Walkthrough & Strategy Guide
In Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 there is a park rating system from 1 - 999 which basically says how good your park is. I've noticed that a large amount of guest complaints lowers it, while good rides wit.
Completing all 21 scenarios in Rollercoaster Tycoon requires serious amounts of practice. This strategy guide offers tips on how to build bowel-shaking rollercoasters, 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. Let's roll...
Building A Successful Rollercoaster
Building intense, exciting, non-nausea-inducing rollercoasters 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, as you'd expect, it hurts.
Generally speaking, in Rollercoaster Tycoon it's best not to exceed 4G too often -and especially negative Gs, 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 causes 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 reasonably 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, nor do they have 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 Omph in less than a 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 rollercoasters have high nausea ratings simply through a lack of understanding of rollercoaster 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 Pound-2 for any food or drink item, and try not to go above Pound-1 for a map, and Pound-3 for an umbrella. When it comes to rides, 50p for a gentle ride, Pound-1 for a thrill ride and Pound-2 for rollercoasters, 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 Pound-10 and increase gradually from there. Let's say that each attraction (including stalls) is worth Pound-1.50 on the entrance fee. This means that a park with ten attractions should charge Pound-15 quid, Pound-30 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 rollercoasters 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 making a more scenic environment that people are less likely to leave. Most useful of all are themed rollercoasters 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. Rollercoasters, 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 Rollercoaster Tycoon 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 (rollercoasters 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
The Path To Success
Pathways obviously enable guests to 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 rollercoasters 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 Pound-15. Go for the 'woodchip' rollercoaster 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 Pound-20. Build a selection of rides around the initial rollercoaster. 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 rollercoaster 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 ones. 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. Flatten the land, and add minor rides along the existing pathways. When you can, build a wooden rollercoaster somewhere in the middle of the islands. Advertise it and the punters should start flooding in. Raise the admission fee to Pound-20. Create more land. Add new rides.
Katie's Dreamland
Set the admission price at Pound-20 for some quick cash. Get your guests eating food, and hire more mechanics. Raise the price of Runaway Plumber to Pound-3. Research thrill rides and place them in the area just outside the rollercoaster.
Pokey Park
Demolish the Twister in the corner and replace it with a wooden rollercoaster. Raise the admission price Pound-10. Gradually replace all the rides with more exciting ones, and aim for another rollercoaster 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 in a coaster or two. 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 them 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 rollercoaster 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 you build new ones. 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 rollercoasters. 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.
Rainbow Valley
Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic
The local authorities won't allow you to demolish trees or change the landscape, so tread carefully. Go underground or high above ground. Alternatively, build in the water - there's enough of it.
ThunderRock
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 rollercoasters inside, and clinging to the outside walls.
Before you read this, no I am not talking about the graphical design of peeps (Although they already look a LOT better in RCT:W)I don't think I'd have been the first to say this nor the only one to think it however one thing that RCT1 and RCT2 got perfect was the amount of Peeps you could get into your park and how you could fill your queue's up to the max. I really loved how you could build an amazing coaster and it'd show by how popular it was with the guests. That's something that lacked with RCT3.
In RCT3 you could build the world's largest Theme Park and struggle with getting a few thousand peeps inside, whereas modern theme parks in real life have capacities of over 10,000 and some even higher depending on the size. The most peeps I've ever managed to get inside a park in RCT3 is about 3,500 and that was only because of swimming pools bringing guests in like crazy and other weird ways that RCT3 was coded to bring in the peeps. It's to this end I'm going to bullet point out a few main features I think the peeps should have in this new generation of RCT.
- Realistic Groups: Groups of peeps in RCT3 will wait around forever outside ride exits and sometimes choose not to go on a coaster altogether if at least one of the group doesn't want to. It makes queue's a lot shorter and takes away from the realism of the game with modern theme parks
- Accurate Peep to Park Size ratio: Determine the amount of peeps entering a park by the size of the park's square footage (How many squares on the grid are utilised), and compare it to the amount of attractions, intensities of the coasters, reputation of the park, etc. In RCT3 it seemed to only be judged by your park rating. If your rating was at 1000, then maybe, just maybe you'd get a decent amount of guests
- Seasonal Guest Boosts: Have busier periods of the year based upon off-peak and peak seasons, for example, school holidays being much busier than an average weekday, having huge boosts around July for summer and October for Halloween, all this would make the game more realistic, and make everyone happy with the simple tick box enabling or disabling this feature altogether so people who want a park busy all year round can have that
- Complaining Peeps: Why is it in RCT3 that if the queue is a tiny bit long then peeps will start to complain even if their ride intensity preference is set to high? Surely if you travelled all the way to a park and wanted to go on your absolute favourite ride you wouldn't hesitate queuing nearly 3 hours to get on it. Whereas the peeps in RCT3 seemed to get bored after 10 minutes. Granted this idea may result in varied responses, but do you understand what I mean?
- Height Restrictions: SINCE WHEN CAN A 8 YEAR OLD RIDE ONE OF THE PARK'S MOST INTENSE COASTERS? *gasp* Yes, it's a question I guarantee you've asked yourself at least once while playing RCT3. There should be height restrictions in RCT:W that only allow say teenagers and adults to ride on the more thrilling rides, adding again to the realism of the game. This would also give the peeps a reason to complain if their child is too short to go on a ride giving you the manager a way to deal with them (You could always drop them into a lake)