Still food problems and this is why...

[Agathorn]

Juveniles refuse to use eat out of food enrichment items, so they NEED the trays for food. So if the keeper doesn't fill the tray(s) then you immediately have a problem. Then even if they do, half the time the adults -- who can eat from the enrichment items -- go and eat the food from the trays leaving none or very little for the kids.

I've been watching this closely tonight and see exactly this happening on my West African Lions, Himalayan Brown Bears, and Komodo Dragons.

 

[Rainchen]

Just want to report, that my Peafowl chicks do eat out of the enrichment item, also my Pronghorn Babies eat the stuff that comes out of a barrel feeder, once the parent has opened it.

 

[Agathorn]

Maybe it depends on species, or maybe its just a bug. But its definitely consistent at least with the ones I mentioned above.

 

[Kai]

The lion/tiger cubs will eat from the pinyata enrichment. The blood pumpkins and the restraint feeder can certainly cause problems.

I tend to stick with pinyatas now for my kitties, with maybe 1 blood pumpkin for the adults.

 

[Chris Simon]

What would solve a lot of feeding problems, I think, would be if Keeper prioritized food trays.
What I'm seeing is that if you have too many food enrichments (more than two) and one or two items (including the trays) are empty, the keeper just looks inside and thinks "Nah, they still have plenty of food around the place."

 

[Wolfen75]

What would solve alot of problems (maybe even the broken food cost mechanic no one seems to care about) would be if the food system would be overworked.

Don't let food spoil, don't let keepers be overpicky what they fill with food.
The game can't handle its own system.

I saved my secondary zoo by cutting personal and accepting that guests complain (they destroy everything anyway), but i still
have food costs of 50k in one year and 90k next year, then back to 60k, up to 85k without changing the amount or type of animals.

That can ONLY happen when

• food spoils before its eaten (in crazy amounts)
• food is put to devices animals can't reach it (and then spoils)
• too much food is given out (and then spoils)
• animals have broken eating mechanics

in other words, it can "only" happen when thousand little things go wrong.

The game can't handle the realistic approach of animal food it tries to achieve.
Cost per feed, accurate calculation of the amount of food that is needed, spoilage times for food.
It... does... not... work.

Otherwise you wouldn't get complete hillarious jumps in one of the both major costsources of the game.

To let loose on food restrictions, like double the amount that is given out and get rid of spoilage (or drastically change the time of it),
would solve several problems at once.

 

[Dae]

Spoilage and amount calculations are not a bad idea when we are talking about management... except that we can't manage anything because the game won't let us manage anything, so that's a bad idea. If we could manage amount, spreading and frequency of meals, with allowing multiple keepers in the same habitat and the possibility to set up shifts, then it would be a good idea.

 

[Wolfen75]

Spoilage and amount calculations are not a bad idea when we are talking about management... except that we can't manage anything because the game won't let us manage anything, so that's a bad idea. If we could manage amount, spreading and frequency of meals, with allowing multiple keepers in the same habitat and the possibility to set up shifts, then it would be a good idea.

While i basically agree and am a type of player that can't have it complex enough normally, i think in big zoos this would
drive you complete crazy.

There are too many loose ends.
I just had almost my crocs starved because a keeper with the food was clipping right at the entrance behind the barrier where i could not see it.
Didn't gave a warning, but i knew i have enough personal.
With my small zoo and its now 9 habitats i know exactly where anyone is and whats happening, but with 20+ habitats... uhhhm.

Not amoosing.

 

[Dae]

But you wouldn't build the 20 habitat at once, you build one and set the base management for it (amount, shifts, spreading,etc.) then go build a second, just like we already do for welfare. And when animal population change we adjust things, exactly like when baby are born we may have to add climbing structures or add space.

 

[Wolfen75]

But you wouldn't build the 20 habitat at once, you build one and set the base management for it (amount, shifts, spreading,etc.) then go build a second, just like we already do for welfare. And when animal population change we adjust things, exactly like when baby are born we may have to add climbing structures or add space.

Well, thats right.
It all comes up to the question: how bug- and issuefree is are the employees working.
But you have a point there, IF you can manually adjust those things and IF the npcs are working as intended, it could
help sloving the horrible, unpredictable food cost mechanic.

You can adjust the workload, the tasks, the staff costs.
I have 70 years on my test zoo now and everything is stable and responsive on my actions.
Well, almost everything.
But i also see how easy a little issue like a bugged out npc can really drive to into the crap if you don't figure it out soon enough.

 

[Fortunanovesia]

Juveniles refuse to use eat out of food enrichment items, so they NEED the trays for food. So if the keeper doesn't fill the tray(s) then you immediately have a problem. Then even if they do, half the time the adults -- who can eat from the enrichment items -- go and eat the food from the trays leaving none or very little for the kids.

I've been watching this closely tonight and see exactly this happening on my West African Lions, Himalayan Brown Bears, and Komodo Dragons.

Im telling this since short after the release

It also seems like the animals are "fighting" for the food. It doesnt matter if theyre hungry or not. As soon as the trays or items get filled they are running to them.

And so also the animals without hunger eating the food the juveniles (and other starving animals) would need.

The keepers are calculating the amount of food for all animals. But this cant fit when all animals are eating as often and as much they can, even when they arent hungry.

 

[Wolfen75]

Im telling this since short after the release

It also seems like the animals are "fighting" for the food. It doesnt matter if theyre hungry or not. As soon as the trays or items get filled they are running to them.

And so also the animals without hunger eating the food the juveniles (and other starving animals) would need.

The keepers are calculating the amount of food for all animals. But this cant fit when all animals are eating as often and as much they can, even when they arent hungry.

That would also be one of the countless possible reasons for the highly fluctuating food costs.

But still, that the juveniles don't eat from food enrichtment can't be a general problem, otherwise i would have had that issue on my mainzoo with 30+ habitats as well.
And beside some general hunger strike bugs, i didn't.

I have 3 habitats of gorillas, 1 of african elephants, 1 of indian elephants and 2 tortoise habitats in my smaller test-zoo and i see the babies eat
from food enrichtment items all the time.

I think it depends on the kind of enrichment.
The babiecrocs seems to be unable to trigger the eat-animation on the restraint feeders for an example.

 

[Fortunanovesia]

But to be honest i remember my gorilla babys eating from this ant-food-enrichment items.

But nevertheless they struggle against the grown ups. Something's definitive not right in this balance.

All this besides the other problem i showed off in my last post.