----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----+----6----+----7----+----8
FAQ/STRATEGY GUIDE FOR
ZOO TYCOON 2
game by
BLUE FANG
and
Microsoft
this guide written by
SOLDYNE
Version 3.00
VERSION HISTORY:
4.00 - Fourth Release. Over 60 Challenges listed. List of buildings
will not be comming any time soon, there are just too darn many of them.
3.00 - Third Release. Corrected my spelling of "Zoo Tycoon Unleashed". added
research for marine animal training and marine shows. added some research done
on educational fame. added some more reader feedback. updated the terraforming
tips section (pictures included).
2.00 - Second Release. Includes walkthroughs for all scenarios up through
EA XP. includes some reader feedback. new sections for Miscellaneous
ideas and easter eggs. corrected my terrible spelling of "scenario"
throughout the document.
1.00 - First creation. Does not include Marine Shows, Challenge list,
Buildings/Objects list, expansion scenario walkthroughs, and some other
items.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TABLE OF CONTENTS
(TO GO TO ANY SECTION USE THE FIND COMMAND AND TYPE IN THE ROMAN NUMERAL, THE
LETTER OR THE NUMBER WITH BRACKETS OR PERIODS AND GO TO THE SECTION
(DO NOT PASS GO DO NOT COLLECT $200)
I. INTRODUCTION
II. THE GAME BASICS
A. PROFILE
B. FREE FORM MODE
C. CHALLENGE MODE
D. CAMPAIGN MODE
E. LOAD SAVED GAME
F. EXIT GAME
G. GAME OPTIONS
H. DOWNLOADS
III. EXPANSIONS
A. ENDANGERED SPECIES
B. AFRICAN ADVENTURES
C. ZOOKEEPER COLLECTION
D. MARINE MANIA
E. EXTINCT ANIMALS
IV. STRATEGY AND MAKING MONEY
A. ZOO SIZE AND LOCATION
B. ZOO LAYOUT
C. STAFF
D. BUILDINGS AND OBJECTS
E. INCOME and EXPENSES
F. ZOO FAME
G. ANIMAL HAPPINESS
H. GUEST HAPPINESS
I. AWARDS
J. SHOWS
K. TOURS
L. OTHER IDEAS
M. READER RESPONSES
N. EASTER EGGS and BUGS
V. MINI GAMES
A. TRAINING
B. FOSSIL HUNTING
C. FOSSIL BUILDING
D. DNA MANIPULATION
E. CURING DISEASES
F. DINO RAMPAGE
G. GUEST MODE
H. PHOTO MODE
VI. TERRAFORMING TIPS
VII. SCENARIOS/CHALLENGES
A. ZOOKEEPER IN TRAINING
B. TROUBLED ZOOS
C. PREVENT ANIMAL ABUSE
D. THE GLOBE
E. CONSERVATION PROGRAMS
F. THE MYSTERIOUS PANDA
G. AFRICAN ADVENTRUE
H. TRANSPORTATION
I. PHOTO SAFARI
J. ENDANGERED SPECIES
K. MARINE ANIMALS
L. MARINE SHOWS
M. EXTINCT ANIMALS
N. EXTINCT EXPLORATION
O. THE DINOSAUR ZOO
P. CHALLENGE LISTING
VIII.APPENDIX A: LIST OF ANIMALS
IX. APPENDIX B: LIST OF BUILDINGS/OBJECTS/ETC
X. APPENDIX c: MY PHOTO POSTING GUIDE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I. INTRODUCTION
Welcome to my guide on ZOO TYCOON 2 (ZT2). I would first like to give
BLUE FANG and all the other companies who had a hand in this game
a "Thank You" for producing this game with detailed graphics and great sound
and music.
at your earliest moment please take a chance to visit the lovely official
web site for ZT2 at:
http://zootycoon.com/default.htm
and please register for the forum and join us to discuss this wonderful game.
I would like to say that this is my third FAQ/STRATEGY guide (see also
Mall Tycoon 2 and Prison Tycoon guides on Game FAQS) and that
all info contained herein is a culmination of hours of trial and error,
observation, and shear dumb luck. I would also like to thank the many fan sites
and forums as well as the large community of ZT2 fans.
For those that have read my other guides you are probably noticing a
pattern with the introduction...
Please note that I am writting this guide with all current expansions installed
with the game so if you only have a few expansions then some of the data may
seem to be a little different, please keep this in mind.
If anyone finds that any info in this guide is erroneous, my explainations
are difficult to understand, or you just have some new info to add then drop
me a line at Soldyne@Yahoo.com and have the subject read:
ABOUT YOUR GUIDE
or
ZOO TYCOON 2
This is because I have many filters on my email account and this will let me
know that your email is worth opening. I should not have to say this but,
PLEASE make sure you computer is clean of viruses and such before sending
me any messages. Thank You!
Now for some legal stuff:
This guide is Copyrighted under law and cannot be reproduced by others without
express writen permission from me. You may not link directly to this document
or display a copy of it on any website. I worked long and hard to get this
information and I would like to be credited for my work.
If you don't beleive me then check out the Copyright Act of 1976
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Copyright_Act_of_1976
A Note About Pronouns:
I will tend to use masculine pronouns throughout my document. This is not
intended to disrespect or in any way ostrisize the female population. It is
just how I write. Thank you for your understanding in this matter.
OK, now onto the good stuff!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
II. THE GAME BASICS
ZT2 is a strategy/simulation resource managment game. The overall objective is
to build a zoological garden containing a vast array of animal species from
all over the world while at the same time entertaining your guests and making
a profit. sounds like fun, so lets get started!
This game is designed for younger audiences and for families, although, serious
strategy/simulation players can find quit a bit about the game to give them
hours of fun and enjoyment. portions of the profits for the sale of this game
and its expansions go to the World Wildlife Fund. The game is not only fun
but it is educational and helps real zoos and animals.
Once you have the game installed and running you will eventually find yourself
at the main menu. this will have a nice random background with some kind of
theme song playing. the theme song and background will be determined by which
of the expansion packs you have installed at the moment.
some of the new features of the second installment of Zoo Tycoon include a fully
three dimensional environment with the ability to zoom in and out. You can also
go into zoo guest mode and walk around your zoo on foot. while in this mode you
can take over some of the jobs of your zookeepers by raking poo, filling water
troughs and cleaning your animals. you can even clean up after the guests if
you janitors are getting lazy.
there is even a photo safari mode where you can take pictures of your zoo and
put them into a photo album. you can access your photos outside of the game
so you can post them on the net or do whatever you want with them.
A. PROFILE
At the top of the screen is your profile. Profiles are important if
you are sharing your game with someone else. each profile will keep track of
numerous things such as progress in a campaign, challenges completed and what
items have been unlocked. of course, if you choose to work together with
someone then a single profile will do.
The profile will also keep track of pictures taken and saved games. you can
find your profile and access your pictures by going to:
C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name\Application Data\Microsoft Games\
Zoo Tycoon 2\Profile Name
When you switch profiles or start a new one the screen may flicker a few times
while the game resets everything. don't worry though all the hard work you
put into your other profiles will still be there.
B. FREE FORM MODE
This is the shovel and pail button in the middle of the screen.
In a FF game you have unlimited cash and all animals, buildings and objects are
open to you from the start. the only things which you do not have access to
are the locked items which must be opened by completing campaigns and
challenges.
There is no way to lose in FF mode no matter how bad you are, there is also
no way to win. FF mode is great for building extravagant zoos or, better yet,
experimenting. Since FF mode is so open and free I will not cover it much
beyond this small introcution.
C. CHALLENGE MODE
This is the pile of money and watch button in the middle of the screen.
In Challenge mode you get your choice of zoo size and global location. the
location of your zoo will determine what biome (discussed more in detail later)
and what background ambient noises you will have when you first start out. A
few maps will have preset mountains, rivers, foliage and some will even have
conservation areas set aside.
A conservation area is a part of the map that you will not have any
control over. you will not be able to manipulate the terrain, disturb the
foliage or change the area in any way, shape or form. the only thing you can
do with it is add animals to make it an exhibit.
Before you start you game you can choose the level of cash you can start with.
In a challenge game there are no winning conditions but you do need to watch
your money. every so often the game will give you challenges which you can
accept or decline. by succeeding at the challenges you can gain temporary
prizes or even unlock various objects for use in other maps (discussed later).
one of the biggest differences between FF and Challenge/Campaign mode is that
many objects, buildings and animals will not be available from the start of
the game. in order to gain access to many of the items and animals in this
mode you must increase you zoo's fame level (also discussed later). as your
zoo's fame increases you will be able to purchase better objects and buildings
and more interesting animals.
another difference is that you will not have access to all animals at once.
instead you will be given a small list of possible animals from which you can
adopt a limited number of male and female specimens. you can choose to decline
the choices and the game will randomly choose a new animal for you to adopt
which is in line with your zoo's fame level. you can continue to decline
adoption until you get what you want so it can be annoying at times. I really
don't see much of a point to it, but, it is the way it is.
Challenge mode is great for the more serious tycoon player who wants to build
a great zoo but also wants the thrill and satisfaction of managing the resources
to make it run well.
D. CAMPAIGN MODE
This is the lock and key button in the middle of the screen.
In Campaign mode you will be given a list of scenarios. each set of
scenarios will have a sublist of games which must be played in order. once all
of the sub games are completed you will unlock a special prize which could be
a new object or more scenarios. the objects unlocked in this manner will be
available throughout the game within the current profile.
you can always replay a scenario if you want to, but, other than fun and
experience there are no further benefits.
Each scenario will be different having different starting conditions such as
different levels of cash, pre-built zoos, conservation areas, and fame levels.
just like in Challenge mode you must increase your zoo's fame level in order
to gain access to new objects buildings and animals. on the more difficult
games (discussed later) you must adopt certain animals in order to win, however,
the game will only give you a random choice so you must continuously decline
adoption until the winning animal appears which can be very annoying.
one of the benifits of Campaign mode is that you can learn the basics of the
game by playing the tutorials. after the tutorials you can increase your skills
by playing the other scenarios while at the same time opening up new items.
Also, ZT2 offers so many different ways to play that many people get
over whelmed with the possibilities and end up doing the same things over
and over. By playing through the scenarios you will get the chance to
experience all the things that ZT2 has to offer and perhaps learn a few
tricks along the way. Campaign mode is great for learning and building your
skills within the game.
E. LOAD SAVED GAME
this is the folder with an arrow button in the middle of the screen.
This will allow you to return to a previously saved game which was saved within
the current profile. if you saved a game under profile "X" then you must be in
profile "X" in order to load that saved game.
F. EXIT GAME
This is the big red "X" button in the middle of the screen.
this one is obvious, do you really need a guide to tell you what it does?
G. GAME OPTIONS
This is the computer monitor and keyboard button in the middle of the screen.
This will open up all the options such as sound and graphics for the game.
Microsoft and Bluefang were very good about this part, as the game will
automatically set itself for what it believes is optimum settings. if you feel
you can tweak the settings for better performance or graphics then go ahead
and open up the advanced settings.
I will not get into details about all the graphics options here, that could be
a guide unto itself. if you want to know more about all that stuff, well, you
could always post your questions on the official Zoo Tycoon forums and everyone
there will be glad to offer some adivce.
My suggestion is, if you don't know what you are doing, then leave this area
alone.
H. DOWNLOADS
This is the section of the game where you can download official content from
the Zoo Tycoon website. except for Dino Danger which costs $4.99 all other
downloads are free of charge and are highly recommended. (Dino Danger Pack is
no longer available as a seperate download as it is included in the Extinct
Animals Expansion Pack).
as of the writting of this guide the current list of downloads is:
Black Leopard and Stuffed Prey Dummy
- adds a new animal and new item for your carnivores to play with
Holiday Pack
- adds christmas themed objects for your zoo
Musk Ox and Tundra Theme Pack
- my personal favorite, it adds a new animal which is available at
the start of all zoos and adds a ton of new buildings and objects
which require no research to obtain
Challenge Pack 1
- adds new challenges for challenge mode play
Scenery Pack
- more scenery (don't you love the subtle titles?)
Asian Elephant
- another animal (can't have enough of them!)
