Are Extensions Still Not Possible?

Honestly just need NTP and TVL to get made bigger with some new updates to the class 37, 40 and class 45,

hell I would easily pay for that

 

I'd like an extension of RSN.

 

Pants US or pants UK?
It's a very different mental image.

 

Trousers were meant. English is not my language.

 

I guess if your still wearing trousers, no pants makes no difference.

 

I want to see East Coastway extended to Ore. At present, it is the one of the most disappointing DLCs I have knowing its only half the route. Based on National Rail Enquiries website, it would make the journey time 1 hour 17 minutes, which is about the same as driving between St Pancras and Faversham on SEHS.

As much as it would add more variety to the overall route, extending to Ashford International may push the capabilities of Unreal Engine 4. Basing it on how the route is today with Ashford services only going as far as Eastbourne, the play time is 1 hour 21 minutes based on National Rail Enquiries journey time information.

You never know, DTG might surprise us one day with an East Coastway and Marshlink Line DLC with TSW 7, if they want to make it financially viable over a free update like SEHS.

 

Leak from tsw 20
Coming soon east coast way made one mile bigger

 

I'd love to be able to go to York or Leeds on the ECML. Obviously York is a lot less work, and to make a Leeds extension work you'd have to add either a 331 or a 333 for Northern stoppers as well as a 150 or 158 to run Sheffield bound services at either end of the extension, but is probably more interesting than a York extension.

Alternatively, an extension from Newark Northgate upto Lincoln would also be interesting. Would provide for more interesting EMT/EMR services than what the route entails currently (Plus even more if you also added the line from Doncaster to Lincoln). Plus it would be required to come with the class 800 and unlike with what we're getting with the GWR 802 would actually utilise the bi-mode capability of the unit. And then the 800 could be layered onto Fife Circle for Aberdeen bound services

 

I wouldn't mind London bridge and uckfield being added to bml.

And yes ecw getting and extension.

Then there's tvl, ntp, gwe, wcmls, or any other UK route that goes nowhere.

I think the first route deserving an extension would be the Cardiff city network. I can't believe I wasted my money on it.

 

Plus the biggest elephant in the room - PFR certainly to Derby if not also to Stockport and Manchester. I could put up with the little shortcomings of the steam simulation if it went from somewhere to somewhere.

 

That's your answer right there.
Cane Creek was a very unpopular DLC going by sales, so why extend an unpopular route that people already weren't buying?
That's why MML, GWE, WSR, SPG, SEHS, etc get reworks/extensions...they're popular, sell a lot and continue to generate income.
Note that it's not just that route income... but also other related DLC. GWE for example keeps getting more stuff to sell WITH it, like the GWR branded Class 802 and Class 150 from Riviera which would fit on it. That boosts it's value by cross-layering and bundling.

It's not technical (beyond a certain size of route anyway), it's about if it makes sense to pay people to do the work.
We may individually disagree on what routes "deserve" a rework based largely on what we personally like...
GWE for example I find terribly boring, but it has a ton of fans so it gets the polish. =-)

 

As much as I would like to see a extension on pfr, a better timetable with some diesel would suffice.
Even a 101 wearing the right livery would do.
Have given up on the 104 and expansion. Doesn't look like it's a priority on anyone's list at the moment.

If someone made a better timetable for the route I would actually pay them.

 

$10 for a decent early diesel timetable would be worth it.

 

Yeah something like that. Would pay good money out my own pocket for someone to rescue it.

 

PFR is a very nice route outside of the timetable. So much wasted potential.

 

Both definitely. Same with SOS. Dtg could have set it a couple of years later with diesel or later with steam, diesel and electric.
Don't know what was going the their minds at the time.

 

Of course, LGV Med is also hugely popular, and they've never touched that. Nor any renewal for two evergreen UK routes, NTP and TVL (any claim that "BR Blue doesn't sell" has been scotched by Just Trains)

 

Having some sales doesn't mean the MOST sales possible. If JT is covering that segment, then DTG doesn't have to and can focus on the cash cow of modern EMUs. Just like TSG is focusing on the older German stuff.
Same point remains. What gets improved/updated are those with the most tie-ins and profitability.
WSR has a ton of layers.
SPG freight is used on a ton of routes for layers.
Same with SEHS.

LGV you won't see updated.
It's just one loco and doesn't layer.
Cane Creek, Sherman Hill, etc.... not popular enough with not enough layering, esp on modern routes.

NTP will get the next update I'd guess because it has the 45 and lots of layers off of it.
However, it has to wait until after GWE because they're running them as "after work" projects by staff members part time.

Maybe TVL, if something new comes along they want to layer on it but again it won't be for a couple years as updates/extensions aren't a priority.

Wild guess, but it'd be interesting to see if they coincide with new releases that tie directly into those routes.
Again, wild speculation but if Just Trains continues Carlisle across to Newcastle to start the ECML, then that opens up moving south from Newcastle to York, attaching to the TVL at Darlington.

Then, "extending" NTP from Leeds to York connects (again) to the ECML.

This makes sense because then the older NTP and TVL routes (1980s) fits in with the existing mid-1980s theme of Just Trains routes.

Now it does require a couple more years of Just Trains routes, but it just takes DTG capitalizing on upgrading two existing routes to cash in on the hype of completing TWO cross-country lines and doing much of the ECML.

At least, that's what I'd do if I were advising DTG and JT. It's a win-win synergy for both of them. From there just ONE more route from York to Doncaster and you have the whole West and East coast mainlines, crossing the country in three places (across the bottom at London, across the middle through Manchester-Leeds-York, and across the top from Carlisle-Newcastle.

