I'm not going to lie. I did feel cheated a bit after seeing they haven't changed the game speed. I am only building in pause at the moment. In fact, I played 2,5 hours on pause and half an hour on normal speed. In that half an hour I had 5 baby gazelle/springboks (on normal speed). At this rate, I need to sell my babies off constantly because they group get's too stressed out otherwise. It's literally a puppy mill, you cannot say it's not. I'm still enjoying the game, because the basic building part will always stay fun, but not listening to community feedback is just plain dumb IMO. Another thing I kind of dislike is that we have access to so many animals from the get-go. It's really easy to get the animal you want in your zoo. There is no working your way up. Rare species should be earned. Ooh, and the money thing is still a joke. The frontier zoo animals are really cheap and they make you a lot of money. I'm swimming in cash again just from a single exhibit. So, again Frontier fail to deliver on the management side, they should really consider investing in more expertise in this area. The only management aspect that is functioning properly and is interesting is the exhibit design/animal needs feature of the game. Another plus is that career maps can be played in sandbox and challenge mode, we need more prefab maps, the empty squares are getting a bit dull. A map generator would be cool too, since building a landscape can be a bit of a tedious task.
The in-game speed of time has remained unchanged as of release day.
- Thread starter SleepyEngi
- Start date
Ahahahah nope. It can take hours to build a building/enclosures. If you are building simple enclosures then it wouldn't require you to pause. But those who build decent looking enclosures should definitely pause the game. If it took over a week for a tortoise to become old enough to sell then something would be wrong with the core balance of the game. Imagine taking 60+ hours to sell a single tortoise, better hope they never come up for the weekly challenge cause that ain't happening.
I think the time inbalance is also responsible for why Franchise mode is so "hard" to play:
Animals are fed once a month and that is EXPENSIVE
Staff are paid monthly, with some of them 1300 a month per member (at basic level of training)
Shops & facilities have a monthly cost attached to them
While on the flip side, guests will watch an animal for around half a month and the donation will be $20 for that;
Shops don't serve quickly enough to warrant being profitable and you don't earn enough money to train the staff to be better
You eventually end up in a detriment cycle where you can't afford to research and buy the enrichment items you need to attract the donations from guests because you can't attract the donations from the guests due to not having the items. You just don't have a fighting chance with Franchise Mode.. and I think the length of time of day is the root of it: Increase the length of day and you will serve more guests, feed animals less frequently and guests will watch more animals within the "day"
But.. no amount of us feeding this back will be listened to. It is obviously a hard-coded design choice that multiple systems rely on, so all of this will fall on deaf ears to Frontier.
Animals are fed once a month and that is EXPENSIVE
Staff are paid monthly, with some of them 1300 a month per member (at basic level of training)
Shops & facilities have a monthly cost attached to them
While on the flip side, guests will watch an animal for around half a month and the donation will be $20 for that;
Shops don't serve quickly enough to warrant being profitable and you don't earn enough money to train the staff to be better
You eventually end up in a detriment cycle where you can't afford to research and buy the enrichment items you need to attract the donations from guests because you can't attract the donations from the guests due to not having the items. You just don't have a fighting chance with Franchise Mode.. and I think the length of time of day is the root of it: Increase the length of day and you will serve more guests, feed animals less frequently and guests will watch more animals within the "day"
But.. no amount of us feeding this back will be listened to. It is obviously a hard-coded design choice that multiple systems rely on, so all of this will fall on deaf ears to Frontier.
A slider would not mess with the game in the slightest and is not a concern for franchise. If you want to get good at the game and speed run it be my guest. If you want the game to be in real time I have no issue and it does not impact franchise at all.
It is not bothering me so much as the breeding feels kinda bad and the Timber wolfs are driving me up the wall. Zero reason we should not be able to trade babies and it would give people more time with the animals.
On a side note do people really build without the game paused? why would you ever do that
It is not bothering me so much as the breeding feels kinda bad and the Timber wolfs are driving me up the wall. Zero reason we should not be able to trade babies and it would give people more time with the animals.
