Animal Happiness Tips

(ZT) Learn and share tricks of running and building a successful zoo for the original version of Zoo Tycoon and its expansion packs.
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Wolfyu
zoo docent
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Joined: Thu Jan 15, 2004 7:15 pm
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Animal Happiness Tips

Post by Wolfyu »

This is a list of different animal happiness (phsychology :roll: ) issues that I've seen. I'll add more to this list as more issues arise. :)

((You can PM me if you think something should be added to the list))

EDIT on August 18th 2004: Wowie, my grammar and writing skills stunk when I wrote the first version of this. It's all revised now.

~`~`~`~`~`~`~

Refferal Sites
Zoo Tycoon F.A.Q.s F.A.Q.s available here.
Wisco's Zoo Tycoon Home to the one and only animal center!

LEOPARDS!!
The leopards in Zoo Tycoon have a higher demand for happiness than other animals in the game (eg. When you make a lion's exhibit, the lion's suitibility usually turns green by 70, while in leopards, it turns green at 90 or so). Make sure to always have a climbing tree for the basic Leopards, Clouded Leopards and Black Leopards. When you make their exhibits, they may become angry while the construction is being carried out. It may take them a while to become fully happy again when this happens. If you aren't patient, or the leopards just won't become happy, sell the originals off and buy two new ones (they will become happy almost instantly if the exhibit is suitable). Another useful hint is to build the basic outline of the exhibit (with clumps of trees, rocks and terrain) and then add the finishing touches when the animals are in the exhibit. Be sure to check Wisco's if you are still stumped.

Dinosaurs and Rubble
Dinos can turn any plant, building, or landscape into rubble. The dinosaurs will only turn objects into rubble when they are unhappy. They run around their exhibit trampling the foliage and turning it into rubble, in turn, making themselves even more unhappy. This can be solved by surrounding the foliage with water if you have a land going dino, or putting the foliage next to the fence.

Animals Crowded by Too Many Guests
To stop this there are a few options to try. First is to have the exhibit veiwing areas at least one square away from the path. The next option is to sink the exhibit in to the ground two tiles (this one works best for me). You can also make your paths wider (3-5 squares wide): then guests who are just trying to get from one part of the park to another will be less likely to crowd animals. Don't put paths on all four sides of an exhibit (unless it is an exceptionally large exhibit). Most animals are happy if you only put paths on 1-2 sides, no matter how many guests are in your park.

Rocks
Nearly all animals prefer having a large ammount of small rocks instead of a small number of large rocks. If you are going for an eye-pleasing zoo, using large and medium sized rocks is okay (it only lowers suitability by a very small fraction). One downside is that small rocks are more expensive by square, especially in MM.

Salt Water Crocodiles and Their Plants
Salties like water lillies over water reeds as their preffered foliage. Just remember that. It's very helpful.

T-Rex Problems...
T-rex are some of the most sensitive animals in Zoo Tycoon. The most common problem is the use of electric fences in exhibit construction: the dinos shock themselves and become unhappy. To solve this, sink the exhibit two tiles into the ground and you'll be able to use low or regular fences to make the exhibit. They also like the grassland bush more than the monkey puzzle tree, just remember to use four bushes per square. Breeding is just a random thing that cannot be for sure, though it can help if you research all of the T-rex options.

Compatibility
For all combinations of the compatibility in animals go to the following website, and go to the link on the sidebar that says 'Animal Center', and then click on 'multiple species exhibits'.
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