Parks Alpine Park
- Thread starter Bullethead
- Start date
Yeah, the 2nd set of Career scenarios, with Princess Whatshername, has a giant tree. But I'm like you. I'd rather build my own stuff and also experiment with game mechanics (aka peepherding), to get familiar with how to do things and also understanding what my customers really want, instead of blindly jumping into a game where money actually matters. The money side of the game, at the bottom line, is mastering the subtle art of herding peeps to where you want them to go while letting them think it's their own idea. Fortunately, peeps act the same in sandbox as they do in the other modes so you can develop strategies there to use in money games later.
I'm currently working at my job, which I suppose counts as "something else"
. But I have this coming weekend off so hope to get back to work on this park then. However, I"m a firefighter and this weekend is going to be very cold with the possibility of an ice storm. That means people will be doing stupid things with space heaters and, if we do get ice, stupid things with their cars, too. So there's a chance I'll be working a lot of overtime instead of working on the park. I expect at least 1 major house fire over the weekend and maybe a lot of wrecks.This park still has a long way to go. Next up will be a section along the east edge which I intend to call Eastwood. This will be set in a forest, part of which will be dead and will contain a hybrid coaster I call Briar Patch. It'll also have a car track ride that snakes all through the area and under the coaster, and of course the train track will go through this coaster just like it does all the others so far. Then it's back to the opposite corner to finish the river rapids ride I started over there. Finally, I'll bring the ends to the middle where the Brass Baboon gigacoaster is patiently waiting to have a mountain built around it, and perhaps a bit more behind it.
Well, thanks! I never heard of that park so let me google it.... Hmm, sounds like a nice place. Sorry it's gone.
CHAPTER 7
The BSI boffins have been working very hard lately. The winter storm didn't involve much work, just 1 ice-related wreck and 1 cold-related house fire, neither of which was very serious. Thus, there was enough time over the last few days to complete the latest expansion of the park, Eastwood. This is a small village in the deep woods, which unfortunately is a bit hag-ridden. In fact, the evil witch has caused a major blight, killing trees over a large radius.
Eastwood (codename "Clint") is more action-oriented than some of the other areas of Misfit Toyland. It boasts a massive hybrid coaster, the Briar Patch (Mk 2) and a fairly exciting car track ride (the Eastwood Volunteer Fire Department), 1 flat ride (the Witch Hunt aka Magic Twirl), and the usual collection of shops (water, soda, energy, hotdogs, ATM, restroom). Plus a station for the perimeter train.
Here's what Eastwood looks like naked, before obscuring a lot of it with trees. The coaster came first, then the train track was snaked through it, then the track ride entwined around both, and finally the topography.
And here it is finished both day and night.
The shops are mostly YET MORE half-timbered things with thatch roofs. However, the ATM/restroom is brick and I used the gingerbread roof panels (covered with weeds) to give it a sod roof for a bit of variety.
The story of this area is that the witch is causing trouble which the local VFD has to deal with. The coaster takes you into the witch's lair and is something of a battle which flushes the witch into the open. Then finally the witch is hunted down by a torch-wielding mob. This is the final chapter of the story, the Witch Hunt. It gets a LITTLE business with a $1 price and double duration, but it's definitely not competitive with other rides in the park. Still, I think it looks OK and this is sandbox so...
[
In contrast, the Eastwood VFD is quite popular with a $20 pricetag. It has E 5.8 , F 3.5, N 1.0 and really packs them in, just like the Treefort and Drunken Dwarf kiddie coasters. This seems to be the real sweet spot of ride ratings, attractive to all demographics. As for the ride itself, the cars got 15mph and all the turns have outboard banking of 5^, which I think improves the excitement. Otherwise, it's pretty plain, mostly going through tunnels and crossing the train and coaster tracks. However, it does have some scenery (see below) and triggered events. For instance, when a car enters the station, the station sounds an alarm. When a car pulls out, it runs its siren. But really, it's pretty boring IMHO.
And finally, there's the Briar Patch (Mk 2). It's the same general idea and layout as the original, but rebuilt from scratch. In this form, kids won't ride it but it draws huge numbers of teens and adults.
Here's a comparison of the Mk 1 and Mk 2 vrsions of the Briar Patch.
The Briar Patch has some scenery besides dead trees. The witch makes several appearances. Here she is obviously up to no good. This is in the middle of the helix towards the end of the ride, but the 1st drop goes between the witch and the coffin with spells flying overhead. Most such things along the track are hard to see from the ride itself because you're going by so fast, but it looks cool to me, the player
One of the things the Eastwood VFD has to respond to is a train wreck (no doubt caused by the witch). The coaster also triggers and explosion here as it goes by, which usually happens at just the right time to draw car riders' attention to this scene. But most of it is above the level of the car so you have to look up to see it.
The Eastwood VFD also responds to a house fire, possibly arson-by-witch (cause still under investigation).
Here's the whole of Misfit Toyland at present. Next up will probably be finishing the Whiskey River area, then wrapping up with Dwarf Mountain. The end of this project is finally starting to loom on the horizon.
