Zoo Tycoon

Five campaigns aren't listed, and that's because the challenges are clear and straightforward. These five are the four listed as Easy and Vine Dining.

General note: Bears, Chimps, and Hippos are the only animals that need to be left by themselves. Lions and Tigers can coexist in the same exhibit, as can Antelopes, Giraffes, Elephants, and Rhinos.

Quick ways to release fame is to release animals and upgrade concessions. Upgrading animal care also works, but it's much slower. Baby animals being born can take a while, and on some of the short campaigns, it's not really feasible.

Awards also bring a good chunk of fame. Some to go for:
Safari Excellence: Five different African animals.
Tropical Excellence: Five different Asian animals.
Chilled Excellence: Five different cold climate animals.
Concessions Excellence: Ten different types of concessions.
Decorations Excellence: Ten different types of decorations.
Exhibits Excellence: One of every type of exhibit.

NORMAL
In Dear India
Straightforward, just a few Southeast Asian animals if you need them. Research Tropical Medium, then adopt an Indian Elephant in Savannah Large, followed by a Himalayan Brown Bear in Alpine Large. Once the research is complete, place a new Tropical Medium exhibit and drop Asiatic Lions and Bengal Tigers in.

Think of the Animals:
Two challenges can be a bi vague. For the inspection, you can't sell or release any animals over the entire campaign, even if you adopted them and decide to sell them back. Also, when it says you need to raise 75,000, it means you need to have that much at once, not make that over time.

Landscape Labyrinth:
Use mini exhibits and concessions to bridge the gaps in the pathways. For animals in the wrong places, I built a Tundra Medium to move all the bears into, move the chimpanzees into Tropical Large and adopt two more for social needs, then move the tigers into Alpine Small. I opted to put Katanga Lions into the newly empty Savannah Small. Make sure to meet needs during and after, as there's pretty much no cleaning or feeding stations.

For South American animals, you'll need mini exhibits. Research the Tropical Tree, as all available animals are South American.

Wild Ambitions
First things first, build a soft drinks concession immediately in front of the main gate. Your food and drink is in the red and will cause your guests to drop below 6000. As soon as the arrow turns around, research advertising to make sure those numbers go higher.

After that, this zoo is largely self-sufficient. Keep an eye on entertainment, since it must stay in the green the entire time. Start bolstering the number of animals in your medium and large exhibits for fame; I added more rhinos to Savannah Medium, Himalayan Brown Bears to Alpine Large, and elephants to Savannah Large.

Animal Rehab
You don't have to worry about guests at all. I got the 60,000 funds while still paying all attention to the animals. There are no feeding or cleaning stations, as well as no enrichments, so before moving them around, focus on that. Once you've got everyone set up, go back to the main gate. There are two Tropical Mediums just above it. Select the one with the elephants, as they should be ready to be released.

Release them all, then start juggling animals around. Put the lions and tigers from Alpine Large into Tropical Medium, then take the polar bear from the tropical exhibit into the Alpine Large and adopt a friend if the grizzly bears are all releaseable. Take the chimpanzees from the Grasslands exhibit and put them in the tropical exhibits, then adopt a fourth friend for social need. Finally, put the rhinos in the Grasslands exhibit. I didn't mention the giraffes or grizzly bears because I was able to release them instead of moving them, so I did that instead. You may not even get this far; the scenario ended for me before I could finish moving the chimps over.

On the Origin of the Species
The only goal is fame level 23 without changing the admission price, If you're having issues with money, create the first freemium zoo! Free to get in, but charge them through the nose for entertainment, concessions, and restrooms. There's a fully upgraded Lion Mascot that does well for your entertainment need, but doesn't charge. Up to you if you want to keep it or replace it with something you can charge for.

In the Grasslands Medium closer to the gate, research African Bush Elephant, then adopt two more West African Giraffes for the social aspect. Release the level 15 elephant, then adopt two more to max out everyone. Add a Rope Toy and this exhibit is done. With the nearby Savannah Medium, research Katanga or Masai Lions, then release the available lion, then add at least one more.

