Stuck on what to purchase next

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Stuck on what to purchase next 11/10/2023 at 22:42 #153612
ParisHL
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4 posts 		Hey all. I know, I know, another "what should I buy" thread, but I've been looking for my next purchase and for the life of me I don't know what one to choose.

I played Westbury first and enjoyed it for the timetable variety and different movements, and my first purchase was Portsmouth as I fancied something a bit smaller. It was perhaps a little on the easy side, but was a nice simulation to unwind on when I didn't want to be stressed!

Lately though, I've been really enjoying Carlisle as it's busy enough to keep me engaged without the need to fast forward time except at the dead of night. I tried going back to Westbury but it didn't really compare. I think I enjoyed the planning around Carlisle station and the regulation of freight and express services to the south. It also seemed to have more variety. Knowing that fact I bought Doncaster South as the Wiki page mentions that it provided a big regulation challenge, but I didn't find that to be the case. I found myself fast-forwarding time constantly as the planning was quite easy.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a simulation similar to Carlisle that has a lot of variety, that one person can handle, without the need for ARS?

I've been eyeing off some of the New South Wales simulations (I'm a Driver in Sydney), but ARS puts me off as I feel like it's almost "cheating".
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Stuck on what to purchase next 11/10/2023 at 22:56 #153613
Dionysusnu
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575 posts 		ARS is optional on most (if not all?) sims that have it. You can simply turn it off at startup, or turn off the individual sub-areas, and it'll almost be like it was never there in the first place.
Last edited: 11/10/2023 at 22:57 by Dionysusnu
Reason: None given
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Stuck on what to purchase next 11/10/2023 at 22:57 #153614
9pN1SEAp
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1102 posts
Online 		Hi

I’d like to suggest Central Scotland. It’s got freight and opportunities for regulation, and with a good bit of practice you can run it solo without ARS once you get it’s rhythm. Worth an evaluation.

Motherwell has even more freight but it’s possibly too big to run without ARS (though you can solo it if you supervise the ARS to stop it doing unhelpful things!)

Thanks
Jamie
Jamie S (JAMS)
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Stuck on what to purchase next 12/10/2023 at 00:34 #153616
ParisHL
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4 posts 		Dionysusnu in post 153613 said:
ARS is optional on most (if not all?) sims that have it. You can simply turn it off at startup, or turn off the individual sub-areas, and it'll almost be like it was never there in the first place.
Yeah I did know that, unfortunately I don't have the willpower to leave them turned off!
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Stuck on what to purchase next 12/10/2023 at 09:37 #153620
bugsy
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1698 posts 		ParisHL in post 153612 said:
Knowing that fact I bought Doncaster South as the Wiki page mentions that it provided a big regulation challenge, but I didn't find that to be the case. I found myself fast-forwarding time constantly as the planning was quite easy.
Your "failures" settings must be too low.
If you set them higher so that trains are late and out of sequence and introduce Signal, Point and Track Circuit failures, the sim can get quite challenging with more regulation involved.

Give it a try.
Everything that you make will be useful - providing it's made of chocolate.
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Stuck on what to purchase next 12/10/2023 at 14:32 #153624
Andy174
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90 posts 		Hi, I play mostly single person sims and would suggest you have a look at Feltham, Woking and Warrington. All 3 are intense at times but not overwhelming, Warrington in particular has a number of timetables through the 70's, 90's and more recent times reflecting the changing traffic patterns.
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Stuck on what to purchase next 12/10/2023 at 20:03 #153625
ProfessorStupid
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52 posts 		I've recently been enjoying playing Crewe as a single player. Personally, I haven't found it too challenging but it is a varied simulation.
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Stuck on what to purchase next 12/10/2023 at 22:36 #153626
ParisHL
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4 posts 		bugsy in post 153620 said:
Your "failures" settings must be too low.
If you set them higher so that trains are late and out of sequence and introduce Signal, Point and Track Circuit failures, the sim can get quite challenging with more regulation involved.

Give it a try.
I can never seem to get the failures setting to a realistic level. I'd like it to be at a level so that I get maybe one failure every 24 hours, instead, even on the lowest setting I'll get a failure, it gets fixed, and then within an hour another pops up!

9pN1SEAp in post 153614 said:
I’d like to suggest Central Scotland.
I like the look of this one. I did the 15 minute demo and it seems to tick all the boxes. Thank you for that suggestion!

Andy174 in post 153624 said:
Feltham, Woking and Warrington
Feltham looks quite interesting, I think I'll disable to the level crossings though, there's like 50! Thank you for your suggestions. Warrington looks really good as it's not a huge area.
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Stuck on what to purchase next 13/10/2023 at 13:56 #153628
Andy174
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90 posts 		Re Feltham you'll probably find keeping the level crossings enabled adds to the enjoyment of the sim, they certainly keep you on your toes and forward thinking is required.
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Stuck on what to purchase next 13/10/2023 at 15:23 #153629
i26
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306 posts 		Andy174 in post 153628 said:
Re Feltham you'll probably find keeping the level crossings enabled adds to the enjoyment of the sim, they certainly keep you on your toes and forward thinking is required.
Feltham with level crossings especially solo can be quite the challenge.
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Stuck on what to purchase next 14/10/2023 at 05:52 #153637
kaiwhara
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584 posts 		ParisHL in post 153612 said:

I've been eyeing off some of the New South Wales simulations (I'm a Driver in Sydney), but ARS puts me off as I feel like it's almost "cheating".
You can always turn ARS off, however Central Coast NSW doesn't have any ARS. That might be a good one to have a go at, and probably quite familiar turf for you!

