I just wanted to make a short post about the "new passenger loading times" on Dresden - Chemnitz. I really like that the station stop is still calculated with a minute (i.e. you are scheduled to arrive at 12:22 and scheduled to depart at 12:23), but the passenger loading circle only takes about 15 seconds to complete. I cannot understand why some people complain about this, I mean, nothing stops you from waiting longer. In my opinion, this is actually a big change that increases immersion so much. I finally feel like a real driver at a station, I don't need to pointlessly wait for a minute even though I'm potentially late and all passengers are onboard. I can look out the window, and once no more people enter or leave the train I can get going again. I really like this approach and hope it will be the same for all routes going forward.
Yes, I definitely agree. It also give you more of a chance to make up time when you're running behind schedule, rather than having to wait for another minute. I hope this is something the Preservation crew will look at on previous routes, particularly Southeastern High Speed.
I don't own the Dresden-Chemnitz route, but this sounds like a good change. Hope it makes it to other routes too.
Interesting. The difficulty I see with this is that it makes keeping time really easy because you can lose up to 45 seconds between each station, and instantly make it up again with a really short station stop - which takes away from the challenge of the game. One approach you could take, to add a bit of a random element and some added interest is to use a random time generator such as this one, on a phone or tablet: https://creativetechguy.com/utilities/randomtimer Set the range from 15 seconds (a realistic minimum amount of time to have the doors released, to give people a chance to alight) to 105 seconds (which gives an average outcome of 60 seconds - the booked dwell time). At each station, release the doors, then start the timer. At a random time between 15 and 105 seconds, the alarm goes off. That’s the ‘guards buzzer’, and you can depart. Just as in reality, you’ll sometimes get a long stop - or even a few long stops in succession - putting you behind the schedule and with the challenge of making up time again. On the other hand, on other occasions you may make up time at a station stop. As a result, every time you drive the same train, it’s a different experience, with the possibility of late running generating different signal aspects, and creating further variety. If you’re finding the game a bit easy, increase the minimum and maximum dwell time a bit - simulating a busy train - and challenge yourself to keep time despite the average dwell time being above what’s allowed for in the timetable. Maybe some enterprising person could create a timer with a ‘buzz buzz’ right-away signal as the ‘alarm’.
It's supposed to be a simulator (I know, I know), not a game. Artificially increasing difficulty just to create player challenges is gamey AF. Real-world timetables have slack built in; real life drivers don't go to work expecting to be "challenged" just to do their job.
yes this is a really positive change and one I hope we see repeated on all future DLC. Not sure how easy it would be to implent on older DLC but if it is a quick fix for Adams team and wouldnt disrupt more pressing task his team is involved in then Id love to see it on older routes as well.
You probably haven't spent much time on the new route, because trust me - you will take every second you can there
Agreed that it's good. I don't use any of the HUD or game overlays, whenever possible. Timing the open doors though requires a timer or clock present, and not every train has them. For just timing a stopwatch with a second hand on a phone is good, or actual watch. I wanted to simulate game time with an app, that has a basic analog clock which you can set to any time. So at start of run, set watch to the time in game. This apparently does not exist, so would have to make my own app. Would like to have easy way to set time, and also nice to pause it. Maybe I'll make one at least for android, since this would be useful for multiple sim games which model a game clock at real time rate. Until then I need to change my phone clock in settings, and then kind of a pain if needing to pause for a sec or two.
I appreciate your perspective, but I think of it the other way around. Real life train Drivers may not go to work to be challenged, but challenged they are. Real trains have variations in dwell times due to variations in volume of passengers, passengers who require assistance, passengers holding doors for late runners etc etc. To me it’s gamey that TSW has no variation in dwell time, which I suppose is so that you always have a chance of a gold medal and winning all the points. I enjoy TSW as a simulator, not a game, and as such I like it to be as close to reality as possible - which includes variation in dwell times.
Some more variations and random events would certainly be appreciated, but I believe the lack thereof is more a pragmatic approach rather than with the goal to allow someone to always score full points. It has been said numerous times that QA with random events would make the process even more difficult and time consuming, and that process is already a huge bottleneck that delays things and still leaves a lot to be desired. I would like to see in-built random events as well (such as random dwell times, delayed signal changes, delayed trains ahead and so on), but I doubt that will happen any time soon, so this new approach allows me at least to define my own randomness when it comes to station stops - I can leave the station after 15 seconds when everyone got on and off, or I wait 2 minutes in a busy station - all up to me now . The new timings give more freedom in that regard, and also make it much easier to play completely without HUD (much easier to time 15 seconds in my head than one minute)
