More Gorky Park than amusement park? Keith 'Coaster' Pullin brings you the low-down on the high rollers
REVIEWED PCZ #75 SCORE 89%
Completing all 21 scenarios on RollerCoaster Tycoon requires serious amounts of practice. This strategy guide offers tips on how to build bowel-shaking roller coasters, as well as more general hints on the day-to-day management of your would-be Alton Towers. Finally there's a brief walkthrough of each scenario to put you firmly on the right track. So without further ado, let's roll...
BUILDING A SUCCESFUL ROLLER COASTER
Building intense, exciting, non-nausea-inducing roller coasters is the Holy Grail of theme park design. To achieve this golden aim you need to learn how to manage G-force.
FINDING THE G-SPOT
While standing motionless, you are experiencing 1G. That means if you weigh 12 stone, you weigh... well,12 stone. If you add speed and resistance to the equation, such as you dropping 100 feet at 70mph and shooting straight back up into an inverted loop, you are being subjected to a force greater than gravity. In fact you're probably pulling about four vertical Gs, which means you now weigh four times your usual weight. That's some force. And it hurts.
Generally speaking, in RTC it's best not to exceed 4G too often - and especially negative G, which occur when cars come off a straight section of track and hit a bump at high speed, or plummet down a drop with too much initial velocity, which cause weightlessness. While it's extremely exciting for a brief moment, prolonged experience simply causes your guests to spew. If one of your coasters has a high negative G rating, sort it out immediately.
G-force also works laterally (side to side). (Are you sure about all this? - Science Ed.) If you design a ride that hits about 5G laterally, you're basically snapping necks. Overall, you want to keep your Gs to a level that's raesonably pleasant for people to experience. By all means give the punters a bit of a shock and a thrill, but excessive exposure to high Gs is the wrong way to do it.
EXCITEMENT
Exciting rides are not necessarily fast rides, nor ones with loads of twists, loops and turns. A high rating in the 'exciting' category usually comes from building a ride that goes over water, through tunnels, past themed scenery or close to another attraction. For example, a section that dives into a tunnel after a sharp drop, emerges into bright sunlight, performs a sharp 90-degree banked turn and darts back into the darkness rates highly on the excitement scale, but doesn't make the passengers vomit.
Also, build uphill sections of track so that cars have just enough momentum to get up and over. If passengers think they're not going to make it, and are going to plummet backwards down the track, they become even more excited. Indeed, later add-ons enable you to do just that, but to do it safely. But beware: going too fast backwards is likely to be messy.
To keep the interest factor high on slower sections of track (usually near the end), use banked helix turns. This type of curve maintains speed, and gives the rider the impression of speed.
INTENSITY
The trick is to study the graph when you first test a ride. Look at the places with high and sudden G-forces, then smooth them out. Inserting banked corners - or, God forbid, even brakes - can usually do this. Above all, make sure the car doesn't come into the station too fast. Coming out of the last turn at 50mph and then suddenly braking to 0mph in less than second is pretty intense; unfortunately it's also the equivalent force of a fatal car accident. Sure, the guests want some intensity in their lives, but giving it to them like that is a sure way to make them leave the park completely - possibly in a body bag.
NAUSEA
Beginners usually find that most of their roller coasters have high nausea ratings simply through a lack of understanding of roller coaster dynamics and physics. Follow the guidelines outlined in the Excitement and Intensity sections above to reduce the nausea rating.
THE PRICE IS RIGHT
Never charge more than ú2 for any food or drink item, and try not to go above ú1 for a map, and ú3 for an umbrella. When it comes to rides, 50p for a gentle ride, ú1 for a thrill ride and ú2 for roller coasters, go-carts, and water rides is about right. Try not to charge for the toilets, or transportation rides like the monorail. That's just greedy.