Finally, here are a couple of videos, which hopefully look better than my previous offerings (I've gotten better with OBS and updated PowerDirector from 11 to 15). So, we have the new version of Briar Patch and also the overlooked Drunken Dwarf. This 1st coaster of the park has been steadily minting money since it was built, quitely and unassumingly. When I built it, I didn't have working video recording, and since then I've struggled with how to do a video of a spinning coaster. But I've got that sorted and the thing's a good ride that deserves looking at, so here it is.
[video=youtube_share;9h16a2aYI7s]https://youtu.be/9h16a2aYI7s[/video]
[video=youtube_share;IjR8Vbi3Aag]https://youtu.be/IjR8Vbi3Aag[/video]
The BSI boffins have been working very hard lately. The winter storm didn't involve much work, just 1 ice-related wreck and 1 cold-related house fire, neither of which was very serious. Thus, there was enough time over the last few days to complete the latest expansion of the park, Eastwood. This is a small village in the deep woods, which unfortunately is a bit hag-ridden. In fact, the evil witch has caused a major blight, killing trees over a large radius.
Eastwood (codename "Clint") is more action-oriented than some of the other areas of Misfit Toyland. It boasts a massive hybrid coaster, the Briar Patch (Mk 2) and a fairly exciting car track ride (the Eastwood Volunteer Fire Department), 1 flat ride (the Witch Hunt aka Magic Twirl), and the usual collection of shops (water, soda, energy, hotdogs, ATM, restroom). Plus a station for the perimeter train.
Here's what Eastwood looks like naked, before obscuring a lot of it with trees. The coaster came first, then the train track was snaked through it, then the track ride entwined around both, and finally the topography.
And here it is finished both day and night.
The shops are mostly YET MORE half-timbered things with thatch roofs. However, the ATM/restroom is brick and I used the gingerbread roof panels (covered with weeds) to give it a sod roof for a bit of variety.
The story of this area is that the witch is causing trouble which the local VFD has to deal with. The coaster takes you into the witch's lair and is something of a battle which flushes the witch into the open. Then finally the witch is hunted down by a torch-wielding mob. This is the final chapter of the story, the Witch Hunt. It gets a LITTLE business with a $1 price and double duration, but it's definitely not competitive with other rides in the park. Still, I think it looks OK and this is sandbox so...
[In contrast, the Eastwood VFD is quite popular with a $20 pricetag. It has E 5.8 , F 3.5, N 1.0 and really packs them in, just like the Treefort and Drunken Dwarf kiddie coasters. This seems to be the real sweet spot of ride ratings, attractive to all demographics. As for the ride itself, the cars got 15mph and all the turns have outboard banking of 5^, which I think improves the excitement. Otherwise, it's pretty plain, mostly going through tunnels and crossing the train and coaster tracks. However, it does have some scenery (see below) and triggered events. For instance, when a car enters the station, the station sounds an alarm. When a car pulls out, it runs its siren. But really, it's pretty boring IMHO.
And finally, there's the Briar Patch (Mk 2). It's the same general idea and layout as the original, but rebuilt from scratch. In this form, kids won't ride it but it draws huge numbers of teens and adults.
Here's a comparison of the Mk 1 and Mk 2 vrsions of the Briar Patch.
The Briar Patch has some scenery besides dead trees. The witch makes several appearances. Here she is obviously up to no good. This is in the middle of the helix towards the end of the ride, but the 1st drop goes between the witch and the coffin with spells flying overhead. Most such things along the track are hard to see from the ride itself because you're going by so fast, but it looks cool to me, the player
One of the things the Eastwood VFD has to respond to is a train wreck (no doubt caused by the witch). The coaster also triggers and explosion here as it goes by, which usually happens at just the right time to draw car riders' attention to this scene. But most of it is above the level of the car so you have to look up to see it.
The Eastwood VFD also responds to a house fire, possibly arson-by-witch (cause still under investigation).
Here's the whole of Misfit Toyland at present. Next up will probably be finishing the Whiskey River area, then wrapping up with Dwarf Mountain. The end of this project is finally starting to loom on the horizon.
Finally, here are a couple of videos, which hopefully look better than my previous offerings (I've gotten better with OBS and updated PowerDirector from 11 to 15). So, we have the new version of Briar Patch and also the overlooked Drunken Dwarf. This 1st coaster of the park has been steadily minting money since it was built, quitely and unassumingly. When I built it, I didn't have working video recording, and since then I've struggled with how to do a video of a spinning coaster. But I've got that sorted and the thing's a good ride that deserves looking at, so here it is.
[video=youtube_share;9h16a2aYI7s]https://youtu.be/9h16a2aYI7s[/video]
[video=youtube_share;IjR8Vbi3Aag]https://youtu.be/IjR8Vbi3Aag[/video]
BTW, I decided to upload the park as a WIP as it stands now. Feel free to steal ideas and the blueprints for all the rides. But I'd really like some feedback.
Thanks.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=839068854
Thanks.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=839068854
As always, love the updates!! I enjoy the story, pictures and videos quite a bit! I haven't "stolen" rides or anything (I make my own to fit my parks accordingly), but the large trees, the way you utilize the witch, and your theme in general gives me plenty of ideas on how to fit things into my park! Thank you for posting!
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Love seeing before/after shots like this! [up]
Thanks
I'm sure you'll do better with any seeds of ideas than I did with them.BTW, if you want to learn terrain sculpting, check out Tricky's videos. Not just that Little Mermaid but all his others, too. IIRC his channel is "Tricky Plays Games". That guy is a real artist with the terrain tools.
Thanks but I can't claim it. It was forced on me by the location of the entrance on this map.
Then I shall try to remember to do more of that. Thanks.
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CHAPTER 8
Once again, a new day breaks over a new section of Misfit Toyland, this time seen from the catwalk at the top of Tanglewood's lift hill. It's Whiskey River, finally done. And the dawn brought changes to Tanglewood itself, as noted below.
And with the new park area is an update to the Workshop: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=839068854
Anyway, the boffins of BSI had a lot of work to do. First, they bulldozed the original river ride and all topography associated with it, and started over. They built a much smaller, simpler river ride, basically just a figure-8 able to run only 5 boats, and oriented it differently to shorten the west arm of the park to match the north arm. The shorter ride was chosen because short coasters seem to be more popular and river rides move so slowly anyway. Reorienting the river ride limited the available space and thus the number of rides, again to balance the other side. In the end, the Whiskey River area has only 2 new rides, the river ride and a semi-scary flat ride. And, of course, a train station, which was also relocated and that part of the track redone, too, to fit the new river ride configuration.
In the end, the Whiskey River area looked like this before and after the weeds sprouted:
The centerpiece is a Psychola called "Rollin' on the River". There are also water, drink, and burger shops, plus a restroom and an ATM. The 2-story drink building also has another ATM on its rear side, which means it actually services Southfort, which didn't have its own before.
But the main attraction is of course the river ride, "Aqua Vitae", the station of which poses as a distillery. After all, the word "whiskey" comes from the Gaelic "uiisge", part of the full name of "uisge-beathe", which is cognate with the Latin "aqua vitae". Both mean "water of life", and the BSI boffins can't live without it, so the name is appropriate.
Aqua Vitae, as usual for river rides, has a number of triggered events. Most just spray water on the patrons but one, down in the cellars where the whiskey ages, explodes in their faces.
The main thing about Aqua Vitae, however, is the big drop near the end, down a waterfall, which is the only exciting part besides the lifts. The lifts do 14mph, 3x as fast as the normal drifting of the boats even with 5^ downslopes on the chute, so are actually way more exciting than the ride itself. The splash is triggered to get the train track and maybe the train itself if that happens to be there at the time.
Anyway, apart form all that, the boffins tweaked the park somewhat to incorporate some of the latest research on peepology. First thing they did was tweak the 1st 2 mid-track block brakes on Tanglewood to shave about 2mph off its speed going over those hills, and thus also further down the line. Prior to this, those brakes were turned completely off, existing only to prevent multiple trains from stopping in awkward places. The boffins tweaked the brakes because Tanglewood's fear rating was over 4.0 so it was essentially an adult-teen ride even though about 10% of families would go on it. And it couldn't compete with Briar Patch in that arena because Briar Patch is a better adult-teen coaster, and Treefort was a better kiddie coaster. As such, Tanglewood hadn't really had any business since either of those rides opened.
So, these minor adjustments to the brakes dropped Tanglewood's fear down a bit below 4 (sub-green) and excitement a bit below 6 (sub-green). So now it's sorta in the middle in ratings between Treefort and Briar Patch, and thus draws its own crowd instead of competing unsuccessfully with those 2 coasters. Interestingly, Purple Martin and Drunken Dwarf have never had any problems and the changes to Tanglewood didn't affect them, either. Also, Tanglewood's prestige didn't change enough to notice, still rather over 1000. So apparently prestige is more a function of ride length than excitement, and track length didn't change while duration increased slightly due to lower speed.
Besides this, BSI closed all 6 of its geegaw shops (2 of each). This immediately had the positive effect of getting about 2/3 of the peeps in the park back to doing rides instead of waiting in shop queues. As a result, suddenly previously dead flat rides were busy again, and prices could be raised back to $5 from the $1 they had been for the last while. Also, business picked up at various food and drink shops, and the shopkeepers quit being disgruntled due to low workload. Even more interesting, the park's rating improved and another few hundred peeps entered the park after the geegaw shops closed. Overall guest happiness also increased because they weren't wetting their pants while queuing for balloons, only to find they were too expensive to buy anyway.
So now the park is running smoothly again, everything is working well, the peeps are happy, the rides are busy, the staff is keeping up with demand, and all is right with the world.
Tune in next time for the culmination, with Dwarf Mountain.
Once again, a new day breaks over a new section of Misfit Toyland, this time seen from the catwalk at the top of Tanglewood's lift hill. It's Whiskey River, finally done. And the dawn brought changes to Tanglewood itself, as noted below.
And with the new park area is an update to the Workshop: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=839068854
Anyway, the boffins of BSI had a lot of work to do. First, they bulldozed the original river ride and all topography associated with it, and started over. They built a much smaller, simpler river ride, basically just a figure-8 able to run only 5 boats, and oriented it differently to shorten the west arm of the park to match the north arm. The shorter ride was chosen because short coasters seem to be more popular and river rides move so slowly anyway. Reorienting the river ride limited the available space and thus the number of rides, again to balance the other side. In the end, the Whiskey River area has only 2 new rides, the river ride and a semi-scary flat ride. And, of course, a train station, which was also relocated and that part of the track redone, too, to fit the new river ride configuration.