On a side note do people really build without the game paused? why would you ever do that
This is satire? I've never seen anyone say that making money, not credits, but money is too hard. You know there was a bug in the beta that once you made too many millions it flipped to negative right, a common bug... As in lots of people experienced it.
I think your issue isn't the speed of the day but not understanding the game well enough. Shops are money makers as are those $20 donations.
I'm just adding my +1 to the complaints that the aging/breeding is too fast. I'm currently sitting on 260k cash and 19.5k conservation points. I'm not having the slightest issue with cash. I would suggest they make it harder to get cash.
The problem I have is that I spend 5 minutes working on a new habitat followed by 20 minutes of selling animals from overcrowding and gender imbalances. I only have 6 habitats, and I already cannot keep up with the animal breeding. I'd be happy to use contraceptives if I could lock aging. If I use contraceptives, than the animals die without replacing themselves. I really want to play with franchise mode zoo management systems, but with the sandbox aging lock.
If we won't get a aging lock in franchise mode, then please increase the time to age by 3 to 5 times longer.
The problem I have is that I spend 5 minutes working on a new habitat followed by 20 minutes of selling animals from overcrowding and gender imbalances. I only have 6 habitats, and I already cannot keep up with the animal breeding. I'd be happy to use contraceptives if I could lock aging. If I use contraceptives, than the animals die without replacing themselves. I really want to play with franchise mode zoo management systems, but with the sandbox aging lock.
If we won't get a aging lock in franchise mode, then please increase the time to age by 3 to 5 times longer.
You should feel lucky. I can't even play the game because my animals barely breed and the few that did disappear in transport to the trade center.
Before you say anything the animals were fully researched as were habitats and the animals had decent fertility ratings.
There’s no need to be this mean, you know. I just think the game can be improved with a more balanced time, I respect you don’t think so, but there’s no need to suggest we don’t know how to play
I’m having the same problem with breeding. It was fine at first, but now they’re breeding non-stop! It’s annoying because babies don’t feel special anymore, no even babies of species that should be hard to get, but are not. My creativity with names only go so far too, so now I’m using the default ones again, which is never a good sign on my book.
They need to nerf the breeding quite a bit, and I agree money needs a nerf too.
Confession time: I like to build unpaused
but I’m quickly realizing it’s just not an option in PZ.I agree with Charmmy. It's arrogant to declare that anyone that wants slower speed, wants it because they "don't know how to play".
In the beta, I had minimal issues. My keepers kept everyone fed and happy, my mechanics made sure nothing ever broke, money came rolling in, and I was consistent with turning contraceptives on and off when I wanted animals to breed.
And the game still moved far too quickly.
An animal would suddenly give birth, so I would have to pause the game to go check their population and make sure they were still ok. While I was at it, check every single habitat to make sure they were ok; sometimes animals were refusing to drink or eat, so I'd have to send them to quarantine; sometimes animals aged up before I realized it and had to sort out trade center stuff and contraceptives, etc etc. What I had to do during my 'rounds' kept piling up, and I was having to do the rounds every 10-15min.
All the while being paused. I should NOT be spending more than half my time paused because who knows what will happen if it isn't paused. And I only had 7 habitats; the rounds would take that much longer if I had even more animals.
None of that is even taking into account the time I had to stay paused just to build.
No game should require you to spend so much time paused, and it's unacceptable to simply shrug and claim "that person just doesn't know what they're doing". Because that's not true. It's the quick-paced micromanagement causing that to happen.
In the beta, I had minimal issues. My keepers kept everyone fed and happy, my mechanics made sure nothing ever broke, money came rolling in, and I was consistent with turning contraceptives on and off when I wanted animals to breed.
And the game still moved far too quickly.
An animal would suddenly give birth, so I would have to pause the game to go check their population and make sure they were still ok. While I was at it, check every single habitat to make sure they were ok; sometimes animals were refusing to drink or eat, so I'd have to send them to quarantine; sometimes animals aged up before I realized it and had to sort out trade center stuff and contraceptives, etc etc. What I had to do during my 'rounds' kept piling up, and I was having to do the rounds every 10-15min.