The admission price should start at about ú10 and increase gradually from there. Let's say that each attraction (including stalls) is worth ú1.50 on the entrance fee. This means that a park with ten attractions should charge ú15 quid, ú30 for 20 attractions, and so on. Basically you'll know if the price is right anyway, because your punters will no doubt squeal about it if they're unhappy.
Watch the animations of your guests. If they wander up to an attraction and leap backward in surprise with their eyes popping out of their head, something is wrong. Check out the price of your ride and put it right. On the other hand, if people come off a ride and jump with joy, then you know a ride's popular, so maybe jack up the price a little to maximise revenue.
WORKFORCE AND PATROL ZONES
Always give your workers relatively small patrol zones, otherwise the good-for-nothing slackers just wander about aimlessly, reducing park efficiency. When you employ a handyman, order him not to water the gardens or mow the grass - it's a waste of time. Instead assign him to areas near ride exits, food and drink stalls and litter bins, and get him to sweep the pavement and empty the bins.
Mechanics should be given zones that cover maybe five or six rides. Inspections of the roller coasters should take place every 20 minutes, and everything else every 30 minutes.
Not all parks need security patrols, but if you do require their services, position them around vandalism hot-spots such as benches and litter bins.
THE SCENIC ROUTE
Try not to destroy ready-made scenery and themes; guests are absolute suckers for something that looks pretty. Try to add fountains, statues, lamps and other gadgets, which all go towards a making a more scenic environment that people are less likely to leave. Most useful of all are themed roller coasters and other rides. Not only do they look cool, they also actually increase the excitement factor of the ride.
RIGHT ON QUEUE
When you site an attraction, remember to leave enough room for a queuing area. Roller coasters, go-carts and water-based rides tend to be among the most popular, and so need the longest queuing areas (7-10+ blocks), then it's thrill rides (4-6 blocks), and finally the gentle rides (2-3 blocks).
Even though it's fairly common practice at most real- life theme parks, in RTC you don't actually need to queue at any of the refreshment stalls, so don't bother building queuing areas by them.
Another thing: if a ride takes about two minutes, people are going to be queuing for longer than a ride that takes only ten seconds. Think about this and plan appropriately.
Occasionally guests complain about long queues. If this happens you can do one of two things: either extend the station platform (roller coasters etc), or raise the price of the ride to scare a few people away. On the flip side, if a ride has no queues at all, reduce the price to attract people to it. It's usually the gentler rides that guests start to lose interest in, and if this happens just swallow your pride and keep reducing the price. Don't worry about making a loss, there are bound to be other rides making money. The most important thing is keeping your guests happy
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THE PATH TO SUCCESS
Pathways obviously enable guests get from one part of the park to another, but they also serve as viewing platforms. Position your paths so that they meander tantalisingly near roller coasters and other interesting-looking rides. Put a few benches down as well so that people can gaze at the ride while they eat their pizza or whatever. Dig some tunnels. Do anything humanly possible to make the pathway an attraction in itself.
MARKETING TALK
If all else fails you can always spend a bit of extra cash on marketing campaigns, although generally speaking they are most effective at the start and end of a scenario. One cunning tactic you can use if you're short of guests with about six weeks to go is to have a massive blanket advertising campaign and entice revellers that way.
SCENARIOS IN BRIEF
Because the tactics for the completion of each scenario are essentially the same, here's a quick walkthrough outlining the main points.
Forest Frontiers
Set the park entrance fee at around ú15. Go for the 'woodchip' roller coaster and spread a selection of gentle and thrill rides around it. Employ a mechanic and two handymen to keep things ticking over. Only research ride improvements.
Dynamite Dunes
Increase entrance fee to ú20. Build a selection of rides around the initial roller coaster. Employ four handymen and two mechanics to keep the park in shape. Finally, reduce the ride prices towards the end of the second year, and start some marketing campaigns to attract punters.
Leafy Lake
Build a pre-made roller coaster near the entrance, and another on the other side of the lake. Pad out the rest of the park with a varied selection of gentle and thrill rides. Security is needed, as well as some handymen and mechanics.
