Hello everyone, I want to buy one of these 3 routes: 1. Hauptstrecke München Augsburg 2. Isle of Wight 3. Southeastern High Speed My question is: which route do you think is better in quality, services etc? I don't care about FPS. I play on a PlayStation 4 Slim. Hopefully you could help me!
Out of those 3, my personal favourite is Southeastern High Speed. The reasons for this being: HMA doesn't have the extra layers added on console (no extra services unlike the other German routes) IoW is a pretty short route and only has the 1 train to play with (ex-tube stock). SEHS offers both high speed and slower speed options and has the option of normal commuter services from Faversham to Rochester using the class 375 (similar to the class 377 from East Coast Way). The high speed Javelin (class 395) starts or ends on the high speed section (HS1) but also does the slower section between Ebbsfleet and Faversham. Also, if you own Northern Trans-Pennine, Tees Valley Line and East Coastway, you get extra services to play with like railtours from NTP and TVL and 1 freight service for the class 66 from ECW (more freight services are going to be added soon).
I'd say SHS, but this is a personal preference. HMA is a great route, but it's a little lacking in traffkc without the layers being enabled on console, particularly when you get towards the Eastern end of the route where only the ICE services are running. It would be one of the best available on PC IMO. I think it comes down to what type of driving you prefer. If you like a very high speed run, end to end with only one or two stops, go for HMA. If you like driving at high speed with lots of stops, go for SHS. Both HMA and SHS have the commuter services which run full throttle between stops and get a decent amount of speed up. There stops are more frequent and closer together on HMA. Isle of Wight is very different. It's a much more relaxed pace at very slow speeds. I bought the route, and it's OK, but I definitely prefer the faster, more modern units. My personal opinion is that IOW isn't worth the £19.99. I picked it up in the sale which was fine, but I'd feel a bit short changed paying full price. HMA and SHS are worth the £24.99, again in my opinion. You get two trains instead of one, a much longer route, more stations and overall more gameplay. For a fiver more, it's well worth it.
HMA vs. SEHS can be a bit of a toss up really, you're not going to miss out if you picked one over the other. It's the ICE3 vs. The Javelin The BR 423 vs. The Class 375 They all offer similar rail experiences compared to their counterparts. There's both commuter services, and there's high speed runs (both lines topping out at 230 KMH), and all of their services have different stopping patterns. Aside from the overall similar feeling, they do operate differently of course. With HMA, it's unique feature is that it uses LZB not only on the high speed lines, but on the S-Bahn as well! Theres a few services that can have the player running closely behind another train ahead of them, and with LZB enabled it'll allow trains to run really close together (sometimes you can be pulling into a station while another train is leaving). The BR 423 also has the quirky characteristic of being fast to accelerate, but sluggish to slow down, which can throw you off if you're used to driving other trains. There's about 330 services included in the base layer, without the inclusion of other routes/locos, which is by far the most of any TSW route. Most of these are S-Bahn services, but there's about 60 ICE services as well, including depot runs. Overall HMA does feel a bit more polished up and I personally find the scenery a lot nicer to look at than on SEHS, but on approach to Munich there'll be a hit on performance since there is soo much tracks to render. Currently there are still no layers added to this route, which will add extra trains and services. However this is something that is still being worked on currently according to the roadmap, so it might be worth keep an eye out for. With SEHS the uniqueness comes from the fact that you'll be taking a modern high speed train, and putting it onto the classic lines past Ebbsfleet Intl. where you'll find yourself rolling past at 30 MPH. It's the only route in TSW (and certainly one of few routes in the real world) where you'll be switching measurement systems, power sources, and signaling systems while you're in the middle of the run. Not only that, but the Javelin sounds and performs differently when it's on third rail! SEHS can sometimes come off as feeling like two different routes because of this. It's hard to say which one is better. HMA feels a bit more polished in terms of its trains and scenery, but it suffers from performance problems and a lack of a full-fledged timetable on consoles. Then there's SEHS which fundamentally feels under-developed (it's not really a bad route, it just needed some more time to iron things out such as scenery and sounds) According to the roadmap we can look forward to some improvements to these routes in the near future, we just have to wait and see. Some people like myself were aware of this and were fine with it, but others might not be too happy with it. I do recommend looking up more videos to help gage if either route is up to your liking
Thank you very much for your very helpful answers, davidbarber and skyMutt !! I think SEHS is something for me because it has unique features!
South Eastern High speed when they finished with it as already mentioned they are going to add Freight services to it if you explore hoo Junction on foot you can shunt it (not very far around the yard) & the class BR 495 going to be add no route add-on mind you. This is probably the best your going to get out of the British Routes at the moment which gives causes concern as DTG seem to favour German & US routes despite the fact they are not bad
