what is your hot take on tsw? for those wondering what this means, basically an opinion that lots of people might not agree with but you can make a good argument to justify it. i’ll start: wcml is the worst of the three tsw5 routes. frankfurt fulda is the best, followed by san bernardino and 3rd is wcml. the scenery and timetable is so lacking in comparison to the other two routes. it is clear where time was spent most
My hot take is that (on the routes that I have played recently) TOD4 lighting is awesome (in the day and the night). When I look out the window of trains in the night, I can't see the rails next to me, so I would expect a similar view for the driver. Furthermore, in areas where there are no street lights, it really is quite difficult to see (even if you aren't that far from a polluting light source). I was just playing a night service on Vorarlberg, and it was awesome! I should add that I don't have every route (such as Birmingham Cross City, Cajon Pass, or any TSW5 route) so my experience is limited, but from what I've seen, it's great!
About the game? Good on first glance. LOVE on first read of reviews. Actually still quite fine if you are much involved and informed.
as long as people are willing to listen to what others have to say there shouldn’t be too many problems
Hot take, English routes tend to get boring extremely quickly. AWS, TPWS, ATC pretty much do nothing for about 95% of the trip. Every Electrostar looks and sounds boring, with a design that I just do not understand as to why it was chosen. Even the newer bullet trains are just kinda underwhelming to drive. The chronic addiction of the Class 66 is the best proof we have to curses being real. BR era Locomotives usually look pretty mid, with some of them making me wonder if anyone actually took a look at the design before approving them. Only one that looks remotely decent Is the HST.
But you know... trains have headlights? And before someone comes with the "ermm, actually, british headlights are only there as marker lights" argument, there are countries other than the UK, and even the worst headlights will give you some illumination in the dark. That being said, TOD4 is good. It's just all the other things around it that are bad. Many materials and light sources have not been properly adjusted for TOD4, and many routes updated with TOD4 have light baking issues.
Me sat in front of the PC, playing Clinchfield… Hot take? DTG and TSW should be doing it much better than they are in all areas. It’s a B+ game at best.
I haven't tried Boston Sprinter at night yet (somehow), so I can't speak for the US routes, but the class 375's headlight does cast a fair distance ahead (I've never actually seen a class 375 headlight's casting distance in real life). I'll double check the next time I'm a passenger in a car that's running at night, but I am fairly sure that it is similar to how far a train's light casts. (A train driver does sit at an elevated location... I may be stretching things. We'll see.)
Ooh, don't have Clinchfield, so I didn't know that. While I did specify TOD4, that isn't good at all. I found a video of an SD40 at night. Is this distance about right? It seems the ditch lights aren't on:
Los Pendolino tienen la peor iluminación del juego... es frustating. But at the day... wcml is great, short but great
Hot take: None of the TSW5 core routes justifies a buy. Frankfurt may be nice but is useless if it's crashing all the time, WCML without a timetable is borderline funny and San Bernardino seems to be at the wrong place at the wrong time when floating cars are its main issue. And another one: with increasing prices it's time to overhaul the layer system. You can't attract players if they have to spend 100+ €/$/£ just to have the 'full' experience of trains appearing on a route they buy at a price of a discounted AAA game, esp. after 7 years into TSW. Those two have the potential to be the nail in the coffin for the whole franchise.
i can’t imagine the tsw franchise will end anytime soon but the 3 core routes could definitely do with some improvements
My hot take? DTG are better at and more focused on advertising and sales than they are at developing a game.
Fix the damn kettles and give us WHAT YOU PROMISED US when SoS was announced in a blaze of marketing BS
You want a hot take? How's this for size: TSW isn't as bad as everyone here likes to make out. It is one of the best games I've ever played, and the only one I've invested heavily in. It's also been a source of comfort and relaxation. I've also learned a lot about trains and railways, in the UK and around the world (the former of which I had plenty of knowledge anyway), which I would never have otherwise. There are bad things about it, I don't deny that, and there's definite room for improvement in many aspects. But for the most part, it isn't that bad. There's always someone that'll complain about something, and you can't please everyone, but as I see it, TSW has that fine balance.
