Jump to content

Which coaster is hardest for you to build with?


Recommended Posts

11 hours ago, DaKoasterNerd said:

Talking about Woodie's, I wonder if it is possible to implement an RMC coaster type into OpenRCT?

I had a go - but ultimately this would require a new save format to do properly as there's no way to create custom track types at the moment (the linked video used a modified g1.dat). Therefore, I would say RMCs are easily one of the hardest coaster types to build - they have unusual elements hard to reproduce with the current set of pieces, and the track style differs so dramatically from anything else that nothing really works as a substiture, even with extensive hacks. A decent RMC can just about be done, but you'll need zero clearance, at least three different track types, and custom scenery.

Link to comment

I'm hoping that when there is a new save format this will be possible. I still have the code used to render the IBox track for the that video, but I've since thought of a much easier way to do it that's flexible enough to handle more complex track styles. @Duncans_pumpkin has now completed reverse-engineering of the Junior coaster track, so we have an example coaster that's fully implemented (but lacking many track pieces).

In theory, you could do it without a new save format but at the cost of permanently breaking backward compatibility - by changing the dive machine to use twister track, adding the elements from the dive machine to the twister track instead, and you'd free up a ride type to be used for a new track type. However, this would result in all savegames prior to the change being loaded incorrectly, and all new savegames with a vertical drop coaster being incompatible with vanilla. I think it's best to wait until there's a new format.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
6 minutes ago, imlegos said:

That wasn't the first time someone was confused by the preview image - I think at least 4 people have asked how to get the IBox, but you do not want it - it's glitchy and incomplete. I thought it was common knowledge that custom track styles weren't possible, but apparently not. If anyone wants to see just how bad it is, I could upload the file.

Also, you can put anything you want in a preview image, you could put a photo of a real ride in there if you want. It does not have to be a screenshot of the game, that's just convention. I generally avoid using anything custom in the preview images except for the trains themselves, but the RMC just looks so awful on wooden track I chose to keep the IBox, even though I never released it because it was not usable.

Link to comment
32 minutes ago, YoloSweggLord said:

I personally hate trying to build LIM launched coasters... it's not too hard to build a ride with good stats, but I'm more interested in realism than stats, and it's hard to make an LIM coaster look realistic/good.

That is VERY true! Although, making an LIM track without high intensity is INCREDIBLY hard. But it definitely not the hardest to do. Maybe 6 or 7.

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...

For me, Stand Up (non-Twister) is the hardest, I always get crap stats with it. Prolly too ambitious with the inversions... bah.

Easiest for me are Twister, Hypercoaster, and Steel Twister, the latter of which I got my first "Extreme" excitement from a roller coaster =P

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...
  • It is nigh impossible to build a good Air-Powered Vertical Coaster. It is, hands down, no competitors, the crappiest coaster in the game.
  • The Heartline Twister Coaster is also a major annoyance. It's boring to build, and the coasters rarely if ever turn out good. However, there is a bug in RCT2 that gives those rides super-crazy excitement ratings (in the 7-800 range), although it seems to be temporary.
  • Mini Suspended Flying Coasters give Air Powered Vertical Coasters a run for their money, though. No special elements outside S-bends and station platforms. No diving turns. No block brakes, or conventional brakes for that matter. And a capacity of a measly ONE rider per car. What purpose can that ride serve in the game? Or in a park, for that matter? It has a worse throughput than most mazes. At least the Mini Suspended Coaster has double the capacity - which is still pretty bad.
  • Steeplechase/Soap Box Derby coasters have several of the same issues - lack of track pieces and terrible capacity - although they do have brakes and block brakes. Still quite crappy and useless, though.
  • Lastly, Wooden Wild Mice and Mine Rides. No block brakes, restrictive parts, horrible capacity, although the steep lift hill is nice, I suppose. But there's not really much you can do with them.

 

Those are, I believe, the worst coasters in the game, and those hardest to build with. But of course, there are honourable mentions too:

  • Stand-up, non-twister. There's a reason those are virtually extinct in the real world, and they're not much more fun in the virtual one either.
  • 4D. Very complex because of seat rotation, exacerbated by a lack of track pieces. If you want to build a functional, decent-looking 4D coaster, you're limited to an "X"-like layout. And there aren't even reversed trains, so you can't build Wing Riders with it.
  • Inverted Impulse Coaster. Not a bad ride type, per se. They fit virtually anywhere, have an amazing capacity and decent excitement/intensity stats. However, you're limited to one or maybe two different layouts, due to a very limited set of track pieces.
  • Reverse Freefall coaster.  It has a whooping four different track pieces, and that's if you count the station platform. It is easily the least flexible ride out there, in that you can only build one layout. You can change its proportions, but nothing else. Its variety starts and ends with the possibility to stick two of them next to each other and recreate Superman: The Escape. And it's hogging the one track piece every other coaster would love to have: A gradual, flat launch.
  • Any really big coaster. At some speeds, the transition track pieces the game offers become far too snappy. You can't build big, parabolic hills or smooth transitions from vertical to horizontal, every large hill ends up being quite triangular. Wooden coasters and vertical drop coasters are the worst offenders in my book, since they have a really tall maximum build height, but lacks the big steep-incline-to-horizontal track pieces so enjoyed by, say, Giga Coasters. In recent years, I've found it far more enjoyable to build coasters below the 40 meter treshold than ones above it.
Link to comment

You complain about the limited track pieces on the Mini Suspended Flying coaster and the Arrow single rail designs, but those are limited in real life. They could do with diagonals, but that's the only real omission. Same for the wooden wild mouse - they should probably have block brakes, but only because surviving examples will have had them retrofitted - they would not have had them when they were built because they hadn't been invented yet. You can make realistic designs with all of these coasters without too much difficulty. The impulse coaster is the same - you are absolutely right that you're limited to a handful of different layouts - but there are exactly 4 different impulse coaster layouts IRL, all minor variations on the same idea, so what would you expect? (It'd be nice if a more general Intamin invert were provided, since the trains are essentially identical - and you could argue that it doesn't need to be a seperate coaster given the similarity, but for an impulse coaster the provided pieces are really all that's needed)

The S&S thrust air and TOGO pipline though, I agree those are too limited to be useful. The only thrust air layout you can build is a recreation of the prototype, and without an elevator lift (which would be very hard to implement), the pipeline is useless.

 

Also, I don't know what's going on with the reverse freefall coaster. You say it has a launch piece, but it actually doesn't - that's just a normal flat track piece so far as I can tell. What the reverse freefall coaster does have is a special operating mode that causes the train to accelerate constantly until it hits a slope - but that operating mode only seems to work on reverse freefall track. Even though it isn't a special track piece, there is definitely a special case here. It's interesting, and with some hacking I'm sure this could be used to achieve a launch on a different coaster type - but it's pointless because chain lifts work better and are more flexible for this purpose. I'd love a genuine launch piece though - that would be useful.

Edited by X7123M3-256
Link to comment
10 hours ago, X7123M3-256 said:

Also, I don't know what's going on with the reverse freefall coaster. You say it has a launch piece, but it actually doesn't - that's just a normal flat track piece so far as I can tell. What the reverse freefall coaster does have is a special operating mode that causes the train to accelerate constantly until it hits a slope - but that operating mode only seems to work on reverse freefall track. Even though it isn't a special track piece, there is definitely a special case here. It's interesting, and with some hacking I'm sure this could be used to achieve a launch on a different coaster type - but it's pointless because chain lifts work better and are more flexible for this purpose. I'd love a genuine launch piece though - that would be useful.

The reverse freefall coaster accelerates on any straight, non-diagonal flat track piece (also on other track types), no matter what vehicle or operating mode it uses. Other coasters will never accelerate on the reverse freefall straight piece, no matter what operating mode it is in or what vehicle it has. I just tested it (not extensively, had to test other new features as well).

Starting a coaster as reverse freefall and changing the vehice and track (by disabling clearance checks and a second coaster) type of it allows you to build launch pieces. But then any flat straight piece will do so.

Link to comment
13 minutes ago, CharlieP said:

I may be wrong, but didn't original RCT have a launch type (called "booster") for corkscrew coasters that the more pieces you put together in line, the faster the final speed.

That track type doesn't exist in RCT2.

It had for the corkscrew and steel/looping coaster.

Link to comment

What do you mean the game's scenarios would be broken with boosters? The game already has many launched rides, it just does it super unrealistically. The only ride I know of for which the game's launch is satisfactory is the Arrow launched loop - for everything else, a hacked chain lift is necessary. I'm not sure what this has to do with scenarios, or the ability to invent track pieces (which did need to be removed - just about the only situation in which it might apply is the Arrow looper, which could have a large loop invented at a later date).

I don't know why the launch piece was omitted from the game, but I doubt there's anything about RCT2 that would have made it difficult - I'm sure if CS had wanted to keep it, he could have done it. Many rides could really do with a launch piece - I hope it is possible to add it one day.

  • Like 2
Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...