In the end, the Whiskey River area looked like this before and after the weeds sprouted:
The centerpiece is a Psychola called "Rollin' on the River". There are also water, drink, and burger shops, plus a restroom and an ATM. The 2-story drink building also has another ATM on its rear side, which means it actually services Southfort, which didn't have its own before.
But the main attraction is of course the river ride, "Aqua Vitae", the station of which poses as a distillery. After all, the word "whiskey" comes from the Gaelic "uiisge", part of the full name of "uisge-beathe", which is cognate with the Latin "aqua vitae". Both mean "water of life", and the BSI boffins can't live without it, so the name is appropriate.
Aqua Vitae, as usual for river rides, has a number of triggered events. Most just spray water on the patrons but one, down in the cellars where the whiskey ages, explodes in their faces.
The main thing about Aqua Vitae, however, is the big drop near the end, down a waterfall, which is the only exciting part besides the lifts. The lifts do 14mph, 3x as fast as the normal drifting of the boats even with 5^ downslopes on the chute, so are actually way more exciting than the ride itself. The splash is triggered to get the train track and maybe the train itself if that happens to be there at the time.
Anyway, apart form all that, the boffins tweaked the park somewhat to incorporate some of the latest research on peepology. First thing they did was tweak the 1st 2 mid-track block brakes on Tanglewood to shave about 2mph off its speed going over those hills, and thus also further down the line. Prior to this, those brakes were turned completely off, existing only to prevent multiple trains from stopping in awkward places. The boffins tweaked the brakes because Tanglewood's fear rating was over 4.0 so it was essentially an adult-teen ride even though about 10% of families would go on it. And it couldn't compete with Briar Patch in that arena because Briar Patch is a better adult-teen coaster, and Treefort was a better kiddie coaster. As such, Tanglewood hadn't really had any business since either of those rides opened.
So, these minor adjustments to the brakes dropped Tanglewood's fear down a bit below 4 (sub-green) and excitement a bit below 6 (sub-green). So now it's sorta in the middle in ratings between Treefort and Briar Patch, and thus draws its own crowd instead of competing unsuccessfully with those 2 coasters. Interestingly, Purple Martin and Drunken Dwarf have never had any problems and the changes to Tanglewood didn't affect them, either. Also, Tanglewood's prestige didn't change enough to notice, still rather over 1000. So apparently prestige is more a function of ride length than excitement, and track length didn't change while duration increased slightly due to lower speed.
Besides this, BSI closed all 6 of its geegaw shops (2 of each). This immediately had the positive effect of getting about 2/3 of the peeps in the park back to doing rides instead of waiting in shop queues. As a result, suddenly previously dead flat rides were busy again, and prices could be raised back to $5 from the $1 they had been for the last while. Also, business picked up at various food and drink shops, and the shopkeepers quit being disgruntled due to low workload. Even more interesting, the park's rating improved and another few hundred peeps entered the park after the geegaw shops closed. Overall guest happiness also increased because they weren't wetting their pants while queuing for balloons, only to find they were too expensive to buy anyway.
So now the park is running smoothly again, everything is working well, the peeps are happy, the rides are busy, the staff is keeping up with demand, and all is right with the world.
Tune in next time for the culmination, with Dwarf Mountain.
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Awesome updates Bullethead! You should upload a video of the train ride once the park is complete and the train is active
How long did it take for you to build that small train bridge? I always seem to have issues starting a bridge or any building over track as I find it's really hard to line up initially. Is there any easy way to have building pieces snap to track angles? Especially with the train I have difficulties lining up the building pieces (I'll put a few pieces down and then realize after the third piece, the angle is off maybe a quarter of a degree or something).
Awesome updates!
How long did it take for you to build that small train bridge? I always seem to have issues starting a bridge or any building over track as I find it's really hard to line up initially. Is there any easy way to have building pieces snap to track angles? Especially with the train I have difficulties lining up the building pieces (I'll put a few pieces down and then realize after the third piece, the angle is off maybe a quarter of a degree or something).
Awesome updates!
Awesome updates Bullethead! You should upload a video of the train ride once the park is complete and the train is active
Thanks. And yes, the train definitely needs a video
. You might have noticed that the ends of the track at present are fairly close together, almost in the middle of the park. The plan is to have them cross each other near the middle and the circle around to a 4th station at the back of the park, so there's a loop around the Dwarf Mountain area itself. The Dwarf Mountain area will be fronted by a tall, V-shaped mountainous ridge that slots into the prepared space in the existing parts of the park. The Brass Baboon gigacoaster will tunnel all through this ridge, passing through Moria-inspired rooms along the way. The rest of the area (shops, flat rides) will be on a plateau on the far side of this ridge, between the arms of the V, with the station at rear and the tracks going all round the plateau.At least, that's the plan. We'll see how it really turns out.
Hmm... Well, I've now built 5 trestles for the train (with quite a few more to go). For the 1st one, I had the same problems you describe but since then things have gotten a lot easier as I've figured out better ways to approach it. Here's how I do it. I'm sure this can be improved on but it works pretty well.
#1. Straight and Level Track
This makes things a LOT easier because building pieces have to go on a square grid and you can't tilt them. So, when laying out the track, put straight and level sections in where you want to build trestles later.
