Why do we use flanges? Excellent question. You see, when Roller coasters are ordered, the track and supports are usually not made in the park; rather by a manufacturer located far away from the coaster's destination. This means that it is necessary to transport the massive pieces of steel a long distance, which, in turn, means that the steel must be able to fit within shipping containers or flatbed trucks. Very rarely are track pieces shipped in trailers, and I have yet to see supports shipped inside of one. This being said, only pieces of a certain size or smaller may fit onto a flatbed truck, so the manufacturer separates the steel into multiple parts, hence the need for flanges. Flanges are simply there for transport. Now, as for the question of whether or not the flange makes a support stronger: it does just the opposite! A flange is no were near half as strong as a solid piece of steel, and about half as strong as a welded piece of steel. However, the flanges aren't going anywhere, so don't worry about whether or not the supports will hold next time you jump on a coaster, I guarantee it will! Also, we use flanges instead of welding everything on site because of the price. It would drastically raise the price of a ride if it was all welded together. So next time you build a ride, think about whether or not you need to put flanges somewhere. Yes, they do make it realistic, but they look horrible, and so many times is a good ride ruined because of over flanged supports.

~TheFireKing

Agreed, over flanged supports are distracting and in some cases downright ridiculous. While I don't ordinarily concern myself with reality in my parks I believe the right amount of flanges do add a touch of reality to the appearance of the ride and its integration into the remainder of the park. Flanges look far better included with CS supports than the in-game default supports. Where in-game supports don't have this problem CS supports do tend to pop out of view in the far distance regardless of how high the LOD's are turned up but that's the trade-off.

Flanges also make it easier to replace only one part of one support whereas a completely welded support would present another set of replacement problems.

I can certainly understand flanges being needed due to transport and expense concerns. While it's not always possible I'm sure though that there are a few rides that would look much better with supports that are entirely welded.

I usually place one flange per 2 slanted or angled beams, 1 for every crossbeam and for vertical supports, one every 8H space.
But generally, it annoys me to do them. You know,

Many steel coasters are moved from park to park and renamed when they have worn out their welcome. You cannot easily move a steel coaster that is welded together. Coasters are huge investments so they have to protect that for the future.

The nuts that hold the supports to the foundations are spot welded to prevent any movement. All other nuts are marked with a line to visually show if there has been any movement.

Well, I wanna add that there are a few exceptions, the Python in the Efteling, NL, doesn't have a single flange, the reason for it is because at the time, early 80's, Vekoma did the construction work at the site itself, so there wasn't any transport needed, except the steel what will be melted and formed at there. This was only for parks nearly Vekoma ofcourse.

^ way to go your first post was a bump

Well, I wanna add that there are a few exceptions, the Python in the Efteling, NL, doesn't have a single flange, the reason for it is because at the time, early 80's, Vekoma did the construction work at the site itself, so there wasn't any transport needed, except the steel what will be melted and formed at there. This was only for parks nearly Vekoma ofcourse.

if u bump again, quickscope me m9 8(

M Y 900TH P O S T ! !