Experience the Class 323 from Manchester through to Derbyshire in the next Train Sim World 3 route Add-on! Train Sim World 3: Glossop Line: Manchester – Hadfield & Glossop is coming on 27th June for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Epic Games Store, and Steam for £19.99/$24.99/€24.99

A new operator, a new route and some exciting new gameplay features! Glossop Line: Manchester – Hadfield & Glossop may have some familiar elements – not least the starring unit – but this short, unique and complete line has plenty to offer for both new players and those with existing UK content.

Read our Glossop Line Coming Soon article on our website for more information and details!

A discount of 10% will be available from launch to most players who have previously purchased Birmingham Cross-City (and thus, the Class 323). Breakdown of these Launch / Loyalty discounts:

• Steam: 10% discount for players that own Birmingham Cross-City (ends 31st July 18:00 BST)
  
• Xbox: 10% discount for players that own Birmingham Cross-City (ends 31st July 10:00 BST)
  
• PlayStation: 10% launch discount for PS Plus members (ends 31st July 10:00 BST)
  
• Epic Games Store: 10% launch discount for all players (ends 4th July 16:00 BST)

This is the first time we’ve worked to bring savings for our most loyal players and we hope there will be similar opportunities to do so across all platforms in future!


Modern Manchester is represented in Train Sim World for the first time in Glossop Line, with Manchester Piccadilly Station forming the terminus at the western end of the route. This iconic and important station for the northwest becomes the latest major UK station to be featured in Train Sim World, joining the likes of Birmingham New Street, London Victoria, Leeds, Glasgow Central and Liverpool Lime Street from previous route Add-ons.

The Class 323 has proved popular among railfans since its introduction in 1994 and became an equally popular addition to the Train Sim World fleet in Birmingham Cross-City Line: Lichfield – Bromsgrove & Redditch. At the end of 1997, these distinctive EMUs were introduced to the Glossop Line, working under a number of guises before becoming branded under the current operator Northern.


The standout feature, recognisable from in the cab or on the platform, is the whine that the traction motors emit during acceleration and deceleration. Sounds formed an important and detailed part of the process for the team during the initial development of Birmingham Cross-City and you can read more about how these were recorded by revisiting our November Roadmap from last year.



For Glossop Line, the features of the Class 323 remain very much the same, ensuring a dependable and enjoyable experience from inside the cab, but through a distinctly different environment to that of the suburban West Midlands. On the outside, the unit displays the purple hue of Northern’s current livery along with unit numbers that reflect the fleet used in this part of England.



Heading east, the route forms part of the historic Woodhead Line which ran its way through the Pennines via the Woodhead Tunnels to the city of Sheffield. This line closed east of Hadfield in 1981 and it is here where the current line and this route Add-on terminates. A few miles south, another terminus exists at Glossop. Trains from Manchester call here before changing ends and continuing to Hadfield and the same happens in reverse – trains depart Hadfield and call at Glossop first, before changing ends and continuing west along the line to Manchester.



Dinting Station forms (along with Glossop and Hadfield) one of three Derbyshire stations along this route and is also the location of the impressive Dinting Viaduct built in 1844. Stations west of here fall within Greater Manchester and feature the likes of Guide Bridge, Flowery Field and Broadbottom.



The complete end-to-end(-to-end?) route offers a different setting for the Class 323 with a slower pace and unique operation at both eastern termini.



Guard functionality also returns but as a fully interactive gameplay feature in the ‘On Guard’ Scenario, where players perform various duties outside of driving, including checking passenger tickets! A full in-depth look at how we developed this new and exciting feature is covered in the recent June Roadmap.

In addition to the exciting Guard Scenario, players will also be able to do some on-foot exploration with a camera in hand as part of another unique gameplay feature in Glossop Line. You're tasked with taking specific photos as you complete a drive along the line, with photo points at some of the stations.



Once the journey is complete, you will see a photo gallery at Manchester Picadilly station to review!





