Guests and Staff
Guests
The premise of RollerCoaster Tycoon is to keep guests in your amusement park happy by building rides, shops, and facilities. The guests have several different factors that contribute to satisfaction, including happiness, nausea, hunger, thirst, and the need to use the bathroom.
In RollerCoaster Tycoon and RollerCoaster Tycoon 2, each guest looks like a young adult male wearing a randomly colored shirt and pants. In RollerCoaster Tycoon, his computer-generated name is "Guest" followed by a consecutive number based on his appearance order on the entrance path to your amusement park, in the first game. This name may be edited, and there are certain cheats which may alter certain aspects of the game. In the Loopy Landscapes expansion pack, this was changed so as to give guests randomly-assigned 'real' names, though the option to use the old style is still available. In RCT2 each guest also recieves a 'real' name, which can be shown instead of the guest number. Although the 'real' names provided don't change appearance, RCT2 does have male and female names. The real guest names are not full names, their surnames are abbrievated , for example, John P.There are more than a thousand unique guest names in the database, as seen when names dont repeat themselves in the guest list even in parks with over 1000 guests .In RCT3, guests can be male or female, and a child, teenager, or adult. Groups/families may be made; these will appear in each scenario you play, though, like all guests, they may leave. The guests in RCT3 also vary in the coloration of the shirt and pants.
Each guest is randomly endowed with a fixed Intensity preference, Nausea tolerance rating, and amount of money, which helps to make each guest a unique individual. Guests are not invulnerable, and will die if they fall in water or are involved in a ride crash (drowning guests can be saved if you react quickly enough with the "pincers"; note that guests can be picked up while the game is paused).
Guests can also carry non-consumable items such as maps, photographs, umbrellas, hats, etc. With the exception of Balloons, guests will never lose a non-consumable item. Guests can only carry one item of each type (when presented with the opportunity to acquire more they will often make a comment about already having one). If a shop can color an item, then the guest who acquires the item from that shop will be seen carrying an item of that specific color. Peeps in RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 can hold one item in both hands and on their head. Holding trash fills up one of these 'slots' and so prevents them from buying souvenirs thus losing the park money.
Guests can be killed in the first two titles, either by crashing rides or by drowning. In RCT3, however, they are unable to be killed; if hit by a crashing ride, they will be thrown into the air, but get up afterwords, and if they are placed in water, they will swim, rather than drown. This change was most likely made due to the 2D-3D transition; being able to view 3D guests being killed close-up, rather than from far away, like in the first two titles, would likely stir up controversy from concerned parents and causing the game to appear less user-friendly.
Celebrities (VIPeeps)
In RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, celebrities occasionally appear in your park as part of a scenario objective. They need to be directed to a certain ride with a minimum statistic, specified in the list of scenario objectives.
The player can create waypoints for the celebrity to follow, although they don't always adhere to your will. Celebrities usually are followed by a horde of fans, which will pester him/her for autographs. If they are harassed enough, the celebrity will become unhappy and leave the park. Certain celebrities have low rubbish or breakdown tolerance which can cause them to leave the park also.
Vandals
The guests can also commit vandalism. The concentration of vandalism is directly connected to the level of litter and/or vomit in a certain part of the path. Vandals can be recognized by their red face expression in the guest window. They will destroy nearby benches, lamps and litter bins, regardless of their happiness level. A temporary solution are the security guards, who forbid destroying things in their vicinity. However, a more common and permanent tactic is making a 1x1 island (also known as the prison among the players) in the water, placing a footpath in it, and then putting benches on the path. Then, drag the potential vandal to that island, and he will eventually cool down.
Staff
RCT & RCT2
Handymen/Janitors
- Cost per month: $35 (RCT1), $50 (RCT2)
- Default uniform color: Red (color can be changed)
- Assignable tasks: Sweep Footpaths, Water Gardens, Empty Litter Bins, Mow Grass
Handymen are essential members of your staff. They are responsible for cleaning up the messes that your guests make; both trash and vomit. They also perform maintenance on your landscapes, by mowing grass and watering flowers.
Note that any Handyman that does not mow grass (mowed grass contributes to scenery and makes guests happier) will almost always stay on paths like guests. Be careful however if you use paths as roofing tiles. If these roofing tiles fall within the Handymans patrol area, the Handyman may jump up on the roof and get stuck there - you have to use your pincers to put them back on the real path, or the real path will never get cleaned!
If the Handyman is given lots of work (lots of gardens to water, trash to sweep, or vomit to clean), keep the patrol area very small.
It appears that vandalism and vomit do not occur in tunnels, so these areas may not have to be patrolled as much (remember that chance of vandalism is directly related to the concentration of litter/vomit on the ground). by Only one patrol area (large or small) should be designated. if multiple non connected plots of patrol areas are selected, the handyman will be "stuck" (never leave) in the plot he is currently in, and neglect other plots.