All the while being paused. I should NOT be spending more than half my time paused because who knows what will happen if it isn't paused. And I only had 7 habitats; the rounds would take that much longer if I had even more animals.
None of that is even taking into account the time I had to stay paused just to build.
No game should require you to spend so much time paused, and it's unacceptable to simply shrug and claim "that person just doesn't know what they're doing". Because that's not true. It's the quick-paced micromanagement causing that to happen.
Congrats for winning a award for the least original comment.
I don't think anybody at Frontier lies awake at night because you don't buy it.
And neither do I.
I had a blast playing the game last night, enjoyed my Aardvarks for a few years, had a birth, time speed felt good to me.
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WingardiumLevicoaster
Volunteer Moderator
I would personally recommend if you want to spend a lot of time building to use a blank sandbox park, and save pieces to blueprints. Then assemble in your zoo. It's much easier and no time lost regardless of the speed.
I somewhat disagree with this one.. Some people just need to learn the game - tbh there's a very steep learning curve. (i don't think this has anything do with arrogance)
If you go bankrupt after 10 minutes, that's not the fault of speed or the game. (seen a post somewhere)
Or people not using workzones.. (at least try using this, instead of complaining)
I agree with pausing the game so much.. If you are going to make a very detailed enclosure, you'll need to pause the game very long. I don't see a problem with that but I then again, also don't mind the speed - so it's quite understandable that I don't share the same experience.
To me, it's quite manageable. (I have 10 enclosures atm) and proper work zones. 15 minutes on the fastest speed was not a problem, didn't have to intervene with anything.
When you have an issue with an animal, time can be a bit overwhelming. Only experienced this with my offline zoo, where my exhibit animals weren't taken care of...
Like I said in many time-related topics, I don't mind slowing down time (not extremely!).. I'm just concerned about proper balancing the game after this.
Most features in the game would require a complete re-balancing.
I'm personally, as anyone who has read my previous posts, a big advocate of a lower speed.
The current speed isn't going to stop me playing nor is it game breaking. I obviously can't and don't speak for everyone but I don't think there's too many people who actually struggle with the speed to the point where it makes the game difficult to play. I think that the majority of people wanting the speed change or at least an option of a slower speed, including myself, want it so they can enjoy the game whilst not being on pause.
Yes bigger and more detailed habitats and structures need to be done paused as does some other things but it'd be nice to minimise that as much as possible should we so wish.
The current speed isn't going to stop me playing nor is it game breaking. I obviously can't and don't speak for everyone but I don't think there's too many people who actually struggle with the speed to the point where it makes the game difficult to play. I think that the majority of people wanting the speed change or at least an option of a slower speed, including myself, want it so they can enjoy the game whilst not being on pause.
Yes bigger and more detailed habitats and structures need to be done paused as does some other things but it'd be nice to minimise that as much as possible should we so wish.
I agree. I don't mind pausing to construct big enclosures and projects at all, I feel like that's okay. But the time feels rather fast and I really hoped they'd do something about it. In the beta my lions felt like they died the moment I took my eyes off them for a bit. I admit I haven't played Zoo Tycoon 2 in a decade but I don't remember this being an issue back then.
At lest give us an answer, Frontier. If it can't be changed for whatever reason, just come out and say it. If not, I can't help but think it's an intentional (and bad) design decision that your game director is being too stubborn and too proud to change because of his ego.
WingardiumLevicoaster
Volunteer Moderator
I think the difference is though that the older games were a lot more plop and play. There are far more complex tools which require you to build paused. Building and playing are two separate actions in my eyes. I do not build large things in Planet Coaster unpaused because then I can't enjoy my park. No speed is going to be slow enough except pause.
