Being new to TSC i purchased it in early mid June 2024 frame so been playing just over a month, I got it mainly for the North American routes freight and older power diesel and electrics . And longer routes etc stuff that TSW dont have much of and lagging in etc, so far i like TSC better than TSW lots more variety enguaging things . Via the last big Steam sale i went in and bought a fair amount of the on sale routes and loco paks .through the sale i did pick up some UK stuff got the greatest railways add on for 5.99 got 5 routes with it also finding the older UK steam and diesels electric are fun to operate compared to the modern one handled EMU DMU s that TSW loves to do ..ppl dont know what they missing not getting into operating the older stuff.
Indeed. The feeling of mastering a complex machine is what gets me all the time. The more buttons, valves, switches the better. It makes me a little proud to say "yeah I can handle this", as opposed to pushing a stick only. Many old time railroaders (read a book from a german 1948 born railroader) felt degraded and useless when they were assigned to the new "plastic computer trains". Same when I was younger, working at an assembly station for truck aggregates (wheel hubs and planetary gear), we had old machines with an abundance of buttons and lights. All those buttons were replaced by a simple Siemens panel later. Mechanical errors that were mostly quickly fixed were replaced by electronic problems that led to shifts being cancelled. I had missed the old days...
I am currently dividing my time between TSC and TSW plus a couple of other games. However the lions share of that time remains in TSC. Just have so much content I bought over the years and barely (or in some cases never) played. So a little bit of catch up going on, attempting to go through my routes in alphabetical order and complete the first unticked scenario. Though a couple of days ago I did jump from C to W as I wanted to refresh my knowledge of the WCML South, given recent developments (which now can’t be discussed in detail) over in the TSW corner. Then, back on my way up the list decided to stop off in New Zealand. Another route I bought and barely played. One thing I would like to see in TSC is the equivalent of the Quick Play or as I call it Lucky Dip, where the game picks a route and scenario at random from those unplayed in your collection. And of course the one thing that is missed in TSC is the comprehensive all day timetable that TSW offers, some routes really do come with such a poor number of scenarios. Aforementioned WCML South has just one scenario for the Class 390 Pendolino. The North Glasgow suburban line, depicting a route which has a 15 or 20 minute service level has just six scenarios. Though to be fair, routes like the excellent Berlin Ringbahn or the various German U-Bahn routes do offer a much better selection. So both TSW and TSC have merits, but I just don’t think TSW will ever have the sheer breadth of variety you find in TSC. More and more focused on modern commuter style operations, with one handled EMU’s that offer no real challenge or excitement to drive. While the likely forthcoming UK route which cannot be discussed is likely to be very good, it will be with modern trains not the classic and iconic locos of years gone by.
I left TSW on version TSW2 (on Xbox) due to the amount of bugs, so brought a PC in lockdown and came across to TSC. I have occassionally over the years tried TSW again via Xbox Game Pass on PC (and also cloud gaming), and the graphics for me on any version TSW on my PC where simply awful compared to TSC. The last Steam sale TSW4 was available for just a few quid, so took the plunge again and the TSW4 graphics are vastily improved when running through Steam for me. I have tried the UEVR VR MOD and that makes TSW4 look and feel incredible, so I am back using both TSW4 and TSC. For VR, the shorter routes in TSW4 actually work out more enjoyable for me. However, I realised last week, I did a run on TSC from Euston to Glasgow using the various WCML DLC, and have been playing it most days this week and not gone back to TSW4! For me, with RWE2 and running the Experimental version of TSC, the graphics and gameplay (Simulation Imersion) are still miles better in TSC than TSW4.