Spring Beautification Pack
- lots of new flowers for decorating with
Guest Fun Pack
- lots of new objects to entertain guests with
Addax
- you have to go to the website in order to download this new animal
Updates for Dino Danger
- free updates for the premium Dino Danger pack (included in the
Zookeeper Collection Expansion Pack)
BE WARNED! Dino Danger pack is included for free if you buy the Extinct
Animals expansion pack (EA XP). Dino Danger was offered long before the
EA XP was released so there was a time when it was worth it to spend the $5.
However, there is no refund for people who purchased the download and then also
purchase the EA XP. you were warned.
Also, if you purchase the Zookeeper Collection then all the downloads except
for the Addax will already be included in the CD set, so, for those of you with
slow internet connections this is the best way to go.
There is also a patch available at the official site. the patch is also
packaged with the Zookeeper Collection Expansion Set.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
III. EXPANSIONS
This section, not surprisingly, will list the expansions and give a brief
summary of what they offer and why you should buy them. of course you can
always go to the official Zoo Tycoon website and see all the wonderful
adds for the expansions yourself with wonderful pictures and sound effects.
(no, I do not work for Blue Fang or Microsoft, they just made a good product
so I want to help them out with a little advertising...)
With so much content added by so many expansion packs the submenus for objects
buildings and animals can be filtered by clicking on the triangle button in
the bottom middle window. you can filter by expansion pack, biome, threat
level, object/building type and other criteria. it makes finding things so
much easier.
A. ENDANGERED SPECIES
This was the first expansion pack (ES XP) to be released for ZT2. it has 20
animals to add to your zoo and a lot of new challenges and scenarios which
revolve around endangered animals. scenarios and challenges include breeding
endangered species and creating habitats and zoos worthy of housing some of the
worlds most critically endanged animals.
ES XP also added a ton of new concepts such as Jeep vehicle tours, Sky Tram
tours and elevated paths. New buildings, themes, challenges, scenarios
and also new guests and improved guest AI were added with this expansion pack.
Items added by ES XP will be marked with a green leaf.
B. AFRICAN ADVENTURES
This was the second xp (AA XP) to be released. This XP was not as full as ES,
however, it did add 20 more animals (which are always good for a zoo) as well
as new skins for the Jeep vehicles, new themes and of course Africa centric
challenges and scenarios. probably the best addition with this XP other than
the new animals was an improved animal AI which introduced realistic herding,
hunting and pack behavior among animals in large groups.
Items added by AA XP will be marked with an orange stamp of Africa.
C. ZOOKEEPER COLLECTION
This is basically a re-release of the first two expansion packs along with
all the free downloads and the main game all wrapped neatly in a single package.
It came out at the same time as the next XP as a way to bolster sales and help
regerate wanning interest in the game. it worked! the Zookeeper Collection is
what got me into the game and I have been hooked ever since (heck I'm writting
the FAQ aren't I?). this collection also included the code patch.
D. MARINE MANIA
This is the thrid XP for the series and is pretty much the same thing as the
Zoo Tycoon 1 version, only better. This is just as it sounds, it adds 20 new
marine animals (fish, mammals, birds) as well as new water filled exhibits to
house them in. MM also added 4 new biomes to properly match up with the
marine type habitats.
in addition to new animals MM XP also introduces the water show. You can
train certain marine animals to do tricks which can then be employed to
enterain guests. the trick training can be done automatically with new hired
trainers or you can play various minigames to train your animals yourself.
Trainers are slow but will work without any interference from you. the mini
games are quick but you will have to leave your zoo unattended for a time
while you do your training.
Another cool feature is the ability to swim with your animals and even ride
on the backs of many of your marine animals (ever wanted to swim with dolphins?)
like the other XPs this one also adds new themed buildings and objects as well
as new challenges and scenarios.
Items added by MM XP will be marked with a blue sea shell. Trainable animals
will have a yellow star inside the shell.
E. EXTINCT ANIMALS
This is the fourth XP for the game and is one of the most exciting and fresh
XPs yet. This XP brings back the dinosaurs but also introduces players to
other extinct animals from earths history such as the dodo, wooly rhino, quagga,
and protarchaeopteryx.
This XP adds 30 new animals (10 more than the standard XP) and includes the
Dino Danger pack premium download (no refund if you already purchased it
seperately).
This pack also adds 5 new mini games which include: Searching for fossils,
building fossil puzzles, combining DNA, stopping rampaging dinos, and even
curing new and strange diseases. There are also new staff members such as
entertainers and paleontologists as well as the standard new themes, objects,
buildings, challenges and scenarios.
Items added by EA XP will be marked with two crossed bones. Items from the
Dino Danger pack will be marked with a yellow dinosaur skull.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IV. STRATEGY AND MAKING MONEY
This is the section that most of you have opened this guide for. everyone
wants to know how to make money. Before we move on with this section I need
to set a few ground rules and assumptions:
1. I assume that you have access to and have read the game manuals. this
means that you know how to build exhibits, what a biome is and the difference
between a guest and an animal. I will not rehash the manual. if you do not
have the manual handy you can always go to the offical website and download
a .pdf version of all of the manuals, so no excuses, get reading!
2. The in game tutorials (found in the scenarios section) are very well done
and very informative. I actually replay some of them just to remind myself
of the basics from time to time. I strongly suggest and indeed assume that
you have played the tutorials and understand all the basic concepts contained
within them.
3. The intent of this section is to build upon the basics which you should
know from reading the manuals and playing the tutorials. If you find that
some of the concepts I talk about seem a little advanced, then go back to the
manual and the tutorials to refresh yourself (no shame in that). Although, I
may get a little basic from time to time just so we are all on the same page,
just don't expect me to hold your hand.
4. This section will focus mostly on Challenge mode. The ideas discussed here
can be used in campaign mode but each scenario has differnet winning conditions
and each sub game is disscussed in its own section below.
There is no money or strategy involved in Free Form mode since there is no
way you can win or lose. I do suggest that if you have an idea you want to
test out then use FF mode as a proving ground to experiment in before going
blind into the other modes.
A. ZOO SIZE AND LOCATION
When you first start out in Challenge mode you will be given a long list of
possible locations and sizes for your zoo. the list of zoos is on the left
hand side of the screen with the zoo size in parenthesis; (S) is small, (M) is
medium and (L) is large. Junior zoos are small in size and have paths and
fences already set up to help out those people who might not know what direction
they want to go in yet.
The globe in the middle of the screen will give you an idea as to where in the
world the zoo is located. you can click and drag the mouse to rotate the globe.
its a nice toy, but has no other use.
on the right hand side of the screen you will see a thumbnail of the zoo,
followed by a short description and then a dollar figure with two arrows. You
can choose the amount of money you start with in challenge mode. you can really
challenge yourself by putting the figure as low as $5,000 (not recommended) or
you can increase the figure by factors of $100. I have brought the figure as
high as $10,000,000 and have gone over that while playing the game. I do not
know how high the figure goes, but, if you are going to start a zoo with more
than $500,000 then you might as well go play Free Form mode.
There are three sizes of Zoos that you can make use of in the game: small,
medium and large.
The small zoo is 52x52.
The medium zoo is 70x70.
The large zoo is 92x92.
I think that all of these sizes are much too small for any kind of great zoo,
especially when you consider how many animals and biomes there are in the game.
even with these small sizes the entry way takes up even more space. I am
terrible at ASCII art so I won't try to demonstrate what I mean, but, you
should be able to tell the amount of space lost just by looking at any random
map.
All I can say about zoo size is to make sure you make the most of your space.
plan ahead, use minimum exhibit sizes (see appendix A for details), make use
of raised paths and just get used to the idea that you will most likely not
be able to have every animal in your zoo at the same time. I am not saying that
such a zoo is impossible, what I am saying is that it is not practical.
some good ideas for zoo planning are to concentrate on one theme or idea.
create multiple zoos where each one concentrates on one biome or one region of
the world (like an asian zoo or desert zoo). No one ever said that you can only
have one zoo!
B. ZOO LAYOUT
The way you layout your zoo is entirely up to you, however, if you would like
an efficient zoo which will help increase your income, fame and guest happiness
levels then I have a few ideas to share.
Your zoo is first and foremost a business. you must think about profit and
income. Guests are your only source of income (except for a few rocks and trees
at the start of the game that you can recycle for cash). guests will only give
your zoo money if they are happy and entertained. guests will only show up if
you have animals in exhibits. to make guests happy you need happy animals,
food, drink, restrooms and entertainment/decorations.
any zoo design with animals will attract guests. but keeping the guests in the
zoo and getting them to spend all their money is a matter of efficient park
design.
Guests will only walk on paths (sometimes a random guest will go where they are
not supposed to, but, the majority of them stay on the paths). so an
efficient zoo needs an efficient path layout.
- PATH PLACEMENT
There are various kinds of paths you can use in your zoos but they all cost
the same amount and the guests really don't care so long as the paths lead to
food, enteratinment and exhibits.
I use three sizes of paths for most of my parks; 3 tiles, 5 tiles, and 6 tiles.
I would not go less than 3 or more than 6.
I use 3 tiles mainly during scenario games when money is tight. more tiles
means more money invested. I like 3 tiles over the suggested 2 tiles for a few
reasons.
1) the middle tile can act as a place to put lots of objects such as donation
boxes, decorations and food carts. this then keeps the two tiles on either side
free and clear for guests to observe the animals without bumping into stuff
all the time. also, if a bench is 1 tile from the exhibit the guests on the
bench can still see the animals thus letting them rest and observe at the same
time.
2) Arches are one of the games best decorations. every guest that walks under
and archway will gain some entertainment value. arches are 3 tiles wide with
1 tile underneath for passing through, so, this makes the perfect decoration
for a 3 tile wide path. The only arch that is 4 tiles wide is the extinct
themed arch.
3) Donation boxes can be expensive, so, by placing a donation box in the middle
tile you can essentially use one box for two exhibts. rotate the box so that
the front is paralell with the path (not facing an exhibit) this way guests
on either side of the box can access it with equal ease.
4) the middle row is great for putting in the occasional gift or food cart.
like the donation box, make sure the front is not facing an exhibt and you
should have plenty of customers.
5) by putting all your benches and other objects in the middle of the path
you can also place observation areas on either side of the path which further
increase guest happiness.
I use the 5 tile wide pathway when I play FF or Challenge mode (since money is
less of an issue). the principles are still the same as with the 3 tile path,
but now you have more room to play with. with 5 tiles you can put in bigger
decorations, fountains, statues, and even some nice landscaping.
remember though that if a bench is more than 1 tile from an exhibit then the
guests can't see the animals.
6 tiles are what I use for the main entryway path. there are two reasons for
this:
1) the entry way itself is 2 tiles wide so an odd numbered path is impossible
to center (I like things centered).
2) with 6 tiles you can place two arches next to each other very neatly.
Here is a pic of a 3 tile wide path and some object placement:
http://img267.imageshack.us/my.php?image=3tileswidemx3.jpg
- EXHIBIT CREATION
Now that you have your path set up you need to attract some guests.
The only way to attract guests is with animals which must be enclosed
in exhibits.
Exhibits are going to be, without a doubt, the largest things in your zoo.
figuring out how big to make them is going to be the main focus of most zoo
designs. there are some things to consider when building exhibits:
1) the type and number of animal(s) you plan to place in the exhibit.
2) guest visibility to the animals.
3) animal privacy.
The first point is complicated as each species of animal requires different
amounts of space. This will be discussed in more detail in section
G. ANIMAL HAPPINESS and you can reference size requirements for each animal
in APPENDIX A below.
The second and third points will be discussed here. Guest visibility while on
a path is 10 tiles in all directions from the point they are standing. guests
can only see into an exhibit if they are standing on a tile next to an exhibit
or at most 1 tile away (which will give them visibility of 9 tiles into
the exhibit). Binoculars can increase this visibility range to 22 tiles but
only in a confined arc (about 60 degrees) as opposed to 180 degrees. Also,
binoculars do not allow visibility to things in the exhibit that are in the
first tile (those items are too close for the binoculars to focus on).
Elevated paths only give visibility to an exhibit if the edge of the path
extends beyond the fencing into the exhibit. visibility is sill only 10 tiles
away from the path, and the guests cannot see anything that is underneath the
path or 1 tile from the path (because of the angle). Even though the elevated
paths do not increase the visual radius of the guest they do allow the guest to
go further into the exhibit without reducing the size of the exhibit. this can
help save on space at the expense of extra cost to build.
with this knowledge I generally try to keep most of my exhibits 10 tiles deep
or less. I don't use binoculars too often because only one guest can use them
at a time. if you want to go with elaborate exhibits with mixed animals (say
for example the ever popular savannah exhibit) then perhaps 22 tiles deep with
a few strategic elevated paths would be ideal.
