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I'm playing RollerCoaster Tycoon Deluxe and I already observed it twice that a mechanic drowned in the lake. It happened in two different parks, in both cases there was a path and a rollercoaster station along the coast. I couldn't tell where exactly the mechanics drowned since I only got alerted by a red notification "mechanic # has drowned!" when they already were gone.

How and why does that happen?

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  • No idea why... but maybe you could put a fence around the body of water to prevent them from walking in.
    – Timmy Jim ♦
    Jan 8 '17 at 19:33
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    Maybe you could focus on improving working conditions... :-)
    – Robotnik ♦
    Jan 9 '17 at 3:53
  • When the 'Mechanic # has drowned!' message appears, does the arrows button not appear alongside the message (the one that centres the view on where the event occurred)?
    – user200816
    Feb 5 '18 at 16:09
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It's to do with the terrible tracking of the AI. If a path is near a body of water, and a ride is also nearby, this can lead to them taking a "shortcut" through the nearest body of water.

This can also occur if a large section of path is deleted. They try to track back to the nearest section of path, but that doesn't always work out...

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  • Really? In all my time playing RCT, I've never witnessed this and I'm pretty sure I've built my park in a similar manner at least once. Never the less, I can believe this tragedy.
    – Timmy Jim ♦
    Jan 9 '17 at 3:53
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    I used to build rides over/on the water, forcing the staff to take the paths that go over the water, this prevents them taking the "shortcut". I came to this same conclusion after a while and only seem to happen to mechanics and entertainers.
    – Mixxiphoid
    Jan 9 '17 at 5:19
  • Not sure if I understand correctly.. They are taking a shortcut from/to the station off-path? And if it happens that there is water, they drown? I never observed that (except some handyman walking on grass, even when they were disallowed to mow it).
    – Floern
    Jan 9 '17 at 15:00

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