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Planet Zoo Comprehensive Guide for Career Mode

Planet Zoo Career Mode Guide: So you’re stuck on a scenario – I get it; I was too. After achieving Bronze, Silver, and Gold on each scenario. I have come to share my process.

Planet Zoo Career Mode Guide

What is Career Mode:
Career Mode is one of the playable game modes featured in Planet Zoo.

“Each Scenario has its own unique challenges, determined by the continent you’re in, the biome you’re utilising, the weather, the temperature, and of course animal availability. There will be goals for you to achieve (Bronze, Silver, and Gold), which contain gameplay objectives that vary in difficulty depending on how far you’ve progressed through the story – there’s a lot of unique objectives to get stuck in to!” ― August 15 Developer Journal

There are 12 scenarios within Career Mode. However, I will only explain the last 9 because the first 3 are just tutorials:

  • Stately Home Schooling
  • The Ape-preenticeship
  • Bear Essentials
  • Eye of the Taiga
  • Go to Crater Lengths
  • Squeezing the Margins
  • Power Struggle
  • Stepped in Pollution
  • Hiring Freeze
  • Greener Pastures
  • Bailing Out
  • The Last Leg

Things to Know:

Habitat vs Exhibit
Planet Zoo refers to animals you get from the Animal Trading menu as habitat species and animals you get from the Exhibit trading menu as exhibit species

Some scenarios have special restrictions like terrain or that you can’t hire any staff

Don’t be afraid to increase the Speed Simulation. It might overwhelm you at first but you can pause it with P (I changed mine to Space) and then fix an issue. If not, these levels will take forever.

The type of scenarios aren’t labeled but I have found there to be two types:

  • Make the Zoo In these, you are given a plot of land and expected to create a zoo based off of the objectives
  • Fix the Zoo In these, you are given a pre-made zoo and expected to fix it based off of the objectives

Characters:

  • Bernie Goodwin: Kind old franchise owner trying to save the world one animal (and animal pun) at a time.
  • Nancy Jones: Confident old woman eager to get the job done and animals cared for
  • Dominic Myers: Human trash, worst person ever, corporate pig, 0/10 stars.
  • Emma Goodwin: Kind women trying to save the world all at once. I’d vote for her as president (Warning: inherited her father’s pun loving)

Preface

My philosophy with these scenarios aren’t that honest I guess. What I mean is that I am eager to take shortcuts and maybe cheat the game. So I may offer solutions that the game probably didn’t intend for you to do.

I will also mention and go back to what I did wrong in these scenarios so as to help you. My biggest weakness with these scenarios was that I was too ambitious and impatient for my budget most of the time and I refuse to give up on a zoo. I had one scenario where I was 50,000$ in debt before I decided to give up however I did have one zoo where it was 30,000$ in debt and I managed to get it out of that hole.

My process:
The first thing I do after loading in a new career level and hearing the dialogue is pause the game, tour the zoo, and acquaint myself with my objectives from Bronze to Gold.
I do this because some of the future objectives is to get complete renewable energy and if they require it, I start a mechanic to research Power immediately because it takes forever. My point is, it allows me to plan ahead and prepare for future objectives.

4: Eye of the Taiga

Terrain shaping and Water Manipulation is disabled.

Bordering Candy Lake, the site of the Maple Leaf Wildlife Park was chosen for its outstanding views of natural beauty. In giving you this opportunity Bernard has done you a great honour, so it’s time to repay the trust that he’s placed in you and do him proud.

Bronze

  • 3 habitat species
  • 350 guests

Silver

  • 7 habitat species
  • 4 exhibit species
  • Overall staff happiness of at least 75%
  • For at least 3 months

Gold

  • 10 habitat species
  • 6 exhibit species
  • 10k yearly profit

Focused Planet Zoo Element: Zoo Managing Basics
Techniques To take Advantage of: Terrain Sculpting Hacks

The career mode starts you off with a hard one in my opinion. (Especially for new players ((which I was when I played this level)

However, with these Make a Zoo levels, it gets easier as you gain profit.

My zoo was able to obtain about 100,000$ before I completed Gold

The first thing I did was create a sort of entrance hub. I built a Aldebara Tortoise exhibit and then next to it a pavilion with some facilities. Also under the adjacent mountain, I use a Terrain Sculpting Hack with the staff facilities

Terrain Sculpting Hack: In most levels, you won’t be able to manipulate terrain at all. However, if you place the staff facilities correctly (which is tricky and involves connecting path to it as you place it) it will carve a space for it in whatever terrain you place it in. (This also works with the hay piles, vendor shops, and power facilities.

Note: As I am writing this, (Dec 1st, 2019), I am loading up the scenario again to figure out how much money you start with and all. I am finding that:

  1. You start with 80k which when I did it I had 40k.
  2. The staff facilities are built for you
  3. So are the paths
  4. They got rid of the island thing and decreased the width of the river

I knew they changed the scenarios a bit with this new update but I wasn’t aware of this.

Anyway, I started with a tortoise habitat and some vendor shops with plans of going across that creak thing with a walk-through peacock exhibit.

I intended to spend 20k of my 40 so that I could have 20, just in the bank, in case upkeep costs surpassed income but you won’t have to since you have 80k (not bitter at all)

Next, I went to the (now-gone) island and built a snow leopard exhibit.

My thinking of this whole first step was:

  • The tortoises are cheap, live long, and food costs are low. (Easy animal to take care of)
  • Pea♥♥♥ allow guests to walk through (so do the tortoises but if you do that they get super stressed) and guests go crazy for a walk-through exhibit.
  • The snow leopard was high appeal so it would attract many guests to it.

