Wanted to go back and compare Rush Hour routes with the TSW3 launch routes. So with Rush hour we got the following: Boston Sprinter- 43 mile route,15 stations,714 total services, locos: ACS64, F40PH-3C, CTC-3 control car Dresden- 51mile,25 stations,1050+ total services, locos: BR 442, BR143,BR 146.2, MRCE BR 185.5, BR363 BML- 51 mile, 29 stations, 4850+ total services, locos: 377/4, 387/2 TSW3 we got the following: Cajon pass- 85 mile 3 stations, 3 yards, 247 total services, locos: ES44C4, SD40-2 Kassel- 116 mile, 3 stations,1840 total services, locos: BR 401 Ice 1, BR 403 Ice 3, BR 185.2 SEHS- 89 mile, 20 stations, 2423+ services, locos: 66, 375, 395, 465. Besides the lighting (which is can open for discussion) looking back, Which summer release was the better? Which routes do you still play? Which DLC had the better offering? Do you think this summer release will top these two?
It’ll be hard to top what SEHS and Boston Sprinter have become. But those routes took a time to become what they are now. We had to wait a while for Bos to get the Acela, signaling, new sky, etc. SEHS got that treatment plus a ton of dlc, extension, etc. I think maybe NYT has great potential if they make that a flagship tsw4 route like SEHS was.
I primarily play from Rush Hour and TSW3 SEHS Kassel Würzburg Dresden Riesa London Commuter Boston Sprinter I don’t do American freight that often so Cajon isn’t up their. they were definitely the top routes released thus far. Still in need of several key fixes to them all though. Complete broken PIS on all the routes and near complete broken passengers despite it supposedly being a feature of Rush Hour
Boston > Cajon Pass overall. Boston Providence, while it didn't have the best of starts, ended up as probably the best US on TSW by far after it got its patch, updated to TOD 4, and a nice Acela DLC to top it off. Still has some small issues like the missing station, but a solid route overall. Cajon Pass was a major letdown. The route itself shows off that it was rushed to make the TSW3 deadline. The scenery is great in Victorville, but that's about it. The pass itself is nowhere close to how it looks in real life, a ton of landmarks missing (1 is in the game files but never placed). Last I checked the scenario planner was still a bit messed up (I still don't think it supports passenger stops either) Union Pacific subbing is minimal, there is none of their services thru Barstow, a big missed opportunity there and no one seems to want to update it to include it (Unlike NYT) And the loco DLCs for it are subpar, 1st the ATSF F7 which is completely out of era for the route, had proper passenger cars cut, and instead of just using Clinchfield stock as stand in (Which a mod easily did) They just had it pull modern freight cars with modern traffic. And the BNSF SD70ACe is meh, no ISO cab for the ACe plus I believe the physics for it are still messed up. And the rolling stock included for it aren't even usable in timetable mode. But at least the TOFC cars got more accurate trailers, so yay?
Rush Hour had a really rough launch at the time, with the controversy of the Riesa-Dresden branches being eliminated, the pointless downgrade of TSW2's UI (that one really annoys me to this day), and the overall buggy releases of every single route. Boston had bad signalling, Dresden was missing a notable amount of traffic (there were around 100 less services than there are now!), and Brighton simply ran very badly, crashing quite frequently. It was such a mess. I don't recall TSW3 having anywhere near as messy a launch. Of course, not many folks were happy to have to pay for a new game, especially since most new features were hardly big enough to excuse a whole new release. Really I was just happy to have a new UI, but really it was a pointless required payment to continue getting TSW updates and content. But when you look at the routes that came with each of these, it's a clear answer as to which is better nowadays. Each of the three Rush Hour routes are considered by many to be the best American, German, and British routes available in the entire game. THE best. The major issues were fixed eventually, as Boston got its signaling fixed (admittedly over a year and a half later, and only because of the Acela releasing), Dresden got the Meissen branch added along with a LOT of new freight services, and Brighton, while still not optimized enough to do as much as add a new train to it, still runs well enough, and contains the busiest timetable out of any route in the whole game. As for the TSW3 routes, these haven't exactly been as significant to the game as the Rush Hour routes were. Kassel-Würzburg's biggest achievement is that it's by far the longest route in TSW, being an incredible 186 kilometers long. But it's an awfully boring route that's nothing more than maintaining a high speed while having one station stop. It lasts an hour. Cajon Pass is significant for introducing BNSF to the game for the first time, which is a huge deal. The route itself is primarily a really steep grade that you have to carefully crawl down while pulling a really long freight train. Never seen that in TSW before! The Sand Patch Grade, Clinchfield Railroad, and Sherman Hill totally don't do the exact same thing as that! I also just don't like how DTG routed all of the downhill trains down the extra steep 3% grade instead of the 2.2%. Why? There's no way BNSF would purposefully run freaking oil trains down an extra steep grade. That's extra power and extra time! The most notable part of TSW3 was Southeastern High Speed, a route that goes head-to-head with the Brighton Mainline for best UK route in the game. It's really good, definitely. It was just an extended version of what was already available in TSW2. TLDR, Rush Hour is really really good and contributes way more to the legacy of TSW than whatever TSW3 brought. Ah, and my most played are Boston-Providence and Southeastern High Speed. One because I simply love some good Amtrak stuff and the other because I love variety.
Despite the flaws, Rush Hour definitely wins out over the TSW3 additional content. Whichever way they achieved it, from the customer perspective SEHS simply extended what was already there with an extra 15 minutes of high speed running to Ashford and a short section to Dartford rather than continuing the classic route into London. Most of us already owned the 465. If you are on PC and serious about train simming then Cajon already available in MSTS/Open Rails and of course Run 8. The latter takes some beating especially with the conjoined SoCal network and the industry function. SKW as mentioned might have been long but totally boring to drive, though admittedly the ICE1 slightly different beast to the existing German High Speed in game.
Tricky, still play BML & SEHS so liked both. I’m hoping this next release is better again though as TSW3 does have some problems that need fixing. The hype surrounding the announcement makes the waiting even longer!
Great observation. I always compare the two. SEHS and BML. Which route best is open to debate and there is no right or wrong answer. This comes down to preference. I would say this, BML offers 3 complete runs, Redhill, Brighton, Gatwick vs on SEHS only offering a complete run on some limited rush hour service from St Pancras to Faversham on HIgh speed.
As a release, SEHS was a pathetic offering and DTG really are going to need to make the British route a stunner this year to make up for that and so for that fact LBN was a better route to be released than the rehashed SEHS. Give LBN the 700 and it would be the better route overall probably because the only good thing about SEHS is the HS section as the 'normal' lines are incredibly dull to drive on whereas there is variation on the LBN services and you can drive a full service and take it back the other way. Anyway the best route to be included in an edition of TSW will always be NTP from TSW2020.
The 2021 theme with Rush Hour was busier routes The 2022 theme with TSW3 was longer routes Rush Hour had more problems, but the routes were fantastic (primarily because of the timetables). The TSW3 routes were good but perhaps a bit underwhelming. SEHS felt a bit "last minute decision" because they perhaps didn't have enough time available to build a route of that size from scratch, so decided to extend/upgrade an existing route instead (which is fine, but now everyone expects this from other routes too). I wonder what this year's theme will be?
I love Cajon when I have time to dedicate to it, Boston I find tedious with slow speeds due to signals. SEHS feels like a proper network now and has far more varied services then BML which despite its epic timetable so feel less immersive. NDR has far more longevity and playability than SKW which I got bored of very quickly and found it to be a one trick pony. So RH 1 - 2 TSW3 When you add in the DLC for TSW3 when comparing to DLC which came after TSW2RH, TSW3 is the run away winner as I think LFR, BRO, BCC & PFR are head and shoulders above any thing we saw between RH and TSW3.
When you look at both SEHS and London Commuter routes on their network maps, you can see how much they're actually covering from their network.
I hope this year's theme will be NETWORKS. A to B routes are boring in the long run, regardless of their length.
SEHS. I could say more but I'd probably be writing an essay. It is currently my most played and favourite due to the loco and service variety. The only thing that bothers me is excessive sunlight through Rochester/Chatham tunnel but I think that's more a TSW3 issue. London Commuter 2nd. Not saying more as I'd be writing an essay again. Liked because of the busy timetable.
Rush hour had the better offering and also the better marketing title as it was the first time it made me actually take a look at this game. Wasn't what I was expecting as Rush Hour just meant busier platforms and the passengers weren't all that impressing. I had hoped Rush Hour meant managing the rush hour like a dispatcher. But the trains looked nice so I played the game a lot as it brought me back to my childhood when Marklin twins was always on my wish list Today I only play Boston and SEHS from that list. I would like to see the other Rush Hour routes get revamped as well. TSW3 launch was a major let down. None of the routes were interesting, I didn't even play SEHS at first because I had played the route already a lot. With the 700 coming out I rediscovered it and found it very enjoyable.
It was great to see Rush Hour recover from its very rough launch and the content only improved after that. TSW3 also had a rough start but notable additions such as Birmingham, Peak Forest and Niddertalbahn made it very worthwhile; still its recovery was less impressive than Rush Hour and TSW2 in general. Both are more attractive than the underwhelming TSW4.
