Dinosaur and money issues in JP era settings for Jurassic difficulties in challenge mode.

[JM3715]

I've been experiencing a lot of issues when going playing Jurassic level challenge modes under the Jurassic Park era settings. I have been able to keep my facility rating maxed out, and am currently holding an Island rating just over 4 stars. But the lack of species variety has been a very, very significant handy cap, as well as not having access to other genetic mod features, like the Stress Inhibitor genes to apply to the particular carnivores (ie: Proceratosaurus, Dilophosaurus, and Raptors), leading me to virtually dump the majority of my funds into having to recapture them and repair the damages they and the storms have both caused, and I cannot recover funds fast enough to be able to afford "big ticket" dinosaurs of >$2M to fullfill my dinosaur ratings.

I have been favoring Malcolm, Grant and Sattler's contracts, and occasionally taking on some from Finch. However, Malcolm's timer contracts take too long to complete before I end up burning through those rewards for the next calamity or refilling feeders, I end up exhausting many of the very few fossil sights fairly quickly with Grant, and Sattler keeps giving me contracts for for things like "Achieve a Dinosaur Rating of 4.0", when I'm struggling to get it close to 3.5.

Anyone have any helpful suggestions on how I can bolster my dinosaur rating, beyond just spamming cheap, low rating dinos?

 

[MarkyB83]

You're kinda on the right lines already I think? This is my completed map at 5 stars on Nublar 93 Jurassic Challenge:

If you basically do a Malcolm or Grant contract every time you have the opportunity (even when Grant rep has maxed out just keep doing them cos they're easiest). Avoid Sattler as most of her contracts are either dino mod related or long-term goals like Hammond's which are pointless to make money quickly (you literally don't need to do any modifications cos they cost money & time to research plus make your dinos more expensive). Finch contracts are ok if you don't have a Grant or Malcolm option on offer.

In terms of Dinos, you really do just have to spam loads of herbivores (as you can see from the map above) or low comfort threshold carnivores (e.g. Ceratosaurus, Metriacanthosaurus and Baryonyx) until right at the end when you're at about 4.7/8 stars. At that point if you have a couple of creation labs then you can add Spinosaurus, T-Rex, Velociraptor etc quickly so you get to 5 stars before they have a chance to break out.

If you're burning through money quickly I'd say it's because of a combination of a few things. Don't use electric fences (you don't need those for herbivores - maybe only need them for Dilophosaurus as they really help your rating cos you can have alot of them). Also don't research any skins or genes, you don't need those. research dig site unlocks cos you need them to make money by selling fossils. Research diseases else your park will have a massive epidemic when you least need it. Research minimal building upgrades e.g. only dig yield, improved power, power protection, ranger accuracy, ranger scheduling..... maybe one of inventory space or extraction speed...... you can save so much money by only developing the things you absolutely need. Also only refill feeders when they go to the orange icon.

I'd say Apatosaurus & Brachiosaurus are the dinos you'll need the biggest populations of. I think I have 2 lots of those populations maxed out (7 Apato + 5 Brachi) with some Mamenchisaurus when you get those at 4 stars too.

 

[JM3715]

You're kinda on the right lines already I think? This is my completed map at 5 stars on Nublar 93 Jurassic Challenge:

View attachment 161173

If you basically do a Malcolm or Grant contract every time you have the opportunity (even when Grant rep has maxed out just keep doing them cos they're easiest). Avoid Sattler as most of her contracts are either dino mod related or long-term goals like Hammond's which are pointless to make money quickly (you literally don't need to do any modifications cos they cost money & time to research plus make your dinos more expensive). Finch contracts are ok if you don't have a Grant or Malcolm option on offer.

In terms of Dinos, you really do just have to spam loads of herbivores (as you can see from the map above) or low comfort threshold carnivores (e.g. Ceratosaurus, Metriacanthosaurus and Baryonyx) until right at the end when you're at about 4.7/8 stars. At that point if you have a couple of creation labs then you can add Spinosaurus, T-Rex, Velociraptor etc quickly so you get to 5 stars before they have a chance to break out.

If you're burning through money quickly I'd say it's because of a combination of a few things. Don't use electric fences (you don't need those for herbivores - maybe only need them for Dilophosaurus as they really help your rating cos you can have alot of them). Also don't research any skins or genes, you don't need those. research dig site unlocks cos you need them to make money by selling fossils. Research diseases else your park will have a massive epidemic when you least need it. Research minimal building upgrades e.g. only dig yield, improved power, power protection, ranger accuracy, ranger scheduling..... maybe one of inventory space or extraction speed...... you can save so much money by only developing the things you absolutely need. Also only refill feeders when they go to the orange icon.

I'd say Apatosaurus & Brachiosaurus are the dinos you'll need the biggest populations of. I think I have 2 lots of those populations maxed out (7 Apato + 5 Brachi) with some Mamenchisaurus when you get those at 4 stars too.

Thanks, I managed to beat it in a just over 6 hours and unlocked the 1993A T-rex skin!

 

[Capt.Hunt]

Contracts are still a bit of a craps shoot. When I ran through this challenge, Grant kept getting fixated on getting fossils of dinosaurs that I was nowhere near unlocking. Malcolm's contracts take a lot of time, but they're high value for almost zero effort. Some of Satler's contracts were hard, like the dino rating ones and the modification ones in the early game, but she also got the photography contracts, which are super easy if you've got a paddock with a lot of dinos, or a few high value sauropods. Cabot's were ok, it was a pain when you got the earn $X per minute ones, but the add X upgrade to Y building ones were easy. Don't even try the Hammond Contracts, I only took those when I wanted a more precise gauge of where my star rating was at.

Overall, I agree that the JP era challenges are way harder because you are handycapped by not having as many dinosaurs or any of the other DLC mechanics, as well as having fewer buildings. I'll say it again, I paid for all the DLCs, I should be able to use them in challenge mode, regardless of the era.