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Basic
Guidelines An intense ride can be fun,
but there's a thin line between pleasure and pain, and if your ride is
too intense you'll find that nobody will want to ride it. As a general
rule, if the 'intensity' rating is over 10, the ride is probably painful
rather than pleasurable, and you'll have to do some re-designing work.
Many
things can make the ride too intense, but the usual culprits are the vertical
(up-down) and lateral (side-to-side) accelerations (G forces). The peak
values can be viewed on the statistics page on the ride information window,
and if the lateral G's are above about 2.5, or negative vertical G's exceed
-2 then the ride will be seriously uncomfortable for the riders. Excessive
positive vertical G's can be a problem as well, but short peaks of +6 or
+7G can be tolerated by the riders.
If
you need to reduce the intensity of a ride, use the acceleration graphs
to locate the problem areas, and then re-design the track to reduce the
lateral or vertical G forces. Here are some examples of how to reduce intensity
in some situations:-
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Tip
Number One Here
we see a steep drop followed by a sharp banked turn which the train will
traverse at speed. Although the sharp banked corners can be very useful
in a confined area, and to add excitement towards the end of a ride, using
them straight after a long drop will result in high G forces pushing the
rides sideways and into their seats. To reduce these forces, try to use
larger radius curves where the train will be travelling at higher speeds.
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Number Two The
entry speed to a vertical loop (or other inversions) is quite critical,
and can make the difference between the ride being great fun or being painfully
uncomfortable. If the speed is too high, try re-building the loop at a
higher level, so that the train loses enough speed climbing the approach
hill before entering the loop.
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Number Three Un-banked
curves taken at speed can be uncomfortable, so where possible, try to use
banked curves, or design the track so that the curves are taken slowly.
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Number Four Sometimes
the length of train can make all the difference to the intensity. A longer
(and hence heavier) train will tend to run faster and produce higher forces,
so try running shorter trains to reduce intensity. Be careful though, as
a shorter train might run so much slower that it doesn't complete the circuit.
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Number Five On track types where it allows
it, be careful how you use the sharp transitions between level and very
steep slopes. If the speed is just a bit too fast, the positive and negative
G forces can become far too high. Much better to use intermediate slope
transitions to reduce the forces and provide a smoother ride.
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