So you don’t have to do that exact thing but I do recommend:

  • Low cost animal
  • Walk through exhibtit
  • High appeal animal

and then you wait to get 350 guests and Boom! — You’ve got Bronze

For Silver, I built a Wolf habitat using the Terrain Sculpting Hack to create space under that plateau.

(Wolves are cheap, medium appeal, but breed often and guests love the babies)

Then, I built a bison exhibit towards the end of that riverbank and got two more shops.
(My reasoning for the bison was the same for the wolves + the potential for interspecies benefits with Pronghorn Antelope)

I made a walk-through Japanese Macaque habitat. Which was on a slope so a lot of stuff couldn’t be placed so in the end it probably wasn’t a great idea. Though, I do recommend getting them or some sort of primate since they have high appeal, long life cycle, and breeding potential.

I also created a Reptile House-esque area. It just contained a bathroom, food and drink shop, + four exhibit species. It doesn’t matter what these animals are.

If you’re copying exactly what I am doing then I recommend switching where I built the Macaque habitat and the Reptile House (using elevated path)

For the staff happiness objective, simply make sure your staff are paid an appropriate wage (check it in Zoo > Staff) and then make sure there are enough staff rooms and eventually the happiness will increase.

Now, you’ve got Silver!

For Gold, you’ve gotta get 3 more habitat species (which if you wanna be lazy) make an African antelope interspecies habitat.

However, what I did was make a Grizzly Bear habitat above the Wolf habitat, then another reptile house (I literally copy and pasted the same one), a Saltwater Croc habitat in that look nook, a Formosan Black Bear habitat on the other side of the Macaques. Finally, to complete it I made a giant interspecies habitat with elevated path to connect both sides

So instead of doing all that, make a huge habitat with Wildebest, Nyala, and Sable Antelope, then copy the reptile house over.

(Nyala aren’t apart of the benefit but they’ll get along, I promise)

I can’t confirm if that will get your yearly income to 10k but if its like December and you’re looking at your income and its at least 5k and up then take a 5k loan and that will count towards the income.

5: Go to Crater Lengths

Built on the site of a long-dormant volcano, Great Caldera Safari Park is Bernard Goodwin’s ode to safaris, featuring animals from all over Africa which happily roam their expansive habitats. The park is currently in a state of development with some attractions only half-complete, are you the right person to take them over the finish line?

Bronze

  • Release 1 habitat species to the wild
  • Transport ride that is at least 700 meters long
  • Education Rating to 1.2 stars
  • 1600 guests

Silver

  • Release 4 habitat species to the wild
  • Breed 6 habitat animals
  • Education rating to 35%
  • Adopt 2 Cheetahs

Gold

  • Release 11 habitat species to the wild
  • Breed 8 habitat animals
  • Education rating to 45%
  • Conservation rating to 4.5 stars
  • Adopt 2 Lions
  • 2800 guests

Let’s take a moment to appreciate the architecture and design of these career levels. I mean, I am in love with the way this zoo looks.

This one’s pretty easy and will take you way less time than the last one.

Focused Planet Zoo Element: Conservation and Education
Techniques To take Advantage of: Simulation Speed

First, release literally any animal to the wild (Probably not an elephant though)

Second, finish the transport ride (Most of its already built and the distance between the two endings is at least 700 meters)

Third, place a bunch of speakers, set the animal, and set the radius to 20
(I know it says volume but it only affects the radius of effectiveness and won’t cause guests to complain.) ((Make sure they don’t overlap and if you still need more education then place conservation boards, exhibit species signs, or research an animal to increase the education content)

Fourth, wait for guests to increase to 1600 and if they aren’t start a Marketing Campaign or see what’s making guests upset.

Now, you’ve got Bronze

For Silver:

Releasing and Breeding:
The Springbok will multiply like rabbits and pretty much all of the animals will breed and will then notify you when an animal matures so as soon as they mature, send ’em off to the wild.

Education Rating: Do the same stuff that you did for Bronze but more

Cheetahs: I built a cheetah exhibit by the Giraffes and you need CC to buy them which you should be getting plenty of from releasing animals.

Now, you’ve got Silver

For Gold:

Releasing and Breeding:
I built a Wildebeest/African Buffalo exhibit along the transport ride, a Hippo exhibit between the transport ride and the Elephants and then the Lion exhibit between the Cheetahs and Buffalo.

I’m pretty sure those animals + the sable antelope are the only ones on the market that you don’t already have so get those, breed ’em and release ’em.

Education and Conservation Rating:
Same thing you did for the last two education ratings: More research and more speakers
For conservation, every time you release an animal this increases as well as using renewable energy and recycle bins

Lions: Lions are expensive but you should eventually be able to get ’em with all the releasing

2800 Guests: Marketing campaigns but the appeal of the lions and hippo should bring in the new guests

Now you’ve got Gold!

6: Squeezing the Margins

Situated in a sun-drenched corner of Greece, Myers Lake Island Zoo is Dominic Myers’ first foray into the world of zoo-building. As such he’s started small. And then crammed as much into it as he could. These two elements have combined to make a somewhat sub-par zoo, so there’s plenty of room for improvement. Assuming you can first find the space for it.

See also  Planet Zoo How to Manage A Stressed Pangolin

Bronze

  • Yearly profit of 15k
  • 1150 guests
  • No protestors

Silver

  • Adopt 1 Grizzly Bear
  • Overall welfare to 80%
  • 14 habitat species
  • Yearly profit of 20k
  • 1600 guests
  • For 3 months

Gold

  • Adopt 1 Siberian Tiger
  • Overall welfare to 80%
  • Zoo inspection report with an overall star rating of 3.0
  • Research Grizzly Bear to level 3
  • Yearly profit of 25k
  • 2200 guests
  • For 3 months

I hate Dominic. He’s got too much Boomer Energy. Also: (BERNIE’S DEAD OR MISSING??)

