There are more situations that require actions from the driver. Ignoring these would for example endanger people at level crossings, or damage vehicles or the infrastructure. Whistle boards - Not whistling at whistle boards This signal is fairly common in all regions. There are some special cases like when a whistle board only applies for trains that do not stop between the whistle board and the level crossing. This could deduct 250 points Neutral sections / Dead sections - Not opening MCB (or if that is happening automatically, not coasting through the section) These occur on some routes, specifically cross-border routes (Salzburg-Rosenheim, Lindau-Bregenz), on Dresden-Riesa and on the Semmeringbahn. I know they are also on some routes in other regions. This could deduct 350 points Lower pantograph sections - Not lowering pantograph Some sections have to be passed with lowered pantograph to avoid arcing or damaging equipment. An example is the bridge at Oldenburg (the blue El signals require lowering the pantograph), which are missing in TSW! This could deduct 1000 points The scoring numbers are just examples based on severity and frequency.
Whilst it sounds like a good idea I can see easily causing issues. Deducting points for not sounding the horn could cause issues (especially on US routes) where lots of players would have no idea how to stick to the rules. Then there is the issue of routes not having the correct signage or the route builders not setting up the system that deducts points properly because they don’t know the rules. It’s also highly likely that there are many players like myself who don’t sound the horn at all on US routes because you just end up sounding it constantly and it gets seriously annoying. There is in fact already a points deduction error in TSW and that’s when it deducts points for not using wipers in the rain when you turn your wipers off in a tunnel. It doesn’t rain in the tunnel but the game doesn’t take that into account and takes points away from you. You get deducted points for driving properly. The more things that are added that can deduct points and can also be set up badly (and they will be) isn’t going to improve the game. There’s also big inconsistencies between routes with neutral sections being a classic example. Some routes have them and others don’t. It all depends on whether the route builders get round to putting them in or even know where they are to put them in. I also think only hardcore players want to follow the rules all the time and hardcore simulator fans probably aren’t really interested in points anyway so the crossover of players who would like to be heavily penalised for driving incorrectly is quite small and for the rest it will just be an annoyance to keep being penalised. Add in being penalised incorrectly due to bad setup, and inconsistency between routes, and you have everyone unhappy.
