PZB has HUD stuff, so why doesn’t ATC and ACSES? It’s not as common as PZB, but lots of signalling systems have speed limits for certain signals, and that’s ATCs job, so more than just the NEC can use an ATC limit part of the HUD. And if DTG does PTC, other American stuff could use ACSES integration, so it’s not too limited in the bigger picture of things, either. So, I would like to see a second speed limit marker on the HUD speedometer for the signal speed limit (only if the signal speed limit is lower than track speed, of course) as this would serve the purpose of being an external indicator of a MAS being imposed by ATC. But more importantly, many other routes can also use this, as CSX signals have speed limits and many German signals impose certain speeds too. There’s really only one thing that would need to be done specifically for ATC that doesn’t apply to other routes and that’s the suppression indicator, so I think there should at least be a way to know the signal speed limit on the HUD, and the suppression indicator would just be an added bonus. ACSES is a bit more limited, as even for PTC, it’s pretty specific. At the very minimum, it would help to have the speed limit marker on the HUD speedometer match up with the ACSES speed...so as a speed limit reduction comes up, the HUD speedometer speed limit will slowly go down as ACSES does. Of course, due to the specifics, it would also be necessary to include some HUD element to show the time until penalty (once it is implemented), as just seeing the speed reducing would not be enough to avoid speeding. So I see ATC/signal speed limits as a more likely thing to end up on the HUD, but more than just the ACS-64 uses ACSES, so I would hope there is motivation to integrate that into the HUD. PZB showed that more things can be added to the HUD on a per locomotive basis...ACSES should be no different.
Since I discovered its existence about a week ago, I've been activating ATC/ACSES, which for me at least make running passenger scenarios and sessions much more interesting. This doesn't mean that I'm not still capable of arriving late at a station, but at least renders that less likely (I just have to learn to trust those indicators. Since the speed limit numbers are easily visible on the control console, I wonder whether they need be duplicated in the HUD, which when fully activated already places a lot of information on the screen, with some items hiding others from view. As with so many other suggested improvements and additions, this one also strikes me as likely to take developers' time away from matters more essential to train operation. So, while, indeed, it's "Not a bad idea at all", perhaps it should be a "when there's time" item?
Because some of us like to get outside the train to do things like take screenshots and look at things. And right now if you do that you have to sacrifice ATC and ACSES...or effectively guarantee yourself an emergency stop with no warning visible. You do realize this is about making the same information visible in more places, and not about adding more information that isn't already there, right?