2 tph (trains per hour) will run between Manchester Piccadilly and Hadfield, calling at Glossop along the way, requiring tight timekeeping and diligent driving when approaching some signals.

Early morning and late evening ECS (Empty Coaching Stock) runs will be playable between Manchester and Ardwick Depot, which is located between Ardwick and Ashburys Stations at the western end of the route.

AI Class 323 services will also be seen running off the map in services from Manchester to Crewe, Manchester Airport, Stoke-on-Trent and Liverpool Lime Street.

There are also some service layers to look forward to for players of both Train Sim World 3 and Train Sim World Compatible content:

• EMT Class 158 (Midland Main Line) will appear as AI services at Manchester Piccadilly, with one playable ECS movement to operate.
  
• Class 66 RHTT will be playable during the relevant in-game seasons (Sept-Nov) and feature as static stock all year round.
  
• Railtours! Both steam and diesel railtours will be playable utilising locomotives and rolling stock from Tees Valley Line (Class 37 + Mk2 Coaches), **Northern Trans-Pennine** (Class 47, Class 20 + Mk2 Coaches) and Spirit of Steam.
  
• Freight - Occasional freight services between Hyde North / Guide Bridge and Ashburys / Manchester Piccadilly.

Along with a host of other seasonal static and AI layers using stock from the West Somerset Railway, Southeastern Highspeed, Great Western Express, Midland Main Line and more!

Join the Railfan TV team on Twitch, YouTube and Facebook at 18:00 UTC on Thursday 22nd June for a preview of Glossop Line.

Find out more about Train Sim World 3 by following @trainsimworld on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok.

https://youtu.be/ifoXTKvoNcg&cc=1
With English, German and French subtitles.

The world of Pax Dei is split into four main regions, plus four in-between regions.
The four main regions are Gallia, Gothia, Iberia, and Anatolia. For the release, we are focusing on building a part of Gallia, whose terrain and atmosphere are mainly inspired by the southwest of France (with a pinch of a magical twist).

A province is a large section of a region. We will have different types of provinces, but the heartland provinces are the most important (and biggest) ones. Another type of province is what we currently call the contested provinces - which, as you can guess, are related to PvP.
A heartland province contains several home valleys (6 in the example below). And a home valley is a blessed land where players can place their plots and build villages.



Here is a sketch of the map used for the Friend & Family Alpha build. It contains one heartland province, and the named red zones ‘Maremna, Gravas, Tursan…’ are the home valleys.
In the game, this province is a square of 10 km per side, but the playable area is ‘only’ around 70km² (27mi²).
We aim to have at least two (ideally three) heartland provinces by the time we let people in.

It depends on what one means by “the world.” The entire world of Pax Dei won’t be available at release, and we’ll start with a portion of the world in the region named Gallia.
We aim for at least two (or three) heartland provinces (plus some dungeons and another type of province we are not ready to talk about) for when we’ll open the doors to our world. Overall, that would give you a playground of approximately 150 km2 (58 mi2).
Of course, it heavily depends on content production capabilities and some technical constraints, and we could end with something slightly smaller or far bigger.

The heartlands tend to be closer to the center of the world than other areas, but that is not an absolute rule. Likewise, heartlands will sometimes border with each other, and sometimes they will not. It is a large, living world created with a few general rules and a lot of exceptions that give each place a different texture and character…

In a nutshell, and to answer the question: both.

Gallia was one of the four great kingdoms that stood for eons but crumbled along with all the others and most of the civilization during the Great Downfall.

https://youtu.be/j9NT9Xa3eDo

The region of Gallia was once one of the old seats of power in the world.

Let's go clockwise from there through the known world. We have Thule to the East, then Gothia, Carpathia, Anatolia, and Helios to the high South. Then we have Iberia and finally Atlantis before returning to Gallia.
Gothia, Anatolia, and Iberia are the other three regions named after the ancient kingdoms of the world, while the other regions, being wilder and geographically further afield, never in recorded history were really encompassed by the Pax Dei.

Note that what is drawn up here is a schematic image of the world of Pax Dei. It is not quite this simple. The lands of the old kingdoms tend to reach more towards the center of the world, while the wilder regions stretch more outwards. Rivers, lakes, and oceans weave through the world, and mountain ranges and other natural or unnatural phenomena divide various areas making this more complex than it sounds.

And then there are the uncharted areas that stretch between the borders of “the known world” and the true edge of the world, wherever and whatever that may be. Some call it the Rimworlds, others call it simply Terra Incognita and simply mark “here be dragons” on their maps in order to warn off daring adventurers from roaming too far out. And who knows, there may well be unknown beings there and people yet undiscovered. These are lands of legends and myths, of which the only reliable known records stem from the First Crusade when Phaianos and Armozel, together with the Sons of Light, drove back the first incursion of the demonic legions into this Creation, over two thousand years ago.

Lastly, the reader should note that what we have talked about here is the “known world”, the Creation itself. There may yet be other material places undiscovered, created by beings strong in spirit, beings who do not necessarily find it beneficial to dwell under the eye of the Divine, for whatever reason that might be.

Our world generation process is semi-procedural, or what we like to say, procedurally assisted. We believe that a human should make the interesting decisions, while the computer should do what it excels at, filling in the details.

In very simplified terms, a human creates a map of the world, and the computer makes a 3D game world out of it. In software terms, our world generation pipeline runs entirely in SideFX Houdini, which is a great match for what we are doing.

In more detail, we start with three main inputs: a very rough height sculpt, an annotated 2D map of what is where, and a bunch of tabular data like what plant species grow in which biomes. First come the geological processes, erosion, lakes, river pathfinding, and such. Then we add the human influences, mainly road carving and modifying the terrain to fit the structures we want. Lastly comes all the plant life and other decoration, with only a minor influence on the terrain itself.

The process also creates a lot of other data than just the 3D environment. A game like ours requires a lot of auxiliary data for things like resource distribution, pathfinding, player map, and so on. It is important to us that we do not edit the world manually, as that would mean making changes would be harder.

First of all, this is a world we intend for people to feel at home in, to be at home in, so naturally, we allow them to build a home, a home that matters and gives their existence meaning. We open avenues for people to come together around their dwellings and cooperate and build villages and towns with all that follows, and obviously, that will set their mark on the world.

Secondly, we build this world with the concept of verisimilitude in mind. All things are worked and reworked and reworked again until they are natural and believable, even the unbelievable ones. It brings normalcy and readability to the world in general and creates real reasons for the anomalies people stumble upon.


https://youtu.be/KywhK5sqKB0

As soon as you log into the game, you can see the whole map of the province you jumped in. The map has no fog of war, and it gives information about the topography, the biomes, and some point of interest. It won’t give the resource areas, the mountain passes, or the villages the players raised.
Some areas, especially dungeons, will have no maps at all, leaving it to the players to explore the lay of the land and create their own maps.

On that topic, we want a player's knowledge to be more important than his character’s. As such, knowledge sharing and trading between players, in and out of the game, is something we want to encourage, and we have no doubts that some of you will take great pleasure in creating maps with diverse points of interest, whether right or wrong…

While we do not want to make life particularly hard for people running simple mundane errands and projects, logistics and transport of materials will play a part in the economy. To give some examples, there will be some ‘teleportation’ system for the individuals to facilitate dungeons exploration, but you won’t be able to teleport two tons of gold ore simply.

In our game, we strive to make every resource valuable and useful throughout your entire journey. Even the simplest resources have their place. Whether it's building walls for your village or equipping warriors with weapons and armor, the demand remains constant. Just like in real life, even if you've mastered the art of crafting steel, you'll still find yourself in need of iron.

At the beginning of your adventure, you may find yourself gathering these resources on your own. However, as you explore and progress in the world, you'll have the opportunity to rely on other players who are newer to the game or experts in their respective trades to fulfill your resource needs.

A player should be in full control of his own land. Likewise, Clans will put their mark on the world by organizing villages and communal buildings they work on together.

