Tutorial: Block Brakes

[AmyPond]

Hello guys, I'm going to show you how to use block brakes. I remember I didn't use to know how to use them.[h]1. Why[/h]The main reason to use block brakes is to prevent crashes. The block brakes create sections in your coaster and they only allow 1 coaster per section at a time. For example, when your brakes fail, all brakes will be ignored (also those in your station) except block brakes, they keep working.Apart from that, using sections (and block brakes) allows you to put more cars on your coaster. (1 for each section) More cars = more peeps = smaller waiting times.[h]2. How[/h]You can see the amount of block sections your ride has in the settings tab of your ride.View imageIn this case three:View imageOne as the station itself, one as actual block brakes, placed by me, and one on the top of the hill. (note: if you don't use a lift on the last piece, it won't be seen as a section)This creates the 3 sections like this: View imageBecause we have three block sections, we can have two trains. There has to be 1 remaining 'open' block section otherwise none of the cars can move!Thus, because of this, make sure there is enough place between the block brakes so that 1 car cannot occupy two sections. (if you do this, your cars will not move (which is what happened with the little coaster on the screenshots because section 2 was too small))I hope I helped you with this.Cheers

[SnowMew]

That's really helpful, especially since I don't really have that big a clue on how these work entirely.That said if I can work Transport Tycoon, this should be easier.

[Typhoon]

This is so useful. Very much appreciated!

[YoloSweggLord]

I just want to point out that the number of trains you can have on the track is actually not equal to the number of block sections, but 1 less than the number of block sections. Otherwise, the trains would not be able to move because each train would be on a block brake, meaning that the next block brake would be eternally occupied.

Otherwise, great tutorial.

Edited March 16, 2016 by YoloSweggLord
grammar

[imlegos]

I feel the need to mention that putting a block break less then a train's length away from another will cause the game to add a train, causing the ride to not work as there is too many trains to run it. I think if you do this enough you can put trains inside of other trains.

[jensj12]

I can't resist the urge to point out that using block brakes will not always improve the capacity of a coaster. If you can put enough trains on the coaster so that there'll always be a train waiting behind the loading train, using continuous circuit mode allows more trains/year to pass through the station = more peeps = shorter waiting times. This is usually the case when building vertical coasters.

[imlegos]

From what i understand, there's normally only a max of 2 trains in Continuous Circuit. However, this is better to run in on any variant of wild coaster (Wooden Wild Mine/Mouse, Steel Wild Mine/Mouse, and spinning wild mouse) , as well as possibly Vertical Drop Coasters, depends on what the track is for Verts though.

 

You can of course have more trains on other rides, but that requires lowering the amount of cars per train.

Edited March 17, 2016 by imlegos

[jensj12]

Any coaster without mid-section block brakes is usually better off with continuous circuit mode, if the length of the station permits 2 or 3 trains. Or even better: if

totalRideTime / numTrainsContinuous > longestBlockSection(time) / numTrainsBlockSectioned

continuous circuit mode is better. Note that numTrainsBlockSectioned is the number of trains that can run safely without any waiting. In case of short waiting times, it doesn't have to be an integer.

Probably I'm just addicted to coaster safety in continuous circuit mode  

[imlegos]

So, i kinda forgot the fact that Wooden Wild coaster don't have block sections, so there's that. But generally one would want to setup a coaster according to it's length. Generally, you would try to make the coaster not stop. But just because this occurs in testing, doesn't mean it will occur while in use.

[RollerBoaster]

Another late reply but any tips for sensible realistic block brake setups- they're safer but can be much less realistic than continuous circuit setups (which are of course more crash-prone), potentially due to bad design i.e. how/where you block section rides (which the game does if you've not used any block brakes)?

 

I often find problems with block sectioned rides where trains wait for ages and stop around the track- not too realistic as you expect a full circuit and not waiting around, but then I try putting in block brakes and either make it worse or get a crash (which suggests block brakes may not always work or perhaps where you put them if you add any manually can confuse things).

 

There may be a logical way to do them as (I think) block sectioning rides without block brakes it defaults to things like lift hills as sections, so the fact you can put specific block brakes suggests it may be a smart design thing.

 

Any thoughts/tips as some of my rides are behaving rather boringly (too much waiting/stopping) due to their block sections which is very possibly my fault if there's a knack to it.

 

Like I say continuous circuit may look better- no stop-wait-start-stop-wait-start... - but is there then too much risk of crashes?

[Deurklink]

9 hours ago, RollerBoaster said:

Another late reply but any tips for sensible realistic block brake setups- they're safer but can be much less realistic than continuous circuit setups (which are of course more crash-prone), potentially due to bad design i.e. how/where you block section rides (which the game does if you've not used any block brakes)?

 

I often find problems with block sectioned rides where trains wait for ages and stop around the track- not too realistic as you expect a full circuit and not waiting around, but then I try putting in block brakes and either make it worse or get a crash (which suggests block brakes may not always work or perhaps where you put them if you add any manually can confuse things).

 

There may be a logical way to do them as (I think) block sectioning rides without block brakes it defaults to things like lift hills as sections, so the fact you can put specific block brakes suggests it may be a smart design thing.

 

Any thoughts/tips as some of my rides are behaving rather boringly (too much waiting/stopping) due to their block sections which is very possibly my fault if there's a knack to it.

 

Like I say continuous circuit may look better- no stop-wait-start-stop-wait-start... - but is there then too much risk of crashes?

I typically run less trains on the coaster than the block sections allow. That usually stops them from waiting mid-track. It often also helps to increase the minimum waiting time a bit.

[RollerBoaster]

9 hours ago, Deurklink said:

I typically run less trains on the coaster than the block sections allow. That usually stops them from waiting mid-track. It often also helps to increase the minimum waiting time a bit.

I'm wondering if there's an actual logic to placing block brakes- a bit like train signalling, but this pacing and spacing's where number of trains and station wait plays a role is definitely part of it.

 

Like I say you can increase the number of block sections by choosing to add block brakes extra to the default sections, but as I mentioned this can cause rides to crash. It may also be a case of being much better at coaster design than I am- so you can better time the flow of trains by how you set up your track.

 

Somebody out there's probably sussed it...

[jensj12]

If you use block brakes, make sure the trains arrive there slow enough to be able to come to a complete stop (usually by placing another brake in front of it). If a block brake is closed but a train goes too fast to be stopped, the number of trains on a block section is no longer correct and that may cause trains to run into each other.