Caves can be very good habitat locations in Planet Zoo. You can begin terraforming a bunch of cave systems in a way that you can place both small and big exhibits there. This guide teaches you how to build caves in Planet Zoo and then place exhibits in them.
How to Build Caves in Planet Zoo
Hard Shelters play an important role in keeping your animals happy. There will be times when they want their privacy, and Hard Shelters in their respective habitats help them with just that. Keeping your animals happy affects your overall zoo’s performance.
How to Build Hard Shelters
There are two ways you can go about building Hard Shelters. With the first being the easiest, while the second requiring a bit more work and yet being all the more rewarding.
Buy One!
The first one is the easiest method to build a hard shelter. You can buy existing structures by opening the Habitat section and accessing the Beds and Shelter menu. From here, you can buy any structure you want and start working on the floor.
Build One!
If you feel like any of the pre-made shelters aren’t up to your liking; you can simply pick up your tools and start working on your own personal Hard Shelter for your animals to enjoy.
Go to the “Terrain” menu at the bottom right of your screen and click on “Terrain Stamp Tool”. From here, you’ll be able to select from any four of the geometric shapes available. Take a gander at the size and use the frame outline to see which suits your preference the best.
An important feature to keep in mind is the “Fill” option in terrain settings, which essentially helps you to build above the ground instead of digging right in.
Once you’ve managed to make an acceptable shape, carve the inside of it for your animals with the “Sculpting” menu and using the “Push” option. Use the “Flatten to Foundation” sculpting tool once you’ve dug in enough to make a flat surface inside of your cave.
Decorate it, and voila! Your animals will have a place to rest, and to keep them happy!
If your animals keep on escaping from the hard shelter, check if there is a gap in the walls of the cap. Use the Info Overlay to show the areas that animals can access. If there is a gap somewhere in the cave, block it off with another structure.
How to Build Tunnels
Building tunnels is more or less the same process as building a Hard Shelter with the “Terrain Tool”, albeit on a much larger scale
Firstly, you need to expand the paths from the entrance to deeper into the zoo. Once that’s done, open the terraforming tools tab and select the Pull tool.
The intensity and size must be set at max but you will later need to reduce the latter while you work on the edges of the cave system. This will form a hill that once grown to an optimum height, most are smoothened up. It doesn’t need to be overly huge.
Use a small size chisel tool at 100% intensity to dig tunnels into the hill as the main part of building caves. Press the left mouse button with a steady hand as you dig into it with the aid of the free-moving camera. This feature lets you zoom in and out so that you can get a good view of your progress.
Once you hit the light at the end of the tunnel, check the depth of the cavern. If it is under the flat plane of the map, then just flatten out the surface and smoothen it a little bit so your entrance and exit are better defined.
Placing Exhibits
Once the tunnel is done, you need to make room for actual exhibits. You do this by digging more tunnels within the main tunnel to create more room. Dig smaller tunnels to make rooms for small exhibits or go for huge caverns to place entire habitats inside.
Now it is time to build paths on the cave floor to walk on. Once you place them, they will go through the tunnel and create their own space, so you don’t have to worry about fitting them inside based on depth and width readjustments.
Once the path has been led outside, you can go inside and place your exhibits.
Placing Large Habitats
If the animal in question requires a lot of space in its containment, you will need a bigger habitat. Go back to the terrain tools tab, and pick up your chisel to create a large enough opening for the habitat size that you want.
If you want sunlight to come in from above, you can dig all the way up to the roof. Then it’s time to place the fences.
Choose the ones that you think fit the animal best and place them all around. All you need to do then is install paths for a staff and a keeper hut so that the animal has someone to give it food and water. Then voila! Your cave exhibit is up and running.
