About interspecies enrichments

[Waiting for New DLCs]

When the wetlands animal pack was released, I remember many people were satisfied that many species had interspecies enrichment bonuses with other species in the game. What do you guys think? Do you like species with more interspecies enrichment bonuses with other animals in the game, or do you guys don't care much?

1. Aardvark&Meerkat

2. African Buffalo&Black Wildebeest&Common Ostrich&Common Warthog&Plains Zebra&Reticulated Giraffe&Sable Antelope&Springbok&Thomson's Gazelle
3. African Buffalo&Black Wildebeest&Common Ostrich&Plains Zebra&Reticulated Giraffe&Sable Antelope&Southern White Rhinoceros&Springbok&Thomson's Gazelle
4. African Buffalo&Common Ostrich&Nile Lechwe&Reticulated Giraffe
5. African Buffalo&Common Ostrich&Plains Zebra&Reticulated Giraffe&Scimitar-Horned Oryx
6. Nyala&Southern White Rhinoceros

7. American Bison&Black-Tailed Prairie Dog
8. American Bison&Pronghorn Antelope

9. Asian Small-Clawed Otter&Binturong&Malayan Tapir
10. Asian Small-Clawed Otter&Bornean Orangutan&Malayan Tapir
11. Asian Small-Clawed Otter&Indian Rhinoceros
12. Asian Small-Clawed Otter&Malayan Tapir&Proboscis Monkey
13. Binturong&Sun Bear
14. Bornean Orangutan&Siamang
15. Indian Elephant&Malayan Tapir&Proboscis Monkey
16. Indian Rhinoceros&Wild Water Buffalo
17. Malayan Tapir&Wild Water Buffalo

18. Bactrian Camel&Przewalski's Horse

19. Baird's Tapir&Capybara&Colombian White-Faced Capuchin Monkey&Giant Anteater
20. Capybara&Galapagos Giant Tortoise
21. Capybara&Llama

22. Black-And-White Ruffed Lemur&Red Ruffed Lemur&Ring-Tailed Lemur

23. Japanese Macaque&Red-Crowned Crane

24. Koala&Red Kangaroo

These are the current interspecies enrichment bonus groups in the game and I found these groups using these two rules.
-As few groups as possible
-As many animals in a group as possible

 

[AlexSea]

Considering that you can mix any two species of herbivores together without them fighting, I don't think interspecies enrichment matters all that much.

 

[yoav_r]

Considering that you can mix any two species of herbivores together without them fighting, I don't think interspecies enrichment matters all that much.

Except the hippos and rhinos unfortunately

 

[Waiting for New DLCs]

Considering that you can mix any two species of herbivores together without them fighting, I don't think interspecies enrichment matters all that much.

I think it does matter since for species with bonuses, the enrichment bar fills up by 20% per species. Only the species in group 2 and 3 can reach 100%.

Except the hippos and rhinos unfortunately

That's probably why interspecies enrichment matters!

 

[biggest_dreamer]

I honestly don't pay it much mind. If I want to have a shared habitat, I'll do it whether or not they have an enrichment bonus. Either I'm playing in sandbox, where it won't matter anyway, or I'm playing in franchise, where I get everything as close to 100% as possible anyway, so again it doesn't really matter.

 

[Waiting for New DLCs]

I honestly don't pay it much mind. If I want to have a shared habitat, I'll do it whether or not they have an enrichment bonus. Either I'm playing in sandbox, where it won't matter anyway, or I'm playing in franchise, where I get everything as close to 100% as possible anyway, so again it doesn't really matter.

It matters to me a lot. You just can't put any species together. Species with different requirements will not have an enrichment bonus. Having an enrichment bonus means that they share similar requirements.

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

Enritchment bonus is nothing but a number and that number isnt even all that impactful.
Rn its a dead mechanic with no value in sandbox whatsoever and not much in other modes.
They are also wildly inconsistent, for example why are the anteater and capuchins enritcht by each other, but the SHO and the gemsbock that we know form mixed herds in captivity dont?
Imo, it would be cool to get enritchment animations of those animals interacting, making it simply label with which other animals they can have animations.
That could be simple with animals that allready share animations like the lemures or could even be more complex like capuchins sitting on or playing with and around a capybara.
But until any change is made to give the system purpose theres no need for me to even aknowledge it.