Animal privacy can also be a concern. many of the more endangered and solitary
animals (carnivores for example) require more privacy than other animals. for
the most part privacy can be easily achieved by providing some kind of shelter
for your animals to sleep in. however, one way to provide cheap privacy is by
limiting the view of your guests into the exhibits. any area which guests
cannot view is considered a privacy area for your animals (but only if the
animals move into that area). this can be acheived by using solid fencing, or
by extending the depth of the exhibit beyond the visual range of the guests.
animals that can swim can use deep water as a privacy area, unless you are
using marine tank walls which allow guests to see into deep water.
due to size limitations I would suggest researching any shelters and using those
instead of increasing the size. the shelter will provide privacy and sleep and
your guests can still be entertained when they see your animals using the
shelters. This also keeps your exhibits smaller thus saving your overall zoo
space and saving money on extra fencing.
- FENCING
while we are on the subject of fences lets get into some more details. Fencing
is going to be your number one expenditure. fencing is not cheap and you will
need a lot of it. when you just start out chain link fence is really going
to be your best and pretty much only option. due to cost, you will most likely
be using chain link fence for most of your zoo tycoon career.
The best way to reduce fencing cost is to put your exhibits on the outer edge
of the zoo. the zoo boundary fence will act as exhibit fencing and is free.
also, if you put two exhibits next to each other they can share the fencing
between them thus reducing costs even more. sharing fencing between multiple
exhibits is also a good idea when hiring zookeepers, but, we will save that
discussion for later.
Chain link fencing is not a good idea for animals that can climb such as chimps,
lemures and koalas. you will have to use some other kind of fencing for them.
The best fencing for decoration and saftey is the widowed fencing (themed if you
want to decorate). this is also the most expensive. The most secure fencing is
the electrified dinosaur fencing (from EA XP). this is not the most decorative
fencing but it will keep pretty much anything inside except a rampaging dino.
another good fencing with plenty of visibility is the marine wall which comes
with MM XP. so long as you don't make the entire exhibit out of marine walls
then the exhibit will not fill with water. you can use marine walls as part of
your viewing area and it will be like a giant wall of glass. it looks quite
nice and is less costly than the average windowed fence, but, more pricey than
standard chain link.
This is a pic of the standard 10x10 fence exhibit:
http://img263.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fencexbtby5.jpg
a version of the standard exhibit is the indented exhibit. this is basically
the same land exhibit mentioned above with a small pocket 1 or 2 tiles deep
into the exhibit where the guests can go further into the area to view the
animals. if you surround the rest of the exhibit with solid fencing this can
give the aniamals some areas in the corners where they can have some privacy.
the disadvantage here is that the viewing area takes up space from the animals
home so it requires a little more planning.
take a look at this basic indented exhibit:
http://img257.imageshack.us/my.php?image=indentxbtwr3.jpg
here is the same exhibit from guest view with marine wall viewing area:
http://img267.imageshack.us/my.php?image=marinewallviewjt4.jpg
fencing is good for saving space since it does not take up any space itself.
all fencing is on the edge of a tile. however, no fencing is perfect and many
animals have ways of bypassing many kinds of fencing. chimps and other climbers
can climb many kinds of fence. meerkats and other tunnelers can dig under
most all fences and no fence is strong enough to contain an angry dino.
an alternative to fencing is to use cliffs. The game comes with an array of
easy and free to use landscaping tools. The cliff, ditch and flatten tools are
extremely useful. when you use the cliff or ditch tool a single click on the
mouse button will raise or lower the terrain by one unit. most animals can
easily climb a cliff that is 1 unit high. 2 units high should be enough for
most animals. some animals (such as the Ibex) are natural mountain climbers
and may requrie cliffs that are up to 3 or 4 units high.
Cliffs are cheap to make and (if they are high enough) 100% safe for all animals
Dinos cannot rampage through a cliff, chimps cant climb it and meerkats cant dig
through it. the problem with a cliff is that it is hard to create and takes
up precious space.
There are two ways to use cliffs to make exhibits: the ditch exhibit or the
cliff wall exhibit.
first you should know that from the default level of the entrance you can
go two units down with the ditch tool or 4 units up with the cliff tool. this
is important to know if you want to make such exhibits for your mountain
animals (as they will need more than two units of cliffs to contain).
The ditch exhibit is generally the cheapest and easier of the two (IMHO).
to create a ditch exhibit first design your exhibit using the cheapest fence
possible; low chain link fence. once it is enclosed, use the ditch tool and
dig a ditch anywhere in the exhibit to the lowest level. then use the flatten
terrain tool inside the ditch (its easiest to use when it is at 100% size)
and then flatten all the terrain inside the exhibit. notice that you can get
all the way up to the fence and the terrain will not flatten. this is
because fencing on enclosed exhibits will lock terrain at the level where the
fencing is at which allows you to create vertical cliff walls of any height.
when the ditch is done, paint your biome on the inside and on the walls.
you can also now recycle the fencing on any side that will not be next to a
path. any side of the exhibit that will be next to a path must have at least a
low fence. this is so your guests don't fall into the exhibit (they are not
very bright or careful when it comes to the animals).
if you are going to put another ditch exhibit next to this one then you must
replace the recycled fence on the cliff edge before creating the new ditch
or you will lose your cliff wall. remember that land will be locked to a
level that a fence is occupying.
The problem with cliff walls is that they take up 1 tile of space on each side
of the cliff wall. thus if you planned a 10x10 exhibit with your low chain
fence and built a ditch exhibit you will only have room in the exhibit for 8x8
tiles. this may not seem like a difference until you compare the areas:
10x10 = 100 tiles
8x8 = 64 tiles
that is nearly a 40% decline in available space! if you want a 10x10 exhibit
you must plan out a 12x12 area before you dig. remember to add 2 extra tiles
in each direction to compensate for the loss of space.
another disadvantage of ditch exhibits is that zookeepers have no way in or out
of the ditch since the walls are too steep. you could build a small ramp which
can provide access, but, that requires some more skill and planning to create
with the terrain tools. or you could just clean up after your animals yourself
but this can get tedious if you have many exhibits. another idea is to have
1 zookeeper per ditch. the keepers do not need to leave the exhibit but if
you have a lot of ditches then this can get expensive.
here is a pic of a simple ditch exhibit:
http://img204.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ditchxbtmi7.jpg
For the cliff wall exhibit you will still need a regular fence on the path
facing sides of the exhibit. for the other sides you must first raise the
ground with your cliff tool and then place your fence where you want your wall
to be. then use the flatten terrain tool to trim the wall against the fence.
when the wall is trimmed you can recycle your fence. this also takes up extra
space, but, it can give your exhibits a more natural look. cliff wall exhibits
are the least practical and the most difficult to plan with, but, IMHO, they are
the best looking. I would only suggest using cliff wall exhibits if you are
a skilled planner and terraformer.
if you watch the openning movie carefully you will see that cliff wall exhibits
are being used for most of the animals and you can see how natural it makes the
exhibits look.
this is a pic of a simple cliff exhibit from guest view:
http://img206.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cliffxbtmw3.jpg
this is a pic of a professional cliff exhibit with water fall:
http://img266.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cliffxptxbtkg8.jpg
this is a pic of the professional cliff exhibit from guest view:
http://img267.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cliffguestviewqn0.jpg
so to sum up your fencing options:
1) fence exhibit - most expensive. least space required. must use right kind
of fence to contian certain animals. meerkats are the worst as they can dig
their way out under any fence.
2) ditch exhibit - least expensive, most space required. can contain all but
your mountain climbing animals such as the Ibex. also prevents staff access.
3) Cliff wall - moderate expense, moderate space, requires the most skill to
create and is not fool proof as fencing is still required on at least one side,
but, is arguably the best looking.
another option is the marine walls. with marine walls added by MM XP you can
create waterfilled exhibits for your marine animals. what makes the marine
walls so special is that the land does not lock in place at the base of a
marine wall. this allows you to lower the land on the outer edge and allow your
guests to see into the water filled tank to watch your animals swim around.
this is a standard marine exhibit:
http://img206.imageshack.us/my.php?image=marinexbtha8.jpg
you can also combine marine walls with other exhibit fencing to create hybrid
exhibits. a hybrid exhibit is one where there is land and water. the land part
can be contained with regular fencing and the water part can be contained with
marine walls. by doing this you can lower the land around the tank walls and
make a small ditch for your guests so they can see your animals swim, or,
go up the path to see them on land.
take a look at this hybrid exhibit with california sea lions:
http://img210.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hybridxbtnk2.jpg
as mentioned before you can also use marine walls as part of a regular exhibit
in order to give a full windowed view.
Do not use moats, especially water moats. about half the animals in the game
can swim so water moats are pointless. if you just use a dry moat without any
fencing around it then both guests and animals will fall into it causing
all kinds of happiness issues and will ultimately be very annoying. with proper
use of fencing moats can be a nice visual addition but they provide no practical
use to contain animals.
- AMENITIES
You have animals in exhibits. then the guests arrive. the guests see the
animals and are happy. but, they won't stay happy for long. eventually guests
will get hungry, thirsty, tired, whiney and bored (just like real people).
This section is mainly to discuss the overall layout of your zoo. there is a
section below, GUEST HAPPINESS, which goes into more detail about how to
keep your guests in a state of eternal bliss (or at least learn how to to ignore
them efficiently).
what we will discuss here is the basic overall strategy for using the buildings
and objects in your zoo for maximum effeciency. I have found that in the games
that I play the best way to use the buildings and to increase overall guest
satisfaction is to build guest areas which specialize in catering to all of your
guests needs all in one place.
every so often, evenly spaced and distant you should build small areas that
contain food and drink stalls with a family restroom and atm. the area should
be large enough to have about 6 stalls (2 food, 2 drink, 2 desert), 1 family
restroom and 4-6 tables, 4 trash/recycle bins, 1 ATM and a few decorations.
do not allow guests to view animals while in the guest areas otherwise
these areas will clog up and decrease happiness. I like to put guest areas
in the corners and in the center of the zoo depending on the zoo size.
gift carts should be strategically placed along the paths (remember the middle
tile?). place marine carts near marine animals and shows and place extinct
carts near extinct animals. Gift carts should be placed about every 20 tiles
or so inbetween your guest areas.
for larger zoos you can use restaurants instead of stalls for the guest areas,
but, you will still need decorations and restrooms. gift shops can also be
placed in guest areas (if room permits) but they do best near the entrance, or
somewhere along the 6 tile main entry way. even if you are goig to use a
restaurant you should still have a few guest areas with stalls and carts to
provide more of a variety. also, a gift shop is not a replacement for well
placed gift carts.
don't try to put food and drink stalls in the middle of the paths. this will
just create more problems then they solve. stalls and carts in the paths will
cause people to complain about no tables to sit at, trash will begin to pile up
very quickly. also your maintenance workers will be running ragged trying to
keep up with all the trash all over the zoo. if you keep your trash contained
to guest areas then it makes clean up a lot easier.
here is an example of a small guest area:
http://img264.imageshack.us/my.php?image=guestareaam5.jpg
- PARK DESIGNS
so we have paths and we have exhibits and we have guest areas. so how do we
put it all together?
there are many ways to build a park but only a few ways that make the park
efficient. in my experience with this game (and Zoo Tycoon 1 as well as other
similar games) I find that there are three basic types of parks that you can
put together: Grid, Single Entry, and Wild Animal Park.
1. The Grid. in the grid design you will be concentrating on making everything
square. you can use a combination of 6 tile entry way and 3 or 5 tile side
paths. your exhibits will be square, your paths will be square. everything
will be evenly spaced. this style makes very efficient use of space and
provides ample room for many small individual exhibits as well as guest areas.
Grids almost plan themselves. they are easy to use and quick to get going.
Of the three designs presented here the grid is the best for water shows and
marine animals.
some disadvantages of this design are that many people think it is too
square. the grid is not organic enough and just does not look nice. also,
there is not a lot of room for tours which can be an important part of many
successful zoos. profitable tours are possible, they are just wont be very
interesting.