On the next Grasslands Medium, research Indian or Eastern Black Rhino, add a shelter for the rhinos, then release the level 15 one. Add a more compatible one once the research is done. Tropical Large, release the available elephants and repopulate with Sri Lankan and Indian Elephants. Tropical Medium, release the appropriate chimps, then restock to 4 with any chimps. This will leave you pretty close to empty as far as cash is concerned. You also have two mini exhibits. You can release the lemurs immediately, but the macaws will take a bit of time. Release and sell the exhibits to make room for more concessions.

From here, add more concessions as needed. Don't forget to jack up the price as soon as you do! As animals hit level 15, release them and replace them with a potentially better fitting species. You're likely to brush up on the zoo limit, so you may need extra time in order to release animals. Don't forget to upgrade those concessions!

Carnivorous Kalidahs
This is the hardest campaign, period. I was coming right down to the wire finishing it. Fame doesn't go up normally here. I think while it says you start at 7, you're actually starting lower. It takes a bit to start leveling.

GRECO827 has an excellent solution on the 360 version, if this one doesn't work out well. I had to do this one twice, so I tested that one to see if it's much better. The only things to note is that as well as concession, you can also spend money on decorations if you need that last second boost.



Best to kill two birds with one stone on these challenges - adopt an endangered lion, tiger, or bear to get both the picture and the child adoption. You start with a Katanga Lion and Polar Bear, so there's two down. Here's the ideal setup, with children bolded.

Lions: Katanga, Asiatic, Masai
Tigers: Bengal, Siberian, South China
Bears: Polar, Grizzly, Himalayan Brown

First things first, raise the admission price to high, repair everything and raise prices. You don't want to deal with breakdowns in the first five minutes. Next, go to the Grasslands Medium at the top and sell the two chimps. Money's a bit tight and stocking up on chimps is expensive. After that, go down to Alpine Medium. Adopt a baby Grizzly and take a picture of both.

At this point, the chimps should be gone, so replace Grasslands Medium with a Temperate Forest Medium and put a Bengal Tiger in there. You'll need a Siberian later, so it's two stars for everyone instead of an incompatible environment. Finally, there's the lion in Savannah Medium. Add an Asiatic child. For the final lion, a Masai is cheaper, but you want the West African for the guest number bonus for finishing the challenge quickly.

From here, money and fame is a concern. You may want to sit and wait for a while. I opted to build a Grasslands Small exhibit and add giraffes for the fame boost, and later a Tropical Small with elephants. As soon as the polar bear can be released, do it. Most of your fame is going to be from upgrading the various concessions around, so getting to level 10 quickly so you can level it all is necessary.

With the three needed exhibits and two bonuses, the best way to get fame is to throw money at the wall and see what sticks. Research concessions and decorations, then upgrade them for quick fame. As soon as a Katanga Lion can be released, do it.

HARD
Kidding Around
Like Wild Ambitions, you should be focused on entertainment; if it falls, you fail. Thankfully, this segues nicely into the "build eight concessions" challenge, so make most of them entertainment and you should be fine. I recommend keeping a list of which concessions you've built.

Next is the issues of animals in incompatible exhibits. Start with Savannah Medium, release the Bengal Tiger, then move the other one into the empty Tropical Large. Adopt a new tiger for social need. Below that, there's three bears in Tropical Small and a giraffe and elephant in Alpine Large. Release them all to clear up the exhibits. With the elpehants in Grasslands Medium, you have the option of putting them in Tropical Small, or building a Temperate Forest exhibit to put them in something more ideal. Then there was the case of the empty exhibits. Here's how I had the whole thing set up:

Tropical Large: Bengal Tigers and Asiatic Lions. Sensory Interaction.
Alpine Large: Grizzly Bears and Himalayan Brown Bears.
Savannah Medium: Sell this exhibit, adding the other animals gets costly.
Grasslands Medium: Grasslands Giraffes. Feeding Interaction.
Tropical Small: African Forest Elephants were moved in earlier, add an Indian Elephant.
Savannah Large: Rhinos. Hose Interaction.

