Right to start off Im going to say Ive had a lot of fun and already had triple digits hours of entertainment & enjoyment from the Rush Hour Season Ticket. This post is solely constructive feedback on where I feel each route could be improved as well as whats good about them. 1. Boston Sprinter The Good - Great looking route with 3 driveable cabs each very different in handling from the others, also Boston South Station feels very busy and certainly ticks all the boxes in terms of rush hour expectations. The Bad - The in cab safety systems and signalling was released broken and despite promises this would be addressed remains broken. DTG seem to have gone very quiet on providing updates on when/if this will be resolved, this really does marr an otherwise solid DLC, I really hope this does get fixed sooner rather than later or if it cant be fixed then DTG to come out and tell us this. The issue is becoming the Elephant in the room. The update to a number of signals which coincided with London Commuter has not resolved the overall. Room for Improvement (route DLC)- This route is crying out for the Acela, more variety in coaching stock for MBTA and dare I say it a freight layer adding, theres all theses yards sprinkled along the route standing unused screaming for content. Overall Score - Its a solid if unspecatular 7/10, its the sort of route I'll never love but I can see myself going back time and time and enjoying it for months to come. 2. Nahverekehr Dresden The Good - The sheer variety of trains, routes and services playable on this makes this my overall favourite and thats before you even start with the additional layers added by owning other DLC. Then we have the night lighting which is stunning and adds so much to the game, I will be honest I wasnt immediately 100% happy as I found the constant change in lighting levels as you went through stations etc extremely distracting although since getting used to it I am now in love with it. Then we have the Meissen Branch which brings yet further amazing views and additional game play. The Bad - The stuttering and freezing on this route do detract somewhat around Dresden in general and especially around Neustadt. Sadly the changes to the routes signalling needed to include Meissen Branch seems to have made the issue worst not better and this prevents the route getting full marks which is a pity. Room for Improvement - This is hard because I am really not sure what you could add to this route in terms of new content, I mean the obvious request would be for the airport branch to be completed but realistically I cant see that happening. Maybe some local frieght services calling at the yards along the route and a diesel loco for frieght on the Meissen branch, or perhaps the ICE-T being introduced, but then would there be demand for it given that all it would do is replace ICE3 services? Overall Score - 9/10 - close to prefection and definately the new bar which future routes will be judged. 3. London Commuter The Good - 1400+ driveable services, do we need to say more? Well yes I do, 90% of the route looks stunning and captures the feel and look of the real line really well. The Bad - Lets ignore the crashes and timetable issues for now, afterall the route has only been released not 48 hours so lets not judge on this aspect just yet, But overall the route seems rushed and quite frankly Reigate station area with an ungated level crossing and some really low quality textures on the road and even the general feel of the areas, seems like it was done on the first Friday afternoon after the pubs reopened from lockdown and everyone wanted an early dart!! Is that a bit harsh? Perhaps and if you compare it to the earlier DLC then its not that bad, but we arent comparing it to these, we are comparing it the rest of London Commuter and the other 2 rush hour routes, and its just not of the same standard I am sorry to say. Room For Improvement - The lower half of the line needs more services its just to quiet, so the obvious thing is Thameslink Services being added along with 700 Desiro City trainsets. Other than that more frieght services with a Class 73 (the rivet Seacow would look great behind a DB or Network Rail liveried unit) and also the Brighton Belle Pullman trainset again with a class 73 but this time in Pullman livery. Overall Score - Currently its a 6/10 but if Reigate could be sorted along with the crashes etc this could bump up to a solid 8/10, that said if the after a grace period the route remains laggy and crashy this could drop to a 4/10 very easily.
Absolutely. Currently it's unplayable with safety systems on, which is the only way I drive. This ought to be a redball priority, once DTG have the Brighton console release version issue sorted.
Well summed up. I cannot agree more, although the assessment of the London Commuter scenery would not be scored so strictly by me. I will add from myself - Rush Hour as a whole - poetry. BR o7
Honestly, I kind of expect that the safety system and signalling issues will never be fixed. NEC: NY was unceremoniously dropped from Preserved Collection entirely. LIRR has been out for almost three years at this point and all we've had is "yeah, signalling is a problem. It would be a lot of work to fix it."
Until Boston gets its signal, timetable and catenary fixes and London gets its Rush Hour passengers and some more variety in traction around Brighton, Dresden will be unmatched. It's already streets ahead in terms of modeling quality. Yet it's not my favorite route. I think Boston has the potential, with the above fixes and the addition of the Acela train set to be a great route.
Just finished a few runs on London Commuter. I play with the AWS turned on and I did notice about 4 or 5 times the AWS alert alarm did not play when I went over the ramp coming up to either a yellow or red aspect. As long as you watch for the AWS ramp before the signal and be ready to react whether you hear the alarm or not it's fine, I haven't been stopped by it yet. I can imagine for those playing without the HUD it would be a bit of a pain though if you miss the AWS sunflower change in cab, or if it was already on yellow, without the alarm sound playing every single time I can see how it would be easy to be stopped for not acknowledging the silent alarm. Hopefully they are able to get that sorted at some point, although I have found it causes me to pay more attention to what I'm doing so that's maybe a good thing?
I haven’t done much on the Boston route but the assessment seems fair. That said I find Dresden very dreary as it is just too similar to what we already have in the game. Brighton line is a train wreck until/if they can sort out the timetable, save/load and AI signaller issues. Putting any more trains in would be absolutely the wrong thing to do at this stage and who wants to drive another boring modern piece of rolling stock. And as for Reigate, well it is a disgrace to leave the east end of the station in such a state.
These routes just go to show how difficult programming really is. They have to get scenery correct, loco and vehicles correct, physics correct, operating systems correct, signalling correct, allow for differing platforms etc.. The list is endless. Keeping everyone happy is impossible and all for a relatively paltry sum. Despite the minor irritations we’re lucky they are still in business. (Personally I’d have thrown my hat, or cat’s ears in by now.)