I use the Grid mostly when playing campaign games since efficiency is the key
to winning scenarios.
take a look at this sample grid layout:
http://img218.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gridmapdg0.jpg
2. Single Entry. This is a modified Grid style where the only path is the main
entry path. all exhibits are extremely deep and very large. this style has the
advantage of being easy to design (only one path and big exhibits). there will
also be fewer guest areas as guests will all be herded into one general area,
the center. this map also screams for jeep and sky tours as well as giving
perfect excuses for elevated paths. Because all of your guests will be crammed
into the center isle I would suggest making the single path 12 tiles wide
instead of 6.
With some creative exhibit planning you can throw in a water show or two, but,
this design more easily accomodates land based exhibits.
the big disadvanatge with this design is that there is not a lot
of room in the center for a variety of buildings and guest entertainment could
suffer. elevated paths can relieve that burden, but, it will increase the
overall cost of the design.
I used this design on a few campaigns and I think it makes a great challenge
game as well.
3. The Wild Animal Park. This is a modified version of the single entry
design. Instead of having the main entry path extend through the entire park
to the other side, it only goes about one quarter of the way. surround
the path with fencing and all of a sudden your entire park is one big
exhibit! with an exhibit this big you can recreate the african savannah, the
amazon rainforest or what ever your heart desires. this also has the
advantage of keeping all the guests in one nice and easy spot. you can use
elevated paths to add more buildings, but, the main attractions are the tours.
here is your chance to design some really amazing jeep and sky tram tours.
this design does not really support water shows or marine animals very well,
however, a creative player can make anything possible.
the disadvantages with this design are that animals have so much area to get
lost in. if guests cant see the animals then they will leave your zoo before
they are finished spending all of thier money. also, with so many animals and
so much space your zookeepers will have a hard time keeping up with the mess.
I do not suggest this design for most scenarios, although it can certainly be
fun to do in a challenge game.
These designs were just some of my more efficient ideas which I have had
much success with in the past. there really is no wrong way to design your zoo
so long as it has happy guests, happy animals, happy money and a happy player.
C. STAFF
MAINTENANCE WORKER
Cost: $200/mo
These guys are basically like zookeepers for your guests. they clean up
litter, take out the trash and recycle bins and clean your water filters
(if you have MM installed).
These guys work best if you use the guest area idea from the last section.
if you have a large zoo then it might be a good idea to make specialists.
this means having each worker only do one job such as only sweeping litter, or
only taking out the trash. this way they don't get distracted with lots of
other jobs all the time. for a small zoo I would suggest only having one worker
per guest area.
you can also enter guest mode and help out your janitors but this can be time
consuming. you have more important things to do with your time than sweep
the floor.
EDUCATOR
Cost: $200/mo
with podium: $225/mo
These employees require an educator podium in order to do their work. place the
podium in a very high traffic area near a popular exhibit. This is another
great reason for having an odd numbered path width. educators will
stand at the podium talking about whatever animals are nearby. the guests
standing nearby will stand for a bit to listen to the educator and will gain
some entertainment value. educators also provide a slight increase to the
educational value of your exhibits.
In all of my playing I have not noticed much of an increase in educational
donations by adding an educator and podium. if you want to increase your
education donations then invest in a Discovery Kiosk. These kiosks will
add a significant amount to your educational donations.
I would suggest putting in a few educators at the same interval as a gift
cart, perhaps at the corner of two exhibits. if you have more than one podium
and more than one educator then they will switch podiums every now and again.
Zookeeper
cost: $500/mo
These employees will take care of all of your animals. they will clean the poo,
fill the water, replace food, clean the animals and heal the sick. this is why
they get paid more. You can of course do all of these things yourself in
guest mode, but, for a large zoo, you will not have the time.
It is very important to keep exhibits clean. neither guests nor aniamls like
seeing lots of poo in an exhibit. you also need to make sure that animals are
always fed and watered. if not they will become unhappy which then makes your
guests unhappy.
The thing about zookeepers is that they do not need access to the guest areas.
you can lock them inside an exhibit and they will continue to work without
complaint. if you have any exhibit touching another exhibit you can put a
staff gate on the shared fence between them and the zookeeper can move between
the exhibits without ever needing to go outside.
The strategy I use for my zookeepers is to assign a zookeeper to no more than
4 small exhibits (where there are about 4 animals per exhibit) or 1
large exhibit (like that ever popular savannah exhibit). if you find that
an exhibit is not getting clean enough then assign a second zookeeper to help
out.
it is always recommended to ASSIGN a keeper to an exhibit. If a keeper is
unassigned to any exhibit then they will attempt to do any zookeeper job
that is in your zoo. this can cause a lot of annoying messages that pop up
saying that zookeeper so-and-so can't reach the poo. by assigning keepers only
to exhibits that they can access then you reduce these messages. if the
exhibit is large (such as the wild animal park design) then you will still
get these messages because if a zookeeper takes too long to reach a job then
the game thinks that the job can't be reached and posts the message.
assign a keeper to an exhibit by selecting the keeper and then selecting the
tab with a clipboard and paper on it. on this subscreen select the assignment
button (yellow plus sign with clipboard). it will change your cursor to a pole
with a flag. position this pole inside any exhibit and click the mouse.
the ground will begin to fill with a green grid, ignore this. all that grid
tells you is which exhibit is being selected. The assignment will then appear
in the subscreen in a list as "assignment #". once a keeper is assigned
to an exhibit they will only notice and respond to jobs that are in that
exhibit. I have not found a limit to the number of assignments a keeper can
have, but, as I said earlier, there is an efficient limit of about 20 total
animals per keeper (4-5 animals in 4-5 exhibits).
In a small zoo or one that is just starting you can save a lot of money by
taking care of the animals yourself. however once you get 3 or so exhibits
going, you should think about hiring a zookeeper to take care of all those
menial tasks.
TRAINER
Cost: $500/mo (occasionally you will hire a trainer and their salary will
only be $350/mo, this seems random though)
The trainer was added with MM XP. these empoyees will slowly train your
trainable marine animals provided that the tank wall has a tank entrance and
a rather large training area.
Trainers create thier own training areas in a tank and you can assign
more than one animals to a trainer. a trainer can only train one animal
at a time but will switch between them while working.
Trainers are very slow when it comes to training your animals. they will
try to train one trick with one animal at a time and then cycle through
all of the other trainable animals that they are assigned to before continuing
the training on the first animal. this can be very inefficient. they are also
not very effective at training. the advantage to having trainers is that
your animals can be trained while you are doing other work and guests enjoy
watching animals get trained (so make sure guests can see them in action. also,
you can train animals yourself while your trainer is training other animals.
you can also train more than one animal at the same time if you have
multiple staff entrances and multiple trainers in the same exhibit.
if you are going to have shows with more than one trainable animal then
it is recommended to have at least one trainer per tank. they may be slow at
training but it is better than nothing.
there is more information about training and shows below.
PALEONTOLOGIST
Cost: $500/mo
These employees were added with EA XP. They serve two functions but each
function requires a building to make full use of.
The first function is to search for fossils. a paleontonlogist will begin
searching for fossils as their primary function. they will walk around with
a fossil finder (fully upgraded too) and mark areas for fossils. you must
go into zoo guest mode in order to dig them up. this is a great feature of
this employee. if you have ever searched for fossils on your own, you will
know how time consuming it can be. every once in a while you will get a
message that you have discovered a fossil, which implies that the paleontologist
does occasionally get his hands dirty with digging, but, for most of the
fossils you must dig them up yourself.
The paleontologist is very good at what he does. he always knows exactly where
the next fossil is buried. if want to, you can follow your paleontologist in
fossil finding mode and when he pulls out his fossil finder just run forward
in the same direction and dig up the fossil. he will then change his direction
to lock onto the next one. this method pretty much takes all the guess work
out of the fossil finding mini game and can make finding fossils very quick and
painless.
the only way to make use of the fossils is to have an extinct research lab.
you can still dig them up, you just can't use them until you build the lab.
the second activity requires an extinct education center. every so often the
paleontologist will stop this search for fossils and go to the extinct
education center and start lecturing about extinct animals. this performs
the same fuction as the educator above, however, the "podium" is much
larger.
You can have more than one paleontologist walking around which can really
increase the speed at which fossils are found. you can even go into zoo
guest mode and look for fossils yourself at the same time.
if you plan to make use of fossils and the extinct research lab then I
highly recommend paleontologists. however, since they are expensive, I would
only recommend them for an established zoo with decent income.
ENTERTAINERS
Cost: $200/mo
These employees were added with EA XP. there are two types: saber-toothed cat,
and dinosaur. both do the same thing, entertain guests. each one has slightly
different animations which can be fun to watch from time to time.
entertainers can be used in any zoo regardless of whether you are making use of
extinct animals or not. they will walk around randomly and every so often put
on a show. any guests in the area will turn to watch the entertainer and
when the show is over the guests will get a large boost to their enterainment
value.
Entertainers can be made more productive with the use of a stage. they can
enterain larger groups of people and are less likely to sit on a bench if a
stage is present in your zoo. without a stage they can still perform but
they are less efficient and more lazy. you can have more than one stage
and more than one entertainer in your zoo at any time.
if your zoo is large and you have a lot of guests (and/or you are getting lots
of messages about your guests not being entertained enough) then get one or
two entertainers. put the stage in or near a guest area if you can fit it, or
put it by the entrance for greatest effect.
If you have enough decorations and shows then you may not need entertainers as
the only function they provide is to increase the enterainment level of your
guests. if your guests are satisfied then don't spend the money, unless of
course you want to watch the show yourself.
DINO CAPTURE TEAM BUNKER
Cost: $5000 (to buy) $500/mo upkeep
although technically a building these guys can be found in the staff section.
the bunker basically acts like a large statue until you have a rampaging dino
on the loose. then the statue will lift up and a team of highly trained
dino capture specialists will come out of an underground bunker and begin
working their magic.
these guys take a while to capture the dinosaur but are enteraing to watch. you
can very easily capture a dino yourself much faster by going into zoo guest
mode. you can even reduce the damage a rampaging dino does by puting all your
dinos into ditch exhibits (described above). the dino capture team is fun
to watch but I do not use them myself. rampaging dinos are rare and are
easily contained.
STAFF CENTER
Cost: $500 (to buy) $50/mo upkeep
this is not an employee but it is related to them. if a staff member is
waiting for a job (because there is nothing for them to do) then they will try
to go to the nearest staff center to "take a break". this is a complete waste
of time and money. your staff do not need to take breaks! they will work
24 hours a day without rest for as long as you can pay them. the staff center
does not provide any benefit other than keeping your staff from sitting on the
benches and taking space away from the guests. so long as you keep your staff
busy the staff center is not needed.
D. BUILDINGS AND OBJECTS
There are way too many buildings and objects in ZT2 to discuss them all here.
This section will basically be concerned with the buildings and objects which
I believe have the greatest value. if you think that there is a building
or object in ZT2 which I have not listed here and has some great stategic
value to the game then please let me know.
you can rotate buildings and objects by using the < and > keys. you will be
able to rotate in 8 different orrientations. some buildings and objects
can be moved after they are placed. to move a moveable object double click
the object to pick it up.
there may come a day when I feel ambitious enough to catalog every building
and object and create a nice neat chart. that day has not yet arrived. if
someone else wishes to do this then please feel free.
Before we start talking about the buildings and objects lets discuss research/
fame. when you start a challenge or campaign game you will not have access to
all the items and animals right away. first you will need to raise your fame
(see FAME section below) and then once you have the reputation needed to gain
access to certain items you may be required to do further research.
research is an interesting concept in a game like ZT2. don't think of research
as you needing to hire scientists to figure out how to build something. instead
think of research as more of an administrative task. as the FAME section says,
fame is a matter of reputation among suppliers and other zoos. when your
reputation is high enough suppliers will want to do more business with your zoo.
sometimes reputation is not enough. perhaps your zoo has heard about a certain
item that is only available to zoos with a certain renown, but, once you
achieve that fame level no one is offering you this item for sale. so
research is basically money and time that your zoo spends looking through
advertisements, catalogs and calling up suppliers to see if you can find
someone who can supply this item to you.
