Virtual Resort - Spring Break aka Beach Life

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[City Builder]

Continued because I inadvertantly hit the post button...

And then I raised the price of the burgers on the new beach bbq to $5.90, people continued to queue up for burgers on the new beach bbq and there was nobody using the original bbq that I....  had left the price at $5.00 for a burger.

When I set the price of a burger at the new bbq to $6.00 the people all jumped out of line and went their own ways.  I reset the price of the new bbq to $5.90 and the people flocked to the new beach bbq  and queued up again to get a burger.

The thing I thought was odd is that the original bbq is sitting there with nobody in line and a full $0.90 cheaper than the new bbq but nobody lined up to get a burger.  I guess this goes to show that the peeps on the island are not really aware of what all is on the island even if it's only 3 feet away from them.

I also thought it strange that I had restaurant 1 offering the quality meals at $14.00 and a restaurant 2 no more than 50 feet away offering quality meals at $17.00 and the people flocked to the restaurant 2 which was a full $3.00 higher.  While I had some people using Restaurant 1 at $14.00, when I raised the price of restaurant 1 to match that of restaurant 2 ($17.00) I never received anymore customers at restaurant one until I dropped the price back down to $13.00.

Now one might speculate that it must have had to do with location, location, location (as my realtor would put it), but really.. Looking at the location of restaurant 1 and 2 they were only 50 feet away if that and restaurant 2 (the popular one) was only a few feet away from a noisey power generator and the staff buildings, so there wasn't anything around it that would make it more popular.  Again, people unaware of what is on the island if it's not within 1 feet of them maybe?  Perhaps.

[CoconutKid]

In reply #45 I said:

Next Step: Gather some refined data on Mechanic performance, and then calculate the fractional Mechanic required per building at various schedules.

I haven't yet gathered better data on how many inspections Mechanics do per shift, so I decided to use arbitrarily 10 per shift - which should be easy enough to adjust to actual figures.

Numbers of Mechanics
Required by
Inspection Schedule.
^{10 Inspections per Shift Assumed.}

• 8 hr ^default Schedule
  • 3 inspections per day per building
  • Each building requires .3 Mechanic
  • One Mechanic covers 3.1 buildings
• 16 hr Schedule
  • 1.5 inspections per day per building
  • Each building requires .15 Mechanic
  • One Mechanic covers 6.7 buildings
• 24 hr Schedule
  • 1 inspection per day per building
  • Each building requires .1 Mechanic
  • One Mechanic covers 10 buildings
• 32 hr Schedule
  • .75 inspection per day per building
  • Each building requires .075 Mechanic
  • One Mechanic covers 13.3 buildings

Of course the list could be extended, but I think four categories of urgency are sufficient for gameplay.

Very Tentative List of Categories for Building Inspection & Repair.

• 8 hr = Critical
  • Hotel, Accommodation Blocks, Power Generators, --
• 16 hr = Urgent
  • LG Towers, Toilets, Administration (Mechanics, Cleaners, etc.), --
• 24 hr = Standard
• 32 hr = Minor
  • Showers, Complaints, Ice Cream, --

I expect this list to be changed as we learn how fast the various buildings deteriorate.

I think it is very important that any adjustment to the scheduled hours to fit this (or any other) variation from the 'default' be made ASAP after construction is completed.

Now - how to manage the Mechanics to get the most "Inspect & Repair" action from them.

[CoconutKid]

As far as the toilets go in Spring Break / Beach Life, I have always placed them near to the main drinking establishments as the tool tip suggests when selecting the toilets from the build menu.  ...  As far as how many of them to place, well -- I would assume that a line would form like it does at my restaurants if it's being overloaded and in the game that I played last night with only 160 +/- guests to my island getaway, I never saw a line form at the restroom.  There were plenty of lines at ... but none ever formed for the restroom. ...

Wow, 

Somehow I haven't noticed that 'tool-tip' -- perhaps mine are a little slow in coming-up; but I'll start watching them all more closely.

However, I'm not sure queueing is a reliable indicator -- consider your example of the side-by-side Beach BBQs. I have noticed a number of guests walk up to a Toilet make a very short pause and turn, walk away without going in. I have not yet taken the time to check their thoughts and/or bladder conditions -- but I strongly suspect something (price or condition) turned them away rather than another occupant.