Focused Planet Zoo Element: Advanced Financing, Space Management
Techniques To take Advantage of: So many Elevated Paths

It was in Dominic’s levels that I was most encouraged to take shortcuts vs Bernie’s where I roleplayed a bit and put more effort into it.

Anyway, you start the zoo with so many welfare issues.

First, Promote your Vets (to make the research go faster for the bears) then fix the Giraffe, Zebras, and Nyala that are squished together.

Now, I released my Nyala and then removed the barriers and let the Zebras and Giraffes be together. You probably don’t have to get rid of your Nyala and let them all be together which will solve their space issue.

Next, you have the aardvarks, tortoises, and mandrills.
Move the tortoises to one of the elevated islands and provided elevated path to it. Extend the mandrill habitat to the old tortoise habitat and then release any fighting Aardvarks to the wild

Then, (Promote your Vet again if you can) you have the hyenas, warthogs, and elephant
What I did: I moved the zebras to a separate island and moved the warthogs with the giraffes.

What you should do: Keep the zebras and giraffes together (interspecies bonus) and move the Warthogs with the tortoises

Then get rid of the guest paths, extend the hyena habitat to the old warthog one, provided elevated path over the elephant and hyena habitat.

Now, that should get rid of any more animal welfare. If any more problems persist then you probably just need more keepers or work zone improvement.

Make sure there are plenty of donation boxes to meet the yearly profit of 15k

Wait for 1150 guests to come or start a marketing campaign.

Now you’ve got Bronze.

For Silver:

14 Habitat Species: You’ve already got 9: Elephant, Hyena, Warthog, Tortoise, Mandrill, Zebra, Giraffe, Nyala, Aardvark

With the required Tiger and Bear, that’s 11

I extended the elevated path from the elephants to the next landmass where I built a Gemsbok, Tiger, and Bear habitat.
Literally, as soon as the Bear is in the habitat start the Research for it.

Then I made elevated path to the other land masses and made a Cheetah and Bison habitat
(At this point the elevated path got pretty obnoxious but it doesn’t matter)

I also put an African Buffalo with the elephant (Be careful with this exhibit, it will be popular and animal stress will be high) ((I recommend to research One-Way glass or place plenty of cover and shelter)

Yearly Profit: With the appeal of the tiger and bear, you should be getting more guests and probably increase zoo ticket price. If you still can’t get this, check what’s taking down your revenue. Place plenty of donation boxes, increase shop prices, or decrease wages. (The default wage is usually a little bit over the minimum. i.e default for vendors are 230.00$ but happiness won’t decrease until 224.00$ so switch ’em to 225$. Same thing for keepers: 1100.00$ to 1050.00$)

Wait for 1600 guests to come or start a marketing campaign.

Now you’ve got Silver

For Gold:

Tiger: Get the CC for a tiger and then build a tiger habitat

Zoo Inspection: As long as welfare is high enough, you should be fine to get 3 stars. If not, check that your zoo is clean (habitats and path included) and education (place tons of speakers at 20)

If you’ve been proactive then you should be done or close to with the Bear Research if not then train your Vet and wait.

Yearly Profit: With the appeal of all of your new animals, you should be getting more guests and probably increase zoo ticket price.

Wait for 2200 guests to come or start a marketing campaign.

Now you’ve got Gold

7: Power Struggle

Description:

Myers’ Animal Entertainment Park is Dominic’s attempt to turn around his image in India by repurposing a casino he’s previously built – a casino which was tacky even by the impressive standards of casinos. As a result, this hastily flung-together zoo has more serious issues than a complete set of Very Important News, and it’s up to you to fix them all.

Bronze
– Reach 90% of cleanliness for all habitat lakes
– Adopt 5 Indian Elephants
– Yearly shop profit of $11k

Silver
– Guest average Happiness to 80%
– For 6 months with at least 900 guests
– Build a habitat around the Bengal Temple
– Capture all escaped animals
– For 12 months

Gold
– Renewable energy
– For 12 months
– House 4 different species in a single habitat
– Increase overall welfare to 80%
– Adopt 2 Himalayan Brown Bear
– Adopt the Rescue Animals
– Yearly shop profit of 15k

Focused Planet Zoo Element: Power, Water, Shops
Techniques To take Advantage of: Item Pricing, Obnoxious Placement

I really like this zoo even though it used to be a casino and is owned by the worst person ever.

Throughout this entire level, you will get power outages. These can be solved with two temporary ways or 1 permanent way:

  • 1. Sell the transfomers and replace them
  • 2. Send mechanics to fix ’em
  • 3. Get renewable energy

The very first thing you need to do: Start mechanic research for power; you’re required to have renewable energy for a year anyway

Second thing you need to do: Fix the water cleanliess so buy some water treatment facilities. I placed mine in the most absurd places to make sure they weren’t negatively affecting guests but still effective.

Next, adopt the elephants and send em to the big empty valley exhibit
(Congrats, you got the “An Elephant Never Forgets” achievement)
Make sure to get any keepers if needed and revise any work zones.

Shop Profit: This is a re-occurring objective and all I have to say to this is:

1. Place a crap ton of shops everywhere (Your guests will actually love it)
2. Increase the price of items until guests start complaining

— Tip: In the condiments menu of the pricing tab of the shops, you can add stuff like mustard and whatnot. However, that will lose you money. BUT, for the drink shops, if you had ice it will earn you ten more cents per drink so that’s a dime more for ya.

