Conductor Mode: Needs Either Major Overhaul Or Gotten Rid Off Completely

So I've just completed two conductor mode services from the Dutch route - both very contrasting experiences as I'll explain below!

Service 1 = SPR (8115) - Zwolle to Groningen - 0651 - 1hr 5m - NS SNG3 Sprinter

Zwolle - Departure 0653
So, this begins at Zwolle (obviously), but the first major issue is that for a Rush Hour service, the 6-car train is completely devoid of any passengers which is very poor for immersion. But, not surprisingly, as always with conductor mode, you don't ever check any tickets anyway, so it's 'wait for the next stop'.


A total of 0 passengers were on-board the 6-car service on departure from Zwolle

Meppel - Arrival 0707
At this station, several passengers embark so, as a result, after departure there are six tickets to check while I'm in the rear 3 cars.

Hoogeveen - Arrival 0719
At this station, I now head to the front 3 cars and, following departure, this time there's now four tickets to check before the next arrival.

Beilen - Arrival 0727
After departure from Beilen, having gone back to the rear 3 cars again, there's now a staggering twelve tickets to check! But, as already explained in this thread, it doesn't matter if passengers are sitting in first class because every ticket is standard class, so it will score you wrongly if you do the actual right thing regardless.


Every ticket in conductor mode is always standard class and doesn't take into account whether passengers are actually sitting in first class or not

Assen - Arrival 0737
Now, back to the front 3 cars for departure from Assen, but this is part of the service where things get confusing. With seven tickets to check, two passengers had invalid tickets, namely only between Beilen and Assen - thus they should have gotten off the train at Assen. But, when you select these as invalid, the game scores you incorrectly.

Haren - Arrival 0749
Following departure from Haren - and now in the rear 3 cars again - there's twelve more tickets to check. But, just like prior, two tickets are listed as Assen to Haren, so again, they should have left by now. What I'm thinking the reason why this is occurring is because the 6-car service is formed of two SNG3 units which don't have a gangway, so it's impossible to check tickets for all 6 cars at once and perhaps the game doesn't recognise this.


Conductor mode seems to struggle when services are formed of multiple units without a walkable gangway. As a result, you can't check all cars at once and this seems to confuse the game with passengers having tickets for between earlier stations prior

Groningen Europapark - Arrival 0751
This station is empty with nobody getting on or off either so, for the final stretch to Groningen, it's 'wait for the next stop'.

Groningen - Arrival 0757
Arrive here, but with the game's passenger system being as is, nobody actually gets off at the final stop, which ruins the immersion.

Overall, for such a long service, I only gained 4,900 AP out of 6,500 AP. But, to be fair, it's probably been the most enjoyable conductor mode service I've completed so far with lots of tickets to check etc.

Service 2 = IC (532) - Groningen to Rotterdam Centraal - 0917 - 57 minutes - NS ICMm Koploper

As you'll see below, this was a complete waste of time!

Groningen - Departure 0918
The 3-car service is completely full of passengers but, as expected, it's 'wait for the next stop' which is almost 20 minutes.


The train is full, but there is absolutely nothing to do over the course of 57 minutes!

Assen - Arrival 0936
Thanks to the game's passenger system, this station - with exception of the dioramas - completely lacks any passengers; so, while nobody gets on, neither anyone gets off too. After departure, no tickets to check and thus nothing to for the next 40 minutes!


Assen, with exception of the dioramas, completely lacks any passengers!

Zwolle - 1015
Arriving here finally and no passengers embark or disembark.

Overall, I gained 0 AP out of a total of 0 AP! So, a complete waste of time, although at least the Dutch route has lovely scenery to view!

My thoughts: Conductor Mode can be quite enjoyable when it wants to be, but needs some serious improvements!

 

At some point I'd still like to see an Edinburgh-Tweedbank Class 170 route added, just to see if I can, in conductor mode, make it to the door I am always standing by, that without fail they always get to just in time to check my ticket and open to let me off at my stop any time I catch that train.

Bonus if the last passenger with a ticket to check arriving at Newcraighall has her hair in purple double tails or buns

 

New game mode.

"Serve 5 customers before next stop."

 

If you complete a service with tickets to check the ticket symbol changes colour, the 18:40 below was a perfect run, the 19:36 I was distracted by the passenger travelling underneath the train and didn't see it wasn't even a ticket for the train I was on so only scored gold.




If there aren't any tickets then you don't score any points so no indication that you've ever done the service, I don't understand why we aren't given points for successfully letting people on and off, even if they don't have tickets to check.

 

Trolley service on the train might be an alright additional way to play.

And while we're at it with getting the physics set up for pushing things, setting up ramps and assisting wheelchair users in boarding and disembarking.