Clans that decide to cooperate and become allies can create larger social units and should therefore gain control over more land and building features than those who choose to go at it alone.


https://youtu.be/rXvLY54VK7A

In our quest to create a world that feels authentic and familiar, we've placed a strong emphasis on verisimilitude. We believe that by making the environments and transitions between biomes believable, we can offer players a truly immersive experience. Our goal is to transport you into a world that feels both authentic and grounded rather than purely fantastical. As a result, you'll find that our biomes often partially overlap or interweave, adding to the sense of realism and exploration.

Currently, we have four distinct forest biomes that each have their own unique characteristics. Additionally, we have a couple of captivating mountain biomes, along with several open lowland areas and swamps that provide a different flavor to the landscape. Each of these biomes offers his own visual aspect and various ways to navigate and explore. Furthermore, they are home to specific endemic flora and fauna, as well as shared species that add to the rich diversity of the world.

However, it's worth noting that the distribution of minerals across the world follows geographical factors, such as terrain and elevation, rather than being tied solely to specific biomes. Again, this approach helps add depth and realism to resource gathering.

They usually continue seamlessly from one to another, depending on geographical factors and bodies of water. We aim to make a real and believable world.

We want our world to have some verisimilitude, to look like a plausible medieval world that can resonate with the mental image we all share about the Middle Ages.
If one was walking around in the forested areas in Pax Dei, one would obviously expect to run into individuals representing Europe’s typical forest fauna: rabbits, boars, deer, wolves, and bears... So you’ll have these.

And because our world is not the real world, but a fantasy world where “myths are real, and ghosts exist,” one might also run into unexpected creatures that could qualify as mythical or fantastic, or even demonic. Not everywhere and not every time…

All resources we can think of that will be useful for crafting.
Having said that, we won’t be implementing everything at launch because we want to update the game content in perpetuity, and we are only starting with Gallia. Other regions will all have unique materials and resources that will add diversity horizontally and vertically.

And as we are talking about resources and ‘horizontal development,’ it is a good moment to give an example of how a game like this can expand inwards rather than endlessly adding new areas and gear tiers. To a layman, a piece of wood is just a piece of wood, while to the expert woodworker, each type of tree and even every tree in the forest has specific qualities and uses that someone with an untrained eye would never think of.

And in fact, the first resource document that was written for this project was a 72 pages treatise called “Trees in Pax Dei,” listing 21 different species of trees, the conditions they need to thrive, an overview of their material properties: hardness, brittleness, grain size, how they burn, the difference in qualities of their sapwood and heartwood, which fungi grow on each, what fauna follows them, as well as listing mythical and magical properties they might have. Needless to say, everyone will start the game as a layman when it comes to identifying the different qualities of wood, but as the game progresses, old knowledge is rediscovered, and hidden lore is unearthed, some will no doubt start seeing the forest in a different light.

Generally speaking, resources will respawn unless a character has claimed the land they were on (i.e., different rules apply on resource spawning when it comes to players’ plots).

While the most basic resources can be commonly found, most resources tend to be distributed in an asymmetrical pattern. Their exact location and their abundance are dependent mainly on geological factors. Hence, people who spend some time out and about looking for specific resources should relatively quickly learn where it is best to look.

Yes, there are all sorts of weather effects, rain, shine, and fog, in different measures. Primarily, weather affects the scenery’s mood and the in-game visibility, but we can't say it affects flora, fauna, or resources in the game. We also can’t say if gameplay can impact the weather. If it does, it is yet another layer to the world’s mysteries players will have the opportunity to uncover during their time in the game.

