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This article lists many '''hints and tips''' available for players to keep atheir parkparks running smoothly while dealing with common problems associated with operating an amusement park.
 
==General Tips==
*YouPlayers should pause the game at the start of each scenario. This gives youthem a chance to familiarise yourself with the park and get yourits finances in order. It is also in most cases a good idea to sort out yourthe park's research priorities now, since in most cases (especially in the first two games) the research instructions are set with normal funds and on every branch of the research tree.
**If there are any pre-built rides/attractions in the scenario, now is a good time to check their status and pricing information.
**In already established parks, youthe should also ensure you have adequatestarting [[staff]] is purposedly inadequate to meetthe yourpark's needs. Hiring the correct amount of staff members and giving them reasonable patrol areas is often a good idea.
*CheckPlayers whethershould youalso willcheck bewhether charging atheir park's a pay-per-entrance fee, or charginga pay-per -ride admissionpark, so youthey can plan yourtheir expansion accordingly.
**In vanilla [[RollerCoaster Tycoon]] it is the player’s choice, but from [[Added Attractions]] onwardonwards this is predetermined by the scenario.
*Before taking on large and costly projects (such as building a new roller coaster), you should already havehaving a basic park up and running is often advisable.
**While roller coasters are the big money makers, it’s far better to have a few small rides turning a monthly profit (or allowinggood youenough to allow the player to charge a decent entryentrance fee) to help offset some of the construction/landscaping/scenery costs.
**Most of the flat rides allow very little change in their entrance fee : it's often much better to leave the entrance price as-is, and put effort  into the rollercoasters and other tracked rides, when comes the time to make a profit.
*In most cases, players will start with little to no-profit, forcing them to take a large loan, then slowly but steadily recover their finances as their parks get more and more profitable. As such, it is advised to take great care of the scenario's loan interest (in the Finances screen near the loan options) before setting on a loan strategy.
**This means that the first important direction to take when building a park, is to set on operating several high-profit rides with great guest capacity and excitement ratings : usually shuttle rollercoasters and well decorated tracked rides. This allows the player to either make a direct profit (in pay-per-ride parks), or to charge a large entrance fee (in pay-per-entrance parks) at the gates and draw lots of guests into the park's shops and stalls for an indirect profit scheme.
**Scenarios with a loan interest of 10% or higher, are much better dealt with by quickly repaying the loan instead of letting the loan run and drain the park's finances. Usually, the best rule of thumb here is to check directly in the finances screen the amount of loan interest paid every month. If it's above $120 per month, then it's wiser to repay the loan quickly.
 
==Paths==
===How paths work===
''See Also: [[Paths]]''
*In most cases, [[guests]] will wander aroundin youra park aimlessly (“walking”), and only occasionally will some guests want to travel to a particular location (generally a specific ride or the park exit). At every junction in the path, guests will make a decision.
**Junctions are created by paths meeting, shops/stalls, ride entrances/exits, and the entrance to a queue line. If a guest has interacted with a path item (bench or bin), then this also acts as a junction, since it's the moment when guests "decide" to interact with an item (sitting on a bench or throwing an item in a bin... or even destroying an object).
**“Walking” guests will make a random decision at each junction (however, they are slightly more likely to continue straight).
***As a quirk of this system, a ride entrance/queue joined at a 90 degree angle (or “T” intersection) to a path is less likely to attract guests than those joined straight on.
*Guests who have a destination will make the decision at each junction to choose the direction (north, south, east or west) that leads them directly to their target tile. This means that guests don’t use path finding, but rather make a judgement based on two points.
**For rides, the target tiles are the first tiles of the ride's queue line (the one with the panel on top of it), where their behaviour changes from wandering around to queuing.
**Complex path systems with a lot of dead ends (Tree systems) should be avoided as often as possible. Grid systems are the most efficient way to prevent your guests from getting lost, and should be preferred to Tree systems at all costs.
*Guests cannot turn around on a straight single section of path and: they require a junction to do so.
*Park maps allow guests to take them out and pick a destination to go to.
**This means that Information Kiosks selling maps will not prevent guests from getting lost because of a poorly laid out path system. Rather, it only prevents random decision making at junctions. However, guests do not gain pathfindings - they still make decisions based on distance between two points.
 
