A question on quantity and quality

[Stormtempter]

Is there any impact upon visitors eco/research/prestige payouts?

By which I mean, if I had 4 different fish, and I had 4 tanks, would I get better results from having each tank have 1 of each, or 4 of the same in each tank?

Clumping fish into single tanks is easier on the feeding schedule. This tank is green pellets, this one is orange. I've been trying to keep just a couple of each fish and mixing them up in the differing tanks so no two tanks has the same composition, but this often leads to tanks with like 8 food types required. Hence why I ask if there is a benefit to this variety.

If there is no harm in piling all of one species in a tank, and no added benefit to having very diverse species in a tank to compensate for the additional food tasking, I may just consoidate.

[Stormtempter]

Piggy backing on that general question premise, if a mix of animals in a tank is preffered, what is the ideal? 1 of everything you can cram in without conflict? Or is there like an upper limit, so you should only have like 3-5 different critters per tank?

[stlnegril9]

There are threads showing the mechanics for Prestige points, but I won't spoil it here (I think the most detailed thread actually has a spoiler alert on it). You can search "prestige points" to know the details.
But in general, 1 tank with same species, to a point. There are con-specific restrictions on some species that change that up a bit. (and con-gener??).

[Twice Circled]

Again without spoiling the exact numbers, there are many different ways to optimise depending on what you are prioritising.

- For max prestige per point of food/fish size, 1 of each species will give you the biggest return.
- For max prestige per species you will need more than 1 of each.
- Dividing many of one type across many tanks is statistically slightly better than the same number in the same tank, but is more difficult to feed/meet their requirements.
- Most players go for the grouping tactic as the ease of care is generally worth more than the slight statistical advantage of splitting them up.
- Another dimension to consider is view rate. If only 60% of your guests see a particular tank, you might want to have a second group of the animals in that tank in another tank so that you pick up some of the people who missed the first tank.

So there's a range of viable strategies here, depending on what you're optimising. Personally I quite like the sort of boutique style of aquarium with lower animal numbers and more mixing! :)

[Stormtempter]

Thats what I was doing myself as well, lol. Carbon City was my best attempt. I did that one with 4 small tunnel tanks, 3 warm, 1 cold, and I just put 1-3 of everything that would fit without fighting or getting eaten, lol. It racked up good prestige, but the research and ecology was slower - compensated somewhat by multiple talks per day.

It was just a little annoying that with only those 4 tanks, I had like a dozen food requirements each. So I had to recruit large numbers of feeding dedicated staff and keep them zoned to specific tunnel tanks.

Maybe in the future, we could have an item to research that would attach to a tank and auto-feed 'basic' foods like orange or green pellets?

Balanced by being late game, needing repairs, only being 1 food type and taking up the space next to a tank?

[Stormtempter]

In real life at the aquariums I've been to I've seen a mix. They'd have a few "aquascape" style tanks, large and small that would have a slice of life from a particular region - coral sea, tidal basin, arctic open ocean etc. Then between those mixed vistas, they'd have "specimen" tanks where they would have multiples of specific animals and your focus was just on learning about that particular critter.

That was my impression from my visits anyway XD

[Twice Circled]

Oh yes, good point about ecology and science, large groups are much better for gaining those.

There is an auto-feeder in the game (unlocked on level 10) which works a bit different to how you describe, but I'm thinking about redesigning it. I quite like your idea of making it only work with "basic" food types.

[Stormtempter]

Make it a giant fish shaped pez dispenser :D :D :D

[Stormtempter]

*Belay my last.* I found it, it wasn't unlocked unlocked, lol.

I'm checking everywhere and I can't find it, and this is in sandbox with everything unlocked.

[stlnegril9]

@Stormtempter, the sandbox "unlocked" all still depends on the rank you've actually reached (by campaigns completed, I believe).
There are save files posted that have EVERYTHING unlocked, but you'd have to download it (look for user Tampapowers' post - or similar name). You could also edit your rank/campaigns completed, if you know which file (note I haven't actually done that, but possibly works).

The autofeeder appears at Rank 12 and is under "Special Equipment" - (at the bottom) in the equipment menu (next to Calcium Reactor - if you've seen that).

There have been discussions about a "true unlock all" in sandbox. I think Tim said he may get to it. or not. Everything else he doesn't in the game seems purposeful, so I'm guessing that keeping certain things hidden in sandbox until you reach the related rank is on purpose as well.

I'm less user as to why, but a good guess (IMO), is that if you are playing around in sandbox and have only reached a certain rank (rank 6 let's say), unlocking things not available until higher ranks would likely just confuse you???

[stlnegril9]

Note - editing the global.data didn't work (or not the way I thought it might), so NVM on that, but you can still load a save file with everything if you want.

Also - I don't fully understand why certain things are still locked/hidden at sandbox Rank 12, I just know that they are. :)

[Stormtempter]

It was the level 10 comment that made me double take. I am totes cool with it unlocking, but still needing to be researched at Prestige 12.

[Stormtempter]

I believe it *starts* you at rank 12. So everything in rank 12 still has to be researched. You dont' have a rank 13 or a maxed rank 12 option. Thats only for research though. Fishies are still across all ranks, with a handful at the start.

[stlnegril9]

Originally posted by Stormtempter:

It was the level 10 comment that made me double take. I am totes cool with it unlocking, but still needing to be researched at Prestige 12.

ahh. "level 10" possibly meant campaign 10 (megalopolis) as that file has the autofeeder (and a few other things) unlocked in it.

[Twice Circled]

Yes, my "level 10" comment was referring to level 10 of the campaign. It's unlocked at rank 12. :)