I feel sure there is more going on with Toilets than is apparent. I'm now almost certain that no other buildings - including basic sleeping rooms - have toilets.

Beware the "default" settings for variables in this game! NNN They allow you to survive and perhaps to win, but they also involve some very subtile trickery - IMHO. They appear to be set to try to involve the player in the depth of the gameplay. If they are the best settings, why are they variable? Why would the player bother to try a poor setting?

As to the seemingly strange reactions of the guests to the similar buildings, the manual has some sly hits of the differences. I haven't started examination of the possibilities for reactions to price variations; however, my style is to try to separate the 1 & 2 numbers of those buildings as much as possible.

[City Builder]

I was pretty sure that you can maybe click on the toilet building itself and see what the recent thoughts are like most buildings have. I remember reading a lot of "I'm not paying that much to use Toilet" or something close to that, indicating and corresponding with a point in the game where I did raise the price of the toilets.

As for placement of buildings that have a 1&2, I'm not the kind of builder that you must be, as I just place them where I see the most people hanging out, however playing your way and seperating them, might allow me to better guide the guests to locations where I want them but which they otherwise don't seem to visit on their own.

[CoconutKid]

... I always overhire and end up firing people when I see that I'm barely making any profits every day although my biggest expense (other than when I'm on a building spree) is always the stock purchases, that just kills my budget every single day.

My foggy memory tells me that you also mentioned 'stock purchases' in another context. I think I perhaps can make an intelligent comment -- finally.

When you look building-by-building, the game's accounting scheme deducts the cost of the products sold in each building when reporting the profit for that building. That may have the natural tendency to cause the player to think that only the daily net per building is used in the "Income\Costs" summary reported by the Interface Finance 'button.' I think rather that the daily gross is aggregated ; therefore, the 'stock purchases' should reflect the cost of: Aspirin, Suntan Lotion, Souvenirs, Beer, food for meals, cocktails, soft drinks, ice cream, etc. sold that day. Meanwhile the 'retail sales' shows the off-setting gross income.

I have to own-up that I am still learning how to arrange and build with the money cheat; so I haven't been watching the accounting scheme reports. None-the-less, I am a bit surprised that profitable individual buildings could, in gross, be such a drag on the cash balance.

[CoconutKid]

I was pretty sure that you can maybe click on the toilet building itself and see what the recent thoughts are like most buildings have. I remember reading a lot of "I'm not paying that much to use Toilet" or something close to that, indicating and corresponding with a point in the game where I did raise the price of the toilets.

Excellent point! Yes, not only did I not click on each guest, but also not on the building. I was lazy or doing another thing. I am trying a cut-price Toilet system by charging only the 'break-even' $.10 to try to reduce the 'bladder index' to nearly perfect, and also to try to made the guests think prices are "lower" by reductions at selective points. It seems to be working, but not clearly. (I also try making the Showers free by losing $.01 .)

As for placement of buildings that have a 1&2, I'm not the kind of builder that you must be, as I just place them where I see the most people hanging out, however playing your way and seperating them, might allow me to better guide the guests to locations where I want them but which they otherwise don't seem to visit on their own.

Well, I sort of do the coup d'oeil on the island as best I can while still learning the game's intended arrangement of buildings. The sly hints are that you also have to discover the demographics of the guests. The #2 buildings are upscale and may need to have more attention paid to surroundings. I'm wondering now if price setting on the Hotel and Accommodation Blocks may tilt the spending limits and interests of the guests.

That's the reason why it would be so much more interesting to be able to "cheat" a win on the 'Campaign Games' in order to "salvage" the 'set-up' instead of struggling with the sandbox start-up of frustrated guests. There's two parts to that 'dream' cheat, moving to the "play-on" phase and having all buildings, etc. unlocked.

At least there's more to discover about this game. 

[CoconutKid]

GAMEPLAY NOTES
 

Shucks! With liberal use of the money cheat, I met the test on the campaign game for island #12 (Happy Endings? 5 Star Rating before day 10) [This is an illustration of how NOT to encourage replay use of your game.   ] It's a nice island with some variables and my intention was to play on to test stuff, check stats and so on ; instead - I get a pop-up (quite fancy, I should add) which doesn't allow me to play-on as do the "fullfillment" pop-ups on the other campaign games - instead I could only return to the menu. Then to add insult to injury, it doesn't go directly back to the menu but rather takes you on a tour of "game credits." Additionally, it locks-up at about the finish of the music credits so I had to do the ctrl\alt\delete bit to get back to the desktop.   \  It's sad but no doubt why so many dropped the game when they got that pop-up.

