How does animal appeal work?

[TheGaijin87]

So okay ive seen gold, silver and bronze medal ones and for example i got aldebra giant turtoises that have gold and a max appeal of 1875 which seems to be kind of a cap. but then there is one with a symbol like this (the medal symbol is the same on the turtoise):

which has an appeal of 1916. so its higher than the gold one but why? isnt gold the highest?

 

[Charmmy Colour]

So I’m not sure so don’t take my word for it, but I think popular animals are always more appealing by default. Like no matter if you have a super peafowl with gold and 100% stats, a mediocre tiger will still be more popular and have more appeal.

I don’t really like the message that some animals are more important than others, but is what I observed.

 

[Kai]

Afaik the medals are based on overall stats (size, longevity, fertility, immunity). I find the medals pretty meaningless as only longevity and size breed true.

Appeal seems to be a different mechanic: animals have a base appeal range (that can be bred for like size/longevity), but they also get bonus rating appeal by sitting around you zoo (need to be at high welfare). Seems to effect how much happiness your guests get from viewing the animal and increases the amount of CC they release for (seems pretty similar to size honestly). Cheaper animal species will have a lower appeal even if they're well bred (sadly).

My lions have 9000 when it maxxed (6750 species appeal + 2250 rating). When the babies hit maturity they only reach 1-2 stars (7088 appeal). You also get lions with lower base appeal, same as any other stat - just something else you have to breed for when you max out your animals. Baby animals also get a massive appeal boost until they hit maturity, hence viewing baby animals = happier guests.

Edit: Whoops, didn't mean to double post, but you can't delete so... I guess it stays.

 

[Kai]

 

[TheGaijin87]

yeah and they are all gold in your pictures, right? but how comes there sometimes are some with above medal in my picture that have a higher base appeal than gold ones? thats whats surprising me.

 

[Kai]

yeah and they are all gold in your pictures, right? but how comes there sometimes are some with above medal in my picture that have a higher base appeal than gold ones? thats whats surprising me.

Those are golds, yes, but I don't think their appeal has any effect on their medal rankings.

I think of appeal as how attractive my animals are to the guests: you can have a pretty but unhealthy animal, or a healthy ugly looking animal. The medals tell you how genetically healthy the animal is. The appeal tells you how pretty it looks.

This is one of the lions I originally bought for breeding: you can see he's still 9000 appeal even without a medal (because of his low fertility/immunity):

 

[Lemolea]

So okay ive seen gold, silver and bronze medal ones and for example i got aldebra giant turtoises that have gold and a max appeal of 1875 which seems to be kind of a cap. but then there is one with a symbol like this (the medal symbol is the same on the turtoise):
View attachment 151492

which has an appeal of 1916. so its higher than the gold one but why? isnt gold the highest?

Those are golds, yes, but I don't think their appeal has any effect on their medal rankings.

I think of appeal as how attractive my animals are to the guests: you can have a pretty but unhealthy animal, or a healthy ugly looking animal. The medals tell you how genetically healthy the animal is. The appeal tells you how pretty it looks.

This is one of the lions I originally bought for breeding: you can see he's still 9000 appeal even without a medal (because of his low fertility/immunity):

View attachment 151526

For anyone finding this post after with the same question, the medals are from a combination of the 4 different genetic factors: size, longevity, fertility and immunity. This has an impact on your animal's appeal rating but is not directly related. The appeal rating of an animal is how interesting/exciting it is to the guests. I don't think that this is necessarily saying that some animals are worth more than others because it's basically just a popularity rating and seems to be based on how endangered, big, scary/dangerous it is and how difficult it is to care for.

The appeal affects how many visitors come to your zoo, that exhibit specifically and how much happiness guests gain when looking at it. The appeal within a species is based on a mix of: genetics, age, colouring/looks and star rating (as far as I know, there could be more factors).

- Good genetics make an animal strong and healthy, which guests like to see. ("That <animal> couldn't be looking better!")

- Age - Guests tend to like younger animals, and adolescent animals gain a sizeable boost to appeal. ("aww, it's a likkle baby <animal>")

- Colouring/Looks - It seems like animals with unusual/rarer colouring have a higher appeal, and some animals just look better than others (like real life lol) Kai's lion will have a massive boost for being albino

- Star rating - This is the stars under the picture of the animal and it's how much your previous guests like that particular animal. Any animal can be a 5-star animal, but I'm not exactly sure what you can do to increase the star rating of your animals. It seems to have something to do with the quality of food, accessibility of the habitat, overall happiness, and view of the animal (How well the guests can see the animal). I've seen people say it includes how clean the habitat is, how happy your guests are and how many offspring they have had, but I'm not sure these make a difference.