Keepers Should Be Able to Cross Shallow Water

[joshvickerson]

I built a crocodile exhibit near the bridge crossing the shallow river in Maple Leaf Wildlife Park. Having seen real crocodile exhibits on bridges like that, it felt really natural to me. Unfortunately, it has the side effect of making one part of the exhibit inaccessible to keepers for cleaning. Keepers simply won't wade through the shallow water to the other side. I'm also unsure if placing a large rock or something will count as a walkable surface for the keeper? I also can't place more than one gate on the exhibit providing another way in for keepers. In the screenshot below, you'll see a crocodile and plenty of poo that keepers won't / can't go clean, with the shallow river and the gate in the distance.

View attachment 150858

I think Keepers should be able to get across here and keep it clean. Is there an alternative here that I'm missing that would allow me to still build an exhibit like this?

 

[AndyZoos]

I'm not sure if walkable surfaces or rocks (or even bridges made using climbable objects for animals) would get the job done for you (I would imagine it would, but I haven't tried it yet--might be worth exploring).

But I definitely agree. Water up to, whatever height their in-game knees would be should be walkable. I kinda get why this might not have been programmed this way (and also get if it's not changeable) but hey... Worth an ask if they can change this (or if there's an alternative that could work to be sure the keeper can get there).

 

[PeppyPepp]

Try building a bridge so the keeper can cross and clean the poo. I think I've seen it done before and it worked.

 

[Silhouette]

There are flat wood pieces in construction you can use to build a bridge. It only needs to be two pieces wide for zookeepers to be able to walk on it.

 

[zoomac92]

Rocks absolutely work as traversable surfaces for keepers. I currently have a rock bridge over the same area in my zoo (I actually have one in every habitat!). Some of the rocks work much better than others, though. The flat ones with cladding in the name work well, and a couple of the larger ones with flat surfaces. The general rules for traversable placement seem to be to have each end of your rock bridge intersecting the terrain and keep your slopes very gentle. Try to get the rocks to intersect smoothly so they look like a single surface, and they'll start to act like one. Use your animal's traversability heatmap to check for issues. Generally if your animals can use the rock bridge, so can your keepers.

 

[joshvickerson]

Thanks for all the great suggestions here, folks! I'll give one of these a try this evening and report back.

Use your animal's traversability heatmap to check for issues.

I didn't know that was a thing, but I'll definitely check it out! Thanks

 

[NirAntae]

Oooh good to know about the cladding rocks! I'd been using the floor construction pieces, which work, but they look rather crappy without a ton of deco work

 

[joshvickerson]

Thanks for all the great suggestions here, folks! I'll give one of these a try this evening and report back.

I ended up building a bridge with some rocks, and the keepers were able to cross, thankfully. Unfortunately that did count against water availability in the habitat which created other issues, but it was good to find out this is possible. Just gotta plan for it better next time!

 

[Urufu1997]

I ended up building a bridge with some rocks, and the keepers were able to cross, thankfully. Unfortunately that did count against water availability in the habitat which created other issues, but it was good to find out this is possible. Just gotta plan for it better next time!

If you build it high enough for the Animals to swim under it, there are no Problems with water availability