Partnering with other zoos (players) and trading

[Kaseycoop]

So far, I'm enjoying the game and it's bringing back a lot of nostalgia from my Zoo Tycoon days!

I do have a suggestion though for the animal trading center..it's open to critique just please don't judge me too harshly, this is just something that popped into my head earlier!

Adding other zoos as friends/partners
This could be your friends from Steam that also play Planet Zoo or it could be a feature found directly in the game where you can add people that visit your zoo (or send a request). This way you could visit their zoo anytime, check out their animals, etc. In the zoo management screen there could be a tab called 'Partners' for these zoos and it could keep track of how many animals you've traded from them, sold to them etc.

That being said..

Trading animals with partnered zoos
This could be an option in the animal marketplace just like when you see the zoos. Your partnered zoos could send a similar request (like a friend request) for you to accept an animal and the receiving party would have to accept it and pay the specified amount of cash/conservation credits. The animal would have to be unlocked by the receiving party though in franchise mode. Although the question would arise, how would the players communicate that they need X animal?

For partner zoos, a little status could show up under the partner tab saying 'ABC Zoo is seeking a male Plains Zebra..." and you could go from there. I think it would be fun to trade directly from your friends this way because that means that animal would mean all the more to you during your franchise career!

 

[Villa11]

So far, I'm enjoying the game and it's bringing back a lot of nostalgia from my Zoo Tycoon days!

I do have a suggestion though for the animal trading center..it's open to critique just please don't judge me too harshly, this is just something that popped into my head earlier!

Adding other zoos as friends/partners
This could be your friends from Steam that also play Planet Zoo or it could be a feature found directly in the game where you can add people that visit your zoo (or send a request). This way you could visit their zoo anytime, check out their animals, etc. In the zoo management screen there could be a tab called 'Partners' for these zoos and it could keep track of how many animals you've traded from them, sold to them etc.

That being said..

Trading animals with partnered zoos
This could be an option in the animal marketplace just like when you see the zoos. Your partnered zoos could send a similar request (like a friend request) for you to accept an animal and the receiving party would have to accept it and pay the specified amount of cash/conservation credits. The animal would have to be unlocked by the receiving party though in franchise mode. Although the question would arise, how would the players communicate that they need X animal?

For partner zoos, a little status could show up under the partner tab saying 'ABC Zoo is seeking a male Plains Zebra..." and you could go from there. I think it would be fun to trade directly from your friends this way because that means that animal would mean all the more to you during your franchise career!

This!
I think franchise mode was meant to be a social/community driven multiplayer experience, that would feel similar to how real zoos and breeding programs work. However, it is everybody for him/herself right know. A way to directly trade or gift animals to friends would be an amazing function.

I was thinking about posting something about a new game mode, a true Community mode, a mode that allows you to team up with friends, each having your own zoos. Limit the number of frontier created animals, so most animals present in the zoos need to be bred and traded between players (like in real zoos). Limit the ability to just release any animal to the wild, like say, maybe only gold animals can be released. In real life release programs a lot of thoughts and planning goes into choosing the right animals to release as
1) you don't want to cripple your breeding program
2) you don't want to offset the natural occurring genetic variation by releasing all related animals that carry the same genes or genes that are harmful.
So limiting the 'release to wild function' seems like a sensible thing to do in my opinion, I understand its function as an alternative way to generate cc. But if you can play together with friends and freely trade animals among one another, this form of cc generation is not necessary.
I love that Frontier put the time in to develop a way to keep bachelor herds, because that is something that happens in real zoos. Animals that have contributed enough, are to young or old or are not wanted in the breeding program and that are not able to be released need a place to stay. But there is currently, in none of the game modes, a reason to keep bachelor groups yourself. A community mode would 'force' some players to keep bachelor herds for the well being of the entire population present between players.
I'm all for a way to communicate (in game) with other players and letting them know what animal, gender and genes you are looking for, as well as keep track of individual animals contribution to the total population. Real zoos keep track of this to limit inbreeding and maintain genetic variation.

 

[mondo1748]

Sounds cool to me

 

[Kaseycoop]

This!
I think franchise mode was meant to be a social/community driven multiplayer experience, that would feel similar to how real zoos and breeding programs work. However, it is everybody for him/herself right know. A way to directly trade or gift animals to friends would be an amazing function.

I was thinking about posting something about a new game mode, a true Community mode, a mode that allows you to team up with friends, each having your own zoos. Limit the number of frontier created animals, so most animals present in the zoos need to be bred and traded between players (like in real zoos). Limit the ability to just release any animal to the wild, like say, maybe only gold animals can be released. In real life release programs a lot of thoughts and planning goes into choosing the right animals to release as
1) you don't want to cripple your breeding program
2) you don't want to offset the natural occurring genetic variation by releasing all related animals that carry the same genes or genes that are harmful.
So limiting the 'release to wild function' seems like a sensible thing to do in my opinion, I understand its function as an alternative way to generate cc. But if you can play together with friends and freely trade animals among one another, this form of cc generation is not necessary.
I love that Frontier put the time in to develop a way to keep bachelor herds, because that is something that happens in real zoos. Animals that have contributed enough, are to young or old or are not wanted in the breeding program and that are not able to be released need a place to stay. But there is currently, in none of the game modes, a reason to keep bachelor groups yourself. A community mode would 'force' some players to keep bachelor herds for the well being of the entire population present between players.
I'm all for a way to communicate (in game) with other players and letting them know what animal, gender and genes you are looking for, as well as keep track of individual animals contribution to the total population. Real zoos keep track of this to limit inbreeding and maintain genetic variation.

I completely agree with this. For bachelor herds/groups, maybe their could be extra incentive for releasing them into the wild as a group - though these would be extremely valuable to trade off as individuals to partnered zoos/other players.

Honestly, we're in desperate need of a true bloodline/pedigree feature. We should be able to see Father - Mother lineages along with the zoo they were originally born at. I was surprised to see that feature missing from the game but it would definitely be a awesome asset to have in the future - especially for the players that are breeding-focused in their franchise zoos.