Question From a RCT Newbie

Based on what I've seen and head about these games I thought they'd be fun to try out.

I've never played any of the RCT games or even any of the demos, but I've been doing sim racing for about eight years - building tracks, designing cars, etc. I've also played SimCity and SimCopter ($15 I'll never see again), so I'm pretty confident I'll have no problem getting started.

Now, my question is should I try one of the earlier versions, like RCT2 or even RCT1, or should I just plunge right into RCT3?

System requirements are no issue, my computer meets all the recommended specs for RCT3.

Thanks!
Kestrel

If you want to see what all the fuss is about, you could go with 2 and then see why people are complaining about 3.

If I were you, I would wait till things level out, and then go out to get 3.

I suggest RCT 2 it has more of what rct3 has or "should have", its easier to get used to and once you learn the works of the park, beating the game is easy, once you get the hang of things jump in rct 3, although working on patches for that. Therefore, you might want to hold of on RCT3 for a little while

When I get my computer upgrade, I'm jumping straight from 1 up to 3...i'm confident that my coaster-building skills are pretty damn good and that I'll be able to have some fun with 3.

I would say you can just go ahead and skip past RCT1. RCT2 is based on the same engine as RCT1 - more or less. There are some minor differences, but overall the look is the same. The way you build, manage and control various elements of the game are the same. RCT2 offers a lot more in the way of stacking scenery - which you will be able to do in RCT3. You weren't able to do that in RCT1.

So I would say start with RCT2, just to get a general introduction to what the game is all about. Familiarize yourself with placing rides, constructing buildings, placing scenery - as well as becoming familiar with the concepts of having different staff members, general aspects such as controlling certain elements of rides and how they operate, and managing park operations. Overall, just get a general idea of what the game is all about, and the whole concept behind it. Give yourself that basic background. That way, when you move on to RCT3, you'll have a better idea of what you need to do and can better appreciate the differences between the games.

Besides, as Neuski said, wait until the bugs are finally ironed out of RCT3 before you jump into it. Otherwise, you will become disillusioned.

Once you got the concepts , you should have no problem with rct3 as long as you keep up with the patches, which provides correction (beta patches only offer certain corrections but still help!)

yeah the patches should do the trick for you. the first one is out already...as im sure you know. rct2 is what got me hooked in the first place, but rct3 is a lot of fun with some of the new stuff. coaster cam, 3-d, etc etc. so its a tough call, but id say go with rct3.

either way, you'll know which is better when you see the differance between the 2, which I might add by the way Frontier and Atari left out alot of excellent features that were in RCT2 that should of been included with the RCT3 game!

Warning one thing you will find out very soon about the rct games is that the guest are annoying. Get lost, wander off to the middle of nowhere, and can't swim. I only have rct 1 and am very new to the game so maybe their is a way to deal with these things.

Yes it is easy. From the sound of things I would get rct 2 if I where you.

In RCT2 you'll find that the peeps(both guests & staff) are just as stupid & clueless as they were in RCT1.

A case in point would be whenever you add a new ride or section to your park & the idiotic peeps can't find it....they'll walk back & forth on the path leading to the area & should have their destination in plain sight & yet they still continue to take a few steps closer then turn back in the other direction & what's worse is when they tend to get upset with the fact that they can't find an attraction or area that's right in front of them.

I was playing last night & when after making a new addition to my park the peeps couldn't find it my park rating went down to almost zero in two seconds,the solution was to add an extra path leading to the new attraction & my park rating was soon back up to acceptable numbers.

Now if I can just get my RCT2-TT disc to load so I can reinstall it...ever since trying to install the RCT2 triple thrills pack to my PC I can no longer get the auto play on TT to come up,the CD dosn't even spin when I insert it into the CD-ROM drive & I don't have the game manual on hand to get the information needed to get the game to run manually,does anyone know what the "run" command is for RCT2TT?

GigA: in rct1 and 2 , when my guests complain, i drown 'em. the ratings seem to bounce back up faster when i waste.
has anyone else seen this:
you get like twenty complains about messy paths. (rating starts to drop). waste like 5-10 of the whiners, and the rating goes higher than it was before they complained, without ever cleaning the paths...

I would start with RCT2. You can buy that game plus the 2 expansion packs in one package for $20 now. The game works well in this version. Plus you can download a huge amount of custom scenery and rides for this game.

The user interfaces with RCT2 are simpler and easier to use, in my opinion.

However, if you play RCT2 and the go on to RCT3, you are going to realized what is wrong with RCT3 even more and there are several features of the previous game you will miss more noticeably as well.

In RCT3 there are improved AI, but then again our favorite features wiped away from us, its differant getting used to the UI, but then again, its almost a whole new game together, and Its still fun, I just patch whenever the patches come.

Here's a tip for cleaner paths in RCT1 & 2.

When you hire your handymen just assign each one to a grid comprising no more than a four by 4 area(the blue patrol grid),do this for every section of path that you add to your park.

They'll keep the park much cleaner & your rating high,now of course you still have to keep tabs on them every once in a while but this system really does work wonders to improve guest enjoyment....the only drawback is that by doing this you've gotta keep an eye on just how many employees you've got as RCT1 as well as RCT2 will only allow you to hire a total of 200 employees.

Also noticed seems that paths are much cleaner in rct3 then the others (supposing you put in trash cans benches, ect) you only seem to need a few (depending on size of your park). Don't forget your trash cans in benches in rct1 and 2!

4x4 grids sound awfully small. In RCT1&2 you could get away with 6 to 8 clicks (and ech click in those was a 4x4 space) as long as your path wasn't too complex.

Same in RCT3. I think being smarter about zones is better than being frugal.

Look at my Frostbite Mountain park in CB Games. The map is 72x42. That's 3024 squares. Using janitors on 4x4 grids would take 189 janitors to cover the entire park...

...I have 15.

Those 15 janitors have kept the park at a 1000 rating after a year.

Don't get me wrong, more janitors will ALWAYS be better than less, but 4x4 feels like overkill. Just be sure to drop them, discipline them, train them to the max, give them the raise and forget about them. They'll be fine for quite a while.

I only place my trashcans & benches near the food courts.

That seems a bit limited somehow in rct3 the trash ends up somewhere else, like if a gues took it with them to a ride they might litter there.