Keepers still not feeding animals
- Thread starter Fordimus
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- keepers not feeding
Just want to say...I don't put a Keeper hut outside every habitat. I don't understand why people recommend that. I have one (small) hut for every 3 to 5 habitats and it works just fine, without queuing. I also assign my keeper work zones 3 to 5 habitats in a work zone, with 2 to 4 keepers in the work zone. That also works just fine. Doing 1 hut to 1 habitat with 1 keeper is overkill and unnecessary. You just have to make sure you have the keeper hut positioned nice and centrally and not too much distance to any of the habitats or the keepers spend too much of their time just walking back and forth.
The only exception is in an area where I'm going to build many smaller habitats at which point I may build a large keeper hut and have it covering 10+ habitats.
Currently I'm just running a small zoo for zebra breeding for the challenge, waiting until the next update to do more in a real zoo, but the principle is still the same. I have 4 zebra habitats, each with anywhere from 3 to 8 zebras in it and also an exhibit house with 6 exhibits. One small keeper hut and 4 keepers are servicing all 4 habitats plus the 6 exhibits and I have yet to have a queue once in the keeper hut.
Below is an image showing the positioning of the keeper hut (green circle) and the 4 habitat gates (1-4) as well as the exhibit house just off screen (5-11). Keeper hut building has been left with room to change it to a large keeper hut should I ever decide to add further habitats to the North, or even sides (opening space for a path between 1,2 and 3, 4 to go to the sides. Obvoiusly it's not pretty, it's just for breeding. But even when I go for aesthetics, I use a similiar approach, clustering 3-4 habitats at least semi-close together so one hut and the same keepers can service them.
Edit: should mention I also don't train my keepers past 2 stars unless they are serving a huge multi-species habitat with a ton of animals in it, or a lot of exhibits. You can hire 3 keepers for what a single 5-star keeper costs, so it's just not worth training them unless they have a job that requires speed.
The only exception is in an area where I'm going to build many smaller habitats at which point I may build a large keeper hut and have it covering 10+ habitats.
Currently I'm just running a small zoo for zebra breeding for the challenge, waiting until the next update to do more in a real zoo, but the principle is still the same. I have 4 zebra habitats, each with anywhere from 3 to 8 zebras in it and also an exhibit house with 6 exhibits. One small keeper hut and 4 keepers are servicing all 4 habitats plus the 6 exhibits and I have yet to have a queue once in the keeper hut.
Below is an image showing the positioning of the keeper hut (green circle) and the 4 habitat gates (1-4) as well as the exhibit house just off screen (5-11). Keeper hut building has been left with room to change it to a large keeper hut should I ever decide to add further habitats to the North, or even sides (opening space for a path between 1,2 and 3, 4 to go to the sides. Obvoiusly it's not pretty, it's just for breeding. But even when I go for aesthetics, I use a similiar approach, clustering 3-4 habitats at least semi-close together so one hut and the same keepers can service them.
Edit: should mention I also don't train my keepers past 2 stars unless they are serving a huge multi-species habitat with a ton of animals in it, or a lot of exhibits. You can hire 3 keepers for what a single 5-star keeper costs, so it's just not worth training them unless they have a job that requires speed.
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That's what I do. It's infinitely easier to house a keeper hut and staff room among a cluster of habitats and let those work on each other.
A small one with 1 keeper should be able to maintain 3-5 animals (highly depend on the type of animals)
Some animals are messier/require more attention. If you struggle, i'd recommend adding a single hut on the path of that exhibit..
I train most of my staff (except vendors) to 5*. My personal experience is that it's more effective than hiring multiple keepers..
Some animals are messier/require more attention. If you struggle, i'd recommend adding a single hut on the path of that exhibit..
I train most of my staff (except vendors) to 5*. My personal experience is that it's more effective than hiring multiple keepers..
I have the same issue and haven't played since the game came out because it made it unplayable.
Thought I would check it out today with a freshly reinstalled and upgraded computer, but I still have the same issue.
