Maple Leaf Wildlife Park help

[ImOnABoat28]

I have restarted this level 4 times now and I just keep failing it and going into debt. I play planet coaster and prison architect so I am use to these types of game. I cannot find the balance as my animal welfare is low so people complain and the protestors but it is so earlier on, I am doing the research to get enrichment but never can find the right way to do it.

[clawsight]

There's no time limit so Maple Leaf is an exercise in slow and steady.

My tips for it

- Start with one habitat. Choose a species that is easy to care for, you don't need a large number of, is popular, and only requires a simple exhibit. I had really good luck with timber wolves for this. Bison and tortoises are also pretty good for this - though with bison (and other herd animals) it can quickly devolve into breeding micromanaging. Leave bears and primates for later.

- As far as you are concerned only bronze, silver, and gold animals exist. The cost difference between them is virtually nothing and gold animals produce far better results in terms of conservation rating and guest popularity. Animals that don't have a breeding rating are not worth it for this scenario. Every animal available is pretty commonly available in the trade window.

- Start with one keeper, one vet, one mechanic. Once you get people in your zoo then add in one security, one caretaker.

- Research one animal at a time and get the welfare on it super high before moving on to the next one. Again. Slow here. If you're finding your animal's lifespans to be a problem use breeding and conservation credits to preempt die-offs.

- After your first habitat is going well add two exhibits. Exhibit animals reproduce very quickly and are good for getting conservation credits and money early on. Plus they count for species diversity in terms of zoo rating.

- Be patient. Get a good chunk of income going before moving on beyond this.

- From this point forward break your zoo into "zones". Each "zone" in my zoo consisted of two-three habitats and/or 2-4 exhibits (if three habitats in a zone - no exhibits. If four exhibits in a zone try to make sure the habitats along with are species that don't have a ton of animals per habitat so that your zoo keeper has plenty of time and isn't spending all day cleaning peacock poop), plus guest accommodations (info, food, drink, merchandise, toilets). Each zone gets one vet, one mechanic, one zookeeper, one caretaker, one security.

- Finish your first zone then construct the next.

- Every. Newly. Purchased. Habitat. Animal. Goes. Through. Quarantine. No. Exceptions. ESPECIALLY early on.

- USE CONTRACEPTIVES. After the first couple of exhibits ask yourself every time if there's a benefit to breeding this habitat and spending the time managing your lines for inbreeding... or if there's better uses for your time. In general focus your breeding efforts on species that have high popularity ratings.

After the early game I basically never let my exhibits breed - only my habitats. I just bought new animals when my old ones died. It was easier than managing 50000 inbred spiders.

- Use babies to get guests in the zoo. If you find your population is stagnating a well timed birth of a popular species can give you a guest boost (which equals an income boost).

- Use the Zoopedia and Help features liberally. Zoopedia will tell you the max number of animals/sex of animals you can put in an exhibit for each species, how big the exhibit will need to be (so you can build before buying), if the animals can be housed with other animals... you name it the info is there. The Help feature is crucial for figuring out mechanics in the game not explained in the tutorial. If there's a stat that's staying low that you want to go up... check help and it'll probably tell you what to do to make it go up, or at least, how it works.

Hope this helps!

[ImOnABoat28]

Oh my god thank you so much! Such a detailed description. Hopefully I can beat it this time!