How to start properly

[DeVipera]

Hi builders,

For the first time I had the opportunity to play a game from Fortier and I must say it's great. Sure, there are things that will make you angry (hello path system) but overal gameplay is very balanced and I look forward for full release.

Before it happens I just need to ask someone more experienced with games like that - How properly start?
I have big problems with money making (even with donation boxes, educational elements). I paid for marketing but without success. I have a few points, I would like if someone could answer them.

• How many employees do I need to get started. There aren't any enrichment items so animals get bored. I have four species and research takes too long (for one vet - another is too expensive for beggining).
• Bored visitors (what can I do for them? Sure they are bored if they see bored animals)
• Path system have serious problems, sometimes I need to remove opposite barrier to route path (why the hell?!)
• How many animals for beggining (I have ostriches, pigs, peawolfs and wolves) and I have problems to make them happy (why do I have to discover enrichment items like toys and others common things? It doesn't make sense).
• How to prevent money loss.
  

Thank you for your time.
Jan

 

[Monsarona]

Hey! Welcome to the zoozone

1. Only get one of every staff member. But skip the Vendors and Security guard for now. You'll only need those once you have a whole lot of guests.
-->As for the research, it may be worth it to get a second Vet and assign them to do only research. I even renamed mine "Researcher" to make it easier to remember which one it was. Make one workzone with a Research center and a staff room and assign the researching vet to that zone. (You can also add a workshop to that zone to do mech research later)

2. Visitors will be bored while you have not a lot of animals. You can put up more information boards to keep them more occupied. There are some generic ones you can set to have info about conservation and other topics.

3. Make sure the option to "Flatten Terrain" is unchecked in your path tool options, this causes issues when placing a path near a barrier. There are some nice tutorials on YT about making the most of the path tool if you want to look those up.

4. I would start with less animals. Tortoises are the best to start with, they give the most steady income. Its easier if you only add animals after you get a few levels of research with the ones you already have. Make sure to have workzones with your habitats and keeper huts in them and assign your keepers to those zones.

5. Don't grow too quickly, and avoid taking Loans if you can. They cost way more than the brief windfall of money they give you. I have honestly regretted the loans every time I took one (hello, real life is calling lol).
--> Don't add shops and food stalls until you have like 500 guests consistently at minimum., its not worth it otherwise. Maybe put down a bathroom and an ATM if you are feeling fiesty.

That's all my personal advice. I am not a brilliant player, so take it with a grain of salt. Learned most of this from failing A LOT.

 

[holliday50]

Make sure you build an Information booth near the entrance right away.

I put up 1 species at a time. When that animal is fully researched, I add another one. I make sure my researcher isn't assigned any other tasks so the research gets done quickly. The species you choose is less important than just taking your time in the beginning so you don't get overextended.

Don't add food or drink until your Guests are complaining about it a lot. When they do, add drinks first (at around 300-400 Guests) then wait longer for food (500-600).

 

[Seren1]

If you have just started are you getting animals??!! the animal market has been empty for pretty much 24hrs and I have no cc to buy other peoples animals. So frustrated I cant even play!! I hope your zoo goes well!!

 

[xTo]

The biggest tip I can give for starting out is DON'T get warthogs. They make little money in donations and it takes their entire research path to unlock the food enrichment. Try to get something like a set of Galapagos Tortoises for cash, Frontier Zoo puts them up a lot in my experience.

Furthermore optimizing my staff commute really helped as well. I did this by building a staff hub and placing the habitats directly around them as followed;

This made it really easy for my staff to go from habitat to habitat, meaning they could peform tasks very fast after another without spending too much time commuting.
I did this on my 3rd retry and started with some Galapagos Tortoises, Tapirs and Peafowls and haven't had any money problems since.

As pointed out above, get 1 of every staff except the Security Guard and Vendors at this point and make sure you have a lot of donation boxes, information stands and educational speakers around the exhibits (don't forget to assign the correct animal to them and don't let the speakers overlap).

This should help you get started

EDIT: I made this in paint quickly since I'm at work but I'll try to upload a screenshot of what it looks like in my zoo when I get back home