You said "not agree". You broke your own rule. My opinion. Sounds aren't good! They are too studio-like(to flat, high frequency muted). They are too quiet. Some of them are "cleaned"(apparently in the process of removing unnecessary sounds) so much that nothing real remains of them (like the joints sound, for example). And they are STUTTERING from time to time. How can you enjoy the train sim with stuttering horn!?
My opinion: Despite it receiving high praise on the forums, I actually find the Northern Trans-Pennine route quote dull and boring. The scenery and lack of AI trains make the whole thing feel quite dead.
As a spin off from the OP, in the spirit of the old “Desert Island Discs” radio show, if you had a choice of one train sim to take with you for five years on the island (disregarding slight technical complications like Internet access), would it be TSW?
It's in major need of some love and a remaster as graphically it's very outdated and the lighting is terrible, infact non existent in the major cities at night. Desperately needs a new timetable and one or two new loco's, but all this has been discussed elsewhere. I still spend many hours on it though
My hot take. Despite it's faults and the relative lack of historic content, particularly steam, it is for me the best simulator and the one I would choose if I had to only use one. I find it immersive in the main. The TOD4 lighting is a great improvement and new things like suspension add to the experience. It isn't nearly as bad as a visit to these forums would have you believe.
True enough. As per my “Desert Island” above, when it comes to choosing a train sim for my late evening gaming, more often or not it’s TSW, with TSC a close runner up. My mouse might hover over Zusi 3, SimRail, JR East, Run 8, Derail Valley, (I got rid of MSTS/OR) etc. etc. but most often it clicks on TSW. The more so once we get WCMLOS.
To be fair when I looked at the image, which was taken from the iPad not a screenshot, the reflected light from the table lamp looks worse than it is. But you still cannot really enjoy driving in the dark on Clinchfield and if you turn the room light off completely won’t see the keyboard and not good for the eyes either.
If they hadn't abandoned steam, from a UK perspective I wouldn't have any hesitation in choosing it. That is the main fly in the ointment for me but I find I am getting less time and patience to faff around in TSC any more. VW and CR and BMG do keep releasing enticing steamers though. I would love to see VW build a route for TSW or even simrail if they had a timetable mode, not multiplayer.
It's the gaming version of those 90s/00s airport TV shows. Not sure why I watch them (play it), but here we are.
No it would be ts. Atleast then if I did get bored of all the dlc, I could create my own without the need for a degree in computer science.
My take on TSW5 right now is that it has potential to be fantastic with routes like WCML South and Frankfurt-Fulda. But little things are letting both down at the moment. WCML needs a better timetable (and getting the LNWR branding back would be nice) and the performance issues on Frankfurt are annoying. I‘m on console, so there is no nice enhancment mod that will make WCML brilliant. Lastly San Bernardino is probably the most polished of the lot and is quite fun to drive even though I haven‘t run it too many times. - Even here it would have been nice to see the new Metrolink train substitute onto Antelope Valley, and Metrolink AI populate on Cajon Pass. Especially seeing that Cajon was part of the deluxe edition.
The game is good. Should be a lot better! It needs more steam and proper freight workings and less one handle a to b runs. I lot of stuff seems to get boring quite quickly.
Southeastern High Speed is overated. It's a great beginner route but there's a lot of issues with it mainly to do with the scenery not being up to scratch. The HS1 portion looks pretty bad and Hoo junction isn't even close to what it looks like in reality. The Class 465 and 700 are both well made but the problem is that the journey you drive them on is far too short and repetitive even with the Dartford extension. You also have the Class 395 with inaccurate sounds and a reused Electrostar which I'm sure even diehard Electrostar fans are tired of at this point. Bonus hot take: DTG has severely let down Steam fans by not giving it the attention it deserves.
When it's good it's very very good and when it's not done well it really really shows. My hot take is that consistency and application of effort it key for good routes but often things get skimped on e.g. whatever happened to Matt's list of items that 'will be required to be in every release'. Not sure that ever happened and it shows when the same issue come up time and time again
Biggest problem with SEHS for me is that pedestrian bus stop crawl around the Medway Towns calling at every shack, even on a 395. Ruined the Class 700 experience too.
That's the best part ironically. Not for the driving, but because that's where most of the traffic is.
