Tips for Total Newbs?

[stell]

Yeah so I just beat Maple Meadows but BARELY. I was in the red quite way too often. Since I suck so bad, I was wondering if anyone has any tips for managing a park properly -- you know, what to do and what not to do. Basically, just assume the worst about my skill level.

I'd love any advice at all! :)

[Aldehydra]

Four things come to mind for making more money:

1. Raise the entry price if the scenario allows it. Most guests will gladly pay $5-10 just to enter.
2. Thrill rides are reliable moneymakers. Rollercoasters are not (most of the time). Calm rides usually break even.
3. The default prices for almost everything are quite low. You can raise the prices of all rides by 50% and no one will mind. For thrill rides you can often double the price.
4. Until your park gets really big and you get a lot of complaints about people being hungry, stick to one food shop, one drink shop, and one toilet. Don't bother with any other shops until your park is much bigger. They tend to lose money unless you have >500 guests.

[Bovine]

Hedges are op. cover up your queues and anything else causing deco loss.

[Sebioff]

Adding to #2 by Aldehydra: coasters can be the biggest money makers due to their high guest capacities, but that won't help you if your park is tiny since there won't be enough guests. They will attract many new guests to the park though, so you can't completely ignore them either. Start with some smaller and cheaper coasters to attract guests, build the big expensive ones later once your park has grown a bit.

[ImHelping]

While the general concept is mentioned, it still is worth repeating because it's not really a common expectation of the genre. (The above mentioned 'anything causing deco loss')

In particular. First aid stations, are considered as nearly bad as toilets and trash chutes. Probably going to be the most common thing overlooked in people planning their decorative fencing and hedges.

[stell]

Thank you all for your help! Hopefully this is enough to keep my parks up and running.

[editbayrat]

Make sure you monitor guest's thoughts on a pretty constant basis. They'll tell you what you need to do. Raise the price of park entry, shops, and rides until they start to get annoyed. If you're getting the comment "x was a really good deal!", you're not charging enough. Once you start hearing "x was really worth the money", you're good. Obviously, "I'm not paying that much for x!" is an indication that you've gone too far, however if you're only getting one or two of those, you're sitting right where you want to be.

I always start with small or mid-sized coaster, three or four thrill rides, and some food and drink. Pause while you set up your initial layout. Once you release the pause--this is important--make sure everything is open, especially if you've put anything in test mode. Get a couple of haulers but hold off on more staff until your cash flow is established and/or people start to complain and things start to breakdown.

One last thing: put your best ride at the back of the park. I don't know if that really makes a difference, but it does force guests to pass every other ride on the way to what's most popular.

[Aldehydra]

Originally posted by editbayrat:

One last thing: put your best ride at the back of the park. I don't know if that really makes a difference, but it does force guests to pass every other ride on the way to what's most popular.

I've had a lot of success with the opposite approach: put the entrance to your "main" ride where people have to pass by. You can also be strategic about how you place entrances/exits and use them to guide guests toward the rides you want them to go on (which is usually the rollercoasters).

[editbayrat]

Originally posted by Aldehydra:

Originally posted by editbayrat:

You can also be strategic about how you place entrances/exits and use them to guide guests toward the rides you want them to go on (which is usually the rollercoasters).

Good point. I think that probably does more than placement in the park. Based on guest comments, people develop a desire to ride based on intensity and excitement and will go wherever. It would be interesting to know how much of riding is opportunistic and how much is strictly driven by ride stats.