I Play...

iloveyourzoos

I
Oddly, I think I'm probably a better builder because of franchise than I would have been if I had been in sandbox. All of that management and genetics and trade center stuff in franchise kept me coming back to the game, even on days when I wouldn't have had any ideas for habitats or buildings (and thus might not have logged in). But then once I was in the game, I would inevitably end up doing a little bit of building, decorating, or experimenting while I was there.

It may be an attention thing on my part, but having multiple things to focus on helps keep me engaged and helps keep any one thing from becoming too tedious. I don't think I would enjoy the game nearly as much if it was only building, or only genetics, or only trading. For me, the ability to jump back and forth between various tasks -- and always having something a little bit different to be able to focus on -- is one of the biggest reasons I'm still playing. And very often, going through those management tasks (bins, benches, atms, security, etc) gave me a way to "look" at my zoo differently and see things that I wanted to change.

I totally get how for other people who are more focused, all that management stuff could be an unwanted distraction that would take time away from their building time. But for me, it was the exact opposite: Thinking of building as one of many management tasks to take care of actually meant that I did more of it than I would if PZ was just a building simulator alone.
 

PenguinPal

P
@SnaileyX, basically what I try to do is play a downloaded sandbox zoo with settings that would be enabled on the other modes, such as money and cc turned on, animal welfare, etc.. When I first download a zoo, I pause the game and check what settings the creator has used. Don't be in a rush to turn settings on right away. If money and cc are turned off, I check whether or not the zoo is running at a profit, which often isn't the case. I leave money and cc off until I can get the zoo profitable for about 3 consecutive years. Getting it profitable comes from playing the zoo via selling animals rather than releasing to the wild, adding shops where I can, increasing guest numbers, etc.. It takes learning your way around the the zoo, too, including checking the ages of the animals in habitats so a viable aged animal is in a habitat when I turn on birth, aging etc. so I don't suddenly have a whole bunch of empty habitats. I guess in a way, it's almost like a challenge. Can I get this zoo to operate like the game intended us to have them operate? The one setting I don't have any qualms turning/leaving off, if necessary, is negative influence on guests from staff buildings. That's because I've never visited a zoo IRL and felt the need to critique where staff buildings are placed. :)

They also will give you more understanding into the building of habitats. I've gotten so many good ideas for habitats that I can use and practice building in sandbox mode. I actually ran across a habitat that in trying to make changes to it to allow adding a second species that I got an idea for building one from scratch that I wouldn't have thought of without the adjustments I was trying to make to the original.

This may not come across clearly as it's hard to explain until one has taken a zoo with settings off and transformed it into a working zoo. Perhaps cutting down the explanation might be better. In short, all the settings you might find turned off that you want on, can be accomplished with time and patience and they are very playable. Rarely have I downloaded a zoo build that I can't make work, although there have been a very few that I had to give up on and delete. Do bear in mind that I have truly struggled with building in the game and that if you are more creative, or pick it up faster, you might find building from scratch works better for you, personally. There isn't a right or wrong way to play the game, just find what you like to do with it and go from there. iloveyourzoos comment about having multiple things to focus on playing a key factor in the engagement process applies to me, too. With a downloaded zoo I find myself switching up getting those settings I want on to work, seeing where and what I can build, all the while managing breeding, well, trying to manage breeding, lol.
 

SnaileyX

SnaileyX
Thank you all for your lovely welcome and helpful replies to such a noob!! @PenguinPal great details you gave, I'm going to download my first zoo and have a go at making it run like a 'normal' zoo. I'm quite excited! I love doing all aspects of the zoos - the building, the animal care, the management etc and love this game so much already that I bought all the packs lol.

I hope I didn't derail the thread too much with my noobie questions.
 

lala2021

L
PenguinPal - love your idea of downloading zoos and making them profitable. I quite enjoy doing that with the timed scenario zoos - particularly the one with the sun bears and binturongs (can't remember which pack they came with!) - it's so hard to make profitable but I love the challenge! I shall look to download some too, for the challenge and for the building ideas. Thanks!
 

Jeminyne

Jeminyne
I loved the scenarios before they started the timed ones. I understand the old scenarios required more time and effort by Frontier for the elaborate builds, but the fact we're not getting any more of them is just so sad. The timed ones are terrible.
 

Jileha

J
SnaileyX said:
@Jileha when you say you take your time with them, do you mean you just ignore the timer altogether and play them for as long as you like? I hadn't though about doing that. I don't really want the other statues as I only like them in stone or bronze anyway.
Click to expand...
Yes, that’s what I do. Initially, when the timed scenarios started, I tried to get gold and even managed it a couple of times. I like that sometimes coming up with tricks to get things done faster (e.g. building a habitat in a sandbox zoo and saving it as a blueprint to be able to place a made-to-fit habitat in no time…) was fun, but it is rather stressful. Then I skipped a bunch of them, and the latest ones I just take whatever time it takes and try to build a nice zoo, not just plop things anywhere. The conversation zoo took me 6 hours. I had a great, relaxing time. The terraforming and landscaping is absolutely gorgeous with some of spaces for smaller habitats.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom