Guest Happiness Issue

[fountain]

I suggest that you practice making a few zoos containing up to 6 species, then when animals are happy, guests are happy, money, and donors are up then expand the zoo.

 

 1) Do not make guests go past all those buildings before they see an animal exhibit.  I sometimes put an animal house on each side of the main entrance to force guest to split up, thus lowering traffic at the closet live animal exhibits.  I usually put restroom, fountain or attractive trees/flower and gift stand (& leave room for a gift shop usually 6x6) 15 - 20 sq in from entrance and put food and attractions farther in.  Put compost building far from guests.  Remember composted poo generates money for zoo operation even in real life.  Large amounts of poo in exhibits make animals unhappy and you will hear a gagging sound from your guests.

 

2) Do not worry about how wide the path is because even 3 or 4  spaces wide near the entrance is good to handle the traffic.  Away from the entrance I always use 2sq wide to handle the traffic.  At the entrance I give guests the option of going 2 or three different paths at 15-20sq in to reduce traffic.

 

3) Make your exhibits no more than 12sq deep and block guest view until the 8th sq from the exterior wall so the animals do not have to deal with guests right away at the entrance.  Exhibits beyond the entrance it does not matter much because there is less guest traffic.

 

4) Focus on making animal exhibits at least 90% ideal.  Sometimes it must be higher for breeding.  Your guests' thought captions, available when you click on the guest, should always be "_____ looks overjoyed."  If guest thought is  "________ look somewhat satisfied." then there is a problem with the exhibit.  ZTDD website has ideal animal exhibit info for many user created animals.

 

5) Herd animals benefit from a dedicated zoo keeper.  I usually assign 1 keeper to 2 exhibits and overlap keepers e.g. Keeper Brad is assigned to the zebra & gazelle exhibits.  Keeper Emily is assigned the gazelle & wildebeest exhibits.  Keeper Gail is assigned to wildebeast & giraffe exhibits.   Primate exhibits and exhibits with animals that are more prone to illness get a single dedicated keeper.  (If necessary I trap keepers near or behind exhibit with a combination invisible fence and a rock so the fencing does not become an exhibit.  Make sure the keeper has minimum of 4 sq outside of gate so she can "think" and turn around and get new orders/info and doesn't just stand there.

 

6) Keepers put food on flat sq and 3-5 sq in & 1-3 to the right of the gate.  Keep these sq flat and free of rocks and foliage and water.  Food too near the gate may cause the animal to drop zoo poo right inside the gate.  Keeper cannot get in and must be lifted to rake up poo.

 

7) Use wooden, stick, or plexiglass & concrete fencing because those all last longer than the chain mesh and are far more attractive.  Stick fence last a good long time and is stronger than you think. 

 

These suggestions should help.  In Screenshots forum is a zoo I am working on that demonstrates most of the above.

 

 

[(Designer)Z.Z.]

3 hours ago, Saobie said:

Is this more like what you suggested? The gaps between the path would be filled with flowerbeds and trees, as would the gaps between the exhibits and path

 

Not really.

Im making a zoo for you to look at that shows what Im talking about, might be a day or two before I have a screen for you. :)

[Saobie]

Alright

 

So for my fences, the reason its chainlink is because its very cheap and the dinos im keeping are 2 tiles down, unable to bash through anyways. I replace it with plexiglass when it becomes available. Ill try starting with wood/stick to see if that does me better

 

I have a 100 suitability for every animal that can possibly have it. Certain animals im used to working with always have the highest possible suitability for them

 

So in a new zoo, ill put more exhibits right by the entrance and spread out the buildings more, would that work better?

 

Typically i have a dedicated keeper for every exhibit, except i use the Dr. Scholl cheat for my first scientist and use that one to handle 2 exhibits. Ill use 1 keeper per 2 exhibits if the gates are very close together

 

Ill go to 6 animals in a new zoo setup and record how well iv done in terms of guest happiness while i wait on your screenshot. The screenshots iv given you are more or less how i had always done zoos (except there would typically be a lot more buildings. It gets high guest happiness VERY late game but i otherwise usually see 70-75 and never cared til my completionist side kicked in)

[fountain]

Are you using freeform map?  Do you set $500K as money when you start?  I'm curious why you do not use the dino fences.  I have never used wood or stick fences with dinos.  You are brave.

