Roller Coaster Tycoon manual
- Roller Coaster Tycoon
- manual
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________ ____________
___ __ \______ ___ /___ /_____ ________
__ /_/ /_ __ \__ / __ / _ _ \__ ___/
_ _, _/ / /_/ /_ / _ / / __/_ /
/_/ |_| \____/ /_/ /_/ \___/ /_/
_________ _____
__ ____/______ ______ ___________ /______ ________
_ / _ __ \_ __ `/__ ___/_ __/_ _ \__ ___/
/ /___ / /_/ // /_/ / _(__ ) / /_ / __/_ /
\____/ \____/ \__,_/ /____/ \__/ \___/ /_/
.___.
| . _. _ _ ._
| \_|(_.(_)(_)[ )
._|
& Corkscrew Follies / Added Attractions
& Loopy Landscapes
_______________________________________________________________________________
ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ
RollerCoaster Tycoon
& Corkscrew Follies/Added Attractions
& Loopy Landscapes
The Complete Strategy Guide
Version 6.4
May 15, 2001
by Dan Simpson & Red Phoenix
(manymoose@hotmail.com) (red_phoenix_1@hotmail.com)
Email Policy:
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If you are going to email us about this game, please put
Rollercoaster Tycoon as the subject. Or just RCT. Also please
realize that we are not hiding cheats or any other information,
i.e. everything I know about RCT is in this guide.
If you see any mistakes, or have anything that you want to add
please email us! We will, of course, give you full credit for
your addition, and be eternally grateful to you.
Before emailing us with a question, be sure to check out the
Frequently Asked Questions section.
An alternative to email is a Message Board. There is a board
on GameFAQs, which was made specifically for all three versions
of RollerCoaster Tycoon. If you don't want to use email for
questions, use the message board listed below. It's for
RollerCoaster Tycoon. I decided this one will work better than
having you post on all three of the boards.
http://cgi.gamefaqs.com/boards/gentopic.asp?board=23121
_______________
.--------------------========= N O T E S =========-------------------------.
| ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ |
| The most recent version of this FAQ can be found at: |
| |
| http://www.gamefaqs.com/ |
| http://www.cheatcc.com/ |
| http://www.gamewinners.com/ |
| |
| If you haven't read the Game Manual and are reading this, I highly recommend |
| that you read the manual first, since this Guide is meant more as a |
| supplement to an already good manual, rather than as a replacement for it. |
| That's not to say that you need to have read the Manual for this to make any |
| sense, just that I don't cover a lot of things already in the Manual. (like |
| how to build elevated paths) Enjoy! |
| |
| The Add-On to RollerCoaster Tycoon was released! Check below for more |
| information! Also the Scenario Editor has been released! Check that out in |
| the Editors section. Now throughout the guide I have noted everything that |
| is new to the Add-On. Oh, and if you are wondering where the Manual to the |
| Add-On is, it is in the CD case (This is true for both Corkscrew Follies |
| and Loopy Landscapes). |
| |
| This guide is updated often, so stay tuned! |
| |
| A Version History can be found in section "11. Final Words..." |
| |
| An old HTML version of this FAQ can be found at: (as of v. 4.2) |
| http://manymoose.8m.com/coaster/ |
| |
| There are foreign language versions of my FAQ as well: |
| |
| Eine deutsche Version dieses FAQ kann an gefunden werden: |
| http://surf.to/spielelounge |
| |
| En natuurlijk de Nederlandse versie van deze FAQ kan gevonden worden op: |
| http://members.tripod.lycos.nl/draznyk/rctstrategyguide.txt |
| |
| La version française de cette FAQ peut être trouvée sur |
| http://www.rct.be.tf |
| |
| Note: If you would like to do a foreign language version of the FAQ, drop |
| Dan a line! |
| |
| If you don't actually have the game you can get the demo at: |
| English: ftp://ftp.microprose.com/pub/demos/rollercoaster/rct-edl.exe |
| Non-English: ftp://ftp.microprose.com/pub/demos/rollercoaster/rct-mdl.exe |
| Keep in mind that this demo is Time-Limited, so after 20 minutes it ceases |
| to work. (BTW, don't email me asking for "cracks" for the demo, I don't |
| have any nor do I know where any are.) |
| |
| If the ASCII art above looks garbled (it should say Rollercoaster Tycoon) |
| then make sure to set your font to Courier, or another similar Fixed Width |
| Font. |
| |
| New Info on the Add-On Pack, Added Attractions! This is directly from the |
| Official Page: (http://www.rollercoastertycoon.com) |
| |
| Added Attractions is the official add-on pack for RollerCoaster Tycoon by |
| the game's creator, Chris Sawyer. This will add new types of roller |
| coaster, including historical rides like the Virginia Reel and Side |
| Friction Roller Coaster, as well as the latest modern rides like the Steel |
| Twister Roller Coaster and Steel Wild Mouse to name a few. |
| |
| In addition, new scenery, including Jungle and Jurassic themeing, themed |
| banner signs, and new styles of footpath will allow you to make your park |
| even more varied and interesting. |
| |
| Plus, with over 25 new scenarios, no RollerCoaster Tycoon player will want |
| to be without this. |
| |
| Release Date: Out Now! Go buy it! |
| |
| Note: This is an add-on pack and a full version of the RollerCoaster |
| Tycoon game is required to use the add-on pack." |
| |
| You can check the Official Page (http://www.rollercoastertycoon.com) for |
| some screenshots! |
| |
| By the way, in the US the Add-On is called "Corkscrew Follies". Which |
| I think is a very lame name. |
| |
| New info on the Add-On Pack, Loopy Landscapes! This is directly from the |
| box cover of Loopy Landscapes (LL). |
| |
| Stretch your imagination with the new Loopy Landscapes Expansion Pack. |
| From Rocket Ships and Medieval Castles to Winter Wonderlands and new |
| environments, you now have a complete working palette to create your next |
| thrill-a-minute masterpiece. Build on new landscapes, provide more shops |
| or take on one of 30 new scenarios filled with new exciting challenges. |
| It's all here and it's waiting for you! |
| |
| E30 New Challenging Scenarios |
| E6 New Crowd-pleasing Themes |
| ESensational New Roller Coaster Types |
| EProfitable Shops and Stalls! |
| EExciting New Rides |
| |
| Note: Loopy Landscapes is shipped with a copy of Corkscrew Follies/Added |
| Attractions. So, all you need is a copy of the original RCT to be |
| able to run Loopy Landscapes. |
| |
| Note: For a rebate option, check out the Official RCT site |
| (http://www.rollercoastertycoon.com). |
| |
| Also there are a variety of patches out for both the original RCT and |
| the Add-Ons, which can be found at the Official Site |
| (http://www.rollercoastertycoon.com) |
| |
| |
| Rollercoaster Tycoon is Copyright 1999 by Chris Sawyer, and Hasbro |
| Interactive |
| This Document is Copyright 1999-2001 by Dan Simpson & Jim Chamberlin |
| |
| I am not affiliated with MicroProse, Hasbro Interactive, Chris Sawyer, or |
| anyone who had anything to do with the creation of this game. This FAQ may |
| be posted on any site so long as NOTHING IS CHANGED and you EMAIL ME telling |
| me that you are posting it. You may not charge for, or in any way profit |
| from this FAQ. |
'--------------------=================================-------------------------'
__________________
What's New in 6.4:
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Minor changes. We should finish this FAQ sometime this summer. There's
also been an Interview with Chris Sawyer posted on RCT Station -
http://rct.gametropics.com/ I suggest that you go check it out!
For a full version history, check out the Final Words... section below.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table of Contents:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.) Scenario Walkthroughs
1.1) Quick Scenario Reference
1.2) Original Scenarios
1.2.1) Forest Frontiers
1.2.2) Dynamite Dunes
1.2.3) Leafy Lake
1.2.4) Diamond Heights
1.2.5) Evergreen Gardens
1.2.6) Bumbly Beach
1.2.7) Trinity Islands
1.2.8) Katie's World
1.2.9) Dinky Park
1.2.10) Aqua Park
1.2.11) Millenium Mines
1.2.12) Karts & Coasters
1.2.13) Mel's World
1.2.14) Mothball Mountain
1.2.15) Pacific Pyramids
1.2.16) Crumbly Woods
1.2.17) Big Pier
1.2.18) Lightning Peaks
1.2.19) Ivory Towers
1.2.20) Rainbow Valley
1.2.21) Thunder Rock
1.3) Corkscrew Follies/Added Attractions Scenarios
1.4) Loopy Landscapes Scenarios
1.4.1) Iceberg Islands
1.4.2) Volcania
1.4.3) Arid Heights
1.4.4) Razor Rocks
1.4.5) Crater Lake
1.4.6) Vertigo Views
1.4.7) Big Pier 2
2.) Your Park
2.1) Queue it up!
2.2) Park Maintenance
2.3) Guests
3.) Rides, Non-rollercoaster
4.) Rides, Rollercoaster
4.1) Crashes!
4.2) Basic Coaster Building
4.2.1) The Wild Mouse
5.) Landscaping
6.) Shops
7.) Alternative Ideas
8.) Cheats!
8.1) RCT Utilities (non-cheat)
9.) Bugs
Frequently Asked Questions
Final Words...
|Section includes a Wish List, Internet
|Links, Credits, and a Version History
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Scenario Walkthroughs
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As the title indicates, this section of the FAQ concerns the Scenarios
of the games, and getting you through them. The first section will just
be a Quick Scenario Reference, and the second, third, and fourth sections
will contain slightly more ellaborate walkthroughs/guides for each of the
many sceanrios contained in the three RollerCoaster Tycoon games.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.1 Quick Scenario Reference
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
******************
Original Scenarios
******************
_______________
.--------------------========= L E G E N D =========-------------------------.
| ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ |
| 'Rides' indicates which rides the scenario already has in it. |
| For example, C indicates that there is One Rollercoaster, 2C, Two. |
| 'Coasters' indicates which coasters are possible to research. |
| All Goals that have a number of guests for a goal require a rating of 600. |
| In almost all cases where you get $10k in cash, you have a loan of that size.|
| |
| Coaster Key: Notes Key: |
| ------------ ---------- |
| B - Bobsled L - Able to buy land |
| C - Corkscrew C - Able to buy Construction Rights |
| M - Mine Train * - indicates that these scenarios |
| Sm - Steel Mini aren't immediately available |
| I - Inverted ! - indicates that you must download |
| R - Reverse Whoa Belly (Free Fall) this scenario off the offical |
| Su - Suspended web page (see "11. Final Words") |
| S - Steel @ - available only if you passed all |
| Si - Single Track other scenarios |
| Ss - Suspended Single Track |
| U - Stand Up Rides Key: |
| V - Vertical ---------- |
| W - Wooden C - Rollercoaster |
| Wm - Wild Mouse G - Gentle Rides |
| T - Transport |
| E - Exciting/Water |
'--------------------=================================-------------------------'
Name: Rides: Cash: Goals: Coasters: Notes:
----- ------ ----- ------ --------- ------
Forest Frontiers -- $10k 250g, 1yr SiSuSmUWmW L
Tips: Passing the tutorial also counts as passing this scenario.
Dynamite Dunes C $10k 650g, 3yrs CMUSmSsSuW L
Leafy Lake -- $10k 500g, 3yrs MSSiSmSsSuWmW
Diamond Heights 4C,T,G,E $1k $20k, 3yrs BISmSWmW
Evergreen Gardens -- $10k 1000g, 4yrs BCMSSiSmUWmW
Tips: Cut down on paths here to avoid getting lost guests.
Bumbly Beach C,2G $5k 750g, 2yrs BCSiSmWmW * C
Trinity Islands -- $10k 750g, 3yrs BIMSSiSmSsSuWm *
Katie's World 3C,3E,T $1k $15k, 3yrs BMRSSmSsSuUWmW * L
Tips: Katie's World is extremely rainy, and as such it needs indoor rides.
Also, it has the first completely underground ride, a rollercoaster.
Dinky Park 4G,2E $10k $10k, 2yrs BCIMSSiSmSsSuUVWmW * L C
Tips: You need to expand this ultra-small park quickly, by buying land
across the street. You get to that area via contruction rights on the
street.
Aqua Park 5E $10k 900g, 3yrs -- ALL -- *
Tips: The waterslide here often "stalled out" on me, consider replacing it
or redesigning it. Or barring that remove the Maximum Wait time, and
have it always "waiting for full load".
Millennium Mines T $10k 800g, 3yrs BCIMRSSiSmSsUVWmW *
Karts and Coasters 2C,2E $10k 1000g, 3yrs BCIMRSSiSmSsVWmW *
Mel's World 2C,2E $5k 1200g, 3yrs -- ALL -- *
Mothball Mountain -- $10k 800g, 3yrs BCIMRSSmSsSuUVWmW * L
Pacific Pyramids -- $10k 1000g, 4yrs BCIMRSSiSmSsSuUV * L
Crumbly Woods 3C,3G $5k 1200g, 3yrs -- ALL -- *
Tips: All the rides here are exceptionally old and unreliable, consider
replacing them with new ones.
Big Pier -- $10k 600g, 2yrs BCISSmSsSuUWm *
Lightning Peaks 2T $5k 900g, 3yrs -- ALL -- *
Ivory Towers 2C,E,T $10k 1000g, 3yrs -- ALL -- *
Tips: Ivory Towers has been heavily vandalized and is rather filthy. Clean
it up first.
Rainbow Valley -- $10k 1000g, 4yrs BCIMSSiSmSsSuUVWmW *
Thunder Rock T $10k 900g, 4yrs BCIMSSiSmSsSuUVWmW *
Mega Park -- $10k Have Fun -- ALL -- @
Fort Anachronism C,T,2G,E $1k 1250g, 3yrs BCISSiSmSuWmW ! L
Note: Whenever you pass a scenario, all the guests in your park will applaud,
and also they will all let go of their balloons. Which means that they
have to buy NEW balloons, so you get twice the balloon money! Of course
you've already passed the scenario by that point...
Having trouble passing a scenario? Check the Common Problems Section below for
tips on how to increase Park Value and other ideas.
Note: The game year starts in March and Ends in October (8 months)
Note: Save every scenario after you beat it. (see the Bugs Section for more
info)
Note: Not every scenario has every ride in it (unless you cheat).
You may be looking at the scenario names thinking to yourself, "I never saw that
Scenario." Well I have the US version of the game, and the other International
versions have different names. Here's a little comparison:
US: International:
------------------------- ---------------------------
Katie's World Katie's Dreamland
Dinky Park Pokey Park
Aqua Park White Water Park
Mothball Mountain Mystic Mountain
Big Pier Paradise Pier
*********************************************
Corkscrew Follies/Added Attractions Scenarios
*********************************************
_______________
.--------------------========= L E G E N D =========-------------------------.
| ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ |
| 'Rides' indicates which rides the scenario already has in it. |
| For example, C indicates that there is One Rollercoaster, 2C, Two. |
| 'Coasters' indicates which coasters are possible to research. |
| All Goals that have a number of guests for a goal require a rating of 600. |
| In almost all cases where you get $10k in cash, you have a loan of that size.|
| |
| Coaster Key: Notes Key: |
| ------------ ---------- |
| B - Bobsled L - Able to buy land |
| C - Corkscrew C - Able to buy Construction Rights |
| M - Mine Train * - indicates that these scenarios |
| F - Flying aren't immediately available |
| H - Heartline Twister ! - indicates that you must download |
| I - Inverted this scenario off the offical |
| R - Reverse Whoa Belly (Free Fall) web page (see "11. Final Words") |
| Su - Suspended |
| S - Steel @ - available only if you passed all |
| Sf - Wooden Side Friction other scenarios |
| Si - Single Track |
| Sm - Steel Mini |
| Ss - Suspended Single Track |
| St - Steel Twister |
| T - Wooden Twister |
| U - Stand Up |
| V - Vertical Rides Key: |
| Vr - Virginia Reel ---------- |
| W - Wooden C - Rollercoaster |
| Wm - Wild Mouse G - Gentle Rides |
| Wr - Wooden Reverser T - Transport |
| Ws - Steel Wild Mouse E - Exciting/Water |
'--------------------=================================-------------------------'
Name: Rides: Cash: Goals: Coasters: Notes:
----- ------ ----- ------ --------- ------
Whispering Cliffs -- $10k $17k, 3yrs SfVrWWmWsSmMUSuV
Tips: Space is at a premium here as you have very little space to work with.
So what I would do is to build the smallest flat rides on the ground,
then raise a piece of land 4 squares and build another ride on that.
(see the Your Park section for more information) Also have your
coasters start at the top of the cliff, and go down the cliff to the
water to save space.
Three Monkeys Park 3C $5k 1400g, 3yrs SfVrWrWTWmSmMSCISsBRWs
Canary Mines 2C,1T $10k 1300g, 3yrs VrWTWmWsSmMUCSsIBV
Barony Bridge -- $10k 1200g, 3yrs WWtWsMCSuISsBV
Tips: This park is very difficult to develop as you only have two small
(and I do mean SMALL) islands that you actually own. But you have
construction rights all around the bridge. So when you want to build
something, simply place it somewhere, and it will automatically be
placed above the water. However, placing anything on stilts costs a
little more.
Funtopia 2C,G $5k 1400g, 3yrs SfVrWrWTWmWsSmMSCStSuIBH
Haunted Harbor 4G,C $5k 1200g, 3yrs SfVrWrWTWmWsSmMSCSiB * L C
Fun Fortress -- $10k 1300g, 3yrs SfVrWrTWmWsSmMSCSuISsSiFV *
Future World C,T $5k 1500g, 3yrs SfVrWrWTWmWsSmMUCStSuISs *
SiBHFRV
Gentle Glen 2G,C $5k 1200g, 3yrs SfVrWrWWsSmMSSsSiB *
Jolly Jungle -- $10k 1600g, 4yrs SfVrWTWmWsMSuSsBHF *
Hydro Hills G $10k $20k, 3yrs SfWTWmWsSmMSUCStSuISsBHF *
Sprightly Park 8G,E,2C,T $10k 1500g, 3yrs SfVrWrTWmSmM *
Magic Quarters T $10k $30k, 4yrs SfVrWrWTWmWsSmMSUCStSuISs *
SiBHFRV
Fruit Farm T $8k 1100g, 2yrs SfVrWrWTWmWsSmMSCStSuIBHFR *
Butterfly Dam -- $10k 1400g, 3yrs SfVrWTWmWsSmMSCStSuIBHFV *
Coaster Canyon -- $10k 1200g, 3yrs SfWTWmWsSmMSUCStSuISsSiBHRV *
Thunderstorm Park 3E $10k 1400g, 3yrs VrStWsSmMSCStSuIBF *
Harmonic Hills -- $10k 1200g, 3yrs VrTWmWsSmMSSuSsV *
Tips: You can't build above "tree height" which means 8 levels vertically.
Also you can't remove trees either. So for best coaster effect, start
at the top of the hill, and run down the hill.
Roman Village G $10k 1500g, 3yrs SfVrWrWTWmWsSmMSStSuISsSi *
BHFRV
Swamp Cove 2C $5k 1600g, 3yrs VrWTWmWsSmMCStSuISsBHFV *
Adrenaline Heights C $10k 1600g, 3yrs VrWTWmWsSmMUCStSuISsBHFRV *
Tips: These people are the opposite of Gentle Glen and want exciting thrill
rides.
Utopia Park -- $10k 1400g, 3yrs SfVrTWsSmMCBH * L
Rotting Heights 3G,C,2E $10k 1200g, 3yrs SfVrWrWtWmWsSmMSCStSuISsB *
HFV
Tips: This park is a mess of vandalism, broken rides, and rides that seem
to have lost most of their tracks! Clean it up and rebuild.
Fiasco Forest 2G,2C,E $1k 900g, 1yr WWmSmSISsBH *
Tips: This park is going to kill someone with its dangerous rides. Either
fix or replace these deathtraps before people get hurt (and before the
year ends as well!).
Pickle Park -- $10k 1400g, 3yrs VrWTWmWsSmMUCStSuISsB *
Tips: Here the trick is that you can't advertise, you simply must get guests
going home happy to get a good reputation.
Giggle Downs 3G,4C $5k 1250g, 2yrs SfVrWTWmWsSmMSUCStSuISsSi * L
BHV
Mineral Park -- $10k $10k, 2yrs VrWTWmWsSmMCStISsBFV *
Coaster Crazy -- $10k see below -- all coasters -- *
Tips: This one has the most unique winning requirements of all, you must
have 10 DIFFERENT types of rollercoasters in your park, each with at
least 6 excitement. Hopefully by now you know how to build good
coasters... By the way, you have unlimited time to do this.
Urban Park 2G $10k 1000g, 3yrs SfVrWWmWsSmMSUCSuISsBHFRV * L C
Tips: You start with a tiny chunk of land next to a town, and there are
other small chunks of land for you to buy, but you'll have to get
construction rights to get to them!
Geoffrey Gardens -- $10k 2000g, 4yrs SfVrWTWmWsSmMUCStSuHFV *
**************************
Loopy Landscapes Scenarios
**************************
[Coming Soon]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2 Original Scenario Walkthroughs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This section contains a complete walkthrough to each and every scenario in
the game. If you have additional tips, feel free to send them in:
manymoose@hotmail.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2.1 Forest Frontiers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Deep in the Forest, build a thriving theme park in a large cleared area."
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests
-------------------------- ------------ -------------------
FREE (You can change this) $10,000 0
Victory Conditions: To have at least 250 guests in your park at the end of
October Year 1 with a park rating of at least 600.
Current Rides: None
Map Layout: This is a completely flat terrain with a scattering of pine trees
around the edges. There is some land available for purchase just
north of the entrance (assuming the entrance is on the west side
of the park. There is a large stretch of land, on the southern
side of the park, also available for purchase. The only
construction that has happened prior to the scenario beginning is
a short path at the park entrance.
Strategies for Winning: (from Water Monkey)
This is a simple scenario to beat aimed at getting you exposure to
the game. Don't worry about expanding the park until after you
have won the scenario. The quick way to beat this scenario is to
research only rollercoasters until you get a steel coaster.
While you are waiting for the research to be completed, build all
the rides that are currently available. If you are planning to
play this scenario a long time then don't conserve space. Spread
you rides out a little. This will give your peeps more room to
walk.
Once your research of steel coasters is done, change your research
back to all and begin constructing your steel coaster. Hopefully,
you have already built the steel mini coaster, so your peeps
aren't completely bored.
Screenshot(s): http://rct.gametropics.com
Saved Game(s): http://rct.gametropics.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2.2 Dynamite Dunes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Built in the middle of the desert, this theme park contains just one roller
coaster but has space for expansion."
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
FREE $10,000 84 $15,000
Victory Conditions: To have at least 650 guests in your park at the end of
October, Year 3, with a park rating at least 600.
Current Rides: Mine Train Coaster (Dynamite Blast) - NEW - $3.00 Admission
Map Layout: This is a desert scenario with a couple of large hills and one
small hill. The land is bare except for some palm trees at the
entrance and a handful of cactus towards the back end of the park.
The park is a medium sized park with alot of land for sale along
the backside boundaries.
Strategies for Winning: (from Water Monkey)
This is another easy scenario to complete. The object is to build
as much as possible. Go ahead and build the three gentle ride and
one thrill ride available to you at the beginning of the scenario.
This will give your peeps some rides to enjoy.
Once those rides are built, its time to give "Dynamite Blaster" an
overhaul. With an intensity rating of 8.18 not many peeps are
going to be willing to board your ride. Play with the design
while you are waiting for new rides to be researched. One option
is to demolish the coaster and rebuild. You will get about $8,000
for the coaster and you may be able to build a better coaster for
less.
One of the key to success in this scenario is making good use of
the hills provided. The excitement rating of coasters goes up
quickly when you use tunnels and underground track designs.
Another thing, don't worry about purchasing any land. You have
plenty to complete the scenario. If you want to watch your park
grow, go ahead and purchase land once the scenario is completed.
Be careful, buying land can quickly add up, and you don't have
much money to play with.
Screenshot(s): http://rct.gametropics.com
Saved Game(s): http://rct.gametropics.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2.3 Leafy Lake
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Starting from scratch, build a theme park around a large lake."
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
FREE $10,000 0 $50,000
Victory Conditions: To have at least 500 guests in your park at the end of
October, Year 3, with a park rating of at least 600.
Current Rides: None
Map Layout: This is a large grassy park with alot of trees set around a large
lake. A dirt path has been built to circle the lake. Almost
every side of the park has some squares for sale, allowing you to
expand your park even further. The back half of the park is
divided from the front half by a plateau. Trees are abundant.
You will need to cut down some in order to build any coasters.
Strategies for winning: (from Water Monkey)
The idea behind this scenario is to give you the freedom to create
a large park without the concern of money or land. With a maximum
loan amount of $50,000 you won't be hurting for cash anytime soon
(unless you try to re-slope all the land). Start building your
rides around the lake. Since you have so much cash available, I
would buy some of the land at the front end of the park now so you
can build on it right away.
Like Dynamite Dunes, keep building rides. The more rides you
have, the quicker the peeps will come. This is an excellent
scenario to practice your coaster building. See what the effects
of water are on a coaster. Also, if you haven't tried it yet,
test the effects of caosters interacting with themselves and other
coasters. Try running some track through the vertical loop on a
steel coaster.
The only thing to be careful of is the path circling the lake. If
you plan to start building at the front half of the lake, or on
just one side initially, then think of placing "Do Not Enter"
banners where you don't want the peeps to go. If given the
choice, your peeps will wander the whole path aimlessly and not
spending their hard earned "peep dollars" on your rides.
Screenshot(s): http://rct.gametropics.com
Saved Game(s): http://rct.gametropics.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2.4 Diamond Heights (from Water Monkey)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Diamond Heights is already a successful theme park with great rides - develop
it to double it's value."
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
FREE $1,000 554 $25,000
Victory Conditions: To achieve a Park Value of at least $20,000 at the end of
October, Year 3
Type Name Age Admit $
Current Rides: Log Flume (Snake River Falls) - 1 year old - $3.00
Steel Mini Coaster (Arachnaphobia) - 2 years old - $4.50
Minature Railroad (Indiana Railroad) - 1 year old - $2.50
Steel Coaster (Agoraphobia) - 3 years old - $5.00
Steel Coaster (Claustrophobia) - 3 years old - $5.00
Merry-Go-Round (Grimble's Gallopers) - New - $0.80
Spiral Slide (Shortstuff's Slide) - New - $1.00
Wooden Crazy Coaster (Roller Coaster 1) - 2 years old - $5.00
Map Layout: This is a large map that that spans across a river. While there
are a number of rides already built, there is still room for
growth. There are numerous paths laid out and the Railroad
provides transportation to the back end of the park. This forest
setting has many trees to deal with along with many slopes.
Strategies for Winning:
Here's a new challenge. We no longer care about the number of
guests in the park (indirectly we do; more guest more money), just
the park value. Park Value is the current value of all the rides
and shops in your park. The more you build, the higher the park
value. The park value decreases over time as rides get older.
The rides that increases park value the most are coasters.
Unfortunately, you cant build a park of only coasters, because
some peeps won't ride them. Your first year should be about
gaining money. Get as much as possible, you'll need it to build
the coasters. Also, in your first year you should think about
modifying the existing coasters because their intensities are a
little high.
The Wooden Crazy Coaster is 3 years old. A neat trick to
increasing its value is to save the track design, demolish the
ride, and then rebuild the identical ride (from your saved rides)
this will give your park value a boost of about $2000. This might
be helpful at the end of the scenario, if you are just short of
your goal.
One of the keys to Park Value is that a ride must complete one
circuit before its value can be calculated. So laying coaster
track randomly in the park is not only ugly, but won't help.
The admission prices on the rides are high, while the park
admission is free. You will need to experiment with a balance of
park fees and ride fees to determine what willbring you the most
cash. I like to balance the two; a park fee between $40.00 -
$60.00 (for larger parks) with rides ranging from free (gentle
rides) - $2.50 (exciting coasters).
Also your park is fully functional, except for employees and
shops. I like to pause the game immediately and take care of this
right away. While the game is paused I hire my employees and lay
out their territories. I prefer laying out territories to letting
the employees run around randomly. Remember to uncheck "mow
grass" on your handymen. Unless you are totally anal about weeds,
you don't need to mow (this will keep your handymen free to do
more important things like sweep paths and empty litter bins).
Place some shops now because your peeps will get thirsty and
hungry. You don't want to have to stop ride construction later
when the game tells you your guest are getting hungry/thirsty.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2.5 Evergreen Gardens (from Water Monkey)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Convert the beautiful Evergreen Gardens into a thriving theme park"
Objective: To have at least 1000 guests in your park at the end of October,
Year 4, with a park rating of at least 600
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
$1.00 $10,000 1 $40,000
Victory Conditions: To have at least 1000 guests in your park at the end of
October, Year 4, with a park rating of at least 600.
Current Rides: None
Map Layout: Evergreen Gardens is a large park with a lake in the center. It has
already been populated with various trees and flowers. There are
many paths winding through orchards, over hills, and around
statues. It is a very peaceful setting. This is the largest map
of the first five scenarios.
Strategies for winning:
This scenario is as relaxing as its setting. While initially it
may seem difficult to get 1000 guests in three years, it really
isn't. This is what I call a "practice scenario" (like some of the
earlier scenarios). You are given ample money and land to build
the park of your dreams. Before you build your first ride, pause
the game and take a look around. Get some ideas how you would like
to use the landscape. You will need to decide if you are going to
use most of the current landscape, or if you will be changing it.
Just remember that altering the land can be expensive.
With so much room to build and paths already set up, it may be
difficult to decide where to start. I usually start one of two
ways:
My typical method of starting is to not build anything along the
entrance walkway until you get past the first two hills. In this
flat area is where I place a few gentle rides and thrill rides. I
usually save the hill with the roman themeing on it for some type
of coaster.
An alternative to starting this way is to build a few gentle and
thrill rides on top of the Roman themed hill and allow th peeps to
walk down the backside of the hill into a park filled with more
exciting rides.
Whatever way you design your park, the first thing I would do is
place "Do Not Enter" signs on paths leading to areas of the park
you currently aren't using. There are so many paths that your
peeps will get lost, hungry, and tired. You will get messages
telling you your guests are getting lost. As your park grows you
can take away some of the signs and allow your peeps more freedom.
Note: If you don't HAVE banners, then you can't place these
signs. (Corkscrew Follies) In that case, just delete the
paths.
Also, be thinking early on about a transport ride. It is a good
idea to have a monorail that takes the peeps to different points in
the park. I usually do not build any rides within two squares on
the park boundaries in order to allow for the monorail track. You
can build the monorail at the beginning of the game and only have
one stop. Then as the park grows you can add additional stops. I
usually have four stops centrally located on each of the four sides
of the park.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2.6 Bumbly Beach (from Water Monkey)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Develop Bumbly Beach's small amusement park into a thriving theme park"
Objective: To have at least 750 guest in your park at the end of October, year
2, with a park rating of at least 600.
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
FREE $10,000 93 $20,000
Name Age Admit $
Current Rides: Ferris wheel (Ferris Wheel 1) - New - $1.00 admission
Carousel (Gallopers) - New - $0.50 admission
Wooden Coaster (Rollercoaster 1) - New - $4.00 admission
Map Layout: A pretty nice park no grass cut, a medium wooden rollercoaster a
wonderful beach side by the park, no flowers or statues (no
landscaping) and no trees. There is land for sale on the beach
side.
Strategies for winning:
The key to Bumbly Beach is building. You have a fairly flat piece
of land that should be easy to develop. The wooden coaster seems
to make your peeps sick. Consider removing a couple of humps and
you should be okay. Practice your coaster construction skills,
you will need them in later scenarios. Try building small compact
coasters and large long ones also.
There is no landscaping currently. Try adding some flowers and
trees and see how that affects coasters and your park rating.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2.7 Trinity Islands (from Water Monkey)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Several islands form the basis for this new park"
Objective: To have at least 750 guest in your park at the end of October, year
3, with a park rating of at least 600.
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
FREE $10,000 0 $20,000
Current Rides: None
Map Layout: Three islands make up the land available for this park. Being
islands there is plenty of water surrounding them. The islands
are hilly. Increasing in steepness from the first (least steep)
to the other two (more steep). There are a fair amount of trees on
the islands. Some paths have been built to connect the islands.
Strategies for winning:
While the objective of this scenario may be to get 750 guests in
your park, the true goal of this scenario is to teach you how to
build on various landscapes. With this scenario you will be able
to practice your skills of building rides over water and on
hillsides.
I found the easiest way to complete this scenario is to place your
flat rides along the level area of the first island and build your
track and water rides along the hilly portions of the islands.
Remember to use the hills to increase the excitement of your
coasters. You can tunnel through them and running your track near
ground level increases the perception of speed, which increases
excitement. Try creating a coaster that approaches an island at
sea level (at a high speed) and then run the track up the side of
an island, your peeps will love this.
Use the trees to your advantage. They raise your park rating and
also increase the perception of speed when placed next to a track.
Some things to look out for:
A. Money: This is one of those scenarios that if you are not
careful, you could run out of cash in the middle of creating a
coaster (very upsetting).
B. Boat Hire: I tend to create Boat Hires without any boundaries.
This allows my peeps to row wherever they like. Unfortunately,
with this scenario, they will row wherever they like. If I dont
put up some kind of land barrier around the boat hire area, I find
my peeps rowing past the park boundaries. The problem happens
when they try to row back, the game won't let them back into the
park. You eventually will get a message telling you that a boat
has not returned. At this point you must pause the game,
double-click on the "close" button for the ride, open the ride,
and then unpause the game. Not a major crisis, but a hassle to do
every 10-15min.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2.8 Katie's World (from Water Monkey)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A small theme park with a few rides and room for expansion - Your aim is to
double the park value."
Objective: To achieve a Park Value of at least $15,000 at the end of October,
Year 3.
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
FREE $1,000 395 $25,000
Name Age Admit $
Current Rides: Swinging Ship (Al's Galleon) - 1 year - $1.50
Suspended Single Rail (Forest Flyer) - 1 year - $3.00
Boat Hire (Katherine's Cruisers) - 1 year - $1.00
Miniature Railroad (Miniature Railroad 1) - 1 year - $1.00
Go Karts (Richard's Wreckers) - 1 year - $2.00
Steel mini coaster (Runaway Plumber) - 1 year - $2.00
Mine Train Coaster (The Storm) - 2 year - $5.00
Map Layout: This is a hilly forest setting. A small lake is set toward the
middle of the park. There is land for sale in the center of the
mine train coaster and along the front side of the park. Rides
and pathways have been scattered around the park.
Strategies for winning:
The simple way to increase your park value is to build. The more
you build the higher your Park Value becomes. Roller coasters
raise the Park Value the most. Remember as your rides age they
decrease in value. Also, for a ride to increase you Park Value,
it must complete one full circuit.
One strategy I like to use is building saved coasters. I usually
build some rides to attract more guests, including a couple of
coasters that don't take up alot of room. Then I start saving my
money. In the last year, I usually build 3 - 4 coasters and then
let the scenario finish.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2.9 Dinky Park (from Water Monkey)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A small cramped amusement park which requires major expansion"
Objective: To achieve a Park Value of at least $10,000 at the end of October,
Year 2
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
FREE $10,000 158 $20,000
Name Age Admit $
Current Rides: Merry-Go-Round (Carousel) - NEW - $1.00 admission
Observation Tower (Cloud Nine) - NEW - $0.50 admission
Ferris Wheel (Ferris Wheel 1) - NEW - $1.00 admission
Scrambled Eggs (Purple Peril) - NEW - $1.00 admission
Spiral Slide (Spiral Slide) - NEW - $0.80 admission
Swinging Ship (Swinging Ship 1) - NEW - $1.50 admission
Map Layout: This is a tiny park set on a small hillside. All but a couple of
trees have been removed. There is land for purchasing
construction rights on the opposite side of the highway.
Strategies for winning:
Like the previous scenario you need to build to increase your Park
Value. With so little space in the current park, you have no
choice but to purchase construction rights to the land on the
opposite side of the highway.
Before I start purchasing construction rights, I usually condense
my current park. The park has alot of wasted space. I usually
move the scrambled eggs, swinging ship and carousel close together
near the entrance of the park. This allows me to build a small
steel mini coaster at the back of the park (using tunneling).
This will add extra income which is needed later in the scenario.
As the scenario progresses I purchase blocks of construction
rights in order to build more coasters. Small coasters not spread
out too much allow you to spend less on construction rights.
Remember each new coaster added increases your profits, so money
will start to flow quicker as the scenario progresses.
The other thing I like to to is make all non-coaster rides free
and then charge a gate admission. This will force each peep to
give you a certain amount of money upfront, and they are more
reluctant to leave knowing they will have to pay an admission
again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2.10 Aqua Park (from Water Monkey)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A park with some excellent water-based rides requires expansion."
Objective: To have at least 900 guests in your park at the end of October, Year
3, with a park rating of at least 600.
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
$2.50 $10,000 256 $20,000
Name Age Admit $
Current Rides: Boat Hire (Boat Hire 1) - NEW - $0.80 admission
Log Flume (Log Flume 1) - 1 year old - $3.00 admission
Log Flume (Log Flume 2) - 1 year old - $3.00 admission
River Rapids (River Rapids 1) - 1 year old - $3.00 admission
Water Slide Water Slide 1) - 1 year old - $2.50 admission
Map Layout: This is a large forest themed park with plenty of room to expand.
There is a large lake in the center of the park and numerous trees
around the property. There is no additional land or property
rights for sale.
Strategies for winning:
First thing, pause your game and make a decision about the water
slide. Guests are complaining that the slide is unsafe, and they
are right. If you don't correct this problem immediately, you will
start losing peeps as they fly off the slide.
You have two choices; either make the slide safe or demolish it. I
always demolish the slide. I don't like the way the slide looks at
the front of the park. I usually place the slide away from the
main walkway. With the slide gone, you can now build flat rides
along your main path.
This is a fairly easy scenario to complete. Just keep building
coasters, raise your park admission, and lower your ride
admissions.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2.11 Millenium Mines (from Water Monkey)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Convert a large abandoned mine from a tourist attraction into a theme park"
Objective: To have at least 800 guests in your park at the end of October, Year
3, with a park rating of at least 600.
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
$4.00 $10,000 44 $20,000
Current Rides: Miniature Railroad (Mine Tour Train) - New - Free Admission
Map Layout: The theme of this park is a large abandoned mine. The terrain on
this scenario is very hilly. The land typ is dirt. There are no
trees or grass within the park. There are a couple of small
ponds, but they aren't large enough to use for water rides.
Strategies for Winning:
To things to take note of with this park, hills and rain. The
landscape is very uneven and it seems to rain quite a bit
(remember peeps don't like to ride outdoor rides in the rain).
Don't waste your money trying to flaten all the land. This is a
good test of how well you can place rides along hillsides. Make
use of the terrain for tunneling your coasters. Try constructing
a coaster completely underground. This way peeps will ride it no
matter what the weather is like.
I like to keep with the mine themeing throughout the park, except
I usually create a garden in the center of the park with some
gentle rides placed in there.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2.12 Karts & Coasters (from Water Monkey)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A large park hidden in the forest, with only go-kart tracks and wooden
coasters"
Objective: To have at least 1000 guests in your park at the end of October,
Year 3, with a park rating of at least 600.
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
Free $10,000 321 $20,000
Name Age Admit $
Current Rides: Wooden Roller Coaster (Big Woodchip) - 2 years - $3.50
Wooden Roller Coaster (Bigger Woodchip) - 1 year - $3.50
GoKarts (King Karts) - 2 years - $5.00
GoKarts (Turnpike) - 1 year - $2.00
Map Layout: This is a heavily wooded area with several hills. There are
several paths that wind around the park and the rides twist and
turn between the trees.
Strategies for winning:
First thing, demolish some rides. You don't need 2 wooden
coasters and 2 GoKarts. To save space and gain income I usually
demolish all four rides. This will give you an extra $25,000.00.
Remember to get rid of the queue lines that aren't being used.
Build some gentle and thrill rides quickly, to keep your peeps
happy. Once you have some rides built, get rid of some of the
paths. Your peeps will start getting lost if you don't guide them
properly.
You are also going to need to thin out some trees in order to
build your rides. So be thinking about ride placement and which
trees you want to get rid of.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2.13 Mel's World (from Water Monkey)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The theme park has some well developed modern rides, but plenty of space for
expansion"
Objective: To have at least 1200 guests in your park at the end of October,
Year 3, with a park rating of at least 600.
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
Free $5,000 263 $15,000
Name Age Admit $
Current Rides: Whoa Belly (Blast-Off) - 1 year - $3.00
Inverted Roller Coaster (Frightmare) - 2 years - $5.00
Gravitron (Highjack) - 1 year - $1.80
Bobsled Coaster (Quiver) - 1 year - $3.00
Map Layout: Mel's World is a medium sized park set on rolling grass hills.
There is a small lake available for use with some water rides.
There are some trees scattered along the hillsides, but not as
dense as previous scenarios. Pathways have been built to allow
access to the existing rides. There is no land for sale.
Strategies for winning:
Okay now your park managment skills are going to be tested. You
have limited amounts of cash to work with ($15,000 total), and a
park design that is currently spread out. Most of your gentle and
thrill rides will need to be built on slopes, so plan carefully.
If you find yoursel running short of land there are a couple of
things you can do. First you can build some of your coasters
underground, this will save space. Second, you can place rides
close together and have them share exit paths. For instance, I
managed to squeeze 6 gentle/thrill rides into the empty land in
front of "Quiver". I placed three rides facing the path in front
of "Quiver" (with the exits at the back of the rides), and three
rides facing the opposite direction directly behind the first
three rides. The entrances (an queues) faced the paths, while the
exits were behind the rides. I then built a path between all of
the exits, thus having 6 rides use the same exit path.
One of the first things you will need to do is decide what to do
with "Frightmare". With an intensity of 11.44 you won't be making
much money on this one. Plus the nausea rating is 7.47, so you
are going to have alot of sick peeps wandering around. You can try
to fix the coaster, making it less intense, or you can demolish it
and collect approx. $9,100. If you decide to fix the ride, be
careful not to spend too much of your money on this coaster, you
still have a park to run.
Since you have several gentle and thrill rides available at the
start, I would go ahead and construct them, and then decide what
to do about Frightmare.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2.14 Mothball Mountain (from Water Monkey)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"In the hilly forests of Mothball Mountain, build a theme park from scratch"
Objective: To have at least 800 guests in your park at the end of October, Year
3, with a park rating of at least 600
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
Free $10,000 0 $15,000
Current Rides: None
Map Layout: You own a small piece of land, with the option to expand and
enlarge your park. Set on a mountain, you do not have much flat
land. There is a body of water in the center of your park. The
trees are densely packed in areas around your park. There is also
an abandoned shack at the back of your park.
Strategies for winning:
At first 800 guests in 3 years seems simple. Even with only
$15,000 to play with this scenario seems like a breeze. The
problem is, if you are use to constructing "wide open" parks you
will have to "rethink" your construction strategies.
Building your rides close together is one key to success in this
park. Another is to build small, tight, but exciting coasters.
This may take some practice, but it can be done. As you generate
money, you need to think about two things; adding more rides and
expanding your park. This means you need to build some cash
generating rides (shuttle loop coasters) early on and spend your
money wisely. Dont raise/lower any land unless you absolutely
have to, its too expensive.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2.15 Pacific Pyramids (from Water Monkey)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Convert the Egyptian ruins tourist attraction into a thriving theme park"
Objective: To have at least 1000 guests in your park at the end of October,
Year 4, with a park rating of at least 600.
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
Free $10,000 0 $20,000
Current Rides: None
Map Layout: This is an Egyptian themed park. Currently you own a good size
park, with the ability to purchase massive amounts of land for
expansion. The land is flat, except for a range of hills running
through the middle of your park. There are four pyramids at the
front of the park and some egyptian artifacts toward the rear. A
network of paths (including a subterrainean path) has been laid for
you.
Strategies for winning:
First off, you need to decide if you want to keep all of the
themeing. The four pyramids in the front of the park can get in
your way. If you decide to remove one or more of them, consider
redirecting your paths at the same time. The underground path can
be a hassle because peeps can still get sick on it, and it can be
difficult to set your handyman's paths accurately. Also, the
underground path can become an obstacle if you plan to utilize the
hill for a coaster.
It should be no problem to reach your goal of 1000 in four years.
You can make this scenario more fun by adding even more themeing.
Expand as you gain wealth. I would suggest expanding one side of
the park first, then once you haveexpanded one side fully, move to
the other side.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2.16 Crumbly Woods (from Water Monkey)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A large park with well-designed but rather old rides - Replace the old rides
or add new rides to make the park more popular"
Objective: To have at least 1200 guests in your park at the end of October,
Year 3, with a park rating of at least 600.
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
Free $5,000 646 $15,000
Name Age Admit $
Current Rides: Car Ride (Crazy Critters) - 13 years - $0.80
Merry-Go-Round (Crumbly Carousel) - 12 years - $0.40
Haunted House (Crumbly Mansion) - 12 years - $0.30
Ferris Wheel (Crumbly Wheel) - 12 years - $0.50
Wooden Rodent Coaster (Mean Sqeeak) - 14 years - $2.00
Steel Corkscrew (Whiplash) - 13 years - $1.20
Wooden Coaster (Woodchip Woodchip) - 14 years - $2.50
Map Layout: Crumbly Woods is a park set in a dense hilly forest. It has
several rides nestled in a dense forest. There is a small body of
water in the park, that may be of some use. There is no land for
sale.
Strategies for winning:
My startegy for this scenario is to demolish all the rides and
rebuild. Demolishing the rides will give you an extra $20k, which
will help you complete this scenario. The old rides are a hassle
because they always breakdown. Don't worry if peeps leave because
they are bored, more will come.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2.17 Big Pier (from Water Monkey)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Convert this sleepy town's pier into a thriving attraction"
Objective: To have at least 600 guests in your park at the end of October, Year
2, with a park rating of at least 600
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
Free $10,000 0 $20,000
Current Rides: None
Map Layout: As the name implies this is a big pier. There is no land, just
water. You can build rides in the pier boundaries out to 4
squares away from the pier.
Strategies for winning:
Design short rides that don't take up much space. You don't have
the time to spend a year developing a coaster. If you want to
build a large coaster, try designing a coaster that you can save,
and then restart the scenario and build it instantly. Don't worry
about building on the water. All your rides start at the same
level as the pier.
I like to build as many gentle and thrill rides as possible,
because they are compact. If you are not concerned about
admission to the rides, you can create multiple copies of the
same ride (e.g. 4 swinging ships) and the peeps won't be upset. I
once created 4 copies of each of my rides (none were coasters) and
placed one copy in each of the pier quadrants and I had no problem
getting my 600 peeps.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2.18 Lightning Peaks (from Water Monkey)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The beautiful mountains of Lightning Peaks are popular with walkers and
sightseers - Use the available land to attract a new thrill seeking clientele"
Objective: To have at least 900 guests in your park at the end of October, Year
3, with a park rating of at least 600.
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
Free $5,000 74 $15,000
Current Rides: Chairlift (Chairlift 1)- New - $1.50 admission
Chairlift (Chairlift 2)- New - $1.50 admission
Map Layout: By now you are probably hoping for a scenario with nice flat land
and very little trees, well sorry to disappoint you, but this
isn't it. Lightning Peaks is a giant mountain with two chairlifts
and several paths traversing the mountain sides. There are trees
everywhere and almost no flat land.
Strategies for winning:
There isn't anything too difficult about this scenario. Basically,
you need to create a few rides that interact with the mountains
(tunnels etc.) Make the chairlfts free, so they get more use, and
install plenty of info kiosks, it rains alot. If you want some
quick cash create a "shuttle loop" style steel coaster. Once you
have enough cash to build a large coaster, build it toward the back
of the park. Then all you need are your gentle/thrill rides and
you should be done.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2.19 Ivory Towers (from Water Monkey)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A well-established park which has a feww problems"
Objective: To have at least 1000 guests in your park at the end of October,
Year 3, with a park rating of at least 600.
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
Free $10,000 172 $20,000
Current Rides: Boat Hire (Canoes) - 2 years - $0.90 admission
Suspended Coaster (Force Nine) - 2 years - $5.00 admission
Monorail (Monorail 1) - 3 years - $2.00 admission
Steel Mini Coaster (Tree Topper) - 2 years - $3.50 admission
Map Layout: Ivory Towers is a park set on the banks of a small lake. There
are many trees to deal with along with the lake. The paths are
laid out for you and some nice hooligans have vandalized, littered
and barfed all over your paths.
Strategies for winning:
Obviously the first task is to clean up the mess. It is up to you
whether you set a patrol area for each of your staff members. I
like to, just to be more efficient. Once that is done consider
demolishing or re-designing "Force Nine". This coaster is making
everyone sick. I would even consider re-designing "Tree Topper"
in order to free up some more space.
After that just start building and you should be done. This is
another rainy scenario. So sell those umbrellas and build some
underground rides.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2.20 Rainbow Valley (from Water Monkey)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Rainbow Valley's local authority won't allow any landscape changes or large
tree removal, but you must develop the area into a large theme park"
Objective: To have at least 1000 guests in your park at the end of October,
Year 4, with a park rating of at least 600.
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
Free $10,000 0 $20,000
Current Rides: None
Map Layout: A long narrow valley with a river at the bottom is the setting for
this scenario. You can develop along both sides of the river, as
long as you don't remove any trees or adjust land height. There
is no land for sale.
Strategies for winning:
Okay some eco-nut is trying to prevent you from building your
"perfect" park. You are prevented from cutting down trees and
raising or lowering the land. Once you stop swearing at your
computer, there are tips you can use to complete the scenario.
First, pause the game and look over the whole area. Make note of
any areas with few or no trees. Take special note of any long
strips of land where trees are absent, these are places to place
station platforms for your coasters.
Building flat rides should not be too difficult, just find spaces
between the trees and place these rides there. Try to save the
more open areas for your coasters. The flat rides can be crammed
into tight areas. For example, you might see an area where there
is two squares vacant between a couple of trees, this may be
perfect for a spiral slide.
Coasters may be a little trickier than flat rides. The hardest
part of your coaster construction will be finding an area to place
your station platform and have enough room for your lift hill to
clear the trees. Make sure your station has plenty of space in
the back for your coaster to enter. You don't want to create the
perfect coaster only to realize a tree is blocking your track from
completing the circuit.
One trick to coaster building you can use, is the elevated
platform. Unfortunately RCT doesn't allow to just pick the height
of the platform, you will have to do some creative building.
1. Start your track at ground level.
2. Incline the track to the height you want your station to be,
and level the track.
3. Determine where you want the station to be placed and build
track until you are at that location.
4. Once you are at the spot where you want your station, build a
few station squares.
5. This is the beginning of your coaster. All you have to do now
is demolish all the track leading up to the station and you
will be set to create your coaster. This is also the method
for creating double decker coasters (One platform over
another).
This might sound tricky, but give it a try.
You can build rides on the river, but usually save that area for
coaster track.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2.21 Thunder Rock (from Water Monkey)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Thunder Rock stands in the middle of the desert and attracts many tourists -
Use the available space to build rides to attract more people."
Objective: To have at least 900 guests in your park at the end of October, Year
4, with a park rating of at least 600.
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
Free $10,000 62 $15,000
Current Rides: Chairlift (Thunder Rock Chairlift) - New - $1.00 admission
Map Layout: Just like the name implies, you park is a giant rock. The rock
towers over your park entrance (the entrance is at height 1, the
average height of the rock is 23-25). A path has been constructed
to lead peeps to the top of the rock and along the perimeter of
the top. The chairlift will also provide access to the top of the
rock.
Strategies for winning:
This is it, the final scenario in the original RCT game. You will
need all of your expert design skills for this one. Your park
area is small, but if you think in layers you can expand the area
quite nicely. Design your coasters to utilize the rock. Send
them underground, and keep your peeps guessing where the coaster
goes. Put most of your flat rides on top. I usually get rid of
the chairlift, because it doesn't utilze its space very well.
You can build some rides at entrance level, but be careful. This
is a great way to get your peeps lost. With too many rides at
entrance level and then more at the top of the rock, peeps will
have a hard time finding the rides.
Another cool ride to create is what I call a transport coaster.
This is a coaster (usually steel or corkscrew) that has multiple
platforms along the park. Its purpose is to transport peeps
quickly to another area of the park. My favorite is to use a
steel coaster with boosters to send peeps to the top, backside of
the rock, where they disembark. At that point new peeps board the
coaster and are wisked to the entrance at break-neck speeds. This
moves more peeps than the chairlift or monorail (over time), and
the peeps are willing to pay more for it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.3 Corkscrew Follies/Added Attractions Scenario Walkthroughs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[This section is being worked on. If you have any tips, send them in!]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.4 Loopy Landscapes Scenario Walkthroughs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A semi-brief note on the Loopy Landscape scenarios. Almost without fail,
all of these scenarios do not allow you to set admission to the park
prices. Which means that ALL of your funding must come primarily from
Rides and secondarily from Shops. A good rule on pricing the rides is to
simply keep the price that is automatically generated when you build the
ride. Do this for gentle rides, etc.; but for rollercoasters you are going
to want to increase the prices well into the $4 and $5 dollar range.
Remember, as with earlier, that you still don't want to price gouge. You
need to get all your guest's money, maximize the time they spend in the
park, AND get them to leave happy. You won't get all three if you ask the
peeps to pay $10 per ride (even if they pay it).
Justification: Guests normally like to stay in the park between 1 and 2
hours real time. After that point, they usually want to go home,
regardless of how much money they currently have, or how happy they are.
This gives you a 1.5 hour window to get all of that guest's money. If you
price your rides entirely too high (such as $10) then you are severely
limiting the amount of time they can spend in the park. If they ride an
expensive ride repeatedly, they could end out with no money really quickly,
and spend the rest of their 1.5 hours wandering around the park looking
for cheap rides. As they do this, their happiness drops, and they leave
when it hits "miserable" (usually well before the normal 1.5 hour mark).
The result could be that you get less guests coming to your park (bad
word of mouth) and you have less guests in your park (they all get mad and
leave). It could also negatively impact your park rating.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.4.1 Iceberg Islands
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A collection of icebergs makes a cold setting for this ambitious theme park."
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
FREE (permanent) $10,000 60 $20,000
Victory Conditions: To have at least 1250 guest in your park at the end of
October, Year 3, with a park rating of at least 600.
Current Rides: Chairlift (Chairlift 1) - NEW - Free Admission
Miniature Golf (Mini Golf 1) - NEW - Free Admission
Bobsled Coaster (Roller Coaster 1) - NEW - Free Admission
Map Layout: There are a half-dozen icebergs floating in the middle of a cold
ocean. To reach each one, you must either make paths, or use
a Transport Ride (Chairlift, for example).
Strategies for Winning:
This scenario is a little more difficult than I first imagined.
The first thing that annoyed me was the fact that you can't charge
a Gate Fee. This meant you had to spend your $10,000 very wisely.
Another bad thing is the fact that you're on icebergs, which meant
nothing was touching each other. You also have to spend quite a
bit of money on paths to connect the icebergs to get your guests
from one "berg" to another. One logical solution would to raise
the land with the Land Tool. This, however is very expensive to
do, especially if you want a flat "berg." It is interesting to
note that several of the icebergs come "prelinked" via underground
pathways.
Be sure to change the Admission fees for your three initial rides,
as this is the only way you'll be making any money.
With all of that water sitting there, you'd be a fool not to put at
least one type of a water ride there.
I'm afraid patience is the only thing that will get you through
your first mission, unless of course you're using a trainer.
Tips from Others: "Build as LESS as you can in water because the ground is way
down there and it costs too much for supports. Also, charge
as much as you can for rides, shops, etc. without upsetting
your guests." - Chris The Cool
"Another logical thing to do to connect the icebergs is to
make a couple of boat hires, each with ONE CANOE and a
station on both icebergs. Make them very cheap and people
can row themselves from iceberg to iceberg, boat hires aren't
too expensive." - The Beetles Fan
Screenshot(s): [Not Available Yet]
Saved Game(s): [Not Available Yet]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.4.2 Volcania
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A dormant volcano is the setting of this coaster-building challenge."
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
FREE (permanent) $15,000 1 $20,000
Victory Conditions: To finish building all 5 of the partially built roller
coasters in this park, designing them to achieve excitement
ratings of at least 6.70 each.
Current Rides: Wooden Coaster (Roller Coaster 1) - Incomplete
Steel Coaster (Roller Coaster 2) - Incomplete
Inverted Coaster (Roller Coaster 3) - Incomplete
Suspended Coaster (Roller Coaster 4) - Incomplete
Steel Wild Rodent (Roller Coaster 5) - Incomplete
Map Layout: A large volcanic island in the middle of the ocean. The
"cauldron" of the volcano has been filled with water. The five
rollercoasters that must be completed are thrown all over the
place (make sure you know where each end of the coaster is!),
but concentrated in the rear of the park.
Strategies for Winning:
There is NO time limit on this park, so you can take all the time
you want. This changes this scenario from being a park building
scenario into a coaster building excersize. If you feel a little
inadequate in the coaster construction element of this game, you
will find this scenario particularly taxing. You CANNOT delete
any of the existing track on any of the 5 coasters.
Don't feel up to it? Try playing "Arid Heights" first as it
has NO money at all (everything is free), and can give you great
practice at coaster building.
First thing's first, develop a small "mini-park" of various rides
to give your park some cashflow. Zoom out the map all the way
and look at the park. With the entrance in the bottom right
corner, you will notice the 5 unfinished coasters at the top of
the park, with most of the open space at the bottom. That is
where we want to develop right now. Build gentle rides, shops
and whatnot first. Then along the lower left side I built my
favorite of all money-making rides, the Shuttle Loop Steel
Coaster. Build the first at least 3 squares from the path, give
it 4 or 5 station platforms, a quickie loop (in the direction of
the path, so if the path is to the right, do a right loop), a
picture platform, a loop in the opposite direction, and a very
long and high straight track. Then build another of these right
next to the first so that you can synchronize the two. I have
found this combination of coasters to be one of the most efficient
money makers.
Continue developing the mini-park until you make around $3,000 to
$4,000 in profit a month (without taking into account Construction
costs or landscaping, you would make $4,000). That is about the
needed amount of cashflow to develop the 5 coasters without having
to resort to a loan. Work on the 5 coasters one at a time, and
get them up, running and profitable as soon as possible. Which to
do first? Here's a decent idea:
Steel
Wooden (or this could be first)
Steel Wild Rodent
Inverted
Suspended
Coasters under the 6.7 excitement? Try sending them through
more tunnels (they all already go through some tunnels), build
lots of scenery around them, send the rides through each other
(such as going through the loop), etc.
One last tip: Pay off your debt. There's no telling how long
you are going to play this scenario (as it isn't timed) and even
at the very very low interest rates this game features, you will
lose some needed funds to debt.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.4.3 Arid Heights
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Free of any financial limits, your challenge is to develop this desert park
while keeping the guests happy."
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
FREE (permanent) n/a 0 n/a
Victory Conditions: To have at least 2000 guests in your park. You must not
let the park rating fall below 700 at any time.
Current Rides: none
Map Layout: A very large, reasonably flat, desert park. There is some small
bit of landscaping around (water, greenery and a scattering of
trees) but on the whole, this is the perfect park for developing.
Strategies for Winning:
Arid Heights is the easiest scenario ever designed, I believe.
There is simply put, no money at all. Nothing costs anything, and
every guest gets on all the rides for free. Want to build a huge
colossal coaster? Why not? You don't have to worry about how to
finance it at all! Just keep building rides until you get your
2000 guests. And while you are playing, try to improve your
coaster-building skills. No better time for it.
Just remember that the park rating can't fall below 700 or you
lose. So hire as many handymen as you can to keep the paths
clean, and remember to check for vandalism.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.4.4 Razor Rocks
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Your task is to build a massive coaster-filled park in amongst Razor Rocks."
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
FREE (permanent) $10,000 0 $25,000
Victory Conditions: To have 10 different types of roller coasters operating in
your park, each with an excitement value of at least 6.00.
Current Rides: none
Map Layout: Another very large park, that would be nice and flat if it didn't
have numerous large "boulders" around the park. Each of these
is a small mountain really. These could be useful to making some
rollercoasters.
Strategies for Winning:
First thing's first, build a small "mini-park" to get the money
rolling in so that you can start working on your 10 coasters.
Think 10 6.0 excitement coasters sounds tough? Not really. Your
coaster doesn't need to have any passengers, merely needs to be
tested at above 6.0 excitement. You can probably get by just
through using the Pre-Built coasters and just adding scenery where
applicable.
Here are the 10 coasters I built, and how I got them over 6.0
excitement:
1) Steel Mini: Raging Rocket. Normally this ride doesn't get
6.0 excitement, so I had to make some changes. I removed
sections of track, raised the land, then replaced the track
to create little tunnels. Then I build an astounding number
of scenery around the ride filling every square around the
ride with objects going out 3 squares. (6.06 excitement)
2) Wild Rodent: Crazy Vole. This ride already has over 6.0
excitement (around 6.4), however, I still redesign it slightly
by making a drop out of the station, then through a tunnel
and over to the lift hill.
