South Eastern High Speed What's Next

What should be next for south Eastern High Speed.

Quite like some stock and reversal into church path pit siding. And also the odd ai freight into Northfleet lafargeand and sheerness branch extension

 

Personally I think SEHS has outworn its welcome. If DTG are going to revisit or rework anything it should be another route. The only logical thing that would make sense for SEHS would be to add the residual classic route into London and extend on down to the Kent Coast.

However introducing the Class 700 on that pedestrian trudge through the Medway towns has really put me off it.

But before that happens I want to see ECW extended to Ore, TVL out to Boulby and Bishop Auckland, BCC to Coventry, Wolverhampton and Walsall.

I also think it’s high time DTG delved into areas they’ve hitherto ignored, like Eastern England, Wales, the West Country (start by adopting WCL, extend to Plymouth and add the remaining branch lines).

 

We have already gotten 3 dlc's for SEHS and soon KWG so lets focus on another route yes?

 

IF SEHS were to get another rolling stock DLC I would say a freight loco would be in order - at the very least a new fright TOC for the 66.

If we’re talking route extensions, the 395 & 465/700 have had route extensions already - so logically it would be the 375’s turn to see some more track - either onto London Bridge or Victoria. Alternatively you could go the other way and go beyond Faversham to Ramsgate.

Could also do Strood out to Maidstone or Paddock Wood.

 

Nothing. It has already exceeded its capacity. There can be no more lest it completely collapse on all platforms.

Plus, I’ve spent a small fortune on that route already. I’ve bought it twice (yep, that actually happened), bought DLC for it that was later included for free, and bought 3 further DLC for it too. I don’t want to spend any more on it. I’d rather have other routes getting DLC.

 

Out of interest, would any other freight locos operate in that area in real life?

 

You don't know how happy you saying that makes me!

 

I second that!

 

73 would be the most common, 70 too.

Not sure if the 92 is a regular considering it’s intended role?

 

I’d love for the AI PIS bug to be looked at and fixed, when that’s happened I will see SEHS as a ‘finished’ route.

DTG Matt Surely it is a possibility to have this fixed in conjunction with the imminent Thameslink stop markers update? It makes a lot of sense. Please, this is such a glaring issue and truly something I want to see fixed, as well as a large portion of the community feel this too.

 

I will say that I have enjoyed the treatment that SEHS has gotten and I hope that maybe this kind of improvement/expansion will happen for another route in the future like whatever ends up being community favorite or something.

 

As long as all the holes aren't all dug in the South East of England that sounds like a very, very good way to go forwards. I don't know how it would work in Germany and the US because of the size of the country but for British routes if over a (probably a very long) period of time we can have at least one big, deep hole in each old BR region and each era that would do the job. May I suggest the fertile, easy to dig soil of the old Eastern Region to be a good starting point before digging in the rocky soil of other regions.

 

Somerset and Dorset line is a nice big Mendip limestone hole.
Great Central has a rather legendary hole at Catesby Tunnel.

But if I'm reading the crypticism correctly I would concur. We have plenty to be getting on with so I would rather at least some of the development time devoted to these longer holes than a plethora of short disjointed holes.

 

I like SEHS but the two lane running a bit slow at times

 

If that means bigger/longer routes of a higher quality to the level of SEHS, that sounds great.

 

Epic route but yes we can put it to bed and enjoy it as is. Unless there’s a market for Diesel Legends of the Southeastern haha

 

In terms of shallow and depth, think we need to move back towards more than one new train for a route, regardless of length. We also need to see good core products built on with further DLC, something which happened with NTP and TVL or indeed GWE with Legends but seems to have died a death. SoS should have seen a couple of add on packs now, maybe a local passenger and additional freight but it has had nothing, not even a layer for the 4F. As I’ve remarked before, it’s like building a model railway, putting one consist on it then chucking the whole thing in storage after a couple of weeks and building something else.

I know we are speaking cryptically and metaphorically here but depth doesn’t just apply to mileage but the whole bundle.

 

So your moving in to road repair / construction then?