So, Fame is the reputation and trust you build with suppliers and other zoos
which convinces them to offer you better equipment and more exotic animals.
however, not all suppliers offer the same equipment so research is your zoo
spending time and money to find a supplier which does offer the specific item
you are looking for as well as setting up contracts and negotiating fair prices.
- THEMES
there are many differnet themes in ZT2 which you can use to create themed areas.
I have not seen any great advantage to this in game but I have heard rumors that
themed areas provide a boost to guest enterainment values. themed areas also
look nicer for the player and are just as as easy to create as a non themed
area. you can use as many themes as you can fit in your zoo, but, if you are
going to use multiple themes I would suggest keeping each area as one theme.
don't mix your themes in the same area (just in case there is a bonus).
of course you can decorate as you wish and really when it comes to
decorating your zoo all decorations will add some level of entertainment
value and in the end what matters is the players enjoyment of the game.
Themed buidings cost more to upkeep than default buildings, however, default
buildings all need to be researched (except the ones you start with). even
with the higher maintenance cost it is still a more economic desicion to
use themed buildings since you must take into account the high initial cost
of the research.
for example: if a default building costs $400 to research and the themed
version is $25 more per month it would take you 16 game months before the
default building would even pay for itself. most scenarios will not last
longer than 5 game months. so save yourself a lot of money and use
themed buildings whenever you can.
- FENCES
we already discussed exhibit bulding above, but, there are many different kinds
of fences which can be used to build the exhibits. There are low fences and
high fences.
low fences are good for small animals which cannot jump, climb or
are not tall enough to walk over the fence (like a giraffe for example). low
fences can also keep your guests from walking over a cliff. even if you are not
designing an exhibit you should still use fences to keep guests from wandering
over a tall ledge or into some deep water. Low fences can also be used as
decoration if you going for a themed area.
High fences are generally the best for containing most animals.
chain fence is going to be your "bread and butter" fence for most of your ZT2
career. the only animals that this fence will not contain are climbers
(chimps, etc), meerkats (they dig under it), and dinos (they are too strong).
With other high fences you must be certain that the guests can see through it.
some high fences are solid which gives no visiblity to what is on the other
side. this is good for giving animals privacy as well as decoration.
the most expensive and best kind of fence for exhibits is the high fence
with window. as a rule of thumb, if you can see through the fence in guest mode
then your guests can see through it too. you can also use the "eye" tool
which can be found by clicking on the arrow to far left of the user interface.
clicking on the eye with an x through it will change your cursor to an eye.
when placed on a path in front of an exhibit you will see shiny glitter in the
exhibit which denotes the visibility range of the guest at that spot. if you
cant see any glitter than the guest can't see thorugh the fence. some times it
takes the game a few seconds to calculate the view area. just click on the
path a few times and move the cursor around a bit. if after about 5 seconds
you still don't see any glitter then you should consider a new fence type.
you should also understand that the glitter is yellow so it might not show
up very well against a yellow ground color (desert and savannah for example).
Not all fences can be used to contain animals however. if you are ever not sure
if a fence can be used for an animal then just click on the animal and select
the zookeeper recommendations button (picture of a zookeeper in the far right
corner of the animal subscreen). with this you can get a list of just about
anything that can be used for that animal including fence types, food,
enrichment objects, shelters, biome and other stuff.
The dino, extinct themed and iron bar fence are the only fences rated for
containing large dinos. rampanging dinos can still break the fence. Dino
fence is not very pretty so I often choose to use a ditch exhibit for my
big lizards.
- FOOD AND DRINK STALLS
Food and Drink stalls come in different forms. there are permanent stalls and
carts. carts can be picked up and placed anywhere in your zoo. stalls cannot
be moved once they are placed. Food and drink buildings come in all the various
theme styles so you can create a truly immersive themed area. when creating
guest areas remember to include one meal stall, one drink stall and one desert
cart. different types of food and drink appeal to different types of customers
(see below for more information). each stand can only service one guest at a
time so you should add more when you start seeing long lines form.
There are also three types of restaurants; family, regular and fancy. each
one sells differnet types of food for different prices. each one sells a
meal, drink and dessert all at the same time and provides a place for guests
to sit and rest. restaurants do not provide restrooms and so you should provide
a family restroom next to all of your restaurants. ATMs and gift shops also
work well next to a restaurant.
- RESTROOMS
all zoos will need these if you want your guests to remain happy. restrooms
come in all available themes. the small restroom is cheap and only takes up
two squares, but, only one guest can use it at a time. I always try to add
two small restrooms to a new zoo so lines don't get too long.
the family restroom is amazing. it is availabe at 2 fame stars (see FAME
section below for details). this will take up a 2x2 area and is more expensive
than the small restroom but it can service any number of guests at once.
you will never have a line at the restroom again with a family restroom.
- STAFF CENTER
See STAFF section above
- DINO CAPTURE TEAM BUNKER
See STAFF section above
- COMPOST BUILDING
this is a great building which was also in ZT1. if you have a
medium or large zoo with lots of poo raking going on then the compost building
more than pays for itself.
the only disadvantage is that you must find a place away from guest areas and
paths or guests will start to complain about the smell. animals might complain
as well so be careful where you put it.
the compost building does not need path access in order to function.
unfortunately, my testing was inconclusive as to how much money one gets from
raking poo, but, it will be more than enough to pay for the buildings upkeep and
still give a decent income. this building is highly recommended once it
becomes available.
- ATM
this is a very handy item. when guests run out of money they will start looking
for an ATM to withdraw more. they will keep doing this so long as they are
happy. this is good since they will be spending that money in your zoo.
if they run out of money and cannot find an ATM they will leave. this can
be bad since they may decide to do this when they are on the far side of the
zoo. if so they must walk all the way out of the zoo (not spending money the
whole time) before a new guest can arrive to replace them.
place 1 ATM in every guest area and at every restroom. this should
help retain the maximum number of guests and help keep income high. you might
want to wait until you have a medium sized zoo however as ATMs do cost upkeep.
- EXTINCT RESEARCH LAB
if you are going to use extinct animals a lot then you will want one of these.
this building gives 3 minigames which can be quite a boon to any zoo.
the first is the ability to put together fossils you find in your zoo (see
paleontologist in the staff section or mini games below). once you get a
fossil together you will be able to create that extinct animal through a
DNA mainipulation minigame. if you are successful you get a free extinct
animal (for more details see mini games below) which is quite a gift for a new
zoo with little money.
the final use of the building is to cure special diseases. when you are using
extinct animals there is a chance that they can contract strange ailments.
the only way to cure them is to have an extinct research lab and to play the
disease curing mini game.
if you are not going to be making use of extinct animals then don't get this
building. it is expensive to buy and keep, as well as taking up lots of
valuable space.
- EXTINCT EDUCATION CENTER and PLAY DIG PIT
this was mentioned briefly in the staff section above under the paleontologist
entry. this is a rather bulky building that allows your paleontologist to
teach and entertain guests about extinct animals. when a paleontologist is
not present, guests can educate themselves by reading the plaques that are
around the building.
when used in conjunction with a play dig pit guests can dig up fossils and
place them on the edcuation center display area (this is automatic). after a
while of fossil collecting you will get a statue of an extinct animal. there
are 4 statues in all and each one is placeable anywhere in your zoo. in FF and
challenge mode, completing a fossil statue is cosidered an award.
these two buildings in combination are a great addition to any zoo but they do
cost a bit to upkeep and take a lot of space. I would suggest these for a
medium or large zoo.
- KIOSKS, HOUSES and AQUARIUMS
these are all small additions you can place in your zoo to increase guest
entertainment. they all have interesting animations and can service multilpe
guests at the same time. they do have upkeep costs so make sure to place
them sparingly.
of note is the Education Kiosk. this will not only entertain your guests
but it will also increase thier education dontations for a short time. without
an education kiosk I saw a ratio of 1/5 for education dontaions to
regular donations. with a kiosk the nearby donation boxes saw an increase
to this ratio of 2/3.
I strongly recommend using education kiosks in areas of high traffic near
popular exhibits. you will see a noticeable increase in donations.
- GIFT CARTS and SHOPS
There are regualar carts, marine carts, and extinct carts as well as a gift
shop.
When placed correctly they can provide quite a bit of income. the regular gift
carts should be placed near popular exhibits. you should not need more than
one cart every 2 or so exhibits. marine carts should be placed next to marine
animals and shows and extinct carts should be next to extinct animals. guests
will buy items relating to animals that they are seeing. so if they see a
shark they will go looking for a shark gift to buy.
gift shops sell everything, but, they are expensive and take up lots of space.
they are best placed near the entrance or on the main entry path. Gift shops
are also best placed with restaurants and ATM machines.
- DONTATION BOXES
these are your most prized possession. donations are your number one source
of income. these come in all your favorite themes so you can decorate your
zoo as you like.
place these in the middle of your paths so they can service more than one
exhibit at a time. you can place more if you like as they do not cost
upkeep, however, you want to keep the path clear for guests to walk unhindered.
if you find that a dontation box is not in a good spot you can double click
on it to pick it up and move it.
- TRASH AND RECYCLING BINS
these are important for keeping your zoo clean. a littered zoo will make your
guests unhappy. trash usually comes from food and drink stalls. make sure to
place an equal number of trash and recycle bins in every guest area or near
every set of food and drink stalls. you can move bins by double clicking to
pick them up. bins are very small and only take up half of a square (triangle).
recycling bins are unique in that some trash (drinks mostly) must be recycled.
when they are recycled in a proper bin you will gain $1 for your recycling
efforts. that is not bad considering that a recycling bin has no upkeep cost.
maitenance workers can empty trash and recycling bins when they are nearing
full as can you in zoo guest mode.
- BENCHES, TABLES and GAZEBOS
as do most other objects these come in a variety of themes. benches are best
used in the center of your path no further than 1 tile from an exhibit. this
allows guests to sit, relax and view animals at the same time.
tables are best used near food and drink stalls. when a guest buys food or
drink they prefer to sit while they consume it. if no benches or tables
are provided guests will complain.
benches and tables are moveable, so if you find you need to rearrange your areas
dont delete them, just move them.
Gazebos are not moveable and only have a few themes but can provide relaxation
for a large number of guests.
- OBSERVATION AREAS
like most things these objects come in different themes. Guests enjoy observing
animals from under an observation area. it will increase their entertainment
value. you can't put anything under an observation area so this gives another
reason for having at least 3 spaces for your paths (an observation area for each
exhibit on each side of the path and a free tile in the middle for benches and
donation boxes). these can be expensive to use so wait until you have a decent
income before you start setting them up. these can be moved however so don't
worry if you put it in the wrong place.
- ARCHES
these also come in many different themes. arches are one of the best
decorations in the game. every arch except for the extinct themed arch is
three tiles wide which makes a 3 tile path the perfect place for them. every
guest that walks under an arch will gain entertainment. if you place
arches at major intersections with lots of traffic you should have no problem
keeping guests entertained.
please note, however, arches cannot be moved! if you find you need to move an
arch later then you must sell it and buy a new one. it is a small price to
pay for such a great item.
- STATUES AND FOUNTAINS
Another great set of decorations. guests love to look and comment on statues
and will toss coins into fountains to make a wish (you don't get any income
from fountains). I always like to place a fountain next to the entrance so
that guests are entertained as soon as they walk in. these decorations are
wonderful at keeping guests happy but have a high initial cost and cannot
be moved once they are placed. plan carefully and make sure you have plenty
of money before you start to decorate.
- ZOO MAP
this provides a bit of enterainment but its main function is to help guests
find what they are looking for in your zoo. for a small zoo with few turns
the map serves little purpose. but for a large grid style or a zoo with a
more random layout the map helps guests find the animals they want to see and
helps them find food and drink stalls faster. this will help prevent guests
from walking around randomly (thus not doing anything to spend money on).
a map placed near the entrance and at every major intersection will be the
most effective.
- BINOCULARS
binoculars are useful if you have exhibits that are deeper than 10 tiles.
binoculars provide 1 guest at a time with a visual range of 22 tiles, although,
they still cannot see past large objects such as trees, boulders, or other
such things.
- KOI
This was an item added with MM XP. koi are fish that like to live outdoors in
ponds and lakes. they can make a great addition as a natural looking
decorative area with streams and waterfalls. Koi do not live very long however
and will need to be replaced from time to time. if you have a vision for a
beautiful zoo then by all means use them (guests will be enteratined by them),
however, due to their cost and life span they are not recommended for a
scenario or small zoo.