On that I agree. My issue is that the animal management is so tedious and their lifespans so short that it feels that whenever I unpause and check out my stuff, oh look they're dead, dying or have a huge liter I have to micromanage because there's no family tree or way to get 'rid' of babies ahead of time. Essentially, I can't enjoy my animals at all if my prized wolf Mr. Paws has puppies and then they fight all the time and oh look he's dead and who's his son again? It feels like an exotic animal puppy mill at times. Note: This was my experience in the beta, I'm excited to play full release but I'm deep into RDR2 so I can wait a few patches before I get to PZ.
Some animals are fine with the current speed, elephants, tortoises, most of the long lived animals will live for hours and hours of game play and that's fine. But some fan favorites like lions, wolves, wild dogs need additional balancing and QOL additions to exhibition management.
I've also got an issue with the building absolutely everything on pause. Big stuff it's to be expected but I feel like the game isn't being played if I'm constantly pausing to do the little things.
I don’t think they should slow down time for everyone, cause as we are pretty bugged right now with the time being too fast, people would get bugged the same way if the time was too slow. What would be smart, in my opinion, would be implement another button to slow down time, or make it a possibility in the options of the game( like the sims, where you can decide if you want a long, normal or short lifespan for your sims). It is too fast for me, but for someone else might be just fine. So to make everyone happy, they should simply implement another speed time, but as for now, I don’t think I’m going to play anymore cause it stresses me out to see animals breed like crazy, age super fast and die every second. I might be too sensitive and get too attached to simply pixels but they should take into consideration that everyone should enjoy the game and not feel obligated to pause every two seconds.
I agree completely. Not to forget that the game currently has far bigger issues than how fast a day passes. Some of us, at least, can't play the game (specifically the franchise mode. I have not tried the other modes yet) due to animals not breeding or they are disappearing from the game completely.
In real life the only thing that's 'plop and play' is manufactured homes. Building things while dealing with the animals, staff, etc, just adds to the realism.
So, I spent quite some time in the Beta and already startet a threat back then about the time beeing way too fast while you are building or trying just to enjoy some animals without looking after hundreds of issues every few seconds. As a solution I got told to pause the game.
For the beta I accepted that because of course a beta is not the full game.
BUT i expected them to change something for the full release, considered that so many people where complaining about the time beeing too fast. Like adding one or two modes which slow down time in addition to the speed up modes. So that people who like that fast speed still are satisfied but also the huge part of the community that would like a slower game also get satisfied and not get totally ignored.
After the game released and I started over with a new first tutorial which was recommended, I was so hugely disappointed. Apparently Frontier came up with the idea that it would be enough of a fix to add a tutorial dialogue where you get the hint to pause the game while building so you dont geht overwhelmed with notifications. At first I thought this has to be a really bad joke. Who plays a game which is about animals and interaction and watching them grow and enjoying them when the developer solution of slowing the game down is "pause it".
I really loved Zoo Tycoon and I really want to love Planet Zoo and my animals the same way, but apparently I dont get enough time for that and that ist very disappointing.
I am willing to ignore most of the "early state of game bugs" that are normal today with games beeing released unfinished, but this speed of time really freaks me out. I play 50% to 75% of my gametime paused and that sucks.
For the beta I accepted that because of course a beta is not the full game.
BUT i expected them to change something for the full release, considered that so many people where complaining about the time beeing too fast. Like adding one or two modes which slow down time in addition to the speed up modes. So that people who like that fast speed still are satisfied but also the huge part of the community that would like a slower game also get satisfied and not get totally ignored.
After the game released and I started over with a new first tutorial which was recommended, I was so hugely disappointed. Apparently Frontier came up with the idea that it would be enough of a fix to add a tutorial dialogue where you get the hint to pause the game while building so you dont geht overwhelmed with notifications. At first I thought this has to be a really bad joke. Who plays a game which is about animals and interaction and watching them grow and enjoying them when the developer solution of slowing the game down is "pause it".
I really loved Zoo Tycoon and I really want to love Planet Zoo and my animals the same way, but apparently I dont get enough time for that and that ist very disappointing.
I am willing to ignore most of the "early state of game bugs" that are normal today with games beeing released unfinished, but this speed of time really freaks me out. I play 50% to 75% of my gametime paused and that sucks.
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