don Coffey video list and watch people doing it properly... I see no reason to go into a fake world and not do anything for up to an hour.
I would consider something with a low level of automation, but I’m not paying $40 to basically be an attendant and control door operations. I also don’t see a strong similarity between Electrostar and fully automated trains. I understand that Electrostars require much lower skill than complex systems like those seen in a GEVO, but you still need to be pretty active in the cab while controlling speed changes. From Electrostar to full automation is a pretty big leap. For example, I can’t get up and go make a coffee while doing a 377 run on BML. I’ll probably miss a stop, SPAD, trigger safety systems when overspeeding. I’m not too interested in buying a route where I can just leave and come back later, with no consequences. I may as well watch some cab rides on YouTube for free.
Yes this can work and an example would be Queens Boulevard Line where the whole line has ATO except for the 63rd St Tunnel & 60th St tunnel and its 11th St connector. The screen tip will say turn on ATO to continue the Journey from non automatic train operation stop. 63rd St tunnel 21st St Queensbridge IRT 59th St East Side Line for R train. UK Glasgow Subway Crossrail.
I would support for an ATO route since it can adds variaties to the game and let the player control the train differently, as mentioned above, the glasgow subway in TSC is a fun route and you can choose to drive manually or automatically, and there is an interesting scenario where ATO failed and you have to drive manually which makes it a challenge, I would love to see that route coming to TSW series, and if anyone plays TSC here I would recommend this route since it is really fun for me.
I agree with you and that is also used on Metropolitan Line London Underground. Remember how are you going to keep up with rush hour trips without the automatic train operation system. Want Glasgow ATO with NYC Elevated Subway then Give 7 train 34th street Hudson yards to flushing Main Street via Grand central terminal and court square transfer is available to the E train.
My overall point is that there's a major difference between manual driving vs a fully automated where you're just an attendant. I don't mind in-cab variable speed limit systems but going full auto would be where I'd draw the line on a purchase.
I think a lot of people would accept an ATO route if dynamic events were introduced to tsw on a large scale for the first time-things always going perfectly gets boring but they don’t as everyone knows
Absolutely, I don't want "fully ATO", because I don't want to just be watching the train do it's thing I think the only way the driver takes over in these instances is if the issue is a fault on the train itself so the ATO cannot manage it. I doubt train operators want a game showing their trains breaking down...
