What's going on with Armstrong Powerhouse? ~ A Train Simulator Discussion 

Thought I'd give this a watch as it looked interesting and that reference at the start caught me really off guard. Literally threw my lunch out my hands lol. But yes, a good video with some very valid points made 😅

There's 3 problems with AP. 1) Richard is reliant on other people to do his 3D modelling for him and those people are all busy doing other things. He needs a new strategy. Either find someone new to work with or learn how to model himself. 2) He has no competition. Theres literally no one else doing what he does so he has a monopoly and can charge what he likes and people feel compelled to buy his stuff because the alternative is crap products from DTG (who themselves don't really have any direct competitors). 3) It's also a pretty niche market compared to other games so he beeds to price quite highly to make it worth his time.

*_'You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain'_*

The sky and weather enhancement pack should've INCLUDED the enhanced clouds. Should not have related things separated into different packs at double or triple the price they should be.

AP gets a bit too much praise in my opinion. When they take time to make a good product, it is good but their business practices are a shame and feel like something you would see from Dovetail Games. It's as if they are trying to piss off loyal customers by cutting corners at times to do less work but have the nerve to raise prices as well. Yep, that definitely reminds me of Dovetail Games. I guess AP took a couple lessons from Dovetail

They turned the comments off because Dickie doesn't like hearing the truth of what he has now become.

What annoys me most about AP is how they get rid of their old products without replacing them. I wanted to buy the AP class 153 sound pack but they took it off sale, and recently they took their class 142 pacer off sale as well.

When they recently raised the prices of all of their existing products, they cited inflation as the reasoning but I have my suspicions that the lack of any actually useful train packs/EPs for a long time is a much larger contributing factor. Now, with the price increases, they're also pricing any new customers out of buying old packs, inevitably hammering their income. And them disabling comments is such an obvious way of hiding any and all critiques. This is a nightmare scenario for any business and they've lost me as a customer as well.

I'm a big AP Fanboy, own every product they have ever made in the past 11 years except the cloud pack. Personally love the weather pack for thunder and things like that but that's just me, the fact that I've paid for the first weather pack, then a second, and now they want me to pay in full again for a cloud pack does really annoy me but the thing that really makes me question AP is turning off comments, silencing criticism is just plain wrong and that makes me not want to buy anything from them again. Im mainly going on tsw3 these days and since Focus bought DoveTail the updates to improve products and fix problems on TSW have been rolled out well. Great video and you've said a lot of what I was either feeling deep down or what was really starting to boil to the surface.

I am a fan of AP and really like what they have done in the past. I do find it frustrating however that there is a lack of motive power releases, instead we seem to be only getting scenery enhancements. The Weather pack for example was a game changer in my eyes but there wasn't the need for anything further on this. Vegetation would have been acceptable a pack to enhance trackside visuals but otherwise we are missing so much in motive power. For me we are now missing Class 378 enhancements because the old 375/377 SP is required, but even that could do with a new model or an EP. No Class 376, 357 model, 165/166 SP/EP, then there’s all the newer stock. I do know that it would take a lot more resource than AP has to provide the newer stock. Even routes would be better like what you mentioned, Lowestoft to Ipswich would be awesome. With regards to pricing companies have to be able to make money in this failing economy. Even with the inaccuracies, I am still willing to pay the prices, it still enhances game play tenfold. I am however not prepared to pay for silly scenery EPs. I have found that over the last few months that there is a lack of development for new stuff for TSC, even freeware reskins/mods seems to have slowed down.

I feel that AP enhancements are grossly inaccessible now. It can cost hundreds of pounds Sterling just to get a single scenario working. The explanation of rewarding loyalty that they offer has merit but I could never recommend that anybody get sucked into their ecosystem, not to mention the reliance on discontinued products like the Virgin Trains class 390 which new users cannot purchase to satisfy dependencies. My main issue is aimed at Dovetail Games for releasing content that is of such poor quality that enhancement packs are necessary; changing the power handle on the class 170 and fixing the full service brake performance on the class 158 would eliminate the need for an enhancement as the most important thing in a train simulator is how it drives! Why does the class 68 have a grey film across the windscreen? There is also the issue that if Train Simulator Classic gets updated in Steam that things can brake requiring a frustratingly long period of reinstalling all the AP packs again. I recently bought an add-on route through Steam and found that there were no signals, although they were referenced on the HUD, and that I couldn't get beyond half throttle with the new DMU without wheel-slip at any speed. I had to reinstall the AP pack to get the route working and put simply I don't have a lifetime to spend managing all this. I have removed all AP stuff from my computer and done a clean install of Train Simulator Classic. I would like for convenience to be able to upgrade stuff through Steam only prevent the nightmare that these AP installers cause. If I could simply upgrade the Turbostar in Steam in a way that would upgrade all the existing scenarios I likely would, although ScotRail trains in Saltire livery don't have red seats the way they do with the AP enhancement pack. I like the idea of AP contributing to sounds for future TSW and Train Simulator Classic releases so that more users get to experience these.

Hi, I'm a massive Train Simulator player and member of the French community (and of the British one too, even if I'm less involved into it despite using mostly if not only British trains and routes in TS) and I'm a content (scenarios and routes) creator for TS since 2008, when it was still Rail Simulator. To be honest, I understand your thoughts about Armstrong Powerhouse, it's true that their prices have increased substantially during the last years, but I can't agree with some of the things you said. First of all, I don't think the weather EP or even the cloud EP are useless or unecessary. I'm a big fan of train driving, and I've drived tons of trains and buses in reality, and one thing I was frequently feeling in TS was the lack of different skies, clouds, etc. because each time you selected a defaut weather pattern (like fair clouds or so) you would see exactly the same sky and clouds regardless of the season. Weather EP with Clouds EP is a huge improvement in terms of immersion into the simulator, and Richard explained very well how complicated and long it was to create both these packs. I totally agree that they are quite expensive but I guess they are only made for people really obsessed with immersion and realism, and because of that, and even if I'm not rich, it did not disturb me to purchase it. Some people spend hundreds or even thousands of euros or pounds on car accessories, photo lenses or whatever passion they have, so this is not that weird, I think. What I don't understand is the fact that people complain about it like they were forced to buy it or whatever, and sometimes I have the impression people think Richard MUST do the things they want for TS. I can't remember all the numerous occasions I saw someone saying "it's a shame AP didn't do a 47 or a 166, etc " but, let's remind everybody of something, he is free to do and sell whatever he wants... If he doesn't want to make a decent 47, it is completely his right. Don't take me wrong, I'd kill to have a decent 47 in-game as I love this loco 😂 But each unit, locomotive or EP he makes takes him hundreds and hundreds of hours, so I can totally understand why he doesn't want to work on something he is not interested in. I've spend myself 15 years creating routes and scenarios for this game, for free, and offering to other simmers, and sometimes there are people (who generally are unable to create anything for the game) who come out of nowhere and literally give you orders about what they WANT you to do, like one time someone said to me "please next time don't do another scenario for the ECML but one for the WCML" or even "why don't you concentrate on creating an extension for the Midland MainLine instead of creating a fictional network ??" and to be honest it is kinda boring and upsetting to constantly receive these kind of "recommendations" or orders. Creating things for TS, even just a scenario, takes a lot of time. Sometimes it took me 5 or 6 hours just to create a 1 hour scenario, and I've spent nearly 7.500 hours on my biggest network, which is 600 km long. So I totally understand that someone, even if he sells his product, doesn't want to spend hundreds of hours on a project he has no pleasure to do... And I don't totally agree with the statement that says there have been a decrease in quality over the recent AP packs. To be honest, yes, some packs were clearly not as good as others, like the 350 or 444 / 450 packs, or the 56 pack, but most of them are brilliant. The Class 87, 800-801-802, 317 or 142 packs are top notch and without AP, Train Simulator wouldn't have been such a great and still enjoyable simulator. It's simple, I guess 90% of the trains I drive in-game are made or enhanced by AP... Not because I'm an AP fanboy or whatever, but simply because they implemented some very realistic versions of the most iconic British trains into the game (and I'm speaking as a driver myself), obviously not for all the models they have done, but for some of them, it's a game changer... And yes, there have been a price increase recently, but it doesn't shock me to be honest, as both Great Britain and France (I don't know for New Zealand?) have came across a massive economic inflation in the last few years, and if you correct there newest prices according to the inflation rate, they are in fact the same as they were a few years ago, maybe even less... Let's juste take two examples : where I am, 5 years ago, gasoline was 1,36 € per liter and a 1,5 Liters of my favourite soda was 1,69 €. Today, gasoline, here, is 1,96 € per liter and the same bottle of my favourite soda is 2,42 €... That's a 40 to 50 % increase, so a locomotive pack that was 20 £ a few years ago and which costs 25 £ now isn't such a big increase, that's only 25 % more, and given the quality of most of these packs and hours of work needed to make them, I think this is quite reasonable. We also need not to forget that we are a niche market, and so naturally prices tend to higher as Richard needs to earn enough money to live... 😕