Koi must be placed in deep water.
- PLAYGROUNDS
there are many types of playground equipment such as bouncy rides, climbing
bars and trampolines. children are not as entertianed by statues as the
adults are so if you want to keep kids happy you must provide the occasional
playground. one or two bouncy rides is really all it takes to keep the kids
happy. if you have the room or have a vision to create then you are free
to add in the other objects. be careful when placing the gorilla climbing bars,
if you place the exit of the bars next to a wall the kids might get stuck trying
to get out.
- MUSIC ROCKS
I like music rocks. each one plays a different theme. you can hear the music
when you zoom in close to the rock or get close to it in zoo guest mode.
guests near the rock will also start to dance which can be fun to watch. most
music rocks are small and provide a decent amount of entertainment.
- TOUR OBJECTS
ES XP added tours and tour objects. these are found at the far right of the
object list. tour objects have the greatest impact when used in an exhibit
near a tour line. however, they can also be used as decorations outside of
exhibits for a moderate enteratinment boost.
E. INCOME and EXPENSES
I know what you are thinking, "It's about time we started talking about money!"
In order to start talking about money I had to make sure you understood the
basics of building a decent zoo and know about the strategies for making your
zoo more efficient. without proper planning and knowledge the information
in the following sections would have been much less useful.
Before you can make money you have to spend money. Lets begin by discussing
the games many forms of expenditures:
Construction Costs and Adoption Fees
Staff Salaries
Maintenance Fees
Animal Upkeep
Research
Construction Costs and Adoption Fees go hand in hand. before you can do
anything in a new zoo you must build exhibits, lay down paths, and adopt
animals. you will also want to place a few decorations, benches, and amenities
before the first guest arrives since you will not know what they will want
when they get there. on a side note, you will not get any income from
putting your animals up for adoption, unlike in Zoo Tycoon 1.
When I build a new zoo I tend to start out with at least 1 decent exhibit with
about 3-4 animals (2 species, male and female each). then I build a 3 tile
path to the exhibit with one or two benches, a donation box and one small
guest area near the entrance.
Maintenance Fees are the result of buying amenities for your guests. all
buildings have some kind of monthly fee which can be thought of as a restocking
fee for food and drink or just a general cleaning and repair bill for the case
of restrooms or kiosks. Themed buildings cost more to maintain than normal
buildings. the monthly cost for a themed building or cart is usually twice
the cost for a regular version. however, regular buildings must be researched
and themed buildings only require fame.
Staff Salaries are paid on a monthly basis and when you first hire an
employee. it is best to wait until the beginning of a new month to hire any
new people. if you hire them at the end of the month then you will end up
paying double for the staff member; once when you hire them and again at the
first of the month.
Animal upkeep occurs whenever you need to refill food and water. this is
obviously a variable expense as it fully depends on how many animals you have,
how much they eat, and what they eat. from my experiments it seems that
restocking a food item will cost a variable amount depending on how much food
is still left in the container. you can find out the food level by clicking on
the food. if the food item is empty it will cost the same amount to refill it
as it would to buy an new one. if the food item is half full then it will
cost half. theoretically, one could recycle an empty food item and then buy
a fresh one to save on money, but, with a very large zoo, this is quite
impracticle. if anyone has other information about this please let me know.
Researching is available in scenario and challenge mode. you don't need to
research anything in FF mode. Researching is completley avoidable unlike the
other forms of expenditures. however, in order to get the best items for
use in your zoo there will be some research needed. for more details on
researching you can see BUILDINGS AND OBJECTS section above.
if you spend money too quickly you might actually go into debt at the first of
the month when your zoo automatically pays out all the staff salaries and
maintenance fees at the same time. don't worry about it, you won't lose
the game if you go in to debt, however, if you are not making an overall
profit then you will not be able to buy anything either. if you find that
you are in debt and staying in debt then you should look at all of your
buildings which are costing you upkeep and recycle all the ones which are
not making a profit or which are not generating income.
Now that we can see where our money is going, lets take a look at where our
funds are comming from:
Entrance Fees
Recycling
Food and Drink Sales
Gift Sales
Donations
Entrance Fees will be one of your zoos first forms of income. everytime a
guest appears at the front gate you will get your entrance fee. Entrance fees
can be set to 4 different levels; free, $10, $20, and $50. the default is $20.
I like to keep the fee at the default level for a new zoo. once your zoo is
up and running the entrance fee income will be small change compared to the
rest of your zoos income. with a famous zoo you could charge $50 and still
have quite a lot of guests show up, however, each guest only shows up with
a set amount of money (which can be increased if they visit an ATM). one idea
is to make the entrance fee free instead of raising it so your guests can
spend that money on other things such as dontations. really there is no
right strategy for the entrance fee. set it do default for a new zoo, and then
do what you like once you become famous.
Recycling income happens anytime you delete something. you can get recycling
income from the rocks and trees that come as part of a new map or even for
objects that you had bought previously. recycling income is usually the first
income one gets when starting a new scenario. recycling bins also give $1 of
income for every water bottle your guests put into it. the best source of
recycling income is the compost building. this building (discussed in
BUILDINGS AND OBJECTS section above) costs $50 a month in upkeep, but, can
produce a large amount of income even for a small zoo. get one of these as
soon as you can. By the way, you can recycle almost anything except staff,
animals and guests. trash and poo can be recycled with the compost building.
Food and Drink Sales are a very large part of your zoos income. guests get
hungry and thirsty all the time. if you follow the suggestions of the previous
sections and build guest areas then guests will have access to all kinds
of food, drink and desserts which they will be more than happy to spend thier
money on. of course these stalls and carts do come with monthly restocking fees
but in a well planned zoo with guest areas the income is generally much greater
than the outgo. you can check a buildings profit by clicking on it and going
to the money tab (picture of money). if a building is making profit, then
you can keep it. if it is a cart, and the profit is low then consider moving
it to a better location. if a building is losing money then delete or move it
as soon as possible and consider revising your plan.
Gift carts are similar to food and drink stalls except that guests dont get
hungry for gifts, or do they... when a guest sees an aniaml which entertains
them they get excited and want to buy a gift of that animal. if it is
a marine or extinct animal then they will need access to a marine or extinct
animal gift cart, otherwise, a standard cart will do. the gift shop can sell
all items. the best strategy with these is to place them near exhibits so
guests can fullfill their material desires at the drop of a hat. I rarely ever
have any trouble with gift carts, if you do, just pick it up and move it.
Donations, donations, donations; these are the number one source of income for
any zoo. there are four kinds of dontations; regular, education, tour, and
show. Tour and show donations happen very simply after a guest has been on
a tour or seen a marine show. the more spectacular the tour or show, the
higher the donations. tour and show donations are generally very high, but, so
is the cost of setting up and running tours and shows (see below for more
detials on tours and shows).
educational and regular donations occur every so often when a guest has had
a happy experience with an animal. donation boxes must be readily accessible
or the guest will complain that they wanted to donate but could not find a
box. boxes cost very little to buy and have no upkeep, so donations are
essentially free money! If the exhibit the guest is viewing is educational then
there is a small chance that the guest will make an educational donation.
educational donations are used mostly for challenge and scenario goals as well
as unlocking certain objects. Educators can have a small indirect increase on
educational donations, but, the best tool for increasing these donations is
with the discovery kiosk.
At this point, if you have followed along with zoo planning and layout, and
understand the different exhibit designs and use of guest areas and path
planning then you should have no problem making money. the biggest problem
you might have at this point is to make money fast enough to do what you want to
do in a reasonable amount of time. don't worry if you go into debt, just wait
for a few minuets while your guests continue to buy food and give donations.
if you set your zoo up correctly you should be out of debt in no time.
F. ZOO FAME
OK, so what is this zoo fame I keep talking about? well, a new feature in ZT2
is that of fame. basically, when your zoo is new you are not very famous and so
you will not have access to many different buildings, objects or animals. as
your zoo grows you will be given more and more items and animals to choose
from. For example, as a new zoo you will not have the ability to build a
family restroom, but, you can build a small restroom.
Think of zoo fame as your reputation in the business and animal conservation
world. if you are just starting out then other zoos and wildlife
conservationists do not know you well enough to trust you with a javan rhino or
a flock of flamingos. you need to build up your reputation in order to adopt
more interesting, endangered and expensive animals.
the same idea goes for buildings and objects. you need to have a reputation
among suppliers and contractors as a reliable and money savvy zoo director
before they will sell you the more expensive, bigger, and fancier equipment.
suppliers are not going to sell you that huge fountain and install it for you
if they don't think your zoo has the income to cover the cost.
Zoo Fame comes in the form of stars. there are 5 stars at half star increments.
every half star increment will "unlock" a new set of buildings and objects as
well as new animals.
The following concepts all contribute to your total fame score:
The number of animals you have
The number of different species you have
the average happiness of your animals
the educational value of your habitats
the entertainment value of your animals
the average happiness of your guests
the number of animals you have released to the wild
*the number of awards and challenges you have overcome during the current game
*award and challenge goals only affect fame in a FF or challenge game.
scenario games do not have challenges or current awards so this is not
counted toward fame during a campaign game.
The first three are fairly simple. the more animals you have and the more
diverse your animals are the higher your fame goes.
you will need 35 animals to max out the first requirement.
you will need 20 different species to max out the second.
the third requirement is a little tricky since animal happiness is always in
constant flux, but, if you do your best to keep them happy you should have
no trouble here. This score takes time to rise for new animals. in other
words, the game measures animal happiness over the course of a long time
period and not as an exact measurement of current happiness.
the next three are a little more challenging.
educational habitats require exhibits which contain animals in their native
biomes. most animals can live perfectly happy in many different biomes, but,
if they are not in their native biome it will hinder your educational score.
creating habitats with multiple animals as well as native flora and rocks can
also add to the educational score. educators with podiums are also useful for
increasing this value. this will also rise over time. the more guests that
are educated by your exhibits the higher the score will go, you just need to
wait for it.
I did extensive detailed research on educational score. what I found out is
that this score is largely dependant on how many guests see an educational
exhibit. if you have no guests then this score will be zero no matter how
well designed your exhibits are. if you have plenty of guests then you can
easily get 80% of this score by simply having an animal in its native biome.
you don't even need trees, shrubs or rocks. educators are hit or miss. I have
seen educators add as much as 20% and sometimes they don't help at all. the
game suggests "grouping compatible biomes" but does not mention what those
biomes are. my research says that there are no such things as compatible
biomes. I had an alpine, tropical, and desert exhibit next to each other
and my educational score was 90%.
one thought on compatible biomes comes from the EA XP manual. it makes a
reference to what might be compatible biomes:
Grassland/Tropical/Temperate/wetlands
Alpine/Tundra/Boreal
Desert/Scurbland/Savannah
in order for you to acquire fame for entertaining animals then you need to
offer enrichment items to your animals and they must use them within the view
of nearby guests. marine shows are great for increasing this but you can get
by without them. the best enrichment objects are the scratching post and
the big pink ball. for more information on enrichment items see ANIMAL
HAPPINESS below.
creating multi animal exhibits is also a great way to increase entertainment
score. adding rocks, trees and shrubs can all help with this score. basically
if you give your animals lots of things to do and interact with you will have
a high entertainment score.
the next fame measurement is guest happiness. guests are very fickle and
capricious (look those words up if you don't know what they mean).
you need to provide for every possible need of every guest that comes into
your zoo. even if you provide guest areas and happy animals you may still
only have a 50% guest happiness score. in order to keep guests as happy as
possible you will need to go below to the GUEST HAPPINESS section. yes,
keeping guests happy requires its own section. this is just like animal
happiness in that it takes time for this score to raise.
the last 6 measurements are all in constant flux, but, once you have a decent
zoo going they will pretty much all stay rather high. the next two measurements
are fixed. once you get these maxed out you never have to worry about them.
the first one is concerned with releasing animals to the wild. this is can be
easy but it requires that the animal be in perfect bliss. in otherwords, all
of the animals basic and advanaced needs must be in the green. for a FF game
this is very easy, since you can adopt an animal and immediately release it
to the wild without much fuss. in a challenge or campaign game this is more
difficult since the animals cost money. for a new zoo, you do not want to
release animals right away. when you do this you loose some of your "number of
aniamls" measurement, the value of the animal, and you have one less animal to
attract guests to your zoo with. the best time to release an animal is to wait
until some of your animals begin to breed. when they give birth you can think
of releasing some of the parents to the wild.