===Path tips===
*Many scenarios include pre-existing path networks. When this is the case, it is a good idea to “disconnect” long sections of paths that lead nowhere to prevent guests from getting lost and stop yourthe staff wandering too far.
**The "No-Entry" Signs from ''Added Attractions'' onwards, aren't always enough to close dead-end paths : staff still crosses them.
**Rather than deleting entire sections of path, simply deleting one path tile at an intersection is enough to “disconnect” it. As youplayers do expand yourtheir park, youthis cansolution slowlyallows them to reconnect sections of path byat a glance, simply by reattaching path sections.
**In extreme cases, it may be wise to completely demolish an existing path systemlayout and start from scratch.
*In [[RollerCoaster Tycoon|RCT]] paths wider than one tile should be avoided as guests are likely to end up walking in circles and getting lost.
**From [[RollerCoaster Tycoon 2|RCT2]] onward, paths that are 2 tiles wide can be used without confusing the guests, but 3 tiles wide and above still should be avoided. This problem is slowly getting fixed in [[OpenRCT2]].
*UntidyUnclean and littered sections of path are more likely to be vandalised, so ensuring youtheir havepark has enough handymen to keep yourits pathspathes clean will minimise the chance of vandalism in yourmost parkparks.▼
*Avoid dead ends whenever possible to minimise the chances of guests getting lost.
**No entry signs can (and in most cases should) be used to stop guests travelling down paths that only lead to ride exits.
▲*Untidy sections of path are more likely to be vandalised, so ensuring you have enough handymen to keep your paths clean will minimise the chance of vandalism in your park.
 
==Rides==
*IfA charginggeneral guestsrule toregarding gopey-per-ride onparks rides,allows asthe aplayer generalto rulecharge youtracked canrides charge(especially themrollercoasters) up to the price of thetheir [[excitement]] rating (rounding down).
**This means that every scenery/pathing/layout addition or twirk that boosts a ride's ecitement rating up (intertwining tracks, interlocking loops, queues and pathes over the ride, extra scenery, elevation of terrain over the track, etc) becomes important, since it allows the wise builder to charge more for his rides, and therefore make huge profits.
**As rides age, they become less desirable and youoften mayforce bethe requiredplayer to drop the ticket priceprices for some of your older attractions.
*Building rides with sections that go underground, that intersect with other rides and/or include a lot of nearby scenery items will increase its excitement rating.
*Rides with covered cars, or that have at least 40% of their track constructed underground will attractbypass gueststhe even"rain drain" effect and keep attracting guests when it is raining.
*Tracked rides that have a ride time of 5 minutes or longer will have a negative impact as guests will want to get off the ride, and so should be avoided above all costs. This also affects the ride’s excitement rating.
**Broken down rides also aggravate this issue so it is important tothat ensureplayers you havehire enough mechanics employedand have them patrol properly.
*TakePlayers should always take advantage of the different operating ride modes of rides. “Powered Launch Mode” or "Reverse-Incline Shuttle Mode" on some Roller Coasters can be used to make relatively cheap and compact “shuttle” rides that still draw a decent crowd and therefore, mighty profits.
**This means that the "Shuttle Loop" coaster from RCT1, with a rear-incline, can still work well in RCT2 and draw lots of guests, for lots of money in pay-per-ride parks. This makes such a coaster a powerful tool when beginning a scenario.
**For long [[Go Karts]] tracks it mayis benefitin youmost (if not all) cases much better to changereduce the number of laps to 1, or even change from race mode to continuous circuit mode. In race mode, the winner gets a victory lap and so the next race can’t begin until theprevious race's winner actually completes it, then crosses the whole platform out for the next guest to load in. The drop in excitement rating from continuous circuit mode is generally offset by the ride's increased guest capacity of the ride.
**Some rides can accommodate more guests than what the default is set at. [[Spiral Slide]]s and [[Maze]]s are two examples.
*[[Spiral Slide]]s, [[Space Rings]], [[Maze]]s, [[Bumper Cars]] and [[Flying Saucers]] are the only rides that <u>do not require</u> a queue path to work efficiently. The Ferris Wheel only requires one square of queue path to work perfectly, even if a longer queue never really is wrong : it's just not necessary. In vanilla RCT1, rollercoasters that load only 2 guests per dispatch, such as the [[Wooden Wild Mouse]], could also function well with a single tile queue line despite their drawing power.
*Queue lines should at least be long enough to hold enough guests for one car/train but notnever exceed a length of 78 minutes wait time (as any longer than this will displease your guests and affect yourthe overall park rating).
**If you hire an entertainer and set their patrol to a queue line, guests will wait up to 11 minutes before leaving the line.
**This can be worked around in RCT2/OpenRCT2 thanks to the block brake system, by allowing multiple trains for increased capacity.
**Any guest that meets a atrolling entertainer while queuing for a ride, will wait up to 11 minutes and 59 seconds (instead of 10 minutes 59s) before leaving the ride's line, unhappy.
 