Armstrong Powerhouse should be renamed Ripoff Powerhouse these days as your paying alot more and getting alot less.

Granted, who is worse at this point, Armstrong Powerhouse, Dovetail Games, or Rivet? I think the Wherry Lines would of been a good choice for TSW myself. Me personally, I only have a small number of routes for Train Simulator Classic, including both Woodhead Routes, as I find TSW much more usable with timetable mode and all. But I wonder if like Dovetail, Armstrong got onto a gravy train they couldn't get off?

I liked the idea of the signals pack, but £14.99 was too much. I was okay with the idea of the Clouds pack, but selling that for £20 is ridiculous and completely turned me off of actually getting it. First time I think I've seen the Trailer on their RU-vid channel have more Dislikes than Likes. It's insulting.

Yeah. I dont know whats up with them. It seems they have turned to the dark side. And turning off comments is an arrogant thing to do. I have never seen anyone say anything bad on there that would warrant that from them either.

Anyone would get a big head and know they can charge what they want when their posts used to garner “TAKE MY MONEY” comments…

You know, In regards to the AP 153, They actually did a Facebook poll back in what, 2016, 2017 or so? Asking which pack rhey should do next. The 153 won (And it featured as a story on the aforementioned TS News Show at the time).. Yet we never got it. Gold Star Trains (The development team behind the Alan Thompson Sim MPV) has started work on an entirely new Class 153, from the ground up, so hopefully, that'll be as good, if not better, then whatever AP's take may of been. Honestly, it's just sad to see that AP Richard has lost his way, as I loved all the various sprinter packs he's done over the years. It especially makes the classic Liverpool to Manchester route feel so much more alive with them around. I think a lot of the controversy of all this could've just been making the various sky and weather upgrades, as well as clouds and ststion lighting, just be one comprehensive pack, for a slightly lower fee, that would've been pretty good value. This is a great video, I hope it reaches AP to make change for the better happen, but I doubt it honestly sadly.

I completely agree with this, especially for the removed packs off of AP's website, I never got a chance at them and would like to try them, sadly (and I did make sure of this) I contacted AP myself about the matter and they replied with, "They are no longer made to a quality that we are happy to sell at", which basically means, no they are not returning, so yeah, I'm sad about that, and the opposing matter of rising prices of rolling stock and enhancements. Yes that "Cloud Enhancement Pack" is not required at all, as the original Weather EP covered it anyways. I hope somewhere somehow, someone will make the change happen to AP, for the better of their reputation and their customers.

