Zoo Building Strategies

[luckilykristen]

Do most people build the entire zoo first or start small with 2-3 exhibits?

[HAL9000]

It depends for me if it is challenge or freeform, challenge I start small, with freeform I usually do it all at once.

[Pavocristantus]

same with me, on freeform, because of unlimited money, I just go wild but I usually end up with a really bad zoo : :

[luckilykristen]

Same here. I tend to lose intrest after I build the whole zoo. Does anyone have any tips on exhibits, like what goes up front or a main zoo exhibit in the middle? Or do people just play around and see what works best?

[banmenowBK]

I usually make a circle, exhibits in the middle and along the outside with food courts peridically around the circle. The first animals that should be put in the front are least popular one, check onboard encylopedia for animal that are least threated and cost less. Ohh, I move my animals enventually around the park to group the biomes together.

[alloy61]

Usually I'll try and design the whole park at once, and then fill the exhibits up afterwards, so if I want to do any fancy landscaping I don't need to rip apart things I've already built.

Up front I'll usually have the start of a sky tram or jeep tour, as guests tend to use them more if they're near the entrance (I find anyway). If I've got a jeep tour I'll always plan it out first, as my exhibits are usually to crowded if I try to place the track afterwards!:pinch:

That is for freeform though, for challenges and scenarios I'm much more conservative, using cheap animals and fencing where possible, and I almost never use sky trams or jeep tours in these.

[banmenowBK]

Oh I just thought of something, place little playgrounds with kiddy ride along with other items that raise guest happiness.

[Shenzu Shikiru]

Well, for now I only have ZT2, no XPs:( But I usualy go with a theme to star, like I'll try to set up a strictly African space in the zoo. Or I just build a Peacock exibit at the entrance on one side and a small food court on the other...And I do not like using freeroam unless I want to try something really drasticlly spendy...

[Wolf's Rain]

Freeroam? You can have peafowls roam free? How do you do that?

[alloy61]

Just don't place them in a pen = make the guest area of the zoo boreal forest, dot it with trees, plenty of food and toys.
Assign lots of zookeepers to the area (as it's probably ten times the size of your average exhibit, and lets face it they aren't geniuses at looking after these animals!)
Even with the zookeepers you'll need to do a run around every now and again to refill bowls and clean up poop as they either can't keep up or are so far away they moan about not being able to reach it

[Wolf's Rain]

Ok, thanks! I was curious, because it seems fun

[Smadronia]

In most scenarios I tend to startwith 2-3 exhibits. If money's not an issue, I start laying out my larger mixed exhibits at the same time, since it takes several stars to get the animals I want for them. Even in freeform mode with lots of money I tend to start with a few exhibits, and start fencing the new ones.

[luckilykristen]

I finally finished a zoo on a medium sized map. I started with one exhibit and went from there.  I used to build the entire zoo then open it but my zoos weren't coming out good. I reached 5 stars by the end of my first year and had an excellent breeding population.  My only problem was getting people to visit the zoo. I had only had about 450-500 admissions. So with that in mind....does anyone have any ideas on how to increase guest attendance?

[nicholasloh]

That would be due to the guest limitations that were in place in the game to prevent the game from crashing due to overwork. Perhaps a coder could teach you how to overcome that.

[Red-Panda-Freak]

It's also good to start out with a really big savannah exibit, because there are tons of cheap animals who can all be in a mixed savannah exibit.

[Methane]

I myself have several ways to build zoos, but they all carry one theme. Mainly, large savannah exhibits. Everyone does it. There's nothing wrong with SOME peer pressure.

The savannah exhibits are so popular because A, you get several savannah animals early in the game, and they are very cheap. B, some of the later savannah animals (Black rhino, african elephant) are very popular. C, guests LOVE it when animals are all together. D, a lot of the savannah animals, if not all, are from africa. An exhibit is considered more educational if all the animals in it are from the same geogrpahical region.

So yes, a large savannah exhibit is pretty much always in order. But for actual design?

For a challenge zoo with a moderate/large ammount of money to start, I tend to build a food court right at the front, with two or three exhibits leading off from each side, with plenty of attractions and animals (All my animals are coded to give a full refund when put up for adoption, so I tend to have lots and put an emphasis on my breeding programs). I then make sort of a 'spiderweb' zoo, where there are exhibits that connect with paths, or 'block' zoos, where there are square/rectangle exhibits with a solid strip of pathway inbetween everything.

For challenge zoos starting with little money, I build a few food stands (By few I mean hotdog and soda with a small bathroom), with one exhibit featuring Gazelle (because they breed like rabbits, and remember my refund?), and wait until I get enough money to work my way up.

I try to limit myself to freeform when I want to try stuff out. I avoid using various cheats which I have coded into the items and animals in challenge mode, but in freeform I use them to my advantage. For example, if I want to try a new zoo with only one exhibit for each biome and try to get every animal in the game in my zoo, I'd start with a freeform zoo where I can quickly design my zoo, and adopt all the animals instead of having to wait and earn money (and fame). Then if they all kill each other, no great time or effort is lost, and I can try something else. The 'cheats' I have made include various quirks that items have (say, making all the animals simply LOVE having the Small Fountian in their exhibits, and it will make them all super happy, which I use in freeform when I am trying to see the effects of happy animals against other happy animals, for example), or being able to feed/water your animals in zookeeper mode (a hack downloaded from this site).

So... if anyone is interested in the kind of cheatie coding I do, you can PM me about it. I've been hanging around Zoo Admin for a few months now, even though I made the account somewhat recently. I know how to code most everything, but I don't want to do coding for created animals, sorry. Right now I'm working on a building and scenario, since we seem to have few of those avalible for download.

[kiger]

usually build everything then put the animals in their exhibits then open the zoo ((on freeform)) i jsut want to worry about my zoo not the animals and guest needs at first

[Methane]

I think it's great on ZT2 how you don't have to worry so much about the animals, and can spend more time on design and running the zoo, but if you work it right you can play the game any way you want to. If you want to focus on animals you can, or you can spend time making guests happy, or just try to get tons of awards/fame/money, depending on how you're feeling.

[Red Panda Twins]

In freeform I normally make the whole zoo then open it.  In challenge I open up.

[zoo_tycoon2]

right now, I'm making a 'serengeti park' and its on a LARGE savannah map (I usually only use small grass maps). I had to adjust my graphics to suit it, so I can zoom out alot.

anywho...I'll post up a map in my SnT topic soon...It has all the savannah herbivores, plus camels, gemsbok and hippos: :

-brett

[Samberri]

If money is an issue, I open it as soon as I can.

Otherwise, I build about 7-10 exhibits, then open it.

If I'm trying to make a really nice zoo, I don't open it until I'm done.

[Rosinas Cat]

I always use freeform, and like alloy, I plan out the exhibit outlines first. Then I place my sky tram ride (I'm not a big fan of Jeep tours). Then the exhibits are built, then comes the landscaping. I dont usually open the zoo til I'm at least sure all the animals are happy. If I try to do one exhibit at a time and move on like that, I always end up with an awkward size of space left at the end: too big to be a guest area, too small to be an exhibit. But I do like big exhibits!