 

When there was talk about stationmaster being removed I know there was a lot of talk about how much more they actually did besides the usual on paper things. One example was they can immediately correct passengers and tell them where they should be when computer systems are acting up and stating the wrong platforms. They could also help tell people what trains to take if they were confused. Similarly I know there's been lots of conversation about robot's doing book storage in libraries, and how despite worries it's actually very helpful for librarians. Because the point of them isn't just to sort books and ID people, it's to be someone with extensive knowledge that can help you and make recommendations too.

None of that necessarily has to do with conductors, but I raise those points because most of these jobs have a lot more to them than most people assume. Even with this argument of "There's only so much you can do in a 3+ game" there's got to be more to the job than literally checking tickets you can depict. The post above me seems like a perfect example, I would actually love if you had to help load bits of baggage or wheelchair users. Or a thought that comes to my mind is helping lost children find their parents, that seems like something that conductors have to deal with regular and could be done even in a 3+ game. Obviously would need children to be in the game first for that to be possible, but still, and importantly I don't see any rail company objecting to that.

 

I played as conductor between Aberdeen to Glasgow Street as conductor, works, but try it from Glasgow street nobody gets on the train and you get no tickets to check and your job as a conductor doesn't count.

 

Oh, very interesting - I've never realised.

This is probably why I didn't notice though. I've not played many conductor services anyway and probably most were zero point examples like you described. But, yes, agree with you about point scoring, otherwise conductor mode as a game made is - no pun intended - pointless overall.

 

This made me laugh.

 

One thing to improve.

When the local door is isolated, it should stay open until I close it. All the other doors should close first.

 

I'd get rid of dynamic weather and conductor mode for better performance

 

Gave conductor mode another try this weekend. Started a service on the Edinburgh-Glasgow route as conductor. Got a pitch black screen with only the cursor and the compas (I use old style HUD)...
I'm giving up on conductor mode.

 

The more I read about other people's experiences with conductor mode, the more I start to think that many of its problems stem from the completely broken passenger system in TSW. This should have gotten a complete overhaul before conductor mode was pushed out in the first place
I know I've been going on about this for ages now, but the current passenger behaviour really is a huge immersion killer for me.

Things like this happen way too frequently. Can happen in the opposite direction as well, i.e. services after 23:00 or before 05:00 where the trains and/or platforms of the smallest backwater stations are completely filled with people.

That's another one... drives me crazy when I have to take a train full of people back to the depot.

Funny enough, some older routes seem to have better control over their passengers than newer ones. As positive examples, Tharandter Rampe and especially Bremen-Oldenburg come to mind.

 

This is on the timetable authors. The game already has a an 'unload passengers' instruction where all passsengers should disembark and the train should remain empty. But even new routes don't always utilize it. So you get passengers stepping onto train in terminus stations...
Also trains can be spawned empty, so there really is no reason why we're still stuffing full trains into depots.

That said, the passenger system is basically unchanged from GWE which launched in 2018... Yes, we got different models, we got some tweaks to spawning methods... But the general way how passengers operate wasn't changed since the first TSW passenger DLC launched...
Passengers behavior is very basic, and bulding a system (conductor mode) on top of it will just put a spotlight on all the limitations and bugs that are present. No passengers while driving is an annoyance but you can still drive train, no passengers while being a conductor basically makes the mode worthless.

And this is a general problem with TSW. The gameplay loop is virtually unchanged from 2018. We're still limited with what we can do in timetable mode...

There is no proper cold starts (when bringing trains from depot), there are no real handovers (there is a difference between taking over a freight train that was sitting for 5 minut vs 2 hours). TSW already has a dynamic dispatcher, so why when I start with a freight train have I already been dispatched? Why cannot I setup the train and then call the dispatcher to route me (as I can in free roam)?
Shunting is still like it was in heavy haul, with no interaction with dispatcher, or other railroad personal (just adding distance countdown via radio would be a great immersion improvement).

Why isn't there a continous effor to expand the gameplay loop?

 

Resounding yes to all of those things! Each of those points would improve immersion greatly! I'd love having to set up a "cold" train or a proper handover at the start/end of the service. Perhaps as an option to toggle on/off, so players who'd enjoy a more simple and straightforward experience could still do it the current way.
Here's hoping that TSW6, whenever it may come, might bring us something like that. Although I could imagine this being a nightmare to implement on existing routes and timetables, so the chances are very slim

 

I’ve only ever played this mode a few times and I can honestly say it’s not for me.
TSW is only about driving trains and that’s all it will ever be for me. I never hunt collectibles either or get out of the train unless it’s absolutely necessary aka an objective in a scenario etc.

They’ve added more scripts into the core which could’ve potentially broken/made worse other elements of the game. Before conductor mode arrived I can’t remember the passenger situation ever being this bad? Just a thought.

 

Fair enough, each to their own and all that. I for one love the additional immersion of more stuff. One of the things that disappoints me about more recent routes is how much of the setup is done for you nowadays, I love stuff like flipping the battery switches on a Gronk before starting it up.