Birds are great for releasing to the wild (peafowls especially) since they
breed quickly. Herd animals are also good for this. don't wait until an
exhibit is overcrowed before making the decision to release. if the exhibit is
overcrowded then the habitat rating for all animals in the exhibit will go to
red and you will not be able to release any of them to the wild. the only
option you will have that point is to put some up for adoption which gives you
nothing in return.
in order to max out this measurement you need to release 10 animals to the
wild. however, there are 4 awards which deal with releasing animals. you
get an award for releasing 1 animal, 10 animals, 25 animals and for releasing
10 endangered species (which you can be done at the same time as the other
awards). so don't stop releasing animals when you have reached 10, keep
going for the awards.
while we are on the subject of awards you will need a combination of any
20 awards and challenges to max out this measurement. only the challenges and
awards earned during the current game will count toward this measurement. even
if you have maxed out your awards and challenges as far as fame goes, you should
still continue to achieve awards. each challenge and award comes with added
bonuses. some bonuses are small such as increased guest attendance (which
does bring in more money over a longer period of time). some bonuses bring
cash awards and some even unlock all new buildings and objects.
some challenges will even unlock persistant game awards which will allow you to
use new themes or buildings in any zoo within the current profile! Normally
FF mode will give you access to all objects and buildings except those
which need to be unlocked through persistant game awards.
for a complete list of awards see the AWARDS section below.
G. ANIMAL HAPPINESS
We have been talking a lot about money, mechanics and architecture, but, not
a lot of information about the animals. this section is dedicated to
understanding what makes aniamls tick and how best to maximize their happiness.
for a complete list of all animals and their statistics please see APPENDIX A
below.
The easiest way to find out what biome, flora, food, fencing and items are best
for an animal is to click on the animal and then click on Zookeeper
recommendations. this will bring up another subwindow which will have all
the items you could ever want which are useful for that animal.
Every animal has two sets of needs; basic and advanced.
the basic needs are Biome, Hunger, Thirst, Sleep and exercise.
The advanced needs are Privacy, Hygene, social and entertainment
to see an animals current needs status click on the animal and click on the
tab with a heart. here you can see all the needs of the animal as icons in
boxes. you can mouse over each icon to know what each one represents.
as each need becomes less satisfied over time the box will fill with a color
overlay.
No color means that the need is completely satisfied.
green means that the need is satisfied just not perfect.
yellow means that the need could use a little work but the animal is still ok.
red means that the need requires attention and the animal is not happy.
if any of the basic needs are yellow or red then the animal is not happy.
unhappy animals will create unhappy guests.
advanced needs are a little different. advanced needs can be yellow or red
and the animal can still be happy. Advanced needs are requireed for advanced
activites such as breeding, releasing to the wild and creating entertaining
animal exhibits. note that in order to breed or release an animal to the
wild you must meet all of the animals needs (green or no color).
Lets begin discussing each need in more detail.
- The Biome
First and foremost, animals need a place to live. All animals must be contained
in an exhibit or else the guests will not be able to view them properly.
exhibit construction was discussed earlier but to sum up what was discussed you
will need the proper kind of fencing or some kind of steep cliff to contain
the animal. their exhibit needs to be the proper size for their species.
each additional animal of the same species will require more space but will
not need as much space as the first.
the exhibit can be of any shape you desire. if an animal needs 100 squares of
space you can build a 10x10 space or a 2x50 space. you could make it round,
octangonal, or even some irregular shape. the shape of the exhibit does not
matter when it comes to happiness, it is the amount of space (squares) that
matter. the shape of your exhibits will be determined by the design and layout
of your zoo.
if you are really counting every square then you should know that even half
squares count toward the total. so, if you round off the corners of a square
exhibit then you are essentially removing two squares (4 half squares makes two
squares).
one thing to keep in mind for space is to plan ahead for breeding. baby animals
take up just as much space as adult animals, so, figure out ahead of time how
many differnet species and how big you want each family to be then use the
chart in APPENDIX A to determine how many squares you will need. keep in mind
the view distance of 10 squares for your guests and design away. also note,
that eggs do not require space, they will only needs space once they hatch.
after you have an enclosure that is big enough you must now fill it with the
proper biome. a biome is a collection of plants, aniamls, rocks, and
climate. each animal has a native biome which is an area of the world in which
it is normally found. some animals can be happy in many biomes. many animals
can tolerate biomes that are dissimilar to their native biome. by tolerate
I mean that the biome need will be yellow. and of course every animal has a
set of biomes which they cannot live in (biome need will be red).
each animals native biome is listed in the Zoopedia and in APPENDIX A.
making sure that an animal is in their native biome is important as this will
increase the amount of money you get from educational donations as well as
giving you more points toward a more famous zoo.
note though, that if you have many animals that are native to the same biome
then you can put them all in the same exhibit (space permitting). even if they
come from differnet countries they will still be happy and you will still
get the educational exhibit bonus. all that matters is that the animals are in
their native biome. Trees, flowers and rocks from the same biome can also
help increase the educational score as can educators with podiums.
it is also possible to mix biomes in the same exhibit, but, this gets tricky
as the number of animals which can live happily in the exhibit decreases for
every biome you have in the exhibit. you don't want to mix tundra and desert
together as there are no animals which can live in both biomes happily. mixed
biome exhibits also have a problem with educational score since if an animal
wanders off into a biome that is not their native biome then the score will
fall temporarily until they wander back to their native biome. mixed exhibits
are not recommended for a beginner.
another consideration when laying down the biome is that of water. all animals
can wade through shallow water without any difficulty (not that I have seen
anyway). deep water is a different story. not all animals can swim. if an
animal wanders into deep water and cannot swim you will get a warning message
that your animal is drowning and you must rescue it. the best thing to do is
to not add deep water to exhibits with animals that can't swim. all exhibits
should have some shallow water, even if it is just a small spot. all animals
from what I have seen so far, can drink water from shallow water. you do not
need to buy water dishes and troughs if you provide shallow water. zookeepers
may, on thier own, put down a water dish, but, you should not need to do it
yourself if you provide shallow water.
for animals that do not swim, deep water also subtracts from the amount of
available space in the exhibit. for example, in a 10x10 exhibit with 50 squares
of deep water a zebra (for example) will only have 50 squares which it considers
livable, where as a lion will consider all 100 squares livable since the lion
can swim and the zebra cannot.
you do not need to provide deep or shallow water for any non-marine animal even
if they normally prefer it. for example, crocodiles and hippos love to swim
but they do not require water to be happy, just the proper biome and space.
- Hunger
once you have the biome set you need to think about keeping your animals alive.
this is done simply by feeding them. every animal has a set of food types which
they can eat. herbivores prefer hay, leaves, lettuce and branches. carnivores
prefer meat or fish. birds like berries, and primates like bananas. however,
don't assume that an animal likes berries just because it is a bird. before
placing food make sure to check the zookeeper recommendations, you might be
surprised to find that some birds eat shrimp and fish and some carnivores will
also eat berries!
just putting down some food is not enough to keep the animal happy and alive.
over time the animal will eat the food and it must be replenished. you can
do this in guest mode or your zookeepers will do this automatically when the
food gets to a certain level. it will cost upkeep to replenish the food, but,
the cost is low so it should not be too much of a burden.
another consideration of food is how the food is presented to the animal. take
berries for example, you can put berries on the ground, in a dish, in a log,
on a platform or even burried in substrate. generally the more expensive the
food type the more interesting the food will be for the animal. the more
involved an animal is with its food or the more realistic it is the more
entertainment the animal (and the guests) will be when they eat it. the best
foods are usually the most expensive, so, for berries the food in a log,
in substrate or on a raised platform would be the best. however, for a new zoo,
placing food directly on the ground will do. also, the more expensive food
sources require higher fame levels as well as research.
so long as the proper food is present and the animal is able to reach it
then the hunger need can be satisfied.
- Thirst
we already mentioned this a little in the biome section. water is the only
source of fluids your animals will get in this game (no milk or other treats
are available to give).
just like with food, there are many ways to provide water; in a bowl, in
a trough or from shallow water. shallow water is free to place and all
animals that I have seen can make use of shallow water as a source for
drinking. zookeepers will occasionally place down water bowls. if you don't
want water bowls then you can move them or recycle them.
shallow water does not always make sense though, especially if you are designing
an arid exhibit (such as a desert or scurb land exhibit). in those cases
you can use water dishes for just about any animal, however, dishes only
have a small amount of water in them. there are water troughs but not all
of your smaller animals can get up to the trough to drink from it. if you are
unsure as to how to offer water to your animals then simply check out the
zookeeper recommendations.
- Sleep
For the most part animals can sleep anywhere, anytime. when they want to doze
off they simply lay down and go to sleep. some things that may interfere with
this sleep cycle are other animals in the exhibit or nearby exhibits that might
bother the animal. carnivores are notorious for chasing and scaring other
animals, never giving them a moments rest for example.
shelters can provide a nice quiet place for an animal to sleep but these will
be covered in more detail in the Privacy section just below.
- exercise
again, like sleep, this is pretty simple for a happy healthy animal. most
animals when they are happy will run around their exhibit and prance and play.
this counts as exercise. swimming in deep water, playing with friends, and
using certain enrichment objects also counts as exercise. for the most part
though you should not need to do anything to keep this green. if you find
that a certain animal is in need of exercise you can always provide an
enrichment object such as a ball, a log or a nice big tire.
- Privacy
this is one of the advanced needs. animals don't need privacy to be happy but
it can help. the cheap way to provide privacy is to create areas in the
exhibit where guests cannot see. this can be done by providing deep water
for swimmers (guests cannot see into deep water unless it is a marine or hybrid
exhibit) and by creating exhibits which are deeper than 10 tiles. you can also
reduce the visible area of the exhibit by only providing a small window of
veiwing space such as with the indented exhibit suggested earlier.
the best way to provide privacy is to offer some kind of shelter. every type
of animal has a certain kind of shelter which suits it. if a shelter is
available in the exhibit an animal will choose to sleep in it as opposed to
sleeping on the bare ground. all shelters, including the shade structure,
provide privacy, even if the shelter does not appear to hide the animal from
view.
if a guest can see an animal sleeping in its structure then the guests will
acutally find that amusing. even if the animal can be seen sleeping in the
structure it will still count as privacy for the animal. I always provide
at least one structure for all my aniamls since it makes both the animals
and the guests happier.
- Hygene
This is another advanced need. most animals are very good about keeping
themselves clean. they groom themselves mostly and if they are in an exhibit
with others of their kind they can groom each other. if you provide a nice
sized area of shallow water this can help increase the hygene of most animals.
Elephants especially love to use shallow water to bathe in. swimming in deep
water can also act as taking a bath.
if you go into guest mode you can bathe and groom the animals yourself. this
is probably the easiest and cheapest advanced need you can provide for
your animals. if an animal gets distracted they can let their hygene slide.
your zookeepers will notice this when the hygene bar become red and they will
wash your animals with a bubble bath spray.
if your animals get too dirty for too long they can get sick. you or your
zookeepers can cure this disease easily. Extinct animals are a different matter
however. EA XP added extinct diseases to the game. these diseases are more
difficult to cure than a simple medical kit can handle. you will need to play
a strange mini game to cure an extinct disease. for more details see the
MINI GAMES section below.
marine animals are a little different when it comes to hygene. the animals
themselves do not get dirty but the water does. you can clean the water
yourself in guest mode. you can also buy a water filter (found under
marine show tab in the construction box) but you will need a maintenance
worker to keep the filter running in top condition.
- Social
Social is another advanced need, it is also the most costly to provide. in
order to accomodate the social needs of your animals you must provide other
animals in the exhibit with which they can socialize. the best option here is
to build an exhibit which can house two of the same species. the cost is in
making bigger exhibits, providing more food, and purchasing extra animals.
aniamls can socialize with animals of different species so long as they are not
carnivores. herd animals especially love to socialize with other herd animals.
zebras, gazelles and giraffes for example get along splendidly. animals gain
more of a benefit if they have others of their own kind to socialize with and
it would be better still if they were of the opposite sex.
be cautious about putting a male and female together however as this can
most obviously lead to babies. babies are not bad at all. they can provide
your zoo with many benefits such as free animals, extra fame, and happier
guests. the problem is that babies take up more space, eat more food and create
more poo. if you are going to breed your animals make sure to plan ahead.
