The length doesn't reflect the quality, we've said it a hundred times. Some routes can have a natural start and end while containing a whole lot of variety with only being 30-ish miles, and some routes can be 100 miles and be the most boring things to drive. I mean, come on. Surely you can't tell me that Kassel-Wurzburg provides a more enjoyable experience than Bremen-Oldenburg?
I believe if dtg wanted to add a 110+ mile route to the game, they should've added a route with variety, Express, Regional, freight, more stations etc. would've been better use of resources and development
I don't like long routes cuz they take too long and I don't have the patience to sit for over an hour. Kassel wurzburg is boring to me cuz it's over a hundred miles of not doing anything if you run using lzb. Freight can take more than 2 hours so I won't be touching those. American freight is boring and even more boring when the route is really long. Even iconic high speed routes like the wcml in tsc is boring cuz you basically do nothing the whole route. And with save game not 100% working, I'm not interested in long routes. Sure they use autogen but it's not perfect. Lots of things have to be made by hand such as stations, signals, custom assets, environment. Imagine creating a route that has 25 stations in 30 miles of track. Now add in underground sections, multiple tunnels that need light baking, curves, hills, dense scenery, a cityscape or constantly changing scenery or gigantic stations while having to create a deadline. Now do that over a hundred miles. If you think it's easy, then why don't you go and try it yourself. It's easy to create a route that has little scenery, flat and requires nothing else that is a hundred miles long. However, once you start adding multiple stations, curves, constantly changing scenery and gradients and assets, that's a huge task. Dtg employees are not robots after all. There are many benefits to shorter routes. There are shorter services you can do in 1 sitting, it feels busier, can have tons of variety or it can be relaxing. I think iow 2022 is a fantastic route even though it's only 8 miles and has mostly end to end runs. Cathcart circle, although short, has lots of service patterns to the depot, newton, neilston and around the circle. It is also an enclosed route. Bro although short is and end to end route and has tons of variety and ai, making it feel busy.
Except people specifically requested a proper high speed route and an ice1. True high speed routes have few stations where the high speed trains stop at so the route is naturally long. And creating a busy route that is 100+ miles with variety and more stations long is a lot of work and probably wouldn't have been possible to finish within the timeframe they had. Cuz that's a lot of custom built stations, a complex timetable, low performance which people will moan about. Then you gotta get the scenery right. Also it would still be boring cuz it takes too long to do anything
Today’s route release is the size of a living room. The evidence is strong that DTG have lost the will for long route development. The next route will fit on the head of a pin. Tis the end for sure.
I get where you are coming from, but you do realise adding the London To Birmingham isn't only for faster intercity services. You can do a very big variety of routes. Adding a mainline caters to everyone, because you have your 125 mph fast trains that only stop at 1 or 2 stations, your regional which do more challenging stopper services, in the case of the WCML you have the watford DC lines which has both the bakerloo and overground, you can layer in southern 387s to go from Willsden Junction to anywhere as far as MKC, you have the freight trains too, which i love driving. Mainlines cater to most niches that people go for. Adding a 100 mile+ Wcml south would definitely make profit as its highly requested and even if dtg want to large more its fine with me as long as we are getting routes worth justifying the pricetag. Kassel - Wurzburg in my opinion was a route that lacked those, hence why its boring. If they even wanted to really add a German high speed line, they should've considered koln-frankfurt, that's a more interesting route. My point is with a mainline it's not just 125mph, there's other parts to it and that's what makes it a viable option. Hundreds of scenarios, loads of rolling stock/AI, busy timetables, freight, 125mph, local stoppers, etc. I know dtg employees are not robots, and i understand that, but at least dtg should take it into consideration as its a good move financially and practically. And if dtg add the wcml, you can layer in BCC, LC and the bakerloo line. It makes the game more interesting as there's more to do. Longer routes with stations and mixed services are more replayable. If dtg want to make tsw their flagship game then they have to take things like this into consideration.
that's on the team then, they have to set more realistic timeframes??? i don't mind waiting for a well optimised and a well detailed 100+ mile route
While I agree with your previous reply, it's not always possible to create a hundred mile route for every single dlc. Not everyone enjoys longer routes. I don't like them cuz they take too long and like I said there are many benefits to a shorter route. Some people like shorter routes and dtg has to cater to that.
I totally get that. but that's not what i'm asking for. Sure i don't always want do drive a 130 mile route, but then again i just want a mainline because tsw doesn't have any proper mainlines apart from the old gwe which is considered short nowadays. If they added the wcml, i wouldn't mind short routes for a while after that. just want a big route every now and then, like one in a year or something
Fair enough. To be fair, tsw3 came with long routes so we might see some longer routes next year. You can always hope.
It depends on the route they are making, look a bcc, it's short but there is plenty to do. Takes over an hour to run the full length. I would prefer some longer routes but not high speed. It would be good if they done like 40 miles of mainline with 60 odd miles of branches or vice versa. Kassel wurzburg I find quite boring, no stopping just in and out of tunnels all the way, makes me dread a channel tunnel route.
There are too many new things needed to make a route like WCML South happen in TSW at the moment. It barely made it into TSC even though all the stock already existed (more-or-less) and even then the initial release felt like an unfinished mess (and we still didn't get the Northampton loop)… ECML South might be doable but don't expect it with the Hertford loop and Moorgate branch. 76 miles with 24 stations should be within reason, and the necessary stock for a well populated timetable could be featured too if done right. It's a bit more complicated than only looking at route mileage as a metric when considering which routes to make next.
i would take an Ecml south. that literally fits in with my point that I was making. you have an admixture and you even have depots. moorgate line is doable but hertford loop is idk
I do wish for longer route like the NEC Philadelphia to Penn, WCML and ECML. These are would be long but would offer lots of variety. But we don't need another route like Kassel-Wurzburg which got boring really fast
SKW is by far the best route I’ve seen yet and that’s my opinion. Maybe it’s blinded by the fact I’m a highspeed lover and I’m obsessed
I think the problem is route modeling, you can't really have a good long distance route in a highly populated area without spending time modeling the unique stations along those lines, as well as the scenery. Even Harlem Line, a relatively short route, still lacks unique buildings along its line.