Four if Just Trains wants to extent Carlisle up to Glasgow and connect Newcastle to Edinburgh.

Tons of "route hopping", lots of "crosspollination" of traffic and routes, similar rolling stock, and by connecting the "old" DTG routes with the "new" JT routes, all set in the rough time period, that enables them to release even more rolling stock that fits in "BR Blue" era.

It all just works well together. Meanwhile, that leaves Rivet to work around Scotland some more, DTG to finish up the Southeast bit or tool around Bristol and the south with "modern" routes. In a say three years you have basically all the main routes of the UK done and rough "themes" developed that tie in together.

Probably won't shake out like that, but it's what would make a lot of sense, keep everyone busy and working to a common goal and sell the most product for them with the most flexibility for players.

It'd still be very chaotic in parts because of the many "false starts" and disorganized nature of things (Crewe with SOS will still be a late 1950s stretch and West Cornwall will be 1990s, which are modern-ish due to licensing at the time) but you will be able to more or less travel around the UK in a network by then with a ton of layers and rolling stock.

 

That would indeed be a great day. At the moment you get to Carlisle and have to hyperjump to Newton or Neilston as the closest location to pick up the next route. Preston you either need to hyper it to Manchester (choice of three routes and two eras) or bounce the Pacer out to Ormskirk then hyperjump and time travel to Liverpool!

 

So let me get this straight: I paid full price back in the day for the Dresden–Riesa route, and now if I want the extension to Leipzig I have to pay again. But if someone who never owned the original buys the extension, they just get the old route thrown in for free—complete with all the trains it came with—while paying half of what I did? Brilliant business model, really top-notch.

 

This was always the thing with extensions but is a price worth paying for a route twice the length. Also if you are buying in the Deluxe Bundle with the pre order discount as a percentage of the total cost (3 new routes, 3 new trains) far less than the usual £30 selling price for a new route - more like £14 or £15. And many of us have several routes in TSW we want extending so the OP doesn’t help that cause.

 

The fact you paid full price originally is irrelevant. You bought it for full price because you believed there was value in doing so, rather than wait for an eventual sale. Other people will have already paid far less than you for the original route (I know I did, it's in my library so must have bought it on deep discount at some point).

As for the old route getting thrown in for free, that has been explained already. Other routes require the original Dresden-Riesa to unlock layers, so rather than having to modify those routes to point to either route for their layers, it's easier just to bundle the original in with the new.

 

Getting back on topic, this shows why extensions are such a difficult thing to do - not for technical reasons, but how to do so without annoying a significant number of people who bought the original. For every person who says "I'd pay £x for an extended route", there's at least one other who'll complain at anything that isn't a free upgrade.

Personally, I think the model of putting extended routes in the annual bundle is the best one.

 

That's a good point, and I respect it a lot. Of course I'm not asking for a free extension but I think that for example if I own 40% of the total length of an extended version of a route I should not be paying as much for the extended version as someone who doesn't own the original version of it. I'm not even asking for a 50% discount but at least a 25%???

 

I was watching Alan Thomson on Twitch last night and it was brought up. I thought he made a really interesting point, apparently, extensions have to be free because of some limitation listing an extension to a route and selling it as an extension in the various stores. DTG can kind of get around it by having the extension as part of the new annual ‘upgrade’. Granted, I was tired when watching so may have missed the point, but it’s an interesting hypothesis all the same.

 

That doesn’t account for LIRR 2.0 though which was sold as a new DLC, not part of any upgrade or annual rehash bundle.

 

Was that a technically a route extension? The context in which was mentioned in the Twitch was extended Manchester Airport Commute from Piccadilly to Preston or to continue the route to Crewe.

 

Yes they did add mileage to it.

 

It would be a possible idea to add an extension to one route on each new iteration of TSW yearly as one of the core routes, along with a general improvement and new item of rolling stock too. Like they have done this year. I wouldn’t mind that.

 

But sold it as a completely separate DLC?

 

I didn’t buy it but I believe it had a brand new TT and scenery enhancements too.

 

It did, and an additional loco as well (the M9).

 

You're already getting it at about a 50% discount, per OldVern calculations above. Again, it's a question of the value of it (and the other core routes in the bundle) as to whether that's the right price for you. If it isn't, get the free starter pack and wait for Dresden-Leipzig to be discounted to what you feel is the fair price for you.

 

Is that route the only way you can get the M9?

 

I thought "basically everything" was redone on LIIRR, making it essentially as much work as creating a new route so it was sold as a new route. I didn't have the original to compare so couldn't tell ya how much change there was, but it was more than just an extension of track. Supposedly the assets, lighting, tracks, timetable, stock...everything was made over.
Or that's the impression I got from the release.
I don't mind paying for an extension based on the amount of work it was.
I get that people say it's say "20% more track" but... is it just the track?
Or is it timetable, assets, lighting, and rolling stock upgrades?
On top of the entirely new section.
Then it becomes more like 50% of the work of a new route in total work.
It's natural to only see things from our perspective, but it takes both our perspective, but it takes two to tango.
It's like when my neighbor the farmer takes stuff to the farm market and people want to haggle because "it's just a tomato."
Well it's just a tomato to that customer... but it's a lot of work on the farmer's part that goes into getting that tomato to market.
If it were easy, everyone would just grow their own (or design their own video games!)
=-)

 

I'm fairly certain that wasn't the case!