2006 NL Tournament (Round 1) - RESULTS pg 58

Originally posted by cjd

What do you guys have against the contest template? It seems like everyone is trying to hide it with 3ds or terrain. Your coasters aren't going to be eligible for weekly medals, and therefore having a boundary made of supports doesn't mean anything at all here. And you can just delete the template alltogether once you go to post the coasters on another site. Even if you just want to hide it for personal satisfaction reasons, why not just submit the coaster and THEN get rid of the template?

Just asking... it seems ridiculous to me that everyone is trying to find some clever way to make the boundary dissapear.

Its not that i have anything against the template, its that for some reason, it just looks odd.

I'm just building the coaster. I think there should be no 3ds in the compitition (3ds just make everyone not look at the ride) so the rides are judged evenly!

I disagree, i think that 3ds enhance the ride and give it more realism.

I guess the only problem with the boundries i had was the road. Its just that the poles used to make the road boundries were really thin, and would flicker on and off from a distance during riding the ride, and it just kind of was a distraction.

3D's dont neccesarily enahce a ride, they can make it look better, but ultimately it is p to the track work, if your track sucks, then no amount of cool 3D's can change that.

What i meant is that if you have a nice track, 3ds would make it feel more real than if it was left alone, not that if you have a crappy track it would make it look a whole lot better...

Originally posted by RRollergod

I'm just building the coaster. I think there should be no 3ds in the compitition (3ds just make everyone not look at the ride) so the rides are judged evenly!

It doesn't matter if "everyone" doesn't look at the ride. This is not being judged by your ratings on the exchange. It is being judged by me. And 3ds do not distract me one bit. I'm not going to forget that the track sucked technically just because there were good scene objects, and I'm definitely not going to forget that the coaster felt like I could have gone faster on top of a turtle just because there was a cool tunnel effect somewhere. 3ds can only do 2 things... 1, add to the originality score if they make it more original. 2, add a tick to the adrenaline score if the scene objects enhanced the excitement of the ride. These bonuses are very small. They do help, but they will NOT make or break a ride. I'll take a 'naked' thrill machine that knocks my socks off over a coaster with scenery, great environments, and a slew of 3ds effects, but lackluster adrenaline, any old day.

The only reason that it seems that coasters with 3ds always get higher scores is because the people who are using the 3ds are also usually some of the best deigners. There are very few people out there who can make awesome 3ds stuff, but cannot make a coaster with good adrenaline to go with it. Most of the time, it is a good designer who also happens to know how to make good 3ds.

The top track from Round 1 last year had no 3ds, or even custom supports for that matter. It was so good in the technical and adrenaline categories, and had such an original layout, that neither of them was needed. Actually, designers who used 3ds in their contest tracks were a minority last year. ish was the only one who really had any significant 3ds work.

Originally posted by cjd

Originally posted by RRollergod

I'm just building the coaster. I think there should be no 3ds in the compitition (3ds just make everyone not look at the ride) so the rides are judged evenly!

It doesn't matter if "everyone" doesn't look at the ride. This is not being judged by your ratings on the exchange. It is being judged by me. And 3ds do not distract me one bit. I'm not going to forget that the track sucked technically just because there were good scene objects, and I'm definitely not going to forget that the coaster felt like I could have gone faster on top of a turtle just because there was a cool tunnel effect somewhere. 3ds can only do 2 things... 1, add to the originality score if they make it more original. 2, add a tick to the adrenaline score if the scene objects enhanced the excitement of the ride. These bonuses are very small. They do help, but they will NOT make or break a ride. I'll take a 'naked' thrill machine that knocks my socks off over a coaster with scenery, great environments, and a slew of 3ds effects, but lackluster adrenaline, any old day.

The only reason that it seems that coasters with 3ds always get higher scores is because the people who are using the 3ds are also usually some of the best deigners. There are very few people out there who can make awesome 3ds stuff, but cannot make a coaster with good adrenaline to go with it. Most of the time, it is a good designer who also happens to know how to make good 3ds.

The top track from Round 1 last year had no 3ds, or even custom supports for that matter. It was so good in the technical and adrenaline categories, and had such an original layout, that neither of them was needed. Actually, designers who used 3ds in their contest tracks were a minority last year. ish was the only one who really had any significant 3ds work.

cjd is a GREAT judge guys, dont forget this. in last year's tourny, in the second round, i built this poop coaster, and it tied with someone who also had a coaster with the same score, cjd made the right decision in giving the person who didnt have 3ds the win. i only had the same score as him too b/c i had 3ds.

Yea, you wont see any real significant 3d work from me. But thats a given these days

Well I am pretty much done...

Supports- %100

3D's (a sign)- %100

Scenery - %100

Trackwork - %95

Have mercy, I think I'm actually going to have a submitted ride. I'm not doing any 3ds, and I'm not the best track smoother... wait. I SUCK at track smoothing. I'm also on a Mac, which means that I have no tools like elemental or AHG or smoothers.

Bottom line? Probably won't make it past the first round, but at least I'm going to have a submitted track!

Oh, and since it seems to be the popular thing to do:
230ft tall, 5964.29ft long, 11 drops, a leaning helix whirlpool, and a slithering finish.

[hyyyper]

Originally posted by Wing-Over

Originally posted by Dragon Fly

Hey Wing-over, does your drop go 140 degrees to the right, or 500 degrees so you add a 360 diving helix into the straight?

I dunno what exactly you mean by that, but my drop turns 117* to the right. I've got a couple of screens showing my support work so far (Including footers and track connectors), and the start of a 3ds station.
http://nldc.interfix.net/p1620

wow....a steel block

^ I know, it's nowhere near finished yet, but I just thought it looked better than the default NL red brick station.

[hyyyper]

^everything looks better than that

(the default station, not yours)

No offense Dragon Fly, but if you're already done with your contest entry I highly doubt it will be of high quality. Perhaps you are just a very quick efficient worker, but I can't see how a quality hyper could possibly be made in 3 days or however long it has been. As for me, I've completed the layout, currently just smoothing and depumping little bits and pieces.

I could do one in 3 days if I had 8 hours each day.

Im about 1/3 done with the track and techincally Id say Ive only spent a day on it. I could very easily come home, finish it up and have supports nearly done in another days time.


Hypers are the easiest. I will spend some time on planning to ensure its unique but still as completely realistic as possible but as far as build time, 3 days is do-able. A stretch, but do-able.

Can i have that road to? (To anne8baan[AT]hotmail.com )
(I am not registered,but i am gonna make an track(i have im on (95%))

Even I'm thinking of making a coaster... I was just about to start a B&M hyper project.

Well, I dont have a job, and there is a teachers convention, so I got an entire week free, and I spent about 8-11 hours a day on that coaster

CAN I JOIN

i am suprised, i already completed my track layout and most of the supports.

its too late to join ryan, u had to register by feb 25, but there will be more

Starting supports here, with only one 3d so far. A entry sign. I just took my Rita one and pimped it out.

I've got the supports up the lift done, and I'll be starting the drop later tonight. I've also found a name for it: Howitzer. Of course it's gonna get new colours now, the green dosen't suit that name at all. I'm thnking Tatsu-like track, with dark grey supports.

Good you changed colors, because im rocking the lime now. Ive only done brake supports, but starting lift shortly.