Guest Item Suggestion

[kdawn94]

I've had one consistent problem with guests when it comes to their viewing animals; It's never good enough. I like to make giant habitats to fit multiple animals in a 'wild' setting, and while I get that can make viewing them difficult, good'ol Zoo Tycoon 2 had a solution I think Planet Zoo needs. Binoculars. Being able to place these around for guests to use helps them see further into the habitat without stressing the animals out. They could even be coin operated to make a bit of change on the side.
And yes I know rides are a thing but I find them a pain to build and layout and I don't always want to use them(I didn't use them much in ZT2 either). A single item like binoculars to put out would be WAY cheaper than building a ride, and I feel it could be balanced so it doesn't nullify rides and their being used to get max viewing coverage.

[Tonks]

Have you tried the viewing dome with the special gate?

It's a fun way to get your guests up close to the animals.
My fave is with the meerkats as the guests are then eye to eye with them :)

I sometimes build a flyover style bridge for big habitats and place educational talks on them, the speakers chuck food over the side and bring the animals closer for viewing

[Andrasta]

Originally posted by Tonks:

Have you tried the viewing dome with the special gate?

It's a fun way to get your guests up close to the animals.
My fave is with the meerkats as the guests are then eye to eye with them :)

I sometimes build a flyover style bridge for big habitats and place educational talks on them, the speakers chuck food over the side and bring the animals closer for viewing

Very good suggestions!
Also you can place toys and food enrichments near the places where the guest views are, so animals will show up more often. I found that animals show up more often anyways when there is a viewing area. Seems they want to be seen :-)

[kdawn94]

Originally posted by Tonks:

Have you tried the viewing dome with the special gate?

It's a fun way to get your guests up close to the animals.
My fave is with the meerkats as the guests are then eye to eye with them :)

I sometimes build a flyover style bridge for big habitats and place educational talks on them, the speakers chuck food over the side and bring the animals closer for viewing

I've used the domes a few times, and I've had people crowd the entrance before, I don't know how or why. -v- I've never checked if dome's stress animals out, but I guess they can't see guests?

If I do a bridge the animals still get stressed out because of too many people being on it.(This happens usually when I have more popular animals everyone wants to see.) Is there a way to do the bridges without it getting crazy overcrowded and noisy, or make it less 'noticeable' by the animals? I have made them go through the habitats so no one backtracks. Is there a certain height that guests can still see but the animals don't notice them? (Without having to build glass and walls around the elevated path.)

And yeah I've put toys and such up close, but some animals seem to get stressed from even that short time up close. And yes, I've used plants for coverage with one way glass.

Maybe I'm just bad at path and habitat layout, and crowd control. :p

[Meewec]

Originally posted by kdawn94:

I've used the domes a few times, and I've had people crowd the entrance before, I don't know how or why. -v- I've never checked if dome's stress animals out, but I guess they can't see guests?

If I do a bridge the animals still get stressed out because of too many people being on it.(This happens usually when I have more popular animals everyone wants to see.) Is there a way to do the bridges without it getting crazy overcrowded and noisy, or make it less 'noticeable' by the animals? I have made them go through the habitats so no one backtracks. Is there a certain height that guests can still see but the animals don't notice them? (Without having to build glass and walls around the elevated path.)

And yeah I've put toys and such up close, but some animals seem to get stressed from even that short time up close. And yes, I've used plants for coverage with one way glass.

Maybe I'm just bad at path and habitat layout, and crowd control. :p

try sticking some do not disturb signs at your viewing areas. sometimes it's just the noise that stresses them even if you've got one way glass.

[Tonks]

Originally posted by kdawn94:

Originally posted by Tonks:

Have you tried the viewing dome with the special gate?

It's a fun way to get your guests up close to the animals.
My fave is with the meerkats as the guests are then eye to eye with them :)

I sometimes build a flyover style bridge for big habitats and place educational talks on them, the speakers chuck food over the side and bring the animals closer for viewing

I've used the domes a few times, and I've had people crowd the entrance before, I don't know how or why. -v- I've never checked if dome's stress animals out, but I guess they can't see guests?

If I do a bridge the animals still get stressed out because of too many people being on it.(This happens usually when I have more popular animals everyone wants to see.) Is there a way to do the bridges without it getting crazy overcrowded and noisy, or make it less 'noticeable' by the animals? I have made them go through the habitats so no one backtracks. Is there a certain height that guests can still see but the animals don't notice them? (Without having to build glass and walls around the elevated path.)

And yeah I've put toys and such up close, but some animals seem to get stressed from even that short time up close. And yes, I've used plants for coverage with one way glass.

Maybe I'm just bad at path and habitat layout, and crowd control. :p

Some animals do get stressed by being overlooked from a bridge, typically the ones marked as shy in the zoopedia - perhaps for thouse you would need the one-way glass panels from the construction kit, or set them as not habitat barrier to allow you place them more easily.

I find that after about 8m, they are less bothered, especially with the keep quiet signs.

Also, in the workshop are some animal bridges of various flavours so you can have your animals traverse paths. I found a nice one that allowed me to have red pandas and lemurs scamper over people's heads with a bit of creative placement of null barriers. This technique helped increase visibility too as well as being a fun challenge.

[Varick]

Have not tested walk through exhibits with a bridge layout; have used them for shy habitat animals but, of course, have to have an exhibit animal for it to work versus as just invisible shelters. I think I will see how a bridge might work with them.

[kdawn94]

I use the quiet signs very often, but once so many people get in one area they don't seem to be as effective. Also I love that idea of animal bridges, hadn't thought of that. Thanks for all this feedback/suggestions!

[SLG]

Have you used the viewing points? I believe that is what they are called.