Watched a balanced ambassador stream and cannot stop wondering what this is about. They've already made two TramSims - Vienna and Munich. Promises for extensions and then abandonend. So they've got experience. Now CTS doesn't look much different - it seems like a cash grab with the lowest effort possible. Collect money for a game not finished - whilst I think that's fine for a startup, I think it's being used to quickly make money here. A new map and UI for an old game. And we all know the whole licensing situation makes it harder and harder - much content that was possible in Train Simulator is already ruled out for TSW - so it's surely much easier to build fantasy lines and fantasy liveries. But I can't see how this game could be interesting any more after a few hours. Unless it comes with an easy to use editor to quickly make your own routes. (Anyone remember the DOS game "Stunts"? Now that was a brilliant idea, and highly addictive.) I do actually own Munich and Vienna, and I did enjoy them - for a short while. After a few runs you've seen it all and I've uninstalled them. Can't see this going anywhere, and I bet this will also be abandoned when enough money's been collected. Though I can imagine a yearly "new game" here also, as that would fit Focus/PulluP's roadmap. Many Fishing Sims, Train Sim Worlds and Tram Sims now. In my opinion, an abuse of Early Access from an already established developer and publisher. Customers will lose trust and the real startups with great ideas but no funds will suffer from the Big Ones using EA as a means for cashflow before release. Selling the third installment as high-priced Early Access seems a bit cheeky for me. Considering what you get with the honest EA SimRail or the base ETS2 game, this is just not attractive. Will it become a Transport Fever competitor? Not sure. Tramau - or trauma?
Couldn’t have said it better Spikee. If this is genuine early access, should have been sold for £15 or less. As it is, sounds like EA is being abused to put out a game still in a bit of a state, but at normal pricing and no guarantee it will improve. Like you I bought Vienna (didn’t bother with Munich), ran a couple of trips and while the city scenery was well done the tram driving experience was lacking. Not uninstalled, but sat dormant now for months. If DTG wanted to get into trams they should do their own offshoot in TSW where they can utilise the timetable and first person interaction etc.
Agree with all of the above. I got the impression the at the ambassadors streaming it were really struggling to say good things. This one is not for me. But I’d really like to see Trams done well in the future.
I saw TinTin_57 's stream as I like his presentation style and voice. And then another one from a german ambassador, who's always overexcited (and struggles with both english and his native language) I mean there is some sort of editor, but it's more connecting existing nodes to form a line. Though I'd be all in for the Karlsruher Stadtbahn. Model the city and then extend it to Baden-Baden, Freudenstadt, Pforzheim and Heilbronn. The infrastructure and local lines around Karlsruhe were saved by the idea of Dieter Ludwig - linking city tram and railway, using dual-system trams that could run on DB infrastructure. We had a Beeching situation in the late 80s, and that idea prevented it and made travelling on rails attractive again - it was a huge economical success. The Murgtalbahn was electrified in 2000, so travelling with the tram from the deep Black Forest directly to Karlsruhe Centre was easy now without changing trains. (And the old V160s disappeared, making way for the https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/GT8-100C/2S) Fun fact: The Stadtbahn Karlsruhe has its very own PZB with a special restricted mode "Gleichblinken" (synchronous blinking of 55/70 indicators) that allows 65 km/h to prevent delays because of many stops within a 1000 Hz influence that would force restrictive 40 km/h. The only simulator that faithfully simulates this is the freeware "Loksim3D". Though the GT8 was available in MSTS, that had no safety systems. But MSTS is still the only game that featured the tramlink from Karlsruhe to Freudenstadt (ProTrain 16). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karlsruhe_model But Fantasy Trauma City gets a No from me. Feels like a game nobody asked for.
