I hate Diamond Heights

[Komatose]

I remember skipping this scenario a lot as a kid, and now I remember why. I finally completed it but god, what a horrible scenario. The way park value works makes you essentially do nothing until year 3 and then build all your coasters that actually increase the park value. And I STILL haven't been able to beat Diamond Heights without cheesing it by building random flat rides a month before the end of year 3.

I mostly posted this just to rant but if anyone has tips for Diamond Heights for future playthroughs, I am all ears lol.

[NBOX21]

I always loved Diamond Heights. It was a different kind of challenge that focused more on expanding an already established park to increase its value rather than starting from scratch and reaching a certain guest goal. Plus, I liked seeing park scenarios that already had rides in it and expanding the park from there as it was a great way to see what was possible to create in the game.

There's plenty of space to work with and thanks to the ride tickets I always end up with way more money than I know what to do with even after building a bunch of crazy and expensive roller coasters. I also don't have to worry about failing at the last minute because one of my roller coasters crash due to a brakes failure and the park rating drops below 600 as a result, or all my guests leaving and the guest count stops rising because they spend all their money on the rides.

And yes, the park value scenarios are very easy to cheese. The best way to cheese them is to build a bunch of cheap roller coasters with good stats (Stingray works great for this) and leave them running in test mode. Rides with test results will contribute to the park value, but rides that are never opened will never age and thus will never lose their value. This works for every scenario that has a park value objective, including Gravity Gardens which also has the requirement to pay back the entire loan.

[Komatose]

Originally posted by NBOX21:

I always loved Diamond Heights. It was a different kind of challenge that focused more on expanding an already established park to increase its value rather than starting from scratch and reaching a certain guest goal. Plus, I liked seeing park scenarios that already had rides in it and expanding the park from there as it was a great way to see what was possible to create in the game.

There's plenty of space to work with and thanks to the ride tickets I always end up with way more money than I know what to do with even after building a bunch of crazy and expensive roller coasters. I also don't have to worry about failing at the last minute because one of my roller coasters crash due to a brakes failure and the park rating drops below 600 as a result, or all my guests leaving and the guest count stops rising because they spend all their money on the rides.

And yes, the park value scenarios are very easy to cheese. The best way to cheese them is to build a bunch of cheap roller coasters with good stats (Stingray works great for this) and leave them running in test mode. Rides with test results will contribute to the park value, but rides that are never opened will never age and thus will never lose their value. This works for every scenario that has a park value objective, including Gravity Gardens which also has the requirement to pay back the entire loan.

But how do you beat it without cheesing it? Every scenario type has its pros and cons but it feels counterproductive to sit around and wait for mid year 2/beginning of year 3 to actually build coasters because of how park value works in the game.

I like the scenarios where you build off an established park too, but Diamond Heights in particular is poorly designed in my opinion.

[DAB97]

I just completed this scenario. My goal from the beginning was to build as much as possible as compact as possible using only pre-made rides, and it got me up to $285, 000. In the last 3 months though, I had to take out max loans to build even more and to get that last 15,000 in park value. I actually ended at $330,000.

So, I guess my advice is to really utilize those loans!

[NBOX21]

I'm usually able to beat Diamond Heights even with a $0 loan throughout most, if not all 3 years. It really helps to raise the ride ticket prices to make a lot of money, not just for the rides already in the park, but also for the rides you add yourself.

You don't get the Cash Machine in this scenario, so guests will quickly leave the park when they run out of money, but that doesn't matter as you're not trying to reach a certain number of guests in this scenario, so there's not nearly as much of a punishment for charging too much for rides here. On ride photo sections are also a good way to get extra money quickly - $3 is the optimal price to charge for these.

One thing I always do at the start of every scenario is set Research and Development to Maximum Funding which always grants one new ride/shop type every month. The more ride types available, the better. Rides contribute slightly less to the park value if there's already another one of the same type present in your park so it helps greatly to diversify your selection by building rides and roller coasters that don't exist in your park yet.

Hopefully these tips are useful in some way. You'll need them for the Katie's Dreamland scenario at the end of the Graphite Group which also has a Park Value goal.

[^8P^1redator]

i finished it with 485.000, just built built built. and get as soon as possible as much income as you can get. They will calculate all you're money with you're parkvalue. if you have 200k on you're bank they ad it up. Use the ticket price calculator on the internet for getting as much income as you can get.