Guest preferences

Grapevigne

G
Hey guys, just wanted to pick the collective brains about a few things in Planet Coaster.

1. Do the different guest classes have different food/drink/gift preferences? Do adults prefer water and kids milkshakes for example? Also, I find that Pizza for example gets very few sales, but burgers are always a winner.

2. How do I make effective priority queues? I find that a lot of people think the pass is a waste of money even though all rides have them, set to high priority and the prices is very cheap. Is the layout very important? Should all rides get this. Please help!

3. Should I lump similar rides together or spread them. For example, should I have a few gentle rides together to attract kids and families into one spot, or is it better to mix up gentle and thrill rides, possibly a coaster too, to get a mix of guests into an area. I'm not suggesting across the whole park, just for certain sections of the park. I.e., does it make the park better to have certain areas dedicated to certain types of guess, or just mixed up everywhere?

4. Is there any difference in the entertainers? Do the foody ones boost sales near related shops? Do certain guests prefer certain entertainers?

Thanks in advance! 😁
 

breezerHOG1

breezerHOG1
1. certain shops are more popular than others

2. IMO priority pass is a waste, I have never seen smaller rides like a tilt-a-wirl or a zipper have them

3. this can vary based on your style, but having similar rides together is not a bad idea

4. no
 

Bullethead

Bullethead
These are my opinions based on my observations. I'm pretty confident in their general accuracy but the details require further study.

Grapevigne said:
1. Do the different guest classes have different food/drink/gift preferences? Do adults prefer water and kids milkshakes for example? Also, I find that Pizza for example gets very few sales, but burgers are always a winner.
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As far as I can tell, demographics has little if anything to do with the specific TYPE of food or drink preferred. I think all guests have the same tastes (and they do like some more than others). It's just like all peeps young and old prefer balloons to hats. What changes with demographics is the speed at which the physical needs for food, drink, energy, and restrooms occur.

For menu choices, guests like water and soda by far the most, Gulpee energy a distant 3rd, and pretty much hate everything else. Maybe Gulpee slush is there with energy, maybe not. But anyway, you'll hardly sell any of stuff not on this list. As for food, they like burgers, then hotdogs, then pizza, then everything else, although the differences between favorite and least-favorite is not as great as with drinks.

As for demographic needs, everybody seems to need drinks most often. Adults and teens then need food next, then toilets, although with teens these needs run faster than in adults. With families, it's drink, then toilets, then food. In general a ratio of 2-3 drinks to 1 food and 1 restroom scattered out all over the park seems to work seems to work OK. If there are more kids in the area, add another restroom. If more teens ,add another food.

2. How do I make effective priority queues? I find that a lot of people think the pass is a waste of money even though all rides have them, set to high priority and the prices is very cheap. Is the layout very important? Should all rides get this. Please help!
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Regardless of what you do, only a small fraction of all peeps will every buy a priority pass. Which is a good thing because usually the priority queue doesn't have anywhere near as much room for waiting peeps as the main queue. Besides, if everybody bought a priority pass, what would be the point of having them? Also, the more often members of the "bourgeoisie" minority use priority passes to cut ahead in line, the more the members of the "proletariat" majority get resentful about "rich folks cutting in line". So basically, having only 1-2% buying priority passes is a good thing. It helps the happiness of that fraction more than it hurts the happiness of the rest.

3. Should I lump similar rides together or spread them. For example, should I have a few gentle rides together to attract kids and families into one spot, or is it better to mix up gentle and thrill rides, possibly a coaster too, to get a mix of guests into an area. I'm not suggesting across the whole park, just for certain sections of the park. I.e., does it make the park better to have certain areas dedicated to certain types of guess, or just mixed up everywhere?
Click to expand...

Which rides guests will go on is based primarily on the fear and nausea tolerances of the individual peeps, using things like prestige as a tie-breaker. Although families average the lowest tolerances, then adults, then teens, there's actually a LOT of overlap between individuals in each demographic. This means that the higher a ride's fear and nausea, the smaller its customer base because there are fewer peeps with higher tolerances, even amongst teens. Also, peeps with high tolerances will go on rides with low ratings, so the scary rides compete for the same customers as the tame rides.

I therefore find it advantageous to mix rides of all ratings evenly throughout the park. I do this by making small areas that have 1 scary ride, 1 tame ride, and 2 or 3 spread out in the middle. This area also gets the usual compliment of food, drink, and restrooms scattered around in it.

4. Is there any difference in the entertainers? Do the foody ones boost sales near related shops? Do certain guests prefer certain entertainers?
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I honestly have no idea. I don't use entertainers because I don't find a need to artificially jack up guest happiness---they get plenty happy from my rides. Also, entertainers are very expensive compared to my average "galley slave" staff members, and guests being entertained are just standing there not spending any money :).
 

Grapevigne

G
I've set up to run an entertainer experiment. In my test park I have 2 x teacups and 360 forge rides, one of each set up as a pair either side of the entrance. Then I have a burger, milkshake and toilet opposite the rides. On the left hand rides I also have two entertainer points with cosmic cow and chief beef, but on the right I've set up the Princess and Dex. Hopefully this experiment will show if the type of entertainer makes a difference.
 

Grapevigne

G
Ok, I've run the park experiment up to April year 2, and there is definitely no effect on guest preferences caused by the type of entertainer. The Cosmic Cow and Chief Beef stores with the related entertainers did sales to 668 guests and 500 guests respectively, and the sales of Cosmic and Chief with the Dex and Princess entertainers did sales to 665 guests and 504 guests respectively.

It'd be so cool if they did though... ��
 

Kickflip

K
creaper said:
Entertainers dont make guests thirsty/hungry
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What he's saying is that the entertainers shouldn't increase the number of guests that need drinks or food but, if they did shift preferences, you would notice a change in relative popularity compared to other options.

So those shops would do more business relative to other shops of the same type when you have that entertainer.
 

bullybeef

B
Since buying the game, I chose the campaign - never really enjoyed the Scenario/Career inRCT because I just wanted to earn and grow. In answer to your 3rd question, the trap I fell into was filling space. You have a reasonable amount of flat rides, but nowhere near enough to fill the space between coasters etc, of which there are an innumerable amount in the game and with Steam's Workshop. I was surprised there wasnt the ability to create flat rides in the Workshop, but perhaps I was expecting too much. But there are some great small coaster creations there to fill in space.


Since I'm not the most creative, apart from dropping down the odd tree & bush, I had to relocate quite a few flat rides as I extended, and fill space with the odd empty, decorative/themed building, shop, or even food court if desired. I have been taken back by the amount of space we have, and I will probably have to continue relocating and moving rides around as I grow.


It's best not the think to far ahead, and I'm pleased I designed my park so compact at first, so I could get to grips with the mechanics & guest behaviour first. And didn't try to be too structured or rigid in my planning and just allow the park grow naturally and go off in different directions. Yes, I did overhaul my entrance once I grew more confident with the build, but this was to create more space for the flock of guests to enter.


Anywho, I hope that helps.
 
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