You can also check Shop profits in Zoo>Finances>Income>Shop Income
and this resets every January 1st

Do all that and you’ve got Bronze

For Silver

Guest Happiness: Add plenty of shops and restrooms and make sure there’s no litter
For Litter: Hire caretakers but if you can’t afford that then look for the piles of litter yourself and then move your caretaker to it.
Sometimes, I just tour my entire zoo looking down at the path and when I find litter I move a caretaker to it and keep doing that.

Bengal Temple: Build a habitat there, it doesn’t matter what animal although I did put a bengal tiger in there (which would help appeal and guest happiness/amount)
(I’ve heard about bugs where you built a habitat around said temple and it doesn’t count. I’m not sure how to fix this but I think deleting it and rebuilding it could work or restart your game)

Escaped Animals: I don’t really know what’s up with this one but no animals escaped. Like, there was no event like the power outages. I assume it just doesn’t want you to have any escaped animals for a year.

Shop Profit: MORE SHOPS! (To save money on this, change vendor salary to 225$ and they’ll still be happy)

Now you’ve got Silver

For Gold:

Renewable Energy: If you’ve been proactive then you’ve already got renewable energy and just need to wait a year.

(I’m not sure if this was a bug for me but this objective kept getting reset for me. It would get to some amount of months and then reset. I wasn’t sure what was causing this. Maybe facilities breaking down or something but I kept saving it as it progressed and just hoped for it to get to 12 months.)

4 Different Species: There’s a tiny little temple area that I built a habitat in and then right behind it: an obnoxious amount of space. It was super ugly. And I had Gemsbok, Sable Antelope, Zebra, and Warthog in it. (They got along fine) ((Make sure their welfare is above 80% like terrain, plant coverage, enrichment, research))

2 Bears: Behind the pronghorn antelope, I built the bear habitat. It was also very ugly as I was being lazy to get through the level.

Rescue Animals: I’m not sure if the rescue animals are a random combination but if I remember correctly my rescues were a Nile Monitors and a lemur.
I placed the lemurs with the Red Ruffs and then made a real stupid habitat for the Monitors on a mountain that guests couldn’t even get to. (Which counted)

Shop Profit: Place more shops. Shops x10
By the time I got gold, I had 37 shops (16 drink, 13 food, 3 info, 5 merch)

Now, you’ve got Gold

8: Stepped in Pollution

Description:
There’s something in the air at the site of the brand new Myers Rainforest Conservation Project, but it’s not excitement, and it smells really bad. It’s difficult enough building a zoo from the ground up, but in this case you’ll be starting from well below ground level in a disused quarry. And as it’s a new zoo, you can expect plenty of teething problems. But as Dominic might say, you’re just the dummy to placate them.

Bronze
– Remove a toxic waste barrel
– Adopt the rescue animals
– 350 guests

Silver
– 8 habitat species
– Suspended Gondola Transport Ride
– 600 guests

Gold
– Yearly profit of 15k
– Zoo inspection report with an overall star rating of 3.0
– Adopt 1 Panda

Focused Planet Zoo Element: Advanced Zoo Managing
Techniques To take Advantage of: Elevated Path, Interspecies Habitat, Walkthrough Habitats

Terrain Sculpting is allowed

First thing I did: Deleted any scenery I could. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t use the buildings and they got some extra money.

Next, I found a barrel:
Now, for the barrels you gotta use the Heat Map to find ’em. It’ll be a little difficult but the areas that are especially red are where they are (some are underground)
There is one in plain sight though. Right in the middle of the valley. I’ll include an image of the entire zoo flattened to show where each one is.

Rescue Animals: You get Okapi and Snow Leopards — Make an habitat for each.
I made the Okapi’s in the center of the valley (with plans to add Bongo and/or Nyala) and had elevated path go through it. The snow leopard I put it off to the side of the zoo with path going over it.

350 Guests: If you’ve read the other parts then you know the drill: Wait and/or Marketing Campaign

Bronze Achieved

Silver

8 Habitat Species: I put Bongos with the Okapi, made a Warthog habitat next to the Leopards, and an Ostrich habitat next to the Okapi/Bongo.
Then the ostrich died and I couldn’t afford another so I extended it and made a walkthrough Flamingo habitat.
On the left side, I made a Bengal Tiger habitat and next to that a Tapir habitat. Although it would’ve been okay to simply place the Tapir with the Okapi and Bongo.

– I took several loans through this zoo and by the end of it, I was -2k but I still got Gold so :shrug:

Gondola: There are no length requirements for it and you could probably get away with building it and then immediately selling. (I took out a loan to build it but over-estimated how much it would cost to built)

600 Guests: Wait and/or Marketing Campaign
The new animals should provided enough appeal to attract more guests anyway

Silver Achieved

See also  Planet Zoo Animal List - Habitat & Exhibit

Gold

Panda: Make Lin-Lin a nice habitat or not, there’s not welfare requirement for it. Just place the panda somewhere. It would’ve been happy in my okapi/bongo habitat.

Inspection: Make sure there are plenty of speakers, no litter, and your animals are happy and that should be sufficient for 3 stars

15k Profit: Decrease staff wages like one-star vendors are paid 230$ as default but they are just as happy and efficient getting paid 225$
Raise the zoo price (The game will notify you when guests think they are underpriced anyway)
Raise shop prices or add more donation boxes

Gold Achieved

9: Hiring Freeze

Description:
Myers Sunshine Happiness Zoo promises a lot with its name and is failing to deliver on almost all of it. Built from only the cheapest of materials and subject to odd employment laws and mysteriously heavy taxation, there will be a lot of challenges if you want to turn this ship around before it hits an iceberg.