 

[Waiting for New DLCs]

Enritchment bonus is nothing but a number and that number isnt even all that impactful.
Rn its a dead mechanic with no value in sandbox whatsoever and not much in other modes.
They are also wildly inconsistent, for example why are the anteater and capuchins enritcht by each other, but the SHO and the gemsbock that we know form mixed herds in captivity dont?
Imo, it would be cool to get enritchment animations of those animals interacting, making it simply label with which other animals they can have animations.
That could be simple with animals that allready share animations like the lemures or could even be more complex like capuchins sitting on or playing with and around a capybara.
But until any change is made to give the system purpose theres no need for me to even aknowledge it.

What do you mean it's a number? I see why you say it's a dead mechanic. What's wrong with anteaters and cacpuchins being enriched by each other? I've never heard of scimitar-horned oryx and gemsbok form mixed herds in captivity. Gemsboks have no interspecies enrichments, and African Buffalo&Common Ostrich&Plains Zebra&Reticulated Giraffe&Scimitar-Horned Oryx enrich each other. I've never thought of idea of animals interacting with each other through animations.

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

The enritchment bonus is no true game mechanic, its just that a number value for the animals wellfare gets increased and that only by a little.
A literal ball has a higher gameplay, number and most importantly watching impact then the enritchment bonus, because its invisible.
You dont see the difference between two species that have or dont have it in a habitat, unlike the clear difference between having an enritchment item or not as the animals can actually interact with it

 

[Waiting for New DLCs]

The enritchment bonus is no true game mechanic, its just that a number value for the animals wellfare gets increased and that only by a little.
A literal ball has a higher gameplay, number and most importantly watching impact then the enritchment bonus, because its invisible.
You dont see the difference between two species that have or dont have it in a habitat, unlike the clear difference between having an enritchment item or not as the animals can actually interact with it

A literal ball? What kind of difference do you want in a multi species habitat?

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

A literal ball? What kind of difference do you want in a multi species habitat?

Interactions, like i said.
Rn aslong as animals dont activly threaten each other, you can mix any animals woth each other and you wont notice the differences between those enritching each other and those that dont.

 

[Waiting for New DLCs]

Interactions, like i said.
Rn aslong as animals dont activly threaten each other, you can mix any animals woth each other and you wont notice the differences between those enritching each other and those that dont.

I understand. I get the point. It would be better to have more interactions between species with interspecies enrichments in my opinion, too.

 

[iloveyourzoos]

I play in franchise and try to keep my animal's welfare as close to 100% as possible at all times, so I do use and appreciate when there's an interspecies bonus. (and would love to see more of them!)

Some of the animals have terrain requirements which just barely overlap (meaning that you have to paint very carefully), or have toy and food enrichment that they don't share (meaning you need a lot of them), or have plant preferences that don't perfectly overlap (meaning you've got just a few options). While I always work to get these to 100% independently and then add the interspecies on top of that, I can imagine players who use the interspecies bonus to "make up for" not wanting to paint as closely or have enrichment toys everywhere or only being able to use one plant type.

And while it probably doesn't apply to most of us on these forums, I do think that the interspecies bonus is good for new players who may need encouragement to try multi-species habitats. We know that most herbivores can go together (and many of us even experiment with crazy combinations), but some newer players may be more likely to try if they're given this bit of direction.

I would love it if the interspecies bonus also meant interaction, but I don't think it's fair to say that this is a dead mechanic just because sandbox players may not be watching those numbers as closely. There are five modes in the game (career, challenge, timed, sandbox, and franchise), and players at all different levels playing each of those modes - from beginners to experts, and from easy mode to difficult mode. If the mechanism helps players in even one of those modes, at any level of experience and game difficulty, then it's worthwhile.

In some of those modes, the requirements or goals or challenges are precisely to get animals to up to a certain level of welfare -- and depending on the mode, to do so as cheaply (due to limited funds), quickly (in the timed scenarios), and/or consistently/sustainably as possible (career/challenge/franchise community challenges). So while the extra numbers may not be as important as making sure the animal has enough space, food and water, and may very well go unnoticed in sandbox mode, they might make quite a difference in another mode, providing just a tiny bit of an additional boost to get you to the goal. Plus, every small increase in animal welfare also impacts guest happiness, and money spent. So an interspecies bonus may be helping you to meet more than one goal at once.

