Franchise mode - silly cost of 'iconic' species?

[kmw]

Is it just me, or are the prices (conservation credits) of lions, elephants and other big name animals, just ridiculously high?
I am in year sixty something in my first zoo, I have around $650,000 in cash, 35 animals (12 different species), but still struggle to make enough credits to buy any of the big names.
It seems that many people are playing the game just to make the biggest number of credits possible. Is that really their mentality? Isn't the idea to enjoy building zoos, not credits?

I'm still enjoying the game, and I have plenty of expansion and other animals to concentrate on, so it's fine for now, but it does make the game look a bit 'wrong', when a successfully expanding zoo still doesn't have an elephant or lion.

 

[YesIndeed]

Is it just me, or are the prices (conservation credits) of lions, elephants and other big name animals, just ridiculously high?
I am in year sixty something in my first zoo, I have around $650,000 in cash, 35 animals (12 different species), but still struggle to make enough credits to buy any of the big names.
It seems that many people are playing the game just to make the biggest number of credits possible. Is that really their mentality? Isn't the idea to enjoy building zoos, not credits?

I'm still enjoying the game, and I have plenty of expansion and other animals to concentrate on, so it's fine for now, but it does make the game look a bit 'wrong', when a successfully expanding zoo still doesn't have an elephant or lion.

It's because in franchise mode tge animals are put up by players. So other players will charge as much as they want for the big ticket animals.

 

[kmw]

Yes I understand. But I think it should be capped in some way by Frontier. I just find it sad that people get more 'enjoyment' from accumulating credits than from building and managing the zoo.

I'm sure there are many players out there who sell their animals off at a fair price, treating it like a sim and finding homes for their excess animals as if they actually care about them; but going by the trading market, the majority don't do this, they prefer to just make as many credits as possible - you could say it's a sad reflection on Human nature.

Anyway, thanks for the reply.

 

[Nioell]

It is capped at 10k max, just see it as a challenge to get there. It's really not that hard to get CC even with a regular zoo and no breeding farms.

Plus there are cheaper animals put up by Frontier all the time to counter it and make sure the supply doesn't run out.

And there's also the additional fact that smaller zoos wouldn't even bee able to handle those animals financially because of the high feeding costs. So you know that by the time you got the CC to get those your zoo's actually gonna be able to handle those costs as well.

 

[Captain Callum]

Grow your zoo naturally with the mid appeal animals to attract guests and grow a steady supply of credits. If a zoo is solely saving up for a high appeal animal such as a polar bear, lion or elephant, it generally does not work out well. The habitat build cost and the feeding costs will quickly bankrupt smaller zoos who do not have a secondary source of income to sustain the high appeal animal. Its true it draws more guests due to the appeal rating but you will quickly find out not all of them give enough money to replace the feeding costs.

The rather high costs of high appeal animals reflects the nature of the risk your zoo is taking, the max of 10,000 credits shouldn't be a consideration for a zoo that is at a stage where high appeal animals are just another habitat.

 

[Arrakai]

When just starting your Franchise, it can be hard to get enough credit. As you say, many people just sell their animals for a ridiculous amount of credit. But after a while that stops being an issue, as you get more comfortable with playing it.
I never think about credit as I have over 2mill (could have had way way more, but I always sell animals at base price or lower and regularly buy very expensive animals), but then again, I have been playing my Franchise for over 3 years now (and over 10 000 hours)

The best tip I can give when it comes to earning credit is Cheetahs. If you can afford a pair, that should be your top priority. They draw alot of crowds, doesn't cost nearly as much in food as other big predators and you can release the babys for some good credit gains (If you manage to find some adults with 100% in fertility, you can get 5 babys each litter)

 

[jcp011c]

Is it just me, or are the prices (conservation credits) of lions, elephants and other big name animals, just ridiculously high?
I am in year sixty something in my first zoo, I have around $650,000 in cash, 35 animals (12 different species), but still struggle to make enough credits to buy any of the big names.
It seems that many people are playing the game just to make the biggest number of credits possible. Is that really their mentality? Isn't the idea to enjoy building zoos, not credits?

I'm still enjoying the game, and I have plenty of expansion and other animals to concentrate on, so it's fine for now, but it does make the game look a bit 'wrong', when a successfully expanding zoo still doesn't have an elephant or lion.

I'm definitely not playing to get the biggest number of credits possible. I rarely put anything on the market, preferring to release to the wild. I've only got around 86,000 credits, but that's fine with me. As long as I have enough credits to get the animals I want I don't care how many I have. I also keep the costs of those down by usually going for the Frontier released animals as I'm also not that concerned about the genetics. I'm glad that factor's there but I'd rather pay less for lower quality animals than start paying thousands of credits for one.

There's certain animals Frontier puts on the market for CC's and those are the ones you can expect will also be higher cost in CC's in general. The Elephants, Giraffes, Giant Pandas, Lions, Tigers, etc, the Great Apes and a few others (including the Bactrian Camel which is a little surprising to me). Except in the rare chance a player may put those on the market for zoo dollars instead of CC's, these will always be in the market for CC's. Even then though, I'm not going to pay 10,000 CCs for any animal. or even a tquarter of that. I think I've bought animals over 1,000 CCs a handful of times total. With patience, you can find these being released from Frontier in the 500-600 range with mid-level stats. Yes, it'll take a while sometimes, but unless you're desperate and have to have the animals right now...you can keep your CC costs low.

So my outlook on the market: Be patient. Balance the concern for genetics versus cost - if you prefer to play for genetics that's fine but it's not something the game requires you to do. Know what animals even Frontier releases for CC and don't spend time hoping for those species for Zoo Dollars. Build up your CCs from releasing into the wild, logging in to franchise daily if you can, and collecting 100 CCs daily by greating guests. Have fun - the market can be frustrating but it's just a game and decide what's important for you.