3) Air Powered Verticle Coaster: Custom. This is my favorite
new ride in LL, and it is the easiest coaster to design, even
if it is horridly expensive. You send the track out
vertically as in the Reverse Whoa Belly (Freefall), then a
rounded out top, then vertically down. The track then curves
around, then again and back to the station. Some scenery
(and nearness to other rides) gave this a 9.3 excitement.
4) Wooden Twister: Wooden_Twister_1. This is a great ride and
the pre-made coaster is really well made. Very little work
needs to be done. (6.3 excitement)
5) Bobsled: Big Bob. This ride comes VERY close (5.4) already
so you just need to make some adjustments. Remove sections
of track, raise the land, then restore the track to create
tunneled sections, then pile on the scenery. (6.24 excitement)
6) Vertical: Big 90. This ride comes pretty well designed
already at about 6.10 excitement. To be on the safe side I
added more scenery anyway and got it up to 6.7 excitement.
7) Steel Wild Mouse: Steel Mouse 2. Another great predesigned
coaster that requires no real work on your part. I, however,
just got the Castle scenery and wanted to play around with it
and so this ride became a Castle. (7.23 excitement)
8) Reverse Whoa Belly: Custom. This ride was one of the
toughest ones to get above 6.0 excitement. First I had to
build 2 of them next to each other and synchronize them. Then
I added tunnels all over the place (I was most proud of
getting the tunnel on the vertical section), then I hit it
hard with scenery everywhere. I barely got it to 6.10 and
was happy.
9) Mine Train: Manic Miner. This prebuilt coaster comes close
to where you need it (5.7), so all you need to do is add
tunnels and scenery and be done with it.
10) Steel Coaster: Custom. This was a Shuttle Launch with 2
loops and a photo track. Then I built two by each other,
raced them and added tunnels and scenery and got 6.7
excitement.
I took too long playing this scenario, and around year 7, the
guests stop arriving. So, try to win it before then.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.4.5 Crater Lake
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A large lake in an ancient crater is the setting for this park."
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
FREE (permanent) $10,000 0 $22,000
Victory Conditions: To have 1300 guests in your park at the end of October,
Year 3, with a park rating of at least 600.
Current Rides: none
Map Layout: Another very large park, that is taking place over a lake. The
most interesting thing about this is that the land is as low as
it can get, and the water is only 1 level above that. So unless
you raise the land, you won't get any tunneling.
Strategies for Winning:
After those previous "tricky" parks, this one is refreshingly
normal. Just build a theme park, nothing complicated about that.
I built a large "loop" path around the middle of the park, and
then built 2 of every Thrill ride you get, one on the left side
of the park another on the right side. Coasters are still the
big moneymaker so try to develop at least 6 or 7 of them by the
end of year 3.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.4.6 Vertigo Views
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"This large park already has an excellent hyper-coaster, but your task is to
massively increase its profit."
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
FREE (permanent) $10,000 95 $20,000
Victory Conditions: To achieve a monthly income from Ride Tickets of at least
$8,000.
Current Rides: Hyper Coaster (Roller Coaster 1) - New - $6.00 admission
Map Layout: A great big park with a great big hypercoaster that goes all
around it.
Strategies for Winning:
Aside from the obvious "build more rides" there isn't really a
trick to this scenario. As you aren't time limited you can take
your time building your park. Make sure to set research to Rides
early on, but don't neglect shops, as they are a good source of
revenue.
Also, it took me about 3 months of $8,000 ride sales before the
game acknowledged that and let me pass. So, if you don't get it
right away, keep working at it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.4.7 Big Pier 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Big Pier has expanded its network of walkways over the sea, and your task is
to expand the park to use the extra space."
Initial Admission Initial Cash Initial # of guests Max. Loan Amt.
----------------- ------------ ------------------- --------------
FREE (permanent) $10,000 468 $20,000
Victory Conditions: To have at least 1200 guests in your park at the end of
October, Year 2, with a park rating of at least 600
Current Rides: Boat Hire 1 - New - $1.10 admission
Enterprise 1 - New - $2.00
Ferris Wheel 1 - New - $1.30
Haunted House 1 - New - $1.00
Log Flume 1 - New - $3.50
Merry-Go-Round 1 - New - $1.00
Roller Coaster 1 - New - $3.70
Scrambled Eggs 1 - New - $1.00
Map Layout: That familiar series of walkways over the ocean from the original
scenarios, now is larger and comes with a prebuilt minipark on it.
Your park extends 4 squares beyond the outermost walkways.
Strategies for Winning:
I found this to be one of the easier scenarios around because you
start with half your job done for you, you have a good
rollercoaster to start with (I would expand its Queue, though)
and a decent park. Most rides you place will automatically be
placed on the same level as the walkway (2 above the water), there
is one exception to this: Prebuilt coasters, those are built on
the water itself.
First order of business is to place Do Not Enter signs around the
park, first to block off the exit paths from your rides, then to
restrict access on the walkways to help the peeps from getting
lost. Then build in some information booths, and restrooms around
the park. Have at least 5 restrooms. Since you can't expand the
park outward, you'll probably never need more. Get research
pumped up to $400 a month and uncheck the "Scenery" as you have
nowhere to place scenery.
Then just build rides and work on the park. You should end this
scenario with at least 1400 guests, even if you only moderately
develop it. If necessary you can delete walkways in order to
place larger coasters. Coasters are the best moneymakers, but
as soon as you have filled the park with as many as you think you
can fit, uncheck Coasters in the research and go for Gentle and
Thrill only.
If you are still a little short near the end, around August and
into September, run major advertising campaigns. It takes longer
for peeps to arrive in your park, here, as they have longer to
walk.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Your Park
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This Section deals with how to set up a successful park, and has some other
great ideas on how to make money in the park.
- The first thing that you want to do in your new park is to set Research up
to the maximum funding possible ($400 a month). If you do not have the
Information Kiosk available already, then you will want to uncheck all
research boxes except for "Shops and Stalls". (Information Kiosk is the
most useful shop in the game, since it sells both maps and umbrellas)
- Once you get the Information Kiosk build it close to the entrance (not
right by the entrance, but somewhere nearby), as your guests will want a
map to avoid getting lost (and an umbrella if it rains). Typically what
I do here is to build the Information Kiosk on a corner of the first
intersection, that way everyone has a good chance to buy something when
they enter the park.
Note: Don't forget to recheck the research areas back to all areas. Unless
you don't mind never getting new rides...
- Next you will want some rides. Build a good mix of rides, some gentle,
some exciting, and of course a rollercoaster. Place one, and only one,
rollercoaster by the entrance to get the guests' hearts pounding early. It
also increases their happiness. The rest of your Rollercoasters you will
build deeper into your park (you build only one by the entrance since
they will have to travel to the others, and will sometimes see other things
on the way) You want at least one indoor type ride, like the Haunted
House.
Note: The game sets ride prices if and only if you are letting Guests into
your park for free. If you are charging them to get into your park
then you will have to set the price yourself. (see sections 3 and 4
for pricing guidelines)
- Third, hire one of each type of employee. Uncheck the handyman's option to
mow the grass. You don't need that yet. (mown grass looks nicer, and
helps guests happiness ratings, and park value ratings) When you do want
someone to mow the grass, hire a handyman specifically for that task, and
uncheck all but the mow grass option.
- Fourth, jack up the entrance price to the park to around $15-$20. You want
it cheap enough to keep your guests happy, but high enough to get you some
money. Generally, for every 4 new rides that you build, add $5 to
admission. $10 if one of those rides is a roller coaster. I'm not saying
that the only money you get should be from the entrance fee, I still think
you should also charge them on rides. This way you can maximize your
chances of getting all your guests money.
- Finally you are going to want to build some amenities, such as Bathrooms,
and shops. Build these a little further away from the entrance, since
the guests who enter don't need to use them yet. Avoid placing food shops
near the exits of vomit intensive rides--although you can, and possibly
should, place Drinks stands there.
Note: Once you get over $30 thousand dollars, you don't need to increase your
admissions price any more! I always keep my admissions price around
$50 at that point. (the absolute maximum that you can set your
admission price is $100)
Banners (Add-On):
Banners not only work as Signs, but they also work as "Do Not Enter" signs!
The best ways to use banners are these:
To block off exit paths (the ones that have nothing but an exit)
To block off empty areas of the park so you can finish building them
To tell guests where they are
Banners can only be placed on normal paths, that is you can't put them on
sloped paths. Be very aware of the direction that the banner faces, face
it the wrong way and you get the wrong results. For more information on
banners check out the Landscaping section below.
Small Area Parks:
Some parks seem to be too small for you to build a great theme park in, or
are they? One of the best ideas in these parks is to literally build rides
on top of each other. For example build a Hedge Maze, then raise one
square of land by it, then build another ride on that square. Don't worry
the ride will have supports raising it where you don't have land raised.
Different rides can have a different height above the land. Here's a chart
(provided by Ake Malmgren):
Height levels:
The non-custom rides also have maximum height above ground values, but
they aren't displayed in the game. Here is the list:
Gentle Rides
Bumper Cars: 6
Ferris Wheel: 5
Haunted House: 6
Hedge Maze: 4
Merry-Go-Round: 8
Observation Tower: 61*
Slide: 7
Space Rings: 13
Exciting Rides
3D Cinema: 4
Gravitron: 9
Motion Simulator: 8
Scrambled Eggs: 8
Swinging Ship: 5
Swinging Inverter: 4
Whoa Belly: 61*
Shops and stalls: 8
Buying Land:
If you want to expand the park, you can buy land (in the Main Entrance
window). Land that is for sale has a little white sign on it, and costs
between $15 and $90 per square (depending on the Scenario). Construction
Rights sell in the same way, but only 2 scenarios let you buy those.
Other parks come with construction rights already purchased, like Katie's
World (for the underground coaster) and Mega Park, where you can build a
ride (or anything else, for that matter) across the path to the entrance.
Oddity: You don't need a path that leads immeadetly from a ride exit. If
there is a path on a lower level under the exit, the guests will
fall down and land there without any problems. Of coure you will get
a bunch of messages that says you don't have a path from the exit.
(Ake Malmgren)
Common Viewpoint:
Ever wish that you could visit your wonderful theme park? Well one way is
to view a guest just before they enter your park, name them, and click the
"i" button (the bottom button on the individual guest's window) to receive
updates on them. By following around several people like this you can get
a new viewpoint on your park, and it may help you solve problems that you
didn't know existed! If you leave his window open you get to see how long
a queue wait really is, how hard it is to find a place in the park, and if
you really have enough facilities like bathrooms or food and drink stalls.
Note: Naming your peeps with a number first to assist in keeping track of
the peep. (i.e. name someone "1 Dan Simpson" or "2 Bob Roberts")
They will then be listed first in the GUEST MEGA LIST, making them
much easier to find later.
Add On Note: Every once in awhile, the guest that you have been watching
for awhile will think "I have the strangest feeling that
someone is watching me." Funny!
Money Making:
Remember that you can take a loan. If you need a new rollercoaster RIGHT
NOW, then take out an extra $5k or so (keep your loan under $20k total, the
max loan possible is $50k but you shouldn't need that much; also bear in
mind that each scenario will allow a different Max Loan). Also use the
Rides button (press "R") and slide the marker down to "Profit" to see where
you are making, and losing money. If a popular ride isn't making money, it
may be that you are charging so much for the ride that people won't go on
it. You want to get all of their money, but you don't need it all at once,
so lower the rates. (see sections 3 and 4 for a pricing guide to rides)
Later in the game you may want to consider only charging for admission
(say... $90) and giving the rides away for free, or maybe you want to let
them in for free and charge them more on rides. Well there are problems
with both. Since your ideal is to get every cent from the guest charging
$90 at the gate is a problem: 1) what if a guest doesn't have $90? and 2)
what if the guest has more than $90? The first guest can't come in, and
the second will probably leave your park with money. (there's only so many
ice creams that he can buy!) Your other option is to let them in for free,
and charge them more on rides. This option is even worse. Here's why:
Suppose Guest 1 enters your park with $100 and he's happy. Then he gets in
a long line for a log flume that was poorly designed (i.e. LONG). By the
time he gets off the log flume he is hungry, thirsty and very unhappy.
Since he didn't pay to get into the park he's getting outta there. I
usually stay with the $50 admission and still charge for rides. I get all
of their money, and they usually leave only when they run out of money.
Awards:
Best Value Park in the Country
Worst Value Park (is there an award for Least Safe? Deadliest?)
Tidiest Park
Untidiest Park
Most Beautiful Park
Safest Park
Best Roller Coasters
Best Park Food
Worst Park Food
Most Disappointing Park (Loopy Landscapes)
Best Bathroom Facilities (Loopy Landscapes)
Note: If you click on a duck, it will quack. Ducks only appear if you have
water in your park. I have heard of parks where there are so many
ducks that it looks like a Hitchcock movie.
Note: To slow the game down, click and hold the right mouse button.
(only works on slow computers! For a different way to slow the game
down, go down to section 7. Alternative Strategies)
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2.1 Queue it up!
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I'll discuss Line Queues here, before I even talk about the rides themselves!
The first thing to building the ultimate Queue is Ride Placement. Place the
ride well away from the nearest path, at least 2 or 3 squares. This keeps
the Queue from "attaching" to a path before you are ready. Then start
building the Queue, and don't put it near a path until you are satisfied with
the length. Only after you have built the entrance Queue to a ride should
you build the path to the Exit. So, how long should your Queue be? That
depends on the type of ride mainly. For example, a roller coaster is a very
popular attraction, PLUS it loads a lot of people at once, PLUS its a short
ride, and can also have multiple trains. So for a Rollercoaster build a long
(10-20 squares) queue line. Long waits in line are fun for no one, so if
the "people" tab on the ride window say a queue wait of 10 minutes or more,
cut the line down.
Note: To change the color of the queue (Add-On only) simply click and hold
down the Queue button in the paths window. A small choice of colors
(Blue, Red, Yellow, Green) will appear for you to choose from.
Here's the breakdown:
Rollercoasters - 10 to 20 squares
Exciting Rides - 6 to 15 squares
Gentle Rides - 5 to 9 squares
Log Flume - 6 to 9 squares
Boat Hire - 3 to 5 squares
Transport Rides - 5 to 15 squares (depending on the type of transport)
Even if you see a very full line, don't overdo it and make it longer, then
the people will wait in line a long time, and they will lose a lot of
happiness; and if the ride isn't so hot (like the Log Flume) they'll have
been worse off for going on the ride. Keep waits under 9 minutes if you can.
Even less for long rides (5 minutes and more). If waits get above 15 minutes
the people will get fed up and leave the line.
Finally, don't just wrap the queue around itself, try to open up some holes
to the side to place trees, fountains, etc. This will help keep the guests
comfortable, and happy.
_____ ride entrance ________ ride entrance
| | | | __ | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |__| |
| |_____| | | |________|
Example of a boring Queue Example of a better Queue
Dynamic Queues:
Alright there's no such thing (see the Wish List in the Final Words section
below) but there is a good way to "fake it". A dynamic queue is one that
changes its size depending on need, i.e. if more people want to ride it, it
increases in size, if less people want to ride, it decreases in size. When
you first build a ride have one section that "pokes out" of your main line
queue. This will accommodate the larger crowds that new rides see. When
the crowd dies down, or if the wait time is too much, simply cut off that
area of the queue.
When to have No Queue At All:
There are times when you don't even need to build a queue. Simply having
the entrance built right next to a path will allow people to enter the
ride. This is only feasible with certain types of rides (never ever do it
with a rollercoaster, for example). The best rides to do it with are the
Space Rings, Maze, Car Ride, Boat Hire, and the Slide. If you build these
on a crowded enough path, then they will always be full, yet never need a
queue (therefore people are never actually waiting for the ride, and
therefore never becoming unhappy with a long wait).
Note: Even a ride with no queue, still has a queue of one person, except now
that person is waiting on a normal path.
Note: Entertainers can help keep the people in line amused.
Ride Exits:
The best place to put a ride exit is on an already existing path, rather
than building a path specifically for the exit. (That can result in dead
ends, and lost guests) Which means that you will want to place the ride
at least 1 square away from any paths, and then place the exit somewhere
in that area.
Note: Placing the exit near the entrance will promote repeat business on
that particular ride. (especially useful on rollercoasters)
Note: If your exit is not connected to a path, and is over water, guests
will all fall off and drown.
Now Incorporating all of the Queue ideas, we'll now do a little trick, that
seems to me, to save a little space. First build a Merry-Go-Round 1 square
away from a path. Build the entrance on the far side away from the path, and
build the exit right next to the path. Now build the queue so that it goes
immediately back to the path. This method has several advantages, the first
being that the Exit is always on a normal path, so you don't have to create
new dead-end paths; second, it saves space.
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2.2 Park Maintenance
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Mechanics:
It is my theory that for every 4 rides you build you should hire a new
Mechanic. This keeps a "net" of coverage on your park, as there will
usually be a mechanic nearby if a ride breaks.
As your rides age, their reliability will go down tremendously. To help
alleviate this problem, swap the Inspection rate on the rides down to
"every 10 minutes". At each inspection the reliability will go up a
little. Also if your rides are REALLY old (5+ years) you need to take
drastic measures to insure that they don't crash. Consider replacing the
ride. Or, just reduce the number of trains on a rollercoaster down to 1.
(this will avoid a crash) Another way to tell if it is time to replace a
ride is "Down Time".
Note: If you want to get your mechanic somewhere quicker, do NOT just pick
him up and put him there, this resets his JOB and he will forget
what he was doing. Instead just wait. If you have to wait too long
you know that you don't have enough mechanics.
Overkill Maintenance:
One way to guarantee a good response time from your mechanics is to hire
one mechanic for every ride (yes, EVERY ride) and give them ONE route
marker right on the exit of the ride--the route must actually be ON the
exit, not just by it. Then set all the ride inspection times to 10
minutes. Too bad there's no "Constant Inspection" option. This comes in
handy when your roller coasters are very old, and when they fail it can
be fatal. With any luck your Mechanic will fix the ride before any
accidents happen.
Note: If the ride exit is at the first square on the station platform,
the machanics can reach this end faster and (hopefully) fix the
station brakes before an accident happen. (Ake Malmgren)
Handymen:
For every roller coaster or shop that you build you should hire a new
Handyman to help with the added trash and vomit. Make sure to "specialize"
your handymen, that is, don't have them clean trash AND mow lawns, in that
that is very inefficient. Have most your handymen clean trash, water
gardens, and empty trash cans. Then have a few mow the lawns.
15 Second Rule:
So how many Handymen do you need? There's no really good way to tell,
but one strategy I use is to count to 15 once I have spotted some
garbage. If by 15 no handyman has ever come onto the screen (max zoom
in, of course) then I hire a new handyman. (Then again I subscribe to
the "More is better than Less" philosophy, I'd rather have more Handymen
than I need than have less than I need!) If one has come onto the screen
in the alotted time, then I move him onto the garbage. There are,
naturally, special cases when this rule does not apply:
1. At the exit of Rollercoasters. They need a Handyman all their own.
2. If you already have over 40 handymen, you probably won't want more.
(although it should be noted, that in large parks, I often end out
with around 60 handymen)
Let them Roam:
So should you give your handymen an area to clean up (assigning an area)
or should you just let them roam on their own. Both. In general you
want most of your handymen just roaming around, but you also need some to
permanently stay in your "worst areas" (i.e. those by the pukiest
rollercoasters). Why not assign them all routes? Too much hassle when
your parks get really large, plus you don't get all that much benefit
from all your micromanagement.
Note: Another way to remove litter/puke is to remove the path.
Entertainers:
This may not quite be the proper place for this, but this section is
dealing with Staff, so why not? Entertainers are just that, entertainers.
You put them in a costume of your choice, and they wander the park, and
try to entertain the peeps in your park. One useful place for them is in
the Queue. Some rides either have very long lines or the track is very
long and needs more time to make it's way around. Entertainers can be used
to cheer the waiting guests up. Below is a list of the Full list of
costumes available after the release of Loopy Landscapes:
- Panda Costume
- Tiger Costume
- Elephant Costume
- Roman Costume
- Gorilla Costume
- Snowman Costume
- Knight Costume
- Astronaut Costume
Finally, you need security guards to stop Vandalism. But since you can't
always stop it, you need to know what to do afterwords. Vandals strike only
3 things, benches, garbage cans, and lights. The vandalized bench will be
broken in half, the garbage cans will be tipped over, and lamps will have
their lights broken. Simply replace the old items with new ones to fix.
