Inspiration and Help for a Newbie Please!

[SnaileyX]

I'm still a newbie, having only had Planet Zoo since August. I've gone through the scenarios (on Easy), I've done a couple of horrific timed ones and I've opened a few franchise zoos. But now I don't know what to do.... it seems like everything is just rinse and repeat. Place down the staff facilities, add a habitat or two, fancify the buildings while the income starts coming in, add some guest facilities, add more habitats, add more staff....

How do you peeps all keep things fresh and interesting to keep going for ages?

I try to start off slow so that I can become fond of the few animals I get, buy one male and one female usually unless the particular species needs a bigger population and then I sit back and watch their antics. But then I'm off doing a little building and suddenly, it seems, my habitats are filled with offspring, everything seems chaotic and I'm just adding more stuff to keep the guests happy (and those guests seem to congregate around the shops a lot more than the animals). And I was also expecting a LOT more choice of animals in Franchise mode - like, say if I'm looking for a Dall Sheep, there's about 8 at the most but then a lot of them are either marked as Frontier Zoo or are ridiculous amounts of conservation points from just one or two other zoos. Why don't I see animals from lots of different players?

 

[Colehunter35]

For me, to keep it interesting I play sandbox a lot. New DLC's are always fun. Etc.

 

[shirandhak]

I'm just adding more stuff to keep the guests happy (and those guests seem to congregate around the shops a lot more than the animals).

That's why I call franchise "planet guest".

And I was also expecting a LOT more choice of animals in Franchise mode - like, say if I'm looking for a Dall Sheep, there's about 8 at the most but then a lot of them are either marked as Frontier
Zoo or are ridiculous amounts of conservation points from just one or two other zoos. Why don't I see animals from lots of different players?

That is because of some animals being more popular than others. If you try to get Dall sheep or Cappuchine monkeys, you'll only get Frontier animals, because there are not many players breeding/selling them. Just look at tigers or lions or peafowl: Page on page on page of animals! It is always something special to have an uncommon taste

How do you peeps all keep things fresh and interesting to keep going for ages?

That's quite easy for me: I mostly play sandbox and I like building. So 90% of my ingame time is reserved for building. Animals are a welcome bonus (mine I tend to breed before I start my "real game", so I have the animals I like and am fond of - and my sandbox latter "real game" usually has no aging and no birth or deaths). So I can concentrate on building what I like and watch the animals, if I'm not in the mood for building (which rarely happens). And guests.... well: in sandbox you can just close your zoo and never bother about guests.

 

[SallinDaemon]

I also mostly stick to sandbox! Being able to forget about powering everything and animals getting stressed or breeding out of control is a lot more relaxing and far more my style of gaming!

I like to set myself zoo theme challenges for myself. Make a zoo on a scenario map using only small species. Make a zoo that only has cats. Make a zoo that only uses ungulates. Make a zoo with only animals from a certain region or biome. Get a list of all the animals in PZ and use a randomiser to pick them for you as you build, as if you're getting them as rescues. Make a zoo using only certain building pieces. Make a zoo with only walkthroughs. Make a zoo with only mixed species habtats. Are there any species that you tend not to use much? Make a zoo featuring some of those!

You can of course take some of these personal challenges into franchise/challenge mode as well if they're more your speed!

 

[FlameWizard492]

I'm still a newbie, having only had Planet Zoo since August. I've gone through the scenarios (on Easy), I've done a couple of horrific timed ones and I've opened a few franchise zoos. But now I don't know what to do.... it seems like everything is just rinse and repeat. Place down the staff facilities, add a habitat or two, fancify the buildings while the income starts coming in, add some guest facilities, add more habitats, add more staff....

How do you peeps all keep things fresh and interesting to keep going for ages?

I've done a few zoos that were born from specific ideas. For example, I've done a couple of zoos that focus specifically on the recent DLC pack releases (look up "Wild Riverside Zoo" for the zoo dedicated to the Wetlands Animal Pack). I've also done region-specific or biome-specific zoos in both Sandbox and Franchise Modes. I'm also working on a zoo that only features big cats. I'm also working on a series of zoos that only feature animals that start with a certain letter of the English alphabet (for example, my B zoo features bears, beavers, binturongs, etc.). Right now, I'm at the D+E+F zoo (because of too few animals for those letters, I put them all in one), but I'm putting a hold on it until the red foxes come in the Twilight Pack.

Sorry for making this too much about me if I was. My point is that there are a lot of ideas out there. Maybe you should check out DeLadySigner and Channel 5 Gaming's YouTube channels for some ideas. Or maybe just browse the Steam Workshop.

Also, try to challenge yourself. Play with the terrain. Try making new scenery themes. See what works.

I try to start off slow so that I can become fond of the few animals I get, buy one male and one female usually unless the particular species needs a bigger population and then I sit back and watch their antics. But then I'm off doing a little building and suddenly, it seems, my habitats are filled with offspring, everything seems chaotic and I'm just adding more stuff to keep the guests happy (and those guests seem to congregate around the shops a lot more than the animals).

Here's what I do to keep track: keep the notifications tab (next to Zoopedia button) open as often as you can to keep track. It might slow your building progress down, but it's worth it.

Let me know if any of this helps.

 

[Jeminyne]

Personally, I like to open a career or timed scenario in challenge mode, and act like I'm saving a failing zoo. We need more actual careers like this-- the old Zoo Tycoon had a couple scenarios with great gameplay design, when it came to the brokenness of the zoos and the challenges to fix them. I have a lot of nostalgia for them. There are similar scnarios in PZ's career mode, but I wish the gameplay was a bit better in this regard.