Diamond Heights
Hire three mechanics, two security guards and about five handymen. Build an information kiosk, food and drink stalls and some toilets near the entrance. Introduce some gentler rides and a few thrill rides. Start a marketing campaign for the new attractions, then sit back.
Evergreen Gardens
Research stalls early so you can get the information kiosk, otherwise your guests will become lost. There's loads of room available, so spread your rides around the park; position them between scenic areas so guests have exciting walks. Build a steam train or monorail to help guests get around the park.
Bumbly Beach
Add various attractions to the existing path, with a handyman and a mechanic patrolling each side. Extend another patrolled and ride-laden path straight down the middle of the park. Place a gathering of refreshments stalls near the entrance, and don't forget the toilets.
Trinity Islands
Flatten the land, and add minor rides along the existing pathways. When you can, build a wooden coaster somewhere in the middle of the islands. Advertise it ,and the punters should start flooding in. Raise the admission fee to ú20. Create more land. Add new rides.
Katie's Dreamland
Set the admission price at ú20 for some quick cash. Get your guests eating food, and hire more mechanics. Raise the price of Runaway Plumber to ú3. Research thrill rides and place them in the area just outside the coaster.
Pokey Park
Demolish the Twister in the corner and replace it with a wooden roller coaster. Raise the admission price ú10. Gradually replace all the rides with more exciting ones, and aim for another roller coaster to finish off.
White Water Park
Research nothing but thrill rides, and add them to the vast array of water-based outings. There's loads of room for expansion,so try to get a coaster or two in. Add two clusters of refreshment stalls - one near the entrance and one near the log flumes.
Millennium Mines
At first the only thing in this massive mine area is the train. Add another station towards the far side of the mines, then start adding a selection of rides around the two stations. Aim for about 30 attractions, and make use of the underground.
Karts & Coasters
One mechanic in this place? That's a joke. Hire another one, and assign both your mechanics to two rides each for now. Clear away some trees and add some thrill rides - keep this park for the hard-core adrenalin addicts only.
Mel's World
There's nothing really too abnormal about this scenario apart from the vast number of people you have to entice in. Basically, work faster than usual and add a few gentler rides to appeal to families.
Mystic Mountain
Ultimately you want to set up a meaty mine car roller coaster around the original scenery on the mountain. There's loads of room for park expansion, and this should enable you to create some hugely enjoyable rides.
Pacific Pyramids
Another one to build from scratch, but yet again there's acres of room for expansion. Wrap some tracks around the sphinx for added effect, and also expand upon the existing underground tunnel system.
Crumbly Woods
Not long after you begin, Double Trouble crashes, and soon other rides meet the same fate. Hire an army of mechanics to keep the old attractions going while building new rides. Add themes wherever possible to attract the 1200 visitors you need.
Paradise Pier
Don't worry about the lack of land, you can build wherever you want. There's loads of space for everything, so go for some huge coasters. Be careful with your money though - building on water is more expensive than building on land.
Lightning Peaks
There's scope for some giant drops and intense underground rides here. Concentrate your attractions around the top of the three peaks and include refreshment stalls and other vital amenities. The main problem here is rain, so build plenty of information kiosks where your visitors can buy umbrellas.
Ivory Towers
Clean the park first of all - it's covered with vomit due to two nauseating rides. Next add security guards. Build a few gentle rides to calm things down a bit, and add some toilets and food and drinks stalls. Increase your workforce, and work fast.
Rainbow Valley
The local authorities won't allow you to demolish trees or change the landscape, so tread carefully. The best way to success is by going underground or high above ground. Alternatively, build in the water - there's enough of it.
Thunder Rock
A great place for a mixture of open-air and underground rides. Stick all the thrill and gentle rides around the base and on top of the rock. Build the roller coasters inside, and clinging to the outside walls.
