Updated 11/26/23
Seeing as JWE2 is shaping up to be much more in-depth gameplay wise with lots of key things to manage, I have a very important proposal. Most of the unexplained and strange behaviors from the first game have been largely addressed save for damaged/destroyed vehicles. They generally just sit there broken and/or eventually fade away and require you make a cheap purchase to replace them. It has never felt satisfying and frankly no one pays much mind to their vehicles being attacked. That is where I propose this new building, an idea resurrected from the cut content from Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis (JPOG), the Vehicle Maintenance Depot.
The Problem
What happens to your ranger vehicles, MVUs, helicopters, gyrospheres, tour vehicles, etc. if they are damage to the point of failure? Simply by taking this old idea we wind up giving more management depth and imparting agency onto the player. It's a common sight to see players ignore ranger vehicles under assault in their enclosures. They'll pay it one glance and generally ignore them thereafter. If the vehicle is destroyed, there is little worry and next to no penalty involved.
In the first game, the Ranger Teams cost as little as 50k to replace and 2 spawned per Ranger Station with a 3rd available for purchase. No significant difference exists in JWE2 save you start with 1 Ranger Team, but since the ACU & Ranger Station have been combined into the Response Facility, its hard to even argue its a wash and not just a straight up upgrade.
The Cost of Loss
This new building is pretty straightforward in concept, but one I know some players are nervous about. I want to make vehicles valuable and that means making destruction consequential. Losing a Ranger Team should come with it an appropriate penalty. Early on, the game will be forgiving, but punishes you for recklessness as your park expands and you host more star attractions.
Response Facility
The basic rationale is that the Response Facility is simply too cheap to build given the improved utility it now offers in JWE2. While this may be intentional to ease players in initially it greatly limits the implementation of the maintenance depot. After all, why build a depot for costly repairs when its simply cheaper to build an additional Response Facility instead? Moreover, this brings the costs more in line with the first JWE's ACU team, so it serves as a compromise.
Vehicle Management Depot
A list of the vehicles that the depot can service is listed below:
Serviceable Vehicles
A fastidious player won't ever have a problem with this system, a reckless player, however, will find themselves in for a nightmare as vehicle repairs rapidly pile up. The depot will reach capacity quickly and take a long time to complete repairs if proactive measures are not taken and a player fails to appreciate the risks they are taking with their vehicles.
Exceed a depot's capacity and you have two options:
Damage & Replacement
As briefly noted, the replacement cost of a Ranger Team, for instance, is quite cheap. As long as this remains true, the utility of the depot is greatly diminished. The advantage of not having to build another Response Facility might not be enough to prioritize the depot's usage, so I wanted to clarify and/or set some hard limits on how the game currently handles vehicles.
Calculating Costs
Base damage costs are calculated on a % basis using the replacement cost as a starting point.
However, this is acting under the assumption the Capture Helicopter is the only vehicle being repaired in the depot at the time, the costs will then scale per additional vehicle in the maintenance depot. Seeing as there are 5 bays, let's assume a 10% Service Fee is imposed for each additional bay that is occupied. These fees cap out at 40% of the vehicle's replacement cost, plus an additional 10% Penalty Fee for having all 5 bays in use at a time.
Returning to the above example let's say there are 4 other vehicles in the depot when the Capture Team Helicopter comes in for repairs in which case you are now having to pay an additional 50% of the helicopter's replacement cost to repair it.
Here the repairs are cheaper than paying to replace the vehicle even when the depot is fully occupied. It is not until at least 50% damage is accrued with all bays occupied that the repair cost and replacement cost equalize. As such, to keep costs below the replacement threshold, non-essential repairs should be dealt with sooner than later and more serious repairs performed at maintenance depots with fewer bays in use.
Calculating Times
Repair Times will never exceed the Replacement Time; 100% damage is an automatic replacement
For simplicity's sake, all vehicle damage is accrued by multiples of 5 so you can quickly calculate how much time a repair requires based on the % of damage it has sustained simply by knowing it takes 5 minutes for a Capture Helicopter to be replaced. In consideration of the in-game time controls, please note these numbers are derived in real-time and would be adjusted to account for any x3 speed you might be using, so you can't trivially workaround and ignore these vehicle maintenance times.