No matter what I do, keepers will never feed the animals.They just go in, take a look around and then leave and go "wandering". They don't prepare food or do anything else.
They don't do it with any animal and it is frustrating that Frontier still has not fixed this. Stop making DLC's and make your game playable tyvm.
Thought I would check it out today with a freshly reinstalled and upgraded computer, but I still have the same issue.
No matter what I do, keepers will never feed the animals.They just go in, take a look around and then leave and go "wandering". They don't prepare food or do anything else.
They don't do it with any animal and it is frustrating that Frontier still has not fixed this. Stop making DLC's and make your game playable tyvm.
It's not a bug, so it can't be fixed like a bug. If it is a bug, it's a damn rare one that everyone else seems to have managed to solve on their own by trying different things in the game. I fixed it by having two keepers per habitat, having one prioritise cleaning and one prioritise feeding, putting a staff room and a keeper hut near the gut, and making each habitat a separate workzone. I also had 'floating' keepers who weren't assigned to a workzone and could do the work the assigned keepers couldn't due to being on break or something.
Look, the staff don't always behave realistically, which is annoying, but it's not a bug. People seem to be expecting Zoo Tycoon levels of management where feeding is done in accordance to the food bowl, rather than whether the animal actually needs food.
Did you send them your save file? They asked for it several times now. If all people who constantly whine about the keepers would actually do something to help them find that "bug", I'm sure it would be fixed. At the moment, neither I nor Frontier believe it is a bug, as all save files up to now proved that the management wasn't set in a good way by the player. Maybe it's different with you. Maybe you have the final proof it is a bug. Send them your saves and you will know.
I can't say that I think it's a bug either. When I notice keepers having problems keep up is when there's too many animals to a habitat. Then it's either time to split the hab into two and make another keeper/staff workzone for the new one, or sell off animals.
Keepers work like this:
They go in, 'look' and see if food needs filled, if -all- food containers are empty. If they're not, they won't put any food in. If it's empty, they'll go to a keeper hut and prepare the food, then bring it back. The keepers only add enough food for animal total calculation. They also fill food enrichment first. Once you start getting enrichment toys, you don't need the sad pans any more. The animals and keepers prefer them because it's more natural for the animal. Just like in real zoos. So those will always be filled first. You can tell when you need an extra if they are dumping food on the ground after filling them.
If you have rotting food, call a keeper directly to the bowl and they'll clean it. I don't understand why keepers leave rotting food for so long. But I think the check timer on that really needs to be changed. Or food needs to rot less quickly, one or the other. Rotten food will sit for a long time if you let it, animals don't like it, but will eat it if they're starving and then they'll get sick.
Have one keeper specifically feed, and one specifically clean and other things. There is toggles on the individual keeper menus. Don't have keepers huts and staff rooms for keepers too far from where they need to work, because if there's only one staff room and it's all the way on the other side of your zoo, they'll get tired just walking.
Keepers work like this:
They go in, 'look' and see if food needs filled, if -all- food containers are empty. If they're not, they won't put any food in. If it's empty, they'll go to a keeper hut and prepare the food, then bring it back. The keepers only add enough food for animal total calculation. They also fill food enrichment first. Once you start getting enrichment toys, you don't need the sad pans any more. The animals and keepers prefer them because it's more natural for the animal. Just like in real zoos. So those will always be filled first. You can tell when you need an extra if they are dumping food on the ground after filling them.
If you have rotting food, call a keeper directly to the bowl and they'll clean it. I don't understand why keepers leave rotting food for so long. But I think the check timer on that really needs to be changed. Or food needs to rot less quickly, one or the other. Rotten food will sit for a long time if you let it, animals don't like it, but will eat it if they're starving and then they'll get sick.
Have one keeper specifically feed, and one specifically clean and other things. There is toggles on the individual keeper menus. Don't have keepers huts and staff rooms for keepers too far from where they need to work, because if there's only one staff room and it's all the way on the other side of your zoo, they'll get tired just walking.