The daytime is markedly longer than the night, simply because in this world, the eccentricity of the elliptic orbit the sun follows as it revolves around the earth is relatively high.
Also, we want the night to be meaningful, and we want it to impact gameplay itself. Of course, the night should affect visibility, but also the mob spawning, the availability of the resources, and perhaps, even more… After all, it is common knowledge that some magic potions must be crafted when the moon is full… right?


https://youtu.be/pCxQ-LAjrAU

We still need to balance how dark and long the night should be. We want torches to be useful, but we don’t want the night to become solely frustrating. No matter what, we want the night to be meaningful, and as such, we want it to feel real.
And yes! You can see stars, constellations, the moon and the different moon phases, aurora borealis, comets, shooting stars, and other celestial omens the Divine uses to communicate the danger of impending disasters to her children.

---

---

---

---

Check out our first Total War: PHARAOH gameplay showcase and get better acquainted with our first faction leader, Ramesses - a young Egyptian warrior eager to fulfil his true destiny!



Keep your eyes on our official social channels (links below) as we'll be revealing heaps more about Total War: PHARAOH over the coming weeks and months!

—The Total War Team

Hi everyone,

We’re really excited to be officially revealing Thronefall to you! Since Islanders, we’ve been quietly working away on Thronefall in between our own personal projects. It was important for us to continue the spirit of Islanders and Superflight – to strip back unnecessary complexity and hone in on a game’s core concept. That’s what games from GrizzlyGames are about, and we’re happy to have Thronefall continue that theme.



So what do you do in Thronefall? It’s quite simple: By day, you’ll build your kingdom. It may be a little kingdom, but it’s your little kingdom – add mills to get extra coins, build the barracks for soldiers, craft towers that will support your defences, and more. By night, you’ll defend your little kingdom from those who would see it fall. Survive the night to do it all over again the next day (as the waves of enemies increase).

We’re looking forward to how players will appreciate the simultaneous simplicity and depth we’ve instilled in Thronefall. If you’re curious, there’s a DEMO you can try right now over on the Thronefall steam page, or come chat to us in our Discord.

Stay tuned for more from us real soon!

-Paul and Jonas

During maintenance on 21st June, we will make the following changes.
Planned: If the option to increase damage by n% of the damage dealt for 3 sec. was activated for multiple group members, the damage was accumulated accordingly. This will now be changed. (The results window will display the damage as usual.)

As this may reduce the total damage of group members or make the affected difficulty level higher for participating adventurers, the HP for the following monsters will be adjusted accordingly:


- Pruinaum Raid Boss Monster
- Abyss Raid Boss Monster

We apologise for any inconvenience this adjustment may cause our players.
As a small compensation, the following weapon upgrade buff will be granted to adventurers during the period mentioned below:
* Period for weapon upgrade buff +13: 21st June after maintenance till 28th June at 8:59 AM

Don't miss the new sale and update the interior of your room! In the store you will find furniture and decorations with many ethnic motifs. Or create your own unique style. 20% discount on decors!

[]

Early Access Released !!!!


June 13 8:00 am (PDT)
June 13 3:00 pm (UTC)

Hello conductors,

On Tuesday 19th June, we will be broadcasting The Cozy Gaming Club’s playthrough of Station to Station’s demo and answering questions from the community!

This will take place at 10AM PDT, 6PM BST, and 7PM CEST for two hours if you want to tune in and take part.

If you can’t make it to the Q&A you can also join our Discord to ask our devs any questions you may have:



Our demo will be live throughout Steam Next Fest if you want to give it a go 🚂

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2378470

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2003060/Monsters_Domain_Prologue/

Hey everyone! Here's a quick news update!

DLC progress

We're getting really close to finishing the first paid DLC, which is named: Cursed Worlds! We did a lot of iterating to make sure that the new cards, boards and mechanics work well, and we're really excited for y'all to play it! We're planning to release it in July.



Modding Support

The official modding support update is really close to being done as well. We're really excited to see what you will make. It will be released as a free update in July!

Price Increase

When we first released Stacklands, it was a pretty small game. Since then we've released the Island Update, Dark Forest Update and lastly the Order & Structure update. We've gone up from 120 cards at release to more than 350 cards now!

To better reflect all this new content, we've decided to do a price increase from $5 to $8. This price increase will take place Monday 19th of June, so grab it at the current price while you still can 🙂



- The Stacklands Team