#2. Use Prefabricated Bridge Sections
Lay out a row of several flat roof tiles somewhere and save it as a blueprint. Then, when you want to build a trestle, call up this blueprint and position it as desired with Advanced Move. This helps get it lined up exactly with the track, at least in the horizontal plane. Turn angle snap off and just eyeball it. The longer the prefab length of tiles, the easier it is to eyeball parallel with the track. You can't really use angle snap anyway because that's limited to 11^ or 15^, while the track itself bends at 12^. The game gives you less control over the vertical height but as long as you can get it pretty close up under the tracks, you'll be OK. Once you have this floor under the tracks, you can build whatever sort of structure you want on and under this to finish the bridge. Then maybe save all that as a blueprint, too, so you can use it again later, at least as a starting point even if you change some of the details.
#3. Build Up the Supporting Structure
This is technically optional if the normal track supports are turned on, but sometimes you don't have any supports (like when going over a path or other ride's track). Also, the normal track supports aren't spaced at 4m intervals so usually 1 end of your bridge won't be on a support. But it's usually a simple matter to make supports out of gridded and non-gridded columns, beams, and the square and angled frameworks. It doesn't take much work here to do the job, but you can of course get really complex with this if you want. For example, you could start with the regular wall arches and then stick dozens of small rocks all over them to make it look built of them. Also, if the bridge is over a canyon, you can wedge some big rocks up under the ends of the bridge to give proper abutments.
If using gridded floor tiles under the track, the main variable is how close up under the track you can position the floor tiles, due to the non-analog control over that. If there's a noticeable gap between the bottom of the track and the top of the floor, you'll have to add walls to the sides of the bridge to hide this gap. And you might have to raise any bridge pieces that cross over the track.
That's pretty much it. If you have to make a bridge on a curved section of track, you'll probably have to do as 2 separate buildings, the same as making angled sections of regular buildings. Or just build the whole thing out of non-gridded beams or whatnot. If you have to make a bridge on a sloping section of track, it will have a stair-step profile if you use floor tiles under it, although this is quicker to make than doing the whole thing out of non-gridded parts. The little bridge at the big splash of Aqua Vitae is stepped. The big bridge behind the Aqua Vitae station is mostly gridded but has a small non-gridded exitension at 1 end where the track bends.
Thanks. And help yourself to any and all ideas. You'll certainly do a better job with them than me.
Thank you soooooo much for the step by step instructions! I should have some extra time tonight to try it out
The flat roof alignment to get things started is pretty ingenious! I'll let you know how it goes!
Thanks again!
Thank you soooooo much for the step by step instructions! I should have some extra time tonight to try it out
Thanks
In general when making any sort of scenery piece, it's WAY WAY easier if you do it in building mode. You need at least 1 gridded piece to start with even if everything else is non-gridded. Then, once you have some of the non-gridded stuff in place, you can select the original gridded piece and sink it into the ground so it's invisible, if desired. But by starting as a building, you can group-select and group-recolor any of the scenery bits that really are visible, instead of having to do them 1 at a time if they weren't part of a building.
CHAPTER 9
The BSI boffins had tweaked and rebuilt and retweaked the Brass Baboon coaster and erected the new version in its assigned place. Then they rolled up their sleeves and set to work on the final area of the park, Dwarf Mountain, of which the Brass Baboon would be the main attraction. However, they quickly realized that, due to its sheer size and the plans they had for decorating it, that the Brass Baboon would have to be treated as a whole park area in its own right, with the more mundane aspects of Dwarf Mountain, including completion of the train, to be put later on the schedule.
And so, for the last while the boffins have been doing nothing but working on the Brass Baboon. This required much forethought and numerous false starts, due to the complicated combination of paths, coaster, and 2 legs of the train track all having to meet and cross in the same general area, the whole to be covered by the actual topographic feature of Dwarf Mountain itself. Rides and extensions of tracks won't go over existing paths without wanting more altitude than is really necessary, terrain won't go well around existing paths, etc. So ultimately, it was 1) place the Brass Baboon (with many changes of mind), 2) run the train tracks through the closest parts of it, taking care to be straight and level where it would be going over future paths (again with many changes of mind), 3) raise the ground slightly under all this, and 4) get the paths up under the coaster and train tracks.
After this, it was on to scheming how best to entwine the train tracks through the coaster and be thinking how to build the mountain around both tracks and the buildings that would be embedded in the mountain along the tracks, and what those buildings would be. Eventually BSI management made irrevocable decisions on all this and the real work finally got underway. So ever since, the boffins have been hard at work making all these buildings and have now finally reached a point where the bulk of that work is done. Minor changes here and there are necessary but a major milestone has been passed. Now its mostly a matter of burying all this hard work under tons of dirt, adding a few shops in nooks and crannies as this happens. This burial is necessary as this is a dwarf hole (so will mostly be a dark ride), but it will make various aspects of the work hard to see later. So BSI decided to show off things nowm, before the dirt goes on.
So here's what things looked like at an early stage. The Brass Baboon is in place, the train tracks run, and the station building started to give an idea of where its queue and exit will come out, so that the main paths could be led in that direction.
And here things are at prestent, with the paths run, all all (or at least most) of the associated buildings and pathing done, and mostly only landscaping remaining.