(Don't right click to remove! That may get rid of the path as well) So
who are all these vandals? If you check the people screen, the vandals are
the ones with the red snarling faces. If you manage to catch one of these
perps, you can try to get his anger out by placing him on a one square path
with a bench. He'll smash the bench and become happy again (well... he won't
be so violent anyway), then you can move him back into the park. (this is
covered again in the next section as well)
Note: Guests doesn't get mad (red-faced) if there is nothing to vandalize.
(Ake Malmgren)
Note: Keeping a clean and pleasant park helps cut down on vandalism. If your
park is clean enough, you may not need Security Guards at all. Plus it
really isn't that hard to replace benches/lamps/trash cans, so lately
I haven't been hiring Security Guards.
Note: The maximum number of staff members that you can hire (handymen,
mechanics, security guards, entertainers) is 116. However, if you have
a lot of guests in your park (4000+), you may not even be able to get
to 116.
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2.3 The Guests
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To better serve your park guests, you will need to understand them. For one
thing they are all male, and exactly the same age. The following is a small
breakdown of your park guests stats:
Happiness - happy people stay in your park and will be more willing to
part with their money. Happiness is increased by fun rides, like
roller coasters, and maintained by normal rides. The guests become
unhappy if they are: Tired, Sick, Hungry, Thirsty, or have to go to
the bathroom. Other things that contribute to unhappiness are: Long
waits in line, and inability to find good rides, and how clean/pleasant
your park is in appearance. Finally, don't forget that you do have
Entertainers, and although it seems like they are worthless, they do
help your guests happiness ratings.
Energy - a tired guest won't go on anything but the most exciting rides to
"wake up", but once he has done that will go on other rides. Tired
guests also walk slower than others, and are less happy. Place a
good roller coaster by the entrance to wake up these sorry fellas.
Hunger, Thirst - these two stats start at a random value when the guest
enters the park, usually under 1/4 full. These values increase mostly
over time. Thirst is also affected by what the guest is doing. Eating
Fries increases thirst, as does a high nausea rating.
Nausea, Nausea Tolerance - guests always underestimate their chances of
getting sick off of a ride. Nothing you can do about it except provide
numerous benches, and clean any vomit up. Also note that sick guests
become very unhappy and walk very slowly (to the point of slowing down
the launching of rides).
Bathroom - need I explain?
Other Complaints:
"I'm Lost!" - reduce the number of paths that don't lead to rides, provide
more Information Kiosks (if you priced the maps high, then reduce that
price). Also guests seem to get lost more often when they take a
transportation ride to a far off section of your park. Also try to
build shorter paths between areas of the park.
"I Can't find XXX Ride" - same as above. Also Observation Towers can help
the guest spot the ride. Or you could take them there directly via
pincers. Another thing that may prevent the finding of rides is large
scenery around the ride, so if there are lots of tall trees, consider
chopping some.
"I'm not paying that much for XXXX" - reduce the ride cost, OR change the
ride around to be more exciting.
"I can't find the Park Exit", "I want to go home" - you've lost these
guests, and they want out. Pick them up with the pincers and get rid
of them before they become even MORE unhappy. Nothing you can do will
keep them in the park, so don't even bother.
Note: If you need a certain number of guests in your park to pass the
scenario, you may want to stick these peeps (guests) in a place
that they can't get out of. Something like a 1x1 path in the
middle of nowhere works. (see "7. Alternative Strategies")
How Guests Move:
Guests are morons. You just have to accept that. Their normal algorithm
on moving goes like this:
Walk down path
If you are at an intersection, pick a direction at random
Also realize that Stores, and Line Queues create intersections. The only
exception to this algorithm is when a guest knows EXACTLY where he is
going (his window will say "Heading for XXXX"). This means that you HAVE
to avoid using Double Paths (paths that are 2+ squares wide), and cutting
down on intersections also helps. Employees also follow this algorithm,
which is really annoying.
Compliments and How to get them:
The guests want a nice clean park to visit, good rides to go on, and short
lines. Also pricing things affordably gives the guest a good feeling that
translates into happiness. When the guest likes something, they will give
you the "good thought" (check the people button, and look under thoughts).
Happy patrons, when they leave, promote your park to their friends.
Big Problems:
Every once in awhile you will want to check the People button and look at
a summary of their thoughts (the second "Group" tab). Checking here will
give you a good idea of areas to improve in your park. If a lot of people
complain of hunger, build some food shops; if people complain of having
to go to the bathroom, build a bathroom; if lots of people complain about
waiting in line forever, consider cutting the line down.
Vandals:
The best way to prevent Vandalism is to keep your guests happy. However,
that doesn't always work, so here's some suggestions on vandalism.
Whenever a guest goes red in the face, he is about to commit vandalism. So
what do you do with a guest that you catch before he does anything? Put
him in "Jail". That is, a one square path with a bench on it for him to
smash. Let him smash it and get him outta there. Consider it "Destructive
Therapy". If you are wondering how Security Guards affect vandals, Guests
do not commit vandalism if there is a guard present. They don't actually
get "caught".
Oddity: Guests will remain seated on a vandalized bench for quite awhile,
but no new people can sit on the vandalized bench.
Note: Guests' Preferred Intensity increases as they ride tame rides (or as
the manual puts it "Riding less intense rides near a coaster can often
help guests get up the nerve to ride the more extreme attraction"
pg. 11)
Note: Guests who leave happy are considered "Good PR" and a free
advertisement.
Note: Guests who Die or Leave unhappy are considered "Bad PR" and can
discourage others from visiting your park.
Note: Guests can die in crashes, or drown; see section "4a. Crashes" below
for more info
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3. Rides (non Rollercoasters)
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Before we get to the Complete Ride Listing, a few words. All rides have many
customizations in them. From the amount of time the ride will take, to the
amount of people crammed into it, it is usually all contained in the ride
Information under the Gears tab. Any ride with independent vehicles, like
the Chair Lift, or the Boat Hire, has a maximum of 12 vehicles.
Music rides influence the moods of people walking by, and make them happier.
Indoor rides are popular when it rains every other ride is considered outdoor
Custom denotes that you can custom build the ride
a single * by the people number indicates that many people per vehicle
a single * in front of the ride name indicates an Add-On only ride
Gentle Rides: cost: size: people: notes:
Bumper Cars $440 4x4 12 Music, Indoor
Car Ride $540+ ** ** Custom
Ferris Wheel $450 4x1 32
Haunted House $340 3x3 15 Indoor
Hedge Maze $216+ ** ** Custom (16 max people)
Merry-Go-Round $460 3x3 16 Music
Observation Tower $592+ 3x3 20 Indoor, Custom, Tower
Slide $330 2x2 **
Space Rings $288 3x3 4
*Crooked House $260 3x3 5 Indoor
*Circus Show $500 3x3 30 Indoor, Music
*Ghost Train $570+ ** ** Custom
*Cycle Railway $450+ ** ** Custom
*Miniature Golf $740+ ** ** Custom
*Cycle Monorail $540+ ** ** Custom
*Flying Saucer $560 4x4 12
Exciting Rides:
3D Cinema $560 3x3 20 Indoor
Go Karts $920+ ** 1* Custom
Gravitron $580 3x3 8
Motion Simulator $440 2x2 8 Indoor
Scrambled Eggs $360 3x3 16
Swinging Ship $387 5x1 16
Swinging Inverter $424 4x1 12
Whoa Belly $800+ 3x3 8 Custom, Tower
*Roto Drop $880+ 3x3 16 Custom, Tower
*Enterprise $800 3x3 16
Water Rides:
Boat Hire $205+ ** ** Custom
Log Flume $1320+ ** 4* Custom
River Rapids $1840+ ** 8* Custom
Water Slide $1200+ ** 2* Custom
*River Ride $1260+ ** 16* Custom
*Jet Skis $205+ ** 1* Custom
*Raft Ride $900+ ** 4* Custom
*Water Coaster $1640+ ** 6* Custom
Transportation Rides:
Chairlift $1440+ ** 2* Custom, Indoor
Miniature Railroad $1300+ ** ** Custom
Monorail $1550+ ** ** Custom, Indoor
*Suspended Monorail $2400+ ** ** Custom, Indoor
Ah, More US:International Comparisons:
US: International:
------------------------- ---------------------------
Swinging Ship Dragon Boat
Whoa Belly Launched Freefall
Gravitron Top Spin
Scrambled Eggs Twist
Miniature Railroad Steam Train _or_ Miniature Railway
Bumper Cars Dodgems
Boat Hire Boat Ride _or_ Boat Hire
Reverse Whoa Belly RC Reverse Freefall Rollercoaster
Fries Stall Chips Shop
Cotton Candy Stall Candy Floss Stall
Play Music (Add-Ons):
One new addition to the Add-Ons is the ability to set any ride to play
music, just like the Bumper Cars, Merry-Go-Round, etc. Here is a list of
the styles that you can play:
Gentle Style
Summer Style
Water Style
Ragtime Style
Techno Style
Wild West Style
Rock Style
Rock Style 2 *
Fantasy Style
Horror Style
Toyland Style *
Roman Fanfare Style *
Oriental Style *
Martian Style *
Jungle Drums Style *
Jurrasic Style *
Egyptian Style *
Dodgems Beat Style *
Medieval Style *
Urban Style*
Space Style *
Snow Style *
Ice Style *
Note: A single * indicates that it is availavle with Loopy Landscapes only.
The Play Music option is found by opening the ride's window and selecting
the far right tab. (the "people" tab)
Tip: (from Ake Malmgren)
If you have built a ride so near the path that the queue area 'sticks' to
it before it should, and you won't rebuild the ride or path, you can
either build the queue area at one level higher or lower than the path, or
make it so that when you put a queue piece next to the path, it has
another piece to stick to rather than the path.
Like this:
SSSSSSSSSSSS <-- Station platform
Entrance -->EQ <-- Build this first
Queue -->QX <-- So that this will not stick to main path
Main path --> PPPPPPPPP
P
X is where you want to place the queue piece
Entrance Options (Add-On)
With Loopy Landscapes, you are now able to change the Entrances to the
Rides in your park. This is actually more of a landscaping option,
although the option is available on each ride's panel. Here is a list of
the theme otions:
- Plain Style Entrance/Station (what you normally see)
- Canvas Tent Style Entrance/Station
- Castle Style Entrance/Station (brown)
- Castle Style Entrance/Station (grey)
- Log Cabin Entrance/Station
- Wooden Style Entrance/Station
- Jungle Style Entrance/Station
- Classic/Roman Style Entrance/Station
- Pagoda Style Entrance Station
- Abstract Style Entrance/Station
- Snow/Ice Style Entrance/Station
- Space Style Entrance/Station
Note: This affects both the Entrance of the ride, as well as the Stations
(where applicable).
Gentle Rides:
People for the most part don't like Gentle Rides. Most people want to ride
Rollercoasters (not all, some are a little chicken). But you can usually
get anyone onto a Gentle Ride. They tend to ride Gentle Rides AFTER having
already ridden on something exciting. This is the most true with the
Haunted House, which can have no business at all if people haven't ridden
something exciting first. The other time when a lot of people ride gentle
rides is when they are getting up the courage to ride something more
thrilling.
Custom Rides:
So what exactly makes a good custom ride? First off, each custom ride has
a saved template in the game, so you don't have to start off designing them
right away. The main problem with this is that it doesn't always fit into
your park. Remember that the amount of vehicles/trains/boats is determined
by the size of your Station, and if you have multiple stations, then it is
decided by the size of your smallest station. Well here's some notes on
each ride:
Boat Hire - a station platform is all you need, you can build "Guide
Rails" if you want to control where they go, but you don't need to.
If guests get lost/stuck on your boats, then you might want to
consider putting in a guide rail. Also build a Guide Rail if you
want to limit the amount of time the guest spends on the ride.
Note: The Guide Rails do not need to form a complete circuit.
Log Flume - keep this one short with 3 or 4 drops. 3 minutes is plenty,
any more than that and people start to get impatient and unhappy.
(they become impatient when they become hungry, which increases over
time) Also try to use the Log Flume as a showcase for your other
rides, e.g. have it go through the loop of your coaster, or by your
Go karts ride.
Add-On Note: The Log Flume gets a new track piece, the "turntable",
which turns the log around, but only if the log is
going slow enough. If the log is going fast, it won't
turn.
Water Slide - keep it simple, one uphill chain pull and then just move
them around, use the complete circle tracks to keep them from flying
off the track. (the idea is similar to the Bobsled Coaster since
neither are connected to the track)
Tadhg Pearson sent me this about Water Slides:
"Water Slides always go faster when there are people in the boats
and this can result in 'boat pile ups' when empty boats are
followed by a few full ones. Increasing the minimum waiting time
can help solve this." -- you could also uncheck "maximum" wait
time, and leave it "waiting for full load".
Also:
"Waterslides will always crash if you make a steep drop
underground using uncovered track."
Ake Malmgren had this to say about Water Slides:
"Because the dinghies runs on water, unlike the coasters that runs
on wheels, they have more friction against the track and loose
speed faster, so water slides are more difficult to design.
"When a water slide breaks down, all lift hills stops. That will
cause the boats to pile up in the lift hill(s), and probably run
into each other and make jams later in the track. Because of that,
it is no good idea to have more than one lift hill (I use to have
it, so i know the problems).
"(The lift hill stops on all water rides on breakdown)"
Any Transport - you need at least 2 stations for these to go anywhere,
Monorail doesn't need a complete loop, and the Chairlift
automatically makes a loop. Build the stations at least 6 squares
and more is always better. (well...not _always_ but you get the
general idea!)
Any Tower - go as tall as you can!
Note: on Whoa Belly if you make it very tall you will need to
increase the launch speed to keep up, but go too fast and it
will "jump free" of the tower. Oddly it may not crash,
though. (the one I built cleared the tower by a good 5 feet
but then on the way down, went right back onto the tower;
however I tried this again later and it caused a crash)
Go Karts, Car Ride - Up down, around, whatever.
Note: For fun one time I built a really short Go Karts that had only
2 station platform squares and immediately turned around and
finished the ride. Then I put the laps up to 10. It got an
excitement of "5 High". Not bad for a puny ride!
Dan Mullin had this to add about Go Karts:
"As with roller coasters it appears that Go-Karts really like to have
intertwined and paralleled tracks at the same or similar levels, i.e.,
a driver going one way on a section of track can see a driver going
another way on a different section. This seems to boost excitement
quite a bit.
"As you know, when run in race mode the winner always gets to take a
victory lap. Therefore, a nice balance to achieve in the number of
laps is completion of the victory lap at about the same time the last
place car actually finishes. Otherwise, if you simply cut down the
number of laps you are not speeding things up and you are reducing the
excitement level."
Ake Malmgren had this to say about Go Karts:
"To get extreme excitement ratings on this ride, build it
around/through/under/over many rides, preferrably at exciting points,
like through loops. It is easy to do because of the tight turns on
this track."
Hedge Maze - there's no good advice here, except to try to make a good
maze, but not so hard as to be impossible. Also keep in mind that
the longer the guest is lost in your maze, the hungrier/thirstier
he becomes.
Note: One of the best ways to build a Maze is to build the Ultra
Small Hedge maze. Have only 2 squares of maze, with only one
straight path. Place both the entrance and exit on a path
(i.e. no queues), and you have a very quick loading/unloading
ride! They get out and go right back in! Best of all, the
whole ride + stations takes up only 4 squares, and can be
placed almost anywhere.
Now for more detailed information on Transport rides.
Chair Lift - Building any more than 7 station squares is unnecessary
since the CL can only have 12 cars. Also to decrease the time it
takes to load the ride, place the Entrance near the beginning (where
it starts to become the ride) of the Station. (see Common Problems
for a "picture" of where to place the Entrance/Exit) Also increase
the speed of the ride to 9 mph. (under the Gears tab)
Monorail, Railroad - these rides really slow down going up hills, so one
idea is to make them into "subways" and only surface them at each
station. Part of the idea with these is to show patrons the park,
however, so that may not be the best idea. Again make your stations
as long as possible to have large multiple trains if you want those.
Note: The monorail doesn't even need 2 stations to operate, simply
set it to "Shuttle Mode" and it will go to the end of the
track and back. Shuttle Mode also works when you don't have
a complete loop.
Note: You can build a maximum of 4 stations!
Note: The excitement ratings in transport rides and water ride are
dramatically enhanced when they go through the loop of a rollercoaster.
Some thoughts on Pricing: (if you don't charge admission into the park, these
prices are too low for you, charge more)
These rides fall into 3 pricing categories: freebies, cheap, and workhorse.
Freebies are gentle rides like the Merry-Go-Round and the Ferris Wheel. You
make these free to keep people happy, and in the park. Cheap rides are the
other Gentle Rides, the Transportation Rides, and the Boat Hire. Cheap
rates are .30 to .90 and keep people coming on rides that they would other
wise avoid. Workhorse are all of your exciting rides and the other 3 water
rides. These rides are consistently popular and you can therefore charge
more. Workhorse rates are .90 to 1.30.
Also be sure to remember that you can charge more for new rides than old
rides. This is due to the "Novelty Factor". You can sometimes get away
with $5 admissions on new rides.
Remember that you get most of your money from Admissions and Roller Coasters
so don't freak out about the costs of these rides.
Note: The maximum that you can charge any guest on one ride is $20.
Further Thoughts on Pricing:
Some people split hairs trying to get as much money from the guests at
every possible opportunity, by overcharging on new rides, and gradually
decreasing the rate. As near as I can see this will merely deplete your
guests funds quicker and get them to leave sooner and less happy. I believe
that having fair prices (i.e. _not_ overcharging) is better in the long run.
Firstly your guests can stay in your park longer keeping your guest count
higher. Secondly they leave happy, which encourages more people to come to
your park. And finally they usually leave with little to no money anyway,
it doesn't matter if you get it all at once, or gradually, you still get
their money!
Some thoughts on Spacing:
Some rides--the Log Flume, Monorail, etc.--launch many separate independent
vehicles. Obviously you don't want to launch them all in one bunch, as
that would be bad spacing (think of waiting in a line that either moves fast
or not at all, and you see what I mean). To increase your spacing you need
to edit how the ride launches each vehicle. The best way to do this is to
increase the Minimum Wait time. This keeps each vehicle there longer, and
increases the space between it and the previous vehicle. Another good way--
especially good on Monorails--is to set both the Minimum and the Maximum to
the same time, so that it stays at each station exactly that amount of time.
This keeps your transportation network moving.
Here's a good formula to follow:
Minimum Wait Time = (Ride Time Length / Vehicles on Ride) - 1
Bear in mind that this isn't a perfect formula, and depends on your rides
loading in less time than the minimum time. Remember that if it takes
longer than your minimum time for the guests to load onto the ride, that
your carefully planned Min. Wait time is worthless.
Note: The highest setting for "minimum" and "maximum" is 250 seconds.
Note: The Data Logging graph stops at 5 minutes.
Thoughts on the Pause:
This is also discussed down in Alternative Strategies. Normally if you
want to change the attributes of a ride (like the amount of logs in a log
flume) you have to close down the ride, causing everyone to leave the line.
One way to avoid this is to first Pause the game, then close the ride,
change what you want to change, and then Unpause. Quick and easy. Notice
how the line stayed where it was. However, everyone who was on the ride is
now leaving the ride (you can also Fleece the Guests this way). They
surprisingly, don't seem to care that much about this. (although it should
be noted that they won't be as happy as they would be if they rode the
entire ride, since happiness is increased gradually.)
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4. Rides (Rollercoasters)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Original Rollercoasters:
_____
Bobsled |
Inverted |
Mine Train |
Reverse Whoa Belly |
Single Rail |
Steel Mini |
Steel |______ Each is good, exciting and expensive!
Standup Steel |
Steel Corkscrew |
Suspended |
Suspended Single Rail |
Wooden Crazy Rodent |
Wooden |
Vertical _____|
Add-On Rollercoasters
Flying
Heartline Twister
Slide Friction
Steel Twister
Virginia Reel
Wooden Reverser
Wooden Twister
Inverted Wild Mouse
Suspended Looping
Air Powered Vertical
For a basics guide to building rollercoasters, go down to "4b. Basic Coaster
Building"
Special Track Pieces: (not all are available on all coasters)
On Ride Photo -- Takes a photo of your guests, which they can buy for $2
(to start) at a profit of $1.80. You want one of these on
EVERY coaster that has it available!
Brakes/Booster - One slows you down, the other speeds you up. One of these
alone is not enough to get you up/down to speed.
Helix -- A Helix is a banked turn that also goes up or down. Comes
in two flavors, LARGE and SMALL.
Half Loop -- The first element in the COBRA LOOP, to use you need to
first use a straight track with the small angle up. Then
to finish you need to use a corkscrew.
Corkscrew -- Standard corkscrew.
Inversion -- Like a corkscrew, but not as large. Only available on the
Inverted Rollercoaster. (technically a Loop and a
Corkscrew are considered "Inversions" but that isn't what
we mean here)
"S" Bend -- Used to move your coaster 1 square either left or right.
Vertical Loop -- The normal loop. Also moved your coaster left or right 1
square. To use have one straight piece angled up slightly
then build your loop.
Steep Twist -- Not really a "special track" in that it isn't in the
little menu, but it counts for me. It is essentially a
turn while going down at the maximum angle (not straight
down). To build it, have a steep drop (or climb) then
on the next track have it also go steep, and do the small
turn.
Water Splash -- Only available on the standard wooden rollercoaster. Sends
the coaster train over a "water splash". Adds excitement
but also slows the train down.
When designing your tracks pay more attention to Lateral G's than Vertical,
as this will increase the Nausea rating of the ride--which you want to keep
low. (Lateral G's are created when you take turns while going very fast)
Some strategies to keep in mind about L. G's are to slow the coaster down
before taking turns, and try to avoid using the sharp turns. And especially
don't combine the two. The best way to slow a coaster down before a turn is
to have it go up a hill right before the turn. Use brakes sparingly. Test
your roller coaster, and if the L.G's exceed about 3 or so several times in
quick succession, you may need to go back to the Drawing Board. I'm not
saying to avoid L.G's completely, as they are quite intense and exciting, but
keep it within reason. It does not really matter if you have more than one
"lift hill", as the guests happiness increases based on the ride as a whole,
and not by where they currently are. Finally, when you run a coaster
through a loop, try to keep the speed down, as fast loops increase intensity
and nausea really quickly.
To keep things interesting (and expensive) periodically shut down the roller
coaster and refit it with something new. On a wooden roller coaster, try to
add an On Ride Picture, or a "Splash" section; on a Mini Steel, change the
cars to Spinning, etc. This helps to keep your ride from getting stale.
Further Thoughts on Design:
If you want to create a Roller Coaster (or any custom ride) and save the
design, one good way to do it is to follow this idea:
- Start the Forest Frontier scenario (or any other)
- Take out the maximum loan
- Set Research to Maximum, AND take off all research options except
"Rollercoaster"
(or if you are doing another ride, check the appropriate option)
- Design your roller coaster (don't open the park)
- Test the Design out, try for High Excitement
- Save the design (open the ride window, click the Disk button, select
save design; Note: you must have named the ride!)
The idea here is to use this scenario as nothing more than a canvas for
creating new rides. Then you can take your saved design and place it into
whichever scenario you are working on. This should save you time, and
money. An alternate idea is to use a scenario that you have already
passed that has a lot of money. Close the park (takes awhile to get those
guests out of the park, however) and bulldoze the rides. Save the blank
park as something else (Test Park works) and start experimenting. Remember
that practice makes perfect.
Note: Intensity of over 10 is unridable. Not completely unridable, mind
you. I built an 11 intensity coaster that had an excitement around
5, but then I cut the intensity back to 9 and the excitement shot up
to 8.
What the *$% is Intensity Anyway?
Excitement - is a measure on how exciting the ride looks to a guest and is
based on Intensity--between 6 and 9 is usually good, anything higher
and the excitement plummets--and the Aesthetics of the ride itself.
Large rides with loops generally look more exciting than something that
is small and flat. Also try to weave the ride through previous sections
of the ride--like sending the track through the hole of an earlier loop.
(it's even better to send _other_ rides through the loop!) Tunnels and
Scenery will also help. Another trick to use is the old "Decapitation
Trick"; which basically works by dropping just below some obstacle just
in the nick of time, giving the appearance that it would take your head
off. You can also increase excitement in tunnels by placing an object,
such as a statue, on top of the tunnel. Finally excitement lowers over
time but one way to get it back up is to change the ride--like changing
the type of train on the coaster, painting it, or adding to it.
Note: Scenery only effects the coaster excitement up to 4 squares away,
anything further has no effect.
Intensity - is a measure on how intense the ride is. So what does that
mean? You want to keep the ride moving fast--have only one lift hill--
and add elements like loops and corkscrews to increase intensity.
Simply having a tight turn is not in itself a bad thing, it only becomes
bad if its too fast, and followed by a turn in the opposite direction.
(think of shaking a soda can, if you simply move it fast in one
direction it doesn't fizz so much, but if you move it back and forth
fastly, it fizzes quite a bit) Have the coaster go up and down, take
sudden drops, and above all keep the speed up!
Nausea - is based on the Intensity partly, and on the how you get the
intensity. Fast speeds on hairpin turns that go left then right, is
generally a good way to get people sick. Try to keep nausea below 7.
Some Thoughts on Platforms: --from R.D. Mack
Flush loading (enter on the left, exit on the right or vice versa) can be
done well if the ride is planned in advance. In addition, placement of the
exit and entrance can speed up loading of the coasters, especially if the
ride is short and runs more than 2 trains. (See below)
12 length platform, three train operation, 7 cars per train (wooden coaster
operation)
E
XXXXXXXXXXXX
X
E - Entrance
X - Exit
The exit can be anywhere along the platform as they are in no hurry to
leave, but now the entrance will be centered on the loading train so that
the peeps no longer have to walk down to the back. (the peeps walk the same
distance to the front as to the back, and take less time doing so.)
This formula can be used for all different types of rollercoasters, as well
as some of the transport rides. Of course, if one is using a shorter train,
the platform entrance should be moved towards the center of the train.
Thoughts on Pricing:
Roller Coasters are the big money makers, and are very consistent. When
it is new, charge $3 to $5 (depending on size and excitement), and as time
goes on, drop it to the $2 to $3 range. You shouldn't have to drop it
further, unless you want to. On Ride pictures help to increase profits.
Note: Guests will only buy ONE On Ride picture in your entire park, period.
Further Thoughts on Nausea:
Some people just shouldn't ride roller coasters, but do it anyway. For
them you need at least 3 benches right outside of the Exit, as well as a
Bathroom right by the exit. It is also wise to have a Handyman on patrol
by the Exits to popular (and therefore pukey) roller coasters. Also
sometimes a Drinks stall nearby helps.
Rain Delays:
Guests don't like to go on roller coasters (or any other outdoor ride for
that matter) in the rain. Doesn't mean that they won't do it, however.
There are 2 notable times when guests get over their aversion to outdoor
rides in the rain:
1. If the ride is new, people will still line up for it (Novelty Factor)
2. If they just got off the ride and want to go on it again (repeat
business)
Anyone else who lines up in the rain is a freak.
Note: Underground (and mostly underground) rides are considered "indoor".
Rain Delays 2 -- Beating the Rain:
So your guests won't go on coasters in the rain... or will they. We have
already established that they will go on coasters that are brand new due
to the Novelty Factor. So when it is raining, (and if it tends to rain a
lot in that scenario) you might want to try "Breaking up the Ride". That
is, remove one section of the ride (after it was closed, of course), and
then re-open the ride. Since the ride is now considered "new", you should
be able to get peeps to line up for it. Best done during prolonged rain
storms that cut your lines down to zero.
How to Build an Underground Roller Coaster:
If you've played the Katie's World scenario, you know that it is possible
to have a coaster completely underground. Well how do you do that? It is
actually kind of simple. Cut away some land down to the level that you
want to build your coaster. Then build one station platform above ground
in the hole, with the next station platform going underground. Then remove
the first station platform and raise the land back to where it was. You
are now free to build that underground coaster! You should realize, of
course, that this is much more expensive than building a normal coaster.
Note: The maximum height for land is 31, so the highest drop that you could
manage underground is a 29.
How to build an Elevated Roller Coaster:
Ever want to put that coaster station above ground in the air? Well it
isn't so hard to accomplish. Simply raise one square of terrain to the
level that you want, and build your first station on that, then just keep
building. Then later go back and lower that piece of terrain back to the
ground level.
Transport Rollercoasters:
You may eventually want to use a Rollercoaster as a train to shuttle people
from one area to another. Bear in mind that you can't use the powered
launch mode with 2 stations, therefore you have to build a lot of "Booster"
tracks to keep it going. Also if you make a straight track it will be
very boring. You will want to add some excitement to it via a Loop or
something similar.
Note: You don't actually have to have the guests go through the loop, as
long as it exists on the track somewhere, it will increase the
excitement.
Fix the Crazy Vole: (Wild Rodent)
This ride actually needs a bit of a tune up to make it better. Sometimes
when the cars launch from the station, they don't have enough speed to make
it all the way to the lift hill, which is surprisingly far away. To help,
have a small downhill section out of the station, then turn it and then
back up and onto the lift hill.
The Single Dueling Coaster:
This isn't so hard to produce. Simply build one coaster as normal, except
that when you get to finish the ride, move the track 1 square left or right
and make a new station that would be identical in length to the first one.
Now build a second coaster. Try to keep it the same size as the first
section. To finish the ride off, have the track go back into the first
station. Now you'll probably want to get half the Trains to each station,
so push the "Test Ride" button until half the trains have left, then click
the Red "Close Ride" button once. To get the 2 stations to synchronize,
click the "Synchronize with Adjacent Station" buttons (you have to do this
for each station!) Now you just need to place 2 entrances, 2 exits, and
you're done!
Note: Do not simply link 2 separate coasters together to make one, that
doesn't work!
-- answer from alt.games.rctycoon, Michael Kerr
Painting Each Section (Add-On):
So you want to paint your coaster in a hundred different colors, each
section being different from the last. Now you can. Go into the paint
tab like always, and note the "Track" and under that "Main Color Scheme".
Click on Main Color Scheme to bring up a menu that also includes 3
alternate color palettes. Select one of the alternates, then change some
of the colors in the normal fashion. Now click the Brush button and click
on any section of track to color it. Now if you change the colors in the
menu all the sections you painted with it will change colors as well.
Add-On Testing Note: Guests seem to wait for rollercoasters to be tested
once you get the Add-On. Which means, no more getting
them on any old ride, now you have to make sure it is
rideable before they will ride it. This means that if
you created the Coaster of Death (you know that it's
intensity will be way too high), and you want to get
peeps on it before you test. Nope! Peeps now need
documented evidence that this ride won't cause their
hearts to burst!
If you want a more in depth look on Rollercoaster Construction go down to
"4b. Building Good Coasters"
Some more ride design ideas can be found in "7. Alternative Ideas"
Note: If you demolish a ride that had an On Ride Photo, all the photos from
that ride disappear as well!
Note: The cheapest roller coaster (pre-made) is the Shuttle Launch Steel
Roller Coaster.
Note: Spinning cars on the Mini Steel Rollercoaster increases Nausea more
than they increase Excitement.
Note: Naming your Coasters different names, not only helps you differentiate
between them, but can also help your guests out!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.1 Crashes!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you are lucky, you won't ever have to deal with a crash. However, it is
very likely that you will have to eventually.
Preventing:
Constant Maintenance! On your old rides, decrease the inspection time down
to 10 minutes (this may require more Mechanics). This increases your
reliability rating on the ride, and may help avert major disaster.
The most common crash is that of Station Brakes Failure on a Roller
Coaster. To prevent this common malady you need to slow the friggin
coaster before it gets to the track. There are several ways to do this:
- Have a lift hill right before you go back into the station, this is
a separate system from the brakes and won't fail in the same explosive
way. (having other brakes, i.e. track brakes, does not work because
all brakes tend to fail at the same time)
- Use up all the speed in the ride. This entails a lot of good ride
design as you have to get its speed down before it enters the station
yet still avoid stalled out trains, and trains going backwards.
Coasters that come into the station at 5 MPH tend to not crash as much as
coasters coming in at 90 MPH. Other ideas to try are to have a Mechanic on
permanent patrol near your rides, or you could finally remove all the other
trains completely. (if you do that make sure that the train has the
maximum amount of cars allowed)
Dan Mullin has this to add:
"I tend to design a coaster so that as much speed is dumped
during the ride as possible, then the train is actually hauled back into
the station by a small lift hill (maybe 2-3 levels). This can be
accomplished by either raising the station a few ticks above the ground
or, even better, having the end of the coaster ride underground, then
hauling back up to ground level. The latter will normally increase your
excitement level. Either way, a train that has to pull back uphill to
enter the station at 5 MPH WILL NOT CRASH."
The other main way to crash a ride is through bad design. So avoid bad
designs! (easier said than done, eh?) Typical bad designs are when you
build a hill that is higher than your train can get up. It will then slide
back down and hit the next train coming down the track. The easiest way
to fix that is to change the hill to a lift hill. Also on your test
modes, have only one train go through the ride at a time to avoid any on
ride collisions. (an alternative to switching to one train, is to watch
to see if it will crash, then to quickly hit the Close button, which will
somehow magically remove the trains)
Note: If you crash something in the "Test" mode, guests will still fear the
ride ("I'm not going on that, it isn't safe!").
Note: When two vehicles are racing to each other, the faster moving one is
the "lucky" one to explode. (Ake Malmgren)
Recovering from a crash:
The best way to recover, is to scrap the ride and build a new ride there.
This is because crashed rides have horrid reputations and people will avoid
it like the plague. However, it isn't always feasible to replace rides
(cost, or maybe you really like the ride), so there is a plan to save it
and get it back to being popular. Close the ride for 2-4 months. Give it
only 1 train. Repaint the entire ride to a different color scheme (I don't
know if this helps them forget that people died here, but it couldn't
hurt), and if necessary, advertise the ride. After your Mechanic has had a
look at the ride, double click the Close button on the roller coaster to
reset the ride, and then you can re-open it. Your roller coaster should be
a big hit again! Also be SURE to give it a 10 minute inspection time. And
if you feel like it, you can edit the ride a little. (add that On Ride
Photo you always wanted!) Don't worry if it isn't popular right away, it
will take some time to get there.
Note: One odd way to crash is to have the coaster fly through the ground.
If you have an incomplete track that allows the coaster train to fly
off the track, and it goes into the side of a cliff, instead of going
"BOOM" it will go through the cliff, and will only crash when it
reaches the edge of your park. (either the sides, or the low level)
Note: Besides dying in crashes, guests can also drown. Guests will drown if
your ride exit is over water, and has no path connecting to it (then
they'll fall right in), if you destroy a path that is over water they
will fall in, or if you use the pincers to put them in directly.
Note: If two cars is swinging towards each other on adjacent tracks, they may
collide and loose almost all speed. This happened to me with the
suspended aeroplane cars, I don't know if it happens with the normal
cars, or with the suspended suspended sigle-rail RC. (Ake Malmgren)
Note: The "Holding Brake" on the Vertical RC will not fail with the rest of
the brakes at a Station Brake failure. (Ake Malmgren)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.2 Basic Coaster Building
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the best coaster designer in the
world. But I have been doing it for quite awhile, and know a few tips and
tricks to help you build a good coaster. Also if you have any ideas of your
own, I would love to hear them! (manymoose@hotmail.com)
Firstly: - - t h e S t a t i o n - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Make sure to give yourself plenty of room in all directions for your
coaster. Have at least 3 squares from your station to the path where you
will connect the entrance to. And on almost every rollercoaster you
design, you want to build as many stations as you can (don't stop until it
says you can't build any more station platforms!). The exception to this
is the Wild Mouse, which doesn't require such a long station.
Note: Speed alone does not create excitement nor intensity, rather it is
acceleration (called "G" forces) that your ride produces. Acceleration
(if you don't know) is created by a change in velocity, either speed
up/down, or change directions. A turn to the left/right is called a
lateral acceleration (lateral G forces), while a change going up/down
is called a vertical acceleration (vertical G forces).
Second: - - t h e L i f t H i l l - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Now we need to build a lift hill (or if you'd rather not, see below
"7. Alternative Strategies"). Based on the size that you want the ride to
be is how tall you want your lift hill to be. Really large rides require
a large (25+ units tall) hill, while smaller ones can make do with a
small lift hill. Also try to keep in mind the distance from your track to
the ground, not only does it get more expensive to build up at great
heights, but you are limited to how high you can get off the ground. If
you ever need it to go higher than you are allowed, simply raise the ground
under the track. If your coaster is going to be using a long train (mine
train, corkscrew, etc.) you are going to want to have 2-3 flat tracks at
the top of your lift hill, before sending the track down its first hill.
Why? Because without it a lot of the train will still be climbing the hill
when the first part starts to go down, slowing the first drop somewhat.
Third: - - H i l l s & L o o p s - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Remember that you can't go as high up the next hill as you went down
the first. (conservation of energy) This means that if you went down
15 units on the first hill, you can only go up 12 or so on the next. The
same thing holds true for loops and other trick tracks. You can only make
it through the loop if you have enough speed before it, which means that
the loop has to be lower than the last drop it came from. (unless you've
already built up a lot of speed) The way around this are BOOSTER tracks
and BRAKES. If your test ride didn't make it through a loop, then replace
a track or two before it with some boosters, and set the speed high.
Likewise if the ride is too intense, you could add brakes before the loop
to slow it down. Some fun alternatives to Loops (but which still go
upside-down) are as follows:
- Put down one corkscrew, then do another of the same direction so that
it is like a U-Turn
- Put down a Half-Loop then a Corkscrew for an odd way to turn a direction
or if you want you can reverse it and do a corkscrew then the Half Loop.
Fourth: - - E x c i t e m e n t & I n t e n s i t y - - - - - - - - - - -
You have to have both Intensity (a measure of what your ride does)
and Excitement (a measure of how your ride does it). Also keep in mind
that you don't want too high of intensities (10+) as that DECREASES
Excitement, and if you get higher than that NO ONE WILL RIDE AT ALL. You
can increase Intensity by adding Loops and other special tracks, or by
taking high speed turns. You increase Excitement by what you do with the
ride. If you send it through a tunnel, you increase Excitement. If you
send it around another ride, or by some large scenery, or have it race
another coaster, you increase Excitement. One of my favorite things to do
is to Loop through another Loop.
Fifth: - - R i d e L e n g t h - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One of the biggest problems I have run into is how LONG to make a roller-
coaster. Quite often I end out making too short of a ride. Remember that
you CAN have more than one lift hill if you need it, so if you can build
the ride longer than you think it can handle. Then if you need to you add
the lift hill at the end, and that may help prevent crashes (see "4a.
Crashes!" for more info).
Tip: Another odd way to change the direction with corkscrews and half loops
is to build a half corkscrew, half loop down, half loop up again, and
then another half corkscrew. Then you can make the train go the opposite
direction next to the incoming track, or the same direction shifted one
square left or right(same effect as the s-bend). (Ake Malmgren)
Tip: If you've built a what you think is a great rc, but the guests still
think it's lame, try to increase the speed by making the first lift hill
higher. I shifted the lift hill end on a huge wooden rc one level up,
and the excitement rating was more than doubled! (Ake Malmgren)
Dueling Rollercoaster Strategy by Twitch:
KEY
: = To/Then
" " = Repeat
> = Next
i.e. = That is
The Basics: First of all, rollercoasters cost a lot of money and as you
should know two cost more. Duh! So if you don't got the cash (Ranging from
$30,000-$100,000, depending on the type of coaster) you've got better things
to do. Like meeting your objectives. A carbon copy of the same
rollercoaster isn't really going to boost your excitement, i.e., if you
decide to build a duplicate of a ride next to the original it isn't going to
help for jack. No interaction = No extra excitement. But you knew that
already, didn't you? A dueling rollercoaster is called a dueling
rollercoaster for a reason. It crosses paths repetitively from start to
finish and should look alike. Not because it has two stations. So if you
think you've made a dueling rollercoaster here's how to tell if it is. If
the stations are touching each other, not a square away or more from each
other, then you've got the first step right. If the first half of the ride,
or most of the first half, are identical and have lots of interaction, i.e.,
it has twists and stuff intertwining each other, then you've got step two
right. Finally if each train gets to the station within 20 seconds of each
other then you've got step three rite. If it's more than 20 seconds it just
doesn't seem like a race anymore.
The Real Coaster: Here you will find how to make an ideal dueling
rollercoaster. Follow these steps, master them and you'll be making these
bad boys in no time. After doing this for a while it almost gets mechanical,
an instinct if you will. My last dueling coaster had an 8.83 excitement
and just over 9 in intensity and it only took me 5-10 minutes to make, with
outside interruptions! For wooden rollercoasters making them into
dueling rollercoasters isn't hard at all. The basic steps you should take
are as follows:
Lift to top of drop: Drop: Rise (just more than half of the drop): Banked
helix down (in different directions until they reach each other, i.e., one
goes left and the other goes right): Drop#2: banked helix [in same
direction this time but make the outside track longer than inside track,
(the outside track is the one opposite to the direction of the turn, i.e.,
if the turn is to the left than the track on the right side is the outside
track and vise versa) as to make it possible for the two tracks go the
same direction]: Now something to even the tracks to the same speed (an
extra little hill and drop to the inside track usually does the trick or
lacking that a small brake): " " step 3,4,5,6 (if you want): Freestyle
(anything you want to do, helixes, drops, just make sure that each track
separates from each other): Rejoin (have the two tracks intertwined again,
as to add more excitement, " " steps 3,4,5,6 (if you want): Freestyle:
" " Rejoin step: " " Rejoin and Freestyle as many times as you want:
Return to station (AT A MODERATE SPEED)
These steps also apply to any other track with the banking helix ability.
