Thoughts on Twilight Pack Career Scenario and Gondola Rides

[Jeminyne]

Just beat silver on the Meyer's castle career scenario, and I thought I'd share some thoughts. First of all, kudos to Frontier for listening to feedback and adding a new non-timed scenario! I can't help but miss the voice acting, but I imagine Frontier might not even have those voice actors anymore. Maybe at the very end of the game, it would be cute if they could get them back for one last career. But I'm just being sentimental about a minor thing.

I liked the way the career made you realize why Meyers failed so hard with the zoo (expecting guests to walk all the way down the mountain for just a few small animals, when it was better to start building on TOP of the mountain) and the mountain provides a lot of the challenge and need to strategize.

One oddity I noticed though, is that the base temperature of the zoo is blisteringly hot. Like, the heat map is entirely dark red, despite the biome being taiga, and taiga animals are uncomfortable without coolers. I'm assuming that was a mistake?

And for my other main point:

The scenario requires you build a gondola, which only reminded me how ugly and clunky that big, futuristic, chunky gondola is. And how much we NEED a nice, streamlined chairlift ride. It's bizarre how the monorail of all things can feel so streamlined and efficient, but the gondola looks like... that. Please give us a proper chairlift, Frontier!

 

[Pinguin]

It is very hard, i failed 3 times because people dont come down the mountain, but the map is so pretty, i hope to see more career scnerios and hope no more timed ones will be there.

 

[Jeminyne]

It is very hard, i failed 3 times because people dont come down the mountain, but the map is so pretty, i hope to see more career scnerios and hope no more timed ones will be there.

I hope so too! I had the same problem, which is why I decided to put all the animals in the trade center, and then start on top of the mountain instead. Then eventually build a ride that takes people to the bottom. I think that was the intended solution? I could be wrong though!

 

[Jaggid Edje]

I've played the scenario 3 times so far, all on hard difficulty, and completed it to gold on the last 2 of the 3 (still finishing the 3rd, but it's a done deal).
I found it actually works less to start with a 'small zoo" all on top of the mountain. There's actually a LOT of space up there that you can build in. I had 3 exhibit animals and 3 habitats with a total of 6 habitat animals up there before I ever let guests even use the path down the mountain on my last playthrough. And there was enough space I could have easily put in 4 or 5 more habitats, had I wanted to.

Anyway, my real reason for replying is that in addition to what was already said about gondolas...the visitors simply don't like them that much compared to even just the basic monorail. In my 1st and 2nd playthrough it frustrated me to no end that most visitors preferred to just walk down the mountain and skip the gondola. I put a lot of effort into that thing, it had a great scenery rating and the visitors who did use it absolutely raved about it. But most visitors ignored it and it was always bleeding money.
So, in my 3rd playthrough I built a monorail. Pretty much using the same design I had previously used for the Gondola. The monorail was massively successful, massively profitable and has the added benefit of moving more visitors over time then the gondola can and being available at the very start of the scenario.
When I built the gondola for the scenario goal on that 3rd playthrough, I then deleted it right after getting credit for having built it.

 

[FoxyDee]

Agreed with the Career mission, the map was really fun (I played it on hard difficulty and it was hell, but I made it through) and I find it visually very pleasing. Of course, it is not a realistic zoo by any means (not that it was supposed to be), but the scenery looks really great and gives those creepy forest/Halloween vibes that they were going for. Kudos for people who were working on that map!

As for the gondola, I have to agree with Jeminyne. I dont like its futuristic orb design, you would hardly find something like this in a zoo. I find it funny that Planet Coaster, in which I would find something like this much more realistic, actually have the real, realistic cable gondola, while we are stuck with this way too big and unrealistic thing in Planet Zoo.
I find most of the rides in PZ weird (automatic jeeps on rails without any zoo staff for a Safari experience? No thanks. Automatic boats on rails also fit into theme park way more than any zoo related park...). Please, if any of the PZ devs is reading this, give us a simple, realistic rides that would actually be found in zoos, not futuristic rides on trails without any zoo staff riding them.