Hentis

 

I'm hoping this means animated diggers. State of all these construction sites in tsw means there must be a shortage of workers to dig any holes.

 

Definitely this, SoS could really use a Timetable update (including the 4F), and some new steam loco addons.

 

Whereas I would say I don’t really care where the deep holes are dug, as long as they’re dug in an earlier era and not the present day…and someone else would say the opposite. I agree in principle that more deep holes are better, but it does make it more difficult to keep everyone happy (and therefore to keep everyone buying).

I suppose the hope is that having more 3rd party developers will allow digging of deep holes, while still having enough variety of holes to please enough of the player base…

 

Oh definitely in agreement here Matt and I'm eager to see where this leads.

As I've mentioned previously, in terms of length something like Blackpool Tramway or one of the longer heritage railways such as ELR or SVR (apart from the 25 MPH speed limit) would work equally well as a 60 mile main line because they are balanced units. As regards building on existing areas, now we have Manchester Piccadilly and Birmingham New Street in the sim, that's two hubs to work on. And Glasgow Central! For me (and without turning this into a wishlist) something like Carlisle pre-rationalisation would be a magnificent hub. You could devote a whole series of scenarios just to keep Kingmoor Yard and the hump working.

 

I do absolutely agree in the earlier era but I do think location is just as an important factor too. Anyway you are right in what you say, everyone's happy will be different so as long as the holes aren't dug in the South East in the modern era, I won't complain. There will always be someone who isn't happy no matter the outcome though!

 

I guess a good example would be using 125st street Harlem station for The new Haven line
Or re using London Victora for a Chatham line

 

I kinda hope the Holes will be dug somewhere in the Dorset area at some point :P

Hentis

 

Cant agree on the 700, putting that on sehs was a good thing to use the routes potential. It has a high traffic rate, a Lot of different service types, and with the ashford / dartford extension its not just a to b runs.

If people are tired of the route, its because they got used to it. Similar to the real train drivers worst enemy is the routine and stay focused.

I just can give dtg a compliment for putting so much variety into one route. Would like to see more of that.

Eastcoastway extended to ashford, plugged to sehs.

 

I think this makes sense. It would be nice if Skyhook can concentrate and keep building MML towards Sheffield and Rivet games add to the Edinburg and Glasgow express route by adding Grangemouth, Stirling and Dunblane.

 

Rivet need to put life into Haymarket Depot to be fair!!

Hentis

 

There is a bunch of "enhancement" possibilities to add on the playerside.

- no hud runs with self created appendix
- shift simulating (doing multiple runs without leaving the session)
- going with real world procedures (train preparation / brake tests)
- doing services the same time / weather as your home location
...

There is tonns of stuff to make the gameplay interesting. Seems the casual player is struggling with enjoying / find ways, when the game doesnt tell him "do this" or "push that button".

Even assistance movements got introduced with the europhoenix 37 and dellner adapter.
But people complain they got turned off by the route just to complain after next release because empty train stations and lack of variety.

 

Couldn't agree more...

However for things like shift working the save game needs to improve so it doesn't drop the objective data when you load into a subsequent run to the initial one. We also need more than one save slot, too.

I am certainly enjoying running without the distance to next signal displayed (I always had the aspect disabled). For me that has single handedly improved the experience and actually makes you think, rather than reduce braking to a simple bit of mental arithmetic.

There should definitely be a buff to AP etc. score if you choose to run without the aids on (though for now I'm keeping the next speed limit active).

 

There’s been a little too much recycling rather than extending the library of existing rolling stock, and I would really like to see more locomotive/rolling stock DLC à la NTP/TVL.

I would also hope with the next generation of TSW whenever that may be, that we can finally decouple rolling stock from routes and integrate them into the core game, this way we don’t end up with multiple versions of the same stock. Buying a certain route DLC would instead “unlock” the necessary rolling stock in the core. For example, physics improvements could then be applied to all variants and liveries of the same class in a much easier way.

Anyway, looking forward to whatever DTG brings, love the game!