Some valid points and I'm amazed the 2.0 Weather Pack didn't include the Cloud Pack. I don't agree that it's not needed, Like NZ the UK has extremely varied weather and it's an important to have accurate-looking clouds in a simulator of this kind. On prices, AP are UK based as you know. What you may not know is that our economy is broken so inflation is at 11% over the last 12 months, prices of everything from potatoes to PC games have rocketed unfortunately. It's not just AP. Finally, agree on the withdraw of older packs, it's so frustrating for people are who new to TSC, they end up with unrealistic scenarios because AP decided to withdraw packs

I have to agree, things have gone downhill. The 205, 37, 411/12 and 86 are great products, and their DMUs and 800 are good too. The Mk1/2/2e packs are really appreciated and decent quality….. then they come out with the Mk3 pack. Disappointing. It frustrates me that the HSTs lost their passenger view too, I get that it’s not a great model but it’s far better than looking at the powercar from a floating camera. Reading between the lines it seems they couldn’t retain their modeller, who I presume is responsible for their beautiful original content. I will say in defence of AP that I don’t blame them for the price increase. The costs of everything have shot up lately and AP is hardly shipping products at massive volume. That takes a toll on a business and I don’t begrudge them the £3 difference. It is, however, hard to justify their pricing when you look at things like JT’s Metropolitan Line, or GST’s tamper and MPVs. As for route creation, my two favourite routes are the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway by Steve Pontin and High Speed Tracks’ BHBP route. I don’t even touch Wherry Lines. The fact that independent creators can match or beat AP, often cheaper, is hard to explain away. I hope AP takes note; and goes back to their ‘quality first’ ethos. I don’t think anyone would begrudge paying them for a 47 pack on the level of the 37 one. All the ERTMS equipment in the cab of the Network Rail 37(97) would be nice too.

Don't forget about the lazy af 717 cab (the exterior is bad as well!). If they weren't going to model a new cab model for the 717, they should've just left it out of the 700 pack.

Other packs split into volumes to get money ☠️☠️ Although don’t get me wrong, their addons for most trains are simply sensational 😮

You forgot to mention that AP is a massive English Electric fanboy. It's obvious from not wanting to touch the huge gap in the market of a class47 pack which TS community has been screaming out for (the excuse for that was no decent base model....) but that didn't bother them doing a pack for the very substandard class 56 which i don't think even has working windows. We won't mention the massive gaping audio hole for Classes 33 and 44/45/46 which have a cult following, or the fact they aren't an EE powered machine. I happen to know that AP had full recordings for Class 25's years ago which were taken from D7612 - which has come to nothing, no surprise again being Sulzer and not EE. But even going back to being an EE fanboy - have they touched the 08? no........ what about 73....... no, not even the 20s. It really is tiresome, and the next £25 enhancement pack will be for bushes or fences or crossing alarms or OHLE posts or Farm animals! (fully scripted cow farts) !

Generally haven’t been a major fan of some of their business decisions. Honestly if they turned discontinued legacy content into freeware (Soundpacks!) I would be more supportive of them. Pulling content from the store kinda means bricking content that’s been available for many years

Idk if its just me but for some reason PayPal won't let me purchase anything from the site. idk if its just me that has this problem now whether its to do with AP or PayPal

Have a look at what weather packs for flight sims do. If I want more realistic signals, weather and clouds to enhance my experience in the sim then that’s up to me to purchase it or not. I want my sim to be a good representation of what it looks in reality as close as possible. Perhaps because I got useful of looking out of the front window of a train… I’ll just wait till a sale goes on at AP and get a lot of stuff at a good discount

There are no new recordings of 37901 because it is no longer in preservation, it has moved to a private contract company and they are not going to hire it out for recording the same way the previous owner did. The other 37/9s don't even run so I don't know how anyone is supposed to record those. The previous owner of the 55 used for recordings also no longer owns the two Deltics anymore, and if the new owners along with the owners of the other two working locomotives don't support having them recorded for train sims then they will not be recorded.

I only play tsw now but used to play train sim and watched the videos on all the packs years ago but i was so confused when a video popped up from them selling clouds. Then i saw all the dislikes and disabled comments then saw the weather pack and was like wow.