Bronze
– Overall staff happiness of at least 75%
– Yearly profit of 1.5k
– Adopt the rescue animals

Silver
– Overall staff happiness of at least 80%
– Yearly profit of 10k
– Keep crime occurrences below 8
– For the duration of the Reporter’s visit
– Adopt the required animals
– 1 Giraffe, 2 Cheetahs, 1 Lion, 2 Orangutans

Gold
– Overall staff happiness of at least 90%
– Yearly profit of 15k
– Average habitat species overall welfare to 90%
– Breed 1 Cheetah and Orangutan
– Adopt an animal from each biome

Focused Planet Zoo Element: Staff Happiness, Animal Diversity
Techniques To take Advantage of: Animal Removal

You cannot fire or hire any staff but you can change terrain. (Dominic says you can hire more vendors but I wasn’t able to) ((Could be just on my side though))

Staff Happiness: Add enough staff rooms and keeper huts, make wages at the minimum requirement for happy staff and you’ll be fine.

1.5k profit: Increase zoo ticket price, increase shop prices, add more donation boxes, decrease staff wages etc. (1.5k profit should be pretty easy to obtain with all of these animals)

Rescue Animal: I got an orangutan and cheetah and there are already habitats built for them.

Bronze Done

Silver

Staff Happiness: If any are unhappy after they have sufficient staff room and wages then their workload is probably too high or a staff room is too far away so place more and train them

10k profit: Increase zoo ticket price, increase shop prices, add more donation boxes, decrease staff wages etc. (The added animals should bring in more prices) ((If you’re losing money it could because of refunds so make sure to keep the zoo cleaned and guests happy))

Crime: Promote security officers, use the Security Officer Perk in the Staff room, and add security cameras
You only have to do this while the reporter is here.

Giraffe, Cheetah, Lion, Orangutan: Get enough CC and money for all of these. I placed the Giraffe in the large empty plot behind the Orangutans and the lions behind the zebras (which I moved in with the giraffe)

Silver Done

Gold

Staff Happiness: By the time I got gold, all of my staff were 5 stars except a couple vendors. Besides that just make sure they got the staff room, good salary, and low workload

15k Profit: If you spend a year not like building anything and just keeping money then you’ll be fine. If not run through the whole profit diagnosis I have been repeating or right before Dec 31st take a 5k loan.

Breed Cheetah and Orangutan: Keep them happy and they will multiply

Animal from each Biome: You will probably have an animal from each biome except Desert and Aquatic. I got a Gemsbok and put it with the Zebra and Giraffe and then I deleted a building and built a Saltwater Croc habitat.

Habitat Welfare: Alright so for this one, I kinda cheated. If you want to replicate it then you have to do all of the other objectives first and have a good amount of money stashed.
It doesn’t have a species amount required so what I did was get rid of all of my animals that I could via selling or releasing.
My reasoning was that it would be easier to have 1 animal’s welfare at 90% then 20 or so.
If you wanna do it legit though then do plenty of research for that enrichment and food quality bonus and mechanic research for one-way glass to reduce stress and you’ll be golden (Pun intended)

Gold Done

10: Greener Pastures

Description: Nestled within a rocky valley and atop a small mesa, Emma Goodwin’s first zoo is also intended to be a world’s first – a zoo with as much diversity in its flora as its fauna and with peerless environmental credentials. Without a doubt, the Nevada State Eco-Zoo is a big swing for the fences, and guess who’s up at bat?

Bronze
– 4 habitat species
– 2 Wolves
– Conservation rating to 1 star
– 10% plant diversity across 3 habitats

Silver
– Habitat species overall welfare to 70%
– 9 habitat species
– Breed 2 wolves
– 5 exhibit species
– Conservation rating to 2.0 stars
– 20% plant diversity across 5 habitats

Gold
– Renewable energy
– Habitat species overall welfare to 85%
– 13 habitat species
– Release 7 wolves to the wild
– Conservation rating to 4.0 stars
– 30% plant diversity across 7 habitats

Focused Planet Zoo Element: Conservation, Plant Diversity
Techniques To take Advantage of: Interspecies Habitat

First thing to do: Start Mechanic Research for Power

I started with a wolf habitat because wolf-related objectives were throughout the level. Next, I went straight to the lake with plans for a huge interspecies habitat (because guests go crazy for it) with hippos and stuff. I left space for two more habitats between a guest’s path from wolves to lake.

So that’s wolves, then tapir, nile monitor and then the lake where I started with some flamingos.

Conservation Rating: Use recycle bins and release wolves to the wild as soon as you can. It will count towards to the objectives later. (You can complete the Gold and Silver objectives for them before you even get Bronze)

Plant Diversity: This is really easy. There was no pressure for it, especially for bronze because all I did was make some habitats, place the appropriate plants and it was done.

Bronze Done

Silver

Habitat Welfare: This should be easy. 70% is no problem. This is scenario number ten.
You have to 9 habitat species so the cheat I mentioned last scenario is no longer effective
I moved the tapir with the flamingos which now had tapir, hippo, water buffalo, and flamingos and made a Red Panda habitat
All my monitors died so I replaced them with Camels and put a Himalayan bear where the tapir used to be.
I also put Saltwater Croc and Gharial on the riverbank.

Wolves: Wait for them to have babies (they gotta be happy before they make ’em though)

5 Exhibit species: I made a little reptile house with 5 exhibit species. Be careful though because an exhibit is 2k. To complete this you will need over 10k.

Conservation Rating: Recycle bins, renewable energy, animal releases

Plant Diversity: If you’re really having trouble with this then just spam plants in a habitat. As long as they are different plants, you’ll be fine.

