I feel they've got overly ambitious overly fast.
Like DLCs for other countries. Why ? Poland is huge. So many interesting lines and equipment can be added without having to create many other signaling systems, assets, terrain, textures, etc. and these lines can be interconnected to the existing network AND in multiplayer which is, to me, THE ONE HUGE selling point of SimRail over TSW : seamless driving, dispatching (and potentially shunting) over long distances on many different realistic routes and timetables.
They need to refine the sim, the scenarios, bring the editor online (the community will gladly help fill some missing content without asking)
This is a fairly niche gaming market with limited ressources due to limited players. Focus should be on the core routes and game mechanics, potential paid DLCs like the ET22 and much more to support that model. I'm ready to accept that business model since it's simply too niche of a hobby. As long as it's not a total ripoff like TSW has been for years now.
I agree the "full version" wording is outright misleading. It's nowehere complete, full, finished, whatever. They could have just worded it "leaving Early Access" (or simply not change anything at all). It's overly ambitious and at this rate will take many years to ressemble what we were hoping for.
But they should first and foremost refocus themselves on the core product and railway network, make every piece of equipment work in the current multiplayer environment would be nice... Having the line DLCs to generate more revenue and content is a must. And I'd say : editor would be a must. Have the community actually help them in creating custom interesting scenarios. This is espacially true of shunting where the multi doesn't really have any provision for interesting stuff to do without causing problems to the whole server potentially. Having single player complex shunting yard tasks to either drive or dispatch would be a very nice addition to repetitive long haul driving as it's a very interesting part of the railway industry behind the scenes. Refine the current simulation : braking just isn't cutting it. It is way better than TSW, no argument here but still... Heavy freight should imply "G" timing selection and somewhat realistic delays. In the aforementioned shunting scenarios one could be required to switch wagons to the correct brake timing (P/G and a bonus for bulk wagons : the loading selector (not sure of the correct english jargon, I'm a railway worker but French ^^ ))
Small details also : the "gamey" parts with score and penalties. It's already nice but I could see more driver actions being scored like having a bonus if you cut off the traction in overhead line breaks ("neutral sections") and like a small penalty if not (-10 or something symbolic as not to overly annoy people ^^), having a small penalty if you trip the overload relay/stay in resistor range too long. You know : player engagement stuff. Also scoring dispatchers (bonus/penalties for dispatching in time, using interlocks correctly, slap on the wrist for Sz, etc. ^^)
Anyway. I'm kinda sad this game is so promising and yet straddles the line of abandonware most of the time it's scary.
I feel they've got overly ambitious overly fast. Like DLCs for other countries. Why ? Poland is huge. So many interesting lines and equipment can be added without having to create many other signaling systems, assets, terrain, textures, etc. and these lines can be interconnected to the existing network AND in multiplayer which is, to me, THE ONE HUGE selling point of SimRail over TSW : seamless driving, dispatching (and potentially shunting) over long distances on many different realistic routes and timetables. They need to refine the sim, the scenarios, bring the editor online (the community will gladly help fill some missing content without asking) This is a fairly niche gaming market with limited ressources due to limited players. Focus should be on the core routes and game mechanics, potential paid DLCs like the ET22 and much more to support that model. I'm ready to accept that business model since it's simply too niche of a hobby. As long as it's not a total ripoff like TSW has been for years now. I agree the "full version" wording is outright misleading. It's nowehere complete, full, finished, whatever. They could have just worded it "leaving Early Access" (or simply not change anything at all). It's overly ambitious and at this rate will take many years to ressemble what we were hoping for. But they should first and foremost refocus themselves on the core product and railway network, make every piece of equipment work in the current multiplayer environment would be nice... Having the line DLCs to generate more revenue and content is a must. And I'd say : editor would be a must. Have the community actually help them in creating custom interesting scenarios. This is espacially true of shunting where the multi doesn't really have any provision for interesting stuff to do without causing problems to the whole server potentially. Having single player complex shunting yard tasks to either drive or dispatch would be a very nice addition to repetitive long haul driving as it's a very interesting part of the railway industry behind the scenes. Refine the current simulation : braking just isn't cutting it. It is way better than TSW, no argument here but still... Heavy freight should imply "G" timing selection and somewhat realistic delays. In the aforementioned shunting scenarios one could be required to switch wagons to the correct brake timing (P/G and a bonus for bulk wagons : the loading selector (not sure of the correct english jargon, I'm a railway worker but French ^^ )) Small details also : the "gamey" parts with score and penalties. It's already nice but I could see more driver actions being scored like having a bonus if you cut off the traction in overhead line breaks ("neutral sections") and like a small penalty if not (-10 or something symbolic as not to overly annoy people ^^), having a small penalty if you trip the overload relay/stay in resistor range too long. You know : player engagement stuff. Also scoring dispatchers (bonus/penalties for dispatching in time, using interlocks correctly, slap on the wrist for Sz, etc. ^^) Anyway. I'm kinda sad this game is so promising and yet straddles the line of abandonware most of the time it's scary.