Special Cases
In rare instances and particular situations you may encounter a more unique vehicle interaction. These special cases have interactions with other systems and may lead to unintended consequences or added immersion.
Burning vehicles are one such special case, as they don't need to be in a wholly destroyed state to burn. This form of damaged vehicle requires immediate repair or the damage will continue to progress to destruction. Additionally, burning vehicles pose a secondary threat to your animals which can suffer from 2nd or 3rd degree burns from interacting with them.
Smart park management and design is key to success. This feature won't be a huge deal most of the time, but if you aren't paying attention to the dangers you are creating for yourself, this depot may very well become your worst enemy. Not only will you need multiple facilities, but costs are going to swiftly increase as capacity is reached. Each vehicle is also on a cooldown until repairs are completed and its returned to service, so you can't game the system with sheer cash flow or exploiting time controls. However, it is not constrained by the need for Scientists, so it might be a little more approachable.
References: Vehicle Management Systems, Guest Attractions (Revisited)
Seeing as JWE2 is shaping up to be much more in-depth gameplay wise with lots of key things to manage, I have a very important proposal. Most of the unexplained and strange behaviors from the first game have been largely addressed save for damaged/destroyed vehicles. They generally just sit there broken and/or eventually fade away and require you make a cheap purchase to replace them. It has never felt satisfying and frankly no one pays much mind to their vehicles being attacked. That is where I propose this new building, an idea resurrected from the cut content from Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis (JPOG), the Vehicle Maintenance Depot.
The Problem
What happens to your ranger vehicles, MVUs, helicopters, gyrospheres, tour vehicles, etc. if they are damage to the point of failure? Simply by taking this old idea we wind up giving more management depth and imparting agency onto the player. It's a common sight to see players ignore ranger vehicles under assault in their enclosures. They'll pay it one glance and generally ignore them thereafter. If the vehicle is destroyed, there is little worry and next to no penalty involved.
In the first game, the Ranger Teams cost as little as 50k to replace and 2 spawned per Ranger Station with a 3rd available for purchase. No significant difference exists in JWE2 save you start with 1 Ranger Team, but since the ACU & Ranger Station have been combined into the Response Facility, its hard to even argue its a wash and not just a straight up upgrade.
The Cost of Loss
This new building is pretty straightforward in concept, but one I know some players are nervous about. I want to make vehicles valuable and that means making destruction consequential. Losing a Ranger Team should come with it an appropriate penalty. Early on, the game will be forgiving, but punishes you for recklessness as your park expands and you host more star attractions.
Response Facility
- Build Cost increased from 100,000 to 250,000
The basic rationale is that the Response Facility is simply too cheap to build given the improved utility it now offers in JWE2. While this may be intentional to ease players in initially it greatly limits the implementation of the maintenance depot. After all, why build a depot for costly repairs when its simply cheaper to build an additional Response Facility instead? Moreover, this brings the costs more in line with the first JWE's ACU team, so it serves as a compromise.
Vehicle Management Depot
- Repairs & Replaces Damaged/Destroyed Vehicles
- 5 vacant bays
- Service Fees (scales per bay in use)
- 10% (1 vehicle)
- 20% (2 vehicles)
- 30% (3 vehicles)
- 40% (4 vehicles)
- 50% (5 vehicles)
- Base Replacement Costs exceed most Repair Costs
- Vehicle Replacement Costs greatly increased
- No Scientist requirement
A list of the vehicles that the depot can service is listed below:
Serviceable Vehicles
- Ranger Jeep
- Capture Helicopter
- MVU
- Tour Truck
- JP Explorer
- Gyrosphere
- Submarine
A fastidious player won't ever have a problem with this system, a reckless player, however, will find themselves in for a nightmare as vehicle repairs rapidly pile up. The depot will reach capacity quickly and take a long time to complete repairs if proactive measures are not taken and a player fails to appreciate the risks they are taking with their vehicles.
Exceed a depot's capacity and you have two options:
- Build a new Depot for more capacity
- Build more Response Facilities
Damage & Replacement
As briefly noted, the replacement cost of a Ranger Team, for instance, is quite cheap. As long as this remains true, the utility of the depot is greatly diminished. The advantage of not having to build another Response Facility might not be enough to prioritize the depot's usage, so I wanted to clarify and/or set some hard limits on how the game currently handles vehicles.
