ZT1 Tips and Tricks

[(Trustee)genkicoll]

I'm quoting the most useful tips I've found from The Compost Heap and posting them in this thread. Their site hasn't been updated since 2003, but there is a lot of great info there :D

 

The Guests and General Tips:

 

- Zoo Guests can see 10 spaces, and they officially ‘view’ an exhibit that is within 3 spaces of them.

 

- In some games (scenarios especially), it’s a good idea to push your admission up to $100 to stop the influx of guests. You can be very profitable with 200 guests, or you can have 1000 guests, be more profitable, but suffer from too much trash, too much crowding, etc. By setting the admission high, you get to control how your Zoo grows.

 

- If you already have a lot of guests and you want them to leave, you will have to spend a lot of money to get them to go. Although a fun way to persuade people to exit is to let a couple animals escape, a less harmful way is to sell off 70% to 80% of your animals. The less things to see, the quicker Guests leave the Zoo, and when the amount of guests that you wanted to leave have left, you can increase your admission and put the animals back in. Safe yourself this aggravation and control Guest population from the start.

 

- It is usually wise to build double lane footpaths, or leave enough space to upgrade your footpath to two lanes in the future. When you have a zoo that has 700-1000 guests, many main paths need to be 3 or 4 spaces wide to deal with the large number of guests.

 

- To help with traffic, you can build “observation areas”: Add blocks of footpath onto a side of your main path. This creates a little "nook” that Guests will move into to view an exhibit, thereby not crowding the main foot path.

 

- Fence tips: Try not to use chain link. Sure, you save a hundred bucks or so on the exhibit, but stick pole fences are only 5 dollars more per unit and usually last 4 more months then chain link before they deteriorate (and don’t let those in game tool tips fool you, stick pole is stronger then chain link). Wooden slat is a good “middle of the road” fence. Concrete chain might look a bit uglier then iron bar, but it has the same features and life of iron bar, its only slightly weaker, and you save about 30$ per unit of Concrete chain over iron bar.

 

- Don’t over fence! Several animals live fine in low fencing, and there is no reason to surround these animals in tall fence. If you don’t need a really strong low fence, low wooden slat fencing lasts just as long as the most expensive low fencing, but its 40 dollars a unit cheaper. A list of who takes low fencing is in the fence formula sheet:

 

- Having a problem with trash? Don’t like restrooms? Just build restaurants. A restaurant contains all food types, seating, disposal, and restrooms. This means you do not have to build trash cans or restrooms, people in need of those services will go to your restaurant. A single restroom well placed in a zoo can handle between 200-300 guests. There is no trash in your zoo, and no trash cans that cause guests to lose happiness. The one disadvantage of having only restaurants is that you will make more money with stands and vending.

 

- If you are setting up food shacks, you might as well make as much money as possible of the concessions. Use Burger Shacks, not Pizza Stands, as Burger shacks do not fill up the people as quickly as pizza stands, cost less in overhead and initial cost, and are more profitable then Pizza Stands.

 

- The best money making attractions are the animal theater and the carousel. These are far better than the elephant ride, and the small size of the carousel allows it to go nearly anywhere.

 

- For non-money making attractions, the Japanese Garden is the best by far. The petting zoo is OK, but it doesn’t generate the happiness level for the amount of space it takes up.

 

- Gift shops/stands do not generate very much profit at all. Most of the time the only reason you put them in the zoo is to satisfy those guests who are always looking to buy a souvenir. Most guests want a souvenir when they enter or exit the zoo, so putting a gift shop/stand near the zoo entrance is a good way to avoid having many Gift Shops or Gift Stands. Gift stands can go nearly anywhere, which is convenient, but it cannot compete with the speed and sales of the Gift Shops. A gift stand is considered “too crowed” if two people are nearby waiting for a souvenir, so it is best placed in a large zoo in the remote areas. NOTE: In Dinosaur Digs, the Zoo Tycoon add on pack, you can now move your gift stands to a new area after you have placed it. This gives you the ability to watch the sales of a gift stand, and if you think it could make more money somewhere else in the zoo, you can move it there without any penalty.

