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NL Competition 2 2013 - Screw Me

My sole goal is to get second to last place. I want to not come in last in a NL comp for once. That said, I'm already done, just some cosmetic tweaking left.
 
I mentioned Drachen Fire in an earlier post. (No, I'm not recreating that!) Is anyone familiar with the story behind it? As I understand it, BGE approached B & M to do a coaster for their 1992 season, but B & M was busy with their first inverted jobbie. They said they wouldn't be able to build it, but could still design it. BGE then turned to Arrow, who had done their Nessie and Wolfie coasters, but Arrow pointed out that their track and trains couldn't do what the B & M plans called for, and that they'd have to modify the design. For whatever the reasons, the combination of the two companies' designs caused trouble the whole time the ride was operating. Some of the inversions were removed, as was eventually the entire ride.

Again, that's the story as I know it. If anyone knows differently, let me know - or better yet, PM me, since I probably shouldn't take up any more of the thread for it than I already have!
 
Ive started this but have basically deleted it several times over to stary again. Trying to stick to a singular design/thought and work with that.
 
SFOGRICH said:
I mentioned Drachen Fire in an earlier post. (No, I'm not recreating that!) Is anyone familiar with the story behind it? As I understand it, BGE approached B & M to do a coaster for their 1992 season, but B & M was busy with their first inverted jobbie. They said they wouldn't be able to build it, but could still design it. BGE then turned to Arrow, who had done their Nessie and Wolfie coasters, but Arrow pointed out that their track and trains couldn't do what the B & M plans called for, and that they'd have to modify the design. For whatever the reasons, the combination of the two companies' designs caused trouble the whole time the ride was operating. Some of the inversions were removed, as was eventually the entire ride.

Again, that's the story as I know it. If anyone knows differently, let me know - or better yet, PM me, since I probably shouldn't take up any more of the thread for it than I already have!
Click to expand...

Basically, they approached B&M to build the ride, but B&M was far too busy with building 2 standup coasters, as well as their first inverted coaster. The layout was going to feature a loop around the lift hill as well as a cobra roll and 2 interlocking corkscrews- a lot of signature B&M elements that B&M had no problems accomplishing with their rather maneuverable trains.

Arrows on the other hand had design challenges with the layout so it was modified. They did try to incorporate some B&M design features into a smaller layout, but obviously the ride was never what it was intended to be considering the overall roughness of the ride. Had they built it in a more modernistic style (lead-ins/outs, heartlining, etc.) then it probably would still be standing today, namely the transitions between the two corkscrews. You can just tell from watching videos that those transitions are painful and bone jarring. The corkscrews themselves would be fine, had they been implemented in the traditional style (we all know of the forceful entries to the double corkscrew elements ;) ). Either that or make the corkscrews in a more modern style.
 
It's been quite a busy week. The earliest I've gone to bed in the past week and a half is 1:30am (weekends are a given).

I hope the tracks are still going well for everybody. As always, questions and concerns are welcome. I've received one track so far, so my assumption is that everything is going smoothly.

Competition three might not be out right after the deadline, as I will still be busy with school, I'm planning on getting away from Houghton for a night this weekend, and I'm still not sure what to do for the third contest. I'll keep everybody updated as much as I can.
 
3rd comp:

B&M Floorless built around wooden window boxes. More boxes = more points.

Must feature one 150ft drop. No limitations, 3Ds, tool, whatever.
 
I had what may have been an NL first today. It was definitely the first time I've ever seen it happen! I was E-stop testing my track, and when I disabled the E-stop, the train that was in the station dispatched, with the OTSRs in the "up" position! Talk about having another reason for E-stopping the ride! I'm sure the riders could pull them down while the train's on the lift, but with nobody checking them, that would certainly be bad on a real coaster. I started to take a screenshot of the train out on the track with the bars up and then post it, but I didn't want to start an epidemic of posting photos!

I may have interfered with the dispatching by toggling the E-stop on and off several times. I do that to let the train get about halfway out of the MCBR brake, and then stop it again, just to see if it can get back to the station with the least possible momentum - worst case scenario, so to speak. I've been doing that on every coaster I've made as far back as I can remember, but this was still the first time I've seen a train leave the station with the bars up! Anyone else ever see that?
 
^Several times. Typically when I mess around with e-stop and it just glides through the station.
 
SFOGRICH said:
I had what may have been an NL first today. It was definitely the first time I've ever seen it happen! I was E-stop testing my track, and when I disabled the E-stop, the train that was in the station dispatched, with the OTSRs in the "up" position! Talk about having another reason for E-stopping the ride! I'm sure the riders could pull them down while the train's on the lift, but with nobody checking them, that would certainly be bad on a real coaster. I started to take a screenshot of the train out on the track with the bars up and then post it, but I didn't want to start an epidemic of posting photos!
Click to expand...

Now I know which coaster will be yours. The one that kills everybody :p
 
I've received three with a fourth coming soon. I'll be accepting tracks throughout this week, as it'll be another insanely busy week again and I do not know when I will get around to actually judging the rides. I still need to make a template for the next contest as well. Please be patient. Thank you for your understanding.
 
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