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.