Roller Coaster Tycoon Hints Sellection
Version 1.0
Copyright (c) 1999 Molcuti Mihai aka HELLix
1. Building a succesful Roller Coaster
2. Finding the G-Spot
3. Excitemet
4. Intensity
5. Nausea
6. The Price Is Right
7. Workforce and Patrol Zone
8. The Scenic Route
9. Right on Queue
10. The Path to Success
11. Marketing Talk
12. Scenarios in Brief
13. Glitches
14. Tips & Tricks
15. Cheats
16. Web Pages
17. Final Words
More Gorky Park than amusement park? Keith 'Coaster' Pullin brings you the low-down on the high
rollers
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...
1. 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.
2. FINDING THE G-SPOT
While standing motionless, you are experiencing 1G. That means if you weigh 12 stone, you
weigh... ell,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.
3. 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 nto 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. THE PRICE IS RIGHT
Never charge more than é2 for any food or drink item, and try not to go above é1 for a map,
and é3 for an umbrella. When it comes to rides, 50p for a gentle ride, é1 for a thrill ride and
é2 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 é10 and increase gradually from there. Let's say that each attraction
(including stalls) is worth é1.50 on the entrance fee. This means that a park with ten attractions
should charge é15 quid, é30 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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 é15. 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 é20. 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 gather
ng 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 é20. Create more land. Add new rides.
Katie's Dreamland
Set the admission price at é20 for some quick cash. Get your guests eating food, and hire more
mechanics. Raise the price of Runaway Plumber to é3. 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 é10. 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.
13. GLITCHES:
This roubric will inform you of the bugs in Roller Coaster Tycoon.
a) Make a ride exit next to the edge of the map. When the guests will exit they will fell off the
map and start walking in 2 squares.
b) Make a square corner in the water and the other three over it. If you place a guest there he
will frown in earth.
c) Place a path exacly over a Go Karts and when a guest is on the path over the Go Kart destroy
the path. The guest will get off and on the track.
d) If a Roller Coaster crashes over a path FULL of guests. Only the peeps from the roller coaster
train will die, but the ones from the footpath will be still alive.
e) Because of the daylight savings time sitch somethimes your completed scenarios will become lost.
If you've saved all the scenarios after completeing them then download this small utility
"http://www.rollercoastertycoon.com/test/patches/rctrec.exe" and everything is ok.
14. TIPS & TRICKS:
a) If you sellect a ride (or guest) and click on the camera, you will hear only the rides (or
guests) sounds.
b) When a roller coaster crashes and you want to repair it then just double click on the stop
button and you'll repair it for free.
c) If you complete all the scenarios you'll get Mega Park.
d) If you click on a duck, she'll quake.
e) To slow down the game and scrool a lot faster then press and hold the right mouse button.
15. CHEATS:
Cheats for dirty little peeps all over the world. Use them at your own RISK you damed mad
man.
Name Guest as:
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 (US Version)
-- Pays 2x the cost on rides (UK Version)
Technos RCT4TRN for UK and US Version from http://teckno.8m.com
16. WEB PAGES:
Here are top web pages all over the world to help you with RollerCoaster Tycoon giving you
info, trainers, cheats, patches and others.
Fun Pages: Hamster Dance -- http://www.hamsterdance.com
17. FINAL WORDS
If you find anything new please msg it at: rrp@dlh.net
Shameless Self Promotions: I have also written guides for Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Kombat Trilogy
and Mortal Kombat 4.