===Tips for building tracked rides===
*[[Roller Coaster]]s and other track rides with multiple fast moving cars/trains are more susceptible to [[crash]] if they enter the station at a speed greater than 28mph (45km/h).
**Brakes can be used to minimise this risk. From RCT2 onwards, block breaksbrakes can be used to completely negate itthis risk.
*Understanding how [[G-forces]] work is ana importantmandatory aspect of Roller Coaster building that willis helprequired youfor maximiseefficient yourcustom excitementride rating while minimising your [[intensity]] ratingdesign. An in -depth guide can be found [[G-forces|here]], but in general terms, players should always :
**Try to keep the maximum positive vertical G on(the aone rideguests feel when hitting the bottom of a tofall/dive) below 4.5.
**NegativeMake sure the negative vertical G (on top of a hill) should not exceed -2. For rides with detached vehicles (such as [[Dinghy SlidesSlide]]s or [[Bobsled Roller Coaster|Bobsled Coasters]]) excessive Negative vertical G can result in crashes,trains leaving the track and forcrash. For these rides, shouldthe belimit kept underis -0.99G.
**TheMake sure the maximum lateral G on(the aG-Forces ridethat push guests away from their trains when turning in high-speed) should notnever exceed 2.75 under most circumstances. Banked curves canserve bethe usedpurpose toof reduce Laterallateral GGs (asby it“converting” isthem “converted”into tovertical Vertical G)Gs.
**TrackedUse rides have athe graphs tab (on the ride window) that displays line graphs of the velocity, altitude and G forces experienced throughout the ride. These graphs can be used to visually identify any sections of a ride that generates high G forces.
***[[OpenRCT2]] has a feature that allows said graph to automatically highlight these problematic G-Forces in red, for easy fixing. By keeping both the first train of a rollercoaster and the graph tab in check, any player can see at a glance where the G-Forces are too high for the guests, allowing for easy fixing. Good players often end up developing an "instinct" of what to do and what not to do when designing a custom roller coaster.
**Consider examples of real-life coasters of said type as references, for easier understanding when building roller coaster layouts.
*Most Roller coasters have "key-elements" and concepts that help any player designing efficient custom layouts :
**[[Wooden Roller Coaster]]s require fast speed and high hills set so that the trains do offer "air-times" on top of each hill.
**[[Wild Mouse|Wild Mouse Roller Coasters]] (any kind) require multiple tight turns taken at (not too) high speeds so that guests feel like their car will dislodge and fall off the track at any curve. As such, aiming for (not too) high lateral G-Forces is a must.
***[[Spinning Wild Mouse]] has a key-element called "Spinning Control Toggle Track", that switches the behavior of the train passing it, between "Free-spinning at curves" and "No-Spinning at curves" modes. Making a clever use of these notions is the key factor for success when designing a custom layout with this coaster.
**[[Looping Roller Coaster|Steel Looping Coaster]] needs — as its name implies — loopings. Interlocking them with other tracks, other parts of itself, queue lines or regular pathes, will boost the Coaster's Excitement rating to the roof, with the best option being interlocking loops through other loops for massive high-drawing rollercoasters that will draw guests into any park by the hundreds, if not by thousands.
**[[Suspended Swinging Coaster]]s and [[Bobsled Roller Coaster|Bobsled Coasters]] rely on helices much more than drops for high excitement ratings.
**[[Corkscrew Roller Coaster|Corkscrew]],[[Inverted Roller Coaster| Inverted]], [[Steel Twister Roller Coaster|Steel Twister]], [[LIM Launched Roller Coaster|LIM]] and [[Air Powered Vertical Coaster|Air-Powered]] Coasters require careful planning regarding inversions and hilltops, so that each one of them is taken at reasonable speeds on their top.
**[[Hypercoaster|Hyper]], [[Giga Coaster|Giga]] & [[Hyper-Twister Roller Coaster|Hyper-Twister]] Coasters are evolutions of Wooden Coaster, and as such require massive (very tall) drops and high speeds with reasonable G-Forces. Due to their sheer drawing power, they also require high guest capacity, therefore very long stations (in RCT1) or an extensive use of Block Brakes (in RCT2) as well as long queues to function at full capacity and therefore bring the biggest buck in.
 
