It would be great to see the working throughput of all rides displayed in each rides tab. As in how many riders per hour are going through a specific attraction that has been built in close to real time (excluding break downs).
This is such an important management feature in real life, some parks work so hard to ensure their rides are running as efficient as possible to minimise queue times, aswel as designing the rides from the ground up with a high capacity / throughput in mind.
Ultimately the goal of making a ride more efficient is achieved by cycling the ride as fast as possible. Adjusting train lengths, number of trains, dispatch / wait times and brake / lift speeds all play a very important roll in determining a rides throughput. Bigger is not always better. You can some times get a higher throughput by having multiple small cars rather than a few big ones and vise versa, depending on the ride design. All of this is already in Planet Coaster 1, except for an actual display of a rides throughput, meaning this great and quite deep management feature doesn't really work too well.
One thing that was rubbish in the first game that also hindered throughput was the air gates not letting people into the ride vehicles before the last guest had left the station, this slows things down, some parks do this some don't, maybe a toggle option. So that if we want the air gates to open as soon as the last person has left the train and not the station we can, this then allows guests to be loading while the station is emptying of previous guest. Parks that push throughput on their rides do this on most rides. Sometimes going as far as opening the air gates for next guests as soon as the restrains open for the previous guests to disembark. This feature specifically would be beneficial across all rides actually. Being able to toggle it, giving us the choice. Cycling rides harder and quicker would probably mean you need more frequent inspections from mechanics to ensure the rides stay up and don't break down.
Throughput works on all rides too, shortening a flat rides cycle time would increase guest throughput for example.
A few things on top of the above mentioned that I would love to see to added to this management aspect are the following:
A huge amount of time and effort goes into managing ride throughput in real life to ensure the ride queues stay as low as possible even on busy days. Some parks do not bother. I would love to see this aspect of the management deepen with Planco2, half of it is already there in Planco1, it just needs improving.
Firmly placing the decision of how you will run your rides and ultimately your park in your hands.
This also gives more incentive and meaning for having rides setup as pay per attraction vs pay one price for the park. If guests are paying per attraction, as a park manager you will want those rides running as efficient as possible, pushing for the highest throughputs as more people on the ride has a direct impact on your bottom line. This of course is possible in Planco, but it could do with some improvements.
If your park is setup to pay one price you might not be bothered as much, you might even just run a single train to save operating costs on a coaster. You already have the guests money so why bother spending more? You could be on the other end of the spectrum and still run the rides as efficient as possible like Alton Towers and Disney do. As less queues or quicker moving queues mean happier guests.
The topic of this whole thread is halfway there in Planet Coaster, with some tweaks and adjustments like the above suggestions, it will truly be great.
These are the sort of deeper management features WE NEED FRONTIER.
While I personally do like things such as power management and I absolutely love the sounds of water management for many reasons but some being as they are real things. It feels like they could just make the management aspect wider once again, but not deeper, a big critisim of the first game.
I feel a focus on adding more depth to the existing systems would also be beneficial. This is what I've tried to suggest with not only this thread but the chlorinated water and the on ride photo posts.
This is such an important management feature in real life, some parks work so hard to ensure their rides are running as efficient as possible to minimise queue times, aswel as designing the rides from the ground up with a high capacity / throughput in mind.
Ultimately the goal of making a ride more efficient is achieved by cycling the ride as fast as possible. Adjusting train lengths, number of trains, dispatch / wait times and brake / lift speeds all play a very important roll in determining a rides throughput. Bigger is not always better. You can some times get a higher throughput by having multiple small cars rather than a few big ones and vise versa, depending on the ride design. All of this is already in Planet Coaster 1, except for an actual display of a rides throughput, meaning this great and quite deep management feature doesn't really work too well.
One thing that was rubbish in the first game that also hindered throughput was the air gates not letting people into the ride vehicles before the last guest had left the station, this slows things down, some parks do this some don't, maybe a toggle option. So that if we want the air gates to open as soon as the last person has left the train and not the station we can, this then allows guests to be loading while the station is emptying of previous guest. Parks that push throughput on their rides do this on most rides. Sometimes going as far as opening the air gates for next guests as soon as the restrains open for the previous guests to disembark. This feature specifically would be beneficial across all rides actually. Being able to toggle it, giving us the choice. Cycling rides harder and quicker would probably mean you need more frequent inspections from mechanics to ensure the rides stay up and don't break down.
Throughput works on all rides too, shortening a flat rides cycle time would increase guest throughput for example.
A few things on top of the above mentioned that I would love to see to added to this management aspect are the following:
- The option for single or separate load and unload stations for most if not all coasters and track based rides. It is always quicker to send a boat or dispatch a train when it enters the load station with no guests in.
- Duel stations. Some rides take longer to load and unload, rather than have a separate load and unload station. Some rides have to parallel single load and unload stations, allowing the trains to dispatch in a tick tock cycle across the stations.
- Round station platforms for water rides like Rapids and Log Flumes that are constantly rotating. This is self explanatory. Most have them in real life, but still having a normal straight station too would be nice.
A huge amount of time and effort goes into managing ride throughput in real life to ensure the ride queues stay as low as possible even on busy days. Some parks do not bother. I would love to see this aspect of the management deepen with Planco2, half of it is already there in Planco1, it just needs improving.
Firmly placing the decision of how you will run your rides and ultimately your park in your hands.
This also gives more incentive and meaning for having rides setup as pay per attraction vs pay one price for the park. If guests are paying per attraction, as a park manager you will want those rides running as efficient as possible, pushing for the highest throughputs as more people on the ride has a direct impact on your bottom line. This of course is possible in Planco, but it could do with some improvements.
If your park is setup to pay one price you might not be bothered as much, you might even just run a single train to save operating costs on a coaster. You already have the guests money so why bother spending more? You could be on the other end of the spectrum and still run the rides as efficient as possible like Alton Towers and Disney do. As less queues or quicker moving queues mean happier guests.
The topic of this whole thread is halfway there in Planet Coaster, with some tweaks and adjustments like the above suggestions, it will truly be great.
These are the sort of deeper management features WE NEED FRONTIER.
While I personally do like things such as power management and I absolutely love the sounds of water management for many reasons but some being as they are real things. It feels like they could just make the management aspect wider once again, but not deeper, a big critisim of the first game.
I feel a focus on adding more depth to the existing systems would also be beneficial. This is what I've tried to suggest with not only this thread but the chlorinated water and the on ride photo posts.
Last edited:
