I am wondering what are the final purpose of the Action Points? I am asking this, due to the only thing I noticed is you accumulates them, get another level, but then nothing else!... I mean, I have noticed with some locomotives, when you get the "number model in km or miles" you get those extra Action Points. For the Mastery - if I am not wrong - you do not need them. There you have to make some quantity services or km, and other tasks,.. etc, but finally you have some extra scenery element on the corresponding route. I am asking this, due to some weeks ago, due to all the AP I got, I reached driving Level 500. Then I guessed I will receive some kind of reward for it. But absolutely nothing happens. Could please a DTG member or anyone in the forum, can explain about it? Regards
AP in TSW are like XP in other games - an "experience". As for them unlocking anything, they sometimes unlock Steam/other platform achievements, since they are related to gaining levels on a route/loco, additionally to the driver's general level, like "gain level 10 on [route/loco]". There is no use for them for unlocking stuff in the game.
It's pure gamification. In one scenario/timetable, it's measured to award you with a bronze/silver/gold medal. In your profile, they serve no purpose as far as I know, apart from ever-increasing numbers of various levels.
gamifacation. IF you want to challenge yourself by getting a better score do so. If not, fine as well
Completely useless and inconsistent scoring system. You are better off completely ignoring it, as in the current state it serves no purpose - it's not good as a scoring mechanism, as the scoring logic makes no sense. I have it turned off and I don't miss it.
Yeah. Driving is much better without it being displayed (and additionally without the next signal). You pay much more attention to the route when you get no +30 or +15 notifications every couple of hundreds of meters/yards.
Ctrl+6 on keyboard, or ShowScore in GameUserSettings.ini. It doesn't appear to be present in the settings UI.
It's a metric. You can use it to look at if you're meeting the expectations... Has little function in game unless you want to use the "I've got a bigger score than yours" technique with your friends on here. There've been a few posts of "Look at me, I'm level 1531" etc over the years
I don’t find it completely useless, although I much prefer it turned off during a run. I use it to give me a general idea of how much I’m driving some of my passenger and commuter locos, since there’s a lot of “actions” being performed with these. For freight and high speed rail I generally judge by distance travelled, since it’s more driving, less “actions.” I like to make sure I’m using all the stuff I’ve purchased, not necessarily equally, but at least using it.
It was what I expected. No useful at all. It is a pity..., as when you get some high levels, like 500 / 1000 / 1500 / 2000.. something special could be added to the route - like on Mastery- or something extra. Thank you guys
Well, even without any special rewards, it could still be used as an evaluation system to score how well you performed. After all, most train simulators tend to do that in a similar fashion. The issues is however is that in TSW the whole system is flawed and makes no sense. The biggest issues with the scoring system in the game I can think of right now on the spot: Total scores differ between every scenario and service, and they are all set manually, so no consistency. Because of this, some scenarios can't even be completed to gold medal. Timetable times are often auto-generated using AI driving at 100%, so no room for error and usually totally ignoring safety system limitations and rolling stock speed limit. This means that quite often being on time is impossible if driving prototypically. Stopping points at stations are often placed incorrectly, meaning you have to choose between where the game wants you to stop and where you prototypically should stop. In comparison, scoring in TSC is auto generated, with the maximum score always being 1000 points and it gets divided by the number of tasks in the service. This means every playthrough can be scored evenly. You know 900+ scores is good and something under 400 is bad, for example. You can also get point deductions for things like harsh braking, causing discomfort for passengers, not sounding the horn when you should, etc. For commuter operations, games like Densha de GO or TRAIN CREW do the best job in scoring, with correctly made timetable timings, stopping positions and taking things like the smoothness of stopping into consideration. Densha de GO games also require you to sound the horn when needed and will score you for it as it should. At the end, you get an evaluation telling you how precise you were, how correctly you did your tasks, etc. When you look at what other train simulators do with a scoring system, TSW falls really short. The AP system could have an use, but it was thrown into the game with no care or planning put into it, resulting in an incosistent and useless system.
I use it to guage my performance against previous runs if the same service, that's literally all its good for. When a 20 minute poor run on Bakerloo can net you 10 times the number of AP a 2 hour perfect run on Cane Creek it can't be used as anything else.
Just an aside, in TSC, the scenario designer can set the total points up to 1000. Several older scenarios had less than 1000 so when they started giving medals, there were several where you couldn’t get gold. And as in Train Sim World, the points and medals mean nothing, so really little use wasting time on which system has the best system for something that means nothing..
Quality of driving is what I'm missing in TSW. Unless it's wet, you can be just starting with full throttle and stopping with 100% brake, like in some arcade game. Nobody will complain. While whistle/horn task aren't programmed in that many TSC scenarios, I quite like those that require using it (though "operational error" message for points deduction might be confusing the 1st time you pass that mark / whistle post there without sounding horn, when on other routes you didn't have to do it).
The system is so flawed anyway. You can do an hour run on Cajon and lucky to get 3000 points. Half an hour on Bakerloo and you get 20000 points. The statistic is then used to show your "favourite" route and train in your profile and thus completely meaningless. It's a poor and cheap substitute for a carefully thought out and properly implemented career system. You can (PC only) hide the accumulated display as noted above, but you can't opt out altogether and thus still get the "score" at the end of a run. And as DTG went all soft in TSW and hate to point out player failure, unlike TSC you don't even lose points for poor performance or safety transgressions. There's no extra AP for running with safety systems on, either.
Small correction here: keyboard only. I’ve had the AP counter hidden on PS5 for a long time now and it makes everything so much better.
Exactly. This is why the LU 1972 stock was my "favorite train" in TSW2 despite doing only 20-ish services with it. The current system is heavily skewed towards stopping commuter trains racking up the most AP, with long-distance and freight having much less. Also, when using US safety systems, you actually get less points than without them, since you will be late all the time.
Yes, it is that way. Freight runs it have much less points, despite most of them takes more time. Mainly the US very heavy freight ones. On some routes DTG has included extra point just passing a per-defined point of the route. Like Dresden Riesa. Special note: About that route I have noticed freight runs now on the suburban line, instead on the high speed ones as they did before. Then I believe - to be fare - for the US freight routes, they might also add some of those "passing points", where you get more APs, due to the long time you spend there. Event the length of those routes are usually larger.
Hook up a keyboard and press ctrl+6. I very much recommend using a keyboard with this game. I have a cordless keyboard that I put on the table or on my lap.
It’s just making it feel like a game, I personally find them completely useless and almost irritating. And I wish I could completely disable it. I’m not driving the train to get ‘points’ and medals. I guess it appeals to the casual gamers but there’s no need for it in a simulator.
That's why you have the option to play Train Simulator Classic if you don't want the arcade feel of TSW, if you want the challenge (TSC can be unforgiving on mess ups) and less gamification. Personally, for me I play both games. I enjoy them both!
In Train Simulator Classic, there is also a points and medal system. In TSC however, you can just turn that off in the in game settings. I don't understand why DTG don't give players the option to just turn turn off the medals and the action pointless. They are as one person said, "absolutely pointless". Not every console player would have a keyboard either so it would just be best if DTG give players the option like in tsc to turn it off
Except career mode in TSC is also based on points, in fact if you speed for too long you get negative points (something you don't get in TSW) You can turn it off and non-career mode runs don't have points but the issue is still there in TSC
You can decimate your score in TSC by arriving 2 mins late at every stop, if the scenario creator has failed to open the somewhat hidden parameters settings and make them less onerous.
Well yeah, you can do a lot in TSC though, like setting a train's scenario starting speed to 2000mph. Can't do THAT in TSW
