Does anyone use free roam?

[Ximmy]

Hi all *waves*
I'm new around here and new to railworks.
I'm a flight simmer at heart, but I'm guessing there are a few of those around here.
I'm loving railworks so far, but I'm not very sure about those free roam "scenarios". Does anyone use them?
I don't really see the point to them, I suppose the point is there is no point .
Thinking about it free roam is what I do with my flight sim (x-plane) I don't do virtual airlines, I like to make up and fly my own "tours" (touring a specific area). I suppose there is to much other stuff to keep me occupied in railworks scenarios etc, maybe once I have done them to death I will start to explore the free roams. So do other people use em? I guess you could make up your own "unofficial" timetable for passenger stuff, or make some freight deliveries up?
Cheers
Xim

[Acorncomputer]

Hi

I think free roam scenarios are included with add-ons to give a variety of places and locos for people to use just to get them going.

In practice you can create as many free roam scenarios yourself as you like for any route with locos and rolling stock dotted all over your chosen route/routes. You may have a particular theme for a free roam such as a freight pick up and drop off in a different order to the last time you ran that particular free roam. You might also write a little set of instructions for your scenario that gives you freedom to follow a plan but without the formality of a standard or career scenario.

You can also add in a little bit of AI traffic although free roams do not 'officially' support AI.

Free Roam is therefore a good description as you can go where you want when you want. The Phorum Peninsular route has Standard Gauge, Narrow Gauge and Trams that you can jump to during the scenario so you can start on a Narrow Gauge jaunt up the hill, jump to a tram when you get back and then jump to a standard gauge loco to do a spin around the island. In fact you could literally stay in one free roam scenario all day if you wished.

How cool is that

[ashgray]

They're also an excellent way of learning a route's gradients, speeds, signals, branches, etc, so you can sharpen up your driving skills and do well at career scenarios, for example.

Ash

[gypbrc]

They're also excellent for testing routes and signalling as you can set the variety of different possible paths. Some people enjoy shunting wagons around or making their own diagrams without being told what to do as in a normal scenario. Also, it is possible to script the consists as it is in normal scenarios, so you could even have a bit of background traffic going by.

[AndiS]

It all depends on how you approach the game, and railways in general. If you want to achieve a preset goal, standard and career scenarios are for you. If you think it is still challenging or entertaining enough to drive trains without an official "you did it" alert, then freeroam is for you.

The two main bonuses are:
1) When set up well, each freeroam scenario contains a dozen of "story lines" or "jobs". You make them up yourself and just go for it. Sure, someone could do a set of standard scenarios depicting these jobs, but that takes time.

2) There is no danger of some alert popping up "you failed" just because you did not understand the instructions given by the scenario creator (they are not all totally clear), or you just like to do it a bit different. It is your sparetime after all and despite the promising name, doing career scenarios buys you nothing at all, other than really childish glitter like "big honker" if you honk a lot (or was that hoot or toot?)

So if you are not after virtual airlines, as you say, freeroam scenarios may well be for you.

One word of caution though: In railways, you normally have a bunch of signal man making sure that the switches are set right for the driver. In RW, and most of all in freeroam scenarios, you take both roles, so always look a bit ahead on the map (key 9) to see if the next few miles are set in a way you like it, or change the path in time. Once you did a route, you know how it is set. Unfortunately, RW does not show you more than a few miles ahead, so you cannot set up a whole trip before starting. But the scenario creator can, and often does.

[FoggyMorning]

The two main bonuses are:
1) When set up well, each freeroam scenario contains a dozen of "story lines" or "jobs". You make them up yourself and just go for it. Sure, someone could do a set of standard scenarios depicting these jobs, but that takes time.

This is the key thing for me; like any other type of scenario, there are "good" free roams and not so good ones. The best ones will give you a variety of engines and trains to choose from, not just at the start of the route but at various places throughout the route also, with other stock sensibly placed at interesting points along the way allowing the user to journey up and down the line to his/her heart's content, creating tasks as they go along and never having to worry about the intentions of a scenario writer or fulfilling some specific instruction in order to make progress

[220389]

Free-roams are great to do some route learning, as others have said, and for me to test new trains, sounds and practice driving other classes overal.

Chris

[darkdj]

I personally think all routes should have a few free roam scenarios, dotted at key places on the routes. They are good, as previously mentioned, for learnin a route's geometry, gradients and track layouts before tackling any of the proper "scenarios".

Dark.

[Ximmy]

Ok cheers all, some good answers and food for thought there.
Thanks
Xim

[will48]

Free Roams are useful. I just object to them being included as 'Scenarios' when bundled with a (payware) route.

[bigvern]

Very rarely, in fact probably not at all.

[bdy26]

I use them for testing and screenshots a great deal. They're also great for shunting and for trips along branchlines where there would be little or no other traffic. I do think they shouldn't be counted in the number of scenarios included with payware unless it is clear how many are free roam.

B

[briyeo1950]

All the time, Falmouth Station is my current micro scenario world

[TransportSteve]

I'm loving railworks so far, but I'm not very sure about those free roam "scenarios". Does anyone use them?
I don't really see the point to them, I suppose the point is there is no point .
Cheers
Xim

Welcome to the forum, Xim, I think you will find that these free roam scenarios are extremely useful for exploring your way around every route. If you take a train out and find out half way around the map that you are missing tracks, or, a bridge / viaduct, then, you don't have time to stop before you have a crash. As others have stated, you need to determine where passenger stations and freight yards are located, the gradients, signals, etc, etc, as well as if there are any missing assets, that you will need to find to complete the layout. Trust us, you will see the point of these freeroams when you've download hundreds of routes over time, they are not all the same.

Cheerz. Transport Steve.

[stephenholmes]

Good morning
I agree entirely with Steve (Foggy Morning)
If done well free roam can work well
I will ensure that on Candlewick it will be possible to switch from train to tram or tram to train
This is a good way of making free roam scenarios engaging
Kind regards Stephen