One thing I did discover. Toilets: I built many, more than the number of drinking places, and cleaned them like the 'Dutch Maid.' I still had a sad bladder index.    It was the worst item on all the guest index lists.  

My suspicions were raised about the utility of the Happiness Mongers (aka Reps) -- they probably work. They are female and male, perhaps at a ratio of 14f\1m. Their 'Chalets' (a unfortunate Britishism, IMHO) need to be well distributed and not hidden away - they don't wander too far. I raise their pay to keep their happiness in the 90% range; and set their time spent with guests to the left at 1\3 (default is mid-range). At a ratio of 3\50, I thought the happiness index was shockingly good - if they had any influence.

OTHER NOTES
 

Just a reminder, some of the 'campaign' games start almost exactly like a sandbox game, but have a challenge to meet. They are:

• #4 Scorcher! - start with $50,000 and a 9 day limit
• #8 Milk It! - start with $40,000 and a 9 day limit
• #11 Big Spender! - start with $100,000 and a 5 day limit

[CoconutKid]

...
Speaking of lines (queues), I thought it very funny that mny beach BBQ had a huge line for burgers, and many people were turning away with the thought in their thought box that they weren't going to stand in that long of a queue for the beach BBQ.  So I did what I thought anybody would do, and I built a 2ND beach BBQ literally not more than 3 feet away from the first so that people wouldn't have to stand too long in a queue.

And then I raised the price of the burgers on the new beach BBQ to $5.90, people continued to queue up for burgers on the new beach BBQ and there was nobody using the original BBQ that I had left the price at $5.00 for a burger.

When I set the price of a burger at the new BBQ to $6.00 the people all jumped out of line and went their own ways.  I reset the price of the new BBQ to $5.90 and the people flocked to the new beach BBQ and queued up again to get a burger.

The thing I thought was odd is that the original BBQ is sitting there with nobody in line and a full $0.90 cheaper than the new BBQ but nobody lined up to get a burger.  I guess this goes to show that the peeps on the island are not really aware of what all is on the island even if it's only 3 feet away from them.

I also thought it strange that I had restaurant 1 offering the quality meals at $14.00 and a restaurant 2 no more than 50 feet away offering quality meals at $17.00 and the people flocked to the restaurant 2 which was a full $3.00 higher.  While I had some people using Restaurant 1 at $14.00, when I raised the price of restaurant 1 to match that of restaurant 2 ($17.00) I never received anymore customers at restaurant one until I dropped the price back down to $13.00.

With a bit more experience, I can make a semi-intelligent comment    and a speculation.

Whilst using the Beach BBQ extensively for 24 hr fast-food (more beach than land), I found that the latest\newest BBQ develops the queue. It seems random which of the older ones will be entirely unused, or graced with a relatively steady stream of customers - but not a queue. Note that the Beach BBQ is an essential link in a branch of the building tree (i.e., you have to have one to unlock some other buildings). My speculation is that the game engine has a "Queue Routine" to 'force' the player to try to think of anti-queue actions - which may or may not work. As a side bar, I have tried to fit the BBQ into some cramped spaces, and you'd be surprised how the queue can conform to them.  

On the Restaurant #1 vs #2 issue: It's my opinion that the manual gives some subtile clues that the #1 and #2 buildings have an inherent quality differentation "radiated" to the guests. This seems to fit in with the hints that in some campaign games, there are different economic, age, or other classifications of guests. Also, there seems to be a general tenor that the resort should grow from cheapos to wealthy guests -- at least that you should try for two ambience "zones."

I haven't done much with price changes. Cutting just a few below the default seems to get the guests to be happier with the pricing -- so it's useful early on to build up the star rating. Your experience seems to indicate that raising prices can have bad results if not done slowly.

[CoconutKid]

Very Tentative List of Categories for Building Inspection & Repair.