Silver complete

Gold

Renewable Energy: Hope you were proactive because then this will be done

Habitat Welfare: At least 10 species at 85% so get that research so you can add enrichment and improve food quality

13 habitat species: By the time I got Gold, I had an Indian elephant in my big lake habitat. Another wolf habitat (even though it didn’t count towards this but I had another breeding pair.)
I had a snow leopard habitat and built a habitat for some new Nile monitors

Conservation Rating: With all of the plant diversity, renewable energy, recycle bins and the wolves you’re releasing this should be no problem. If it is, then cash in some CC with some other animals. If you’re copying my exact zoo, then you should have plenty of flamingos to choose from.

Wolves: Wait for the babies to roll in and grow up. If you’re real impatient about it then build another habitat for another breeding pair.

Plant Diversity: Same thing for the last plant diversity

Gold Achieved

11: Bailing Out

Description:
Abandoned by its previous owner, the Yamaguchi Prefecture Tranquillity Zoo is anything but at the moment, lacking both animals and any sense of tranquillity. Getting this zoo back up and running is going to be a tall order, but if you want to impress the World Association of Zoos, Zoological Organisations and Complementary or Kindred Societies, you’re going to have to fulfil it!

Bronze
– Adopt the rescue animals
– Zoo reputation to 2.0 stars
– Complete all habitat boundaries

Silver
– Adopt the rescue animals
– Transport ride
– Zoo reputation to 3.5 stars
– Zoo inspection report with an overall star rating of 3.0

Gold
– Adopt the rescue animals
– Zoo inspection report with an overall star rating of 4.0
– Pay off all loans
– Adopt Lin-Lin
– Overall welfare to 80%

To most effectively complete this level, you have to follow the process I am about to explain exactly:

First things first, the zoo is closed and the only animals there are pea♥♥♥♥♥.

1. Hire keepers and any other staff you don’t have

2. Start vet research on pea♥♥♥♥♥

3. Send tiger to quarantine

4. Start mechanic research on barriers and send another mechanic to fix the bathrooms

5. Go to Zoo > Facilities > Infrastructure and there you can find a list of all power and water facilities. Sell all of those and buy back new ones.

They are all broken and will continue to be broken, no matter how much mechanics repair them. You can sell em for 500 and 2k and buy them for the exact price so don’t worry.
Do the same thing with the ATMs

6. Place donation boxes in/around the peacock habitat
There are no donation boxes anywhere so you’ll have to place them eventually but if you do now then you’ll just waste the 4k you have.

7. Don’t buy any animals! Seriously, Emma sends you a crap ton of animals throughout the Bronze, Silver, and Gold
Send any animals she sends you to Quarantine and then figure out which habitat to send ’em to. This is subjective and won’t matter that much but I will provided an image where I put my animals.

8. There’s a water body that isn’t being cleaned and a transformer that is powering things that already powered. Sell the transformer and replace it with a water facility.
(The habitat where this is all located is the one with the hot springs and snow)

9. Open the zoo and as you get the money, place donation boxes at, eventually, all the habitats

10. The notifications will tell you which habitat barriers aren’t complete so finish them

If you do all this then you should have to avoid taking a 50k loan.
Seriously, try to avoid that at all costs. I got so in debt by believing Emma’s lies for a loan.
You shouldn’t even have to. You have everything pre-built and animals provided.
Literally, you are given animals to occupy every single habitat.
Also don’t worry about any toppled trees. They have no negative effect.

So Bronze is Done.

Silver

New shipment of animals so send ’em to quarantine and then the habitats

  • Transport Ride: Finish the monorail (Make the ticket price at least 14$)
  • Reputation: This should increase once all of your new animals are in their habitats
  • Inspection: Keep your animals and guests happy and clean

Silver complete

Gold

New rescues: You know what to do

Inspection: If welfare is down, then research for food quality (although this should be a constant ongoing task) and enrichment. If animals are stressed, add cover and shelter or research barriers for one-way glass

Pay off all loans: Hopefully, you don’t have any loans but even if you do, you have a huge zoo with tons of animals so if you got donation boxes everywhere all you should do is wait.

Lin-Lin: I just placed her in the huge grassland habitat with the Rhino, Nyala, and Elephants

Gold Done

12: The Last Leg

Description:
Intended to both honour the legacy of late, great Bernard Goodwin as well as drive the slyly wily (or infelicitous duplicitous) Dominic Myers out of business, the Bernie Goodwin Memorial Zoo sits atop a small island in the Upper Bay of New York. Or rather it will, once it’s been built. It’s do or die, sink or swim and strive or thrive, but who will emerge victorious?

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Bronze
– Habitat species overall welfare to 70%
– 7 habitat species
– Guest average happiness to 65%
– 600 guests

Silver
– Habitat species overall welfare to 80%
– 13 habitat species
– Guest average happiness to 75%
– 1450 guests
– Overall staff happiness to 70%
– For 12 months

Gold
– Habitat species overall welfare to 90%
– 20 habitat species
– Guest average happiness to 85%
– 1950 guests
– 6 animals with 5 stars
– Zoo reputation to 4.0 stars
– Zoo inspection with an overall rating of 4.0

Focused Planet Zoo Element:
Expert Zoo Management, Space, Crime, Expert Financing, Welfare, Animal Rating
Techniques To take Advantage of: Interspecies Habitats

I am pretty sure that crime chances are increased because I had sooo many things vandalized and Emma briefly mentioned that Dominic might send goons to mess with it so.

Don’t take the 20 or 50k loans, just don’t. 5k is fine though.