 

[Jeminyne]

I've played the scenario 3 times so far, all on hard difficulty, and completed it to gold on the last 2 of the 3 (still finishing the 3rd, but it's a done deal).
I found it actually works less to start with a 'small zoo" all on top of the mountain. There's actually a LOT of space up there that you can build in. I had 3 exhibit animals and 3 habitats with a total of 6 habitat animals up there before I ever let guests even use the path down the mountain on my last playthrough. And there was enough space I could have easily put in 4 or 5 more habitats, had I wanted to.

Anyway, my real reason for replying is that in addition to what was already said about gondolas...the visitors simply don't like them that much compared to even just the basic monorail. In my 1st and 2nd playthrough it frustrated me to no end that most visitors preferred to just walk down the mountain and skip the gondola. I put a lot of effort into that thing, it had a great scenery rating and the visitors who did use it absolutely raved about it. But most visitors ignored it and it was always bleeding money.
So, in my 3rd playthrough I built a monorail. Pretty much using the same design I had previously used for the Gondola. The monorail was massively successful, massively profitable and has the added benefit of moving more visitors over time then the gondola can and being available at the very start of the scenario.
When I built the gondola for the scenario goal on that 3rd playthrough, I then deleted it right after getting credit for having built it.

That's super interesting, because I found my gondola to be very popular, even though I'm pretty sure it only went over 1 habitat. But I don't know if it even made back its money, because the speed at which people can load in and out isn't great. Even with the price at max ($30.00). And then the monorail I built, which went over nothing, was maybe half as popular. Both of these rides mostly just went underground, coiling through the mountain, so they'd be shorter and more efficient,

The rides are baffling. It's wild how Frontier just made a Coaster game before making Planet Zoo, yet the rides are still so inscrutable and wonky.

 

[Jeminyne]

Agreed with the Career mission, the map was really fun (I played it on hard difficulty and it was hell, but I made it through) and I find it visually very pleasing. Of course, it is not a realistic zoo by any means (not that it was supposed to be), but the scenery looks really great and gives those creepy forest/Halloween vibes that they were going for. Kudos for people who were working on that map!

As for the gondola, I have to agree with Jeminyne. I dont like its futuristic orb design, you would hardly find something like this in a zoo. I find it funny that Planet Coaster, in which I would find something like this much more realistic, actually have the real, realistic cable gondola, while we are stuck with this way too big and unrealistic thing in Planet Zoo.
I find most of the rides in PZ weird (automatic jeeps on rails without any zoo staff for a Safari experience? No thanks. Automatic boats on rails also fit into theme park way more than any zoo related park...). Please, if any of the PZ devs is reading this, give us a simple, realistic rides that would actually be found in zoos, not futuristic rides on trails without any zoo staff riding them.

This, exactly! Please! Give us a safari vehicle that actually looks right, a bus ride (also WITH a staff driver!) and a proper cable car. Frontier's choices with the rides are just bizarre.

 

[Jaggid Edje]

Both of these rides mostly just went underground, coiling through the mountain, so they'd be shorter and more efficient,

Ahh, perhaps that would be the reason for the difference in our results. I went over ground, and just built spirals for going up and down. On a monorail, which has a much higher speed, the spirals are probably "fun" for the visitors but less so on a gondola. In both cases I didn't have either going 'through' or 'over' any habitats, though both the start and end stations were literally inside a habitat, mainly so I could put education speakers on the entry queues.

I don't generally build my transports such that they go inside or over habitats. I've never found it makes any difference at all on the popularity of the rides, as long as the ride has good scenery ratings. (Don't confuse that with never making a ride through habitats...sometimes I build them JUST for that. But when their purpose is purely 'to move people from A to B' I prefer not to clutter my lovely habitats with transport rides)

 

[dozensofraccoons]

I completely agree about the design of the gondola in general - it has a huge footprint for each support structure, and its scale can very quickly dwarf any structures that you’ve built in a zoo.

The issue I’ve had with Castle Myers specifically is that the sloping angle of the mountain is too steep to accommodate the gondola without making support beams that would be hundreds of feet tall. I actually had built a really nice monorail in-scenario before I noticed the gondola requirement, and it broke my heart a little that I’m going to have to throw in a gondola somewhere.