Guests really don't really use benches or tables much

Indiglow

I
Around every single dining area I have I will have multiple tables and benches just like a normal park would have....but guests almost exclusively prefer to walk and eat and as soon as they are done eating if there is not a trash bin within a tile, they will litter.

I started looking at all my dining areas....and almost none of them ever see use. Maybe 1 out 50 groups will use seating, while a vast majority of guests prefer to walk and eat. It's almost as if my tables are a waste of space and are more just eye candy for how a park should look.


Take for example my beautiful little layout here:

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None of these benches have EVER....EVER seen use....in the 60+ years my park has been open.

Those tables in the back left? Only 2 have ever seen use....the ones right next to the pizza barn. The others...NEVER.

If this is intended, it's pretty dumb design in my opinion.

I'm hoping this is a bug. Guests should have an AI where they actively look for seating within reasonable distance. None of these benches or tables are NOT within reasonable distance to the food areas located around it (there's also 2 food places inside this building and on the back end attached behind the pizza barn there.


All my other food court areas suffer the same problem. Take this second example:
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Guests have never used this food court either, even though it's literally across the path...they use the toilets there, but nothing else.



I'm starting to wonder if there is an AI problem where guests don't care about benches or seating when eating. In any normal park, these would be occupied quite often.
 

Redsox

R
The picknicktables must b realy close to an food shop like in your first pic the one next to the pizza or they will b never used. The Benches on the other hand get used regulary in my Zoo but it depends on the size of your Zoo imo and how much it depletes the guests energy.
 

Indiglow

I
Redsox said:
The picknicktables must b realy close to an food shop like in your first pic the one next to the pizza or they will b never used. The Benches on the other hand get used regulary in my Zoo but it depends on the size of your Zoo imo and how much it depletes the guests energy.
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Thanks for the reply.

If that's how it works then it seems absolutely asinine. A table won't ever be used unless it's almost right next to the food stand? That's crazy. It leaves little design then on how food courts could work. Smaller games like Parkitect don't even have this sort of stipulation in AI.

Ugh, the more and more things I find out about this game about how it's intended to work are really getting me disappointed in this game.
 

Skawt

Skawt
I agree.

After buying food, guests should look for the nearest table or bench to eat at. I would even go so far and say they should complain if they can't find one within a reasonable distance (I would).
 

ASalton1

A
I agree with this. I have tons of benches and trash cans and only a few tables and all of my sitting areas rarely get used. I have to place Gulpee energy or coffee shops to keep energy up because guests energy will be yellow but people won’t sit. I’m thinking this is a bug that will probably get patched soon. My zoo is over 100 years old and I have over 5000 guests so I know it’s not from a lack of guests.
 

Moonfox

Moonfox
Skawt said:
I agree.

After buying food, guests should look for the nearest table or bench to eat at. I would even go so far and say they should complain if they can't find one within a reasonable distance (I would).
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This would be a great way to program it, I agree!

I’ve never seen a guest use a bench or table yet either. I assumed because my zoo was too small for them to get tired, but it sounds like a bug.
 

Miri96

M
Yesterday I made an underground enclosure for aardvarks which is a dead end, so they just go down and the same way up again. I placed a building for food and drink next to it along with some benches and last time I checked, all those benchen were used. But that was the first time I saw them used. The ones with table are always empty too. When I'm home after work I could show some screenshots I took
 

LaTokk

LaTokk
I would actually go further and. given that fast food and zoo animals don't mix; you should be able to set a policy for your zoo that food must be eaten in food courts. Use a variation on the invisible habitat barrier to build your 'habitat' for homo sapiens.

a) You'd need to supply sufficient seating around your food/drink outlets
b) You'd need security enforcement of the policy
C) It would reduce the littering problem
 

Eewrie

Eewrie
Ive had no real issue but i always place picnic tables near food shops and use benches only around habitats or in my exhibit areas. Anywhere else i dont really bother.
 

Imagin

Imagin
It does seem that we need an extraordinary number of benches and tables to keep guests from being too tired but the more I add the more vandalism I have to put up with. I have noticed as well that the only tables that get used are the ones very close to the food areas, like on the same tile. You can't put many that close but you have to have them to keep guest energy up - even though they don't use them.
 

Indiglow

I
LaTokk said:
I would actually go further and. given that fast food and zoo animals don't mix; you should be able to set a policy for your zoo that food must be eaten in food courts. Use a variation on the invisible habitat barrier to build your 'habitat' for homo sapiens.

a) You'd need to supply sufficient seating around your food/drink outlets
b) You'd need security enforcement of the policy
C) It would reduce the littering problem
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This is a fantastic idea.
 

Imagin

Imagin
I did some experimenting with this last night and it's all about placement. If I put down a table near a food vendor someone will sit at it right away.
 

Indiglow

I
Imagin said:
I did some experimenting with this last night and it's all about placement. If I put down a table near a food vendor someone will sit at it right away.
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They'll sit at it if it's right next to it. If it's a few tiles away they won't. In my pictures, no one has ever used any of those benches or tables except for the ones 1 tile away from the Pizza Pen.
 

frayberk

F
at first i got this problem also where no one sits
but after a patch (i forgot which one, didnt notice it at first) the guest started to sit in my benches and picnictabkes
 

Vanice

Vanice
My guests refuse to use any kind of seating, too.
Quite annoying though, because I would have everything on 5 stars if they would not prefer energy drinks (and endless crying that they need to steer Stanley to the stainless steel after) over just sitting down on a bench to get more energetic again.
I don't know what the difference in the AI of Planet Zoo/Planet Coaster guests is, but in PC I sometimes get the impression some my guests only came to eat, drink, sit and relax. (Overexaggerated, but my benches get used a lot, they hardly see any sunlight.)
 

Imagin

Imagin
Vanice said:
My guests refuse to use any kind of seating, too.
Quite annoying though, because I would have everything on 5 stars if they would not prefer energy drinks (and endless crying that they need to steer Stanley to the stainless steel after) over just sitting down on a bench to get more energetic again.
I don't know what the difference in the AI of Planet Zoo/Planet Coaster guests is, but in PC I sometimes get the impression some my guests only came to eat, drink, sit and relax. (Overexaggerated, but my benches get used a lot, they hardly see any sunlight.)
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Yeah, I'm starting to wonder if it's possible to satisfy the thirst, hunger and energy needs of guests at all. I manage to get a 5-star zoo just yesterday in sandbox mode. My zoo has a kazillion shops for food and drink and something to sit on everywhere I can. Everything is placed in high-traffic areas and gets well used. With just under 3000 guests in the zoo I couldn't get over 67% happiness in the big 3 (thirst, hunger & energy) so I limited my guests to 2000 and waited. Still not over 67%. I only have 3 large habitats and a handful of exhibits. Surely with a third fewer people it should have been enough?
 

Sherrie

Sherrie
My guests use the tables all the time, they sit on them, eat on them and walk through them! (they're placed right near the shops) but I've yet to see them use a bench, which are placed all around the zoo.

ETA: Before, I didn't care so much, but now I want a seating area as cool as Indiglow's and I want it to work!!
 
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Indiglow

I
Bo Marit said:
Firstly, you've done an absolutely beautiful job on your zoo! That pathing and bench placement is gorgeous!

There's already some solid advice in the thread, so I just wanted to let you know we've passed your feedback on to the team and they'll be looking into benches/seating behaviour for guests :). Thanks!
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Awesome, thanks! I'm sure they will find some a sort of bug and hopefully update in a future patch.
 
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