Remember that you're completely revamping this zoo, and most of these exhibits now have incompatible feeding stations and enrichments, so fix that too. Tropical Large in particular had nothing at all.


Preservation Jam
You'll be pressed for time in this zoo, so to start, take an inventory of what you've got. You've got a Lion exhibit in Tropical Large, a Bear exhibit in Alpine Large, and a Rhino exhibit in Grasslands Large. Technically, the rhinos and the Formosan Bear are in the wrong exhibits, but checking animal happiness indicates they're happy where they are. If you want to boost that, the rhinos need to go into a Savannah exhibit, and the Formosan Bear in a Temperate Forest.

The breeding center needs to be built, you'll need a minimum of three level 3 staff members (more if you want to try to make more exhibits), and breeding research at the main gate. The South Central Rhinos and Formosan Bear will need a female, which requires additional research, and the Grizzly will need a male, but the lions should be fine. All of this must be done quickly, so once you've got a feel for the zoo, where you'd like to place the breeding center, and what the conditions in each exhibit are, pause the game and retry the zoo. Now you aren't fighting surveying time!

Research the breeding center and do quick checks on the animal care items. Once that's done, main gate research on breeding. While that's being researched, up your admission price to low or normal, then build your center and hire staff. There's no monetary difference between hiring level 3 and training up to it. Hire three and assign them to their respective exhibits. Once the main gate research is done, stop in the middle of what you're doing and start the next level. Once both main gate research levels are done and your staff is in position, save your game! This campaign has an element of luck attached, so having a save here can help.

Once all the research is done, it's time to add females. Research South Central Black Rhinos, then when that's done, start researching Formosan Bears. While that's researching, adopt a female and drop her between the two males. Repeat with the bear exhibit. If there's not an affordable female, make a new save, quit, and reload.

Once all this is done, next up is the 10,000 guests. Start researching advertising and keep campaigns running. A medium intensity internet campaing got me to 9,000 with a normal admission price. Once the child lion becomes an adult, give her a male Asiatic Lion as a mate. The lions always seem to be the quickest to get pregnant, so you may want to put three couples in there: The original two, the child and the new adoption, and a third completely adopted couple.

Don't be surprised if pregnancies take a while. My first came around 26 minutes left, but with that three couple setup, all three females were pregnant by 20 minutes left. You've got better chances with the bears getting pregnant than the rhinos, and you'd better hope that's the case, as it takes fifteen minutes for a rhino to give birth.

You pretty much don't have to worry about fame; if it's running low, upgrade some concessions, but this was the second challenge I hit. The first endangered species you can release is one of your rhinos, so replace him with another South Central Black Rhino once you have. The next available release is a male Formosan Bear. If you don't want to release them, the Tropical Tree has a hidden surprise in the Hyacinth Macaw; they count as endangered.

Trees to Meet You
This is essentially an empty zoo. You have one exhibit with Gobi Bears and a few scattered decorations. First order is to connect them all using mini exhibits or concessions. Add in a small exhibit if you can find the space, but don't be surprised if it doesn't connect the dots like you want it to. In my case, I connect the right-most lake with a Tropical Rock with two Lemurs, the left was connect with a Savannah Small and a Macaw Keeper, and the way to the Tundra exhibit was paved with Soft Drinks Stand.

Once it's all connected, add a few more animals. A Grizzly can be added to the Tundra exhibit, and the Small exhibit can be stocked with whatever floats your boat. I opted for Reticulated Giraffes in the Savannah Small. Another small exhibit can be added to the top, attached to Tundra, and at that point, you can spread the zoo past the rocks you can't move. Past that, however, you want to use mini exhibits due to the low Zoo limit and needing to get guest needs at least into the yellow.

Once you've gotten to fame level 8, build a Tropical Rock and populate it with Ring-Tailed Lemurs and Red Lemurs. Research Olympic Black Bears and put one in Tundra Medium. Add one more Tropical Rock with Nile Monitor Lizards and that's eight animals.