Me too. I was all set to build the Hayling branch (already had a BR Terrier textured and in EU4 and had modelled Langstone Bridge) after the public Editor was announced. But it's an undocumented temperamental mess and as much as I like a challenge (and I'm sure building a full TSW route, scenery'ing it, building rolling stock etc. would have been that) doing it all in a flakey piece of software with no guidance was a road to nowhere. And then of course DTG dropped steam like a hot boiler and that killed the idea permanently. The most excited I've been for TSW was when 4 came out with the editor.. 3 weeks later I hated it more than ever
my take: currently on series S frustrating and unplayable at best too many bugs bottom line: could be better room for improvement got potential
Unpopular opinion, but i prefer modern EMU Multiple Units/Locos over most of other locos. Especially over the Br 110, 112, 114 and 143.
i like all three routes even WCML (using mods is a must there) without it it is ok i have no real unit/loco preference so long as something new comes out more older diesel unit's would be nice some very old electric units would be nice too
My hot take...... First impression, very good trainsim game available on many platforms, excellent looking ,good choice of routes,On owning and playing , enjoyable solid train game,but not without flaws and bugs,which very occasionally breaks your game sesssion, however not a complete game breaker,overal a recommended purchase for any trainsim fan
I also want to add about trees. OK most of devs using speedtree(or similar), but in many games those artificial trees looks much-much better. Also there is a dramatic lack of a young trees - the edges of the forest always have young growth. Leaf colors mostly to dark(maybe cause how shadows work in UE). Also what pises me off extremely - is autumn trees, which LOD's have so goddamn huge color mismatch with original models. C'mon DTG, don't say you've haven't noticed that! If DTG decides to buy a pack of beautiful realistic trees for the game - I will be so happy.
I have bought a ton of TSW product. At this point in time it simply does not compare with TSC. I find TSW to be a grind, running the same stuff. The wide variety and length of route available on TSC does not compare. Having the AP products also makes TSC visually pleasing. It would be TSC for me on the desert island. Respectfully
In my case - running TSW on PS5 now, and lot of routes -, I have been experienced no so many problems. Crash - blue screen - is really strange in my case. Even considering, I am usually adding an extra train! (Free roam) Only on high dense terminals, there some few stutters. Note: I selected visuals in "High" definition, not "4K". Visuals with that set up, are really great for me, at least. But one annoying issue is... about the appearance of locomotives and wagons and cars you have selected from Creator's Club! They appears when the "software decides", of course obviously, mostly of the times on not related trains. So please ask to DTG, to add a new option on configuration / set-up, related to visuals like "Includes Creator's Club" or something like that. For example on Austrian routes, there are several passenger and locomotives schemes to choose - like OBB / Railjet / Nightjet, etc. Then you see a train with: locomotive "Nightjet" / and passenger cars mixed of Railjet / OBB / CD companies in the same train. Or even OBB freight trains with Nightjet and Railjet locomotive. Please kindly ask to add that set up for liveries Thanks!
As to the 3 routes... I agree with user that created this thread "westcoastway trains"! For me > Frankfurt Fulda is the best one. Due to you can run all type of trains - Suburban / Short distance / Long distance / High speed ones. Plus freight trains. Furthermore if you bought the Deluxe Edition you have the Flixtrain too. Plus other trains you had from other TSW routes. So there is enough traffic and entertaining. > San Bernardino is the second one. You have a new locomotive and now a mixed type of bi-level passenger cars The route is the new line to the right when departing L.A. Passenger Terminal. If you already had Antelope Valley is great so you can go on both directions with different landscape. Mountains or suburban areas. No big news about locomotives. > WCML: 2 new trains (Pendolino and 350), But both runs on the same route. One is so fast and tilting, and the usually other stops more times. There are no so much to see around, as scenery. Despite it is 4 tracks route!. ECML it has only 2 tracks, but despite the beautiful LNER Hitachi trains, you have several stations to stop, and other driving situations. More than the ones seen on WCML. Even running on free roam. You can run some freight trains also, but does not happens so much about them. Due to the 4 trucks. Frankly speaking, I am not very exited about it.
Hot take, I now prefer TSW to TSC DESPITE the myriad of issues with the former. Great devs from 3rd parties coming on board and producing mostly quality routes, it’s exciting on the whole.