==Shops and Stalls==
*[[Information Kiosk]]s should be built close to the park entrance. This ensures as many guests as possible have access to a park map which will give them destinations to go to (instead of wandering aimlessly).
*In RCT1 and RCT2 Information Kiosks ([[Toilets]], [[Cash Machine|ATM machines]] and [[First Aid Room]]s in RCT3) can be accessed by guests from all 4 directions, (i.e.which means that the direction of the construction arrow is irrelevant). YouPlayers canshould use this to yourtheir advantage and build thethose structures on existing path corners, or you can construct a 3x3 path with the kiosk in the centre to maximise guest access.
*Using the ''umbrella cheat'' is always interesting for quick income, and especially in pay-per-entry parks, where they constitute a "second entrance ticket" when rain joins the party.
**In [[RollerCoaster Tycoon 3|RCT3]], [[Toilets]], [[Cash Machine|ATM machines]] and [[First Aid Room]]s are similarly accessible from all directions.
*Guests will only carry one food or drink item at a time, and sohave to consume it before buying another one. Therefore, there is little to no advantage (outside of aesthetics) to building “food court” areas in your park that have multiple stalls in close proximityparks.
*Food items such as [[Popcorn Stall|Popcorn]], [[Chips Stall|Fries]], and [[Pretzel Stall|Pretzels]] increase the guest's thrist meter faster than normal. It is unwisewise to build these unlessin thecojunction Drinkwith StallDrinks is researched as guest will complain of thirst very quicklyStalls, reducingfor yourthe parkbest ratingresults.
*Merchandise stalls (such as the [[Souvenir Stall]] or [[Hat Stall]]) should be built near the exit of the park's most exciting rides as happier guests are more inclined to buy merchandise.
*In RCT3, food stalls are operated by a shop vendor. They are only capable of serving a certain number of peeps at a time, and will walk away from the shop if overwhelmed.
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==Finances==
*The amount of money guests spawn with varies across scenarios, and within each one the amount varies between individual guests by $30 (as an example, in a scenario guests will have between $60 and $80).
**It is important to keep this number in mind when charging an entrance fee, as whenraising youthe haveentrance largerfee parkstoo withhigh highermight fees,render some guests may not be ableunable to afford admission. Depending on yourthe scenario's financial position/objective, it may be better to charge less money towhen ensureit ensures more guests enterinside thea park.
*If guests are commenting that a particular ride in your park “is really good value”, youthen mayit wantmeans its price is low enough for the player to consider increasing its admission priceit for a little extra profit.
**Another viable strategy is to try and get the Best Value park award by keeping yourall admission prices slightly lower.
*Park awards aren’t just passive, but: they actually affect the number of guests visiting youra park. Positive awards attract more guests (similarly to advertising campaigns) while negative awards will reduce the number of guests visitingjoining yourthe park.
**It is extremely important to constantly check the thoughts of yourguests into any park, especially the screen which classifies thoughts according to the number of guests thinking them. Not only will addressing their problems help boost youra park's rating, but it also will help youthe player avoid receiving negative park awards.
*Advertising campaigns are great ways to temporarily boost the number of guests comingjoining to yourthe park. IfThey youconstitute arelast resort boosts when nearing the end date of a scenario and still haven’t reached yourthe objective of numberguest ofnumbers or park guestsvalue, anwhere a well-placed advertising campaign willcan definitely be more effective than a new ride.
*IfSaving youthe are aboutgame tobefore startstarting construction on a complex and/or costly construction/landscaping project, itcan issave a goodpark ideaif tosaid save your game first. If itproject doesn’t go as planned,well youas caninitially simply reload the latest save to reverse the damage to your park and financesplanned.
*Where applicable, youplayers should always note the interest rate for the scenario youthey're are playing. Big loans with high interest rates are dangerous to you and oftenvery timescostly, youusually will lose large chunks ofkilling monthly profit to loan interest.
**In particular, if interest rates are 10% or higher, youPlayers should seriously assess whether it is more financially viable for you to wait a few months and save up rather than borrowing money from the bank. If a loan is already on at this rate, players should take time to think whether it is wiser to spend all their hard-earned money into a new ride, or to repay their loan and save money on the long run.
 
==See Also==
Retrieved from "https://rct.wiki/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/3298"