when you place any staff facility, you get a negative impact circle on the heatmap. i feel like this is a little unrealistic, when i walk into a real zoo, and i see staff facilities it certainly does not upset me, or taint my view of the zoo. staff facilities mean the staff is looked after. i dont think this negative impact should be here, or at the very least, the radius MUCH MUCH smaller, i have A HUGE section that doesnt have anything in it because its just red circle
Staff Facility negative impacts
- Thread starter TöastedRöö
- Start date
Much smaller?
On a grid, you need like two squares space to the guest path and you are fine...
I think the negative impact comes mostly from noise pollution (and probably smells), since it's nothing visual. Maybe not 100% realistic, but I honestly think it adds a nice challenge. You can't just plop down staff- and guest-buildings however you like.
On a grid, you need like two squares space to the guest path and you are fine...
I think the negative impact comes mostly from noise pollution (and probably smells), since it's nothing visual. Maybe not 100% realistic, but I honestly think it adds a nice challenge. You can't just plop down staff- and guest-buildings however you like.
I definitely agree you cant just plop them down. But prehaps if you put nice walls up with decorations that would hide the eyesores. I wasnt aware of the radius until a friend showed me but i was very confused since i had walls around them with a nice garden and animal sculptures. So maybe that would be a little more realistic without taking the debuff totally away
Omg i also had it underground. Another thing thats kind if annoying is they seem to think the view is bad?? The habitat they were complaining about had a cave viewing area, above ground canopy and floor level. Like what?
Initially, I tried the same thing by building on two levels: I hid the staff buildings under a bridge, sealed them off with walls and surrounded them with trees. All it did was give me an 80 % customer complaint rate.
On the other hand, move an entire block of staff buildings just a square or two out of the way, and it becomes invisible to guests, even in plain sight.
There is no point in approaching this logically. The game works as it obviously does, and the "people" just follow the game logic.
By now, hiding staff buildings has become a minor inconvenience to me, although it does force me to expand horizontally more often than I'd like.
On the other hand, move an entire block of staff buildings just a square or two out of the way, and it becomes invisible to guests, even in plain sight.
There is no point in approaching this logically. The game works as it obviously does, and the "people" just follow the game logic.
By now, hiding staff buildings has become a minor inconvenience to me, although it does force me to expand horizontally more often than I'd like.
Thing is all area affects in the game are spheres, not just circles, so obviously it'll still affect people even if underground. Fairly sure this was more done for paths going over them (one of the early levels - Madagascar I think - illustrates the verticality they were probably thinking of) not putting things underground.
I don't mind it too much, it adds a level of strategic thinking to building & planning layouts and even if a little bit of the influence sphere happens to clip a path, I generally can keep my guests happy enough despite that.
The biggest gripe I have personally is that paths are so darn hard to see in the heat maps. If you have them without kerbs or railings it's darn near impossible to see where the path is. Please Frontier, make paths appear maybe a light grey or so in the heat maps so I don't have to continuously toggle them on and off while placing facilities nearby. Thank you every so much.
I don't mind it too much, it adds a level of strategic thinking to building & planning layouts and even if a little bit of the influence sphere happens to clip a path, I generally can keep my guests happy enough despite that.
The biggest gripe I have personally is that paths are so darn hard to see in the heat maps. If you have them without kerbs or railings it's darn near impossible to see where the path is. Please Frontier, make paths appear maybe a light grey or so in the heat maps so I don't have to continuously toggle them on and off while placing facilities nearby. Thank you every so much.
I have no issue with it in terms of building; I only ever struggle making sure filters and electricity are close enough to work where I want them to and far enough away to not bother guests, but it isn’t game ruining and nor is it senseless (I’ve heard people complain about the noisy generators and water filters where I work plenty of times)
The only one I am particularly bothered about is keeper huts. People love being able to see zookeepers doing things. I feel like it should be the other way around with keeper huts - positive influence on guests to be near one, but it has a negative influence on the keepers to feel like they’re being watched while they work
Then, it hasn’t bothered me in terms of construction yet.
The only one I am particularly bothered about is keeper huts. People love being able to see zookeepers doing things. I feel like it should be the other way around with keeper huts - positive influence on guests to be near one, but it has a negative influence on the keepers to feel like they’re being watched while they work
Then, it hasn’t bothered me in terms of construction yet.
I tried to build all the staff facilities 2 squares under ground, so above ground you only see nature as nature was intended, but for some reason my visitors got annoyed about someting deep under ground while they were basicly walking in the garden of Eden between all happy well treated animals. So basically they want you to cook their food but don't want to see the kitchen. That is a very old fashioned concept.
The only one I am particularly bothered about is keeper huts. People love being able to see zookeepers doing things. I feel like it should be the other way around with keeper huts - positive influence on guests to be near one, but it has a negative influence on the keepers to feel like they’re being watched while they work
Then, it hasn’t bothered me in terms of construction yet
That's a very personal opinion. I don't think all people want to see a zookeeper prepare their food. Maybe the smell could be horrible or just the sight of preparing meat could be offsetting to people.
To give some clarification: IRL I went to an exclusive tour for our company in our local zoo. Near the lion exhibit, there was a box with food. We all know what's in the box.. Someone opened it (out of curiosity) and some people turned pale or were uncomfortable with this.
Being confronted with this, was a big deal for some adults.
Also, I also read that the circle doesn't only represent the visual part but also noise and smell. Circle makes a bit more sense to me now, I like the challenge of planning out your zoo for this.. But I understand some people feel limited in construction by this...
I don't think being interested in watching a keeper chop fruit and talking about it falls under very personal - it's dependant on what the food is. Not every animal is carnivorous - the vast majority of the collection in most zoos is herbivorous/omnivorous/very small predators - nor is the sight of already prepared meat particularly offputting to most people (A whole carcass is a different story). I agree that putting a dead animal on display for people is can be controversial, offputting etc., but as a whole most of what keeper duties may be displayed to people in this sense is chopping food which people definitely go nuts over (whole carcasses are rarely prepared very much - given the whole point is to give the animal the whole thing). I am a zookeeper and I am followed around if I have a bucket of anything or look remotely like I might be about to do something food-related with any animal. People like to ask questions about their diets. It's an educational point
Like I said I don't feel limited at all, I work around it just fine and have no problems. The only point I'm making is the fun of it creatively and I know plenty of zoos that like to put certain behind-the-scenes displays on view to people (research areas, smaller veterinary areas exclusively for things like routine health checks) and they are very well received and draw a lot of interest.
An educational point is also a very personal POV.
When I go to a zoo, I have minimal interest in this, maybe for some favorite animals..
To give a personal POV: I'm an amateurphotographer and I visit zoos with different intentions than others. (no love for photographers in this game )
Maybe it's something local..
I regularly visit zoos in the Netherlands and sometimes Germany and you sometimes see the occasional zoo keeper (not that much though) but rarely seen people ask them questions. (school trips excluded). Also the staff buildings are well hidden (most times). I've been to the workshop/maintenance shack of our local zoo, it's definately not close to the visitors route.
Even when it's feeding time, most people just enjoy looking at the animals react to feeding time (wish that feature was present in the game).
In most zoos the keepers don't stick around for questions, they just give a 'show' at a specified time.
But if you ask them, they'll most likely be happy to answer the questions.
I'm not saying there aren't people who aren't interested.. (offcourse not) There are just 2 sides to this 'negative impact circle'..
But a workshop ? and a staffroom ? I don't think people would want to see/hear/smell that between 2 exhibits.
Agreed. being upset about it is a bit too much.
When I go to a zoo, I have minimal interest in this, maybe for some favorite animals..
To give a personal POV: I'm an amateurphotographer and I visit zoos with different intentions than others. (no love for photographers in this game
)Maybe it's something local..
I regularly visit zoos in the Netherlands and sometimes Germany and you sometimes see the occasional zoo keeper (not that much though) but rarely seen people ask them questions. (school trips excluded). Also the staff buildings are well hidden (most times). I've been to the workshop/maintenance shack of our local zoo, it's definately not close to the visitors route.
Even when it's feeding time, most people just enjoy looking at the animals react to feeding time (wish that feature was present in the game).
In most zoos the keepers don't stick around for questions, they just give a 'show' at a specified time.
But if you ask them, they'll most likely be happy to answer the questions.
I'm not saying there aren't people who aren't interested.. (offcourse not) There are just 2 sides to this 'negative impact circle'..
But a workshop ? and a staffroom ? I don't think people would want to see/hear/smell that between 2 exhibits.
Agreed. being upset about it is a bit too much.
Many zoos have feeding times listed for the animals and people crowd around to see the animals fed. I'd love to watch but normally it is just way too crowded for me. As for people not wanting to see whole prey? You should see the crowds when it is time to feed the reptiles. People will pay to be able to get 'behind the scenes' to see how the animals are fed and cared for. It is really not a niche thing, but very common. Having the keepers hut be negative doesn't make a lot of sense. It does however make sense to keep the quarantine and vet buildings away from the public and quiet.
Just like I commented, this is something personal.
Some of my friends would be more interested in the workshop than preparation of food. But I don't think this game should cater to their needs ….
A lot of people on this forum have a passion for animals. So I understand your POV. Tours attract people who want to experience more than the basic zoo experience.
I don't mind it but I understand people can react not positive/negative on seeing a certain building or smelling something. They don't share that same passion.
They just want a day out with the family and look at the animals.
I'm just not that sure if all people want to see this, so I think the game represents this not in a bad way..
Don't get me wrong, i'm in the middle of removing negative circles for 1 or 2 staff buildings..
Just like jooxis, i like this challenge..
My biggest issue is with power and water plants. You need them close to the enclosure to work but they upset guests if too close, so you can't always path all the way around an enclosure.
Real life parks can't hide all of their power and water needs. We should be able to decorate it or paint it "go away green" to satisfy the guests.
Real life parks can't hide all of their power and water needs. We should be able to decorate it or paint it "go away green" to satisfy the guests.
The influence circle should be able to be nullified from "red" to "green". With decorations, and building pieces. Plus, things like the keeper hut, and vet building, being there are windows to look in, should give guests an education bonus from.
With the ability to decrease the negative influence from decorations, would open up so much more zoo designs.
With the ability to decrease the negative influence from decorations, would open up so much more zoo designs.
Zoos pretty much HAVE to be educational. It's part of the zoo license laws in many countries that educating people be a high priority. Whether you personally are interested in education or not is a matter of opinion but IRL zoos can't opt out of that one
If PZ wants to be as realistic as possible to real zoos (which is what was always suggested) then it makes sense.