 

On the one hand, I agree that high speed can be left alone and busy with other projects, on the other hand, I am very upset that I will not get what I dream of:
- Extension - North Kent Line from London Bridge to Dartford;
- extension - Chatham Main Line from London Victoria to Rochester;
- extension of the branch to Sheerness;
- extension of the branch line from Ashford along the coast to Dover;
- extension - Faversham - Margate - Ramsgate;
- extension - Faversham - Canterbury - Dover;
- extension - Eurotunnel Portal - Ashford and Eurostar trains.

In my mind, Southeast High Speed has such a complete look.
I really hope that this will not be abandoned and will happen in the future.

 

You know there are already routes in the game that are ready for new layers to be added without even adding much new scenery, maybe just accessories to compliment the new time period, though some wouldn’t even need that, example Oakville Division needs passenger services added to look less barren, I believe Amtrak run there.
Crewe could have diesel services added both passenger and freight. I would like to see the Bakerloo line get a retro add on for the old tube stock too as immersion is spoilt running it on a modern line. Other routes could have extensions or branch lines added. People have already mentioned; East Croydon being extended to London Bridge, perfect for the stock we have. Cornwall could be extended to Plymouth and the HST added. There are many options available without an awful lot of extra work.
Perhaps try and build on current routes such as a new SW Railway Alton to Waterloo route which would utilise Clapham Jct. and make it look so much better, after all it is a simulation.
I think before complex new routes are built you guys ought to look at ways to add layers to existing routes to add immersion. Build on what you have first.

 

Yea you are right, I forgot to mention it. The have so many possibilities just in that area that wouldn't make sense to leave it as is.
So many different locos that can be added and branches.....

 

I also agree with this outlook and also look forward to were this goes. Maybe this could be an interesting topic to discuss on the next Roadmap/Q&A stream. I would love the summer release to be a large route which gets added to over time with the content from the year. I have really enjoyed the development of SEHS over time and it has now become one of the best and most interesting routes in the game.

 

Agree with everything said, when the next freight comes to a route be nice for a different companies 66 or new modern freight ie 70, 60,69

 

I actually did a suggestion this week for SEML and Chatham main line that covers some of what you mentioned
https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/southeastern-main-line-chatham-main-line.71731/

 

Sounds good to me also. Really hope we hear more of this type of stuff in the next roadmap.

 

Does this mean fewer but longer routes? Hoping so!

 

Matt P has already answered that question here:

 

Yeah, I seen. Thanks. Got excited, replied and then read his further comments.

 

Agree with what Matt said, but we do need a few long routes, yes not every route needs to be long, but there are some routes that make no sense being short (GWE and MML I’m looking at you). But yeah short routes can be good, but there needs to be a fair variety of long (60+ mile routes)

 

Yeah, I'd say both types of routes have a place. But we are severely lacking in long routes, and have plenty of short to medium routes.
Pretty much only have SEHS, and BML for UK Long routes?

 

None of those routes are above 60 miles either, imo the UK should be the next country to get a 100 mile route

 

Route mileage is irrelevant, service duration and gameplay variety is more important IMO. Birmingham Cross-City is a shorter route but has some of the longest playable services of any UK route in-game.

What we really need is a UK route with high speed services that are playable for longer than 30 minutes. SEHS is all we really have, even then it's only a 40 minute journey to Ashford on non-standard TVM signalling. Something like the ECML or MML South would provide >45 minute express services alongside regular freight and commuter services.

SEHS doesn't need anything else, but what it provides (e.g. the Class 700 and St Pancras) could go towards bigger things

 

Sehs is 90 miles

 

I don't think route mileage is irrelevant. I really want some longer routes, with less stops on them. A longer route allows for more service variety, like can be seen in SEHS.

I want to run express services, like the HST, and hopefully in the future with the Class 800 that have more than one stop each end (GWE, MML currently). I want a route that is like South Wales Mainline for TSC. Has 6+ express stops, and lots of in between stops for more commuter focused services. I want a route that is going to take me 1.5-2 hours to drive, even with an express service.