This is the last scenario and last Make the Zoo level.

You start with 20k and need to get 7 habitat species

First thing I did was sell all of the scenery and start working on a large African interspecies habitat

Now, this level took me too many tries but I learned my lesson.
The lesson is Patience.

Seriously, I went to ambitious and took a 50k loan, built all the habitats I could and expected profit but I just got debt.

Finally, I just built a Zebra, Wildebeest, Springbok, Ostrich, and Sable Antelope habitat (eventually I added Giraffes, Elephants and a Tortoise) and just waited for profit.

To repeat, I spent all of the 20k on an entrance hub with shops and a single habitat with several African herbivores. I also think I took a 5k loan when I needed it.

Do that and you’ve already got 6 species.
I made a walk-through Aardvark habitat for my 7th.

Finally, keep guests happy with lots of shops, clean paths, and animals

and then you’ve got the Bronze Career Achievement

Silver

13 Habitat species: Keep in mind, that interspecies habitat will have animals get very stressed very fast but just wait and they’ll go back to a shelter.

To fix that, research one-way glass.

Anyway, I built a saltwater croc habitat, hyena habitat, and started a habitat to hold a bunch of the jungle herbivores (Okapi, Bongo, Nyala, Rhino, Tapir) I started with Okapi and Nyala though.

Guest Happiness: It’s the same old song. Add a bunch of shops and keep the paths clean

Staff Happiness: Sufficient salary, frequent staff rooms, and efficient workloads

and now you’ve got the Silver Career Achievement

Gold

Habitat Welfare: 90% is hard especially with 20 species
By the time I got gold, I had, in the large African antelope habitat, Wildebeest, Giraffe, Springbok, Gemsbok, Aldabra Tortoise, Ostrich, Zebra, Sable Antelope, Elephant (9 species)
In the jungle antelope habitat, Nyala, Bongo, Okapi, Tapir, Rhino (5)
Both species of lemur, saltwater croc, pangolin, hyena, aardvark, grizzly bear (7)
In total: 21

To get welfare to 90%, you gotta get all of the enrichment which is easy to do when over half of your species are antelope.

You also gotta max out on food quality and have plenty of keepers to maintain the habitat.
By the end of it, I had one-way glass for all of my habitats.

Guest Happiness: At this point, my guests were only unhappy because they wanted more shops so place more shops, add scenery if you must, more speakers, you can add more education content with research.

Zoo Reputation: With 20 species, you should already be close to this so try renewable energy, high guest happiness, really good inspections, high conservation rating, and marketing

Zoo Inspection: If animal welfare is at 90% then you should have no problem with this

Animal Rating: This is how many stars an animal has and is determined by welfare. An animal’s rating will increase over time as welfare increases. Other things that affect rating are: the longevity gene, high welfare, and high welfare through the animals entire life (Meaning an animal born in your zoo is more likely to get 5 stars then one you bought)

Do all that and Congratulations! You got the Gold Career Achievement and completely finished Career Mode.

It’s December 1st 2019 (Planet Zoo was released about a month ago) when I am writing this and currently 0.2% of players have achieved this.

(Planet Zoo is in Steam’s top 100 most-played games currently and the peak on November 10th (the highest peak) was 37,836 players so 0.2% is about 76 people who have gotten this achievement)

(Although SteamSpy seems to report 500k to a 1 million players so that puts 0.2% at 1,000-2,000)

Arctic Pack – Definite Arctic-Cool

Description:
Situated near a small Norwegian fishing village, this site was chosen by Bernie Goodwin for the purpose of building an Arctic wildlife research zoo the likes the world has never seen. The last time Bernie was here he got himself lost and declared legally dead, so keep your fingers crossed that you do better. In the gloves, obviously – nobody likes frostbite.

Bronze
– Adopt 10 Reindeer
– Reindeer Overall Welfare to 80%
– 3 Habitat Species
– Research Reindeer to Level 2
– Education Rating of 1.5 Stars

Silver
– Adopt 2 Arctic Wolves
– Wolf Overall Welfare to 80%
– Research Arctic Wolf to Level 3
– 5 Habitat Species
– Breed 3 Habitat Animals of Different Species

Gold
– Adopt 2 Polar Bears
– Polar Bear Overall Welfare to 90%
– Research Polar Bear to Level 5
– Research 5 Habitat Species to Level 3
– Release 6 Habitat Species to the Wild
– Breed 6 Habitat Animals of Different Species
– 8 Habitat Species
– 1300 Guests in the Zoo

Focused Planet Zoo Element: Research
Techniques to Take Advantage of: You just gotta lotta space to use

You start with 30k, which is plenty enough to make a Reindeer habitat and then another.
I chose to create a Bison habitat right across from the Sheep.

Keep in mind, though, that this is a research-focused scenario. So as soon as the first reindeer hits the habitat, start research for the Reindeer.

You don’t want to be done with all the objectives and just sitting there waiting for the research.

For the education rating: All you gotta do is place speakers and TV’s wherever you can. If this still doesn’t get it to 1.5 then place some Conservation Boards or research animals to get that increase in education quality.

That’s Bronze!

For Silver:
Promote your Vet and then as soon as the first wolf enters the habitat, start its research.

With research level 3, it should be pretty easy to get welfare to 80%

Education Rating: More speakers, more tvs, more research

6 Habitat Species: I got the Arctic Wolf, Timber Wolf, and Snow Leopard to meet this requirement and with all of these new habitats, it should be easy to get your education rating higher

Breed 3 Habitat Animals: Happy animals make babies. As long as you have a male and female and they’re happy, you should be fine.

and you got yourself Silver!

