I can see the benefits but also the complaints when people buy a new route but are stuck doing shunting or ECS moves because they lack the seniority. On similar lines, having to complete more straightforward and shorter runs before unlocking the longer and more exciting ones is something Densha De Go Professional did many years ago with its Timetable mode. To some extent the later TSW routes emulate that with Journey mode where later elements don't unlock until you play the earlier ones. The flaw of course being you can just go off and drive the scenario or timetable from the list without touching Journey. What I would like is something like the "Vernometer" from Run 8 which keeps tabs on total miles driven, miles with different traction types, speeding or SPAD infractions. That would be quite useful to have.
For me personally I wouldn't even use it if it was similar to 'scenarios', I personally don't bother with scenarios. I like the freedom of timetable mode...
I've seen some youtubers simulating a career mode in which they drive, gain some kind of currency and buy with it new trains or routes they can drive on, only problem is, that TSW consists of multiple routes that aren't connected. I just thought it could maybe work like ETS2 or Bus Sim's. And thanks for the idea Larwan
Frankly even if you could attach multiple maps together that still doesn't get you anywhere. Anyone can own any DLC, they just might stand a higher chance of owning some more than others, so you'd still need to make a career mode that is engaging with just the base content. ETS2 & ATS have relatively large, if dated looking base maps, plus you have tons of trucks and accompanying upgrades to work towards. Compare that to many TSW routes being basic A to B routes, with two, or three locomotives included. In extreme cases you get something like the Bakerloo Line, where you have one locomotive on a short 13 mile line. You can't really get a meaningful career mode out of that.
As others have said, to make a career mode worthy of the name, you’d have to ‘lock’ a lot of content in that mode. I’m happy with the level up system as it is tbh. TSW as it is, is perfect for me to chill out to, using stuff like Class 101s on all the UK routes, and creating scenarios using stock like that (mainly NTP stuff obviously). In fact I probably spend as much time faffing about creating scenarios as I do running them!
My quick thought, “career mode” in simulators make a simulator more a game than a simulation. TSW/MSFS etc are all games disguised as a simulator as nobody drives/fly with a keyboard or controller but the immersion is just keeping timetable with as close to real breaking/acceleration etc. with the timetables for many routes, our “career mode” is already right there, and works pretty well! Just my two cents
When the 1000 hours achievement popped for me on MSFS I couldn’t believe it but no, I genuinely HAD put that much time into it. Not sure what that works out at per hour played, but ‘not a lot’ is my guess. And I still can’t fly Concorde
nah not really unless they wanna do something like Breaking Point from the F1 games with cinematics and a storyline but I mean it's a train sim so what can you really do? Instead I think DTG should let us curate our own Journey mode and share it on Creators Club
Exactly this. The beauty of TSW as it is is the fact you can just do what you want, go where you want, driving what you want, in a few clicks. That’s without the amount of extra resources needed to create even one cutscene.
I think it could be fun depending on how it was implemented. Some sort of "service generator" for freight runs would be kinda cool- maybe like how they do in ETS/ATS with "World of Trucks"? The Dovetail Live infrastructure already exists and could provide the tracking/structure for it. It could be similarly opt-in, so players who aren't interested could just ignore it.
IDK, I feel like a career mode wouldn't work in a traditional sense for a train sim, or at least from the grounds of earning money and buying locomotives (Railroader, Railroads Online, Derail Valley etc. aren't regular train sims, so they can go this route) Only way I sort of see it make sense is if one moves thru one companies equipment's from basic, to advanced stuff or something like that, but no TSW route in its current form really has the stock capacity to do that. For example, lets say I want to make a career mode for Sherman Hill. -Starting out the player would only be in a conductor role (Basically only doing things while an AI handles the actual train driving) -Then player lets say, gets advanced to an engineer, but only on the most basic of yard duties, regulated to something like an SD40-2 (SD40N) -After that they get the local jobs (Such as switching the refinery in Cheyenne) Player now has access to a GP40-2/GP38-2 etc. -After that, a player gets leveled up to handle simple trains over Sherman Hill now (Basic manifests and low priority freight) Most road locomotives are now available (ES44,SD70ACe etc.) -Now player moves on to higher priority freights and/or special moves (Such as high and wide loads like generators) -The top of a players career is them handling UP 4014 and/or 844 over Sherman Hill for excursion runs. But now becomes the problem of the linear model (Where one can't drive a steam loco till the end of their career path) not to mention the lack of interaction for an early game player. I do know on TSC, Horseshoe Curve's scenarios were kind of treated like a career mode, where you had to beat a scenario to unlock the next one, and was sort of treated like a players career progression for the PRR on HSC.
I hope TSW5 get's a career mode but I don't think it will and the game is also not ready for career mode in my opinion. Scenarios are getting better and are getting a story line but if you want to build a career mode I guess you would build it around the scenario's. You will need way better scenarios instead of > walk to person > read a message > start your service > stop for event > do not look if passengers are actually doing the event, just imagine it.
No. Maybe more advanced stat tracking though. Like hours spent in a particular train, ability to sort trains by routes and stats would be cool… not particularly important though
The journeys on BPO sort of simulate a career mode. The Class 47 one, for example, after you've learned the basics of driving the train, the next chapter has you doing light engine moves as 'route learning'.
I quite enjoyed that series in HSC. But TSC is very different in that it is scenario- based whereas TSW is timetable-based. I don't have any objection to the idea in TSW if it could be an optional feature, though it would involve a lot more scenario writing and coding. Anything based on driving skill is fine and certainly preferable to the arcade - style scoring system and fluffy toy collectable nonsense we have now.
for a career mode, I would hope they would do more in-depth tutorials, to "prepare" you for the job... like not just basic tutorials, but in-depth cab tours with tasks that would show you how to use various stuff in locos, including multiloco setups etc.... THEN it would be a career