One thing to remember is that if the type of coaster you're making doesn't
have the banking helix ability it's probably not worth making into a dueling
rollercoaster as banking helixes are the heart of the dueling rollercoaster.
When it comes to steel coasters the same steps apply to the track design as
wooden tracks. The only extra would be the vertical loops or half loops.
These can simply be added between either the Drop: Rise step, Banked helix
down: Drop or Freestyle: Rejoin steps. It's actually less complicated than
it sounds. Just read over the steps again and add Drop: Loop: Helix or
Drop: Half Loop: Helix where necessary and map it out in your head as you go
along.
Almost Done: I hope this has helped you on your quest to building a dueling
rollercoaster. There are just a few things you should remember at all times
while building these machines. First, keep speed moderate. It isn't going
to help any if you have a super fast dueling rollercoaster. What's the
point of being on a dueling rollercoaster if it's too intense? Intensity is
a huge factor in dueling rollercoasters. I should know. My local theme
park has a dueling rollercoaster and even though I've never been on it while
they were running both stations I have seen it in action, and just looking
at it was more intense than being ON most rides. Second, these things take
practice. If you don't get it the first time just keep trying. Do you
think I got an 8.83 on my first dueling rollercoaster? No! And neither
will you. Half of my first dueling rollercoasters didn't even make it back
to the station. Third, if you haven't read it yet, dueling coasters need
long stations if you want them to have more than one train. Refer to the
original Building A Dueling Rollercoaster to show you how to get them
started, i.e., get a train in each station.
(again this is by Twitch)
Greg Wolking sent me this:
Coasters run faster when they're loaded than they do when they're empty.
More people = more mass = more inertia, so the coaster picks up more speed
on drops and carries more speed throughout the entire run. With coasters
that are attached to the track, this usually isn't too much of a problem
although if you're already pushing intensity close to the limit (9 or above)
while testing, a full train can take it beyond the "threshold of pain",
which you might not discover until it's too late (see below).
Awareness of this behavior is critical for the design of coasters that are
not attached to the track such as the bobsled, wooden side-friction, and
wooden "reverser" coasters. The effect seems more pronounced for the two
wooden coasters, perhaps because they are only single cars and there is a
greater difference in mass between an empty car and a full one (more so for
the reverser, which holds 6 people vs. the side-friction's 4). The problem
here is that a coaster may test just fine, but fly off the track and crash
after you open it. Therefore, _save the game before you open the ride_. You
can generally avoid this problem if you ensure that a coaster is going no
more than 20-25mph over the crest of a hill during testing, but even that's
no guarantee. Depending on the nature of the run, a loaded coaster may go as
much as 10 to 15mph faster than an empty one, especially after a long (more
than two levels) drop. In addition to watching the speed through the test
run, check the numbers after testing -- if you get a negative gee of more
than about 0.30, watch out! Finally, this type of crash seems less likely to
occur when a coaster stays straight and level at the crest of a hill instead
of entering a curve (bad) or dropping back down (really bad). The exception
to this is the bobsled coaster -- entering a curve immediately at the crest
of a hill will often prevent this type of crash, as the raised wall of the
curve will usually "catch" the train unless it's going _very_ fast.
Hint: To get a "real-world" rating of a coaster when it has a full load,
open the ride and let it run until you've got enough people in the
queue to fill a train. Pause the game, stop the ride, click the "cars"
tab, open the drop-list for either the number of trains or number of
cars, select the current value, then reopen the ride and resume the
game. You don't actually have to change the parameter -- simply
choosing an item from either list resets the trains and the ratings
without emptying the queue, so you'll get a fresh evaluation based on
the next (full) train through the ride. While the game does update a
ride's excitement rating dynamically (e.g., if you add theming
elements while the ride is running, or to show declining excitement as
the ride gets "stale" due to its age), it does not seem to recalculate
the intensity or nausea figures unless you do something to reset the
ratings. Of course, you can also reset the ratings by modifying the
track but since that dumps the queue, your chance of getting a full
train on the first run is virtually nil. And, as has been pointed out
elsewhere, if you have the add-on pack, most guests won't ride an
untested ride, but that doesn't affect those guests that are already
in the queue. It only makes passersby "ignore" the ride -- they'll
pause at the queue entrance, but walk away without entering the queue
or even thinking about the ride at all!
Hint: (about Crashes)
When a coaster crash causes death, your park rating drops no matter
what you do. However, the amount of the drop depends on the number of
deaths. So, with "single car" coasters such as wild mouse, side
friction, etc. that crash when a car stalls at some point on the ride,
you can reduce the impact on your park rating by either resetting (if
possible) or demolishing the coaster before any _other_ cars reach
that point and crash. Since these coasters only carry 2-6 people per
car, if you catch it on the first crash, the impact on your park
rating is negligible. Of course, the same theory applies to coasters
with longer trains but that first crash (don't they always seem to
happen with full trains?) takes much bigger chunk out of your rating.
Finally, if you demolish the coaster instead of just resetting it,
your park rating will recover _much_ more quickly -- once the ride is
demolished, your remaining guests can't "think" about it any more.
If the coaster is built entirely above ground (i.e., doesn't go
through any tunnels) and you have saved the design, you can usually
rebuild it right away (there's something funky here, perhaps a bug --
sometimes the game insists on building a saved design with the station
elevated by one or two levels relative to its position when you saved
it, so the rebuilt ride is either too tall for its supports or won't
fit if it weaves through any other rides or footpaths). This might
cost a couple thousand dollars (depending on the age of the ride) due
to depreciation, but that's better than having your park rating
plummet and living with a "dangerous" coaster that (almost) nobody
wants to ride.
Re nausea ratings: Extended helixes (more than two full turns in the same
direction) can raise the nausea rating very quickly. It seems that as
the coaster continues turning in the same direction, the riders get
"dizzy" and are about ready to toss their cookies when the track
finally straightens out. The faster the train is going, the more
pronounced the effect, and it is _much_ worse when the helix is
underground (for that matter, all "nausea" effects are magnified for
underground track sections because the riders can't see what's
coming). You can reduce the effect somewhat by changing the radius of
the turn and, if the train isn't going too fast (so the change in
lateral Gs isn't too great), you can counteract some of this
"dizziness" by adding a second helix in the opposite direction.
(again, the above information comes from Greg Wolking)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.2.1 The Wild Mouse
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following information is from Greg Wolking:
Also, an observation: The "Wild Mouse" coasters seem to have amazing
longevity -- they don't get "stale" as quickly as other coaster types do.
In one case, I had a wooden wild mouse coaster that was over 4 years old,
unmodified since its original constructon, priced at $3.00, with guests
still thinking "really good value!" even after I had to reduce the price of
newer, larger, more exciting (ratings-wise) coasters to under $2.00 just to
get people to stop thinking "I'm not paying that much!".
Guests also seem less likely to "shy away" from a wild mouse that's very
intense.
Another note regarding Wild Mouse design: Don't make your station too long!
If the first car gets back to the station and unloads before the last car
has left, you're wasting money on those empty cars that haven't left the
station yet. The more cars on the ride, the more the operating cost. You can
simply reduce the number of cars, but unless the cars reach the station at
5mph or less, you're still wasting money because those cars have to traverse
the full length of the station at only 5mph before they can reload. As a
result, you're not moving as many people through the ride as you could. You
can also reduce the interval between the cars by lowering the "Minimum wait
time", but that increases the risk of crashes unless you design your track
_very_ carefully.
Once the ride is open, the cars will get back to the station sooner than
they will in test mode because full cars carry more speed than empty ones,
so further adjustments may be necessary. Once you determine the optimum
number of cars, _and_ those cars reach the platform at more than 5mph,
reduce the length of the station (e.g., replace station segments with
straight track) until it's just long enough to hold them all. A properly
designed and timed Wild Mouse can be a real "money mill" for several
years -- it doesn't get "stale" as quickly as other coaster types, so unless
you overprice it to begin with, it will earn its intial admission price
every 5 seconds (or less, if your track design _safely_ allows a shorter
interval between the cars) throughout its service life. And, because the
queue is constantly moving, the guests don't get tired and upset as quickly.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Landscaping
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Landscaping is a very important aspect of RCT, as it makes a park a theme
park rather than a ratty old carnival.
Paths:
Place benches on every 7 to 10 squares of path, more if there is a shop or
a rollercoaster nearby. Also place garbage cans on every 10 to 15. And
although it isn't as important, place Lamps by all the benches. And for
fun you can put "Jumping Fountains" on paths. (even more fun if you put
10 or so in a row) Finally have your paths go near the most exciting parts
of your most exciting rides. This is a little "inside" advertising for
your rides. Try having a path go through a loop of a rollercoaster, or by
a drop on the log flume, etc.
Trees:
Lining a path with trees is a very good idea in the Summer to keep guests
from sweltering in the heat (which contributes to them feeling sick). Also
place trees around rides to add to their atmosphere. This also increase
Excitement on rides.
Gardens:
Flowers, Gardens, etc. are the final piece to the puzzle, and make the
guests a little happier.
Rides:
Try to build rides on hilly areas, and use the land to customize your
rides. Have a log flume go down a hill and into a tunnel. Have a steep
cliff by a sharp turn on a rollercoaster ("oh no we're going to hit that
cliff!"), etc. Also skillful use of trees can add to the excitement of
rides. (remember the speeder bikes in Return of the Jedi?)
Themes:
Mining Theme use the brown dirt and place the Mining objects around.
Also be sure to use the wood support on the land as well.
Best used on Mine Rollercoaster.
Roman use any type of land.
Note: This theme has its own type of Entertainer, the Roman Soldier.
You can switch to it the same way you switch any entertainer
costume, by using the middle tab and the pull down menu.
(Add-On only!)
Egyptian use the tan style of land (desert). Also good on Mine RC.
First of two themes to include Lamps.
Wonderland use the Checkerboard land (comes with the theme), and try to
use the card walls to surround the ride.
Mars Red land style. 2nd theme to include lamps.
Spooky (Add-On) Works great with brown land or the Brown and Green.
Jurassic (Add-On) Works best with the brown and green land.
Jungle (Add-On) Green, or green and brown
If you do some great landscaping you will get several bonuses: One, you
will be voted the "Most Beautiful Park", and Two you will get guests who
take pictures of your breathtaking park. (the other way to get them to take
pictures is to name one of them "Chris Sawyer) Another benefit of good
landscaping is that it will increase your park value AND your park rating!
Note: Fences do not increase Excitement ratings on rides.
Note: Landscaping will only effect rides up to 4 squares away.
Gardens:
If you build gardens away from the path, make sure to have a lawnmowing
Handyman also able to water the gardens, as any other handymen are latched
onto the path and will never leave it. (Ake Malmgren)
The Banner (Add-On):
The Banner can only be placed on flat paths, and is used to tell guests
when they have entered a new area of the park. But far more useful is its
ability to act as a STOP sign (or more accurately, a NO ADMITTANCE sign)
to the guests, preventing them from going that way! This essentially acts
as a One Way sign, guests can leave from behind the banner, but can't go
through the banner. This is especially useful when you want to develop
your park one area at a time, you just leave banners blocking off areas of
the park that you are going to fill in later, so you don't have guests
wandering around there.
Entrance Options (Add-On)
With Loopy Landscapes, you are now able to change the Entrances to the Rides
in your park. This is actually more of a landscaping option, although the
option is available on each ride's panel. Here is a list of the theme
otions:
- Plain Style Entrance/Station
- Canvas Tent Style Entrance/Station
- Castle Style Entrance/Station (brown)
- Castle Style Entrance/Station (grey)
- Log Cabin Entrance/Station
- Wooden Style Entrance/Station
- Jungle Style Entrance/Station
- Classic/Roman Style Entrance/Station
- Pagoda Style Entrance Station
- Abstract Style Entrance/Station
- Snow/Ice Style Entrance/Station
- Space Style Entrance/Station
Note: This affects both the Entrance of the ride, as well as the Stations
(where applicable).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Shops
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The important thing here is saturation. What do I mean? You must have at
least one of each type in every segment of your park. A large park would
have 8 segments, medium 6, small 4, etc. (a segment being a small area of
your park) In each segment place a food stand (pizza, burger, fries) or two,
a drinks stand, a dessert stand (cotton candy, ice cream), a bathroom, and
either a Information Kiosk or a Souvenir stand. This allows the guests to
easily find what they need when they need it. The longer they need it the
more unhappy they become. Also buddy shops up, place a drinks stand by a
fries stand. Finally by every shop that sells a food item of any kind, place
numerous benches, and a few garbage cans. People like to sit when they eat.
A * in the notes indicates that although that is a food shop, it doesn't
leave any litter!
A ! in the notes indicates that this is an Add-On only shop.
- - - - - - - - - - -S T O R E L I S T- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Food: Cost: Notes: | Misc: Sells: Cost:
----- ----- ------ | ----- ------ -----
Fries $300 Salty | Info. Kiosk Maps, Umbrellas $250
Burger 300 | Souv. Stand Toys, Umbrellas 210
Pizza 275 | Balloon Balloons 200
Popcorn 250 Salty | Bathroom Relief 200
Cotton Candy 250 Sweet * | Hat Stall Hats ! 250
Ice Cream 250 Sweet * | T-Shirt Stand T-Shirts ! 250
Drinks 225 Drink |
Hot Dogs 290 ! |
Candy Apple 245 Sweet ! |
Exotic Seafood 325 !
Coffee 250 !
Fried Chicken 260 !
Donut 262 !
Lemonade 210 Sweet !
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Food Courts, Why You Shouldn't Build Them:
Food courts may sound like a wonderful idea to you. After all, you may
have grown up seeing them in malls, amusement parks, and maybe even at your
school. But in Rollercoaster Tycoon, they just aren't that effective at
what they need to accomplish, that is, serving food. For example, if you
were to build a food court, only a few of the shops would actually do good
business. The rest (like ice cream) get ignored. Also food courts tend
to get guests lost in great numbers. So avoid building these. Instead,
spread your shops out along the paths. Put at most, 3 shops together, and
try to make them different. Like a Fries next to a Drinks, or a Pizza
next to an Ice Cream.
Tip: (from Ake Malmgren)
If you have many shops/stalls next to the park entrance, it may cause
guests not to find the park exit. (they think that they don't find it, but
they usually find it a few seconds later) This will give a lot of messages
like "Guest xxx is lost and can't find the park exit", which is quite
annoying. (Ed note: This is probably due to the Guests' Pathfinding
algorithim getting all messed up with all those intersections that shops
create!)
Balloon/Umbrella Colors (Add-On):
You can change the Balloon colors in the shop window, simply click the
colors tab and change the color. Each shop can have its own distinctive
color so you can easily tell where each guest bought their balloons. This
works the same for Umbrellas at the Information Kiosks and Souvenir Stands.
With the Loopy Landscapes Expansion Pack, there are now 32 different colors
to choose from for balloons.
Note: Variety is somewhat important when building food shops. People like a
choice between whether to have Cotton Candy or a Burger, so build more
than one food shop in the same area. You may often want to build 3 or
4 even.
Note: Placing Souvenir Stands and Balloon Stands near the exits of your
most popular rides may help you sell those items better (happy people
are more likely to buy things!).
Note: Never charge people to use the Bathrooms unless you want your guests
to leave your park. Bathrooms should be a FREE service of your park!
Note: A new feature with the second Add-On, Loopy Landscapes, is the option
to make all stalls of one type have the same prices. For example, all
Coffee Shops in your park would be selling Coffee for the same price.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Alternative Ideas
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I know this is a strange name for a section. I'm not even entirely sure why
I named it that, so live with it. This section contains ideas so strange
that they had to be given their own section.
Park Design Fun:
----------------
The Mega-Shop Approach:
This is probably more expensive than it is worth, but if you've already
done everything you could try this. The basic idea is to have a path
that does a big circle around your entire park. We make it a double
path with a space in between the two paths. Then in the space in between
we build 2 burger huts, one facing one path, the other the other path.
Then 2 Drink Huts done in the same manner, and on through the shops.
Then build a path to connect the two parallel paths, and build an inform-
ation kiosk on that path. Then continue until the entire loop is like
that. You can build all the rides you want on the outside and inside of
the loop. Then build nothing but benches and garbage cans on the paths.
And on any space by a path that isn't taken up by a ride or a queue, put
a garden or a fountain.
The Alcatraz Approach:
Here's something fun to try if you need to have a number of guests in
your park to pass the scenario. First build 4 paths in a square (so it
would be 2x2), then raise the terrain around it to create "walls".
Finally place fences on the top of the walls, and then create a little
moat around the walls. You have your own little prison! So whenever you
find a guest who is thinking "I wanna go home" or "I can't find the exit"
pick them up and place them in the prison. Then they can't EVER leave,
and your guest count stays the same! Oh, and be aware that this will
effect your Park Rating/Value but not significantly (unless you put a
LOT of people in there).
Alcatraz Modified:
Similar to the first Alcatraz, but instead of putting the peeps in your-
self, you have several rides exit into the "prison". The downside is
that you have a lot of peeps in there with money that they can never ever
spend.
Alcatraz even more modified: (from Ake Malmgren)
Build a food shop, dessert shop, drink stall and bathroom by the prison to
get the rest of the guests money. Put in an entertainer and a jumping
fountain to make them happy, and a handyman to keep the prison clean.
Then you can put in more guests without dropping the park rating too
much.
The "You Can Never Leave" Approach:
So you wanna keep guests in your park, but that Alcatraz idea seems like
too much work. Well here's another idea. Have 3 types of rides near
your entrance, a Gentle Ride, a Small Coaster, and a Big Coaster. Have
each of the ride exits lead to an area that is completely inaccessible
from the Park Entrance. Once they ride one of your rides they will be
in the new area, and will be unable to go back or ever leave your park!
An alternate way to do this (Add-On only!) is to simply use a Banner to
block off the exit to the park.
Downside: This really agitates the peeps who are in your park, and you
can watch as your park rating plummets into the ground!
The Old Remove the Exit Trick:
If you need to keep a certain number of peeps in your park, but you don't
know whether you can do it, simply remove the path leading to the exit
once you have enough guests in your park. The downside? No one new can
enter your park!
Ride Design Fun:
----------------
The "No Lift" Approach:
This is pretty simple, really. Right out of the station build 5-10
booster tracks, each set to the maximum speed (67 mph on a Corkscrew
coaster) then you can shoot it up the hills. If you do it right you
won't need a single lift hill.
The layered Rides Approach:
This involves building several (4+) rides in a single area or land. Your
first ride needs to be very spread out along the land. Have large drops
and wide open areas on both sides. Have the ride cover a lot of ground
as well. Build the second on the same idea. Have the 2 rides interlock
a little. Loops interlocking other Loops are always fun. Then with your
next rides, just try your hardest to interlock them with your other rides
at every possible opportunity. Build as many rides as you can this way
to increase excitement on a lot of rides.
Layered Rides Modified:
A slight change in strategy to the Layered Rides approach. Build several
small non-coaster rides like the Merry-Go-Round. Then simply build a
rollercoaster OVER those rides, and have its entrance by the entrance to
the Merry-Go-Round. Saves space, and people have a good choice of rides.
Teeny Tiny Rides:
-- modified from alt.games.rctycoon (David Keenan & Scott Amspoker)
I discussed this a little earlier in section 3, where I mentioned tiny
Hedge Mazes and Go Karts. Well that's not all that you can do with Tiny
Rides. Try the Tiny Coaster. Build something simple like a station
followed by a helix up, then a vertical loop, another vertical loop (this
time in the opposite direction) finished by a helix down and into the
station. Then set it to Powered Launch mode, and have fun!
Working the Pause:
------------------
Just because you can't build rides while paused doesn't mean that you can't
do anything while paused. You can do the following things while paused:
Hire new employees AND set their routes
Rename Guests
Change the Prices of rides and shops
Close Rides and change their attributes
(Guests on the ride will still get off the ride, however)
Take out/Repay loans
Alter Research Priorities and funding
Pick up Guests (useful if you accidentally drown a bunch of them)
So if you need to get something on that list done and you don't have a lot
of time to spare, just pause it and do it!