So in a timed scenario where you are supposed to meet welfare, guest and financial goals quickly and cheaply, I can definitely imagine an actual gameplay strategy where a player tries to use all the interspecies bonuses available to them in that scenario, maybe near the entrance so they have maximum impact on guest happiness/education/donations. Or maybe the player is in career mode or challenge mode, and does not have access to every species. If they're going to decide which animal to acquire next, one that has an interspecies bonus may be a wiser choice. Or maybe the player is in franchise mode, working on one of the community challenges that requires you to get animals up to 5 stars. They would want to get everything else perfect as well, and then add on all the interspecies bonuses that they could.

 

[snoogins]

Eh, there's no unique animations or interactions amongst the species that benefit each other so I don't even bother doing mixed habitats unless it's a big savannah themed one or something. Kind of a pointless mechanic in my opinion.

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

I play in franchise and try to keep my animal's welfare as close to 100% as possible at all times, so I do use and appreciate when there's an interspecies bonus. (and would love to see more of them!)

Some of the animals have terrain requirements which just barely overlap (meaning that you have to paint very carefully), or have toy and food enrichment that they don't share (meaning you need a lot of them), or have plant preferences that don't perfectly overlap (meaning you've got just a few options). While I always work to get these to 100% independently and then add the interspecies on top of that, I can imagine players who use the interspecies bonus to "make up for" not wanting to paint as closely or have enrichment toys everywhere or only being able to use one plant type.

And while it probably doesn't apply to most of us on these forums, I do think that the interspecies bonus is good for new players who may need encouragement to try multi-species habitats. We know that most herbivores can go together (and many of us even experiment with crazy combinations), but some newer players may be more likely to try if they're given this bit of direction.

I would love it if the interspecies bonus also meant interaction, but I don't think it's fair to say that this is a dead mechanic just because sandbox players may not be watching those numbers as closely. There are five modes in the game (career, challenge, timed, sandbox, and franchise), and players at all different levels playing each of those modes - from beginners to experts, and from easy mode to difficult mode. If the mechanism helps players in even one of those modes, at any level of experience and game difficulty, then it's worthwhile.

In some of those modes, the requirements or goals or challenges are precisely to get animals to up to a certain level of welfare -- and depending on the mode, to do so as cheaply (due to limited funds), quickly (in the timed scenarios), and/or consistently/sustainably as possible (career/challenge/franchise community challenges). So while the extra numbers may not be as important as making sure the animal has enough space, food and water, and may very well go unnoticed in sandbox mode, they might make quite a difference in another mode, providing just a tiny bit of an additional boost to get you to the goal. Plus, every small increase in animal welfare also impacts guest happiness, and money spent. So an interspecies bonus may be helping you to meet more than one goal at once.

So in a timed scenario where you are supposed to meet welfare, guest and financial goals quickly and cheaply, I can definitely imagine an actual gameplay strategy where a player tries to use all the interspecies bonuses available to them in that scenario, maybe near the entrance so they have maximum impact on guest happiness/education/donations. Or maybe the player is in career mode or challenge mode, and does not have access to every species. If they're going to decide which animal to acquire next, one that has an interspecies bonus may be a wiser choice. Or maybe the player is in franchise mode, working on one of the community challenges that requires you to get animals up to 5 stars. They would want to get everything else perfect as well, and then add on all the interspecies bonuses that they could.

I said its dead specifcly in sandbox, where it is. There is literally no difference between bonus and no bonus combos when you turn welfare of.
And even in the other modes, its really not that hard to max out welfare and ignore plants, enritchment and honestly most of the stuff. Just have max food and a decently sized habitat and your good to go.

 

[iloveyourzoos]

when you turn welfare of.

Thank you for this clarification. It's helpful for me to understand.

I imagine it must be pretty devastating to the devs who have responded positively to repeated player requests to be able to enable/disable nearly every game play element in sandbox, to then turn around and read that all those game mechanics are now dead because they've given players what they asked for -- the option to disable, bypass or ignore them. But at that point I guess we're just arguing semantics, since I agree that if a player has chosen to turn off the effects of something in their settings, it will no longer have any gameplay effects!