Carnivores are the harder ones to satisfy this need for. generally in the wild
carnivores are solitary hunters (with a few exceptions such as lions and wolves)
carnivores would rather chase, harrass and eat other animals than socialize with
them. even if carnivores are fed and happy they can still attack and kill other
animals just for something do. be very cautious about keeping carnivores in
exhibits with other animals. in my experience if you put two different species
of carnivore in an exhibit they will attack each other regardless of how
happy they are. if you are very cautious and keep your animals in perfect bliss
you can keep one carnivore species in an exhibit with other herbivores, the
herbivores might not get much sleep, but, you can still pull it off.
- FROM Eriorguez_4Ever
"I'd just like to point you a thing: Some species of carnivores will live
happily together, but they have to be more or less the same size. For
example, Ethiopian and grey wolves, tiger and lion, Velociraptor and
Stripped hyena, or Utahraptor, Stokesosaurus and Carnotaurus. However,
you should look after the babies, as they are likely to be hunted. Also,
in my whole experience, I've never seen a marine animal killing other,
despite the conditions being the proper..."
as an example, I had 2 lions and 2 cheetahs in a large exhibit together. there
was plenty of food for everyone and plenty of space (room for 4 of each).
after a time the lions started to chase the cheetahs all the time and eventually
I lost two cheetahs to lion attacks. the lions were perfectly happy and were
not hungry. eventually I had to seperate my cheetahs into a seperate exhibit.
I also had a hard time keeping crocodiles and monitors together. you have been
warned.
I have noticed on several occasions when mixing carnivores and other animals
that my carnivores gained social points by stalking other animals. they did not
kill their prey, they just followed it around. this is apparently how
carnivores socialize when there are no others of their kind around.
- Entertainment
This is another advanced need. entertainment is mainly provided in the form
of enrichment objects such as salt licks, scratching posts, big pink bouncing
balls and large swinging tires. basically these are toys for your animals.
guests absolutely love seeing animals play with toys and infact, when lots of
guests see animals playing with toys your zoo will gain extra fame in the
form of entertaining exhibits.
some animals don't need toys to have fun. herd animals especially can entertain
themselves simply by playing and sociallizing with each other. if you have
not figured it out yet, herd animals do best when put in exhibits with other
herd animals. they will talk to each other, play chase each other, play fight
with each other, groom each other, and do all kinds of neat things. a lot of
the fun of this whole game is just seeing how animals interact with each other.
Trainable animals are especially easy to keep entertained if they are being
trained for a show. the show is also a great way to entertain guests. the
down side of shows though is that they can be exhausting for animals and
very costly to run and maintain.
- Final Points
A few final notes on keeping animals happy:
Carnivores are generally more difficult to keep happy than herd animals and
birds. this is because they are usually solitary animals in the wild. they
like their privacy, they don't get along well with others and they tend to
be rather picky about things.
also, the more endanged an animal is the more needy they are. pandas are the
worst. they only eat a certain type of food, they require a ton of
privacy and they will only sleep in a very special kind of shelter. the high
needs of endangered animals is countered by the increased donations and higher
guest attraction the animals produce.
Always remember to be cautious about keeping carnivores and herbivores together
in the same exhibit. you have been warned.
H. GUEST HAPPINESS
Guests are just like aniamls, only worse. they are more demanding and more
difficult to keep happy than a cranky panda. that is why this section is
here, to help you understand the mystery that is the customer and to help
you squeeze as much money out them as possible and then make them want an ATM
so they can give you more.
The number one thing you need in your zoo for guests to be happy is animals.
this is what draws them in and keeps them there. guests will be made happier
if they see:
- happy animals. the happier the animals the happier the guest
- animals that are eating. when you place food and water in an exhibit place
the dish/pile near the guest viewing area. this will force the animals to
come into view every time they get hungry and they are always hungry.
do not place food or water dishes up against the edge of the fence, this
can cause glitches where animals get stuck or can't reach the food/water.
- animals that are playing. just like with food and water put the animal toys
next to the viewing area so eveyone can get a good look at them.
- animals that are sleeping. shelters are big and bulky so you don't want them
near the viewing area, however, you should put them somewhere within the
guests viewing range. if an exhibit is no deeper than 10 tiles, you can put it
in the back and still reap these benefits.
- animals that are socializing. try to put multiple animals in the same
exhibit. guests are able to sense when an animals advanced needs are not met.
Just like animals, guests have needs. when the needs are met they are happy
and this is a good thing. guest needs are hunger, thirst, rest, amusement,
and bathroom. just like with animals you can view a particular guests needs
by clicking on them and then selecting the tab with the heart. when you
do this you will actually see 6 boxes, the first one is the general level
of happiness which is an average of the other 5 boxes. just as with the
animals if the box is colorless it is satisfied, green is happy, yellow is
ok but not great, and red is unhappy or in urgent need of care.
- Hunger
Unlike with animals you can't just place random food on the floor for people
to eat. guests are more sophisticated and have more refined tastes than
animals, you know, like hamburgers, shishkabob and candy canes!
for guests you need to purchase food stalls and desert carts. when a guests
hunger level reaches yellow or red they will start to seek out a food stall for
a bite to eat. there are many different kinds of food stalls and each one
has a different effect on the guest. you can always look in the zoopedia
during the game if you want to know more about a building.
Also please note that not all buildings are availabe right from the start. for
a new zoo only hot dogs and pretzles will be available. also, every stand
and cart comes in all available themes. other than the hot dog and pretzle
carts all default themed food stands will have to be researched.
for more information about buildings and objects, please see APPENDIX B bleow
(this is if I have gotten around to writting it yet).
Hot Dogs - this is most popular with kids, but, adults will eat them too.
Hamburgers - this is a more well liked choice for the whole family but requires
more fame than hot dogs
Shish Kebab - this is a more pricey food stand but adults enjoy the more exotic
foods and will gladly the pay the fee. children would prefer a hot dog or
hamburger however.
Sub Sandwiches - this is a prefered option for male adults.
Sushi - this is another fancy food that costs more but adult females really
enjoy it.
Salad - this is a standard food option which is good for female adults.
Desert Carts - it should be said for all desert carts that after a guest
has eaten their meal most of them will start looking for a desert, this means
more money for you. all deserts come in the form of a cart which is moveable.
candy canes - most popular with kids. this must be researched in campaign or
scenario mode which will cost $800.
cheesecake - this is most popular with adult males.
Cotton Candy - another treat popular with kids.
Fruit Cup - this will appeal mostly to your aduld female guests.
Ice Cream - a cool treat which is great for kids.
Popcorn - not technically a desert cart but it can serve as a quick snack.
it is most popular with adult males.
Pretzles - also not exactly a desert, it is more of a quick snack. this is
most popular with the adult females.
Restaurants work a little different than stands and carts. first of all
they are much bigger, they are also more expensive and require a high
fame level to acquire. the benefit of a restaurant is that it can satisfy
hunger, thirst and rest and it provides desert as well all for one simple cost
to the guest. the restaurant does not satisfy the bathroom need.
also, there is never a line for a restaurant as there is for a
stand or cart, restaurants can service an unlimited number of guests at the
same time. when they become available I like to make a large guest area
with all three restaurants, a gift shop, an ATM and a family restroom.
Restaurants do not come in different themes.
Restaurant - this is the cheapest option for your guests serving bottled water,
hot dogs, and a fruit cup.
Family Restaurant - this is also a good option for cheap dinning serving
soda, ice cream and a hamburger.
Fancy Restaurant - this is a more pricey and exotic dining experience which
is popular with the adults. it serves shish kebab, coffee and cheesecake.
- Thirst
Just like with hunger there are various stands for getting drinks. however,
the choices are fewer here. there are no drink carts only stalls.
Soda - available at the beginning. this is most popular with kids but adults
like it too.
Coffee - more popular with adults, but, kids will give it go too from time to
time.
Water - most popular with adults. the water bottle is recycleable which if
put into a recycling bin will net you $1 in recycling income. I use water
stands every where when they become availabe.
- Rest
This is most easily satisfied by providing benches and tables for your
guests to sit down and relax on. benches and tables have no maintenance cost
and can be moved after purchase. other than taking up a square of space,
you can't have enough of these.
both tables and benches can be purchased in any theme available. themed
versions will cost more than the regular ones.
tables are best used in guest areas so that guests can buy food and drink and
then sit at a table to enjoy it. benches are best used near exhibits so that
guests can sit and watch animals while they relax. if you don't provide tables
near food and water, guests will complain that they have no where to sit and
eat. this does not directly make them unhappy, but it is more efficient to
have them fulfill three needs all at the same time; hunger, thirst, and rest.
staff members will occasionally sit on a bench or table if they have no work
to do which can take space away from your guests.
Gazebos can also provide relaxation for your guests but are expensive and
take up a lot of room.
- Amusement
this is one of the most expensive needs to satisfy but can be done rather easily
if you know how it works. decorations are the key to affecting a guests
amusement rating. guests are also entertained by animals that are playing
with toys, but, animals are not always playing with toys so decorations will
be your number one entertainment choice.
the best decorations are arches. if you build your paths with an odd number
of tiles wide (3 or 5 are the best). arches are generally 3 tiles wide with
1 tile in the middle for guests to pass underneath (the extinct themed arch is
4 tiles which makes it difficult to use). every guest that passes under
an arch will be entertained by it. when you place them at all major
intersections and along well used paths, you will be entertaining a lot of
guests with very little cost.
another great decoration idea is to put a fountain or some thing large near
the front gate. this will cause most new arrivals to be entertained right
as they walk in. statues also work well at intersections when you have the
space.
Themed areas also promote entertainment. if you have any themes available
it is recommended to use them as opposed to using the default. this is a
good idea for both entertainment and saving money in the short term.
other forms of entertainment are playgrounds. Kids will require more
entertainment than adults as they get bored faster. bouncy rides, trampolines,
gorilla bars and other equipment really make the difference. you don't need to
create a single play ground area (unless you want to). putting one or
two bouncy rides here or there is really all you need to keep the kids happy.
- Bathroom
This is can be difficult for a small or new zoo, more famous zoos (2 stars)
will have no trouble in this arena. when you first start out you will only
have access to the small restroom. this can only serve one guest at a time.
if you have a lot of guests then this can lead to long lines. long lines
make guests angry (since they are not satisfying any of their needs while they
wait). they are also not spending money (like with donations). if the lines
get too long you will get people complaining and eventually overall
guest happiness will fall.
to prevent long lines with a small restroom just build more of them. I always
plop down at least two small restrooms for a new zoo. this seems to help long
enough for my zoo to acquire a family restroom.
the family restroom is one of the best buildings in the game. it costs more
to purchase and maintain than a small restroom but it can serve an unlimited
number of people at once; no more lines at the restroom. I put one of these
at every guest area and any where I think I might have some space.
both bathroom sizes are available in different themes.
- Miscellaneous
one of the reasons guests are harder to keep happy than animals is that their
happiness is not all about keeping their needs satisfied. here is a small list
of some of the things that make guests unhappy:
- Seeing trash, a full trash can, or animal poo.
- Not being able to find an ATM when they run out of money
- Not being able to find a donation box when they want to donate money
- Not being able to see any animals
- Standing in a line for too long
- seeing an unhappy or sick animal
There are other things which displease guests, but you get the idea. If you
want to know more about what a guest is thinking or why they are not happy
you can click on a guest and select the thought bubble tab to the far right.
this will give an idea of what they are thinking and what they want.
once a guest has made the decision to leave there is no stopping them. the
idea is to keep them in the zoo for as long as possible and give them
every opportunity to spend their money. if you have a decent zoo then a
new guest will arrive shortly after the current guest has left, but, the
current guest must completely leave the zoo before a new one can arrive.
other than happiness a guest will leave the zoo if they have no money left.
that is where ATMs come in to play. I put ATMs in guest areas and near
restrooms. ATMs are expensive to buy and maintain, although they are available
from the very beginning. they can be moved but the upkeep is steep, be cautious
about buying too many. if you need to get rid of a few expenses click on
all of your ATMs and look at its Lifetime Users stat. if this number seems low
either m