7:17 Hard disagree here Im afraid. The Signal EP is fantastic. Massively improves the way signals operate: slower changing aspects on older signals, bulb cycles going from red thru yellows to green, feather before aspect change, variants of approach control, delayed return to danger to avoid seeing the red appear in the side of the cab as you pass, tools for scenario creation to force certain behaviours (app cont type or forced aspect). - I think a lot of target market focuses on modern image, hence why stock like the Deltic is probably still missing an EP - its a bit too niche. Vegitation/Sky/Signal packs apply almost 'globally' to all supported routes whereas a earlier-gen Southern EMU or something like a Deltic has more limited use. - I think the 37 pack is in 2 volumes because of the sheer amount of subclass and livery combinations. Those who drive and scenario build for modern era only can probably get away with only owning the refurbished pack. AP is expensive, its the premium of the hobby and Train Simulator is a relatively niche game (especially TS Classic now that TSW caters for newer/more casual fans/enthusiasts). If I don't think something is value for money, I simply don't buy it - but from what I have bought (Track EP, Sig EP and 12 other packs for locos/stock) I've got great satisfaction. Bear in mind an alternative hobby is physical railway modelling / model railroading where ONE singular loco in ONE fixed livery sets you back a minimum of 100 pounds in the most popular scale. I dabble in that too and Train Sim is budget friendly by comparison.

I am an AP fanboy BUT I certainly recognise their shortcomings. I am so desperate to see more classic diesel stock get their treatment and yet all the time it’s just a constant stream of multiple units that (aside from the 156 & 158) I couldn’t really give a tart’s furry cup about! The only multiple unit I want to see brought up to modern spec is the 101! Aside from that, I want Sulzer splutter and gronk thrashing until my ears bleed! Even better to give the western hydraulics a look in!

Honestly, the Sky & Weather Enhancement Pack and the Cloud Enhancement Pack pricing and value really depends on the persons preferences for the game. I absolutely love these 2 packs and I see the value in them, they really transform the game for me into a much more immersive and beautiful experience rather than being stuck with the pretty crap original skies and lighting. And a reason why I care so much about stuff like this is that I love the screenshotting side of the game so I always want my game looking as good as possible too, so that’s why I think those packs are worth it if you like that sort of stuff. However all your other points that you brought up I certainly agree with, especially that of taking packs off of the site with (usually) no warning. Especially because I love to collect DLC in a way too and these removed packs certainly looked good and it upsets me that they just take things off of the site with no warning when I would’ve happily purchased them in the future. Train Simulator Classic continues to be one of my favourite simulators as I prefer it’s more “realistic” (varying of course from DLC to DLC) feel compared to Train Simulator World’s more arcade feel. But with Derail Valley’s Simulator update coming out recently, it’s on the way to becoming my favourite train simulation game, beating out Train Simulator Classic. But even so, Train Simulator Classic will still stay as my favourite for the real life stuff at least.

0:37 how did you get the mk2 dbso to have a horn and be drivable?

You can add the “Vegetation Enhancement Pack” to the list ffs… this is why I pirate their stuff

An interesting perspective as not an avid follower I do have the odd packs from AP and the only one I will get now is the Class 800 just because! But I agree it is pricey.

I think Armstrong Powerhouse done a good job on what they do.

Well said! I was thinking abt discussing the same topic on my channel. Its ridiculous over the past years. I'm still questioning if I should buy from them anymore

The problem that I see with Armstrong powerhouse is when a new loco comes out AP somehow are able to produce a sound enhancement pack or route enhancement pack such as signals sky etc in a short period after a new route is release, almost as if the main route with a new loco is deliberately worse off so it forces your hand to purchases another addon to "enhance" the poor quality of recycled locos such as the Class 52 which was apart from some basic sounds a direct copy and paste of IHH Class 52 when they purchased the rights for it.

I stopped playing train simulator classic since last year July, no point anymore. AP’s over expensive EP’s have drawn me away from TSC, now I only play OMSI 2 now.

8:08 is that the whistle or actual horn?

Hey what happened!?, I've been away from TS for a few years, But I used to use it since I have some sounds from AP, The one I always remember is the stage with the sound of the Class 37 Mirrlees with the 6 cylinder MB275 engine, Phew, it was a sonorous orgasm, I don't remember if I was going to London Paddington that stage...But I see a stir on YT and Facebook about AP and my lack of time really doesn't allow me to see the topic in depth

I been away from trainsims for long time since de MSTS, what game is this?

