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Shuttle Coasters
Basics
Shuttle coasters are a new feature of NoLimits 1.5. A Shuttle Coaster
differs from a normal coaster in the concept of travelling forth and
back on a non closed piece of track instead of travelling continuously
around in circles on a closed circuit. To create a shuttle coaster, the
track must therefor not be closed (see the connect/disconnect command).
The Operation Mode must also be set to "Shuttle Mode" in the Coaster Settings Type
property page.
Shuttle Types
NoLimits allows to control the shuttle operation in many ways to
simulate real shuttle coasters that exist nowadays. Shuttle coasters
can be separated by a several aspects. For example some shuttles have
no track behind the station, and the typical operation will be that the
train travels from the station forth to the end of track and returns
back to the station to finish the ride. In contrast to that, there are
shuttle coasters that have track behind the station and the train
typically passes by the station on the way back to travel on the
additional track behind the station before it again changes direction
to finish the ride. Some coasters even travel along the track and pass
through the station again and again and change direction more than
twice until the ride is over. Some Coasters are launched forwards out
of the station and there are coasters that will be pulled out of the
station backwards on a reverse lift. In plain English, a shuttle
coaster can operate in different ways and NoLimits will allow to
recreate many of possible ideas. The whole shuttle operation is
definied by the Segment Settings and the following guide will give tips
on fine tuning the appropiate parameters in order to recreate several
types of shuttles.
Station Launches
A station launched coaster can be recreated by activating the "Launch"
and "Transport Device" option in the Station Settings.
It will launch forward out of the station after dispatch.
Reverse Lifts
In contrast to a launched coaster, it is possible to recreate coasters
that will be pulled backwards out of the station by a lift. To do so,
there must be Lift Segment located behind the station and both the Lift
and the Station
must have their "Reverse Cable Lift" options activated.
The Lift will then pull out the train backwards out of the station.
Typically a Reverse Lift will release the train when it reaches the
highest position on the lift to start rolling forwards back through the
station. To do so, the "Release when reaching end" option should be
enabled on the Lift.
Multiple Passes
A train can travel along the Shuttle track for several "rounds".
Actually the word "round" does not fit because the track is not a
complete circuit. In NoLimits this action is called a "Pass" therefor.
To be more precise, a train "passes" along a Segment and will decrement
its "Pass" counter. The Station and Transport
Segments both have a
"Pass" counter. The "Passes" option sets the initial counter value when
the train
is dispatched at the beginning of the ride. It controls how many times
a train should travel along that Segment before it will behave
differently. A Station will not brake and stop the train until the Pass
counter has reached 0. On the other hand, a Transport Segment will stop
accelerating the
train. The Transport Segment also has a handy option that allows to
even decelerate the train when the Pass counter has reached 0. It will
behave similar to a Brake Segment then.
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