 

[Dylan Smith]

Wait what? The animals in the trade Center are from other players?

 

[NZFanatic]

Wait what? The animals in the trade Center are from other players?

On Franchise they are, yes. Frontier does release their own animals into the server but by and large when another player puts up an animal for trade, anyone else playing Franchise Mode can buy it. Players set the prices (which is why a lot of it is garbage).

I don't play Franchise for many reasons, but this is a major one of them. If I was interested in the economy of the zoo, I'd probably play Challenge Mode.

 

[avietar]

Wait what? The animals in the trade Center are from other players?

In Franchise they are either from Frontier zoos or from other players, yes. If you sell your own animals for conservation credits, other players can buy your animals. You can also sell your animals for cash, but I'm not sure if those appear in the animal market as well.

 

[avietar]

I like to open a Sandbox zoo, and create a challenge for myself. You can edit the settings to make it as easy or as difficult as you want.

For example, this week I started a zoo where I had to start with 60.000 cash, 0 credits, and had to build from scratch for a zoo with only critically endangered and endangered animals. I have research turned on, and all guest needs turned on. I started with gharials, thinking they reproduce fast and require a small amount of space. Unfortunately I forgot that they take ages to mature, and cost a ton of money to feed. So now my zoo is having a really hard time staying alive, but this makes it very interesting to keep going! I recently took on a loan so I can build extra money-making features. Let's hope it helps!

Other things I've done to challenge myself:

• Start a map with a pre-terraformed terrain
• Do scenarios. And like Flamewizard explained above, you can open them in challenge too!
• Check Steam for reward medals and try to achieve them. Some can be very difficult.

In the past I tried to start a thread where people could invent challenges for other players, but that never took off. I'm really hoping for future player-made scenarios that can be shared via the steam workshop!

 

[SnaileyX]

Thanks for all the wonderful answers and ideas everyone! There are quite a few I have already done, but I am currently going back through the scenarios to complete them in hard mode and get the final three steam achievements. But I don't like doing them one after another as they sometimes seem repetitive.

So, in between, I will try some different things. @SallinDaemon I like the idea of using a randomizer to pick the rescued animals, that is something I haven't done.

And I haven't played in Sandbox so I will give that a try and set my own challenges. And try not to always build on the flat haha. I'm also getting some ideas from the great thread of what did you do in Planet Zoo today...

I do enjoy watching the YouTube videos from people like DeLadysigner and Rudi Remmkamel but I could never build anything like their stuff, no matter how much I tried lol. But I have done quite a few habitats now using the null barrier

 

[avietar]

Thanks for all the wonderful answers and ideas everyone! There are quite a few I have already done, but I am currently going back through the scenarios to complete them in hard mode and get the final three steam achievements. But I don't like doing them one after another as they sometimes seem repetitive.

So, in between, I will try some different things. @SallinDaemon I like the idea of using a randomizer to pick the rescued animals, that is something I haven't done.

And I haven't played in Sandbox so I will give that a try and set my own challenges. And try not to always build on the flat haha. I'm also getting some ideas from the great thread of what did you do in Planet Zoo today...

I do enjoy watching the YouTube videos from people like DeLadysigner and Rudi Remmkamel but I could never build anything like their stuff, no matter how much I tried lol. But I have done quite a few habitats now using the null barrier

Building habitats with null barriers is great! Maybe the cheapest way of building a habitat
Update on the zoo I was working on: I built a habitat for tapirs and proboscis monkeys, which saved my zoo, loans are paid off now! Phew. The tapir + proboscis monkey was a very cheap habitat, just a lowered habitat surrounded by a water moat they couldn't climb out of. This was one of the few times where my zoo almost tanked.

 

[shirandhak]

I do enjoy watching the YouTube videos from people like DeLadysigner and Rudi Remmkamel but I could never build anything like their stuff, no matter how much I tried lol.

That's because they are quite a few years ahead of you in practice

Don't get discouraged by that! Just go on trying and practicing and you'll be getting better and better.

 

[PeppyPepp]

Personally, I like to open a career or timed scenario in challenge mode, and act like I'm saving a failing zoo. We need more actual careers like this-- the old Zoo Tycoon had a couple scenarios with great gameplay design, when it came to the brokenness of the zoos and the challenges to fix them. I have a lot of nostalgia for them. There are similar scnarios in PZ's career mode, but I wish the gameplay was a bit better in this regard.

Same here. I loved the scenarios in Zoo Tycoon games, but here in PZ they just feel odd.

As for the OP, my advice is: challenge yourself. There are many different ideas you can try. Not sure what your preferred game mode is, but I play mostly franchise. I like the market, and the knowledge that I'm trading with other players makes everything feel much more alive. I also often sell my animals for less in hopes of someone who really wants them, and doesn't have much of CC yet can buy them. I have over 100k CC so really not a problem. I've gained most of it by releasing animals into the wild.

If you want to randomize the selection of your zoo animals, a good site to use is https://planetzoogenerator.netlify.app/. For example, right now I'm building a zoo inside a 30x30 border which challenges me with space - you really have to make every space of land count. It's fun! I've done an all feline zoo. You can go for a low-budget zoo. You can create a story. You can dedicate one of your zoos to taking care of rescued animals, and decide for each animal what their story is. You can have a zoo with the focus on breeding the best animals possible, and then releasing them into the wild. You can try recreating a real life zoo, if that's your thing. You can go super realistic. There are also many different building themes in the game - experiment, explore the pieces, and don't be afraid to try odd combinations - sometimes things end up looking better than expected.

Basically, make something up that'll work for you.