CLASS101 Strathclyde

[TransportSteve]

Forgive me, but, I've only just seen this release, will this overwrite the Class 101 we already own, as I have a few liveries that I'm very fond of and don't want to lose them, or, will we now have 2 models, one old and one new one ??

Cheerz. Transport Steve.

[jimmyshand]

I had decided to retire from forums and get on with driving! However, this very interesting and very important thread has pulled me temporarily out of retirement!

I've long been quite critical of RSC and held the bar of the standard I expect as a customer very high indeed. On the subject of the Class 101 it may surprise then to know that I am actually quite in favour of what RSC are doing here (although note - not the price!).

I've raised the point here on this forum on many occasions that we UK users have dipped out quite a bit because most of our locos were created under the original RS game or under RW1/2 before we had the delights of advanced features, high-poly cabs and TSX rain effects etc. This frustrated me no end and so I was actually pleased to see that RSC were not turning their backs on the UK fleet and are actually prepared to revisit some of our favourites and bring them more up to date. Class 101 and 66 being prime examples. The alternative is that they take the line of "what's done is done" and then we'd be cut adrift driving outdated locos whilst the Americans and Germans get the new all-singing, all-dancing feature-laden locos as standard!

Now all that said, here comes the but. The price is a bit of a sting to say the least, 12 quid is a big ask and a bit of a kick in the teeth for us old salts. However I'm going to go against my ususal stance and stick my neck out for RSC here, we all know that big sales are never more than a few weeks away and with just a drop of patience we can pick the 101 up for a much more reasonable 5 quid or so. A fiver is acceptable I think for a few scenarios and to get the rain effects. The class 101 has such a hoofing big windscreen that it's crying out to be rained upon! It would be worth a fiver just for that alone. The full price tag of 12 quid is probably aimed at new-users who don't have the original. For us old salts just hang in there for the sale.

Final thought - Positive note to take away is that RSC are prepared to revisit and revamp older stock and it's something several of us have wished for for some time. Let's not put them off by making to much of a fuss, the alternative of them washing their hands of older stock is far far worse.

[jivebunny]

Forgive me, but, I've only just seen this release, will this overwrite the Class 101 we already own, as I have a few liveries that I'm very fond of and don't want to lose them, or, will we now have 2 models, one old and one new one ??

Cheerz. Transport Steve.

It won't do anything to the original 101 (which is what most of us are complaining about, incidentally). You're not really going to part with £12 for a reskin are you?

JB

[1S811985]

Dear oh dear.

I was so looking foward to this release. I live in the Strathclyde area, spend most of my RW time on WCML and E-G, enjoy the PTE livery era and have fond memories of both working and traveling on the 101's.

I was expecting, not unreasonably I'd happily argue, that this would be an upgrade and expansion to the original 101 package and if it were then I'd happily pay the asking price. But this? No chance. Even reduced by 50% it would still be a rip-off.

Whats next? An expansion to this new 101 pack featuring the original liveries? I'm struggling otherwise to explain why half the vehicle types are included since they never carried SPTE livery. Surely no-one can be so deluded as to think that we're going to part with this sort of money over and over again for each individual livery? And yet every indication is that this is exactly what we can expect.

Consider for a moment the implications of this going forward. People have been bemoaning the withdrawal of items from the catalouge and some have been artfully trying to foster the impression that this is in order that they can be updated and re-released (gratis or at a heavy discount). I think that hope, faint as it always was, has now faded away to nothing. Want a predication? It wont be too long until we find that items that have been withdrawn start to become incompatible with future upgrades of RW. They'll just stop working one day and be deemed as "no longer supported". But don't worry, a newer version will always be available at £11.99 a pop!

1S81

[FoityBill68]

As it seems this is the only Class 101 to be updated, this pack should have been offered to existing Class 101 purchasers at a discount - remember we paid £14.99 not £11.99 for the original (now obsolete) pack. As others have said this is a 'sale only' item and probably need to be a 66% off to interest me.

I feel this is a different situation to the one around the new Class 57 pack(s) as in that case we DID get our original packs updated for free, whereas in this case the originals are seemingly being dropped.

[TransportSteve]

It won't do anything to the original 101 (which is what most of us are complaining about, incidentally). You're not really going to part with £12 for a reskin are you?
JB

Thanks a lot for your reply JB, errrrr, no, I won't buy this at full whack, I'll probably get it in the Christmas sale, it isn't just a reskin though, Uncle Derek has no doubt been sitting at his workstation for a few weeks grinding away doing a passenger view and other tweaks, so, I don't mind parting with a little money, on this occassion, but, it would've been nice just for a few quid, as we're past customers of the original product.
I agree with what 1S81 said though, that in future all the older pre-RW3 models will probably become obsolete forcing us to buy the newer products that RSC upgrades and releases for us, that's the only way they'll stay in business, and currently I have approx. $3,000 USD worth of Railworks Payware assets, donationware stuff, both DLC and 3rd party content, purchased from across the world over these last 3/4 years, sitting on my hard drive, I 'aint going to lose out on playing with them in the future, we've got to keep RSC going, otherwise, we may as well give up purchasing anything from them right now and let them go down the tubes, can we afford to do that, I can't, this is where they have us veteran Railsimmers by the short 'n curlies.

Cheerz. Transport Steve.

[theorganist]

They could have at least included a BR Blue and a NSE one for users of the Newcastle to York and Paddington to Oxford routes, then I might have been tempted. I might still get it in the sale.

For me all it would take to make a very good model (and one of my favourites) into an excellent model is the AP pro-pack treatment. I would rather pay AP £5.00 for a pro-pack than £11.99 to RSC for one reskin, I am not that fussed by rain effects, although they are nice!

I cannot understand why RS.Com have taken to producing only one livery as it restricts its operational potential, although I suppose we do have quite a few Scottish routes.

Peter.

[deltic009]

They could have at least included a BR Blue and a NSE one for users of the Newcastle to York and Paddington to Oxford routes, then I might have been tempted. I might still get it in the sale.

For me all it would take to make a very good model (and one of my favourites) into an excellent model is the AP pro-pack treatment. I would rather pay AP £5.00 for a pro-pack than £11.99 to RSC for one reskin, I am not that fussed by rain effects, although they are nice!

I cannot understand why RS.Com have taken to producing only one livery as it restricts its operational potential, although I suppose we do have quite a few Scottish routes.

Peter.

Probably because reskinning is a fairly easy task that many in the wider community can do, sometimes with more attention to detail variation than RSC themselves (just look how feverishly obsessed I've become with a bleeding 221 reskin for example )

[47815]

anyone fancy a repaint "free" if you own the new pack ?

still have some bits to sort out

[FoggyMorning]

crumplezone has got it absolutely right.

Are we going to be charged another £11.99 for a blue livery, I wonder? £11.99 for each variant?

I do hope so. As I said above, a blue or green version with new scenarios for Woodhead, Regional Rail for Settle to Carlisle, or possibly even NSE for the Portsmouth or Brighton routes would be much more appealing for me. Since this was a pretty ubiquitous unit in its working life it would be a shame to not have some more varieties of livery and route options.

Still, it is good to see new stock is still being produced for "older" (relatively speaking) routes such as WCML - one fairly major complaint that has been levied in the past has been that once add-on routes are released, they are forgotten about by RS.com. Fortunately, releases such as the new 101 and the Thompson B! & Robinson O4 steamers for Woodhead suggest that that is no longer the case.

[Fodda]

I cannot understand why RS.Com have taken to producing only one livery as it restricts its operational potential, although I suppose we do have quite a few Scottish routes.

So that in a few weeks thay can release a BR Blue version of the 101 pack for another £12... And then a BR Green 101 pack for another £12. On top of this after the Freightliner 66 comes the EWS 66 pack, followed by the GBRf 66 pack, etc etc. Each again at around the £12 mark.

This is how they can afford to upgrade the core for free, they're getting us with the DLC. It's the way the games market goes these days. But I'm not interested in buying single livery packs.

Of course, this is only speculation on my part, and I'm a cynical old wotsit at the best of times... But watch this space.

[AndyM77]

Paul Jackson - ex- Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts, sequel after sequel and online servers turned off after 2 years so you have to buy new ones.

RSC = New EA (RSC need to learn that EA have a bad reputation due to the above, and SHOULD NOT follow this path!)

[smarty2]

I just think they are copying VR's model of charging for repaints imo, its a good money spinner, only difference is Ulf's repaints are half the price of RSC's effort. It would be interesting to know exactly what is different in this reskin version to the original? I think 1S81 has got it right.

[smarty2]

This is how they can afford to upgrade the core for free, they're getting us with the DLC.

How many actually re purchased the "core" purely to get two new routes? So it would seem many didn't actually get it for free.

[thetrainfan]

It would be interesting to know exactly what is different in this reskin version to the original?

http://dpsimulation.blogspot.co.uk/2012 ... eased.html