The Kiwi
Sorry guys, I am in the business of making people wait!
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Stuck on what to purchase next 14/10/2023 at 08:40 #153641
andyallen4014
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358 posts 		Andy174 in post 153624 said:
Hi, I play mostly single person sims and would suggest you have a look at Feltham, Woking and Warrington. All 3 are intense at times but not overwhelming, Warrington in particular has a number of timetables through the 70's, 90's and more recent times reflecting the changing traffic patterns.
Definitely agree on Warrington. Good as a single player and enough decisions to be made throughout, and easy to bugger it by letting a freight out (or across) in front of an express!
User | Multiplayer Host | Timetable Writer
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Stuck on what to purchase next 14/10/2023 at 12:31 #153649
drew
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69 posts 		Penrith with ARS running St Marys, but Penrith box itself in manual is pretty good. Strathfield seems unmanageable without ARS or a couple of area controllers. North Sydney also looks a bit involved. I’m very interested to try Central Coast, but I’m waiting for the exchange rate to improve.

Moss Vale is my favorite though. ARTC have a lot to answer for, but their workstation is pretty slick.
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Stuck on what to purchase next 14/10/2023 at 12:46 #153650
flabberdacks
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582 posts 		ParisHL in post 153612 said:


I've been eyeing off some of the New South Wales simulations (I'm a Driver in Sydney), but ARS puts me off as I feel like it's almost "cheating".
SwinDid (Swindon and Didcot) is good for this. There's more than enough in the supplied 2005 timetable to keep you interested. Start the game with ARS on, but run the Didcot workstation manually. As you get more confident, switch the ARS off at Swindon and Wootton Bassett and run the whole sim yourself. I say without exaggeration that SwinDid taught me how to run a busy junction.

ARS is good for taking care of areas you don't care about, lets you focus on the bits you're interested in - but it's not infallible! You might notice it doing something ridiculous, which gives you a problem to solve you didn't have before (just as it does in real life...).

Have fun!
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Stuck on what to purchase next 14/10/2023 at 12:54 #153651
flabberdacks
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582 posts 		drew in post 153649 said:
Penrith with ARS running St Marys, but Penrith box itself in manual is pretty good. Strathfield seems unmanageable without ARS or a couple of area controllers. North Sydney also looks a bit involved. I’m very interested to try Central Coast, but I’m waiting for the exchange rate to improve.

Moss Vale is my favorite though. ARTC have a lot to answer for, but their workstation is pretty slick.
Sydney North is designed for you to operate Hornsby station manually as it's the busiest panel and main focus of the sim. The rest of the sim should pretty much run itself on ARS (except for any Lavender Bay phonecalls). If you try it with this in mind, it might be more approachable for you?

Central Coast is slower, closer to Moss Vale in pace. Not quite as big a territory as MV but more trains - it will give you something to think about at all times without being overwhelming.
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Stuck on what to purchase next 14/10/2023 at 14:57 #153654
KCRCRailway
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28 posts 		I brought Edinburgh and played 10 hours so far in full chaos mode. It was somehow doable in single player even with all the mess I got (well, by doable I mean trains end up with 100min delay due to two set of TC failure immediately outside Haymarket).
It will still be an interesting sim for solo if you choose to play with lower diffculty, will take a few hour to figure out what you are doing but once you get it works satisfactury went sky high.
Do enjoy editing TT on go for divert if you lost route to Dalmeny or Linligoth though.

PS: Played without ARS but with TORR since I still need some sanity.Also obviously need to pause to think and edit TT with at least 3 TC failure and 3 train failed at critical stations with no alternative routes.
Last edited: 14/10/2023 at 14:59 by KCRCRailway
Reason: None given
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Stuck on what to purchase next 14/10/2023 at 15:49 #153655
Cedric
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42 posts 		I'm glad you are enjoying Carlisle. I think it is one of the most interesting SIMs around. One thing that nobody has suggested so far is to download the 1979/80 timetable onto the SIM, from the timetables section on the website. This has lots of freight workings, loco changes in Carlisle station, run-rounds and splitting/attaching. You have to keep on your toes to avoid stitching yourself up, and to make maters more complicated there are variations to the timetable on each day of the week which can catch you out. Give it a try if you haven't already.

I agree with other comments on Feltham. But personally I'd begin with level crossings disabled until you understand the geography and service pattern, and then you can enable them. You can only enable/disable level crossings at the start of a game.

As others have said, Crewe is good. It is a very complex although relatively compact area.

Whatever you choose, there is hours of fun and education here.
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Stuck on what to purchase next 15/10/2023 at 15:49 #153665
slatteryc
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250 posts 		It sounds like Wembley Mainline will be a good challenge for you - no ARS . Once you get the hang of the Euston pattern its good fun keeping up
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