For Gold:
Polar Bears: These bears require an INSANE amount of space. 7,000 Square meters which is so much space. (Grizzly Bears only require 800, Elephants: 2,000) They also require some water space so make sure to create a huge place for them.
(They’re also really expensive but very appealing)

Welfare: Once you get research level 5, this should be pretty easy and if you’ve given proper amount of space then you’ll be alright.

Research level 5: Don’t forget to occasionally promote your Vets so they can research faster.
Research 5 species to 3: The scenario gives you 4 Vets so you can just build some more research centers and do this. Or if you were proactive, you’ve already done this.

Release 6 animals: Happy animals breed and your 10 Reindeer should be spitting out some calves to release.

Breed 6 animals: You could pair this with the last objective but, once again, happy animals breed.

8 Habitat Species: I got the Polar Bear and a Grizzly Bear to get to it to 8

1300 Guests: Once you get your Polar Bear, guests should be flowing in. The bears are super appealing to guests. If this doesn’t work, employ a marketing campaign and wait.

And that’s Gold! Great job.

Arctic Pack – Global Warning

Description:
If you were looking for somewhere to exhibit animals from the chilly Arctic regions, then the last place on Earth you’d choose… is exactly where Bernie wants you to build your next zoo – Mexico! Your goal is to educate people about the creatures that will be the most impacted by climate change… let’s just hope that cranking up the air-conditioning high enough to keep them comfortable doesn’t contribute to it.

Bronze
– 2 Habitat Species from Desert Biome
– 5 Habitat Species from Tropical Biome
– 1 Habitat Species from Tundra biome
– Yearly Profit of 7k
– 1900 Guests

Silver
– 5 Habitat Species from Tundra Biome
– Spend 3k on Marketing
– 2200 Guests

Gold
– Education Rating to 3.5 Stars
– Renewable Energy
– Adopt 2 Polar Bears
– Conservation Rating to 4 Stars
– Yearly Profit of 25k

Apparently, Bern boy wants to be a mad lad and put some Polar Bears in Mexico.

First thing you gotta do: Promote your mechanic and set him up for Power research.

Now this next thing I did is a little experimental.
I really liked the design of this and wanted to somewhat maintain it so I just put the game speed to max and let the zoo run by itself for like 10-20 minutes.

I wasn’t really sure what would happen and didn’t think it would work but I accumulated up to 50,000$.

You should be able to replicate that but I’m not sure. Anyway, that got the yearly 7k for me and by then your Power research should be done or almost done.

Next, I built Bacterian Camel, Baird Tapir, and Dall Sheep Habitats.
You already have one Desert and 4 tropical so these animals will get you that objective.

1900 Guests: Three more species should bring more appeal for more guests but if not consider a marketing campaign (You gotta get one anyway)

Good job, that’s Bronze!

For Silver:
4 Tundra Species: I got Reindeer, Arctic Wolf, and Grizzly Bear for this one

3k on Marketing: You can do three 1k campaigns or one 5k campaign if you want.

2200 Guests: The marketing combined with the three new animals should bring in enough guests. Tough part is just waiting for them to come in.

Silver done!

For Gold:
Education Rating: Place a ton of speakers, tvs, and conservation boards all around your new habitats and you should be fine. If not, research your animals to improve their education quality.

Renewable Energy: If you were proactive, then you already got this done. If not, you gotta wait for the research. Keep in mind, that this objective won’t be completed if there are things in the zoo that have no power. Even if you only have solar panels in the zoo and one facility isn’t powered, it won’t be completed. To fix this, you can just delete it or just power it and it’ll work.

Conservation Rating: The game will notify you when the Warthogs will fight and/or inbreed and when it does, just release those Warthogs to the wild. Doing that, in combination with the renewable energy and recycle bins, should get your rating to 4 stars. If not, just release even more animals to the wild.

Yearly Profit: Wait a year to pass and see if you get it. If you’re really having trouble with this then spend an entire year not doing anything. Don’t build anything. Or you can delete that huge glass structure in the middle of the zoo for a quick 7k. If all else fails, apply for a loan and don’t do anything for a year and that should work.

Congrats! That’s gold for the Arctic Pack!

Written by Jason

8 thoughts on “Planet Zoo Comprehensive Guide for Career Mode”

  1. Hello. I have really big issues with “Hiring freeze”. I can not make it throw silver. My profit is always in minus. Please little help. Thank you

    Reply
  2. Concerning the gold star in “Power Struggle”, you wrote :

    “Renewable Energy: If you’ve been proactive then you’ve already got renewable energy and just need to wait a year.
    (I’m not sure if this was a bug for me but this objective kept getting reset for me. It would get to some amount of months and then reset. I wasn’t sure what was causing this. Maybe facilities breaking down or something but I kept saving it as it progressed and just hoped for it to get to 12 months.)”

    It seems that the amount of months resets each time you build a new building that needs power, a shop for instance. You should stop adding buildings from the moment the amount starts increasing.

    I hope this helps.

    Reply
  3. re: not being able to hire more vendors in Hiring Freeze – a new one is automatically hired whenever you add a new shop.

    Reply
  4. Wow, you need to be rewarded for this! Many people make videos and some make documents like this but I’ve yet to find one with so much detail! Thank you, I needed this!

    Reply
  5. Re Power struggle Gold Objective with Renewable energy:
    I noticed on the heatmap that while all my buildings, exhibits, education items were powered, a number of scenery objects were not, particularly on the periphery. Many of the scenery objects were of the “do not delete” variety, so even if they were useless it seems like the still need to be powered. Built solar panels for all of them and ugly maintenance paths to get there, and finally the timer started running.

    Reply

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