So, now for the tour. Starting at the bottom and going more or less in order of appearance, here are what will soon become tunnels, with naked rock between the supporting buildings shown here. Or the entrances to shops. This path is so long and so far from other shops that the peeps will need refreshment. Anyway, the upwards-sloping path leads past the entrance of the Brass Baboon queue and will eventually surface in the rest of the Dwarf Mountain area.
This is the station itself and main queue space for the Brass Baboon. It's got a sort of dwarfpump decor. We'll see if this ever gets full, as the ride itself really isn't that great. There will be a roof on top of the rafters (same as other buildings) to keep loose dirt from falling into the room.
After leaving the station, there's a rather tall lift hill. To break up the monotony of this, there's this little mechanic's storeroom at a point about 1/3 of the way up where another arm of the track comes close by.
The plan is that the coaster will break the surface at the top of the lift, where there will probably be a watchtower, then dive back down into a tunnel leading to the throneroom of the King Under the Mountain. It will then go up through the roof, turn around, and come back the way it came. The train also runs through this room. Here's an overhead view and a look looking back from where the train leaves the room. It's got lots of blinkenlights.
After wandering through some tunnels, the coaster will go through what I call the 1st of 3 "swoops", which are where it will break the surface and rocket along battlements of castellated towers on the mountainside. All the "swoops" need more detailing but that can wait until the mountain itself starts to take shape and can be fitting into that. I think the 2nd swoop needs to be rebuilt completely as it just doens't look good. It's got square towers instead of round, they just don't work well.
After the 2nd swoop, the coaster runs right up the side of a fake station, the interior of which is the last thing on agenda before returning to the real station. It's supposed to be a place where you might be able to change from the main circum-park railroad to the local dwarf subway (the Brass Baboon).
After this, there's the only "inversion" on the Brass Baboon, a 90^ bank. This is an "Invincible" gigacoaster which says it can't invert, but for some reason the game counts a 90^ bank as an inversion. This is all in the vertical and will break the surface. Then back into the tunnels before the last "swoop".
Then it's back into the mountains before passing through the boiler room, trreasury, and then the fake station again.
The Brass Baboon, being buried mostly inside a mountain, will be essentially a dark ride, so needs illumination. This being the main dwarf area, that lighting is a bit fancier than found in the other dwarf buildings scattered around the park. And it largely has a red tint, so as not to spoil their night vision needed for the places with very little lighting.
And finally, here's the "King Under the Mountain" or, as BSI management calls him, "The Man in the Ball Gag Mask". Yes, Festive King Coaster is trapped on a 4m x 8m section of isolated path, necessary because the only throne in the game is a bench that can only be placed on a path. His costume is equipped with an electric shock mechanism to keep him from leaving his assigned area after he's entombed under the mountain. But hey, there isn't an animatronic king (let alone a dwarf king) so an entertainer was necessary.
So, hopefully next time I'll be showing the finished ride and will update the park in Workshop. But we're not there yet.
The BSI boffins had tweaked and rebuilt and retweaked the Brass Baboon coaster and erected the new version in its assigned place. Then they rolled up their sleeves and set to work on the final area of the park, Dwarf Mountain, of which the Brass Baboon would be the main attraction. However, they quickly realized that, due to its sheer size and the plans they had for decorating it, that the Brass Baboon would have to be treated as a whole park area in its own right, with the more mundane aspects of Dwarf Mountain, including completion of the train, to be put later on the schedule.
And so, for the last while the boffins have been doing nothing but working on the Brass Baboon. This required much forethought and numerous false starts, due to the complicated combination of paths, coaster, and 2 legs of the train track all having to meet and cross in the same general area, the whole to be covered by the actual topographic feature of Dwarf Mountain itself. Rides and extensions of tracks won't go over existing paths without wanting more altitude than is really necessary, terrain won't go well around existing paths, etc. So ultimately, it was 1) place the Brass Baboon (with many changes of mind), 2) run the train tracks through the closest parts of it, taking care to be straight and level where it would be going over future paths (again with many changes of mind), 3) raise the ground slightly under all this, and 4) get the paths up under the coaster and train tracks.
After this, it was on to scheming how best to entwine the train tracks through the coaster and be thinking how to build the mountain around both tracks and the buildings that would be embedded in the mountain along the tracks, and what those buildings would be. Eventually BSI management made irrevocable decisions on all this and the real work finally got underway. So ever since, the boffins have been hard at work making all these buildings and have now finally reached a point where the bulk of that work is done. Minor changes here and there are necessary but a major milestone has been passed. Now its mostly a matter of burying all this hard work under tons of dirt, adding a few shops in nooks and crannies as this happens. This burial is necessary as this is a dwarf hole (so will mostly be a dark ride), but it will make various aspects of the work hard to see later. So BSI decided to show off things nowm, before the dirt goes on.
So here's what things looked like at an early stage. The Brass Baboon is in place, the train tracks run, and the station building started to give an idea of where its queue and exit will come out, so that the main paths could be led in that direction.
And here things are at prestent, with the paths run, all all (or at least most) of the associated buildings and pathing done, and mostly only landscaping remaining.
So, now for the tour. Starting at the bottom and going more or less in order of appearance, here are what will soon become tunnels, with naked rock between the supporting buildings shown here. Or the entrances to shops. This path is so long and so far from other shops that the peeps will need refreshment. Anyway, the upwards-sloping path leads past the entrance of the Brass Baboon queue and will eventually surface in the rest of the Dwarf Mountain area.
