A little help on Block Brakes?

[Vampiro]

First and formost, im really amazed this is in Alpha 3 since it was said that multiple trains would -not- be in Alpha 3... Awesome surprise!

I do need some help here with them. It seems like you need 2 blockbrakes to have 2 trains right?
(It was already pointed out that the chain lift doesn't count as a block brake)

The problem i have right now is this. Train 1 departs the station, climbs the lifthill and then off he goes.
train 2 is still at the station and doesn't leave after train 1 has left the chainlift because it's not considered a section.

To solve this i decided to place a block brake right after the drop to trigger the second train to leave. But ofcourse this can't be done because the brake will slow the train down again and my whole coaster is worthless. So the first blockbrake can only be placed after train 1 has ran the first part of the track and is having a "slow" moment to ride over the blockbrake.
(i hope this makes sense)

So, it seems like train 2 can only leave the station when train 1 has already done most of it's course.

It seems like this feature was added last minute (bacuse in the livestreams it wasn't mentioned and even de-confirmed) but will the lifthill become a section as well in the final game?
And if not, does anyone know a smart way on how to efficiently use the blockbrakes in a way thats realistic?

 

[Abletudu]

For 2 trains you actually need 3 blocks because you need an empty block in between. Here is a simple diagram I made. I don't know if the Station in Planet Coaster is counted as a block brake or not as to the best of my knowledge this had not been determined. The diagram is based on the idea that the station is not a block brake.

In the above you would have a block between Block Brake #3 and Block Brake #1, Block Brake #1 and Block Brake #2, and Block Brake #2 and Block Brake #3.

In order for the coaster train to advance past a block brake, the block past it has to be empty. If you had ony 2 block brakes, neither block would ever be empty and the trains would be stalled. I hope this helps.

 

[headcrash]

You can add two Blockbreaks at the end of the track before the station.

So one train can be (un)loaded in the station while the other one is on the track.
Then the driving train arrives the first blockbreak and goes over it and stops at the second blockbreak.
At the same time the train in the station starts so the waiting train can enter the station.

If you want to leave the station earlier you can add a blockbreak before the lifthill.

EDIT: Between two blockbreak elements you need another tracktype-element (drive-tyres, normal track, ...) otherwise it doesn't count as two separate blocks.

 

[BigDragon]

I do need some help here with them. It seems like you need 2 blockbrakes to have 2 trains right?

This is correct. It's a bit different than it was handled in RCT3. I think they did it this way so that trains wouldn't get stuck at the top of lift hills. This would severely impact the rating system because excitement would go to 0 for an extended period of time. Not good! Also, every real life coaster I've ridden won't clear a train from the station unless the train in front of it has cleared the mid-circuit block break (if it exists) or the other train is sitting in a block break run (or unload station) ready to be released. This has the net effect of reducing the number of trains we would expect to have by at least 1. This is a good thing as it was always very tempting to run too many trains on RCT3 coasters.

You have several ways to handle this:

1) Install 2 sets of block breaks on the station approach. Some coasters have this. It's sometimes a long straight section, and sometimes it's a block, turn, block sequence. Examples: Comet and SuperDooperLooper at HersheyPark. Avalanche at Kings Dominion.

2) Install a mid-circuit block break. You'll want to make sure that the span of track between the station and mid-circuit block break is longer than the span of track between the mid-circuit block break and the next block break prior to the station. You do not want trains stopping at the mid-circuit block unless they have to. Trains must be able to complete the circuit in the event that the mid-circuit block stops them, so make sure it's high or in front of a lift hill or launch section. Examples: Hulk at Islands of Adventure. Talon at Dorney Park. Raptor at Cedar Point. Loch Ness Monster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

3) Use 2 stations with a block adjacent to one of them. I'm not sure that you can do this in PC yet. The idea is that one station is for loading and the other one is for unloading. Example: Flight of Fear at Kings Dominion

I've successfully retrofitted Alpha 2 coasters with the approaches outlined in bullets 1 and 2. I haven't tried 3 yet. I just got Alpha 3 installed last night. =)