I have been using TSW5 for a few days and I really like Fast Travel. However, I'm not sure how it was decided where to put the indicators that allow you to fast travel? For some routes there are lots of interesting places (e.g. yards, bridges, groups of AI locos/trains, other points of interest, etc) where it is not possible to fast travel to. Instead you have to pick the nearest fast-travel point (which can be quite a way away in some cases) and then either spend ages fast walking to the place of interest or spawn a loco/train so you can then use camera 8 (on a PC) to travel fast and then look around. Can DTG please either: 1) Add lots more fast-travel points or 2) Add the ability to click anywhere on a map and you can then choose to fast-travel there (this would be the ultimate solution but there are probably reasons why this is not possible).
Having played a bit more with TSW5 and trying to use Scenario Planner with portals, etc., I would like to suggest an additional use for Fast Travel. I like to produce complex scenarios with lots of traffic, especially on routes that are disappointingly quiet. Whilst I usually use them for driving myself I also occasionally like to use God Mode to relinquish the service and either simply travel as a passenger and watch the world go by (using the various cameras) or even go on foot. However, Fast Travel doesn't seem to be available in the scenarios I produce in scenario planner so I am unable to travel from one station to the next which severely limits the entertainment value on foot. If Fast Travel could be added to scenario Planner then that would make a big difference.
True, but there’s still room to strike a balance. For example: Stations make sense, but what about the explorable signal boxes on BPO or WCMLN? Yards, Depots, Railheads and major junctions would be helpful. Iconic locations, like Shap Summit, would also be welcomed. To strike a balance, they could exist only if there was the infrastructure to welcome a ‘pedestrian’ and not simply just land the player on the ballast next to an active line..
Like most options if you don't want to use it then don't? I would like a quick way of getting to a part of a route rather than have to laboriously walk along the track (which of course is ultra unrealistic - if you did this is in real life you would be arrested!). It is perfectly possible to have options in a game that those who want a fully immersive experience can simply choose not to use. The rest of us can simply have fun - sounds like a good idea to me. There are already many things in TSW which are unrealistic - the various cameras for a start, livery designer (which allows you to create any kind of paint job you want), scenario planner (which allows you to create totally unrealistic timetables), off the rails (any train on any route), free roam (to boldly go where no train has gone before), taking over a train in a timetable (try that for real at Euston and see what happens), fast travel (even before my suggested improvements), route hopping (save a lot of time if this could happen in real life!), collectibles (Goblins, Haggis, etc), and probably a few more that escape me just now. A well designed game should appeal to a range of players - from those who insist (not unreasonably) on immersive reality right through to those of us who like to sometimes just have fun (as well as be immersive when the mood takes us). I can't see the problem?