 

- A great place for a Gift stand is in the "foyer" of your zoo entrance (by the admissions booth). You can put things in that enclosed area, so why not put a Gift Stand in there?

 

- Although its fun to make a “garden area” in your Zoo, the happiness level that you get from it will in no way compete with the happiness gained through a new exhibit. Although you might want to make a large garden, or a area devoted to animal houses or attractions, if you don’t intersperse these areas with exhibits, they may actually decrease overall Guest happiness.

 

- Although listed under the Animal Foliage section, Cherry trees, Japanese maples, Pacific Dogwood, and Wild Olive trees all increase guest happiness. Cherry trees are nice looking, and add a lot of happiness for their cost and size (more then any topiaries, flowers, and most statues.)

[(Trustee)genkicoll]

These tips are from Wisco's Zoo Tycoon

 

* Guests can see in a range of 10 tiles. The more animals they see in this range, the better.

But these animals must be happy to keep the guests happy.

 

* Every animal house has different attractions. You can change the attraction of an animal

house by clicking on the house. This opens an info box. Then, click on an icon that looks

like a notepad. Note that these attractions must be researched first before you can use

them!

 

* The compost building generates $ 50 for every pile of raked poo. And if you have the

Dino Digs expansion, you will get $ 100 for every pile of raked dino poo!

 

* Every guest has his/her favorite animal. Seeing this animal in your zoo will increase

that guest's happiness! You can check a guest's favorite animal in his/her information

panel, by clicking on the guest.

 

* Don't hire maintenance workers in the first months of a game, because they will have

little work and you must pay them anyway! Also, don't start the game by building

food/drink-stands, because it takes a while before a guest becomes hungry/thirsty when

he/she enters your zoo. More important is it that you have to pay upkeep-costs for these

food/drink-stand, so you can save money if you wait to build the food/drink stands. The

same for restaurants.

 

* A hamburger stand is twice as filling as a hotdog stand but does not stimulate the thirst

as much.

[Guest Gargantuan]

- If you already have a lot of guests and you want them to leave, you will have to spend a lot of money to get them to go. Although a fun way to persuade people to exit is to let a couple animals escape, a less harmful way is to sell off 70% to 80% of your animals. The less things to see, the quicker Guests leave the Zoo, and when the amount of guests that you wanted to leave have left, you can increase your admission and put the animals back in. Safe yourself this aggravation and control Guest population from the start.

 

Well, you also can use the "Alfred H" guest naming to let your guests leaving your zoo QUICKLY and HAPPILY. This cheat isn't permanent (Unlike what they say in the cheat forum :sad: ). It will let all of your current guests leave your zoo.Yes, ALL of them. If there're 1000 guests, all of them will going home. But, just current guests, not the guests that come AFTER you use the cheat.

[KTesch]

Why does the information from posts #1 and #2 conflict with each other regarding the Burger Shack?

 

Kim

[(Trustee)genkicoll]

Will you please quote the two conflicting items so that I don't have to search for them?

[KTesch]

Genki,

 

Sorry, I can't find a Quote button to Quote that post and now I can't find the information that led me to make that post. I've gone back and forth between the two posts and can't find it.

 

Okay, I lied. It's to the effect that the information from "The Compost Heap" says that a Burger Shack doesn't fill up the Guests as quickly as a Pizza Shack and Wisco's site is saying it does.

Kim

[(Trustee)genkicoll]

From Compost Heap:

Use Burger Shacks, not Pizza Stands, as Burger shacks do not fill up the people as quickly as pizza stands

 

From Wisco's:

A hamburger stand is twice as filling as a hotdog stand but does not stimulate the thirst as much.

 

No conflict here - am I missing something?

[KTesch]

Whookayyy, now I'm lost and confused too. They're comparing different Shacks too. I thought they were comparing just the Burger Shack and Pizza Shack.

 

Kim

[(Designer)Z.Z.]

In the Compost Heap post they were talking about Burger Stands and PIZZA STANDS.

In the post from Wiscos they were talking about Burger Stands and HOT DOG STANDS.

 

Pizza Stand - Most filling

Burger Stand - Filling

Hot Dog Stand - Less Filling

 

Hope it helps ;)

[KTesch]

Thank you, Z.Z. it does.

 

Kim