This is the station itself and main queue space for the Brass Baboon. It's got a sort of dwarfpump decor. We'll see if this ever gets full, as the ride itself really isn't that great. There will be a roof on top of the rafters (same as other buildings) to keep loose dirt from falling into the room.
After leaving the station, there's a rather tall lift hill. To break up the monotony of this, there's this little mechanic's storeroom at a point about 1/3 of the way up where another arm of the track comes close by.
The plan is that the coaster will break the surface at the top of the lift, where there will probably be a watchtower, then dive back down into a tunnel leading to the throneroom of the King Under the Mountain. It will then go up through the roof, turn around, and come back the way it came. The train also runs through this room. Here's an overhead view and a look looking back from where the train leaves the room. It's got lots of blinkenlights.
After wandering through some tunnels, the coaster will go through what I call the 1st of 3 "swoops", which are where it will break the surface and rocket along battlements of castellated towers on the mountainside. All the "swoops" need more detailing but that can wait until the mountain itself starts to take shape and can be fitting into that. I think the 2nd swoop needs to be rebuilt completely as it just doens't look good. It's got square towers instead of round, they just don't work well.
After the 2nd swoop, the coaster runs right up the side of a fake station, the interior of which is the last thing on agenda before returning to the real station. It's supposed to be a place where you might be able to change from the main circum-park railroad to the local dwarf subway (the Brass Baboon).
After this, there's the only "inversion" on the Brass Baboon, a 90^ bank. This is an "Invincible" gigacoaster which says it can't invert, but for some reason the game counts a 90^ bank as an inversion. This is all in the vertical and will break the surface. Then back into the tunnels before the last "swoop".
Then it's back into the mountains before passing through the boiler room, trreasury, and then the fake station again.
The Brass Baboon, being buried mostly inside a mountain, will be essentially a dark ride, so needs illumination. This being the main dwarf area, that lighting is a bit fancier than found in the other dwarf buildings scattered around the park. And it largely has a red tint, so as not to spoil their night vision needed for the places with very little lighting.
And finally, here's the "King Under the Mountain" or, as BSI management calls him, "The Man in the Ball Gag Mask". Yes, Festive King Coaster is trapped on a 4m x 8m section of isolated path, necessary because the only throne in the game is a bench that can only be placed on a path. His costume is equipped with an electric shock mechanism to keep him from leaving his assigned area after he's entombed under the mountain. But hey, there isn't an animatronic king (let alone a dwarf king) so an entertainer was necessary
.So, hopefully next time I'll be showing the finished ride and will update the park in Workshop. But we're not there yet.
Love the progress.
Tanglewood is highly entertaining, love the out of control feeling it brings.
Thanks! Wooden coasters are my favorite in real life and I like compact ones with lots of head-choppers, so that's how I built Tanglewood. It was a lot more fun (both to me and in terms of excitement rating) before I emasculated it by turning on the mid-track brakes, but that had to be done because peeps' tastes differ from mine.
The thing is, in the game as it stands at present, wooden coasters are in a fairly narrow niche between family coasters and more extreme adult/teen-only coasters. I didn't realize this when I designed Tanglewood. Woodies can easily be made with fear near 5.0, at which point no family will ride them, so you're only going to get adults and teens. But because woodies can't invert, it's hard to get fear much higher than that without also jacking up nausea. This means that woodies can't really compete with more extreme adult/teen-specific coasters.
This was Tanglewood's problem. When originally built, it was the only "big kid" coaster in the park so got plenty of business. But then I opened Briar Patch, which stole all the "big kids". Because Tanglewood was too scary for families, it basically died. So, i put on the brakes to make it a "medium kid" ride. It now appeals to the more adventurous half of families and the less adventurous 1/3 or so of adults, so gets lots of business again. Meanwhile, the other 4 coasters are also doing booming business.
So, in the future, I will design woodies from the get-go to have fear of only about 3.8-3.9. That seems to be their sweet spot, at least in the context of a full-blown park.
CHAPTERS 10 - 12
The BSI boffins have been slaving away seemingly since forever getting the whole Dwarf Mountain area up and running. It's really not that much as far as attractions go, just 1 coaster, 2 flat rides, some shops, and a train station. But it occupies an area about twice the size of any other park area and the whole thing is buried under complex topography, which then has to be gardened. This has proven to be a VERY time-consuming project. As I write this, the gardening is nearly complete but I've decided to save that for Chapter Lucky 13, which will also involve a semi-last scenery pass over the whole park. So for now, here's just the topography before it gets hidden under weeds, and a few other other things that have been going on in Misfit Toyland.
The last report just has the basic fixtures of the Brass Baboon gigacoaster. With them in place, the boffins turned to on adding a whole row of shops on the path leading to the coaster's entrance. The buildings hovering above all the shops is the Brass Baboon's queue station and Swoop #2. The shops ended up growing a lot of additional walls once Dwarf Mountain itself was raised over them, due to unsightly gaps causes by terrain's aversion to paths. And Swoop #2 was scrapped and rebuilt from scratch with round towers.
And here's the 1st dirt of Dwarf Mountain being piled up on top of the shops and and station, with Swoop #2 as rebuilt.
