Hey you bring up a good point. I consider it innovative because they are trying to develop a non-Microsoft owned IP story/lore behind the Stormgate characters, even if in terms of game mechanics they are trying to achieve “Starcraft 2 with a new coat of paint and business model”.
Beyond All Reason (open source with FOSS engine), Stormgate (proprietary but made by ex-SC2 devs) are separate attempts at what I would call innovating the RTS genre.
AoE2 DE by Microsoft is tried, true and super popular still but many aspects are still from the original game 20 years ago. AoE 4 seems to kind of be the attempt at improving the formula, seems okay.
The Starcraft 2 engine is amazing but now under Microsoft ownership, I was hopeful initially but it looks as though it will continue to be left to rot. If only they could give it a Halo makeover using the same engine that would be awesome.
Look, you will have a sizable contingent of people shelling out an additional $20 to $80 just to play a game a few days early, with little to no other benefits. Their impatience is capitalized on.
The TSW5 Starter Pack is free to register to your account on Steam, Epic, Microsoft and Sony platforms, available to claim until Oct 17 2024.
If you don’t have any current or previous TSW addons you will only have access to the tutorial training centre route.
If you have compatible content from earlier Train Sim World routes, getting the starter pack will allow you to obtain the TSW5 version of the route and locos as a free DLC.
Congratulations! 1 more country to beat the threshold requirement (after the Netherlands whose threshold seems will be crossed imminently). France and Ireland seem like solid contenders.
To play H2’s advocate for a moment, if LA can’t seem to get the financial and political backing to invest in electrification quickly, it is a potential way for LA to pull a “passenger train network” out of its ass in time for the 2028 Olympics…
It’s quieter and no emissions at the location of travel kind similar to CNG/LNG. (Some electricity face similar problems of not being zero emissions from generation)… but I do think it’s worth exploring for some minor applications.
Edit: to be clear, electric and battery trains are better technologies by miles and miles. Just that the oil and freight rail lobbyists are in California’s pocket for now so I’m just saying the best case scenario for Los Angeles given the powers that be and hold SoCal back
This is what mods are meant for… to bring a beautiful setting and game engine to its limits beyond what story and gameplay could be crammed in at release.