Can't make a rideable big coaster. Also: Speed

I CAN'T make a rideable big coaster. I want to make a large (27+ with ground at 6) steel coaster, but no matter what I do, IT'S TOO INTENSE! First I cut out my swoopy turnaroud, but that didn't work. Then I made it go around the turns slower, but that didn't work! My first hill goes down at the steepest for as long as possible, except at the top, where I put two medium steepness pieces of track before starting the very steep track. All my turns are wide and banked. The only thing I haven't tried is braking at the bottom of the first hill, and I don't want to do that. I go into the second hill, which goes up at medium steepness, immediately after the first hill (no flat track in between). There are no loops. Any ideas?

Also, speed:
How can I estimate the speed of my ride? I always think it'll go faster than it really does, so it rolls back. Or, I think it will go slower than it does, so then it flys around my turns superdupermupercooper fast and it's way too intense.

HELP LOCOSPITZ!

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Cedar Fair hates valleyfair... boohoo.
2001: SFWoA,KCS,VF,SFEG,CP,BC
2002: SFMM,PKD,BGW,VF,KCS *** This post was edited by LocoSpitz on 4/16/2001. ***

just mess w/ it and it will eventually work itself out

For safety sake I always put chain lifts at the top of the hills, if your coaster goes right over them just take them out later, if not it won't roll back. Also after it goes up a hill I put brakes set at 35-40 so it doesn't go to terribly fast. One thing I always do is right after the first drop (normally as high as it goes) I have a second large hill )10 or so lower than the big hill) with a turnaround. Mine always are "L" shaped. Anyway just keep trying it took me forever to start building good coasters. Once you get the hang of it, it will be simple.

The only problems I've had with intensity is when my hypercoasters go over 115mph on the first drop. 27 height to 6 height isn't that big of a drop, I've done 60 to 10 drops before with no problems. Try building a few large hills to get some of the speed and airtime out then put in a large spiral. Start with a large banked turn and wind it into a couple of stacked upward helixes. As for judging speed on the hills, build every hill at least 4 below the hill before it (that's one less steep track section for each additional hill). If intensity is still too much, look at the G forces, lateral and vertical, and use the graph to figure out where they're occuring and edit those sections. Using a bunch of medium-sloped dive sections before the steep sections will probably not help because it will have to change slope twice and that is more G forces, which is bad at higher speeds. Anything else, just ask...

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"Sit back, relax, and enjoy maximum airtime on the terrifying tail of the Disco Donkey..."

I had some problems with intensity at first. I can't explain exactly what I do. I just know what seems to work from experience. If I am having trouble with intensity then I look at the most extreme forces an the find out where they occur on the graph and try to straighten them out from there.

Going from shallow to steep track causes negative G's. Sometimes this is where I experience some of my worst negative G's. Three or four negative g's will make a ride too intense in most cases.

As for the hill heights, I had a lot of roll backs when i first started too. I make my second hill four levels shorter than my first hill and the third hill four shorter than the second and so on. After the fourth or fifth hill you will be carrying enough speed that you can make the next consecutive hill the same height as the previous. I do that a lot on out and back woodies. On out and back hypercoasters that go from level 61 to 1, I have to provide at least 6 levels difference, but I usually give 8 for the first two hills then four after that. Through trial and error you will learn what works and what doesn't. Also note that different coasters will lose speeds at varying rates based on the size of the train. The water coaster actually loses speed going down a large helix when empty.

Another thing you can try is to shorten the train. This only works to a certain extent though if you have mid-course brakes. I have had the intensity increase on rare occasions with mid course brakes.

To fix our Speed problem always remeber this. One Your Hills that are big it should be 3 less than the one before it, on bunny hills it doesnt really matter. For the intesity problem, add more drops and add larger banked turns. and also make sure that there is at least one tunnel and also if its and Arrow coaster make sure its on Hypercoaster train and if its on b&M make sure its on a non looping train.

Intaminrocks: how does adding a tunnel make it less intense

doesnt that just make it more exciting?

Well, I usually don't make my coasters taller than about 35-40. I like non-looping layouts (vertical, steel twister, inverted, steel, corkscrew) so here are my tips:

1. Avoid the steep twists as much as possible
2. Often, at least on my vertical coasters, making the drop 2 tiles shorter will do a lot to help your intensity.
3. Try to keep your G-Force below 3 (except maybe positive G's, keep those below 4)
4. If you have a lot of G's, don't sustain them. For example, don't have a humungous spiral from 30 to 6. If you can't avoid high G's, make sure it is in the form of spikes.

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Hoping your day is "freckashea"