Improving Scenery Rating OR Getting new animal

Janina_La Paz

J
Hi all!

I have recently started my first Franchise Zoo and have a question about how to best proceed!

I have 6 animal species so far and now suddenly, my money is dropping. I fired some staff members and removed some facilities already, but It's still dropping. Considering the money went up so far, I am worried to make the wrong moves now, continuing to lose money.

So my question is: Would it be more recommended to
1) get another animal to expand the zoo, or
2) spend money improving scenery ratings, especially around animal talking points?

What would be the best investment to make, so that I can stabilize my finances?

I am currently at the highest entrance fee. I tried to raise it, but people say it's too expensive, so that does not work right now, and of course I have donation boxes everywhere.

So I guess the only option is to make the zoo more attractive, so more people come, but I don't know which is the best way to do that.

I really appreciate your feedback and experience!

Thanks in advance!
 

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
Janina_La Paz said:
Hi all!

I have recently started my first Franchise Zoo and have a question about how to best proceed!

I have 6 animal species so far and now suddenly, my money is dropping. I fired some staff members and removed some facilities already, but It's still dropping. Considering the money went up so far, I am worried to make the wrong moves now, continuing to lose money.

So my question is: Would it be more recommended to
1) get another animal to expand the zoo, or
2) spend money improving scenery ratings, especially around animal talking points?

What would be the best investment to make, so that I can stabilize my finances?

I am currently at the highest entrance fee. I tried to raise it, but people say it's too expensive, so that does not work right now, and of course I have donation boxes everywhere.

So I guess the only option is to make the zoo more attractive, so more people come, but I don't know which is the best way to do that.

I really appreciate your feedback and experience!

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
..in case mods don't move the thread into the appropriate forum section:

You can make a profitable Zoo with just one exhibit and build it slowly, one animal at a time.
You need to work on services. Toilets, food and drink stalls, benches and trees do wonders. Also don't forget donation boxes and ATM machines. :)
Build the staff buildings behind exhibits so people don't see them. That's one of the things that they really don't like for some reason.
Don't build too much infrastructure and roads and don't hire too many staff members at once. That's also a big money drain. Just enough to get by. One Keeper and one Vet can handle quite a few habitats when you set a work zone for them. Vendors get hired automatically as you're building the stalls, now, if I remember correctly, so you don't really need to hire those at all. Maybe one extra so they can rotate shifts more effectively.
Only after you're in green numbers, add another habitat and repeat the above.

I've tried building a big Zoos right away before even opeing the gates but it never works. Even if the Zoo is great, you're gonna go bankrupt before people have a chance to give you enough money so take it easy and start small.
 

HeatherG

Volunteer Moderator
HeatherG
Looks like it's been moved. Welcome to the forum @Janina_La Paz :)

We all have different ways of starting a Franchise zoo but what I do is:
1- Buy only the essential facilities for the animals. I charged maybe 10 $ for enter with 1 animal.
2- Buy a cheap animal that you can have a lot of and or ones that multiply fast so you have a good amount and don't have to put out money for it. Because of that the Flamingo's were always a solid choice for me. I usually got 10 or zo. That's mostly what brings in the guests. Shops never mattered to my # of guests so I never had any until I had a nice chunk of change in the bank.
3- I Slowly added more habitats or animals as money comes in to get some. I'd pick something like Nile Monitors because they are quite cheap.
4- Buy shops when I had a healthy bank account for drinks & food.

In a nutshell that's how I started a franchise. Hope that helps a bit.
 

Nioell

Nioell
Question is which animal species you have added. Most carnivores and apes like Lions, Polar Bears and Gorillas etc. cost a ton in terms of feeding them, so if you get those too early they're very likely to run your zoo into the ground, especially when they get offspring. Means it's best to start small, with a few exhibits and cheap animals like tortoises (make sure to get either the same gender only or put them on contraceptives if you don't want a ton of baybies) and the necessary shops to get a good income started and then begin expanding slowly.

Also make sure you don't over hire on staff and usually educators are not worth it for new zoos (or established ones really) with how much they cost and how many bugs they still have. The better bet is setting up a ton of education speakers so your whole zoo is basically covered in them. Keepers I usually have 1 for every 2-3 habitats depending on how big they are and 1 vet and mechanic each for every 5 or so, plus one extra for research if you can already pay that. For vendors I found going with 3 for every second shop works best when a staff room is close by and care takers depend on how many guests you have and how big the zoo is. And you can pretty much ignore security guards, never found them to have much of an impact on anything and if you do want one set him on entrance duty only with the rest of the zoo covered in cams. That way all the crimes will be resolved anyway and you save a ton of money.

Some other things that can help is the scenery near shops and viewing points, if the guests like it better they're willing to spend more. And also renewable energy because even though it's a bit more expensive initially, you won't have to pay for the energy generated anymore, which saves you a bunch of money in the long run.
 

iloveyourzoos

I
One thing that often helps me is to put in some exhibit animals -- meaning the frogs, snakes, lizards, spiders, bugs that live in the glass boxes. They count as a new species for guest interest, and can help raise your education and donation rates quickly, while simultaneously breeding quickly so that the kids can be sold for even more cash!
 
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