I'll just say again that for some of us who play in the other modes, with all the features turned on and enabled, that those marginal point bumps are still helpful. Not as panaceas, but as a slight boost that can be valuable and enjoyable for certain styles of gameplay.

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

What im saying is that its not a feature, its a number. A number that is completly meaningless in one of the games 2 main modes and has just a marginal effect in the others. This has nothing to do with being able to toggle features on and of, but the fact that if something completly disapears from the game with no traces besides a little hint page in the zoopedia, then it cant really be called a feature.

 

[paul78]

@iloveyourzoos I have to disagree with you on the devs being devastated about the gameplay options being turned on or off. I’m sure they understand that all player base is different on their preferred style of play. And a good dev understands this and goes above and beyond to meet all players needs and styles if possible. I prefer to play with options mostly off and usually not even having guests in my zoos. It doesn’t mean I appreciate these things any less tho. I just prefer to focus more on building realistic exhibits with the least amount of distractions as possible. Planet zoo is thee best zoo sim in the world hands down and the ability to turn options on or off is a big part of that.

 

[iloveyourzoos]

@paul78 I agree. I have no issue with people playing the way they like, and I'm sure the devs don't either. I'm glad that many different types of players are able to enjoy the game as much as I am.

I was simply reacting (and maybe overreacting) to the idea that a game mechanic becomes a "dead mechanic", just because a player has chosen to play in a mode and in a self-selected setting where it doesn't matter. For example, I'm perfectly happy that the devs have given you the ability to build without ever thinking about guests if that's what you like to do. Sincerely, I am. Or to build with unlimited money and credits. No problem with that whatsoever. But if you then were to go a step further and claim that guests or money were a "dead mechanic" in sandbox, just because you had chosen to opt out of them, I think I (and maybe the devs) might yelp a little.

I think the same is true of the interspecies bonus. It's a marginal benefit, available for those players who play in the multiple modes and styles where marginal benefits and the details of those welfare numbers can matter quite a bit to the challenges. I have no objection to someone who plays in a mode or style that never involves those mechanics or those challenges. But I think it's more accurate to say that such a player has "opted out" of using that game mechanic, rather than saying that the mechanic itself is "dead".

 

[Waiting for New DLCs]

I play in franchise and try to keep my animal's welfare as close to 100% as possible at all times, so I do use and appreciate when there's an interspecies bonus. (and would love to see more of them!)

Some of the animals have terrain requirements which just barely overlap (meaning that you have to paint very carefully), or have toy and food enrichment that they don't share (meaning you need a lot of them), or have plant preferences that don't perfectly overlap (meaning you've got just a few options). While I always work to get these to 100% independently and then add the interspecies on top of that, I can imagine players who use the interspecies bonus to "make up for" not wanting to paint as closely or have enrichment toys everywhere or only being able to use one plant type.

And while it probably doesn't apply to most of us on these forums, I do think that the interspecies bonus is good for new players who may need encouragement to try multi-species habitats. We know that most herbivores can go together (and many of us even experiment with crazy combinations), but some newer players may be more likely to try if they're given this bit of direction.

I would love it if the interspecies bonus also meant interaction, but I don't think it's fair to say that this is a dead mechanic just because sandbox players may not be watching those numbers as closely. There are five modes in the game (career, challenge, timed, sandbox, and franchise), and players at all different levels playing each of those modes - from beginners to experts, and from easy mode to difficult mode. If the mechanism helps players in even one of those modes, at any level of experience and game difficulty, then it's worthwhile.

In some of those modes, the requirements or goals or challenges are precisely to get animals to up to a certain level of welfare -- and depending on the mode, to do so as cheaply (due to limited funds), quickly (in the timed scenarios), and/or consistently/sustainably as possible (career/challenge/franchise community challenges). So while the extra numbers may not be as important as making sure the animal has enough space, food and water, and may very well go unnoticed in sandbox mode, they might make quite a difference in another mode, providing just a tiny bit of an additional boost to get you to the goal. Plus, every small increase in animal welfare also impacts guest happiness, and money spent. So an interspecies bonus may be helping you to meet more than one goal at once.

So in a timed scenario where you are supposed to meet welfare, guest and financial goals quickly and cheaply, I can definitely imagine an actual gameplay strategy where a player tries to use all the interspecies bonuses available to them in that scenario, maybe near the entrance so they have maximum impact on guest happiness/education/donations. Or maybe the player is in career mode or challenge mode, and does not have access to every species. If they're going to decide which animal to acquire next, one that has an interspecies bonus may be a wiser choice. Or maybe the player is in franchise mode, working on one of the community challenges that requires you to get animals up to 5 stars. They would want to get everything else perfect as well, and then add on all the interspecies bonuses that they could.

Even though I only play sandbox, I try to keep animal's welfare almost close to 100% all the time, and I do not house species without interspecies enrichments because I believe there must be a reason.

Eh, there's no unique animations or interactions amongst the species that benefit each other so I don't even bother doing mixed habitats unless it's a big savannah themed one or something. Kind of a pointless mechanic in my opinion.

Well, it is a bad thing that there are no interactions.

I said its dead specifcly in sandbox, where it is. There is literally no difference between bonus and no bonus combos when you turn welfare of.
And even in the other modes, its really not that hard to max out welfare and ignore plants, enritchment and honestly most of the stuff. Just have max food and a decently sized habitat and your good to go.

I do not turn welfare off even though I play on sandbox.

Thank you for this clarification. It's helpful for me to understand.

I imagine it must be pretty devastating to the devs who have responded positively to repeated player requests to be able to enable/disable nearly every game play element in sandbox, to then turn around and read that all those game mechanics are now dead because they've given players what they asked for -- the option to disable, bypass or ignore them. But at that point I guess we're just arguing semantics, since I agree that if a player has chosen to turn off the effects of something in their settings, it will no longer have any gameplay effects!

I'll just say again that for some of us who play in the other modes, with all the features turned on and enabled, that those marginal point bumps are still helpful. Not as panaceas, but as a slight boost that can be valuable and enjoyable for certain styles of gameplay.

I only disable deaths and water and elecricity.

What im saying is that its not a feature, its a number. A number that is completly meaningless in one of the games 2 main modes and has just a marginal effect in the others. This has nothing to do with being able to toggle features on and of, but the fact that if something completly disapears from the game with no traces besides a little hint page in the zoopedia, then it cant really be called a feature.

I hope interspecies enrichment does not become meaningless.

@iloveyourzoos I have to disagree with you on the devs being devastated about the gameplay options being turned on or off. I’m sure they understand that all player base is different on their preferred style of play. And a good dev understands this and goes above and beyond to meet all players needs and styles if possible. I prefer to play with options mostly off and usually not even having guests in my zoos. It doesn’t mean I appreciate these things any less tho. I just prefer to focus more on building realistic exhibits with the least amount of distractions as possible. Planet zoo is thee best zoo sim in the world hands down and the ability to turn options on or off is a big part of that.

Devs may know a lot more about player base than any other player.

@paul78 I agree. I have no issue with people playing the way they like, and I'm sure the devs don't either. I'm glad that many different types of players are able to enjoy the game as much as I am.

I was simply reacting (and maybe overreacting) to the idea that a game mechanic becomes a "dead mechanic", just because a player has chosen to play in a mode and in a self-selected setting where it doesn't matter. For example, I'm perfectly happy that the devs have given you the ability to build without ever thinking about guests if that's what you like to do. Sincerely, I am. Or to build with unlimited money and credits. No problem with that whatsoever. But if you then were to go a step further and claim that guests or money were a "dead mechanic" in sandbox, just because you had chosen to opt out of them, I think I (and maybe the devs) might yelp a little.

I think the same is true of the interspecies bonus. It's a marginal benefit, available for those players who play in the multiple modes and styles where marginal benefits and the details of those welfare numbers can matter quite a bit to the challenges. I have no objection to someone who plays in a mode or style that never involves those mechanics or those challenges. But I think it's more accurate to say that such a player has "opted out" of using that game mechanic, rather than saying that the mechanic itself is "dead".

Interspecies bonus must be there for a reason, and there is no live or dead nor good or bad mechanic.