Change the Game Sounds:
-----------------------
You can listen to (and change) the ambient noise sound in the game. In your
RCT directory in the folder DATA, change the name of CSS2.DAT to CSS2.WAV
and you can listen to it (and edit it) in a wav player of any kind. Also
you can change any sound you want to CSS2.DAT and it will be in the game.
(UNTESTED) If you do that make sure to back up the sound before you monkey
with it!
The other game sounds you can only edit if you have done a full install.
CSS3.DAT is the Bumper Cars sound
CSS4.DAT through CSS14.DAT are Merry-Go-Round sounds (except 10 and 12)
All must be PCM 8bit 22khz and Stereo to work.
One site (http://members.xoom.com/scifihigh/firstpark/music2.html) has a
small archive of alternate sounds for the Bumper Cars. (like the Village
People's YMCA, or a Jazzy beat)
How to Change the Game Speed: (Hex Editor)
------------------------------------------
** originally posted by Surfyxx onto alt.games.rctycoon (slightly edited)
Although there is no explicit option to change the game speed in RCT, you can
change it with a little Hex Editing!
======================================================================
Warning: This has not been tested by me, so do this at your own risk!
======================================================================
Here's how you do it:
- Make a copy of RCT.EXE (name it RCT_backup.exe or something)
- Open rct.exe with any hex editor
- Search for the sequence:
83 F8 19 (hex)
There should be only one place that matches this sequence, independent of
the program versions or file length. If there are more, just try out
each one until you get it right!
- 19 (or decimal: 25) is the important value to change the gamespeed, and
can now be changed according to your wishes:
from 0 (faster) to 25 (default) up to 100 (slower)
**Caution**: values between 101 and 255 will make RCT very very slowly,
and sometimes it won't even start. So the best values are between 0 and
100.
- After changing to the new value, save the new rct.exe, leave hex editor,
and play!
The following Tips are from Greg Wolking:
Here's a few hints you might consider including, especially for those who
are intent on "beating" the scenarios without actually "hacking" saved
files, etc. in order to "cheat". The basic idea is to get your coasters
built without burning a lot of time off the game clock, leaving you more
time to handle other aspects of park management.
1. The game runs a lot slower in a window than it does full-screen. The
game's elapsed time is keyed to how fast it can animate the coasters,
characters, etc. but this does not have any noticeable effect on how
quickly you can build a custom ride. So, switch the game to run in a
window when building. Even better, switch your display to the highest
resolution you can tolerate (i.e., still see what you're doing), maximize
the window and, if there are guests visible as you build, do so at
maximum zoom (individual guests are not animated at lower zoom levels).
In other words, the more stuff there is to animate, the slower the game
time passes. The difference is quite noticeable, even on my 400MHz
Pentium II box.
2. Save the game before you start designing a custom ride. Take your time,
save the track when you're done, then go back and build the saved track
at one shot. Drawbacks are when you have to modify the terrain to
accomodate the ride (so, if possible, pick a good spot that doesn't
require you to dig up a lot of ground, chop a lot of trees, etc.), and
the fact that you can't build a "prefab" coaster which goes through a
tunnel, even if you demolish it and try to rebuild it in the same spot,
so:
3. "Walk" through the entire track and write down the steps to build it.
Thus, you can build it a lot faster when you go back to your saved
position. Unless you're _really_ good at building coasters "on the fly",
this can save you weeks or months of game time, provided that you have
the cash available (unless your park is a real dog, you're earning money
while you build). I'm currently working on a utility that will "decode" a
saved track file and produce a simple text file with step-by-step
instructions for building that track. I'll let you know when it's done,
as it can be really handy for rebuilding some of the tracks that come
with the scenarios, such as the triple-racer in the Three Monkeys Park
scenario -- if you want to really develop the park beyond the end of the
scenario, this is the only way to replace such coasters when they get old
and unreliable.
One last tip: When you're really tight on space and must build a queue line
that's adjacent to a "main" footpath, just demolish the adjacent section of
footpath, build the queue line, then rebuild the footpath starting at the
point where you want the queue to attach.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Cheats:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There isn't a real need to cheat in this game, but sometimes it's fun to just
build coasters without having to worry about space or money. So here's a
cheat or two for you.
You can find various Game Trainers (cheats) at the following place:
http://rct.gametropics.com/
It does not need to be in the RCT directory, it merely needs to be running
while you play the game.
Bear in mind that I didn't make either Trainer here, so I know little about
them and how they work. Also keep in mind that I have the US version, so
I have never seen any of the UK versions work. (in case you are wondering,
I did download them, but couldn't get it to run, and I have heard some
horror stories about it as well, so run at your own risk) Finally, these
trainers may not work with all versions of the game. Although the US
trainer is supposed to.
There are some easter eggs in the game as well:
Rename a guest to one of these names
Chris Sawyer -- Will take pictures of your rides
Simon Foster -- Will paint pictures of your rides
Melanie Warn -- Increases the guest to completely happy
Katie Brayshaw -- Will wave to everyone she meets
John Wardley -- Says "Wow!" when he sees (or is on) a good coaster
John Mace -- Gets on your rides for free (it was reported that he would
pay 2x the cost on rides, but he didn't for me!)
Damon Hill -- races around twice as fast on the Go Karts
Michael Schumacher -- works the same as Damon Hill, but a little faster
(and NO you can't race Damon and Michael!)
Cheats which do NOT work: (at least they didn't for me)
It was widely circulated on the net that you could get $5k a month by
doing this: Press 'F' to bring up the finance screen, then press 'M' +
ENTER. However, this doesn't work, and is likely a hoax.
Also at one time GameSpot reported that you could use HORZA or DEMO as a
way to cheat. Well that is the Theme Park cheat, not a RCT cheat.
The Adrenaline Vault reported that at the Main Menu, if you pressed and
held SHIFT then typed 'rct2' that it would activate some in game cheat. I
tried this and it did not work!
Again, these cheats do NOT WORK. They fail! I add this because I still
get emails about these...
Also there are NO IN GAME CHEATS! That means that no entering in some
bizarre code to pass the game instantly, or any such thing. So don't email
me about that either!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.1 RCT Utilities (non-cheats)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This section is devoted to all of those little programs floating around the
net, which are not cheats, but are designed to enhance the game. Since none
of these were designed by me, if you have problems with them, you should
email their authors. These programs are the property of their authors, and
are to be used as described in their documentation.
Image Converter BMP (169k download)
This little utility takes any bitmap image and converts it to the TP4
format which is used in the game. To use it first, take a screenshot of
your ride (from a good enough zoom so that you can see the whole ride).
The screenshot will save in PCX format. Now you have to use an imaging
program to reformat the PCX as a BMP. Then you can run this program, and
transfer the BMP into a TP4!
Author: Conrad Feinson (acfeinson@compuserve.com)
Web site: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shadowlands/5366/rct.html
Image Converter PCX (119k download)
Similar to the first image converter, this one takes a PCX image rather
than a BMP, which is handy since RCT takes screenshots using the PCX
format. Use the medium zoom to take the picture of your ride (make sure
to get it all on screen), and then run the program. Place the Box around
the ride completely, and save. When saving make sure to save into your
TRACKS directory using the same name as the ride for which this picture
is to be used. (ex: if your ride is FIZZLY.td4, you should save it as
FIZZLY.tp4)
Author: Patrick J. Campbell (campbell@public.shanghai.cngb.com)
Web Site: http://members.aol.com/pjc0407/maketp4/index.html
RCT Reader (110k download) -- Updated 8-15-99
This program, which has been recently updated, can look at all the stats of
your rides directly in your tracks directory. So if you just downloaded a
set of 100 coasters, and you want to see which the best are, you can run
this and see. This latest version (2.2.0) also supports Zip Files.
Author: Luke Harless (luke_harless@ibm.net)
Web site: http://members.xoom.com/Luke_H/rct.htm
Alternate: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Drive/6743/rct.htm
Scenario Editor (367k download -- NO LONGER AVAILABLE)
This little gem allows you to create your own real scenarios, not just the
saved game wannabe-scenarios! Here is a list of what it allows you to do:
- Set the name of the Scenario and the name of the Park
- Set the Goals for the Scenario - Number of Guests and Rating or Park
Value or Just for Fun. You can set the number of years to play for the
first two choices.
- Set the starting Cash, Loan and Maximum Loan amounts
- Place the Park Entrance Gate
- Place one or two locations where guests walk onto the map
- Set the boundaries of the park and the other types of land available in
the game
- Plant or Remove Trees - more than one-at-a-time!
- Enable or Disable all Rides and Attractions
- Set the order that the R&D department develops new stuff
- Randomize the order in which Rides, Attractions, Special Track elements
and Scenery and Themeing objects become available during the game
Remember that this is not an endorsed RCT product, and as such, may not
run on your system. (i.e. it may cause your game to crash!)
Author: Henry Winkelstein
Web Site: http://lightning.prohosting.com/~hwinkels/
Workbench (Size varies on version)
Workbenches allow people to play the game without having to worry about
keeping up with the "gameplay" of a scenario. A workbench will come with
plenty of cash (typically $10 Million) and full access to all scenery and
rides. It's bascally a free-for-all, if you will. There are multiple
examples of Workbenches, and you can find a few on my RCT site.
Web Site: http://rct.gametropics.com/
Utility Rumors:
Save Game Editor, this may never happen, but supposedly Conrad Feinson from
the above Image Converter is working on it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. Bugs!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ah, Bugs. These are sorted by seriousness, with the most serious at the top
and the kinda annoying near the bottom. Most of these here are merely
annoying. Looking at this list may make you think that Rollercoaster Tycoon
is a buggy game, it is not. It has taken 5 months and dozens of people to
find all these bugs, and they are almost all very minor.
Most of these bugs were originally reported before the Add-On was released,
and it is not known whether they still exist!
Really Bad Bugs:
----------------
JR Brewin sent me this:
"Now, I'm not sure if you can replicate this, But what I did was there
was park with a go kart ride, and I wanted to reverse which way the cars
go round it, without rebuilding the whole ride. So, I removed the
station sections, added a new station by building a NEW ride, and then
joined the tracks together. This totally froze my pc. Which wasn't
nice. Note, the station from the new ride joined up to the track of the
old ride just fine."
Dan Mullin had this to add:
"Concurring with JR's observations. I was using monos in MegaPark for
high speed transport to different areas of the park. I made the mistake
of building two shuttle monos going opposite directions and butted the
ends of the station platforms up to each other. The game crashed."
And Ake Malmgren had this to add:
"If you're trying to build any sort of station platforms back to back
(like Dan Mullin did with the monorail) the game will lock/crash. It
doesn't seem to matter which sort of station platforms it is, they can
even be completely different (e.g. chairlift and car ride)."
This one just happened to me:
I was building the Reverse Whoa Belly rollercoaster (a.k.a. the Reverse
Freefall), and while building the vertical section of the coaster, I
pressed the 'forward track' button, and that caused the game to crash.
Steph sent me this:
"This seems to happen with my fiancEs and my computer. We have the
multimedia keyboard. On my machine, if I try to turn my volumne up, the
game crashes. On my fiancEs computer, if I have mute on, then go to
save, it will crash (right AFTER saving)."
Every once in awhile you might get a GSK Exception Trapper Error. This
could be caused by old versions of DirectX. You should upgrade to
DirectX 6.1 to correct the problem. Most new games come with this, so
you could install from a game CD, or download from the Microsoft web site
(or pretty much any other gaming related web site). (untested) However,
this isn't a guaranteed solution.
-- from alt.games.rctycoon (Kip)
This one happened to me after the Add-On was installed. I was playing
along normally, then decided to open up ICQ, which caused RCT to crash.
Very annoying as I had just build a great new coaster!
Kenneth R Smith sent me this:
"When building a hedge maze, if you remove all of it, but the
construction arrow is still visable, then stop construction, the box for
the ride pops up, but no ride exists, start the ride, and the game will
crash."
Ake Malmgren sent me this:
"If you save any ride with four station platforms and try to use the
design, the track will not appear when you click to place it. A
construction window for water slide will appear, but you can't construct
anything. The text in the title bar for this window will be the
description of the wooden RC. If you click on the 'Entrance' button, the
game will crash."
The Dreamkeeper sent me this:
I found a bug in RCT. First, build a really short Woah Belly! then put
it to it's highest speed. Then find someone going on the ride. 'I' him
and have his box up on the screen. Watch the Woah Belly! car fly into
the air and at the exact second it hits the gound the game will crash
with some weird warning.
Really Annoying Bugs:
---------------------
This bug occurs after a daylight savings time or summer time (whatever)
switch (who knows why) which causes your data to become "lost". Your saves
will still be there, but your progress through the scenarios is gone. Fear
not! If you have saved each scenario after having completed it, then go
to the official web page "http://www.rollercoastertycoon.com" and download
the small utility:
"http://www.rollercoastertycoon.com/test/patches/rctrec.exe"
Then merely run it and everything should be fine.
Note: Your name will disappear from the scenario listings.
Ake Malmgren sent me this:
"If the beginning of a multiple car train (RC or transport) enters a
second station platform before the end of the train has left the first
platform, the game will think this is the same platform, the train status
will be 'Departing station' and the train will not stop there. If all
station platforms is built like this, the train will just keep going
round and round."
Small Bugs, Glitches, Etc.
--------------------------
I just caught this one:
I wanted to kick everyone (2000+ guests) out of my park so that I could
experiment with custom rollercoasters. It took forever to get people
out. But finally I noticed that I had gotten into "Negative Guests",
that is it said I had "-1 guests" then "-5 guests" all the way to "-22
guests". I'm not sure why this happened, but I'm pretty sure that this
is a bug.
Dan Mullin had this to add:
"I also witnessed negative guests. I got bored with Pokie Park and
started drowning everyone in the lake. It appears that, though your
mechanics, handymen, etc are not listed in the guest totals at the
bottom of the page they are still tracked as part of the population.
Kill everyone then kill a mechanic and your guest total will hit -1."
So what do you do when you suspect that the Guest Counter in the lower
left is giving you false information? You open up the Guest Menu (by
pushing the Guest Button of course) and it has the "Real" count of how
many guests are in your park.
One Graphical Glitch:
I'm sure you've noticed some odd graphics "bugs" things that show through
the foreground when they are in the background, etc. One thing I noticed
was on a coaster I had just designed. The third train was half off the
station platform, and so the final car on it was on an angle. That car
couldn't decide if it was at an angle, like the track, or horizontal,
like the rest of the train; and it kept going back and forth. Up. Down.
Andy Fey sent me some German Translation errors:
1.) Translation-Error in the German version: If you set "play music" in
the options-menu, you don't hear any music. If you set "Don't play
music", you hear the music.
2.) In the window with the thoughts of the people there is sometimes
this: "I don't have to use the bathroom". But if you click to one
of the persons thoughts, they have to use the bathroom really badly.
Roderik van de Logt sent this Dutch Translation error:
"If you want to remove a tree, you have to click on the tree with the
right mouse button, but on the Status Bar at the underside states that
you must click the left button. I tried this and it does not work."
Tadhg Pearson reports that there is a bug involving early Pentium II
machines that causes the game to crash on opening. As of this writing
there is no patch available for this.
There is a bug that involves the 3D Cinema. If you have the early version
(it ends with 64) then the 3D Cinema can only hold a maximum of 8 people
despite being listed as having a maximum of 20. A later version (65)
corrected this but there is no patch available. You will just have to
learn to cope.
Andy Fey sent these 2 bugs in as well:
1.) Build a long station of a rollercoaster. At the end of the station
add 7 pieces of a straight way with chains. Now build the entrance
and the exit and select "inverse incline" and start the test-mode.
The wagons are overtaking themselves and making strange things.
2.) Go Karts: Build a track which is not a closed circuit. Select
"Continuous Circuit mode". If you want to open the Go Karts a
message appears that tells you that you have to build a closed
circuit. But if you select "Race Mode" you can open the Karts
without this message.
Lasse Hedegaard sent me this:
"If you're making a rollercoster thru a tunnel that's 1x1 square, and the
corner is 90 degrees in 1 square (I think the coaster is called Wild Mice
RC) - you can't see thru the tunnel - and it seems that the track stops
there - but the train goes thru..."
Note: Go Karts has the same effect.
Matt Linden sent me this:
"Build any type of ride/stall. Right-click on it and bulldoze it (not
demolish) completely...leave the construction window open and place it in
a different location. Left-click on it to bring up the window and set to
'overall view', and it will still show the original location."
Lerdahl Petter sent me this:
"After starting the game a small vertical piece of the screen (looks like
the size of MS Office shortcutmenu bar.) is showing on left side of the
screen. This on occasion updates with a piece of the screen. So if you
have a ride window in that part of the screen and you have turned the
ride on you can be fooled into thinking that the ride has not started.
This problem can also appear if the office toolbar is not loaded."
Keith Edwards sent me this:
"If you make a raised water tile on the ground, drop a person in it, then
remove the water tile, they will appear to drown in the ground. It is
funny."
Ake Malmgren sent me this:
"I've encountered various bugs when building custom hedge mazes:
Sometimes, if I forget to build entrance and exit and close the
construction window, the entire maze disappears. This happened more
often before, for some reason. If I try to open a maze which doesn't
have entrance or exit, the main window will center at the edge of the
map. Once I built a steel rollercoaster which ended high up in the air,
and when I started to construct a maze the construction marker appeared
at the end of the rollercoaster. When I then tried to build, I got the
'too high for supports' error."
And Ake also sent me this:
"When running the game in a window it will not cover the full width
of the screen: if the window is wide enough there will be a black
field on the right side, that will only be filled when scrolling
the main view. Then everything in that field freeze."
And Ake also sent me this:
"When constructing a vertical roller coaster you may build a banked
corner that leads right into a steep drop. It is allowed to build, but
the track elements will not fit together and the circuit will be broken."
Note: In other words, the game lets you build it, but it won't let you
test it, or open it!
And Ake also sent me this:
"If you have over 2500-3000 guests (I'm not certain about the exact
number) you can't scroll down the list over all guests."
And Ake also sent me this list of Graphical Glitches:
"There are many graphical glitches in the game, because it uses
sprites. Examples are:
+ Rides going underground next to the wall are sometimes visible through
the wall.
+ Suspended rollercoasters seems to be above the ground or go
into solid walls when entering/exiting tunnels.
+ Riders on the single-rail rollercoaster bang their heads when
entering tunnels or going under other rides.
+ Water slide looks to be full of holes when a turn touches a steep
ground slope.
+ The large Monorail train looks odd while turning.
+ Rides seem to intersect themselves/each other when passing.
+ If a car crash underground the scrap will fly up thorugh the
ground."
Mikoz Groelz sent me this:
"If you attach the ride exit to a sloping path up like this / the guest
will come out, make a jump, maybe, and walk on. Although, the messager
says you're exit isn't attached to a path."
Really Bizarre "Design" flaws:
------------------------------
NMartin sent me a coaster that ran literally backwards. Here's what he
did. Build a small Mini Steel rollercoaster, and finish by having a steep
drop, then another steep incline to go into the rear of the station. (so
that it will "dip" just before hitting the station) Then set the coaster
to "Reverse Incline Launch Shuttle Mode". Here's what should happen, the
train will go backwards, drop down the hill, and come back up. But it
won't be able to make it all the way up and will go back down. But now it
thinks that it is in the station, and will proceed backwards throughout the
entire ride at "station speed". Very very strange! If you would like to
see a picture of this, or to download the savegame itself, check out my
website at http://manymoose.8m.com/coaster/
I have heard a lot of reports of the game colors getting all messed up,
turning all pink and whatnot. According to Microprose this is caused by
bad (meaning old) drivers. Usually this problem goes away when you save it,
or if you do an ALT-TAB. I'm not aware of any permanent solutions.
Sean Malloy had this to add:
"This appears to be a palette problem. I run a program that periodically
swaps background images on my desktop; whenever that happens while I'm
playing RCT, the colors go wonky. The problem appears to be due to Windows
calculating a new color palette when the background image is changed, and
RCT not getting the new color mapping until you do something to force it
(i.e., selecting Load or Save, which pops up a dialog box in the Windows
colors, resetting RCT's palette.
"The effect is repeatable using a slide show program to view a bunch of
images; when the image changes, even if it's running invisibly in the
background, it recalculates the palette and RCT's colors go screwy."
Ake Malmgren sent me this:
"I got an rc from extreme rct that showed a weird bug:
Build a station platform of steel rc at for example height 10. At the back
of the station, make a steep drop down to height 1, then steep up as tall
as it gets. Like this:
\
\ SSSSSSSSSS>