 

DinoRex has a Dino Digs zoo in Screenshots right now.  When ZZ posts hers it will be interesting to compare them.

 

Another thing to do, if you are do not already do it, is to block the entrance with fencing to keep out guests and build as much as possible on pause until you have the 6 exhibits ready. 

 

What do you consider "late in the game"?  How many months, year?

 

BTW I use the freeform hack and no others. 

 

Good luck to you!

 

[Saobie]

Typically id start with 80k. But the dinos i modded for higher attractiveness i also modded to cost significantly more (as they are alternatives, not replacements), so now i typically start with 220k, which is just enough to have 2 exhibits and a small plaza from the start

 

I dont use dino digs fences because i dont like how tall they are or how they look, i opt to make the dinosaurs exhibit 2 tiles down in the ground, so they cant escape. That way it doesnt matter what fence i use, so long as there is a fence to consider it an enclosure. Typically ill do this even for non-dinos since i usually have a problem with workers being really slow to respond to deteriorating fences, and escaped animals are not rare (but not common). This eliminates that possibility

[jbl89]

The number of animals seems to matter; also how well guests can see them. I typically have 5 squares in between exhibits: decorative foliage next to the guests, 3 paths in the middle as walkway where I put lots of benches and decorative items.

 

Marine shows seem to make guests unhappy - this can be countered by making sure your guests pass a restaurant nearby.

I also avoid using small stands which only sell one thing. If they need something, my guests enter a restaurant. Say they're (mostly) hungry. When entering a restaurant; *all* their needs are filled at once. If they buy something from the food stand, they might stay needy or need to go to the bathroom sooner again.

 

Also, prices. Try to lower the admission price to one of the cheapest; and keep your other prices reasonable.

[(Designer)Z.Z.]

Ok, I was making a screen and it turned into a zoo that is going to take a few days, so I made a quick mock up of it for you :)

Going from the Northwest (upper left) to the Southeast (lower right) there is a row of exhibits, each 10 tiles deep - the grassland, and the water (future exhibits).

Next to the exhibits is [flowerbeds - path - flowerbeds].

Then a row of buildings, benches, and decor.

Another [flowerbeds - path - flowerbeds]

And the next row of exhibits.

Guests can see an animal from almost anywhere they are, there is lots of nature to make guests happy, and the row of flowerbeds surrounding the exhibits keep the animals from feeling overcrowded.

I do use the invisible fence and the money cheat, and I use the map editor.

I also lower the entrance price to 1 dollar for adults, and up the advertising to maximum.

I start the zoo, up my research to maximum, use the money cheat to get 50 million, do my map editing and layout while the research is being done, and once the research is finished (middle of year 3) I pause the game and start building the zoo.

I build the entire zoo on pause, and when its complete I add the animals (a whole other process) and their keepers and let the guests in.

My zoo stats are always around 98 for guest happiness, animal happiness, and zoo rating.

I hope this helps :)

 

 

 

 

[(Designer)Z.Z.]

This is the entrance to the zoo I started today.

The fresh water in the middle of the square path is going to be a small animal exhibit, probably Caudipteryx.

Guests will be able to see the animals the moment they enter the zoo, and their happiness rating will go up as soon as possible.

The Reely Beeg Shew goes in front of that with restaurants on both ends of the stands to care for the guests needs when the show is over.

to either side of the entrance will be exhibits.

:)

 

 

 

[HeatherL]

5 hours ago, fountain said:

Are you using freeform map?  Do you set $500K as money when you start?  I'm curious why you do not use the dino fences.  I have never used wood or stick fences with dinos.  You are brave.

I always sink dino exhibits 2-3 levels (usually 3), then top them with the low iron bar fence.  This gives me an exhibit that is easy to see into (for me) and dinos can't break out of a sunken exhibit.  I've actually stopped including a dino recovery team as I haven't had a break-out since using this method.

Like this:

or

[HeatherL]

I've also noticed that animals in sunken exhibits don't complain about feeling crowded.