I'm fairly new to gaming (bought a brand new computer in July just so I could play our beloved Planet Zoo!), and I would love to hear any tips or strategies that players have for preparing for new Updates, Patches, or DLCs? They can be based on past updates from Planet Zoo that you've learned from, experiences with planet coaster or other frontier games, or even just things you've picked up from other games entirely that have become standard practice for you. Hoping these can be positive and helpful!
This could be creative ideas (planning out new maps or habitats, revamping existing parts of your zoo to fit something in). Or outside research that you like to do on the new animals. Or even tips you've discovered about saving or backing up your files on Steam or your Hard Drive prior to a big update?
Or it could be gameplay mechanics that you try to standardize and "complete" before the new stuff becomes available, so that you can focus more intently on those once they arrive. For example, a special pass over all your animals to make sure their welfare is excellent and they don't have any problems before the new arrivals come. Or a review of your education, paths, and workzones in preparation for the Animal Talks?
I would also be interested if any franchise/challenge mode players have suggestions for things they do to shore up their cash (or staffing or whatever else) in preparation for any unexpected changes to the way the game works. Do you use the week between announcement and update to build up a surplus, just in case the changes to the paths/barriers/feeding/staff/protesters/etc. cause you to be losing money for a while? Do you focus on guest happiness, or education, or staff zones, in a way that you wouldn't typically do?
Do you start planning your habitats now, or do you wait to see what the zoopedia requirements are first? Similarly, are you someone who dives right in, or do you wait and watch the forums/youtubes to see how the new mechanisms are put together and anticipate if there might be things to be aware of before opening your most precious masterpiece zoo? And if you're a normal franchise/challenge player, do you try the new pieces/animals/mechanics out in your franchise/challenge zoo right off the bat, or take them to sandbox for experimentation first?
Personally, I think I may focus this next week on building up more of a budgetary surplus in my franchise zoos in case there is an emergency (I'm doing fine in all of my zoos. But I tend to run them more like a non-profit than like a tycoon, valuing animals over profits, adopting new animals as soon as I can get habitats ready for them, and perhaps not leaving enough of a cushion for a rainy day. Which could hurt me if anything in the new update goes unexpectedly for a while).
I'll probably halt adoption or placement of any "new to me" species a few days before the dlc/update comes, so that everything in my zoos are things I'm familiar with, and I'm not struggling to learn too many new things at once.
I think I'll probably do an animal pass through all the habitats to cull the herd on the day before the dlc/update comes, so that I'm not getting overcrowding or other alerts while trying to play with the new pieces & animals. (I saw Rudi do this in one of his videos and it made a lot of sense to me.)
And I may also try to clean out my storage center so I have more freedom to adopt some of each of the new species we're getting.
Oh -- And I'll reassign a five-star mechanic or two for Workshop Research -- since we know we're getting new pieces and the water temperature regulator!
So, anything you'll be doing in preparation for our day of celebration on December 8, that might be helpful for other players to consider?
(Realizing that some of the examples I gave may be too specific to franchise mode since that's what I usually play and am most familiar with. But I just use these as an example and I really am interested in any tips, tricks or strategies from players of all modes!)
This could be creative ideas (planning out new maps or habitats, revamping existing parts of your zoo to fit something in). Or outside research that you like to do on the new animals. Or even tips you've discovered about saving or backing up your files on Steam or your Hard Drive prior to a big update?
Or it could be gameplay mechanics that you try to standardize and "complete" before the new stuff becomes available, so that you can focus more intently on those once they arrive. For example, a special pass over all your animals to make sure their welfare is excellent and they don't have any problems before the new arrivals come. Or a review of your education, paths, and workzones in preparation for the Animal Talks?
I would also be interested if any franchise/challenge mode players have suggestions for things they do to shore up their cash (or staffing or whatever else) in preparation for any unexpected changes to the way the game works. Do you use the week between announcement and update to build up a surplus, just in case the changes to the paths/barriers/feeding/staff/protesters/etc. cause you to be losing money for a while? Do you focus on guest happiness, or education, or staff zones, in a way that you wouldn't typically do?
Do you start planning your habitats now, or do you wait to see what the zoopedia requirements are first? Similarly, are you someone who dives right in, or do you wait and watch the forums/youtubes to see how the new mechanisms are put together and anticipate if there might be things to be aware of before opening your most precious masterpiece zoo? And if you're a normal franchise/challenge player, do you try the new pieces/animals/mechanics out in your franchise/challenge zoo right off the bat, or take them to sandbox for experimentation first?
Personally, I think I may focus this next week on building up more of a budgetary surplus in my franchise zoos in case there is an emergency (I'm doing fine in all of my zoos. But I tend to run them more like a non-profit than like a tycoon, valuing animals over profits, adopting new animals as soon as I can get habitats ready for them, and perhaps not leaving enough of a cushion for a rainy day. Which could hurt me if anything in the new update goes unexpectedly for a while).
I'll probably halt adoption or placement of any "new to me" species a few days before the dlc/update comes, so that everything in my zoos are things I'm familiar with, and I'm not struggling to learn too many new things at once.
I think I'll probably do an animal pass through all the habitats to cull the herd on the day before the dlc/update comes, so that I'm not getting overcrowding or other alerts while trying to play with the new pieces & animals. (I saw Rudi do this in one of his videos and it made a lot of sense to me.)
And I may also try to clean out my storage center so I have more freedom to adopt some of each of the new species we're getting.
Oh -- And I'll reassign a five-star mechanic or two for Workshop Research -- since we know we're getting new pieces and the water temperature regulator!
So, anything you'll be doing in preparation for our day of celebration on December 8, that might be helpful for other players to consider?
(Realizing that some of the examples I gave may be too specific to franchise mode since that's what I usually play and am most familiar with. But I just use these as an example and I really am interested in any tips, tricks or strategies from players of all modes!)