AP having there Bethesda Horse armour arc.

8:08 funkytown??

some time ago i saw post on their official FB page about why they turn off all comment sections. People just throw a massive wave filled with negative comments. This post was posted like, 2-3 days after Cloud pack.

AP got greedy around 2017, as you said, and then got more and more greedy. Like all of TS now. I always get reminded why I quit this game. Been 3 years since I last played, and 5 since I was regularly on it

I am a fan of AP just so you know what flag I fly, but you have pointed out some fair points worth consideration, however I disagree with two of your arguments concerning value for money, I have no idea how much it costs for you to go out for one evening to a restaurant and have some drinks after? or any other activity that costs money but I'm guessing it costs more than these packs? at least you can continue to get use out of a pack time after time but not a restaurant time after time for one previous cost. So its comparing apples with pears. As for signals and skies that is all about immersion, and for quite a few, kak kuju signals is an immesrion breaker along with unrealistic weather that gave you showers exactly every ten minutes. The weather pack is such an upgrade and some of the weather patterns are breathtakingly real! It is a pity that Richard decided to take down the old packs not having a replacement for them all that was a mistake imo, attention to detail too in some packs is dissapointing but whether that is down to lazyness or restrictions we don't know? I appreciate that we have someone though that is prepared to raise these issues so keep it up.

I completely agree with you on pretty much most of all the issues you've raised, and also I had that same thought myself as this "Cloud Enhancement Pack" being some April Fools joke (which is odd considering it's July now, lol). Though, I think most of us aren't really addressing the big elephant in the room and that is: AP's business philosophy is essentially centered around improving the Train Sim Classic experience. Why... you might ask? Because TSC is full of SH!T that's why! (and always has been). Ever since DTG took over RSC back in Kuju days their business strategy has always been about making profits over providing an immersive and realistic train simming 'experience'. Not that making profits is a bad thing or anything, not at all! But the problem you run into is if your business is about train simulators, then you're obviously going to have a niche market... and considering that it's customer base are mostly railway enthusiasts (who have a sharp attention to detail), the standards in quality for such a product will be exorbitantly high! Let me put it this way... you won't be putting money in the bank by delivering a PREMIUM-only product meant for a specific niche hobby. Which is why DTG has had a long habit of watering down the simming experience, dumbing down the controlling and operation of rolling stock, etc. to be able to run it as a profitable enterprise. I remember back in the very early days of AP that their first line of products were the sound packs for the class 158 and 170, and while they may sound crap by today's standards, back then they were state-of-the-art! and a massive improvement compared to the alternative. Which was why whenever DTG released a new DLC, AP was always there to "save the day" and fill in the gap that DTG left behind. Unfortunately however, these days it's quite different now: TSC has just become so massive and bloated (with all that content out there) and having too many patches to count since it's inception, combine that with everybody "herding" towards TSW now... DTG are becoming less and less interested in keeping TSC going which has made this game incredibly buggy and unstable. Constantly having dump file crashes, missing assets (due to inconsistencies with folder structures), scripts and plugins not always working for various DLCs, etc. etc. the list goes on. For this reason I've pretty much stopped playing TSC altogether now and play mostly on TSW (though even that has it's own problems), or Diesel Railcar Simulator as I personally see a lot of potential in that sim and has come a long way since Alpha, but I digress. So in conclusion... I personally think that if AP are going as far as to be making signal enhancement packs, weather enhancement packs, or indeed CLOUD enhancement packs... then they might as well just buy the rights to TSC and give it a BIG and much needed overhaul! It's about fricking time, and at least they'll get to develop the game and have it run the way THEY want it. That would be nice wouldn't it? Having a simulator game that just works out of the box like that, not having to worry about installing all the right stuff and running installer after installer, nor having to fret over scripts not working properly, just a seamless and bug-free experience but with all the mod cons that Armstrong Powerhouse's packs have to offer! That would be awesome. 😁 (Sorry for having such a long-winded comment which is essentially just me blabbering all over the place, but I felt I had to get this off my chest since it seemed no one else had brought this up).

it is the same with Forza horizon series on Xbox it's just a copy paste of it self and a dev who thinks getting an advantage in a race is a bad thing so there's that

I agree the most part of it BUT the cloud EP comes as an update free of charge to people who own the weather EP 2.0

I moved to TSW but I bought a lot of AP content in the past. It was always expensive, the whole TSC/TSW content is expensive (DTG or third party). I choose to support TSW these days, and I know some people won't like what I'm about to say, but it makes no sense to buy any TSC product anymore when absolutely everything can be obtained for free.