The terrain was built up to the level of the coaster track and then lights placed where they looked like they needed to be. The boffins thought this would be easier than adding lights in tunnels, with their restrictions on camera movement.
The Brass Baboon is an Invincible-class gigacaoster so allows kids. However, it has a fear rating of about 4.8 so only a very few families ride it. Still, some do.
The rest of Dwarf Mountain consists of the Skypiercer (aka Sun Flare), the Hammermill (aka Hammer Swing), the Grinder (aka Gears of Fear), a train station, and another battery of shops. This being a dwarf area, all the queues and shops are underground. In the case of queues, they're under the flat rides themselves. The hump of terrain in the middle covers some of the area's shops.
Eventually, the perimeter train's track was completed and the train opened. This immediately caused the usual problem with transport rides of al janitors being telepoted to the entrance. And 2 of them got stuck in the wad of hostages who get stuck near the west exit of Entranceton for no reason. Thus, for a while, there were many bins overflowing and many peeps complaining of litter. This pic may not look like it, but there were over 30 peeps and 2 janitors stuck here. They all had to be repositioned manually.
Eventually, the topography of Dwarf Mountain was roughed out. It still needed fine sculpting and painting, but this is the general idea of the place. It also shows the size of the Dwarf Mountain area in relation to the rest of the park.
And here's Dwarf Mountain with the terrain all sculpted and painted, ready for the gardening to commence. As noted above, the gardening is nearly complete, but it hides much of the terrain detail, so here it is bare of vegetation.
In the midst of the gardening, and while taking a break from it to do a partical scenery pass over other areas, the boffins discovered a huge traffic jam at the park entrance. As noted in the OP, this was left at its default width of 4m going through single entrance gate. By this point in Misfit Toyland's evolution, this was causing problems. So the BSI boffins knocked 2 more holes in theprison castle walls around the entrance and installed 2 more gates. This immediately caused the peeps to fan out and start moving towards their desired destinations. In a short while, the huge Charlie Fox at the entrance disappeared entirely.
So that's it for this post. Next update should be the finished product with a new version in the Workshop and videos for the Brass Baboon and the perimeter train.
The BSI boffins have been slaving away seemingly since forever getting the whole Dwarf Mountain area up and running. It's really not that much as far as attractions go, just 1 coaster, 2 flat rides, some shops, and a train station. But it occupies an area about twice the size of any other park area and the whole thing is buried under complex topography, which then has to be gardened. This has proven to be a VERY time-consuming project. As I write this, the gardening is nearly complete but I've decided to save that for Chapter Lucky 13, which will also involve a semi-last scenery pass over the whole park. So for now, here's just the topography before it gets hidden under weeds, and a few other other things that have been going on in Misfit Toyland.
The last report just has the basic fixtures of the Brass Baboon gigacoaster. With them in place, the boffins turned to on adding a whole row of shops on the path leading to the coaster's entrance. The buildings hovering above all the shops is the Brass Baboon's queue station and Swoop #2. The shops ended up growing a lot of additional walls once Dwarf Mountain itself was raised over them, due to unsightly gaps causes by terrain's aversion to paths. And Swoop #2 was scrapped and rebuilt from scratch with round towers.
And here's the 1st dirt of Dwarf Mountain being piled up on top of the shops and and station, with Swoop #2 as rebuilt.
The terrain was built up to the level of the coaster track and then lights placed where they looked like they needed to be. The boffins thought this would be easier than adding lights in tunnels, with their restrictions on camera movement.
The Brass Baboon is an Invincible-class gigacaoster so allows kids. However, it has a fear rating of about 4.8 so only a very few families ride it. Still, some do.
The rest of Dwarf Mountain consists of the Skypiercer (aka Sun Flare), the Hammermill (aka Hammer Swing), the Grinder (aka Gears of Fear), a train station, and another battery of shops. This being a dwarf area, all the queues and shops are underground. In the case of queues, they're under the flat rides themselves. The hump of terrain in the middle covers some of the area's shops.
Eventually, the perimeter train's track was completed and the train opened. This immediately caused the usual problem with transport rides of al janitors being telepoted to the entrance. And 2 of them got stuck in the wad of hostages who get stuck near the west exit of Entranceton for no reason. Thus, for a while, there were many bins overflowing and many peeps complaining of litter. This pic may not look like it, but there were over 30 peeps and 2 janitors stuck here. They all had to be repositioned manually.
Eventually, the topography of Dwarf Mountain was roughed out. It still needed fine sculpting and painting, but this is the general idea of the place. It also shows the size of the Dwarf Mountain area in relation to the rest of the park.
And here's Dwarf Mountain with the terrain all sculpted and painted, ready for the gardening to commence. As noted above, the gardening is nearly complete, but it hides much of the terrain detail, so here it is bare of vegetation.
In the midst of the gardening, and while taking a break from it to do a partical scenery pass over other areas, the boffins discovered a huge traffic jam at the park entrance. As noted in the OP, this was left at its default width of 4m going through single entrance gate. By this point in Misfit Toyland's evolution, this was causing problems. So the BSI boffins knocked 2 more holes in the
So that's it for this post. Next update should be the finished product with a new version in the Workshop and videos for the Brass Baboon and the perimeter train.