Trivia
By default, Handymen are set to perform all four tasks in RCT1. However, in RCT2 they are not set to mow grass by default, possibly because Handymen regularly mow grass instead of performing other duties and hence deselecting the "mow grass" option in RCT1 is almost essential.
Mechanics
- Cost per month: $55 (RCT1), $80 (RCT2)
- Default uniform color: Blue (color can be changed)
- Assignable tasks: Inspect Rides. Inspecting Rides prevents them from breaking down. Fix Rides
Mechanics also very important in keeping your park running. They make sure that rides continue to run, and fix them if they break down. If a ride requires inspection or fixing, the mechanic enters through the exit of the ride, so it is important that mechanics can access that area.
Mechanics generally roam randomly around the paths of your park. Their roaming is useless, unlike handymen, as they do not do their duties by passing by.
In RCT1, when a ride breaks down, one, and only one, mechanic will recieve the phonecall and attempt to fix the ride. The mechanic may not be the one closest to the ride, and oftentimes, the call happens to a faraway mechanic who may take ages to get to the ride, causing it to be broken down for a long time. When another mechanic is heading to a ride, other mechanic will be prevented from heading to the ride as well. Assign patrol areas to mechanics as far as possible to prevent them from getting too far from a ride, and if the phonecall happens to a mechanic who is too far away, picking him up with the pincers would cause him to forget his destination, allowing another (and hopefully closer) mechanic to fix the ride.
Since Roller Coasters are susceptible to catastrophic station brakes failures, it is a good idea to assign a mechanic to each Roller Coaster, and set the Roller Coaster's inspection time to 10 minutes.
Mechanics should have access to every station on a multi-station ride.
Mechanics are never required for the following rides: Boat Ride, Miniature Golf and Maze.
Security Guards
- Cost per month: $45 (RCT1), $60 (RCT2)
- Default uniform color: Yellow (color can be changed)
Security guards are a more passive unit than the other staff members. They prevent path items in their vicinity from being vandalized. Usually, security guards are not necessary if handymen are keeping the areas around the path items clean.
Note that the 'Safest Park' award refers to ride maintenance and reliability, not security.
Entertainers
- Cost per month: $40 (RCT1), $55 (RCT2)
- Normal Costume: Panda, Tiger, Elephant
- Theme Costume: Roman, Gorilla, Snowman, Knight, Astronaut, Sheriff, Bandit, Pirate, Princess, Wizard
Entertainers boost the happiness of guests in their vicinity, making them useful in crowded spaces such as queue lines.
Have Entertainers patrol the end section of long queue lines (lines over 9 minutes) to keep guests from complaining about the wait and to increase the time before guests leave a long queue in disgust. Also have Entertainers patrol long walkways without rides and areas of high trash/vomit potential to divert guests from making negative comments.
Trivia
The Bandit costume makes the entertainer wearing it do something highly humourus. First, he stands still and moves his head left, then right. He then looks down and moves one of his hands to his pocket, and pretends to pull the trigger to a nonexistent "gun". Nothing happens. Assuming it fell out, the entertainer shakes the pocket with his foot. Suddenly, a white line appears for a split second from his pocket to his foot. He then jumps up and down, as if he "shot" his foot! (RCT2 ONLY)
RCT3
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 has the same staff as in other games plus:
- Staff can be trained, on a case-by-case basis. Training makes a staff member more effective.
- Staff wages can be adjusted, on a case-by-case basis. They will be more productive if their wages are higher, and may go on strike if their wages are too low.
Park Inspector
The Park Inspector is a senior citizen that provides updates about situations in the park. He will alert you about long lines, prices, and scenery.
Cost: Free, and comes with each park, and he is unfirable! Given that beings in RCT3 cannot die, you cannot kill him, which in some cases is unfortunate.
Note: These are the default tasks without expansion packs.
Assignable Tasks:
- Check rides: He rides them for unknown reasons. Check this to allow him to perform this task.
- Check shops: This allows the Park Inspector to check shops and tell you their price. However, there is a gimmick - he will also tell you if the shop matches scenery and will complain until you fix it.
- Check vista: He will evaluate scenery at Photographic Spots, and tell you whether the guests, or "peeps", like or dislike it.
The Park Inspector may be unfireable, but you can make him "unhireable". The very moment the game starts, pause the game (shortcut key "P"). Delete the gray path that projects into the park, right up to the gate. With no path for the inspector to apppear on, the inspector will never show up. Unpause the game and wait a few moments. You can then replace the path if you wish.
Cashier
The cashier is present at all ride entrances, shops, and stalls. They perform tasks such as taking the guests' money, serving food and drinks, and handing the guests their purchased items.
Cashiers are unfirable but they can still be trained in RCT3.
- Cost: Free
- Note: You can change his color.