Planning habitats

[KingeOrge]

Hi guys, do you know if there are any tool to planning the terrain of a habitat before having to release the animal inside it?

I mean, something to mark the animal that is going to go into that habitat and then indicates what requirements are missing from each kind of terrain, water, plants ect for that animal.

I want to build a park franchise but without putting the animals in it for now only structures and habitats, and I don't want to have to put them inside and then take them out of the habitat to see how much of each thing is missing every time.

Thanks in advance

[KingeOrge]

any help?

[Ellorien]

When I build a habitat, I first look up the requirements in the zoopedia so I know in advance the minimum size, the type of the barrier, whether I need water and how much, whether I need tall trees and climbing structures, the continent, biomes, male-to-female ratio, group size, how long they live, at what age they mature, whether the animal is shy or confident etc.

Then I build the habitat according to these specs, and I usually make it twice as big, sometimes even more because the listed requirements are minimum and very often when your animal population grows in numbers they need more space. So, make it big. Think of how many animals you want in that habitat and build enough shelters and bedding, with room to expand if need be.

I can’t exactly paint the terrain to always satisfy the animals without placing them in the habitat first, though, but after having some experience I can get pretty close. The same goes for how much vegetation (coverage) they can tolerate. But that’s not a deal breaker and can be easily adjusted after you put animals into your habitat. Takes literally a minute or two. When I have the first animal placed, I pause the game and open its info panel. Add some paint if something is amiss, check the plant coverage (usually okay) and I am done.

[KingeOrge]

Originally posted by ellorien:

When I build a habitat, I first look up the requirements in the zoopedia so I know in advance the minimum size, the type of the barrier, whether I need water and how much, whether I need tall trees and climbing structures, the continent, biomes, male-to-female ratio, group size, how long they live, at what age they mature, whether the animal is shy or confident etc.

Then I build the habitat according to these specs, and I usually make it twice as big, sometimes even more because the listed requirements are minimum and very often when your animal population grows in numbers they need more space. So, make it big. Think of how many animals you want in that habitat and build enough shelters and bedding, with room to expand if need be.

I can’t exactly paint the terrain to always satisfy the animals without placing them in the habitat first, though, but after having some experience I can get pretty close. The same goes for how much vegetation (coverage) they can tolerate. But that’s not a deal breaker and can be easily adjusted after you put animals into your habitat. Takes literally a minute or two. When I have the first animal placed, I pause the game and open its info panel. Add some paint if something is amiss, check the plant coverage (usually okay) and I am done.

Yes for now I did it as you but, there is no way to place a 'ghost animal' (for call it in some way) to see the expects of this kind of animal would have, isn't?

It would be a insteresting feature for planning habitats...

[Ellorien]

In sandbox mode temporarily placing a real animal to perfectly adjust everything inside the habitat should be as easy as placing a ghost animal, in my opinion. I don’t see a problem.

[KingeOrge]

Originally posted by ellorien:

In sandbox mode temporarily placing a real animal to perfectly adjust everything inside the habitat should be as easy as placing a ghost animal, in my opinion. I don’t see a problem.

Yeah I know, but I mean for non-sandbox modes, like franchise, challenge, timed scenarios or carreer...

[HareMoose]

This would be a great feature. Especially when you're treading a fine line with two or more species that share only a strict number of parameters. It would be nice to have a way to tell you that you've provided enough foliage/shelter and the right ground terrain for all species before placing the animals.

[XrystalBelle]

If you build a basic habitat that stops them from escaping and then pause the game whenever you are actively adjusting the habitat shape and size and unpausing to see the animal's reaction to it .. just remember to keep it paused if you are refining the size of the habitat as it is very easy to full the game into thinking the animal has escaped. Bear in mind you may have problems terraforming if the animal is in the way, or sometimes it will autobox the animal up until the game deems it safe for the animal to be unboxed. How it can work in sandbox will work the same elsewhere assuming the same settings have been applied to sandbox that are in the game type you are wanting to work in.

It's fiddly though and time consuming.. you will likely find your current way of working is the best situation .

I just build a habitat that is larger than the minimum suggested and then place the animal specific items in there. I then put the animal in there and check that there is the correct traversable space, sleeping space and terrain setup etc. Adjust as needed and then add the other animals.

[Horser01]

Plus, I wish there was a way to calculate climbing space before placing the animal. I know it's based on that animal, but still.

[psychobellic]

http://planetzoopedia.com/habitat-builder/

[KingeOrge]

Originally posted by psychobellic:

http://planetzoopedia.com/habitat-builder/

Wow I didn't know it! really useful, many thanks!!

[aurelia alessio]

Originally posted by psychobellic:

http://planetzoopedia.com/habitat-builder/

Awesome, thank you so much!