- Replacement can only be done at a depot
- Stated costs are per vehicle replaced
- Each vehicle type has its own replacement cost
- A damaged vehicle can be replaced in lieu of repaired
- Reference for Vehicle Security Ratings - Vehicle Management Systems
| Vehicle | Replacement Cost | Replacement Time |
| Ranger Jeep | $100,000 | 2 Minutes |
| Capture Helicopter | $250,000 | 5 Minutes |
| MVU | $150,000 | 3 Minutes |
| Tour Truck | $100,000 | 2 Minutes |
| JP Explorer | $100,000 | 2 Minutes |
| Gyrosphere | $150,000 | 3 Minutes |
| Submarine | $200,000 | 4 Minutes |
Repair Costs may exceed Replacement Costs so must be weighed accordingly
Calculating Costs
Base damage costs are calculated on a % basis using the replacement cost as a starting point.
Example: 35% Damage on a Capture Helicopter with a replacement cost of $250,000 comes out to $87,500 in repairs
However, this is acting under the assumption the Capture Helicopter is the only vehicle being repaired in the depot at the time, the costs will then scale per additional vehicle in the maintenance depot. Seeing as there are 5 bays, let's assume a 10% Service Fee is imposed for each additional bay that is occupied. These fees cap out at 40% of the vehicle's replacement cost, plus an additional 10% Penalty Fee for having all 5 bays in use at a time.
Returning to the above example let's say there are 4 other vehicles in the depot when the Capture Team Helicopter comes in for repairs in which case you are now having to pay an additional 50% of the helicopter's replacement cost to repair it.
Example: With a 50% Service Fee in addition to the $87,500 repair cost for 35% Damage on the Capture Helicopter that amounts to $212,500 in total repair fees
Here the repairs are cheaper than paying to replace the vehicle even when the depot is fully occupied. It is not until at least 50% damage is accrued with all bays occupied that the repair cost and replacement cost equalize. As such, to keep costs below the replacement threshold, non-essential repairs should be dealt with sooner than later and more serious repairs performed at maintenance depots with fewer bays in use.
Calculating Times
| Vehicle | Repair Time |
| Ranger Jeep | 6 Seconds per 5% Damage Sustained |
| JP Explorer | 6 Seconds per 5% Damage Sustained |
| Tour Truck | 6 Seconds per 5% Damage Sustained |
| MVU | 9 Seconds per 5% Damage Sustained |
| Gyrosphere | 9 Seconds per 5% Damage Sustained |
| Submarine | 12 Seconds per 5% Damage Sustained |
| Capture Helicopter | 15 Seconds per 5% Damage Sustained |
Repair Times will never exceed the Replacement Time; 100% damage is an automatic replacement
For simplicity's sake, all vehicle damage is accrued by multiples of 5 so you can quickly calculate how much time a repair requires based on the % of damage it has sustained simply by knowing it takes 5 minutes for a Capture Helicopter to be replaced. In consideration of the in-game time controls, please note these numbers are derived in real-time and would be adjusted to account for any x3 speed you might be using, so you can't trivially workaround and ignore these vehicle maintenance times.
Special Cases
In rare instances and particular situations you may encounter a more unique vehicle interaction. These special cases have interactions with other systems and may lead to unintended consequences or added immersion.
Burning vehicles are one such special case, as they don't need to be in a wholly destroyed state to burn. This form of damaged vehicle requires immediate repair or the damage will continue to progress to destruction. Additionally, burning vehicles pose a secondary threat to your animals which can suffer from 2nd or 3rd degree burns from interacting with them.
Smart park management and design is key to success. This feature won't be a huge deal most of the time, but if you aren't paying attention to the dangers you are creating for yourself, this depot may very well become your worst enemy. Not only will you need multiple facilities, but costs are going to swiftly increase as capacity is reached. Each vehicle is also on a cooldown until repairs are completed and its returned to service, so you can't game the system with sheer cash flow or exploiting time controls. However, it is not constrained by the need for Scientists, so it might be a little more approachable.
References: Vehicle Management Systems, Guest Attractions (Revisited)
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