Hopefully at this point the only thing still in the yellow is tidiness, so research the Janitor's office and hire a janitor or two. Start upgrading all concessions; once everything's at level 3, if you aren't there, you're close enough to buy one or two more things to do it.

Beastly Parents
Given the amount of money you start with, it's much quicker to adopt the needed children rather than trying to breed them. I researched and adopted children for Katanga Lions, Himalayan Brown Bear, and Topi Antelope. This leaves you at 9/10 species for the other challenge, which I'd suggest putting another species of chimpanzee in Tropical, which also fits their social need. At this point, fill up the Grasslands Medium with Topi and Sable Antelopes.

After that, I went on an upgrading spree, which got me to fame level 15. To prevent the Animal Variety need from dropping too low, I created a Savannah Medium to house two Reticulated Giraffes, a Masai Giraffe, and three African Bush Elephants. With enough money, I'd occasionally adopt another baby Katanga Lion or Grizzly Bear to boost some more. This one's not all that hard.

Lucky Expansion
We've got four exhibits to start with and problems with all of them. Research a Tropical Medium exhibit before you begin. First are the bears in Tundra Medium. Add a feeding and cleaning station, change the shelter to a slide. In the existing Tropical Medium, there are elephants. Build feeding, cleaning, and an activity center. Savannah Medium houses Asiatic Lions and Grasslands Medium holds Bengal Tigers. Once the research is done, create a Tropical Medium and move them both there, then load up on feeding, cleaning, and enrichments. With the now empty exhibits, I put two Southern White Rhinos and three Reticulated Giraffes in Savannah, and later on, Topi and Sable Antelopes in Grasslands.

Time to do some research! You'll want to research internet advertising and all main gate advertising bonuses. Once you get all that done, you'll want to save your game.

Jack up the prices on everything as you run high intensity internet campaigns. The main factor is admission price - if the arrow next to guest number is pointing anywhere but up, drop prices to normal while you fix the happiness issue. Once you hit level 15, switch to TV/Movies. You'll want to make sure your guests are happy, so get everything as close to maxed as you can. I was never able to get guest happiness in the green with this setup, primarily because I never got animal variety high enough. Upgrade concessions if their maintenace falls behind for the fame boost, but once you start getting about $70 a second, you're pretty much content to stop worrying about them. Only respond to a situation if you get a notification about it.

Keep this going and you should be done in about half the time.

Renovation Time
Mini exhibits are going to be key to getting 10 different species that aren't listed. Since the fame challenge is beaten very quickly, on three separate tropical rocks, you can have two species of lemurs, iguanas, and monitor lizards, giving you six animals right there. Put Topi and Sable Antelopes in the Grasslands Large exhibit with the giraffes, there's eight. If you want the increased guest numbers as quick as possible, research the Tropical Tree and populate it with Macaws.

From here, it's just keeping your animals happy and releasing them. If you had pregnancies (I had a Barbary Lion and a Rhino get pregnant immediately) keep a few in for social needs and release them at the end. I ended up releasing the bears and selling the Tundra exhibit, replacing the chimpanzees with elephants, the giraffes were already in the same exhibit with the antelopes from earlier, and releasing the lions and rhinos one at a time did it from there.

Breaking Zoos
You start with 9 of the 25 animals necessary for the challenge, but you also start hemmoraging money like mad. Raise the admission price to high, then get to work. With one exception, while they're all level 15, don't release the animals until you start generating a profit or until you've completed the 25 animals challenge, your decision.

Start by going left and upgrading every concession you see. At Savannah Medium, you have a lone giraffe. Replace their toy with a better fitting one, clean up all the poop, then research Reticulated Giraffe and adopt two more giraffes for social need. Savannah Large is just above it; repair the shelter and clean up the poop. To the right is Savannah Small and the very definition of neglect. Clean up the poop, add feeding and cleaning stations, enrichment, and research Katanga Lions for social need.