Good video. I'm guessing you won't be buying AP's Dirt Enhancement Pack then (Richard, if you are reading this, don't for a minute think its a valid idea!). I agree the pricing has made it difficult for people to justify buying their products any more and therefore must wait for said products to be on sale. The whole world has gone crazy since the pandemic with price increases, so I hope bread and milk prices don't go up too much (who buys milk on sale anyway?). I think rather than get angry with AP, we should stop focusing our attention on the next best thing to be released or something we can't afford and just enjoy what we have already. (Oh, one final thing....with Richard turning comments off, has anyone considered it was possibly to protect his own mental health?)

i saw that the reason why the prices have been like they are is because of the situation we are in now so it makes sense.

How can everyone keep expecting updates to older stock when the units don't exist anymore and TOCs no longer allow recording sessions to take place. Prices for everything in the UK have doubled in the past year so it is normal they will go up in price. They can't keep building new models as there aren't enough staff to do that, it also takes years to produce a decent model.

other sims: got everything in the base game; DTGs Rail sims: Cloud DLC....

🤣🤣🤣

They`ve been taking the piss for years now

I have to agree with you, but not just AP I feel the whole TSC is now way overpriced for what is essentially an old game. AP also delete the extra parts needed from products you have already bought so if you have to download your purchases again like scenarios and sound packs you can be SOL

I think some of the "it's just an enhancement for an existing model" is a bit misleading in the case of the 377 and 158 EPs. The 158 EP has a brand new scratch built cab with all the variants and the 377 EP cab might as well be new, every single texture was ground up redone with clickspots being added and bucket loads of functionality compared to the original. The Desiro EPs also have the clickspots and a TMS but I accept the clickspots came later for those. Just a point that you can point at those as being big outliers in price, but they are also big outliers in increased functionality. Likewise for the modern unit EPs, whilst it may be a pain that these are more expensive, AP don't really have anything in their catalogue which is similar and so a large portion of the code would be required to be ground upped. It's not very visual but as a developer myself I can see the work in it, even if that doesn't necessarily appear that obvious to an end user

Ultimately their pricing is a business decision and most likely reflects both the time it takes to produce these packs (ie a lot, even for something that seems simple) plus inflation / cost of living increases. Inflation has been extraordinarily high in the UK, reaching 11% last year. At the end of the day, this is how free markets works. If you think the prices are too high or you don’t think the packs represent value, don’t buy them. As for closing off comments, I do have sympathy for AP as managing comments on social is not just incredibly time consuming but (depending on the nature of the comments) can be incredibly demoralising at times, particularly if you have to deal with trolls and unfair attacks. 🤔

I lost my complete respect for AP after they barred me from commenting on their posts after I asked about why they didn't the Sleeper variants in their Mk3 Coach pack. Now it seems that they've just outright banned people from even looking at their FB page which suits me just fine, because most of their recent EPs have been a bundle of low effort & high price tat in my opinion. Their price increases and this "cloud pack" is now the final nail in the coffin if you ask me.

totally disagree.... I think the weather packs are the most amazing thing they have ever done, because it enhances the entire sim (also for other countries besides UK).

First

Some of the questions you said, you answer them yourself in the video. Wherry lines example where you wanted to go to Sheringham, or lowestoft to Ipswich, they're both different routes that aren't part of the wherry lines so make sure you double check your facts. Loads of the things you said seem untrufull and can be backed up with many many facts

Are you not taking this all rather too seriously? 🙄