• 8 hr = Critical
  • Hotel, Accommodation Blocks, Power Generators, --
• 16 hr = Urgent
  • LG Towers, Toilets, Administration (Mechanics, Cleaners, etc.), --
• 24 hr = Standard
• 32 hr = Minor
  • Showers, Complaints, Ice Cream, --

I expect this list to be changed as we learn how fast the various buildings deteriorate. ... Now - how to manage the Mechanics to get the most "Inspect & Repair" action from them.

I haven't learned anything about how fast the building deteriorate. I have learned a smige about managing the relationship between the inspection interval per building and the numbers & shifts of the Mechanics.

BUILDING SCHEDULED
INSPECTION INTERVAL

• 04 hrs = Critical
  • Power Generator, Water plant, --
• 08 hrs = Urgent
  • Hotel, Accomodation Block, --
• 12 hrs = Necessary
  • Mechanics, Cleaners, Toilet, --
• 16 hrs = Standard
  • Builder's Yard, General Store, Security, --
• 20 hrs = Controlled
  • Complaints, Rep. Chalet, 1^st Aid, --
• 24 hrs = Nominal
  • showers, ice cream, --
• Newly completed buildings seem in random repair states; so you may wish to "call mechanic" as you set the inspection interval.

Obviously, the buildings listed are an illustrative sample only.

SIDE-BAR ON
BUILDING LOCATION

I was fooled by my own "in-the-box" thinking that the Mechanic's & Cleaner's buildings should all be clustered with the Builder's Yard along with the Generators and Water Plant in order to keep them out of view of the guests. I have found that they (especially the Cleaners) are far more effective when distributed throughout the site. Only one (probably the first) Mechanic's should be in the Builder's Yard 'Cluster' with the Generators & Water Plant.

MECHANICS AND
THEIR SHIFTS

You will need a minimum of TWO Mechanic's Buildings for any significant inventory of other buildings. The crux is covering the scheduled inspections around the clock whilst at the same time providing quick response to breakdowns. Working with fewer is an issue only for the first few days in 'Sandbox' mode (a refinement of guidance way down the road).

The Mechanic default shift is 09-19 which may lead the player to think this is an ordinary day-time job. Not so. First consider that the staff shifts are ten hours (vs the standard union eight) which means that 24 hour coverage has to involve significant overlaps. Additionally, each Mechanic has THREE task assignments:

• Inspect and Repair
• Repair Vandalism (aka 'Fixer')
• Water Gardens (aka 'Gardener')

By default every one is 'ticked' for every Mechanic; thereby their attention is diverted amongst tasks which are not of urgent need.

If we consider the Mechanic's buildings in "pairs" so that we have ten at a time to schedule, we can deal in ratios -- refinement to specific buildings may be of interest later.

• Day\Overlap = 07-17 ; ratio = 3\10
• Swing = 14 - 0 ; ratio = 4\10
• Graveyard = 0\10 ; ratio = 3\10

Shift names I have used are the traditional US terms.

To make the Mechanics fully effective at "Inspecting & Repairing," I believe it is necessary to set the "task ticks" for every individual.

• Inspect and Repair = every Mechanic
• Repair Vandalism = additional duty for one on the swing shift
  • To be reconsidered if you sell Smashers beer & cocktails
• Water Gardens = additional duty for one on the graveyard shift
  • To be reconsidered if island has excessive number of 'heat waves'

.
Of course, I appreciate comments and critiques.  

[CoconutKid]

I have similiar stuff for the Cleaners, but I suspect that I engage in "overkill" in one of the specific tasks at the expense of the others. So I will look more before I post.

Meanwhile -- Lifeguards continue to drive me crazy.

Gameplay Suggestion: A very old note posted by only one person said that the sharks seemed to catch very few swimmers other than the 'snorkelers' who seemed oblivious to beach closures or whatever. I have tried raising the price of snorkel gear and it seems to work.

Also about Lifeguards: Just as with queues for sales stands, it seems that the game engine has a routine to send many guests to swimming in one small area and getting in trouble, and at all hours. It's not a 'hazard' about which the player is warned -- but something which "pops-up" and goes away. Meanwhile your Lifeguards in that area are overwhelmed.


Please note that I do use the edit function and that I have done some significant edits in this thread.

Thanks for your attention and comments!