Now head for the other end of the zoo. Tropical Medium has a hippo, so clean up the poop, release the hippo, and put your preferred tropical animal here once you stop losing money. I recommend researching Sri Lankan Elephants, cheaper than Indian. Above him is Tropical Small with a tiger. Once again, clean up the poop, add a cleaning station, replace the enrichment with a better tiger scratching post, and add a Bengal Tiger.

Now for the mini-exhibits. Rather than nurse the exhibits back to health, release the animals into the wild and sell the exhibits. Replace them later for half of your new exhibit needs!

It was around this point that I stopped losing money, around $49,000 left. If you're still losing, research internet advertisement and start a high intensity campaign. Research a Janitor's Office, as you're lacking the usual janitors and zoo keepers, but tidiness is the biggest complaint at the moment.

Once you've got maintenance and the mini exhibits set back up, build the zoo off to the right to include a few more exhibits. Since they all have to be different exhibits, build the Savannah Rock mini-exhibit that you didn't replace, followed by three small exhibits. The important thing is that the exhibit is built; you don't need to have an animal inside. This is good, because for me, I was brushing up on the zoo limit with my final exhibit. If you drop the eighth exhibit, then immediately sell it, it still counts.

At this point, you should have enough money that you can upgrade all your concessions one more time and hit level 20 that way. Scenario complete!

Expansion Exposition
The following exhibits need to be fixed:

Grasslands Medium: Giraffes. Build a new enrichment.
Alpine Large: Lions. Wrong environment. Research and create a Tropical Medium, put them there.
Grasslands Small: Polar bears. Wrong environment. Move to Alpine Large.
Temperate Forest Small: Rhinos. Move into Grasslands Small or Medium with the Giraffes. Build feeding, cleaning, and enrichment as needed.

Now with everyone in the right exhibits, we can work on the endangered species list:

Alpine Large: Adopt a Grizzly Bear.
Temperate Forest Small: Research and adopt two Formosan Bears.
Tropical Medium: Adopt a Bengal Tiger and research/adopt a South China Tiger.
Grasslands Medium: Adopt a West African Giraffe, three if you moved them into their own exhibit.

That's the first challenge done, and your guest numbers should turn around now. Upgrade a few things around the zoo to hit fame level 10, then start researching internet advertising. Set a high intensity advertisement. Place a restroom, entertainment and food to boost those respective bars.

You should be at 18/35 animals at minimum. You have an empty Tropical Tree on the far left, fill it up as you see fit. Research the main gate advertising and a breeding center in whichever order you feel like. Max out the exhibits that don't have breeding specialists. Once you hit level 15, research TV/Movies advertising.

Mini-exhibits will boost your numbers quickly and cheaply. A Tropical Tree can house four Capuchin Monkeys, for instance. If you already did that with the empty tree, choose a different species to keep animal variety up. Similarly, you can load up on Himalayan Brown Bears in Alpine Large, or Grizzly Bears if animal variety isn't a problem. I hit 35 animals with three tropical trees with 11 animals between them, 6 bears in Alpine Large and 3 in Temperate Forest Small, 6 animals in Tropical Medium, 6 giraffes, and 3 rhinos between the Grasslands exhibit. This was halfway through the time limit at fame level 16 and 12,500 guests.

Start going on an upgrade spree, especially if your breeding specialist has been less then helpful. Don't upgrade the breeding center, that can be prohibitively costly. Around now, one of the original giraffes should be level 15, which grants a huge fame bonus as the first released animal. Replace it with an Angolan Giraffe. One of the Polar Bears should be next. Replace it with a Himalayan Brown Bear.

Once you reach fame level 20, it's time for Viral advertisement, which is its own achievement if you haven't gotten it already. If you've run out of things to upgrade, build more concessions that you don't already have in an effort to get the Concessions Excellence Award. If you're swimming in money, adopt some baby animals to hit fame level 23.

Once you hit level 23, that should be the end of it. If you still need to bring guest needs into the green, go to the main office and change the admission price to free to lower everyone's expectations. If something's still yellow, it's likely animal variety or tidiness. Create a new janitor's office to hire some three star staff, or build a Tropical Rock and staff it with three species of lemur.